The Conversation -- October 24, 2024
Marie: Sometimes, some stories are too icky for me to stomach. This is one. I should have linked something about it earlier, but, well, ick! I apologize both for not linking it earlier and for linking it at all. ~~~
~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson stirred up a crowd of Trump supporters on Wednesday night with a bizarre extended metaphor that cast ... Donald J. Trump as an angry father about to come home and give a 'vigorous spanking' to his disobedient daughter.... In Duluth, Ga., Mr. Carlson said that the country under Democratic leadership was like a toddler allowed to 'smear the contents of his diapers on the wall of your living room,' or a 'hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter' who gives her parents the finger and slams her bedroom door. And he cast Mr. Trump as the strict, disappointed father. 'When Dad gets home, you know what he says? "You've been a bad girl, you&'ve been a bad little girl, and you're getting a vigorous spanking right now,"' Mr. Carlson said. Grinning, he went on: 'And ... this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You're getting a vigorous spanking because you've been a bad girl.' The crowd went wild. Mr. Carlson's speech -- at a rally ... that featured Mr. Trump as the headline speaker -- was full of disparaging comments about women....
"He cast Democrats as illegitimate, calling them 'the most parasitic, useless, violent, nasty, aggressive people in your country.' In an apparent reference to people who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, he continued: 'They tore down statues to their memory. People who never built anything in their lives, they went out of their way to humiliate you and spit on you and the graves of your ancestors.'And he told the crowd directly that they should not accept the election results if Ms. Harris wins."
Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: "Former Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who served 18 terms in Congress before retiring last year, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris -- issuing a scathing condemnation of his own party's nominee..., Donald Trump. Upton told The Detroit News that he was voting for Harris -- his first time supporting a Democrat for president, although he has split his ticket on other down-ballot races in the past -- because Trump had 'not changed his colors' and continued pushing his baseless claims about fraud in the 2020 election.... '... he's still talking about the election being stolen, trashing women left and right. He's just totally unhinged,' he added. 'We don;t need this chaos. We need to move forward, and that's why I'm where I am. Upton told The Detroit News that he had spoken with Harris's running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Wednesday. The two served together in the House for twelve years.... Upton was one of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, drawing his ire -- and then gloating after Upton announced his retirement." The New York Times story is here.
Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Mayor Shawn Reilly of Waukesha, Wis., an independent who was a Republican for most of his life, said in an interview on Wednesday that he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. The endorsement is a key one for Ms. Harris, whose campaign has lavished attention on the suburbs of Milwaukee, which lean Republican but are so densely populated that they deliver a pivotal number of Democratic votes.... Mr. Reilly, 63, said that he had never endorsed a Democrat before. But this election is different, he said, describing his own evolution from loyal Republican for decades to an independent in 2021. 'It's very easy to not even stick your nose in this...,' he said. 'But the reason I'm doing it is because I think we're at a crossroads. I'm very afraid of the direction our country will head in if Donald Trump becomes president. I think we'll be heading down a road of authoritarianism and fascism.'" The NBC News story is here.
Katrina Miller of the New York Times: "More than 80 American Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics have signed an open letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. 'This is the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States,' reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. 'We, the undersigned, strongly support Harris.'... Donald Trump ... would 'jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living, slow the progress of science and technology and impede our responses to climate change,' the letter said." ~~~
~~~ That's Fine, Smart People. But There Is No One to Save Us from Stupid. Marie: While I was working on the entry above, a CNN reporter was saying on the teevee that he had interviewed many young swing-state college men, and that they liked Kamala Harris better than Donald Trump -- BUT they were planning to vote for Trump because he would be better for business. Also (but this seemed to be secondary), that they were of draft age and Trump would keep the U.S. out of wars.
Big Surprise. Amy Wang & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that he would 'fire' special counsel Jack Smith on his first day back in the White House if he is elected again, making clear that he would push to drop a pair of federal cases against him.... The authority to hire and fire a special counsel falls to the attorney general. But if Trump wins the election, he is expected to appoint an attorney general who would dismiss both federal cases against him.... Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign said Thursday that Trump's latest comments indicate that the former president thinks he is above the law...."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "CNN is reporting that Fox News edited out several portions of a recent event with ... Donald Trump to omit what it describes as his 'rambling answers and false claims.' During one point in Trump's chat with Black voters in a New York barbershop, the former president was asked about eliminating federal taxes. On the Fox News broadcast, Trump was simply shown saying that 'there's a way' to get the job done -- but the full video shows something else entirely. 'That response from Trump actually came more than seven minutes later, after Trump... brought up other topics, including inheritances, the Keystone Pipeline, Ronald Reagan, Russia, and transgender sports players,' CNN writes. 'Trump had to be nudged back on track several times by the unnamed audience member, who kept circling back, apologetically, and said "I wasn't able to finish my question." After he repeated his tax inquiry yet again, Trump said "there is a way."' The CNN story is here; it is firewalled. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait, I thought even minor, immaterial edits were reasons for a network to lose its license (even though a network does not actually have a broadcast license). So what does Trump propose to do to Fox?
Pennsylvania. Simon Levien of the New York Times: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that voters who submit mail-in ballots that are rejected for not following procedural directions can still cast provisional ballots. The decision is likely to affect thousands of mail-in ballots among the millions that will be cast in Pennsylvania, the swing state that holds the most electoral votes and is set to be the most consequential in the presidential election. The court ruled 4 to 3 that the Butler County board of elections must count provisional ballots cast by several voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected for lacking mandatory secrecy envelopes. Secrecy envelopes are commonly used to protect the privacy of a person's vote. In Pennsylvania, voters must accurately sign and date this outer envelope before sending in their ballots.Under the new ruling, voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for being 'naked ballots,' lacking the secrecy envelope, or for bearing inaccurate or missing information on the envelope will be given the chance to cast a provisional vote at their polling place. The ruling makes the practice available statewide.... Many counties in the state will notify voters if their mail-in ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures and will give them the opportunity to cast a provisional vote." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As soon as I read this, I saw a lawsuit coming. I didn't know what the basis of a suit might be, but election law expert Rick Hasen does: "... in 2020 ... Justice Alito, facing a similar issue in a case involving ballots arriving within 3 days after election day ordered to be counted during the pandemic by the state supreme court, ordered those ballots sequestered. A sequestration order could happen again, and there could be a fight over the treatment of these ballots. Let's hope the margin of victory of the winning candidate in PA exceeds greatly the number of these ballots."
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Presidential Race
Reid Epstein & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Early in a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania [Wednesday evening, Vice President Harris] readily agreed with the host, Anderson Cooper, when he asked whether she believed Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist. 'Yes, I do,' she quickly shot back. 'Yes, I do.' Later, when asked about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, she jumped into a loaded critique of her rival. 'For many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries,' she said. 'They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.'... Over the course of the 80-minute town hall, Ms. Harris was asked about a wide range of policy issues.... Her answers boiled down to: Donald Trump would be worse." Bender goes on to criticize Harris's responses. The AP's report, which is here, does not. ~~~
~~~ Dan Merica of the AP: "The Democratic presidential nominee said Kelly's comments ... were a '911 call to the American people' by the former chief of staff. They were quickly seized by Harris as part of her closing message to voters as she works to sharpen the choice at the ballot box for Americans. 'I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America,' she said, saying the American people deserve a president who maintains 'certain standards,' which include 'certainly not comparing oneself, in a clearly admiring way, to Hitler.'" Eric Bradner, et al., report CNN's takeaways from the town hall.
Katie Rogers & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that ... Donald J. Trump's reported comments praising Nazi generals offered 'a window into who Donald Trump really is,' calling it 'deeply troubling' that her Republican rival had apparently invoked Hitler in conversations with one of his former chiefs of staff, John F. Kelly.... In her brief remarks, delivered at the vice president's residency in Washington, Ms. Harris warned that Mr. Trump had grown 'increasingly unhinged and unstable' and said that he would require that the U.S. military 'be loyal to him personally,' even if Mr. Trump did not obey the law during the course of a second term." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Lisa Kashinsky, et al., of Politico: "A former senior Homeland Security official in the Trump administration said Wednesday that the former president has 'authoritarian tendencies' and 'does not operate by the rule of law' -- echoing a denunciation by his former chief of staff and other senior figures. Elizabeth Neumann, who served as deputy chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security and assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy, said she agreed with former Marine Gen. John Kellys explosive assessment that Donald Trump is not fit for the office.... Neumann, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, said in a brief interview with Politico, 'Is he kind of leaning towards that ultra-nationalism component? Absolutely.... He's made nationalism the new definition of the Republican Party.'... Trump, long prone to violent and inflammatory rhetoric, has become more extreme in his third presidential bid."
digby does a quick rundown of "Trump is a Fascist" literature, old and new. "We've learned over the years, through many reports, memoirs and tell-all books that Trump tried to govern in dictatorial fashion at every turn but was either too mentally undisciplined to follow through or was held back by people around him who kept him from acting on his worst impulses. This campaign has shown him ratcheting up the fascist rhetoric to previously unseen heights, saying that immigrants are 'poisoning the blood' and calling his political opponents 'vermin' and 'enemies within' that must be purged."
Here's Trump's response to John Kelly's revelations about him, via Mediaite.
Phil Mattingly of CNN: "More than half of the living US recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics signed a letter that called Vice President Kamala Harris' economic agenda 'vastly superior' to the plans laid out by ... Donald Trump. Twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists signed onto the letter, including two of the three most recent recipients.... The letter serves as a stamp of approval for Harris less than two weeks from Election Day on the issue voters consistently rank as the most important in surveys: the economy.... The letter was spearheaded by Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and 2001 winner of the prize, and marks the second major foray into the campaign by a group of Nobel laureates.... The letter points to Trump's tariff and tax policies as inflationary and likely to balloon the federal deficit == a widely held view among economists. But it also issues a stark warning. 'Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these,' the economists write." More on Trump's economic policies, linked below. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sure, but what do a bunch of ivory-tower eggheads know? Donald Trump is a successful, common-sense businessman.
Morgan Rimmer of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a scathing assessment of the modern Republican Party in an upcoming biography, saying the 'MAGA movement is completely wrong.'... 'I think Trump was the biggest factor in changing the Republican Party from what Ronald Reagan viewed and he wouldn't recognize today,' McConnell told the Associated Press' Michael Tackett for the upcoming biography 'The Price of Power' obtained by CNN ahead of its release.... The Republican leader eventually voted to acquit Trump during the second impeachment trial, focused on the former president's involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. However, Tackett reports that McConnell had leaned towards voting to convict at certain points." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Allow me to remind you, Mitch, that had you had the gumption to find Trump guilty in that second impeachment trial, and brought a few of your colleagues along with you (which would not have been a heavy lift), the country would not now be beset by the prospect of this particular fascist finding his way back to the Oval Office. It is, Chicken Mitch, all your fault. Consider yourself the poor man's version of the King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and German president Paul von Hindenburg, who put Mussolini & Hitler in power, respectively. Nice company, Mitch.
Clara Morse, et al., of the Washington Post: "In every state across the country, more people donated to Vice President Kamala Harris than to ... Donald Trump. Registered voters in suburbs were about twice as likely to give to Harris as to Trump. A vast majority of Trump's donors under 35 were men. And in the battleground state of Georgia, where Black voters make up one third of the electorate, less than 4 percent of Trump donors were Black. Those are among the findings from a Washington Post analysis of online contributions to the Trump, Harris and President Joe Biden campaigns, combined with voter registration data." ~~~
~~~ Marie: That was the good news. Now, here's the fun part. You can plug in your Zip code (in the box just below the subhead "How online donors gave near you") and find out the number of donors to each campaign in your Zip code & how much they gave in total. I'm happy to say that in my neighborhood, the donation total was 10-to-1 for Harris/Biden over Team Hitler.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Lucy Osborne of the Guardian: "A former model who says she met Donald Trump through the late sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein has accused the former president of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she believed was a 'twisted game' between the two men. Stacey Williams ... said she first met Trump in 1992 at a Christmas party after being introduced to him by Epstein, who she believed was a good friend of the then New York real estate developer. Williams said Epstein was interested in her and the two casually dated for a period of a few months. 'It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,' Williams said. The alleged groping occurred ... in the late winter or early spring of 1993, when Epstein suggested during a walk they were on that he and Williams stop by to visit Trump at Trump Tower.... Moments after they arrived, she alleges, Trump greeted Williams, pulled her toward him and started groping her. She said he put his hands 'all over my breasts' as well as her waist and her buttocks. She said she froze because she was 'deeply confused' about what was happening. At the same time, she said she believed she saw the two men smiling at each other."
Donald Trump is on the verge of once again becoming the Worst U.S. President* in History, after already once winning the prize for Worst U.S. President* in History. And one again, he will not be prepared to do the Worst Job Ever: ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, is sounding the alarm over ... Donald Trump's failure to enter into key agreements with the Biden administration for the presidential transition process, warning that it could endanger the peaceful transfer of power and threaten U.S. national security. In a letter sent Wednesday to Trump and his vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, obtained ... by NBC News, Raskin warned that they are 'breaking the precedent set by every other presidential candidate since 2010' by not accepting resources provided by the federal government for a smooth transition." MB: I guess fascists don't need no stinkin' "process."
Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and his closest allies are again trotting out the theories [that voting machines have been hacked] as part of a late-campaign strategy to assert that this year's election is rigged -- although this time Mr. Trump's campaign appears to be largely acting behind the scenes. The theories are rampant on social media and widely embraced by activists. They have frequently shown up in the blitz of lawsuits that Republicans have filed in the run-up to the election, including a Georgia lawsuit that a judge dismissed this month, calling the security concerns about voting machines raised in the suit 'purely hypothetical.' Mr. Trump's name was not on the suit, nor was the Republican National Committee's. But text messages reviewed by The New York Times suggest that the former president's top aides were behind it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: Georgia "election officials ... said that ... a woman ... visited a polling site in Whitfield County last week and used a touch-screen voting machine to cast her ballot. She mistakenly selected one candidate's name when she had intended to choose another.... The voter tried again, fixed the mistake and successfully cast her ballot. But online, the story quickly took on a life of its own, catapulted to prominence by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and transforming into an elaborate conspiracy theory involving voting machines that were somehow 'flipping' votes between candidates en masse.... [After posting the false claim on X,] Ms. Greene also joined Alex Jones, the far-right radio host known for spreading conspiracy theories, on his livestream to repeat the false claim.... Election officials in Georgia tried to counter the narrative, but their efforts appeared to pale in comparison to the reach that Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones had online." (Also linked yesterday.)
Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin's most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.... Disinformation researchers say Dougan's network was probably behind a recent viral fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday was created by Russia." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I scanned the whole story, and Dougan has a long and sordid past. The story doesn't say one thing about Donald Trump. Still, my twisted, conspiratorial mindset cannot get past Dougan's history in Palm Beach County, home of Mar-a-Lardo. Dougan is a Trumpy sort of guy, someone Trump might hire as an occasional bodyguard, someone Trump might like to chat with on road trips to the Doral golf resort. Just saying.
Marie: Just in case you question whether or not a woman has the emotional strength to be president, here's a woman with a great deal more courage than has Jamie Dimon, the powerful CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who normally just loves publicity. ~~~
~~~ Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "The head of The Los Angeles Times's editorial board resigned on Wednesday after the paper's owner quashed a presidential endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris. In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Mariel Garza, who held the title editorials editor, said she had quit because 'I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent. In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I'm standing up.' Ms. Garza said that the editorial board had planned to endorse Ms. Harris, but that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of The Los Angeles Times, decided this month that the newspaper would not make any endorsement for president. The paper did not explain to readers why it was not issuing an endorsement." ~~~
~~~ The Columbia Journalism Review report & interview (also linked above) is by Sewell Chan, a friend of Garza's & a former LA Times editorial page editor.
Marie: A couple of days ago, Ken W. recommended this Substack essay by Heather Cox Richardson, and I just got around to reading it yesterday. Richardson discusses political scientist Rachel Bitecofer's Substack essay on Trump's plans, in which Bitecofer gives a very short-course on Hitler's plans, and then, you know, finds parallels that leads her to conclude that Trump will be, after all, a dictator, too. You can read Bitecofer's essay here. But the most striking graf, to me, in Richardson's essay is her own, one in which she recounts a visit by "the First Lady of American Journalism" Dorothy Thompson, to Germany in 1931. Then the wife of Sinclair Lewis, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Thompson interviewed Adolf Hitler. Thompson was no ingenue. By that time, she had been a journalist in Europe for ten years, both freelancing & representing various U.S. news organizations. She was "the undisputed queen of the overseas press corps, the first woman to head a foreign news bureau of any importance."
Nonetheless, Cox writes that Thomas did not see Hitler as "the future dictator of Germany." "She asked him if he would 'abolish the constitution of the German Republic.' He answered: 'I will get into power legally' and, once in power, abolish the parliament and the constitution and 'found an authority-state, from the lowest cell to the highest instance; everywhere there will be responsibility and authority above, discipline and obedience below.' She did not believe he could succeed: 'Imagine a would-be dictator setting out to persuade a sovereign people to vote away their rights,' she wrote in apparent astonishment." Yes, indeed. Imagine that! (Also linked yesterday.)
Elisabeth Zerofsky of the New York Times Magazine: "The historian Robert Paxton ... is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.... In a column for a French newspaper, republished in early 2017 in Harper's Magazine, Paxton urged restraint [against describing Donald Trump as a fascist]. 'We should hesitate before applying this most toxic of labels,' he warned. Paxton acknowledged that Trump's 'scowl' and his 'jutting jaw' recalled 'Mussolini's absurd theatrics,' and that Trump was fond of blaming 'foreigners and despised minorities' for 'national decline.' These, Paxton wrote, were all staples of fascism.... [But] Jan. 6 proved to be a turning point.... 'The turn to violence was so explicit and so overt and so intentional, that you had to change what you said about it,' Paxton told me.... In a column that appeared online on Jan. 11, 2021, Paxton wrote that the invasion of the Capitol 'removes my objection to the fascist label.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps the most important point Paxton shares with Zerofsky is this one: "Whatever Trumpism is, it's coming 'from below as a mass phenomenon, and the leaders are running to keep ahead of it,' Paxton said.... For fascism to take root, there needs to be 'an opening in the political system, which is the loss of traction by the traditional parties' he said. 'There needs to be a real breakdown.'... Trump's power, Paxton suggested, appears to be different. 'The Trump phenomenon looks like it has a much more solid social base,' Paxton said. 'Which neither Hitler nor Mussolini would have had.' [since both were legitimately appointed to lead their governments]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: An Onion parody RAS linked yesterday is consistent with Paxton's view of Trump's base. The headline is "Both Campaigns Release Ads Showcasing Trump's Most Racist Comments." "Featuring nearly identical video footage in two separate $25 million ad buys, the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns both debuted new commercials Tuesday that attempt to win support for their respective candidates with a supercut of Trump's most racist comments.... However, sources indicated there is a difference in tone between the two ads, with one using sinister music and the other employing a rousing, triumphal score." Worth reading in its entirety for the fun of it. But you get the point: Trump's appeal is "a mass phenomenon," as Paxton writes.
Theodore Schleifer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sent a letter to the super PAC founded by Elon Musk this week warning that awarding $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition might violate federal laws against paying voters, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Similar warning letters from the department's public integrity unit have been sent to businesses and organizations that tied promotions to voting and are intended to suggest that continuing such an activity could result in a criminal investigation.... Three voters in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina have been awarded $1 million checks, and Mr. Musk has promised to award one voter $1 million every day through Election Day as part of his efforts on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign." The 24sight Website broke the news. (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's report is here.
Here's a great example of how Trump's economic policies work. Hint: not for you & me: ~~~
~~~ Jake Johnson of Common Dreams, republished by the Raw Story: "The 15 largest corporate beneficiaries of ... Donald Trump's 2017 tax law have dumped a combined $839 billion into executive-enriching stock buybacks and dividends since the measure's passage, according to research released Wednesday by the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US. The new analysis ... comes as Trump ... is campaigning on a fresh round of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Republican lawmakers, bolstered by an army of corporate lobbyists, have signaled that they are prepared to quickly ram through new tax breaks if Trump wins the presidency and the GOP secures control of the House and Senate in next month's election." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In case you missed it, those tax breaks, for the most part, did not "trickle down" to benefit you and me; they went right into the pockets of top executives & stockholders. Sure, those fatcats will buy some stuff with their tax-break windfall that ultimately could slightly benefit others, and some of us may profit from the increased value of dividends in our savings portfolios. But Trump's tax cuts did not translate to business expansions, innovations, higher wages or new jobs for ordinary workers or generally higher consumer spending and consumer confidence. That is, they increased the federal deficit without goosing the economy, when goosing the economy is the only economic reason for increasing an already-gigantic deficit.
Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A highly unusual ultimatum from a frustrated judge caused House Republican investigators to postpone their demand for testimony from two Justice Department tax attorneys in a probe of Hunter Biden's finances. 'I'm willing to bet everything I own, plus my dog Scout, that these two line attorneys are going to have zero information to confirm your suspicion,' U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told a lawyer representing the House GOP on Wednesday. Reyes threatened to order Attorney General Merrick Garland and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to show up next week in her Washington courtroom for legal arguments on the dispute. 'Don't test me on this ... I'm not bluffing,' said Reyes, an appointee of President Joe Biden who is often seen around the federal courthouse with her golden retriever. The fight emerged from House Republicans' long-running search for evidence that the White House exerted political pressure on officials who investigated the younger Biden's failure to pay income taxes. As part of that inquiry, the House Judiciary Committee tried to obtain testimony from two Justice Department tax lawyers who worked on the case."
Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Boeing's largest union rejected a tentative labor contract on Wednesday by a wide margin, extending a damaging strike and adding to the mounting financial problems facing the company, which hours earlier had reported a $6.1 billion loss. The contract, the second that workers have voted down, was opposed by 64 percent of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers."
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Arizona. Meet Your Trump Supporter. Tim Balk of the New York Times: "An Arizona man has been arrested on terrorism charges in connection with three shootings at a Democratic Party campaign office in suburban Phoenix that wounded no one but rattled campaign workers in a bitter election season. The man, Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested Tuesday, according to the authorities. Mr. Kelly also set out anti-Democratic Party signs lined with razor blades near his home, attaching bags filled with an unknown white powder and labeled 'Biohazard,' according to court papers. The shootings at the Democratic Party's campaign office in Tempe, Ariz., started in mid-September and all took place between midnight and 1 a.m., according to the police. After the third shooting, on Oct. 6, the Arizona Democratic Party closed the office. More than 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher were uncovered at Mr. Kelly's home, a lawyer for the Maricopa County attorney's office, Neha Bhatia, said at a virtual court appearance on Wednesday. Some of the firearms were machine guns, she said, adding that the authorities believed he was 'preparing to commit an act of mass casualty.'" The CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: No matter what Harris says about how what we have in common is greater than our differences, I don't think I have much in common with this guy. For starters, I have not spent any of my income amassing a quarter million rounds of ammo.
Georgia. Simon Levien of the New York Times: "Georgia's secretary of state warded off a cybersecurity threat this month against what was most likely an attack by a foreign country targeting its website that voters can use to request absentee ballots. An unusual spike in users on the site appeared to be an attempt to shut it down. There were ultimately no disruptions to absentee ballot access."
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Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada faced the stiffest challenge to his leadership from fellow elected Liberal Party members on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting where he was urged to resign to avoid torpedoing the party's chances in the next election.... On Wednesday..., most of the 153 Liberal members of Parliament gathered in Ottawa for a scheduled caucus meeting.... While caucus proceedings are typically secret, Mr. Trudeau, according to Canadian news media citing unnamed sources, was presented with a letter signed by about two dozen caucus members calling on him to step down.... CBC News reported that Mr. Trudeau told the closed meeting that he would reflect on the concerns raised." (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Israel's wars are here: "Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with strikes overnight, and six buildings were destroyed in the al-Laylaki neighborhood, Lebanese state media reported. The Israel Defense Forces said it hit Hezbollah military facilities in the Dahieh area south of Beirut, adding that the sites were 'under and inside civilian buildings in the heart of populated areas.' Fighting also continues in northern Gaza, where Israel launched a major offensive this month, particularly around the Jabalya refugee camp, which relief organizations say has been accompanied by a severe restriction on aid delivery. Israel says it is targeting Hamas fighters who are regrouping there."
Euan Ward, et al., of the New York Times: "Israel attacked the ancient port city of Tyre in Lebanon on Wednesday after issuing its broadest evacuation order there so far, pressing on with its bombing campaign against Hezbollah even as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken toured the region in pursuit of a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict.... In a departure from his usual talking points on Gaza cease-fire proposals, Mr. Blinken said that the United States was 'looking at new frameworks and formulations as a possibility.' He did not provide details, but a senior U.S. official said he was referring to the possibility that Israel might be willing to pause its Gaza offensive briefly in return for the return of a small number of hostages."
Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: "The Israeli military on Wednesday accused six Al Jazeera reporters based in Gaza of being fighters in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the latest escalation in Israel's ongoing feud with the Arabic-language broadcaster backed by Qatar. The Israeli military distributed what it said were documents seized from Gaza that showed membership lists, phone directories and salary slips for members of the Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wings of the two groups. The lists included names matching those of the Al Jazeera reporters. Al Jazeera strongly denied the accusations, which it said were based on 'fabricated evidence' and followed a long history of Israeli hostility toward the network. The authenticity and accuracy of the documents could not be immediately confirmed."
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Reader Comments (18)
From the AG Times critique of Harris’s town hall on CNN:
“Bender goes on to criticize Harris's responses. ”
Because OF COURSE HE DOES. Being mean to Hitler is a non-starter for Bender and AG. After all Trump’s answers are always crystal clear:
“I’m gonna put every one of you bastards in jail. The ones I don’t, I’m gonna hang.”
The Times loves clarity.
Seth Meyer on Trump latest
Test…
The problem with the Orange Monster’s obvious fascism and idolatry of Hitler is that every horrible thing he says and does, all the illegal, unconstitutional shit he proposes, all that stuff that make normal Americans blanch, his base loves. The MAGAts are delirious for fascism, for a dictator.
And undecideds who have a choice between a warm home, reliable health care, fairness under the law, or a hovel, back room coat hangers, and prison—or worse—if they criticize Trumpolini, fuck them. They’re brain dead.
Did Bender “go on to criticize” answers at Fatty’s town hall?
I guess maybe it’s because Trump doesn’t answer questions. He just lies and rants.
He sez Biden and Harris hate Catholics. “Why are they after Catholics?” They’re not. Joe Biden is a practicing Catholic. Trump is a practicing shithead.
“They’re stupid, dumb, and vicious!”
More projection.
“I’ve done more for Israel than anyone ever.”
But if I lose, blame those dirty Jews.
“I talk to Bibi every day.”
This is illegal.
So, Mr. Bender…any criticisms? No? Oh, what’s that? Harris is slippery and gives bad answers?
But Hitler? …crickets. Got it.
Snickering about Hitler.
The alarums go out and all the little MAGAts man the barricades to protect the Fat Führer. No one is gonna criticize our “Mein Kampf” quoting Nazi dictator for idolizing Hitler! No sireebob!
So here’s scumbag scion, Chris Sununu, tut-tutting that mean, lying John Kelly’s reports of Trump’s Hitler hard-on.
“…it’s all about results…So, of course, you’re going to get salacious things said and all that. And I’m not taking away the general’s conversation with the former president. But at the end of the day, you just want that poll that your team was just looking at opinions, what independents, what results.
They don’t want that kind of ultra, ultra-liberal extremism.”
Hang on. When did hard core right wing Marine general John Kelly become an ultra-liberal extremist? How did I miss that?
Also…results? Yeah, okay. Hitler got results: a world war, the Holocaust. You mean results like that?
And not for nothin’, but “salacious” has to do with inappropriate sexual arousal. Nothing about Trump’s love for Hitler suggests sexual excitement. Oh, wait…unless you’re TuKKKer KKKarlson, who envisions himself as a little girl bring spanked by Daddy Drumpf in his leather Gestapo get up.
Maybe Sununu gets a woodie from fascist wet dreams as well.
Beyond weird. What’s that, Undecideds? You wanna hear more about the Holocaust and being spanked before you make up your minds?
Fucking weirdos, everywhere you look.
"estimated $3.2bn for one school year"
"Attacks targeting American public schools over LGBTQ+ rights and education about race and racism cost those schools an estimated $3.2bn in the 2023-24 school year, according to a new report by education professors from four major American universities.
The study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the financial impact of rightwing political campaigns targeting school districts and school boards across the US. In the wake of the pandemic, these campaigns first attempted to restrict how American schools educate students about racism, and then increasingly shifted to spreading fear among parents about schools’ policies about transgender students and LGBTQ+ rights.
The researchers’ $3.2bn cost estimate only looks at the financial cost of these school-focused campaigns, not the broader emotional toll on students, teachers and administrators. The national survey found that half of superintendents had been personally harassed, and one in 10 had been threatened violently. Multiple superintendents told researchers they had seen an increase in staff members taking medication for mental health issues."
@Akhilleus wrote, "Maybe Sununu gets a woodie from fascist wet dreams as well."
Yes, he does.
Sununu loves pretending to be a jolly, moderate, New Englandy sort of Republican, but as Akhilleus' commentary above suggests, that is one phony pose. Whenever it matters, Sununu shows us who he is. Fortunately, I have a contract with Terminex. Just sayin'.
Mediaite has a transcript of some of Sununu's remarks on CNN yesterday about Kelly's revelations.
Oh, and here's Sununu talking to Neil Cavuto of Fox on the same topic. Also via Mediaite.
What, was Sununu the only guy Trump could get to go out and defend the Hitler-loving stuff? Maybe.
Strikes me the Pretender is running another low-budget campaign.
This time, instead of building a beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for and stoking fear of Muslim terrorism, he has latched onto two very similarly simple ideas and repeats them ad nauseam (the old stand-by of immigration with even more explicitly racist language this time around and tariffs will solve everything economic), provides no explanations for how or why deporting millions of brown migrants and imposing universal tariffs on imported goods will work out in the real world, still blames other people for everything, alway says when asked an uncomfortable question that he knows nothing about him, her or it , and doesn't even bother to make sense, if he even can.
For the Pretender knowing nothing and even admitting it is apparently an advantage.
Yesterday, RAS linked an amazing clip showing British humanitarian Nicolas Winton surprised on a television show by being surrounded by many of the 669 Jews he rescued as children from the Nazis at the inception of WWII. Incredibly moving. I suggested that a similar surprise be arranged for Trump, except that in his case, since humanitarianism and altruism are about as distant from him as a membership in a local synagogue was for his hero, Adolf Hitler, he’d have to be surrounded by people and family members his greed, viciousness, and inhuman nature had injured or killed. It would number in the millions.
Looking up Sir Winton, I came across a listing of some of the children whose work as adults was recognized. One of those rescued was someone whose work is very familiar to me. As a teenager learning filmmaking, I devoured every resource I could find. One of these was a book on film editing by Karel Reisz. It was invaluable. I still have it. He went on to direct a number of major films.
Now think of the millions of kids whose lives will be affected in terrible ways by having had Donald Trump in the White House. Add to that the millions more who will be damaged when and if this monster, this disgrace of a human being, is returned to power.
Marie,
Plenty of goose stepping little Trump sieg heilers on Fox stepped up to defend his swastika tattooed fat ass. They lined up to do the standard “I know you are but what am I?” move PoT apparatchiks and apologists do whenever they have no facts to back up their claims. For these always Trumpers, Kelly is the liar. He’s the fascist. Not Father of their country Donald Trump.
If this evil prick said Harris should be shot, thousands would ask what his preferred ammo size would be and the rest would say he was only making a joke.
@Akhilleus: Yeah, I liked the part where Brian Kilmeade on "Fox & Friends" speculated that Trump was "maybe not fully being cognizant of the third rail of German generals were Nazis and whatever."
Yeah, a person wouldn't necessarily know that Hitler's generals were "Nazis and whatever." Good grief!
Nothing bipartisan possible ever again. Those “people” are monsters.
The NYT is sowing fear and discord to keep the horse race going. Top headline on the feed above right:
As Harris Courts Republicans, the Left Grows Wary and Alienated
From the Times piece linked above, about a Trump supporter shooting up a Democratic campaign office in Arizona:
“ Mr. Kelly also set out anti-Democratic Party signs lined with razor blades near his home, attaching bags filled with an unknown white powder and labeled 'Biohazard,' according to court papers. The shootings at the Democratic Party’s campaign office in Tempe, Ariz., started in mid-September and all took place between midnight and 1 a.m., according to the police. After the third shooting, on Oct. 6, the Arizona Democratic Party closed the office. More than 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher were uncovered at Mr. Kelly’s home…”
This is 100% the sort of thing that Trump and Vance and pretty much the entire Party of Traitors congressional and media ecosystem have been screaming about as a warning of what Democrats are going to do.
But Democrats don’t this sort of stuff. Ever. Only Republicans. When’s the last time you read about a Democrat stockpiling hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, along with machine guns and grenade launchers, attaching razor blades to campaign signs and shooting up Republican offices?
And on that note, let’s see AG Both Sides this one. “On the other hand, an elderly Democratic voter in Georgia, coming for early voting, gave the finger to Trump supporters who were calling him a commie. The Trump supporters, fearing for their lives, immediately called the local and state police, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, CIA, and Sean Hannity. The finger-giver is in custody and under investigation. See? Both sides are to blame.”
The WAPO has corrected the earlier story that said Harris had more donations from EVERY state. That was wrong. The Pretender led Harris in 6 states. It's a handy list of which states to stay out of, tho' I admit we were bicycling in Idaho on our recent trip.
"There are six states where Trump had more donors: Alabama, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wyoming. The description, article and graphics have been corrected."
Stupid squared.
Those guys who like Harris but will vote for Trump are absolute dunces. He’s better for business? Demonstrably, he’s an awful businessman. That was an image manufactured by NBC to sell a terrible show and rescue the Orange Bankruptcy Monster from decades of failure in business.
And they like him because they’re of draft age and Trump will “keep us out of wars”? First, there is no draft. There hasn’t been since 1973. In fact, I was among the last group of Americans who had our numbers drawn in the final draft lottery in December of 1972.
And he’ll keep us out of wars? Who knows, but he will for shit sure allow wars in other parts of the world, cheering on dictators like Vladimir Putin to invade our NATO allies.
So…wrong on all counts. And these are he same morons who will blame Biden, Obama, Harris, and Clinton when Trump completely destroys the economy and these idiots lose their jobs.
I'm one of the minority of US adult males that has never had to register for the draft. When I turned 18, I went to my high school guidance office where I was told that as of "the first of the month, you no longer have to register." By the time they re-required registration, I was grandfathered out. Lucky me.