The Conversation -- May 12, 2024
Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite on Trump's New Jersey rally: "... the event featured some truly bizarre moments....
'Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs?' Trump asked the crowd. The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? "Excuse me. I'm about to have a friend for dinner," as this poor doctor walked by. "I'm about to have a friend for dinner." But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter."' There's more. MB: As you no doubt know, Hannibal Lecter is not a wonderful man. He's a fictional cannibal who likes his human liver with a side of fava beans & a nice chianti. Trump is insane.
Léonie Chao-Fong of the Guardian: "Katie Britt, the Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering a widely ridiculed State of the Union [rebuttal] speech in March, marked the run-up to Mother's Day on Sunday by introducing a bill to create a federal database to collect data on pregnant people.... Although Britt's communications director said the site would not collect data on pregnant people..., the bill states that users can take an assessment through the website and provide consent to use the user's contact information' which government officials may use 'to conduct outreach via phone or email to follow up with users on additional resources that would be helpful for the users to review'.... The ... act proposes to establish an online government database ... listing resources related to pregnancy..., except for those that provide abortion-related services." Thanks to Jj for the link.
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Luke Broadwater of the New York Times & Paul Kiel of ProPublica: "As [House] Republicans have pressed their [impeachment] case against [President] Biden, Democrats on the Oversight panel -- including an unusually large crop of freshman -- have matched them sound bite for sound bite and stunt for political stunt, establishing themselves as feisty defenders of the president.... Back in January 2023, they selected seven freshmen to sit on the Oversight panel, the most of any committee. The group included lawyers with debate experience and members who had a sense for how to communicate in a way that could catch fire on social media and break through the noise of a highly polarized environment." Among them Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Robert Garcia (Calif.), Jared Moscowitz (Fla.) and Jasmine Crockett (Texas). Leading the effort are Jamie Raskin (Md.) & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) ~~~
~~~ Here Rep. Rep. Garcia channeled his inner "Real Housewife." And Crockett expressed concern last fall about boxes full of national secrets Donald Trump left in a public bathroom (or "shitter," as Rep. Crockett described it) in Mar-a-Lardo:
The only years anybody's ever seen [of Donald Trump's tax returns] showed he didn;t pay any federal income tax. -- Hillary Clinton, September 2016 presidential debate
That makes me smart. -- Donald Trump, response
I think he ripped off the tax system. -- Walter Schwidetzky, law professor & partnership taxation expert ~~~
~~~ Donald Trump, Super Tax Cheat. Russ Buettner of the New York Times & Paul Kiel of ProPublica: "... Donald J. Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks* from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an Internal Revenue Service inquiry uncovered by The New York Times and ProPublica. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million.... [The project was] a vast money loser. But ... Mr. Trump ... wrote off the same losses twice.... [In his] tax return for 2008..., he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of 'worthless,' [and] report[ed] losses as high as $651 million for the year.... But in 2010..., he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership.... Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.... The Times and ProPublica, in consultation with tax experts, calculated that the revision sought by the I.R.S. would create a new tax bill of more than $100 million, plus interest and potential penalties." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
* The link above is to the ProPublica article. The same New York Times article is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ What if you built a store nobody could get to? MB: In yesterday' Comments, Patrick pointed out this tidbit from the story: "... some 70,000 square feet of retail space [in the Chicago skyscraper] remained vacant because it had been designed without access to foot or vehicle traffic."
Marie: As we know all too well, Donald Trump is currently on trial for creating false records when he (allegedly!) tried to disguise hush-money payments to a porn star as "legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement" paid to Michael Cohen. So how surprising is this?: ~~~
~~~ More (Alleged!) Fake "Legal Services." M.L. Nestel of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's election campaign has been hit with a sex discrimination lawsuit involving fresh accusations that his lawyers violated federal law by attempting to hide settlement payments to women accusers. The Federal Election Commission must investigate whether the campaign illegally attempted to hide settlement payments by routing them through third parties, according to a complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The allegations of wrongdoing, first reported by The Daily Beast, stem from former Trump campaign employee AJ Delgado who gave a sworn declaration in her pending lawsuit against Trump that she was cut loose based on pregnancy discrimination. Delgado, a former Trump 2016 campaign aide, had grabbed widespread attention by accusing longtime Trump aide Jason Miller of engaging in 'a cycle of sexual coercion, rape, sexual assault, abuse, battery, sexual harassment, and sex trafficking.'"
Presidential Race
Marie: I don't do polls much, but every once in a while, a Reality Chek is in order: ~~~
~~~ Steve M.: "... there's a notable disparity between the poll numbers for President Biden and the numbers for vulnerable Democratic senators. In the Real Clear Polling average, Biden trails Donald Trump by 1.2 points in a two-candidate race. Trump's lead is small, but Biden hasn't led since October. What's worse, Biden trails in every swing state -- Trump leads by 5 in Arizona, by 3.8 in Georgia, by 1.2 in Michigan, by 4.5 in Nevada, by 5.4 in North Carolina, by 1.8 in Pennsylvania, and by .5 in Wisconsin. If these numbers are accurate and were to hold up in November, Trump would win a popular-vote squeaker, but he'd win the Electoral College easily." Steve goes on to report the numbers for various Senate Democrats.
Samantha Waldenberg of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Saturday called Donald Trump 'clearly unhinged.'... 'It's clear that ... when he lost in 2020, something snapped in him,' Biden told supporters just outside Seattle at a private fundraiser Saturday, according to reporters in the room. 'He's not only obsessed with losing in 2020, he's clearly unhinged....'"
Michael Gold of the New York Times: On Saturday, Donald Trump held "a rally on the beach in Wildwood, N.J., where he largely repeated the same criticisms of President Biden that have characterized his stump speech in recent months.... Though New Jersey has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 1992, and Mr. Trump lost the state by double-digit margins in both 2016 and 2020, he insisted that he could win there in November." ~~~
~~~ Sideshow Barker. Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump on Saturday ... [spoke] at a large rally on the Jersey Shore filled with personal attacks, coarse language and vulgar expressions from the former president and his supporters.... [The rally] included many of the same polarizing features ... that critics have voiced alarm over, including attacks on undocumented immigrants, who he accused of staging an 'invasion,' as he vowed to 'stop the plunder, rape, slaughter and destruction of the American suburbs, cities and towns.' He sharply derided his domestic critics and opponents, claiming 'the enemies from within are more dangerous to me than the enemies on the outside' the country. He praised the six Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. And he engaged in meandering asides, including about conversations he has had with celebrities or world leaders.... He spoke surrounded by a roller coaster and Ferris wheel...." Politico's report is here.
Daniel Dale & Kristen Holmes of CNN: "... Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that his criminal trial in Manhattan has prevented him from campaigning in key swing states.... But a review of his activities over the trial's first four weeks shows that he has done little campaign travel, and held few public campaign events, on days off from court. Instead, he has spent most of his 12 court-free days out of voters' view at his properties in New York, New Jersey and Florida."
Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "Paul Manafort, the longtime Republican strategist and chairman of Donald J. Trump's 2016 campaign, who had assumed an unpaid role advising party officials on the nominating convention, stepped aside on Saturday after questions arose about his involvement in the convention's planning process. Mr. Manafort's move came after The New York Times reported that he had been on the ground in Milwaukee last week for planning meetings for the convention, as well as a Washington Post story that said he was involved in work connected to foreign officials and businesses.... Mr. Manafort helped stave off efforts to thwart Mr. Trump's nomination at the 2016 convention, went to prison for various financial crimes and was pardoned by Mr. Trump."
The New York Times' live updates of developments in U.S. college campus protests are here.
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Georgia Election Fraud -- It's Real! Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that [Brian] Pritchard was removed from his role as ... vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party ... after a whopping 86% of the Georgia GOP's state committee supported a motion to oust him. The vote to officially remove Pritchard came after he refused to step down amid revelations that he voted on nine separate occasions despite ... [being] on probation for felony check forgery."
Ohio. Another GOP Senate Candidate with a Fake "Origins" Story. Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: Bernie Moreno "is running for the Senate as an immigrant who made good, reaching out to Ohio voters with a stirring, only-in-America bootstraps story: arriving as a child from Colombia, taking a risk on a struggling business, and then turning it into a smashing success and himself into a millionaire 100 times over.... 'We came here with absolutely nothing -- we came here legally -- but we came here, nine of us in a two-bedroom apartment,' Mr. Moreno said in 2023, in what became his signature pitch. His father 'had to leave everything behind,,' he has said.... But there is much more that Mr. Moreno does not say about his background, his upbringing and his very powerful present-day ties in the country where he was born. Mr. Moreno was born into a rich and politically connected family in Bogotá, a city that it never completely left behind, where some members continue to enjoy great wealth and status." Read on.
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Israel/Palestine, et al. CNN's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "At least 300,000 people have fled the southern Gazan city of Rafah ahead of an Israeli ground offensive, the UN says. In a statement on social media, UNRWA said the 'forced and inhumane displacement of Palestinians continues.' There is growing alarm over the humanitarian situation in Rafah, with the UN saying it could run out of food aid as early as Sunday. Israel's military says it is enabling the flow of aid into the territory. Fighting is raging in other parts of Gaza too. The Israeli military is operating in Jabalya, northern Gaza, as part of efforts to stop Hamas regrouping. Israel earlier this year said it had dismantled Hamas's command structure in northern Gaza. US President Joe Biden said there would be a 'ceasefire tomorrow' if Hamas would release the hostages held in Gaza. Hamas said Israel's rejection of a ceasefire plan submitted at negotiations this week in Cairo sent talks back to 'square one.'" ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Sunday are here.
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Reader Comments (8)
Thinking about that billion dollar bribe the Orange Monster is demanding from Big Oil, you have to wonder how stupid these guys would have to be to fork over that kind of money. If they’re unhappy with Biden’s interest in reducing carbon emissions and looking into alternative energy options, electric vehicles, and other non-oil based initiatives, do they think Fatty will carry on with those policies if he succeeds in slithering back into the White House? He’s not gonna become Mr. Green overnight, or ever, really. So why would they have him a billion bucks? You also have to consider the fact that he is a con man who never follows through on promises that would require effort on his part.
I’m sure they’ll contribute bigly to his campaign to destroy the country and the planet, but a billion dollars?
Nah.
Meanwhile, as Fatty and Big Oil plan to continue on the road to fossil fuel and carbon disaster, China has become the biggest EV manufacturer in the world and plans to go completely electric in the not too distant future, leaving the very stable genius and his 19th and 20th century energy pals far behind.
But what else would you expect?
@Akhilleus: Steve M. (No More Mr. Nice Blog) agrees with you. The only thing he can think of as to why oil barons would pay Trump a billion dollars to do what he would do anyway is that " it might be worth bribing him to get to the front of the line" when Trump is passing out those drilling permits.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/katie-britt-proposes-federal-database-to-collect-data-on-pregnant-people
The link offered by Jj (above), is about a plan for the federal government to monitor pregnant women. This scheme is being sold as a way to “support” pregnant women and provide information, but not if that information comes from places like Planned Parenthood, or any group not authorized by right-wingers. In truth, it’s a way for anti-abortion snoopers to check on women during their pregnancy.
This is bad enough. What’s worse? Donald Trump, when asked about the possibility of government officials closely monitoring pregnant women to make sure no one is doing something they don’t like, said he would leave that up to the states.
In some corners this has been reported as saying that Fatty is all for the government snooping on pregnant women. This has been debunked, some sources saying “Well, he didn’t say he’s for it or against it.” While technically true, in practice, he’s saying if a state like Alabama decided to create a Pregnancy Police unit, he’d be okay with that, because it would be up to the state to decide.
Hey, Fatso! How about it being left up to women to decide?
But that’s not how authoritarians work.
Sounds like the pregnancy database is just another way to stick it
to the poor and middle class.
Rich bitches can fly to Europe or Bora Bora, just like always.
WaPo and NYT both covered Trump's Wildwood rally, but you wouldn't know it was the same speech.
WaPo headline:
"Trump insults prosecutor at Jersey Shore rally filled with vulgar jabs
The presumptive Republican nominee spoke at a large rally where there were plenty of personal attacks and vulgar expressions from Trump and his supporters."
--Marianne Levine
NYT headline:
"Away from the confines of a courtroom, Trump rallies beachside at the Jersey Shore."
--Michael Gold
The WaPo article got 7000+ comments.
The NYT article did not allow comments.
The WaPo article spelled out what Trump said, replacing expletives with asterisks.
The NYT article did not mention expletives, vulgarities, insults. It made it sound like a normal political speech.
Neither noted that Trump was at times incoherent and used made-up words.
Neither mentioned Trump's homage to "the late, great Hannibal Lecter."
To get a full picture of Trump's performance you had to look to social media (which is having a field day with the Hannibal thing.)
Business Insider
"A wargame simulated a 2nd Trump presidency. It concluded NATO would collapse."
Trump lackey Johnny McEntee laughing about giving fake $5 bills to panhandlers hoping they will get arrested for trying to pass counterfeit money. These people always find more time to be their worst.