The Conversation -- October 25, 2024
Kay Graham Is Rolling in Her Grave. Hadas Gold & Brian Stelter of CNN: "For the first time in decades, The Washington Post will not endorse a candidate in this year's presidential election, the newspapers publisher announced Friday, a decision that sparked widespread outrage among the paper's staffers.... The Post reported the decision not to endorse was made by the newspaper's billionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, citing two sources briefed on the matter. The Post's editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris and it was ready to be approved by its board, but the draft was never presented, a person with knowledge of the matter told CNN.... Robert Kagan, an editor-at-large at the Post, told CNN he had resigned from the newspaper over Bezos's decision to block the endorsement. The move was also quickly denounced by Marty Baron, the Post's former executive editor who led the newspaper through its coverage of the January 6, 2021, attack. 'This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Bezos (and others),' Baron wrote in a social media post. 'Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.'" ~~~
~~~ David Folkenflik of NPR broke the story earlier. Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
"Yes, We Can.” Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Former President Barack Obama sought to transfer the energy of his political movement to Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally on Thursday night outside Atlanta -- their first joint appearance of the campaign -- as he tried to help propel her over the finish line. 'Together, we have a chance to choose a new generation of leadership in this country,' Mr. Obama told a crowd of 23,000 people at a high school football stadium in Clarkston, Ga. 'And start building a better and stronger and fairer and more hopeful America.' When Ms. Harris took the stage, he lifted up her arm like a prizefighter in celebration. She quickly seemed to try to adopt his mantle, leading the audience, the largest she has drawn since becoming the Democratic nominee, in a chant of 'Yes, we can,' Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign slogan."
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. (Also linked yesterday.)
Lydia O'Connor of the Huffington Post: "The longest-serving member of the Wisconsin state Senate ― a Republican who's been in the chamber since 1987 ― revealed Thursday that he's voting Kamala Harris for president, warning that Donald Trump is 'a totalitarian and very much a fascist.' State Sen. Robert Cowles, who's retiring at the end of his term, shared his decision with Madison-based radio station Civic Media, saying this will be the first time he's not picking a Republican for president because of the threats the former president poses to American democracy."
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. (Also linked yesterday.)
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.... '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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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.
Meryl Kornfield & Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump painted a dark picture of the United States under the Biden administration at a campaign rally [in Tempe, Az.,] Thursday, comparing the country to 'a garbage can for the world' because of illegal border crossings. The remark was a new rendition of a common refrain for Trump, who has repeatedly used dehumanizing language when talking about immigrants.... He spent much of his insult-laced rally decrying a border 'invasion' that he blamed on Vice President Kamala Harris. For roughly an hour, the Republican presidential nominee interwove attacks on illegal immigration and invective aimed at Harris -- the Democratic nominee -- other Democratic politicians and journalists." The NBC News story is here.
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...." (Also linked yesterday.)
"Believe Him." New York Times Editorial Board: "Donald Trump has described at length the dangerous and disturbing actions he says he will take if he wins the presidency.... These statements are so outrageous and outlandish, so openly in conflict with the norms and values of American democracy that many find them hard to regard as anything but empty bluster. We have two words for American voters: Believe him. The record shows that Mr. Trump often pursues his stated goals, regardless of how plainly they lack legal or moral grounding. The record further shows that many of his most reckless efforts in his first administration were stymied only because of others in his administration who blocked, delayed or watered down his aims.... Mr. Trump has learned from that experience to surround himself with supplicants who would instead obey his wishes and bring his words and ideas to life even if they contradict facts, the public interest or the Constitution.... The promises Mr. Trump made during his first presidential campaign, in 2016, turned out to be a pretty good road map of the policies and priorities he pursued as president." The editorial then lays a number of Trump's threats along with evidence that he means them.
Believe Him. Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "In running to retake the White House, Trump has named his unfulfilled demands to deploy the military against civil unrest as one of his top regrets -- and one he aims not to repeat. His allies have laid plans for him to do so by invoking emergency authority under the Insurrection Act of 1807.... In a Fox News interview Oct. 13, he said the military could handle his domestic political opponents such as congressional Democrats and election protesters, whom he deemed 'the enemy from within.'... Some of Trump's most senior former advisers are warning Americans to take his militaristic impulses seriously."
Believe Him. Thomas Frank & Scott Waldman of Politico's E&E News: "In early September 2020, wildfires tore through eastern Washington state, obliterating tens of millions of dollars of property, displacing hundreds of rural residents and killing a 1-year-old boy. But then-President Donald Trump refused to act on Gov. Jay Inslee's request for $37 million in federal disaster aid because of a bitter personal dispute with the Democratic governor.... Trump sat on Inslee's request for the final four months of his presidency.... Trump ignored Inslee's 73-page request even after the Federal Emergency Management Agency found during weeks of inspection that the wildfires easily met the federal damage threshold for disaster aid. 'It really was an outrageous abuse of power,' Inslee said in a recent interview with E&E News."
Meredith McGraw of Politico: "More than a dozen former Trump administration officials on Friday came out in support of former chief of staff John Kelly, who went on the record this week to say the former president fits the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator and has no concept of the Constitution. In a new letter, shared exclusively with Politico, the former Trump administration officials -- some of the officials have been outspoken Trump critics for years -- stated, 'this is who Donald Trump is.' The letter was signed by Trump administration officials, including Kevin Carroll, former senior counselor to Kelly; former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews; former assistant secretary of homeland security Elizabeth Neumann; former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci; former chief of staff at the Dept. of Homeland Security Miles Taylor; former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham; former press secretary to the vice president Alyssa Farah Griffin; and former national security adviser to vice president Pence, Olivia Troye."
Isaac Arnsdorf & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Trump's recent public appearances have been strikingly erratic, coarse and often confusing.... His speeches have gotten longer and more repetitive compared with those of past campaigns. He promotes falsehoods and theories that are so far removed from reality or appear wholly made up that they are often baffling to anyone not steeped in MAGA media or internet memes. He jumps more abruptly between subjects and from his script to improvising, sometimes offering what sound like non-sequiturs. He occasionally mixes up words or names, and some of his sentences are meaningless or nonsensical. As he delivered more speeches in October, he has made multiple slip-ups per day. He has become more profane in public."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ezra Klein of the New York Times interviews Maggie Haberman about Donald Trump. This is an edited transcript and includes video of the interview. MB: Edited or not, it's still quite long, and I have lost most of my curiosity about what makes Donald tick because I find him just as fascinating as I do Tucker Carlson (see story linked below).
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side..., Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped 'wars with France,' after being described by his longest-serving ... chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to 'close the deal.'... It is apparently baked into this campaign that Trump is allowed to talk and act like a complete lunatic while Harris has to be perfect in every way."
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. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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?
Avery Lotz & Ivana Saric of Axios: "Elon Musk's super PAC announced two lottery winners Thursday in its daily $1 million giveaway, defying a warning from the Justice Department.... The winners of the $1 million prizes are the first to be announced since news broke that the DOJ had sent a letter notifying America PAC, Musk's pro-Trump group, that its lottery could violate federal law against paying people to register to vote, per multiple outlets."
Scott Lemieux, in LG&$, republishes a chunk of a Wall Street Journal article that goes like this: "Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.... Musk has emerged this year as a crucial supporter of Donald Trump's election campaign, and could find a role in a Trump administration should he win. While the U.S. and its allies have isolated Putin in recent years, Musk's dialogue could signal re-engagement with the Russian leader, and reinforce Trump's expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin's role as one of America's chief adversaries." Lemieux: "The fact that this authoritarian dipshit still has a security clearance is a classic example of the very rich being exempt from rules and norms that apply to anyone else."
Tara Copp of the AP: "In a rare move, the Pentagon strongly pushed back Thursday against misinformation spread on social media that falsely suggests U.S. troops have been authorized to use force against American citizens during the election. The misinformation -- spread online by former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among others -- suggests that a Defense Department policy revision released in late September was timed to interfere with the Nov. 5 presidential election. Use of force by federal troops on U.S. soil against U.S. civilians is against the law -- except in cases of self-defense -- and is outlined in the Posse Comitatus Act. Kennedy ... tweeted the false narrative to his 4 million followers. It falsely claims that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ... pushed through a Defense Department directive allowing lethal force against Americans who protest government policies."
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Now, as voters and campaign professionals prepare for what promises to be a hard-fought election match, a smaller group of lawyers and longtime MAGA supporters is preparing the ground for an even harder-fought post-election rematch. And as they did in 2020, they are preparing to battle on the grounds of certification.... What I found [during interviews in four battleground states] was that although the Stop the Steal movement of 2020 has evolved into the considerably more sophisticated 'election integrity' movement of 2024, its success is still premised on persuading election administrators of two things that are not true: that widespread election fraud is a real and present threat to democracy and that they have not only the authority but also the legal duty to do something about it -- that they must 'do their duty' and deny certification. I also found a growing number of election officials who seemed willing to do exactly that. For them, going so far as to block certification wasn't a partisan gambit; it was a patriotic duty."
Christopher Maag of the New York Times: "Two brothers from upstate New York were arrested Thursday on charges of attacking law enforcement agents at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and of participating in the violent mob that attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Roger A. Voisine Jr., 48, and Reynold R. Voisine, 47, face felony charges including civil disorder and assaulting an officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon."
For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books. But now our administration's work will ensure no one will ever forget. -- Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a Native American, who traveled to Arizona with President Biden ~~~
~~~ Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday will formally apologize for the role of the federal government in running boarding schools where thousands of Native American children faced abuse, neglect and the erasure of their tribal identities. 'I'm heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago, to make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,' Mr. Biden said on Thursday as he departed the White House for Phoenix, where he will address the Gila River Indian Community on Friday. The trip is Mr. Biden's first visit to a Native American reservation as president, and the first time an American president has apologized for the abuses that happened on the federal government's watch over more than a century. From the early 1800s to the late 1960s, the U.S. government removed Native children from their families and homes and sent them to boarding schools for the purpose of erasing their tribal ties and cultural practices."
Katie Mettler of the Washington Post: "The owner of the Dali container ship that crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year, collapsing the span and killing six people, has agreed to pay more than $100 million in damages to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit, authorities said Thursday. The Justice Department announced the settlement agreement in a news release, saying that the ship's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., would pay $103 million in funds that would go to federal agencies affected by the collapse. That figure far exceeds the $43.6 million cap the companies had sought on the liabilities they could be made to pay -- and signals the possibility of many more payouts on the horizon. The state of Maryland, which owned and operated the Key Bridge, is pursuing separate damages, the department said, alongside dozens of others who have made claims against Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine since the disaster seven months ago."
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Jessica Piper of Politico: Elon "Musk gave $10 million to the Mitch McConnell-linked Senate Leadership Fund on Oct 1., according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. He also gave $2.4 million to The Sentinel Action Fund, a super PAC formerly linked to the Heritage Foundation that is spending to boost several GOP Senate candidates as well as ... Donald Trump."
California. Tim Arango & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "The Los Angeles County district attorney said on Thursday that he would request the resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who killed their parents in 1989, a step that could lead to their release from prison. The district attorney, George Gascón, announced his decision at a news conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. 'I believe that they have paid their debt to society,' he said. Mr. Gascón, who was surrounded by members of his office and members of the Menendez family, said he would ask the court on Friday to resentence the brothers to a murder charge that comes with the possibility of parole.... The district attorney noted that there was disagreement in his office about whether to move forward with the resentencing. He cited a recent documentary that he said 'brought a tremendous amount of public attention' and requests for information."
Ohio. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "An Ohio judge struck down a state law that banned nearly all abortions on Thursday, ruling it was unconstitutional in light of a 2023 voter referendum to constitutionally protect abortion access. The decision carries important implications for access to reproductive health care, even after the law's core restriction, a six-week abortion ban, has been unenforceable for nearly a year. The decision brings finality to a five-year legal battle that began in 2019 when Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the six-week ban into law.... The law was immediately blocked from taking effect since Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land, but it later took effect the day of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling in June 2022.... It was blocked months later by a temporary restraining order.... [The state attorney general's] office ... did not immediately say whether it would appeal." The AP's report is here.
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.... 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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: When 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "Israeli forces carried out attacks across Gaza overnight, raiding one of the last working hospitals in the north of the territory and launching airstrikes in the south that left dozens dead, Gazan health officials said on Friday. The Health Ministry also said that Israeli forces had raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in northern Gaza.... Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was meeting on Friday with Arab officials in London, concluding a weeklong diplomatic tour aimed at jump-starting negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Friday are here.
News Lede
New York Times: "A sweeping onion recall linked to an E. coli outbreak involving McDonald's Quarter Pounders has prompted several other major fast-food chains to remove raw onions from their menu offerings. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King have stopped adding fresh onions to their signature items at certain locations. A spokeswoman for Yum Brands, which owns several fast-food chains, said that its restaurants were yanking onions from their menus 'out of an abundance of caution.' Yum Brands would not elaborate or say how many sites in how many states would not offer onions."
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Reader Comments (17)
It really shouldn't be that hard, should it?
That is, to see what the Right is up to?
Flynn warning about Biden using the military during elections? Yeah, that's likely. Who would really like to employ the military in domestic affairs, even against his political enemies? It's not Biden; it's the other guy, the one who has said so, repeatedly.
And Tucker? One of those who has repeatedly decried the proper Daddy functions of a democratic government, those of educating children, seeking equity, taxing citizens, regulating business, prosecuting insurrection, as a plot of a nefarious Deep State, now saying the Left is skeered of Daddy coming to spank them?
When its the likes of Tucker, Flynn and most of all, the Pretender--spoiled children all-- who need spanking.
Robert Reich
"Political cowardice in the C-suites
Jamie Dimon, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett have spoken out on everything else but are afraid to come out against Trump. They are relinquishing whatever claims they had to leadership in America."
ProPublica
"For years, America’s most iconic gun-makers turned over sensitive personal information on hundreds of thousands of customers to political operatives.
Those operatives, in turn, secretly employed the details to rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians running for Congress and the White House, a ProPublica investigation has found.
The clandestine sharing of gun buyers’ identities — without their knowledge and consent — marked a significant departure for an industry that has long prided itself on thwarting efforts to track who owns firearms in America."
HuffPost
New Memorial to January 6th
Thought this one a superior history lesson, tho' it trails off a bit at the end as Cox seeks a positive spin on what might be the absolute disaster soon to come:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-24-2024
The lesson here. Republicans have long used the ignorant masses to support their agenda, which used to be about how to govern primarily on behalf of business interests.
Those same now MAGA masses are still ignorant and still being used by the Pretender and his wealthy supporters, this time around to more blatantly line their own pockets. Everything for me--right now. All pretense of governing for the good of the whole has been abandoned.
Today's Republican leadership is so obviously self-centered that even Jamie Diamond is worried. Maybe he's noticed that self-centered government at its extreme is dictatorship.
The MAGA masses sure haven't noticed.
Confronting the Internet
"A new video by The Good Liars shows North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Michele Morrow being confronted about her past social media posts calling for the death of former President Obama."
Make that "Dimon."
Can't blame Otto. Was perhaps thinking of an eponymous Mafia boss or, more likely, the Seattle parking lot magnate of yore, Joe Diamond.
In turbulent times...
Democracy...darkeness...something
"'Washington Post' won't endorse in White House race for first time since 1980s
"We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates," Will Lewis wrote in an opinion piece published on the paper's website. He referenced the paper's policy in the decades prior to 1976, when, following the Watergate scandal that the Post broke, it endorsed Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter. The last time the Post did not endorse a presidential candidate in the general election was 1988, according to a search of its archives.
He [Bezos] brought in Lewis, who has significant conservative bonafides, as publisher and CEO in January. Lewis held the same role at Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal; served as the editor of the London-based Telegraph, which is closely allied with the Tory party; and was a consultant to Conservative Boris Johnson when Johnson was U.K. prime minister."
Breaking news: Washington Post won’t endorse anyone for president
A headline from the NYT.
Looks like I have to cancel my subscription.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????
Yep, confirming my choice last month to cancel Washington Post subscription.
Looks like we all need to subscribe to The Guardian now ...
Billionaires fearful of a fat moron.
The Age of Fecklessness.
Reminds me to the T-shirt slogan: If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.
And if all that matters to you is money.....
Over 8000 comments on the WAPO announcement. Most very negative, many accompanied by subscription cancellations.
Could see this coming when Bezos hired Lewis, who had previously lived on the dark side of Murdoch's WSJ.
So WaPo joins the LA Times. Brave owners and editors. All of them scared of a monster with an orange face and hair that proves he is a lunatic. (A sane, undepraved, undespicable person would have found someone to style his hair so the public didn't have to vomit on seeing it.). So lovely that billionaires are all aligned with the monster.
We should email Hillary and tell her that the basket must be replaced with an empty boxcar. Or a circus tent. Or a TX football stadium.
The Washington Poop. Move that "statue" over to the building where journalism involving politics has gone to die. Move over, NYT-- you both are doing a great job electing the monster and his allies.
Read the first hundred or so of the 17,000 + comments on Lewis' op-ed "justifying" his (Bezos') decision.
Almost all included cancellation notices. Looks like another sound business decision, doesn't it?
Doubt the hole in WAPO subscription list will be filled by hordes of MAGA readers. There can't be that many who read either the Post or the Times. They might learn something, a condition to be avoided at all costs.
Watching the World Series tonight (first walk off grand slam in World Series history), they repeatedly ran spots touting Fox’s election night coverage as something they call “Democracy 2024!” What they should be calling it is “Project 2025!” or more to the point, “Screw Democracy 2024!” or “Hitler’s Here 2024!”
You’ll recall that Fox famously pissed off Fatty by being the first network to call Arizona for Biden in 2020. Everyone connected with that call was fired. That won’t happen again no matter the vote totals. You can bet they’ll be calling everything for Trump this time around, whether he wins or not. If he loses, might as well help the traitors by sowing distrust in the democratic process.
Democracy 2024, my ass.