The Conversation -- September 29, 2024
Stephanie Murray of the Arizona Republic: "Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris because of his conservative values -- not in spite of them — he said Saturday in an interview announcing his support for the Democratic presidential nominee. Flake, R-Ariz., is crossing party lines to endorse a Democrat for the second presidential election in a row. He backed President Joe Biden over ... Donald Trump in 2020 and voted third-party rather than cast a ballot for Trump in 2016. 'I'm a conservative. I believe in the rule of law,' Flake said during an interview at The Nile Coffee Shop in Mesa on Saturday afternoon. 'First and foremost, I want to support a presidential candidate that respects the rule of law, somebody who, if they lose an election, wouldn't try to use the presidential powers to overturn that election.'"
Greta Reich of Politico: "Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan will again not be voting for ... Donald Trump, despite Trump's endorsement of Hogan's bid for Senate in June. 'I didn't vote for him in 2016 or 2020,' Hogan said on CBS' 'Face the Nation' to guest host Robert Costa on Sunday, without saying who he would vote for. Hogan didn't vote for Democratic candidates ... in those years either. In 2016, he wrote in his own father, former Maryland Rep. Lawrence Hogan. In 2020, he wrote in former President Ronald Reagan.... Hogan, a Republican, is running against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, the current county executive of Prince George's County." Hogan also said Trump's attack of Kamala Harris as "mentally unstable" was "outrageous and unacceptable": "I think that's insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities."
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "A day after ... Donald J. Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, criticized the Ukrainian president Saturday during a campaign stop in [Newtown,] Pennsylvania.... Mr. Vance opened his speech by criticizing Mr. Zelensky for having toured an ammunition factory in Scranton with the state's governor, Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. 'He came to campaign with the Democratic leadership of this country,' Mr. Vance said in Newtown. 'We spent $200 billion on Ukraine. You know what I wish Zelensky would do when he comes to the United States of America? Say thank you to the people of Pennsylvania and everybody else.'
~~~ Marie: Uh, JayDee, you ignorant sofa-slut, President Zelensky did say thank you to the people of Pennsylvania -- precisely when he was speaking in that ammo factory in Scranton, Joe Biden's hometown. Why, even the New York Times sez so. Cameron again: "In fact, Mr. Zelensky did use his visit to the plant to thank the United States for its support, as well as to thank the workers in Scranton for manufacturing artillery shells to support Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky told the 400 workers churning out shells to support the war effort that they 'have saved millions of Ukrainians.' He added in a message on social media that 'it is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail." And when President Zelensky went to NYC to "campaign" with Donald Trump a/k/a the Republican "leadership" of this country, Trump heaped insults upon him and the people of Ukraine who have suffered & died under Putin's war of aggression.
Love in the Time of Corruption ... Can Be So Convenient! Alyce McFadden & Jeffery Mays of the New York Times: "A day after [New York City Mayor Eric] Adams pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including bribery and fraud, Sheena Wright, Mr. Adams's first deputy mayor, and David C. Banks, the schools chancellor, married on [Martha's Vineyard], according to three people familiar with their plans. Their marriage was said to have been planned for some time, and it followed a yearslong relationship during which they shared a home. But it might also allow Mr. Banks and Ms. Wright to claim spousal privilege, which gives them the right to decline to testify against each other in court, should that become necessary, legal experts said. The couple's home in Harlem was visited by federal authorities in early September. Both Mr. Banks's and Ms. Wright's phones were seized by investigators, who appeared to be conducting a separate inquiry from the one that resulted in Mr. Adams's indictment."
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Presidential Race
Marie: I was so hoping a minority person would play JayDee: ~~~
Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: Kamala Harris's campaign trolled Donald Trump Saturday night during the televised University of Georgia vs. University of Alabama football game with the ad below which mocks Trump for his refusal to debate Harris again. "Her campaign also hired a plane to trail the words 'Trump's Punting on 2nd Debate' over Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday night, where Trump was attending the game. But the plane was not cleared to fly because of the weather." MB: Rats! (But the ad is primo.)
Maegan Vazquez & Sabrina Rodriguez of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris's mental capacity Saturday, falsely claiming she was born 'mentally impaired' and comparing her actions to that of 'a mentally disabled person.' The remarks prompted criticism from advocates for people with disabilities.... 'Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this [MB: 'this' being something about the U.S.-Mexico border] to happen to our country,' he said, elaborating on a claim backed by no evidence. He called Harris 'a very dumb person,' and repeatedly mispronounced her first name, an action some supporters see as demeaning and racist.... The former president has a history of mocking people with disabilities. And he has repeatedly questioned the intelligence of Black women.... Trump held his even in a small town [Prairie due Chien, Wisconsin] where the former president and Republicans have seized on a recent case where a Venezuelan immigrant with known gang ties was accused of assaulting a woman and her daughter." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Colin Jost of SNL was wondering how such a mentally-impaired person could beat the MAGA socks off Trump in a debate. Video below.
About Those $100K Trump Watches. Marie: Read the post linked next with the cautious eye of someone who knows that the author is a highly-partisan anti-Trumper who admits he is only speculating. But his speculation does raise questions, questions which will not be answered any time soon: ~~~
~~~ Brett Meiselas of Meidas Touch: "Key to the controversy is the method of payment accepted for these [Trump] watches. Buyers can use Bitcoin, a digital currency favored for its anonymity. This capability to purchase high-ticket items like the $100,000 Tourbillon watch without traceable financial footprints ... opens the door to the possibility of moving large sums of money discreetly, circumventing traditional financial oversight and potentially violating campaign finance laws. Trump Watches are marketed globally..., complicat[ing] adherence to U.S. regulations designed to prevent foreign contributions to political campaigns. The website's caveat that international customers handle their own taxes and duties adds another layer of complexity, distancing the transactions from stringent regulatory scrutiny.... Further muddying the waters is the disclaimer on the Trump Watch website that the product images are for illustration purposes only, suggesting that what is marketed may not reflect the actual product, and that an actual product may not even yet exist. This vagueness is unusual for luxury goods...." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemiueux in LG&$: "The possibilities for campaign finance abuse here are abundant. I doubt, though, that Trump is interested in sharing any of the profits with his campaign as opposed to his own pockets, so the real danger here is probably more straightforward emoluments for implicit favors, and as Anthony Kennedy says as long as it's just implicit nobody can think there's anything shady going on." MB: Right. Trump has an amazing talent for making his big grifts progressively bigger & griftier at the same time he shrinks his own image from "The Apprentice"'s business mogul billionaire to B&W TV used-car salesman working off a melting asphalt lot in Tempe, Arizona.
Marie: MEANWHILE, here's how Rupert's New York Post manufactures criticism of Vice President Harris. Dana Kennedy, an "investigative reporter" at the NYPost writes that when Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, she "was wearing ... what critics claimed was a $62,000 necklace from Tiffany's.... The gold, chain-link piece looks similar to Tiffany & Co.'s Bold Graduated Link Necklace in yellow gold that retails for the whopping price tag. It's unclear if Harris' necklace is the Tiffany item...." Yeah, it is unclear. Harris' husband is well-to-do, so maybe they can afford to buy a $62K necklace now & then. Then again, Kennedy has no idea if the necklace Harris wore Friday is from Tiffany's or if it's one of the necklaces that look just like it that I found online. These copycat necklaces range in price from $5.22 (that's five dollars and twenty-two cents) to $3,500. Just Google "chunky hardware gold chain necklace," Dana. Oh, and those whose criticisms of Harris Kennedy cites? Three X users.
⭐ "They're Bringing Drugs. They're Bringing Crime." They're U.S. Citizens. Natalie Kitroeff & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "Since 2019, when Mexico overtook China to become the dominant supplier of fentanyl in the United States, cartels have been flooding the country with the synthetic opioid. [Link fixed.] The amount of fentanyl crossing the border has increased tenfold in the past five years. Mexico has been the source of almost all of the fentanyl seized by U.S. law enforcement in recent years.... Donald J. Trump and other Republicans have blamed President Biden's border policies for the fentanyl pouring into the United States, playing on a widespread belief that undocumented immigrants are responsible for bringing it in. In reality, the largest known group of fentanyl smugglers is not made up of immigrants traversing the desert or moving through secret tunnels -- they are Americans coming through legal ports of entry. More than 80 percent of the people sentenced for fentanyl trafficking at the southern border are U.S. citizens, federal data shows.... Mexican drug cartels are turning thousands of Americans into fentanyl mules, deploying a torrent of couriers who can easily cross back and forth...." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: You know those Midwestern white guys in their MAGA hats? The ones who hate immigrants? They are the mules.
Kenneth Vogel & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Soon after Donald Trump granted clemency to fraudster & scammer Adriana Camberos -- who had obtained access to Trump via well-placed acquaintances & a $50,000 campaign contribution from her brother -- "she and her brother Andres embarked on a new fraud, federal prosecutors in California said.... Ms. Camberos is among six people granted clemency by Mr. Trump and known to have been charged with new crimes after they received a second chance.... Other recipients of Mr. Trump's clemency grants have been investigated but not charged, The Times found. And at least three additional people have been convicted of crimes that predated their clemency grants.... According to an analysis in a law journal focused on criminal justice, only 25 of the nearly 240 clemency grants issued by Mr. Trump were vetted and recommended by the pardon attorney"s office." MB: The Trumpy explanation is that the new charges are the results of vindictive prosecutors set on undoing Trump's pardons to nice people. (Also linked yesterday.)
Meryl Kornfield & Hannah Allam of the Washington Post: "... JD Vance appeared Saturday at a town hall event organized by top Christian nationalist leaders who promote election denialism and portray Vice President Kamala Harris as a 'demon.' The event's host, Lance Wallnau, who emceed the live event and introduced Vance's first town hall on the campaign trail, is a leading figure in the fast-growing New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that preaches Christian supremacy through a blend of prophecy and hard-right politics.... Vance's appearance at Saturday's event was the latest example of the Trump campaign intersecting with once-fringe figures who now have wide followings. On Saturday, Vance ... described hisfaith journey and political beliefs as he courted the crowd in western Pennsylvania.... Polls show former president Donald Trump and Harris neck and neck in the crucial swing state."
Marie: JayDee is a little pudgy, but I don't know how he ever gets anything to eat: ~~~
~~~ Mike Bedigan of the Independent: "JD Vance suffered yet another embarrassing set back on the campaign trail, after being denied entry to a restaurant where he was supposed to speak -- and being forced to address supporters in the parking lot instead. According to reports, after showing up to Primanti Bros in North Versailles, Pennsylvania, a restaurant worker told the press that cameras were not allowed and that they did not want a 'campaign event.' The restaurant was reportedly full of customers waiting to greet Vance, who canceled their food orders after learning he wasn't welcome. Vance ended up glad-handing in the parking lot outside, according to NBC.... The latest food-shop-related gaffe led to many online questioning those that make advance arrangements for the Republican vice presidential nominee.... Just last week he was roundly mocked online over a trip to the supermarket, also in Pennsylvania, where he bemoaned the steep cost of eggs, claiming that Harris' economic policies had led to the price being $4. The problem?... [Video] footage ... [showed that] the price tag [on] a dozen eggs [pictured] behind him was actually $2.99." ~~~
~~~ To be fair, Fox "News" reported that customers at a nearby Primanti Bros were pissed off last month when restaurant employees kicked them out prior to a visit from Kamala Harris. ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, it isn't the inflation Kamala Harris apparently single-handedly engineered that caused the rise in eggs to $2.99/dozen. Not sure how Trump & JayDee will link Harris to the latest bird-flu outbreak, but I know they can do it: ~~~
~~~ Filip Timotija of the Hill: "The rising price of eggs in the last year has been linked to bird's flu impact on the supply chain. Eggs' price tag has gone up by 28.1 percent in the last 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.... 'Bird flu is the number one reason for higher prices, absolutely,' Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst, told CNN.... The sickness of the birds has affected the total egg output, and lower production of eggs, in part, leads to an increase in prices."
David Bauder of the AP: "CBS News, hosting vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz for the general election campaign's third debate next week, says it will be up to the politicians -- not the moderators -- to check the facts of their opponents. The 90-minute debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday in a Manhattan studio..., will be moderated by the outgoing 'CBS Evening News' anchor Norah O'Donnell and 'Face the Nation' host Margaret Brennan."
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Marie: It's kinda hard to believe Florida Republicans had a worse Congressional [Wikilink] candidate in 2022 than [WashPo link] Anna Paulina Luna. But they did: ~~~
~~~ Florida Congressional Race 2022. Raquel Uribe of NBC News: "The Justice Department revealed an indictment Friday charging a Florida man with threatening to kill his political opponent in 2021. William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was charged with threatening two people, one of whom the DOJ said was his primary opponent in the 2022 election for Florida's 13th Congressional District. Braddock allegedly threatened to 'call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad' and make the primary opponent disappear, according to the indictment. The DOJ indictment did not name the alleged victims. One of Braddock's primary opponents and the race's eventual winner, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., contended in 2021 court documents that Braddock was stalking her and wanted her dead. A Florida court in 2021 granted Luna and a conservative activist and friend of hers, Erin Olszewski, a temporary restraining order. Braddock terminated his campaign in 2021 shortly after the judge granted the injunction."
Texas Voter Suppression Law Partly Halted. Xiomara Moore of the Texas Tribune: "A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech. The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, immediately halted the state's ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens by Attorney General Ken Paxton. Before today's ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers could spend up to ten years in prison and fined up to $10,000 for giving or offering these services.... Many organizations -- including La Union del Pueblo Entero, LULAC, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund -- have filed lawsuits against many other provisions of the law, including voter assistance and mail-in ballot restrictions. The challenges to these provisions have not been ruled on yet."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Israel's wars are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here: "Israel continued heavy strikes on Lebanon early Sunday, claiming to attack dozens of Hezbollah targets. Lebanon was reeling from the killing of Hasan Nasrallah, the militant group's longtime leader, who was killed in an Israeli strike in a Beirut suburb on Friday. More than 1,000 people, including at least 87 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the past two weeks, health officials said." ~~~
~~~ Here's President Biden's statement on the death of Hassan Nasrallah.
News Lede
Washington Post: "Towns throughout western North Carolina ... were transformed overnight by ... [Hurricane Helene]. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls.... The death toll grew throughout the Southeast as the scope of Helene's devastation came into clearer view. At least 49 people had been killed in five states -- Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. By early counts, South Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, registering at least 19 deaths."
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Reader Comments (11)
Uh-oh…not one, but TWO “nasty” women (to use Fatty’s favorite attack word for women) rigging the next debate between VP candidates Tim Walz and Shady Vance. Couldn’t they find a good ol’ wife beatin’ woman hater or some Trump lovin’ white supremacist incel to do the moderatin’? These two’ll probably ask unfair questions ‘bout ‘bortion and cat ladies. Prob’ly never once ask about how the country was better with our boy Donald in charge.
Everthin’ is rigged against us. Get the guns.
I think for the third debate, CBS should provide a couch for
JD to relax on.
But then, maybe he couldn't control himself.
@Forrest Morris: Thanks for causing me to laugh out loud. One of the articles about the veep debate said that the last time the veep candidates had to stand up during their debate was in 2008 (Biden and Palin). I guess CBS decided setting JayDee on a couch would be too, too tempting.
In reality, it might have been too tempting for Walz, who does enjoy a good couch joke at JayDee's expense -- not that he needs a couch on-set to come up with a sly reference to JayDee & the family divan.
Test.
“We don’t need no stinkin’ (Trump) watches…”
F’rinstance: “The website says the watches will ship in October. Or November. Or December. Or maybe some other month?
‘Watches start shipping in October/November/December. . . . Shipping and delivery dates are estimates only and cannot be guaranteed. We are not liable for any delays in shipments. Your order will ship as it becomes available, so the earlier you buy, the quicker it will ship. Each watch is made to order.’
‘Made to order,’ by the way, does not mean “bespoke.” It means ‘dropshipped.’”
And how about the actual price of these gewgaws?
“All told we’re in the neighborhood of $60. And that’s if you’re just trying to build a single watch without bulk purchasing power.
Reminder: They’re selling it for $499.”
But what about that $100,000 Trump Victory watch?
“We’re now talking about a total production cost in the neighborhood of $20,000—and possibly much less—for a watch offered at $100,000.
As a point of reference, the list price on a solid gold Rolex Submariner is $40,600. In the Submariner you get an in-house, state-of-the-art movement running at COSC spec inside a bullet-proof case. The fit and finish will be superlative. And even though you’re paying over the odds for the Rolex name, you’re getting 10x the watch for 40 percent of the price of a Trump Victory.
Did I mention that the Trump Victory can’t get wet? From the Trump website: ‘The Tourbillon watches are not intended for water exposure.’”
So…not much of a watch. Crap. Like everything Trumpy. The details are pretty interesting if you want to create your own crappy, grifty
timepiece. You’re better off going with Times off Amazon for twenty bucks.
How crazy are your namesakes
"How Republican or Democratic is your name?"
A Trump administration will make it harder to drink your sorrows away. Rolling Stone via Balloon Juice about the Tequila Tax and Trump making all the imported booze more expensive.
//JD gives new meaning to that phrase 'couch potato'//
Did Ms. Wright and Mr. Banks fly to Martha’s Vineyard by way of Istanbul? Inquiring minds want to know.
Huffpost
"Trump Suggests Terrifying Solution To Ending Crime: The Purge
His dangerous solution came on the heels of him repeating the false, fearmongering claim that crime is skyrocketing.
Trump declared that Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) should be put in charge for “one really violent day.”
“One rough hour. And I mean real rough, the world will get it out and it will end immediately. End immediately. You know, it will end immediately,” he added without sharing any logistics."
The logistics, RAS, are that it doesn't matter if they come up with anything legal to dump all the "illegals" out-- he will say anything. There are never details, or nuts-and-bolts of ANYTHING. Apparently if he says it, it's done! Completed! Perfect! And the people who "interview" that piece of excrement never ask how. The real culprits here are the media personalities who never, never, never hold his stupid fat feet to the fire. If we lose this election, it will fully be the fault of the mostly mainstream media, who have already made their mad choice. They could not be more in cahoots than they are.