The Conversation -- October 29, 2024
Another Cannon Blast. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Aileen M. Cannon, the federal judge overseeing the prosecution of a man accused of trying to assassinate ... Donald J. Trump, rejected the man's request that she remove herself from the case, saying on Tuesday that she has no relationship with Mr. Trump even though he appointed her to the bench and she has ruled in his favor in a separate criminal matter. Judge Cannon denied the request by the defendant, Ryan W. Routh, in a brief decision issued in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla. Mr. Routh was arrested last month in West Palm Beach after Secret Service agents spotted him carrying a rifle in the bushes along the fence line of one of Mr. Trump's golf courses. Mr. Routh's lawyers first asked Judge Cannon to remove herself from the case two weeks ago. In their initial request, they argued that Mr. Trump had 'repeatedly praised' her rulings in a separate case in which he stood accused of illegally holding onto classified documents after he left office. In an unexpected decision in that matter, Judge Cannon threw out all the charges against Mr. Trump in July, ruling against decades of legal precedent that Jack Smith, the special counsel who filed the indictment, had been illegally appointed to his job."
Ignorance Is Bliss His Excuse. Again. ABC News: Donald Trump "denied knowing the comedian who made a slew of racist, sexist and vulgar comments at his rally at Madison Square Garden, ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott reports.... 'I don't know him, someone put him up there. I don't know who he is,' Trump told ABC's Scott. Trump also insisted he didn't hear any of the comments, even as they've been played on television and written about extensively. When asked what he made of them, he did not take the opportunity to denounce them, repeating that he didn't hear the comments."
Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former President George W. Bush, endorsed Vice President Harris's presidential bid and spent part of the weekend campaigning for the Democratic ticket in Pennsylvania, 'People' magazine reported.... The magazine published a photo of Bush and her friends door-knocking in Pennsylvania this past weekend."
Judd Legum of Popular Information calls Elon Musk's "cunt" ad "the most misogynistic ad in the history of politics.... On Friday afternoon, America PAC posted a video ad attacking ... Vice President Kamala Harris. 'America really can't afford a "C-Word" in the White House right now,' America PAC posted, adding a laughing emoji. 'Kamala Harris is a "C word,"' the narrator of the ad says. 'You heard that right. A big ole "C word."' The 'joke' of the ad is that Harris is a 'communist.' Of course, Harris is not a communist. And the ad makes no effort to show she is a communist. The line is only included as a pretext to repeatedly use a crass, misogynistic slur against Harris." Legum notes that the Trump campaign "coordinates directly with America PAC.... On Monday, America PAC deleted the ad attacking Harris from X. Neither America PAC nor Musk explained -- or even acknowledged --the ad's removal from the platform. As of Monday afternoon, the ad remains available on America PAC's Facebook account."
Another Big Newspaper Afraid of Trumpolini. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "USA Today will not endorse a candidate in the coming week before the election, explaining it will let its readers make 'informed decisions' on their own.... In October 2020, USA Today's editorial board cited then-President Donald Trump's handling of the Covid pandemic, the economy, and his character as reasons for a rare endorsement of then-candidate Joe Biden."
AP: "Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon was released from prison early Tuesday, after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Bannon left the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, according to Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons. He planned to hold a news conference later in the day in Manhattan, his representatives said. He's also expected to resume his podcast Tuesday."
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Presidential Race
Nicholas Nehamas & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris raced across Michigan on Monday, making three stops in the battleground state to begin a furious final week of her presidential campaign. She and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, capped the day with a joint appearance in Ann Arbor, where they addressed an outdoor crowd [of an estimated 21,000 people] on a brisk evening.... After weeks of explicit appeals to Republicans, Ms. Harris sprinkled her speech near the University of Michigan's campus with outreach to progressive Democrats. She said health care 'should be a right, and not just a privilege for those who can afford it.' When she was interrupted by protesters shouting about American policy toward Israel and Gaza, she told them, 'I hear you.'... Mr. Walz addressed gun violence, a topic that polls show resonates deeply with young voters who have grown up participating in active-shooter drills in their schools. 'I'll take no crap on this,' Mr. Walz said. 'Both members of the Democratic ticket are gun owners. The Republican nominee can't pass a background check.'" ~~~
~~~ Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "On a day when Donald Trump's campaign tried to distance itself from racist insults about Latinos at his recent rally in New York City, Vice President Kamala Harris sought to drive home 'the two extremely different visions' of America she said the two presidential candidates represent.... 'I'm very proud to have the support of folks like Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez and others, who were supporting me before that nonsense last night at Madison Square Garden and are supporting me because they understand that they want a president of the United States who is about uplifting the people and not berating, not calling America a "garbage can,"' Harris said before boarding Air Force Two for the flight to Michigan."
Oh, She Wrote the Art of the Deal. Rachel Siegel & Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "... in interviews, two dozen former aides, attorneys general, banking experts and Obama administration officials underscored that [Kamala] Harris's role as a tough negotiator [when she was a new state attorney general] set her apart. Her allies look back on the episode as an example of her ability to make gutsy decisions -- withstanding pressure from colleagues trying to get her to fall in line and going toe to toe with banking executives who said her demands were unfair." The article reports on a confrontation between Harris & JPMorgan Chase CEO cowardly blowhard Jamie Dimon. (Also linked yesterday.)"
Marie: I'm not sure why the Gray Lady was too delicate to mention this in the report, linked yesterday, on Walz & Ocasio-Cortez's video-game session: ~~~
~~~ Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz reacted live on Twitch to comic Tony Hinchcliffe speaking at the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday and were not amused.... The two aired the clip of Hinchliffe's Puerto Rico joke and reacted live: Walz: 'Who is that? Jackwad? Who is that guy?' AOC: 'Actually, I think that's Tommy Hinchcliffe. Which is super disappointing.... Yeah, I mean, it's like super upsetting. Obviously, it's super upsetting to me. My family's from Puerto Rico. The thing that is so messed up that I wish more people understood is that the things that they do in Puerto Rico are a testing ground for the policies and the horrors that they wish to and that they do unveil in working-class communities across the United States. And I need people to understand that ... when you have some A-hole calling Puerto Rico floating garbage. I know that that's what they think about you. That is like that's just what they think about you. I's what they thin about anyone who makes less money than them. It's what they think about the people who serve them food in a restaurant....'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Oh, Walz & AOC Took the "Joke" "Out of Context." Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: Tony "Hinchcliffe responded to a clip on ... X of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticizing his material.... 'These people have no sense of humor,' Hinchcliffe wrote on X. 'Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his "busy schedule" to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist.... I love Puerto Rico and vacation there,' he continued. 'I made fun of everyone ... watch the whole set. I'm a comedian Tim& ... might be time to change your tampon.'... 'You don't "love Puerto Rico,"' Ocasio-Cortez responded in a separate post. 'You like drinking piña coladas. There's a difference.'" MB: Yes, if only Walz, AOC & the rest of us had shown more appreciation for his stereotyping Blacks, all Latinos and Jews, we would have been way more understanding about the insult to Puerto Ricans. More on the fallout from Madison Square Garden Racist Night linked below.
Trump Threatens Michelle Obama. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said that Michelle Obama had made a 'big mistake' by criticizing him, as he responded on Monday for the first time to her recent searing comments about his mental state. 'I always tried to be so nice and respectful,' said Mr. Trump, who in 2011 spent weeks spreading the lie that Barack Obama ... was actually born in Kenya, with the insinuation being that he was therefore illegitimately in office.... Mr. Trump made the comments at a rally in Atlanta, in response to what Mrs. Obama, the former first lady, said about him while campaigning on Saturday for Vice President Kamala Harris in Michigan. At that event, Mrs. Obama said some voters were ignoring Mr. Trump's 'gross incompetence.' She said Mr. Trump had displayed 'erratic behavior' and 'obvious mental decline,' and noted that he had been found 'liable for sexual abuse' in a civil case and that the former president was now a felon. 'She was nasty,' Mr. Trump said, adding, 'That was a big mistake that she made.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps you don't take Trump's remark as a threat, and I'll admit that if I told a child he had "made a big mistake," it probably would not be a threat. But when a person known for vindictiveness who has promised retribution against his political enemies calls a woman "nasty" and says she has "made a big mistake" by criticizing him, his preference is to exact revenge against her and his purpose is to threaten her.
Peter Baker & Dylan Freedman of the New York Times: "All in all..., Donald J. Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday was a cornucopia of crudeness, punctuated by the kind of language that once would have been unthinkable for a gathering held to promote the candidacy of a would-be president of the United States.... Four-letter words were flying everywhere. One speaker flipped his middle finger at the opposition. Another made what was interpreted as an oral sex joke regarding Vice President Kamala Harris. Another suggested she was a prostitute. Still another discussed the supposed sexual habits of Latinos rather explicitly.... But among the many lines that Mr. Trump has obliterated in his time in politics is the invisible boundary between propriety and profanity.... In his third campaign for the presidency, his speeches have grown coarser and coarser.... By comparison, Ms. Harris, 60, is practically prim in public." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's an anecdote I don't think I've heard before: "When [President Harry Truman] talked about 'manure' at a horticulture show, a scandalized friend of his wife, Bess, asked if she could get him to use a less salacious word. 'Heavens, no,' Mrs. Truman said. 'It took me 25 years to get him to say "manure."'"
Annie Karni of the New York Times: During yesterday's rally in Madison Square Garden, Donald Trump said to Mike Johnson, "'I think with our little secret we're going to do really well with the House, right?... Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a little secret -- we will tell you what it is when the race is over.'... [Democrats feared] a scenario in which Mr. Johnson, who worked with Mr. Trump to undermine the 2020 election results, would again be in cahoots with the former president to steal the election and stop the certification of the results on Jan. 6, 2025, should Vice President Kamala Harris win. In a statement provided to The New York Times, the mild-mannered Mr. Johnson did nothing to alleviate those fears. Instead, he seemed to confirm that there was, in fact, a 'little secret' -- and that he planned to keep it that way." ~~~
~~~ Ah, have no fear! RAS reveals that Garry Trudeau has found a way to head the two desperados off at the pass. It's an official act, folks. It could work.
Uh, Trump Plans Rally Today in Middle of Allentown's Puerto Rican Neighborhood. Meredith Hill, et al., of Politico: "Many Puerto Rican voters in [battleground Pennysylvania] are furious about racist and demeaning comments delivered at a Trump rally. Some say their dismay is giving Kamala Harris a new opening to win over the state's Latino voters, particularly nearly half a million Pennsylvanians of Puerto Rican descent.... A nonpartisan Puerto Rican group drafted a letter urging its members to oppose Trump on election day. Other Puerto Rican voters were lighting up WhatsApp chats with reactions to the vulgar display and raising it in morning conversations at their bodegas. Some are planning to protest Trump's rally Tuesday in Allentown, a majority-Latino city with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the state. And the arena Trump is speaking at is located in the middle of the city's Puerto Rican neighborhood."
Marie: According to a Politico report I linked yesterday (as well as other reports I've read) about Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, "A Trump adviser said the speakers' remarks weren't vetted by the campaign." But that can't be entirely true, can it, because somebody loaded the speeches into the teleprompter. Well, it turns out the distancing is not true AT ALL. ~~~
~~~ Marc Caputo of the Bulwark: "Tony Hinchcliffe 'had a joke calling [Vice President Kamala] Harris a 'cunt,' a campaign insider ... told The Bulwark.... Campaign staffers had asked all speakers to submit drafts of their speeches ahead of time -- before they were loaded into the teleprompter -- according to ... sources. Once the objectionable 'cunt' joke was spotted, the sources said, a staffer asked Hinchcliffe to strike it. He complied. Those sources insisted that they did not spot the other objectionable lines in Hinchcliffe's speech prior to him delivering it because they were ad-libbed. Hinchcliffe couldn't be reached for comment.... 'It's a joke. People need to grow up,' one Trump adviser in the no-apology camp told The Bulwark. 'This is what we're campaigning against: PC culture run amok.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nicole Acevedo & Ignacio Torres of NBC News: "The comedian who let loose a series of racist jokes, some about Puerto Rico, at ... Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday night workshopped the material the night before at [the Stand] comedy club [in Manhattan (just below Gramercy Park)].... The joke [about the 'florating island of garbage'] did not draw laughs, just a handful of awkward chuckles. [The self-identified comedian Tony] Hinchcliffe told the audience that he would be performing at the Madison Square Garden rally the next day and said multiple times during his routine that he would get a better reaction 'tomorrow at the rally.'... The criticism and the controversy over Hinchcliffe's joke -- which Trump himself did not disavow when he addressed the rally or later -- are now at the forefront as the two presidential candidates vie for the support of Puerto Rican voter...."
Emmanuel Felton of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden ... featured a song that had little in common with the location: 'Dixie,' the unofficial national anthem of the Confederate States of America. The song, which some see as an ode to Southern pride and others condemn as a celebration of American slavery, was played at least twice during the night, once as Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate investor, entered and left the stage. 'How good of a song is that,' Witkoff said at the beginning of his comments." MB: I'm surprised they didn't play "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." Heck, maybe they did.
Spokesperson Tries to Defend Trump. Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt woke up very early Monday morning so that she could appear on Fox & Friends in the 6 AM hour.... [Speaking of Trump rally Sunday, she said,] 'It was amazing... And it was such a diverse group of people in that stadium packed to the house.... You had black Americans, Latino Americans, Jewish Americans, men, women of all ages coming in support of President Trump and unafraid to show it.' Steve Doocy then asked..., 'You know, this morning, mainstream media has picked up on the comic's comments, which were offensive, have been denounced by the campaign and everybody else. What went on with that?' 'Look, it was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste,' she replied. 'Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign. And I think it is sad that the media will pick up on one joke that was made by a comedian rather than the truths that were shared by the phenomenal list of speakers that we had.'... 'The crowd, they didn't mind,' she said of the racist jokes." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: For context, I should say that Leavitt is as blonde & White as the driven snow. Second, I suspect that by "such a diverse group at the rally" she meant "all the way from Bavaria to Prussia." The Blacks, Latinos & Jews who may have been there showed up as props for all the racist slurs. As you can tell from a few of the links below (which don't cover the breadth of the slurs), the racist attacks made at the rally were by no means limited to one speaker or against one group of "floating islanders." It's true, though, that "the crowd didn't mind." Apparently they roared their approval of some of the racist remarks.
Anita Hill, in a New York Times op-ed: "It's not easy to remain calm and collected in the glare of intense public scrutiny, especially when the opposition is set on denying your integrity, competence and accomplishments. But call it grace, poise or dignity, Kamala Harris has managed to make a positive case for her candidacy every day since President Biden endorsed her to take his place on the Democratic ticket. Think about it: No presidential nominees in modern history have faced such a direct challenge to the authenticity of their identity and by extension their qualifications to be the president." (Also linked yesterday.)
Heather Cox Richardson on Substack: "... the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign's fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight.... Like [the Nazi rally of 1939], Trump's rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.... Trump advisor Stephen Miller's claim that 'America is for Americans and Americans only' directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that 'Germany is for Germans and Germans only.'... But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. 'I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,' Trump said. It seems possible -- probable, even -- that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020." (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: If you don't think Donald Trump is infecting his party with his racial animus, look at these stories about Abby Phillip kicking a guest off the air mid-show and Elon Musk's superPAC making cunt jokes:
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip took the highly unusual step of kicking a guest off the show in the middle of Monday's program. Phillip's panel discussed ... Donald Trump's lengthy rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.... During the panel, guests Mehdi Hasan and Ryan Gidursky argued about the rally, with Hasan stating that Trump made some troubling remarks himself.... 'Well, I hope your beeper doesn't go off,' Gidursky replied [to Hasan at one point], alluding to the fact that the Israeli government planted explosives in pagers that were to be delivered to members of the Hezbollah terror group.... 'Did you just say I should die?' a stunned Hasan said.... The show eventually went to break, and when she returned, Phillip apologized to Hasan and told viewers Gidursky had been kicked off the show[.]" Accompanying the story, there is video of the CNN segment, and it's mostly the crosstalk.
Brittany Gibson of Politico: "Elon Musk's America PAC shared a video calling Kamala Harris 'the c-word' on X, the social media platform also owned by the tech billionaire. The narrator in the 34-second ad repeatedly calls Harris a 'c-word' and says other elected officials whose photos are displayed in the ad -- Democrats President Joe Biden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) -- are all 'c-words.' The ad flashes an image of a cat with a meow sound, an innuendo for the swear word, before the voiceover reveals that the 'c-word' stands for 'communist.' The reference to vulgar language to describe Harris mirrors crude language about women, people's genitalia and political opponents often used by Donald Trump...." MB: It is so wrong to call Trump backers pottomouths when they're really clever boys you might meet in the fourth grade.
~~~ Marie: As far as I can tell, Gidusky and whoever produced the superPAC ad are people who don't know that violent, racist or sexist references aren't funny. They don't know this because among their role models is Donald Trump, and he thinks it's hilarious to mock other people, quite often for things that are accidents of birth and not funny in any situation.
Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "District Attorney Larry Krasner of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop Elon Musk and his Trump-supporting organization, America PAC, from continuing their $1 million daily giveaway in Pennsylvania, calling it an illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in the presidential election. Mr. Musk's giveaway, which had already prompted the Justice Department to warn that it might violate federal law, purports to 'randomly' reward registered voters in seven battleground states who signed a conservative petition by America PAC, which is mobilizing voters to support Mr. Trump. 'America PAC and Musk are lulling Philadelphia citizens -- and others in the Commonwealth (and other swing states in the upcoming election) -- to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million,' the lawsuit said. 'That is a lottery. And it is indisputably an unlawful lottery.'"
"Bezos" Begins with "B" & Ends with "S." Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Katie Robertson & Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: "Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post, whose decision to end presidential endorsements at the paper set off a firestorm inside and outside the paper last week, said on Monday in his first comments about the change that it had been done to improve the newsroom's credibility, not to protect his own personal interests. 'Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,' Mr. Bezos wrote in an essay published on The Post's website. He added: 'What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one.'... Earlier on Monday, three journalists ... -- David Hoffman, who has worked at The Post since 1982; Molly Roberts; and Mili Mitra, the director of audience for the opinion department ... -- said they were stepping down from The Post's 10-person editorial board. All three are staying at the paper in other roles. ...
"[Irony Alert!] Mr. Hoffman received a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing at a ceremony on Thursday for a series on authoritarian regimes suppressing dissent.... 'I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump,' Mr. Hoffman said in his letter announcing his intent to step down to the editor of the opinion department, David Shipley. 'I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.'" The AP's story, by David Bauder, is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bezos' excuse is indeed B.S. As far as I know, the WashPo newsroom didn't need much help with its credibility. Since the editorial board operates separately from the newsroom, the editorial board cannot enhance or diminish the newsroom's credibility. Is Bezos pretending he doesn't know that, or does he truly not know? The WashPo editorial board has sucked for years; Bezos just made it even worse and he enhanced his own legacy as a major jackass. ~~~
~~~ Wow! David Folkenflik of NPR: "The Washington Post has been rocked by a tidal wave of cancellations from digital subscribers and a series of resignations from columnists, as the paper grapples with the fallout of owner Jeff Bezos's decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president. More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters. Not all cancellations take effect immediately. Still, the figure represents about 8% of the paper's paid circulation of roughly 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well. The number of cancellations continued to grow Monday afternoon.... Earlier this year, [Will] Lewis, the Post publisher, had touted the paper's net gain of 4,000 subscribers as noteworthy.... The top [WashPo story read on Sunday] was humor columnist Alexandra Petri's piece, headlined, 'It has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to endorse Harris for president.'" Emphasis added. MB: Say, Jeff, your fake excuse for dumping on Harris is not going to get those subscribers to come crawling back sporting "All is Forgiven" signs plastered to their foreheads.
Sheera Frenkel, et al., of the New York Times: Election-related "disinformation from abroad -- particularly from Russia, China and Iran -- has matured into a consistent and pernicious threat, as the countries test, iterate and deploy increasingly nuanced tactics, according to U.S. intelligence and defense officials, tech companies and academic researchers. The ability to sway even a small pocket of Americans could have outsize consequences for the presidential election, which polls generally consider a neck-and-neck race. Russia, according to American intelligence assessments, aims to bolster the candidacy of former President Donald J. Trump, while Iran favors his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. China appears to have no preferred outcome. But the broad goal of these efforts has not changed: to sow discord and chaos in hopes of discrediting American democracy in the eyes of the world.... Here are the ways that foreign disinformation has evolved[.]"
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge [-- Tanya Chutkan --] on Monday granted Donald Trump's lawyers' request to push back the deadline for filing their view of whether the former president is immune from prosecution in the 2020 election subversion case until two weeks after the presidential election." ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Court documents unsealed on Monday shed new light on a legal battle over which of ... Donald J. Trump's White House aides had to testify before a grand jury in Washington that charged him with plotting to overturn the 2020 election, showing how judges carved out limits on executive privilege. The trove -- including motions, judicial orders and transcripts of hearings in Federal District Court in Washington -- did not reveal significant new details about Mr. Trump's efforts to cling to power. But it did open a window on important questions of presidential power and revealed how judges grew frustrated with Mr. Trump's longstanding strategy of seeking to delay accountability for his attempts to overturn his defeat to Joseph R. Biden Jr.... As one witness after another tried to spurn grand jury subpoenas or showed up but then refused to answer questions..., two chief judges of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia -- first Judge Beryl A. Howell, and then Judge James E. Boasberg when he succeeded her in March 2023 -- ruled that the grand jury's need for the information in a criminal inquiry overcame the executive privilege shield."
Sara Ruberg of the New York Times: "Jay Johnston, a comedian and actor who voiced Jimmy Pesto Sr. on the Fox sitcom 'Bob's Burgers,' was sentenced to a year and a day in prison over his involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Johnston, 55, pleaded guilty in July to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement after reaching a plea agreement that dropped three other charges originally brought against him. The actor was arrested in June 2023 in California with the help of internet sleuths who identified Mr. Johnston after the F.B.I. posted photos of him at the Capitol during the riot. Three other people who know Mr. Johnston also identified him.... He [also] was a regular on the 1990s sketch comedy show, 'Mr. Show with Bob and David,' as well as on 'The Sarah Silverman Program.' He has mostly starred in comedies on television and in movies."
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Oregon & Washington State. Robert Tait & Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: "Hundreds of early ballots cast for the US presidential election have been burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, exacerbating tensions ahead of next Tuesday's knife-edge contest. Police said Monday that the fires in the two states were believed to be connected and that a vehicle involved had been identified, according to the Associated Press. Firefighters went to the scene after smoke was reported coming from a ballot drop box in the city of Vancouver in Washington state at 6.30 am on Monday, according to local media.... The fire was reported after a similar incident in nearby Portland in Oregon, where police say an incendiary device was set off inside a ballot drop box close to a building hosting the Multnomah county elections division." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update: Gene Johnson & Claire Rush of the AP: "Incendiary devices were set off Monday at two ballot drop boxes -- one in Portland and another in nearby Vancouver, Washington -- destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a 'direct attack on democracy' about a week before a heated Election Day. The early morning fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished quickly thanks to a suppression system inside the box as well as a nearby security guard, police said, and just three ballots were damaged there. But within a few hours, another fire was discovered at a transit center drop box across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent. The ballot box in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system inside, but that failed to prevent hundreds of ballots from burning, said Greg Kimsey, the longtime elected auditor in Clark County, Washington, which includes Vancouver. He urged voters who dropped their ballots in the transit center box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact his office for a replacement ballot."
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: "Hezbollah named a new leader Tuesday, following the Israeli assassination of its former secretary general, Hasan Nasrallah, in late September. Naim Qassem, the group's new leader, had said after Nasrallah's killing that the militant group was prepared for a 'long' battle with Israel. Israel's parliament passed two laws that could seriously impede the work of the United Nations' aid agency in Gaza, prompting warnings from officials that it will deepen the humanitarian crisis gripping the Palestinian enclave. One of the laws prevents the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating within Israeli territory. A second severs contact between the agency and Israeli state authorities, potentially disrupting the already intermittent flow of aid. Israel's move prompted international condemnation, and State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States had made clear to Israel that it was 'deeply concerned.' The Biden administration warned Israel this month that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza or risk losing U.S. weapons funding."
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A liar AND a hypocrite.
I’m talking, of course, about Shady Vance.
“Shady, did you hear what that guy said at your boss’s MSG rally about Puerto Rico? What do you think about that?”
“Well, I didn’t hear it so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.”
“Oh, c’mon. We have to stop getting so offended.”
This is the same guy who demanded people stop referring to Trump (correctly, I might add) as a fascist. Oh, but let’s not get offended at little things…
But let’s get back to that lie about how he didn’t hear about any of this. This is a go-to lie for Trump as well. Trump calls a guy “better than Martin Luther King!” He endorses him. Has him at a rally. Then Oops! The guy loves Hitler. Oh, and tranny porn.
Trump: “Who? What? I barely knows that guy. No, I didn’t hear anything about Hitler and porn.”
Republicans have been yelping for years about how character is important. I guess they meant “really horrible” character.
The vulgarity and violence is just ramping up as we get closer to the election. Reports of the c-word being the only thing the Trump camp objected to in their "comedian's" set was followed immediately by Elon's PAC ready to pick it up with their too clever misdirect. Then there is the other "joke" of the night where a MAGA loser on CNN finds out that racially specific death threats don't go down as well when he is not doing them anonymously on the internet. And saying "opps, my bad" on the death threat after deliberately mishearing the person isn't enough outside of their conservative bubble. Trump encouraged these awful people to be their worst selves. I think it is like a feedback loop of awful where they make each other worse and worse. And now most of them don't remember how to behave in mixed company anymore. Another legacy of Trump.
Yes, Amazon was well known for their principles. We all know how principled Jeff Bezos is by now. It is well documented how he and Amazon treats it's workers. It is well documented how they treat their venders. It is well documented how they treat those who make their products. I remember an author I follow having to put out a statement that no he had not in fact finished the next book in his popular series and that the Amazon announcement of when it would go on sale was not true. He was taking a little longer to complete the next book so they decided to pressure him into finishing quickly by publicly announcing a release date for his unfinished book without consulting the author. That story told me all I needed to know about Jeff Bezos and the principles he instilled at Amazon. Also it is pretty funny to say no one trusts my paper that I've been owner of for a decade, but trust me when I say that meeting with Trump right as I stop an endorsement of Harris was all a big coincidence.
Today's most amusing headline. "An ethical minefield awaits another possible Trump presidency."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/us/elections/trump-foreign-business-presidency-conflicts.html
The article is about ethical pitfalls, but there are none for Republicans. Certainly not for their fearless leader. So far, despite mountains of what would see to others to be ethical lapses (as in thumbing his nose at any notion of ethics at all), he has had no reason to fear.
Ethics have nothing to do with Republican, presidential, legislative and judicial, government. They checked them at the door a long time ago.
What? Ethics? Never met him and haven't seen the report....
In The Atlantic today, David A. Graham describes Ohio's "crop of young, talented Democratic leaders—who face tough odds of ever moving up in politics.
....
To the extent that there’s a Democratic future, it’s the mayors, but what Ohio has been doing of late has been chewing up and spitting out Democrats with statewide aspirations,” Niven told me. Democrats hope that younger people and greater diversity will improve their statewide fortunes."
Ohio Isn’t Just J. D. Vance Country
Also in The Atlantic, conservative Peter Wehner makes an appeal to other conservatives who "would say that it is one thing, and quite an awful thing, to withhold a vote from Donald Trump—but that voting for Kamala Harris, a “San Francisco Democrat,” is nothing short of a betrayal, an act of apostasy, impossible for any true conservative to justify"
He concludes that "if she becomes president, she will have prevented the worst thing that could happen to conservatism and, much more important, to the country."
If Trump wins the presidency again, conservatism will be homeless, a philosophy without a party, for at least a generation
Someone is always watching.
"An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde found that the highly confidential movements of U.S. President Joe Biden, presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and other world leaders can be easily tracked online through a fitness app that their bodyguards use.
But the U.S. Secret Service told the newspaper that it doesn’t believe the protection it provides was in any way compromised."
Great. Steve (Three shirts + Treason) Bannon is out just in time to help whip up the crazies. The chaos has already begun. The suppression, the threats, the violence, the ballot burning, the continued treason ensures that no matter the outcome, the loonies will have their day. If Trump succeeds in stealing the election, whether through skullduggery or Supreme Court fiat, the vengeance will start in earnest. It’ll be Robespierre-Marat time.
If he loses, the ratfucking will go into overdrive. PoT democracy haters have already filed 130(!) lawsuits to smother the democratic process. There’s much more coming. The traitors will make a full scale assault on the institution of fair voting, and Bannon will be right there throwing Molotov cocktails, spreading lies, and encouraging the worst possible behavior.
Just in time.
Great.
A few thoughts…
I heard an interesting take on the chimerical undecideds put forward by Michael Podhorzer, former political director of the AFL-CIO and current senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
He suggests that undecideds are not doing a Trump v Harris calculation as much as they are unsure of whether or not they’ll even vote. His argument is that the vast majority of undecideds are younger voters who came into the work force during the Dubya Recession. Then, if they got a job, a lot of them lost it during the Trump Pandemic. Reliability has not been a regular feature of their lives. Then there is the Trump Effect, which sows doubts about any and every thing, prompting them to discount anything any politician says. There’s more to it, but the baseline is trying to get these people to appreciate just how much worse things will be if the Orange Monster returns.
In the end, it actually IS a Trump v Harris question, or rather a Fascist Dictatorship v American Democracy dust up. We’ll see if that penetrates and whether they can extricate themselves from “woe is me” solipsism long enough to help out.
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I’ve been reading a lot of nonsense about how Biden is trying backstab the Harris campaign, feeling like he was unfairly ousted by her and her supporters, and that his support has thus been non-existent, which demonstrates the evil perfidy of Democrats.
Complete nonsense. First, I have no doubt Biden has felt let down, but unlike anyone on the right, he is both a pragmatist and a decent guy. He understands that Harris has to chart her own course, as he did. Had Biden been a fixture on the campaign trail, these guys would be the first to shout “It’s Biden 2.0!!”
********
Every now and then I have to step back to connect with someone who saw the existential value of maintaining an even strain, my old pal Montaigne. Now I won’t go into great detail about this particular essay (maybe later—betcha can’t wait), but his thoughts in “On Cannibals” have a lot to recommend them in this age of barbarity.
The premise comes from Montaigne’s growing irritation at hearing inhabitants of the New World uniformly described as godless savages, especially by people who had never been there. One of his points is that certain types of people (lookin’ at you, MAGAts) always need an enemy, and anyone who isn’t exactly like them will do just nicely as the latest piñatas. Lots more on that idea.
Montaigne prefers accounts of non-partisan explorers who actually lived among the natives and got to know their customs and standards, ie, not Conquistador types who rampaged around looking for gold, lopping off heads, and spreading diseases.
One custom I would very much like to resurrect is the impatience in certain tribes with false prophets and those who would lie to the people for their own benefit. These were typically burned at the stake. Watch out, Sean Hannity, TuKKKer, MTG, Bible Mike, and of course, Fatty and Shady.
Good ol’ Mike Montaigne. Always with the good advice.
Light ‘em up!
HuffPost
"Attention Walmart Shoppers: Donald Trump Wants To Double Your Prices
Trump’s goal to replace the income tax with high tariffs would also radically shift the country’s tax burden away from the rich and onto the middle class and poor.
Attention Walmart Shoppers: That $18.99 flannel shirt in stores today could soon cost $36.99.
That $69 single-serving Keurig coffee maker could jump to $135. And that $489 PlayStation 5? How does $954 sound?
Ernie Tedeschi, an economist at Yale University’s Budget Lab program, said that a 100% tariff would result in a 9.2% loss of purchasing power. For a family with the median household income of $80,000, that translates to $7,360 less to spend each year."
The Fatty Fatwa Festival at MSG offered so many examples of hatred, stupidity, racism, misogyny, authoritarian assholism, and indubitable douchebaggery that a shit pile of astonishing MAGA morbidity went largely unremarked upon. One of those stunning caesuras involved the astonishingly incompetent Alina Habba, the inept POS “lawyer” who lost Fatty hundreds of millions.
Kids, this is classic MAGA. This whiny loser strutted onstage at Fatty’s Nazi rally to a hip hop song saying “I’m a winner!”
No. She is the exact opposite. She has lost EVERY SINGLE CASE she was handed, and not just lost, she was run over like a stray hot dog tossed into the track at the Indy 500. But here she is twerking on stage like a stripper wannabe, shouting “I’m a winner!
Classic Trump. You get steamrolled, you screech that not only are you okay, you kicked that steamroller’s ass.
And you give exclusive interviews from your hospital bed where you’ll be in traction for 24 months.