The Conversation -- October 7, 2024
Marie: If you had told me 50 years ago that in 2024 I'd be living in a near-replica of early-1930s Nazi Germany (but with country AND western music), I would have laughed you off. Well, the joke's on me.
Tara Suter of the Hill: "The former head of the Florida Republican Party said he's supporting Vice President Harris after 'trolling' from other Republicans over the federal government's response to Hurricane Helene. Al Cárdenas said in his appearance Monday on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' that natural disasters have 'always been a bipartisan issue.'... '... the White House asked Congress to pass a bill to -- a supplemental bill -- to really help people with these disasters, because we may be running outta cash. All of a sudden, the trolling, the Trump operatives and everybody else started saying, "Well, they're giving that money to illegal immigrants." Not true.'" ~~~
~~~ Then there's this guy: ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "A former Democratic congressman who served six terms in the House said Monday he was endorsing former President Trump, citing his concerns with the Biden administration's handling of global conflicts abroad. Former Rep. Peter Deutsch (D), who represented Florida's 20th Congressional District from 1993-2005, announced his support on a call organized by the Trump campaign to mark the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel.... Deutsch said he was supportive of Trump's stances on immigration policy and school choice, but that the 'driving force for me to make this decision is what I believe is the most important factor in being president, which is really world peace.'"
Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "A leading newspaper in North Carolina is blasting former President Trump over what it calls his 'falsehoods' about the government response to Hurricane Helene, which devastated a large swath of the state last week. 'This is not a situation to capitalize on for political gain. But former President Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together,' the editorial board of The Charlotte Observer wrote this week.... The Observer noted Trump's statements in recent weeks claiming Democratic state and federal officials are 'going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,' and saying Vice President Harris 'spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants.' 'There's no evidence to support any of those ridiculous claims,' the newspaper shot back."
Let us not delude ourselves that the only whiney-baby phony "leader" who doesn't give a rat's ass about governance is Donald Trump: ~~~
~~~ Matt Dixon of NBC News: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about storm recovery just over a week after Hurricane Helene hammered parts of his state. A source familiar with the situation said he was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee's calls because they 'seemed political,' according to a DeSantis aide. 'Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn't answer,' the DeSantis aide told NBC News. The same person said 'not to my knowledge' when asked if DeSantis had spoken to President Joe Biden."
This story is several days old, but I guess we should read it: ~~~
Mark Mazzetti & Adam Entous of the New York Times: "... a close examination of the Hamburg summit [of July 2017, when Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin], and the months that led up to it, help explain the roots of Mr. Trump's often-disdainful attitude toward Ukraine. The meeting in Hamburg fit into a yearlong pattern in which an escalating political grudge against Ukraine on Mr. Trump's part became an opening for Mr. Putin to pursue his own aim of tempering American support for Kyiv, according to interviews with American and European officials and allies of Mr. Trump, as well as accounts in memoirs. That animus toward Ukraine remains front and center in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign.... Mr. Putin continues to seek advantage in American politics. Senior intelligence officials briefed members of Congress last month that Russia remains determined to sow chaos in America's elections process and erode faith in its democratic systems, and that spy agencies have specific intelligence that the Kremlin wants Mr. Trump back in the White House."
Georgia. Carter Sherman of the Guardian: "Just one week after a Georgia judge restored broad access to abortion in the state by blocking its six-week abortion ban, the Georgia supreme court ruled on Monday to reinstate the ban. The ban will take effect at 5pm local time on Monday and remain in effect while litigation over it plays out. Abortion rights supporters quickly condemned the decision, which also came down weeks after news broke that two Georgia mothers, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, died after being unable to access legal abortions."
No One Will Be Safe. Peter Jamison of the Washington Post: "Republicans backing Donald Trump are threatening Deloitte, a consulting firm that is one of the federal government's largest business partners, with the loss of billions of dollars in contracts because an employee shared messages from 2020 in which JD Vance ... criticized the then-president's record. On Sept. 27, Donald Trump Jr. exposed the employee's name and photograph to millions of people on social media, writing, 'Maybe it's time for the GOP to end Deloitte's taxpayer funded gravy train?' Others -- including Vance's chief spokesman and a Republican senator [Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)] -- circulated Trump Jr.'s comments.... Ethics experts said the episode is a potentially ominous preview of how a second Trump administration might use the enormous power the federal government wields over private industry to punish political acts by individual workers." The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump promised Pennsylvania women he would be their "protector" so they won't feel abandoned, lonely, scared or anxious. He told Wisconsinites he would keep them "safe" from a "migrant invasion." (See stories linked below.) That is, after raising fears, either through his actions or rhetoric, Trump promises to quell the dangers he poses or warns about. But we know Americans cannot rely on him for protection. Trump and his administration will be your "protector" only insofar as you do not do or say anything that displeases them, or that anyone you know or work with does not do or say anything that displeases them. That is, you have no control over whether or not you will receive this supposed "protection." It can & will be retracted on the whims of Trump or a Trumpocrat. No one will be safe. (We already know, for instance, that if you live in a state or part of a state that votes Democratic, you won't receive federal disaster relief. See October 4 Conversation.)
Trump Scams His Supporters. Again. Judd Legum of Popular Information: "In a series of fundraising appeals, Trump offered his supporters a chance to appear with him on stage during an October 5 rally when he returned to the site of his attempted assassination, Butler, Pennsylvania. These solicitations were sent to the Trump campaign email list, which reportedly includes tens of millions of people. 'I'd love to bring you up on stage for my Butler rally!' was the subject line of a September 2 fundraising email from Trump. 'Can we take a picture together during my rally in Butler, Pennsylvania?' Trump asks in the body of the text. Trump sent emails promoting the contest on September 10..., September 28..., and October 1 ('[T]he crowd is going to LOVE YOU when you're introduced as my VIP guest[']). Trump held his rally in Butler on Saturday, and the only person he introduced on stage was Elon Musk. There was no sign of a contest winner at any time during Trump's lengthy appearance at the rally -- from the moment Trump took the stage to when he left almost two hours later." Legum lists a number of similar scams Trump pulled this year & in 2020.
Chaos Is the Essence of the Scheme. In a firewalled post, Brian Beutler says that Trump & Co.'s multiples, repeated lies about hurricane response are a trial run for the election.
Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a challenge by social platform X ... to court rulings that forced the platform to turn over data on former President Trump's account to special counsel Jack Smith. Early last year, Smith obtained a secret warrant for Trump's account on X, where Trump posted prolifically during his White House term, as part of prosecutors' federal election interference investigation. X was prohibited from informing the former president about the warrant. It only became public last summer, after Trump was charged with four felonies in the case. He pleaded not guilty. The company challenged the order, arguing the records were potentially covered by executive privilege and not being able to tell Trump violated the First Amendment."
AP: "The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge from Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania to a Biden administration executive order that is intended to boost voter registration. The justices did not comment in rejecting an appeal from the Republicans, who claimed the order is an unconstitutional attempt to interfere in the November election. Lower courts had dismissed the lawsuit. Nine Republican secretaries of state and 11 members of Congress had asked the court to step in. In May, the justices declined to take up and decide the case on an expedited basis. The justices separately rejected two appeals stemming from baseless claims made by Republicans that voting machines and software of Dominion Voting Systems were responsible for Donald Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election."
Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate the law in Texas, which has one of the country's strictest abortion bans. Without detailing their reasoning, the justices kept in place a lower court order that said hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations that would violate Texas law. There were no publicly noted dissents. The Biden administration had asked the justices to throw out the lower court order, arguing that hospitals have to perform abortions in emergency situations under federal law. The administration pointed to the Supreme Court's action in a similar case from Idaho earlier this year in which the justices narrowly allowed emergency abortions to resume while a lawsuit continues. The administration also cited a Texas Supreme Court ruling that said doctors do not have to wait until a woman's life is in immediate danger to provide an abortion legally. The administration said it brings Texas in line with federal law and means the lower court ruling is not necessary.... Doctors have said the [Texas] law remains dangerously vague after a medical board refused to specify exactly which conditions qualify for the exception."
New York. Dana Rubinstein, et al., of the New York Times: "Philip B. Banks III, New York City's deputy mayor for public safety, has resigned, Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday morning, making him the sixth senior administration official to leave City Hall in the past month. His departure comes amid an exceptional amount of turmoil at the highest levels of city government, as four federal investigations envelop Mr. Adams and his inner circle, and after prosecutors unsealed a five-count corruption indictment against the mayor. On Sept. 4, federal investigators seized the phones of Mr. Banks, as part of an investigation into a possible bribery scheme."
Tunisia. Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "In Tunisia's first presidential election since its authoritarian leader began dismantling the democracy Tunisians built after their 2011 Arab Spring revolution, the apparent winner came as little surprise: the incumbent himself. President Kais Saied, first elected in 2019, easily won re-election on Sunday, according to exit polls broadcast on state television."
Ukraine, et al. Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "A 72-year-old U.S. citizen, whose family says is an English teacher, was sentenced by a Moscow court Monday to six years and 10 months in a penal colony on charges of serving as a mercenary in Ukraine, becoming the latest in a list of Americans serving time in Russia. In a statement, the Moscow City Court said that Stephen James Hubbard, a native of Big Rapids, Mich., enlisted with a territorial defense unit in the Ukrainian town of Izium during the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The court said that Mr. Hubbard had been receiving a monthly salary of $1,000. Russian state news agencies reported last week that Mr. Hubbard pleaded guilty to the charge.... Mr. Hubbard's sister, Trisha Hubbard Fox, denied the Russian allegations, saying that her brother was 'never a mercenary' and had been teaching English abroad. In a post on Facebook, Ms. Hubbard Fox said that Russia 'kidnapped' him."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "For the first time, Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed criticism from some Republicans that she does not have biological children.... In an appearance on the podcast 'Call Her Daddy,' which is popular with Gen Z and millennial women, Ms. Harris discussed reproductive rights and economic issues. She addressed comments from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, who recently suggested that having biological children helped with her humility -- a virtue she implied Ms. Harris lacked.... When the conversation turned to attacks by Republicans against 'childless cat ladies,' Ms. Harris called the criticism, popularized by past comments by Senator JD Vance of Ohio ... 'mean and meanspirited.' Ms. Harris referred to her stepchildren, Cole and Ella Emhoff, as her children.... The 'Call Her Daddy' interview was part of several appearances that Ms. Harris will make this week with news outlets and niche podcasts or radio shows." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Politico's story. which includes a snarky responses from Sanders, is here. ~~~
You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger.... You will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. You will be protected, and I will be your protector. -- Donald Trump, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in September ~~~
~~~ Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Speaking on a popular podcast aimed at young women, Vice President Kamala Harris took issue with ... Donald Trump calling himself a 'protector' of women.... [Harris reminded listeners of Trump's] successful efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. Harris countered that Trump had made life more difficult for women, especially those making an often-searing decision to terminate a pregnancy. She spoke of the increasing hardships faced by women who need abortion care, including one woman who died as a result of new abortion restrictions."
Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota fielded tough questions on abortion, immigration, the economy and his own past misstatements in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday,' that was mainly noteworthy because it was his first appearance on a Sunday news program since becoming Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate. He turned some questions into critiques of ... Donald J. Trump and sidestepped others. Asked whether Israel had the right to strike Iranian oil facilities or nuclear facilities, he did not directly answer.... Confronted by a series of misstatements he has made -- including on China, where he traveled in August 1989, and indicating he and his wife had used in vitro fertilization when they in fact used a different fertility treatment called intrauterine insemination -- Mr. Walz acknowledged that he sometimes misspeaks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mia McCarthy & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is directly invoking special counsel Jack Smith's investigation to attack ... Donald Trump, in a new ad.... The digital ad will air in battleground states starting Sunday. The ad comes after new developments from Smith's investigation were detailed in a 165-page filing last week." ~~~
Philip Nieto of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump promised his supporters at a Wisconsin rally on Sunday to free the state from a 'mass migration invasion.'... He blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for the death of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old who was strangled to death in Houston[:]... 'An illegal alien released by Kamala Harris was arrested for tying up and blindfolding a 12 year old. You know this you read it's big story. A 12 year old girl in a back of a van and viciously assaulting her in so many ways sexually. Today I make you this promise. I will liberate Wisconsin and our entire nation from this mass migration invasion of murderers, child predators, drug dealers, gang members and thugs.'"
Daniel Dale of CNN fact-checks "Six Days of Trump Lies about the Hurricane Helene Response.... Donald Trump has delivered a barrage of lies and distortions about the federal response to Hurricane Helene. While various misinformation about the response has spread widely without Trump's involvement, the Republican presidential nominee has been one of the country's leading deceivers on the subject. Over a span of six days, in public comments and social media posts, Trump has used his powerful megaphone to endorse or invent false or unsubstantiated claims. The chief targets of his hurricane-related dishonesty have been Vice President Kamala Harris ... and President Joe Biden." (Also linked yesterday.)
It's almost difficult to come up with a tax plan that would raise taxes on most Americans, but still increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars a year -- and that's what [Donald Trump's plan] does. -- Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy ~~~
~~~ Andrew Duehren & Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's economic proposals could inflame the nation's debt burden while ultimately raising costs for a vast majority of Americans, according to a pair of new economic analyses that are among the most in-depth studies to date of the Republican nominee's plans. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that seeks lower deficits, found that Mr. Trump's various plans could add as much as $15 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade. That is nearly twice as much as the economic plans being proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris. And an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, found that Mr. Trump's tax and tariff plans would, on average, amount to a tax increase for every income group except the top 5 percent of highest-earning Americans.... The richest 1 percent [would pay] $36,320 less in taxes, while the bottom 20 percent [would] pay $790 more, I.T.E.P. estimated. The middle 20 percent of Americans would pay $1,530 more, on average, equivalent to 2.1 percent of their income." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What a surprise! Trump comes up with a "plan" that's bad for everybody except Trump & his wealthy benefactors.
David French of the New York Times: "... as the 2020 election approached, countless Christians were not only certain that Trump would win, they were certain that Trump was divinely appointed to save the United States of America, either as King Cyrus figure (a pagan ruler who helped save the people of Israel) or as a King David figure (a flawed king, but still God's anointed ruler). Any dissent from that idea was met with ruthless opposition.... [A Pentacostal doctrine called] the Seven Mountain Mandate provided a theological justification for supporting Trump's quest for power.... Traditional Christianity teaches that Christian virtues should be applied to all spheres of life.... [But according to the Mandate,] other characteristics are necessary to dominate the ['mountains' other than the church].... Ruthlessness is useful in business and politics. In those spheres, pugilism isn't just valuable, it's often essential. Looked at this way, Trump's rage and fury become assets.... [JD] Vance's presence [at a Seven Mountain event on September 28] ... helps illustrate why he refuses to acknowledge that Biden won a free and fair election in 2020. He'd be directly contradicting the prophets of Trumpism, and if you contradict the prophets of Trumpism, you will be made to pay." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you are looking for the single greatest stroke of brilliance of members of the U.S. Constitutional Convention, it was to leave every reference to "God" out of the new nation's most important document. If you need examples of why politics & religion should not mix, David French provides it here, and Bibi Netanyahu, as well as his Muslim opponents, provide it every day. It's why I cringe when politicians end their speeches with "God bless America," when people recite the "new" pledge of allegiance with that "under God" addition, and so forth.
Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wouldn't acknowledge Sunday that Joe Biden won the 2020 election when asked directly about the election denialism that former president Donald Trump continues to promote on the campaign trail. During a testy exchange on ABC News's 'This Week,' host George Stephanopoulos asked Johnson if he could say 'unequivocally that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump lost.' Johnson declined, saying only that 'this is the game that is always played by mainstream media with mainstream Republicans. It's a gotcha game.'... In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, Johnson led a congressional effort to overturn the presidential results in four battleground states.... Johnson was also among the Republicans who, on Jan. 6, 2021, voted against certifying the electoral college vote for Biden in two key battleground states.... Johnson's comments Sunday may draw scrutiny about what he might do between Election Day on Nov. 5 and Congress's certification of the vote on Jan. 6 if Trump does not win in the electoral college." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "George Stephanopoulos battled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over comments from Eric Trump at a rally on Saturday -- during which [Eric Trump] claimed Democrats were behind the assassination attempts against his father.... 'They tried to kill him,' Eric Trump said at the rally. 'And it's because the Democratic Party, they can't do anything right.'... In a heated exchange on ABC's This Week, Stephanopoulos pressed Johnson about former President Donald Trump and his family toning down their rhetoric." After Johnson said he couldn't comment because he needed to hear Eric's comment "in context," Stephanopoulos said, 'Here's exactly what Eric Trump said. 'They tried to smear us. They came after us. They impeached him twice. And then, guys, they tried to kill him. They tried to kill him, and it's because the Democratic Party, they can't do anything right." What more context do you need? Do you support that statement or not?' [Johnson replied,] 'George, I'm not going to parse the language what people say at rallies.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: What Bible Mike is arguing is that it's okay for Republicans to falsely accuse Democrats of attempted murder/assassination, as long as they do so at rallies where everybody is pumped up and might be more prone to plan action against an accused murderer.
Sharon LaFraniere & David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: "Chase Herro is an online salesman who proudly calls himself a 'dirtbag of the internet,' able to sell anything to anyone. Zachary Folkman ran a company called Date Hotter Girls, offering advice under a pseudonym on how to pick up women at bars. For the past decade or so, the two men have been serial entrepreneurs, leaving behind a trail of lawsuits and unpaid debt and taxes. Now they are ... Donald J. Trump's business partners [in a cryptocurrency venture].... Mr. Herro and Mr. Folkman have a history of jumping from project to project.... Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, said Mr. Herro and Mr. Folkman did not appear to have the technical or financial savvy to make the venture work.... Like his social media company, [Mr. Trump's] new crypto business stands out for its potential conflicts of interest." MB: Oh, read on. This is a scheme that seems to have been developed by Donnie Junior & Eric, and it has all of the stability you might expect to find in a Dumb & Dumber enterprise.
David Ovalle of the Washington Post: "Overdose deaths appear to be declining sharply in the United States, a sign that efforts to combat the scourge of lethal fentanyl may be paying off even as experts caution that the toll remains unacceptably high and could rise again. Preliminary data compiled by states and released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a 10 percent drop in deaths during the 12-month period ending in April 2024, with about 101,000 people succumbing to overdoses. Public health officials and researchers said the decline could reflect multiple forces, including widespread availability of the overdose-reversal medication naloxone, greater access to opioid addiction treatment and law-enforcement crackdowns on illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which had become the leading killer of 18-to-49-year-olds."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Israel's wars are here: "More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In Lebanon, hundreds have been killed and more than 1.2 million displaced, according to the United Nations refugee agency." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here.
Patrick Kingsley, et al., of the New York Times: "... the war in Gaza has dragged on for a year, with no end in sight.... A wider, multifront war between Israel and Hamas's regional allies is now unfolding ... but the core of the conflict remains the original battle between Hamas and Israel, and the almost Sisyphean challenge of ending it. Inside a deeply traumatized Israel, that conflict has magnified long-running social schisms and set off bitter debate about whether to prioritize Hamas's destruction or a deal to free the hostages. Outside Israel, it has spurred horror at the Israeli military response to Hamas's atrocities, accusations of genocide and war crimes, and widespread protests in the United States and beyond.The war in Gaza has also highlighted the limits of American influence, with the Biden administration unable or unwilling to exert the pressure needed to broker a truce."
News Ledes
Weather Channel: "Hurricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning." ~~~
~~~ New York Times live updates are here for what is now a Cat 5 hurricane.
CNN: "This year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA -- a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make -- ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School."
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Heading out of town and mostly off the net again for a couple of weeks.
On Sarah, long one of my favorite people:
Don't know what breeding has to do with humility, but do know that if you think god is speaking to you and telling you that you have the right to control the private lives of others, you might be something, but you sure ain't humble.
And this on last week's lies, national and local.
"Oh, what to believe?
Are those Haitians really eating Springfield, Ohio’s cats and dogs? Did the Biden administration ignore the Hurricane Helene disaster because it struck Red states? Is FEMA broke because the Democrats spent all the money on immigrants? Did Democrats cause Hurricane Helene, as Marjorie Taylor Greene said they did?
Those fabrications are just a small portion of this last month’s laughable claims made by the Right, reminding us again that all that is laughable is not funny.
Though government is a serious business, the Right treats it as a joke. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Elon Musk’s X spread nonsense to millions of users about the disaster and the administration’s response to it (npr.org). Musk, a vocal proponent of his brand of “free speech,” will appear alongside Trump at his upcoming rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “I will be there to support,” he said (theguardian.com)
Musk says he will be there to support someone whom he knows lies all the time. About the mythical hordes of non-citizens voting in our elections. About how unfair our elections are--when he loses. In 2016, when the Electoral College put him in the White House, Trump claimed that the three million popular votes Clinton won by were fraudulent (cnn.com). But Musk can’t support Trump’s lies. In the face of fact, they are insupportable.
Mark Twain called lies “stretchers,” and today stretchers are everywhere.
A recent letter to the editor took Kamala Harris to task for her failure as internet “czar.” It claimed “not one home or business has been connected to the internet” under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
In fact, more than 2.4 million previously unserved homes and small businesses have been connected to high-speed Internet service in the last three years(commerce.gov).
Missing by 2.4 million is quite a stretch."
Lack of security.
"Donald Trump beckoned his wife to the most secure room in the White House one Saturday in the autumn of 2019.
There, in spite of the fact that she lacked a security clearance, Melania Trump learned the classified identity of the furry U.S. soldier who chased the leader of the ISIS terrorist group to his death and asked questions about the operations of the most secret unit of America's special forces, Delta Force.
“Sadly, he sustained some injuries,” she recounts of the dog in her eponymous memoir Melania set to be released on Tuesday, a copy of which was viewed by the Daily Beast.
And perhaps if Melania hadn’t been summoned to the Situation Room, the dog who stole her heart—a black-faced Belgian Malinois named Conan—wouldn’t have later been invited to the White House and given a medal as she had proposed."
Another hurricane, a chance for more Trump-Vance-Fox-Party of Traitors lies.
Democrats have to be smack these lying pricks immediately. Biden waited days after Helene to respond to Fatty’s disinformation and lies about FEMA funds and tens of billions spent for immigrants to live it up in five star hotels while MAGAts in North Carolina got peanuts. We can’t let these lies go unanswered for so long, and it must be made crystal clear that the Trump-Vance fake information has dire consequences aside from their insult to the truth. People who need help, being fed lies that do nothing but help that fat fuck are hurt.
Similarly, I’m happy to see Harris use the Jack Smith filings in ads pointing out Trump’s criminality. She has to hammer this home every day until the election. Soon enough, the traitors on the Supine Court will race to the aid of the head MAGAt. She needs to repeat the evidence of his treason, his crimes, his sociopathy, and his hatred of democracy.
Forrest Trump.
I resent my name being printed on the same page as Trump's,
and so does Tom Hanks. (Forrest Gump).
MAGA is bringing us nearer to our stupidest future
@ForrestMorris: Just be glad your last name isn't Grump or Dump or Stump or Frump or Lump or Bump or Jump or Pump or Rump or Slump or Clump or Chump or Hump of Plump ... or Trump.
Calling out the FEMA liars
…or jumped up, ovoid, plumper-schnitzel, shit for brains, small balls bull moose, bigly bigot, blow me down, rusty douche clamp Donnetta.
That would kinda suck.