The Conversation -- October 26, 2024
Robert Draper of the New York Times profiles Kamala Harris.
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Other countries overcame this stereotypical thinking about women leaders, but there is still a thick strain of it in America.... Trump is running a hypermasculine campaign -- with Chief Bro Elon Musk bizarrely bouncing up and down -- that is breathtakingly offensive to women. Trump is exploiting the crisis among Gen Z men, a crisis driven by loneliness, Covid isolation, economic insecurity, a lack of purpose and a feeling that the modern world seems more accommodating to young women.... At a Trump rally in Georgia on Wednesday, Tucker Carlson gave a rant that became an instant classic of perversion.... Somehow, Carlson was even more creepy and retrogressive than JD Vance, with his denunciations of 'childless cat ladies' and his dissing of postmenopausal women. Trump is phallocentric -- always a sign of insecurity. At a rally in Latrobe, Pa., he rhapsodized about Arnold Palmer's anatomy." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, you might as well watch this, as I wouldn't be surprised if it's the SNL cold open tonight (Update: SNL ran a rerun tonight, so no Tucker): ~~~
Elon Musk, Illegal Immigrant. Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in the US after abandoning a graduate studies program in California, according to a Washington Post report that contrasted the episode with the South African multibillionaire's anti-immigration views.... [Musk] has previously maintained that his transition from student to entrepreneur was a 'legal grey area'. But the Washington Post reported Saturday that the world's wealthiest individual was almost certainly working in the US without correct authorization for a period in 1995 after he dropped out of Stanford University to work on his debut company, Zip2, which sold for about $300m four years later. Legal experts said foreign students cannot drop out of school to build a company even if they are not getting paid. The Post also noted that -- prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US in 2001 -- regulation for student visas was more lax. 'If you do anything that helps to facilitate revenue creation, such as design code or try to make sales in furtherance of revenue creation, then you're in trouble,' Leon Fresco, a former US justice department immigration litigator, told the outlet." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Reading the WashPo story, it appears Elon worked in the U.S. illegally at least into 1997. He seems to have broken the law in other ways, too, by lying to authorities about his immigration status a few times & by persuading his brother Kimbal -- who also was an undocumented immigrant -- to run his company. BTW, according to the WashPo story, Elon never was a student here; he was accepted into a grad program at Stanford but never enrolled in classes. Frankly, I'm not a bit troubled by workers who don't have legal status, but I am offended by hypocrites who got here as undocumented workers, yet now campaign against and even vilify today's undocumented workers.
Sure, Trump Cares About You. Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: "Many of Donald Trump's supporters left a Michigan rally before he arrived after the former president kept them waiting for three hours to tape a popular podcast interview. Those who remained at the outdoor rally on an airport tarmac huddled in the cold Friday night as they waited for the former president to touch down in the battleground state. Trump apologized to the crowd for the delay, which he blamed on an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation's most listened-to podcaster and an influential voice with younger male voters Trump is aggressively courting.... [Even when his plane was more than two hours away,] Trump recorded a video from his plane urging his supporters to stay, noting it was Friday night and promising, 'We're going to have a good time tonight.'"
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "... law enforcement officials are confronting a rising wave of threats to election workers and political activists.... On Monday, the Justice Department unsealed a complaint against a man in Philadelphia who had vowed to skin alive and kill a party official recruiting volunteer poll watchers. On Tuesday, the police in Tempe, Ariz., arrested a man in connection with shootings at a Democratic campaign office, which resulted in no injuries, and other acts of political vandalism. On Wednesday, prosecutors charged a 61-year-old man from Tampa, Fla., with threatening an election official -- on top of pending charges over menacing messages sent in the past five years. And on Thursday, police officers in Phoenix arrested a person in connection with a mailbox fire, damaging some 20 ballots in a Democratic stronghold.... [A Brennan Center survey of election workers] found that almost 40 percent had been the target of threats or harassment."
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Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
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 newspaper's 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.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ David Folkenflik of NPR broke the story earlier. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Sewell Chan of the Columbia School of Journalism reports on the tick-tock of how Washington Post "leadership" quashed the Harris endorsement.
Washington Post Opinion Columnists in the Washington Post: "The Washington Post's decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake. It represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.... An independent newspaper might someday choose to back away from making presidential endorsements. But this isn't the right moment, when one candidate is advocating positions that directly threaten freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution." -- Karen Attiah, Perry Bacon Jr., Matt Bai, Max Boot, E.J. Dionne Jr., Lee Hockstader, David Ignatius, Heather Long, Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank, Alexandra Petri, Catherine Rampell, Eugene Robinson, Jennifer Rubin, Karen Tumulty & Erik Wemple
Anna Betts of the Guardian: "There was uproar and outrage among the Washington Post's current and former staffers and other notable figures in the world of American media after the newspaper's leaders on Friday chose to not endorse any candidate in the US presidential election.... In a statement, the union representing editorial staff and reporters at the Washington Post expressed that they were 'deeply concerned' by the decision 'especially a mere 11 days ahead of an immensely consequential election'.... Semafor reported that in the 24 hours ending on Friday afternoon, about 2,000 subscribers had already canceled their subscriptions.... 'So much for "Democracy Dies in Darkness",'[former ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice] said.... 'This is the most hypocritical, chicken-shit move from a publication that is supposed to hold people in power to account.'"
Marie: WashPo publisher William Lewis claimed in his CYA "explanation" for the Post's decision not to endorse was that it was "returning to its roots." But as Ben Wittes points out (essay linked below), those so-called roots were remarkably shallow: "The Post before Nixon was a bit of a backwater. It was small, privately held. It had not yet become a national voice. It had not yet benefited from the collapse of the other major Washington newspaper. The traditions of the Washington Post are the traditions of the Washington Post of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate era and the subsequent decades. "That is to say, if it walks like a chicken, pecks like a chicken & squawks like a chicken, then it probably is a chicken. Susan Rice is on the mark.
Michael Schaffer of Politico Magazine: "There is nothing quite so frustrating as an act of cowardice presented as an act of principle. That's the essence of the short statement today authored by Will Lewis, the publisher of The Washington Post. According to Lewis, the paper is not making an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race in order to make a brave declaration about its independence. 'We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for...,' Lewis wrote. 'We also see it as a statement in support of our readers' ability to make up their own minds,' he added. Lewis, a former Rupert Murdoch associate hired less than a year ago by Post owner Jeff Bezos, picked an awfully convenient moment to embrace readers' decision-making.... The timing of this stinks -- a self-inflicted wound at best, and something a lot more sinister at worst."
"The Guardrails Are Already Crumpling." Jonathan Last of the Bulwark: "It's a situation analogous to what we saw in Russia in the early 2000s: We are witnessing the surrender of the American business community to Donald Trump.... This story is ... about the most consequential American entrepreneur of his generation signaling his submission to Trump -- and the message that sends to every other corporation and business leader in the country. In the world. Killing this editorial says, If Jeff Bezos has to be nice to Trump, then so do you. Keep your nose clean, bub."
Bemjamin Wittes in the Bulwark: "... Trump spent a lot of time attacking Bezos and Amazon during his first term over Washington Post content and that he has more recently become cozy with Elon Musk, with whom Amazon competes in a number of areas.... If you're not prepared to defer to the editorial board you have hired to think things through for you, you have no business owning the Washington Post.... Democracy, and journalism, cannot rest on the shoulders of oligarchs.... Bezos did a lot of good for the Post when he first took it over, but the consent of the billionaire is not a stable structure for newspapers or magazines in an authoritarian era. Eventually, they can be counted upon to protect themselves, and that may sometimes mean not speaking the truth -- either by lying or, as here, just by not speaking at all."
Dan Froomkin in Salon: The Washington Post's decision to kill its endorsement of Kamala Harris "says: We are so terrified of a Trump presidency that we are bending the knee in advance. Most importantly, it makes clear that owner Jeff Bezos doesn't want to lose government business in a second Trump administration.... [This, along with the Los Angeles Times' similar move days earlier] makes it more clear than ever: You cannot be a truly independent news organization if you are owned by an oligarch.... Just as these oligarchs are a plague on society, they are a plague on the news business. They have now ruined -- possibly for good -- two of our most treasured news organizations.... An overarching theme here is that the moves by the Post and the LA Times reflect what Timothy Snyder, the author of 'On Tyranny,' calls 'anticipatory obedience.'... These institutions are not just succumbing to authoritarianism, they are advancing it."
Margaret Sullivan of the Guardian: "There's no other way to see this other than as an appalling display of cowardice and a dereliction of their public duty."
Parker Molloy of the Present Age cites a number of participants, authorities & observers of this performative capitulation to an anticipated authoritarian regime. They point to a few other examples of media conglomerates compromising their news outlets to accommodate their other business interests. MB: There's a reason I call network execs "the suits" long after that term seems to have been discarded.
Cheryl Rofer of LG&$ Headline: "I didn't know that "Democracy Dies in Darkness" was an instruction to the editorial staff."
Ross Lincoln of the Wrap: "Alongside its endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Los Angeles Times editorial board had also planned a multi-part series against Donald Trump before the whole thing was quashed by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, TheWrap has learned. According to internal memos viewed by TheWrap, the series, tentatively called 'The Case Against Trump,' would have ran throughout this week. The endorsement of Kamala Harris would then have been published on Sunday. However, Soon-Shiong ordered the cancellation of the series and the endorsement without explanation, current and now former staffers have confirmed.... The South African-American billionaire's interference in his paper's editorial independence has sparked a rise in canceled subscriptions and several high profile resignations....
"In a dissembling statement of his own posted Wednesday on ... [X], Soon-Shiong blamed the editorial team itself for the lack of an endorsement, yet also essentially confirmed he had in fact shut it down.... So far, the Los Angeles Times Guild is the only institution within the paper that has commented publicly on the matter. 'We are deeply concerned about our owner's decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race,' the union said in a statement Wednesday. 'We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly assigning blame to Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse." ~~~
~~~ AP: "Two more members of the Los Angeles Times editorial board have resigned after the newspaper's owner blocked the board's plan to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Veteran journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein announced their resignations Thursday, a day after the editorial page editor Mariel Garza left in protest over LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's decision not to endorse a candidate. Greene, a Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing, said in a statement shared with the Columbia Journalism Review that he was 'deeply disappointed' in the decision not to endorse Harris.... Editorial writer Tony Barboza, who remains on the editorial board, said in a post Friday on an internal Los Angeles Times message board that the board had planned a series of editorials that would have culminated on Sunday with a Harris endorsement."
Marie: It's dusk & you glimpse a burglar lurking in the bushes. Do you lock the doors? Do you call 911? Do you arm yourself? No, you do not. You open all the doors and lay out the sterling & Grandma's diamond brooch so he can't miss them. If democracy dies in darkness, the darkness has come this time as a result of voluntary capitulation -- or "anticipatory obedience." This is a siren warning to every voter, a confirmation that those of us who for years have been pointing at the Trumpian threat to democracy were right all along. Sadly, far more than half of Americans still cannot hear us. The billionaires are closing ranks against us: Musk, Dimon, Soon-Shiong, Bezos. Along with this Forbes list of Trump's top billionaire donors. (To be fair, at this point, also according to Forbes, more billionaires [81] are supporting Harris than are supporting Trump.)
Presidential Race
Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris diverted from the presidential battlegrounds on Friday to receive the endorsement of the global superstar Beyoncé in Texas, in an event almost entirely focused on abortion rights. With the presidential race deadlocked, the Harris campaign sought to use Beyoncé's status -- particularly in her hometown, Houston -- to focus attention on the state's near-total abortion ban as a cautionary tale for what could happen throughout the country should ... Donald J. Trump win another term in the White House. The rally in Houston was not only her campaign's largest but also its most emotionally charged event since she became the Democratic nominee. Beyoncé offered a speech focused on a more optimistic future, and the wrenching stories of Texas women who suffered life-threatening health complications as a result of being denied proper care for pregnancy complications were center stage. Ms. Harris and many of the speakers laid the blame solely on Mr. Trump, who frequently boasts of appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022."
Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: "The Houston Chronicle's editorial board officially endorsed Vice President Harris in a Friday write-up hours after The Washington Post revealed it would cease presidential endorsements for years to come. Journalists drew stark contrasts between Harris and former President Trump early on in the piece, highlighting the candidates' different responses to the devastation caused by hurricanes Helene, Milton and Harvey."
Today, the New York Times online edition republished its September 30 presidential endorsement: "Kamala Harris is the only choice." MB: This may be a case of the Times highlighting its superiority to the Washington Post, but that's okay with me.
Arizona. Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "A coalition of Islamic leaders in a must-win battleground state is now urging their respective communities to get behind Vice President Kamala Harris in November. The New Republic reported that more than 100 progressive Democratic Palestinian, Arab and Muslim leaders in Arizona have now co-signed a letter in support of Harris' candidacy. The letter, which was posted to X ... by Arizona-based progressive activist Kai Newkirk, acknowledges that while many Muslim voters are understandably upset about how President Joe Biden's administration has handled Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, affected communities cannot afford to have ... Donald Trump return to power. 'In our view, it is crystal clear that allowing the fascist Donald Trump to become President again would be the worst possible outcome for the Palestinian people,' the letter read. 'A Trump win would be an extreme danger to Muslims in our country, all immigrants, and the American pro-Palestine movement.'"
Maya King of the New York Times: "Former President Barack Obama offered a stark warning on Friday night of dangers posed by a second Donald Trump presidency, pleading with North Carolina voters to cast their ballots over the final days of early voting in the state. Speaking for nearly 50 minutes to a crowd of hundreds of supporters in the Charlotte Convention Center on Friday, Mr. Obama highlighted Gen. John Kelly's claims that Mr. Trump had spoken admiringly of Hitler. He laid out the concerns raised by former Trump administration officials and senior Republican White House staff members about what they saw as abuses of power and authoritarian tendencies that made Mr. Trump a threat to America's democratic principles. Alluding to recent erratic behavior..., Mr. Obama posited that his successor in the White House was unfit in more ways than one. 'If a family member acted like that, you might still love them, but you wouldn't put them in charge of anything,' Mr. Obama said. 'And yet, when Donald Trump lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls our service members who died in battle "losers," when he calls our fellow citizens "vermin," people make excuses."
Neil Vigdor & Simon Levien of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump gave a fiery rebuttal on Friday to two damning quotations attributed to him by [editor Jeffrey Goldberg of] The Atlantic magazine, which accused him of disparaging fallen veterans and of making a racist remark about a murdered Mexican-American soldier. During a campaign stop in Texas, Mr. Trump vehemently denied being opposed to paying for the funeral of Specialist Vanessa Guillén, a Fort Hood soldier who was murdered in 2020, when Mr. Trump was president, because of the cost. He was joined at the event in Austin, Texas, by some of Specialist Guillén's relatives.... While hosting her family at the White House in April 2020, Mr. Trump had offered to help cover any expenses not picked up by the military. 'It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!' the article quoted Mr. Trump saying [after an aide told him the bill's total]. On Friday, the former president said Specialist Guillén's family had stepped forward to help vindicate him.... A lawyer for the family of Specialist Guillén told The Atlantic that she had sent the bill to the White House but that no money was ever received by the family from Mr. Trump.... In a statement, Mr. Goldberg defended his reporting.... [Noting that the family did not attend the meeting where Trump disparaged Mexicans, Goldberg wrote,] 'I stand by my reporting, including the undisputed detail that Trump never provided the family with any financial assistance.'"
Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump taped a nearly three-hour episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' on Friday. He courted the show's young male audience by floating the idea of eliminating the income tax, talking about mixed martial arts fighters, praising the military skills of Gen. Robert E. Lee and speculating that there was 'no reason not to think' there could be life on Mars and other planets.... That Mr. Trump opted to ... spend hours in Mr. Rogan's studio in Austin[, Texas] -- a detour that delayed the start of his remarks at a rally on Friday evening in Michigan by several hours -- was a mark of Mr. Rogan's reach and the importance of the audience he draws.... Mr. Rogan ... offer[ed] Mr. Trump a platform to repeat his debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election and the lie that he won that year.... Mr. Rogan seemed to back Mr. Trump's questioning of election processes.... Mr. Rogan was a friendly interviewer, often praising Mr. Trump."
Former President Trump has a "For Sale" sign around his neck and appears to be willing to sell basically any policy in exchange for campaign contributions. -- Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, a nonprofit that seeks stronger regulations ~~~
~~~ Riding on the Shake-Down Express. Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump "has come a long way from his 2016 campaign pitch that he was so rich he was incorruptible. Back then, he mocked the G.O.P.'s donor-lobbyist class and boasted in his announcement speech, 'I don't need anybody's money.' Today, Mr. Trump is looking everywhere for cash: asking small donors online, pressing fellow billionaires over private meals in Trump Tower and lobbying for donations from industries regulated by the government. As he does so, he is sometimes making overt promises about what he will do once he's in office, a level of explicitness toward individual industries and a handful of billionaires that has rarely been seen in modern presidential politics. In some cases, Mr. Trump has sought to shake loose cash from industries like oil and energy that have long aligned with his deregulation agenda. In others, Mr. Trump has flipped his positions, such as on crypto."
Paul McLeary of Politico: "The Army on Friday released the report from a controversial August incident between the Trump campaign team and an Army staff member working at Arlington National Cemetery, in which the campaign staffer made contact with the Army official 'with both hands,' according to the heavily redacted document. The release, which identifies the incident as 'simple assault,' comes amid fresh scrutiny over Trump's treatment of veterans, including comments by former chief of staff John Kelly, who said the former president disparaged wounded and fallen troops.... A judge ordered the Army to release the document by Friday following a lawsuit by American Oversight, a government watchdog group." ~~~
This Is Rich. Anthony Adragna of Politico: "Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Vice President Kamala Harris in a rare joint statement to tone down her rhetoric in the lead-up to Election Day, days after Harris said she considered Donald Trump a fascist.... 'She must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions,' Johnson and McConnell said in their statement. 'We call on the Vice President to take these threats seriously, stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.' Their statement does not mention Trump's recent rhetoric, in which he's referred to Harris as a 'fascist,' 'marxist,' 'communist' and 'comrade.' The former president has also railed against 'enemies within' and called for using government resources to prosecute domestic political opponents -- such as California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Johnson downplayed Trump's comments on Sunday shows." MB: Both MSNBC & CNN played video montages of Trump calling Harris a fascist on about 10 different occasions.
Mississippi, Plus. Voter Suppression, Fifth-Circuit Style. Emily Pettus & Kevin McGill of the AP: "A conservative federal court said Mississippi cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day, however Friday's decision was not expected to affect the Nov. 5 election. Although the appellate judges firmly asserted that counting late ballots violates federal law, even if those ballots are postmarked by Election Day, the judges stopped short of an order immediately blocking Mississippi from continuing the practice. Their ruling noted federal court precedents have discouraged court actions that change established procedures shortly before an election. The outcome may be negligible in most elections in heavily Republican Mississippi, but the case could affect voting in swing states if the Supreme Court ultimately issues a ruling.The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a July decision by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., who had dismissed challenges to Mississippi's election law by the Republican National Committee, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi and others. The appeals court order sent the case back to Guirola for further action. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he was so proud of the USPS in 2020 when, he claimed, almost 99 percent of mail-in ballots were delivered within seven (7) days of posting. Mind you, most of these ballots were just going across town, not across the country. But the vote in swing states very well could be closer than one percent (and I don't know what almost 99 percent means). In the 2020 election in Georgia, for instance, President Biden beat the other guy by less than one quarter of one percent (and that means 0.23 percent) Similarly, in Arizona in 2020, Biden won by 0.30 percent. IOW, DeJoy himself tacitly admits that -- all by itself -- the USPS could swing the election in close states simply by failing to deliver a small percentage of postmarked ballots.
North Carolina. Congressman: Forget the Vote, Choose Trump Electors. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus says the North Carolina Legislature should consider allocating the state's presidential electors to Donald Trump even before votes are counted in the swing state. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said Thursday that such a step by North Carolina's Republican-controlled Legislature 'makes a lot of sense' given the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in the western part of the state. Counties in that region are expected to vote heavily for Trump. Potential difficulties with voting in the hurricane-damaged area would be a basis for the state Legislature to declare in advance that Trump should win the state's 16 electoral votes, Harris said at a Republican Party dinner in Maryland's Talbot County." The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm just gonna assume that Andy Harris is no relation to Kamala Harris. You have to admit it's quite impressive all the excuses people can invent to undermine democracy. Here are the brilliant minds at the country's major newspapers saying let the people decide (when they mean we're afraid of the big, bad dictator), while Rep. Dipshit is saying the people are too distressed to decide (so let the GOP legislature decide).
Boris & Natasha Meddle in Pennsylvania Election. Melissa Goldin, et al., of the AP: "Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed on Friday. The video had taken off on social media Thursday but was debunked within three hours by local election officials and law enforcement after members of the public reported it. U.S. officials said in a statement sent by the FBI that they believe the video was 'manufactured and amplified' by Russian actors. The officials said it's part of 'Moscow's broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.'" The New York Times story is here.
Uh, Who You Callin' "Comrade?" Eric De La Garza of the Raw Story: "Calling reports of ongoing conversations between tech billionaire Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'concerning,' the head of NASA [Administrator Bill Nelson] on Thursday called for an investigation into the bombshell accounts 'if the story is true.' The comments came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk, a vocal Trump supporter, and Putin had been in regular communication for at least two years.... The [WSJ] notes that Musk's security clearance gives him access to certain classified information and that he has 'deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, works on classified government programs and is also the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA.'" ~~~
~~~ Lora Kolodny of CNBC: "Russia's KGB, and its successor agency the FSB have, for decades, been interested in controlling media narratives and reaching as many people as possible with anti-Western or pro-Kremlin messages. The conversations between Musk and Putin, who once ran the KGB, reportedly occurred as Musk was in the midst of a leveraged buyout and takeover of Twitter.... In 2022, Eurasia Group founder and political analyst Ian Bremmer wrote that Musk had spoken to Putin before the X owner posted social media messages in early October about Russia's war on Ukraine. Musk had proposed that Ukraine should hand over Crimea to Russia and that Kyiv should remain 'neutral' rather than attempting to join NATO. He continued to promote the idea, via X (formerly Twitter) that some Ukraine citizens would prefer to join Russia. Kremlin officials praised Musk for his opinion then...."
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South Carolina Judge: The State Screwed Up So You Can't Vote, Kids. Jeffrey Collins of the AP: "A judge in South Carolina ruled Friday that it is too late to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver's licenses. The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day. A glitch in the DMV's computers did not identify the teens as qualified and did not present them with an additional electronic form certifying they were citizens, not felons and otherwise qualified to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union sued to reopen registration on Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina. They provided several possible ways the teens could register and be allowed to cast ballots. But Judge Daniel Coble said it is just too close to Election Day to do something so drastic as to alter the voting rolls." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I can't figure out why the AP puts the number of disenfranchised South Carolina teens at only 1,900. According to this Democracy Docket report, "approximately 17,000 young voters were not registered to vote despite indicating a desire to do so. These voters were also not notified that their registrations had been rejected. The DMV has been working to identify the impacted voters. So far, 6,000 were able to register through other means and the names of the remaining 11,000 were sent to the SEC for processing. The SEC has thus far refused to register those 11,000 voters." South Carolina's population is more than 5 million, so 17,000 17-year-olds seeking driver's licenses sounds more likely, but I'm no actuary so don't trust me.
Texas. Natalia Contreras of the Texas Tribune: "An election clerk in San Antonio was allegedly assaulted late Thursday and the suspect, a voter..., was arrested on suspicion of injury to an elderly person, a felony. The incident is first instance of reported violence against an election worker this fall.... According to a sheriff's report, the suspect, 63-year-old Jesse Lutzenberger, walked into the polling location ... wearing a Make America Great Again hat..., which is considered electioneering and against the law in Texas. The poll worker, 69, asked Lutzenberger to remove the hat, which he did, officials said. Lutzenberger went on to cast his ballot. While still inside the polling location, Lutzenberger put the hat back on.... The poll worker approached the man to tell him that was unacceptable and then began to escort the man out as they were approaching the doors of the location. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said a surveillance video showed Lutzenberger 'throw an arm back toward the victim.... The victim seemed to push off of the suspect. At that point, the suspect then turned and threw several punches right at the face of the victim,' Salazar said."
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Israel's wars are here.: "The Israeli military said Saturday that it had struck Iran in response to several Iranian attacks on Israel, raising fears that a long-brewing confrontation between two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East could escalate into an all-out war. The military said in a statement at 2:30 a.m. that it was 'conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran' in response to more than a year of attacks on Israel by Iran and its allies across the Middle East. Just after 6 a.m., the military said the strikes had concluded."
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Reader Comments (12)
How about changing it from "Democracy dies in darkness" to "Democracy murdered in broad daylight."
There’s a reason I refer to the vast majority of these outlets as the corporate media. Their duty is number one, to shareholders and the pocketbooks of the owners. When monetary calculus becomes the driving force behind editorial decisions, these outfits are indeed imposters, a Potemkin press. Oligarchical charlatans, playing at being protectors of the public interest.
It’s one thing for admitted organs of treason like the Murdoch properties, Fox, the Journal, papers like the NY Post, and unabashed supporters of Trumpian authoritarianism like Sinclair Broadcasting. At least they have conviction. They’re anti-democracy, pro-fascist assholes all the way. But when supposed giants of the industry, willingly and fearfully shed (and shred) their journalistic integrity in order to become Pravda-like pusillanimous putzes rather than offend an ignorant, narcissistic dictator, they disgrace themselves forever.
That fat fuck must be chortling in his Cheerios this morning. All he had to do is open his mouth and talk about jailing media leaders he hates, and they self-castrate, offering him their bloody testicles on a silver salver, never again to be trusted.
With the demise of local papers, the primary job of the media, helping to maintain an informed public and protecting the electorate from dangerous propaganda has fallen to the giants of corporate media. They have failed miserably. And here’s the kicker. That fat fuck won’t even care. Now that he’s seen how they give up without even a pretend fight, he’ll ramp up his attacks on these cowardly machers. They are now his willing servants.
Trump’s extirpation of the Constitution has already begun. The first amendment is only for traitors.
The New Republic has completed their list. Here are the Top 20 horrible things the Fat Felonious Fascist has done.
So far, that is. He promises myriad outrages on day one of his next term that will make most of these look like minis Sunday School infractions.
Happy now, oligarchs?
…minor, not minis, but you get the idea. Trump’s first go round was a warm up for the tsunami of democracy killing authoritarian viciousness.
And it’s already begun. We’re watching the whole thing crumble in real time. Business leaders, the corporate media, X, Facebook (Zuckerberg sez he’s done with politics…no posts about voting for democracy…how convenient), Instagram, all have admitted defeat and left the field to the MAGA horde.
Trump poisons everything.
You let a fat spreader of toxic pathogens in to make French Fries, you sicken your customers. E Coli outbreak at McDonald’s. Surprised?
@Akhilleus: Fitzgerald was right that the rich are different from you and me. And they have always had an outsized influence over government officials, not entirely because of "favors" or campaign contributions or even outright bribes, but sometimes just because of the convenient contacts they are able to maintain. In some administrations, particularly since I've been an adult, that outsized influence is greater and more self-interested in Republican administrations.
But you will recall that it was Barack Obama who told a roomful of bankers, “My administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks.” That was meant as a warning to the financial titans that they'd have to mend their ways after the Wall Street meltdown of their own making, but it also meant to me that Obama was willing to help them out of the troubles they'd wreaked on the rest of us. And his treasury secretary Tim Geithner was a very suspicious bank-lovin' guy, IMO.
Of course during Trump's "administration," nearly everyone he appointed was corrupt. A propensity to lawlessness was a job requirement. But even with the Kushners and Mnuchens running around, Trump didn't have the rule with the pure oligarchical structure he's shooting for now.
And it isn't just the oligarchs who are in Trump's pocket. During his first administration, Trump didn't have the control the media is now handing him on a gold-plated platter. He had less control over the DOJ than he will have. He had more limited control of regulatory agencies. He didn't have the control over the courts he'll have. Initially, he didn't have the control over Congress he may or may not get (though Congressional control will matter less because he'll just do stuff, with or without Congressional approval).
And most important, he didn't have the control over the public that he is about to take, either by force or by acquiescence. Am I going to stand up to Trump? I don't know. If I were younger, my goal would be to fight back or to escape. But now it may be more to survive as long as I can. And survival often means making immoral compromises. I won't be turning in my neighbors or anything like that, but I might be making concessions that a brave person would avoid.
It is rich for a guy who has been at the Washington Post for about five minutes to be waxing poetic about how this is about restoring their long, yet apparently shallow, history of presidential campaign neutrality.
Also actively and loudly killing the endorsement of one candidate is a tacit endorsement of the other guy who just had one of his former staff members, a general no less, read off the dictionary definition of fascist and check off Trump as meeting every part of the definition.
The last few days I saw many people talking about Trump's comments about wanting Hitler's generals. A number of the people pointed out that in the real history some of those generals tried to kill Hitler. But I don't remember seeing anyone explicitly pointing out what Trump meant when he said he wanted generals like Hitler had. I think Trump meant that he wanted people around who would be willing to follow orders like rounding up all his enemies or people he considers "vermin" and to help him get rid of them. He wants people around who would be willing to run the gas chambers for him if he orders it. He wasn't allowed to shoot protesters or jail journalists last time. He wanted, and still does, people who would do his bidding with no questions asked instead if getting in his way or talking him out of it. He wants good obedient amoral Nazis of his own.
@RAS: Without looking it up, my recollection is that there has been some commentary to the effect that Trump believed -- wrongly, in many cases -- that Hitler's generals were slavishly loyal to him. Also, that they were effective at their jobs -- that is, that they won battles and so forth.
One of the big questions I think "his" generals will face this time around -- if he gets another turn in Oval -- is whether officers (and even enlisted troops) will obey illegal orders. For one thing, their oath is to the Constitution, not to the president*. For another, -- unlike presidents* from now on, thanks to the Supremes -- military and other officials can still be prosecuted for illegal acts.
So there's a good chance that in the interest of self-preservation, many members of the military would balk at some of Trump's commands.
And threats like that have made a difference in the past. For instance, on Jan. 3, 2021, Trump said he would make Jeffrey Clark the new acting AG (Clark's name appeared as AG on the White House call logs). Jeffrey Rosen (who at least thought it was he who was the acting AG) and all of the other DOJ officials in the meeting with Trump told him that if Clark became AG, they would resign and so would most of the U.S. attorneys. Trump backed down.
So it's possible the military would still wield some power over Trump, though he would still try to find ways to get around that, I assume. For example, he's said he wants to force former generals who have been critical of him to re-up, so he can have them court-martialed. I heard on the teevee the other day that such a move might be legal.
I wonder if Melania will be answering the door at Mar-a-Lardo
for trick or treaters, dressed in her wicked witch of the east (Moldova)
costume.
I've just finished making my treats---chocolate covered Brussels
sprouts. Yum. Something almost healthy for the kiddos.
Muslim leaders in Michigan support Trump, the guy who wanted to ban all Muslims, called them all terrorist scum, and will happily do it again after he steals the election.
What in the holy hell are people thinking?
Newspaper owners and corporate CEOs are bending the knee. Tom Paxton would like to have a word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DULNTNQ5-G0