The Conversation -- September 30, 2024
Marie: Man, am I glad I have Jim Comer (R-Ky.) protecting me from Commie Tim Walz. If not for Jim, the next thing you know, all the kidz would be speaking Mandarin. ~~~
~~~ Emily Brooks of the Hill: "House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday for information relating to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic nominee for vice president, and a vague alleged connection to the Chinese Communist Party. Comer said in a letter accompanying the subpoena -- issued on the day before the vice presidential debate between Walz and Republican Sen. J.D. Vance -- that his committee received whistleblower disclosures about 'serious concern among Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel regarding a longstanding connection between' Walz and China."
~~~ Marie: I'm a little slow, so it just dawned on me what Trump means when he says that Kamala Harris was "mentally impaired," and she was "born that way." "Born that way" translates to an assumption that all non-white people are mentally deficient.
Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday tried to taunt ... Donald J. Trump into participating in another debate as she rallied supporters in Nevada.... 'The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues. And as you say here in Las Vegas, I'm all in. I'm all in. Even if my opponent is ready to fold.'... [Mr. Trump] has said he will not participate in another debate...."
New York Times Editors declare Kamala Harris "The Only Patriotic Choice for President."
Marshall Cohen & Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump has escalated his long-running assault on the integrity of US elections as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, using a new series of lies about ballots, vote-counting and the election process to lay the groundwork to challenge a potential defeat in November. Nonpartisan democracy experts say they're seeing many of the same warning signs that were blinking red before Election Day four years ago, when Trump flooded the zone with election lies and conspiracy theories that he amplified after losing to Joe Biden.... Trump has made at least 12 distinct false claims over the last two months that raise baseless doubts about the validity of a potential victory by Vice President Kamala Harris."
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: A Springfield, Ohio, owner of a metals manufacturing plant & his family have to take measures, including purchasing guns, to protect themselves from credible threats after the businessman praised his company's Haitian employees in national media outlets.
Lisa Rein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, VA investigators found, in a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation. VA officials notified the Vance and Walz campaigns about the breaches after discovering the unauthorized viewing by employees at the agency's massive health-care arm, the Veterans Health Administration, according to people familiar with the investigation.... VA Inspector General Michael Missal's office has shared evidence with federal prosecutors on the actions of several employees in the health system, including a physician and a contractor...."
⭐ William Booth of the Washington Post: "If you are looking for a signal event, a real ping, to mark humanity's journey to slow global climate change, this is a thing. On Monday, the very last coal-powered electricity plant in Britain is closing. The coal age is over in the country that sparked the industrial revolution 200 years ago.... This was a country powered by coal -- dug by a million miners, used to make cheap energy, to generate heat, then steam, then electricity. Coa heated the homes, ran the trains and made the steel and cement. The first coal-fired electric plant in the world was built in England in 1882. The term 'smog' was coined here, too. Now Britain is the first in the global club of wealthy countries to quit coal -- relying instead on natural gas, nuclear power and a combination of renewable energy sources."
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Presidential Race
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.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "The editorial board for The New Yorker endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential bid on Sunday in a piece in which President Joe Biden's 'nationally televised disintegration' in his debate with Donald Trump was hailed as a 'gift' for Democrats. Sunday's endorsement of Harris was a notable pivot from a piece published by the outlet in March in which Biden was praised for remaining 'defiant' amid concerns about his mental acuity and age.... [In March,] The New Yorker praised Biden for remaining mentally sharp even if he appeared frail after he had sat down for an interview with [New Yorker] journalist Evan Osnos."
Talyler Mitchell of the Huffington Post: "At a rally on Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump casually seemed to suggest that one day of violence would put an end to crime. 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.... His dangerous remark Sunday came on the heels of his saying that crime is skyrocketing, a false claim that the far right uses to fearmonger. He also echoed the lie that the supposed rise in crime is the fault of migrants." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think Mitchell misunderstands Trump's alarming suggestion. She writes, "The concept mirrors a fictional film series called 'The Purge,' in which all crime is legal for 12 hours on a single day of the year." BUT ~~~
~~~ Adam Wren of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday called for 'one real rough, nasty' and 'violent day' of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime 'immediately.'... 'One rough hour -- and I mean real rough -- the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,' Trump said.... Trump has a long history of endorsing police violence...." His campaign said Trump's suggestion was not a policy proposal but a "joke." MB: That is, Trump is not proposing that people be allowed to commit crimes for 12 hours but that the police be allowed to violently brutalize suspected criminals for 24 hours.
~~~ David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump on Sunday admitted that he refused to pay his workers overtime.... Trump said, 'I hated to give overtime. I hated it. I shouldn't say this, but I'd get other people in. I wouldn't pay.'... The ... AFL-CIO said..., 'This isn't a gaffe and he didn't just misspeak -- Trump said this in Michigan on Friday and Pennsylvania today. Trump cut overtime for millions of Americans as President -- and his Project 2025 agenda will do it again.'"
~~~ Meryl Kornfield & Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, in a speech that repeatedly painted a dark caricature of immigrants, seized on a recent report to claim falsely that thousands of immigrants with homicide records had been allowed to go free by the Biden administration. 'They're coming into our cities and our small towns, here in Pennsylvania and all over the country,' Trump said in a speech that meandered widely and made several other unsupported assertions. 'These towns are petrified. Even if they're not there yet, they will be there.'... Trump spent much of his two-hour speech on elaborate descriptions of the individuals purportedly roaming the nation, calling them 'stone-cold killers,' 'worse than any of our criminals,' 'monsters,' and people who ... 'don't care who they kill.'...
"Trump cited a new letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to falsely suggest that more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of homicide had been let into the United States on President Joe Biden's watch and then released. But allies of Vice President Kamala Harris and nonpartisan experts say Trump is badly misrepresenting the data. The people he cited entered the United States over several decades, including during the Trump presidency. And while they are listed as 'non-detained,' that means only that ICE is not detaining them; in many cases, they are being held by another agency, and are often serving prison sentences."
Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump and those around him have plied the plots against his life for political benefit.... Mr. Trump plans to return to Butler[, Pa. where a gunman winged him] for a rally on Oct. 5, and he relives these attempts on his life at nearly every campaign stop. Lately he has taken to saying that he has one of the most dangerous professions in the world.... He has bragged about the mortal danger in which he finds himself ('they only go after consequential presidents'); used it as evidence of divine intervention ('God has now spared my life -- it must have been God, thank you -- not once, but twice') and as inspiration for set design (he decorated the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with images of his bloodied face).... If he really is the most marked man in the world, why was he wandering around a football stadium [Saturday] in the Deep South [-- Tuscaloosa, Ala. --] in a state he does not need to campaign in, tossing out poultry [-- boxes of chicken --] and posing for selfies?" ~~~
~~~ Arrested Development. Marie: One of the few Democrats at the Alabama-Georgia game, a lawyer named Thomas Radney had a theory about why Trump went to the game: "'Alabama is going to vote for him by huge numbers,' he [told the Times], 'so the fact that he is here just proves what he wants is accolades and people waving, that's his whole deal. I want people to cheer for me.'" I suspect that when he was a boy, little Donnie saw the Leni Reifenstahl film "Triumph of the Will," which includes a scene of 700,000 Germans cheering Hitler at Nuremburg. The boy Trump -- perhaps with encouragement from papa Fred -- decided then and there that Hitler was a great man and one to be emulated. Trump is an old man now, but he never got past childish perceptions, so he is not that hard to figure out. ~~~
~~~ Update. Looks as if Colin Jost & I are on the same wavelength. Watch to the end: ~~~
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "At a rally Friday in Walker, Mich., Trump said he was thinking of those in Alabama and other states hit by the storm, saying, 'We're with you all the way, and if we were there we'd be helping you. You'll be okay.' KamalaHQ, the Harris campaign's X account, immediately shared the video clip with its roughly 1.3 million followers, suggesting that the former president was downplaying a deadly disaster and showing a lack of empathy. 'You'll be okay,' the tweet read, along with the parenthetical note, '(Dozens of deaths have already been reported)'. On and off social media, the campaign and its supporters also hammered Trump for denying human-caused climate change, which scientists say is allowing hurricanes such as Helene to rapidly intensify. In addition, Harris allies highlighted that Project 2025 -- the road map for a second Trump administration drafted by conservative think tanks in Washington -- would privatize weather forecasting now done by federal agencies." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What Trump was "thinking of" was "Will I still be able to get to the Alabama-Georgia game so thousands of fans can cheer for their favorite president*, me?"
Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Senior Republicans distanced themselves Sunday from comments made by Donald Trump at campaign stops over the weekend that opponent Kamala Harris was born 'mentally disabled' and had compared her actions to that of 'a mentally disabled person'. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican..., said on CNN. 'I'm not saying she's crazy, her policies are crazy.'" ~~~
~~~ According to Joe DePaolo of Mediaite, what Lindsey actually said was, "I'm not saying she's crazy. I'm saying your party, your policies are batshit crazy." MB: I think I'll adopt DePaolo's citation.
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. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: How to combine (a) projection, (b) conspiracy theory & (c) xenophobia, and come out the other side with (d) a sort of "reasoned" prediction ~~~
~~~ Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Elon Musk claimed Sunday that electing former President Donald Trump in November is the 'only way' to save the country from the tyranny of Democrats and illegal migrants. The billionaire SpaceX, Tesla, and X CEO claimed the Democratic Party would naturalize enough non-citizens as voters during a Kamala Harris presidency to turn the US into a 'one-party state.' 'Democracy is over' if Trump is not elected to a second term, Musk claimed." Remarkable. Just remarkable.
~~~~~~~~~~
Eduardo Medina & Tim Arango of the New York Times: "Raging floods and mudslides unleashed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene have dealt an 'unprecedented tragedy' in the mountains of western North Carolina, leaving at least 37 people dead in the region and communities struggling to cope without water, food, power, gasoline and cellphone service. Hundreds of miles from where it made landfall as a powerful hurricane, Helene has continued to wreak havoc across several states, with an overall death toll reaching more than 90 on Sunday. That total is expected to rise as rescue workers reach stranded communities. Some of the worst devastation was in the towns and cities nestled between the forested mountains of western North Carolina, with roads, power lines and water treatment facilities heavily damaged throughout the region. Local and federal officials along with the National Guard raced to deliver supplies to paralyzed areas, and repair and restore what they could, while dozens of other teams searched for people who fell victim to the raging floodwaters or were still looking to escape."
California. Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a California artificial intelligence safety bill, blocking the most ambitious proposal in the nation aimed at curtailing the growth of the new technology. The first-of-its-kind bill, S.B. 1047, required safety testing of large A.I. systems, or models, before their release to the public. It also gave the state's attorney general the right to sue companies over serious harm caused by their technologies, like death or property damage. And it mandated a kill switch to turn off A.I. systems in case of potential biowarfare, mass casualties or property damage. Mr. Newsom said that the bill was flawed because it focused too much on regulating the biggest A.I. systems, known as frontier models, without considering potential risks and harms from the technology. He said that legislators should go back to rewrite it for the next session."~~~
~~~ Lara Korte & Jeremy White of Politico: "Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a sweeping California bill meant to impose safety vetting requirements for powerful AI models, siding with much of Silicon Valley and leading congressional Democrats in the most high-profile fight in the Legislature this year."
New York. 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Austria, "Fortress of Freedom." Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Austrian voters handed the Freedom Party of Austria a solid win in national elections on Sunday, rebuking establishment parties and notching another victory for a xenophobic party in Europe as the tide of far-right populism rises on the continent. But despite the nearly 30 percent who voted for the far-right Freedom Party and its pugilistic leader, Herbert Kickl, the victory in national parliamentary elections could turn out to be merely symbolic, as mainstream parties have promised to form a coalition government without him. Still, on Sunday Mr. Kickl, who campaigned on making Austria a 'fortress of freedom,' insisted he has a clear mandate to form a government and announced that he would be open to conversations about possible coalitions with all other parties in Parliament."
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Israel's wars are here: "Hamas on Monday said that its leader in Lebanon had been killed during an airstrike in the southern part of the country. The attack appeared to be the latest in a series of moves by Israel targeting the leadership of militias backed by Iran across the Middle East. Fatah Sherif al-Amin was killed with his family in a refugee camp for Palestinians, Hamas said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates Monday are here: "Israel is continuing its bombardment in Lebanon, hitting an apartment building in Beirut's Cola neighborhood early Monday -- the first time it has targeted the capital's city limits with an airstrike since hostilities with Hezbollah escalated almost a year ago. The Lebanese Health Ministry said the airstrike killed at least four people and injured four others. Israel's military has not commented on the strike, which came after it hit Hezbollah targets across Lebanon and Houthi infrastructure in Yemen on Sunday."
News Lede
New York Times: "Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88."
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Reader Comments (21)
It makes no difference if ShadyVance did or didn’t know that President Zelensky thanked Americans for their assistance in attempting to beat back Trump’s love interest, Vladimir Putin, who has been murdering Ukrainians now for well over two years.
Both Shady and Trump, as well as Fox and the entire right-wing media circus indulge in the most toxic sort of cynicism, believing, with mountains of evidence, that Trump voters are drooling idiots who would buy sand in the desert if they were told there was no other way to get it. They also clearly feel that undecided voters are equally bereft of the capability to critically assess false information, assuming that at this late date, if they haven’t figured out we lie with each breath, might as well give those losers an extra helping of shit, ergo “Zelensky is an ungrateful bastard who needs to die!”
It’s easier than you might think. Just think of how many Trump lovers believe Adam and Eve kept pet dinosaurs. And how many more millions believeFatty is smart. QED.
Fatty sez: “We’re with you all the way, and if we were there we’d be helping you. You’ll be okay.”
In regard to a raging natural disaster, what does this even mean?
1. I’m (Trump always employs the Royal We) with you all the way.
What exactly does “all the way” mean? Up until I can’t use you for my own ends anymore?
2. If I were there I’d be helping you…
But…I’m not there…soooo….fuck off, you’re on your own. Oh, wait. If I were there I’d be throwing you some paper towels.
3. You’ll be okay.
116 dead (so far), 600 missing in North Carolina alone, 90 million without power, no telling how many homeless. This is “okay”? Hey, he let a million people die from Covid and called it a great success, best ever. Best ever since when? The Black Death? So I guess 116 dead is “okay”.
He just says shit. It doesn’t mean anything. He’s like a used car salesman trying to get you off the lot. “That funny noise under the hood? Doesn’t mean a thing. It’s great. Bye now.”
I heard this morning that (important radio voice…harumph, harumph…) “Former president* Trump will be briefed today on storm damage”. Yeah. Right. Like he’ll be paying attention. Hope you have short bullet points in yuuuge font sizes like a first grade picture book so he can understand. If he listens at all, the lizard brain won’t be thinking “Those poor people…how can we help them?” He’ll be thinking “How can I blame Biden and Kamala for this? There’s gotta be something in this for me.”
“You’ll be okay.”
Jesus.
The Fatty Fatwa
“Cops need 24 hours to beat the shit out of everyone, then all crime will disappear.”
Didn’t he promise all crime would cease the second he was inaugurated last time around? Instead the Trump Crime Family went to work. He claims he can stop wars in 24 hours. A cheaper, better health plan. In two weeks. Infrastructure week. Every week. He alone can fix everything. Couple a days, tops.
The magical thinking of a toddler.
But this business of 24 hours of vicious violence is a lot worse than childish magical thinking. First, it takes a certain mindset to ramp up to the kind of violence Trump is demanding. This is not something you can shut off after 24 hours of bloody mayhem. Just like his promise to be a dictator for only one day. Right. Then he’ll go back to being a responsible public servant. But oops! He’s never been that in the first place.
Can the Orange Monster just grift and scam for 24 hours? Then stop? How about lying for just a day? Raping women only for 24 hours?
Did Hitler stop after Kristallnacht? “Okay boys, that’s enough. We showed those dirty Jews what for. You can pack it up now.”
No. 24 hours of bloodletting would just be the beginning. Thinking anything different demonstrates either an uncontrollable propensity for lying or total ignorance of human psychology. Or both.
His ideas, if you can call them that…more like inchoate screeches from the Id…are not just stupid, they’re terrifyingly stupid. But I’m sure the MAGAts love the idea of people they hate getting their heads bashed in.
But does the Fatty fatwa encompass all crimes? All criminals? Will the MAGA police be kicking in the doors of predatory bankers? How ‘bout crooked Supreme Court justices? What about social media platform owners who profit off of spreading hate and lies? Will the Trump goons be taking nightsticks to the heads of Sackler family members who have made billions off the pain and deaths of hundreds of thousands of American families?
No. Trump’s targets are people of color. Immigrants, even ones here legally. Reporters he doesn’t like. Gays. Democrats. Election officials who insist on honest vote counts.
Like everything else Trumpy, the Fatty fatwa would be carried out to benefit one person, and only one person.
Gee, and I kinda thought the devastation wreaked on those suthrin states was God's gentle reminder that they're lost their political way...
The problem was when he was giving orders, his Sharpie slipped and included part of Georgia.
Friend of the working man.
Trump sez “Overtime? No way! I’d fire those people before I’d pay overtime, then I’d bring in someone else!”
Union guys still liking pro-scab Fat Man?
Test
I think I have reached Critical Fatso Mass: I can't even read the quotes from the insane ranting of the right. Now it's not like we have to read just the vomiting nonsense of Dumpster, we get to read about what "concerns" Nutcase Vance puts forward, as well as the other idiots surrounding these people. It all comes down to the press not doing its job to decide what is rigamarole and what is valid discussion. There is zero sense for Democrats to keep shouting into the wind to counteract the lies and video game fantasy issuing from those flabby pursed lips and those of his allies. I don't even know what to say about the World Day of Violence proposed by the idiot on the teevee screen. He is ugly inside and out, and honestly, he has no business near the seat of government. Or international diplomacy. He was so insulting to the Ukranian president... He IS Hitler. He is.
Borowitz, satire
"𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧
Iranian hackers who accessed Donald J. Trump’s computers revealed on Monday that they were unable to obtain even a concept of a plan.
“We spent days searching for a plan, and when we came up empty, we tried looking for a concept of one,” the chief Iranian hacker said. “All we found was bullshit.”"
Media Fail
"The three phases of normalizing Trump's attack on Harris in Wisconsin
The media did what it always does, and it's not good enough"
Trump: crooked and obscene.
Test…?
Trump wants to legalize the Mississippi "Goon Squad" officers who were convicted of torturing two black men during a police raid. Trump always brings out the worst in humanity.
RAS
Because he himself is the worst....
Contest question: Name the Pretender's one redeeming quality.
Answer: He is the great clarifier. He has revealed Republicans for what they have always wanted to be. He has ripped off their masks and shown for everyone (but for those afraid of mirrors) what they really are.
From the NYT article linked above, about the threats to the Springfield, OH guy who told national news that his Haitian workers were good employees:
"A lifelong Republican who voted twice for Mr. Trump, Mr. McGregor said that he had never imagined that speaking up on behalf of his workers would imperil his family."
This seems to be yet another (tragic) example of people who don't have a f******ing clue about the fascist danger staring them in the face, until it singles them out for harm. And you can bet his neighbors and Rotary Club brothers think that the threats to his family, his life, his business, are HIS problem for associating with Haitians, not THEIR problem because nazis run loose, armed and unchecked among them, led by political leaders who are encouraging the weak-minded to commit violence to further their (leaders') authoritarian agenda.
Many RC readers can probably point to ancestors who came here in part to escape from such danger. And for many of our countrymen, they clearly have forgotten that the danger is ALWAYS there, but here we are supposed to know how to de-fang it.
We here at RC see the manifest threat, every day, because of access to uncut videos, and texts of talented observor/writers. We probably have more free time and interest in such things than most people in this country. We can see the danger like it was a cobra in the front yard, which you don't need to think about to know in every nerve and muscle is a mortal threat (believe me). And most of us have lived long enough to know "it can happen here."
So, we know these things. And still, it remains hard to understand that tens of millions of voters don't. The only explanation I have ever thought comes close is to realize that, for most of the post WWII decades, most Americans could take their responsibilities as citizens for granted (i.e., ignore them) and nothing bad happened to them, personally. Many have lost the concept that, in a democracy, citizens have a duty to pay attention and and support the common need to have an effective government guided by capable and principled representatives. I fear that we learn from disasters better than from study, and even then forget what we learned too soon.
The Businessman
Picking up on Patrick’s comment, it’s useful to recall that we’ve been through this sort of thing before, a number of times, and likely will again. The only thing keeping the whole idea of this nation from collapsing, stomped into the muck by Trump and his Party of Traitors, their thugs and media abettors, is vigilance and a refusal to knuckle under.
In 1919, a small group of recent immigrants from Russia distributed leaflets condemning President Wilson’s dispatching of ten thousand troops to Russia to help beat back the Bolshevik revolution in that country. They were arrested under the Sedition Act which made it a crime to criticize the government during the war. They were all sentenced to 20 years. The case made it up to the Supreme Court where two justices, Brandeis and Holmes, dissented the court’s upholding of the sentencing. Their point was that the protesters were concerned about US involving itself in an internal Russian conflict, they were in no way criticizing the war against Germany. No matter, the anti-immigrant hysteria carried the day.
Years later, as the McCarthy terror had abated, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, one of McCarthy’s many targets, recalled the stand made by Brandeis, for whom he had clerked, and Holmes, a close friend.
“Such gallant men as these kept alive faith in the Republic’s great traditions of rationalism and restraint. Soon the hysteria passed. But those who had been infected by it were not cured. Distressingly soon they and their spiritual descendants were in its grip again.”
Rationalism and restraint seem quaint qualities in the Age of Trump.
The infection has never gone away. It’s back now with a vengeance.
Yeeesch. If that Rep. comer fellow is concerned about people who have ties to the Chinese government, I know a certain blonde woman with a vacant face who managed to get a bunch of Chinese patents when her father occupied a high office in the US government. Seems worthy of investigation to me.
Hahaha…(sort of). So earlier I posted a comment about how Truman’s Secretary of State, the eminent Dean Acheson, was attacked by Joe McCarthy…for being a Chinese commie sympathizer, the same slur bucket of warm spit Jim Comer (name partner of the unlaw firm Jim&Gym) is using to attack Tim Walz. Christ! Can’t these half assed dollar store douchebags come up with something new?
This shit has been up on the shelf for decades. Pulling it down now to go after a politician who does things for his constituents that Comer couldn’t do with a handbook on democracy, a battery of responsible, honest advisors, and someone to hold his hand the whole way? Puh-leese. C’mon Jimdumb, can’t you at least try to be an original demagogic douchebag?
No? More kangaroo court kookiness. That’s all they got.
Handmaid’s Tale fans like Hit Man Sam Alito will not be happy!
“A new ruling from Judge McBurney in Georgia overturning the [Trump] abortion ban and allowing the procedure to continue is amazing.
‘While the State’s interest in protecting “unborn” life is compelling, until that life can be sustained by the State — and not solely by the woman compelled by the Act to do the State’s work — the balance of rights favors the woman.’
‘Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have.’
‘For these women, the liberty of privacy means that they alone should choose whether they serve as human incubators for the five months leading up to viability. It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could — or should — force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.’”
Trump, Shady, and their rabid misogyny bros will not be liking this.
Can’t do an HTML link, so here’s this:
Handmaid’s Tale fans like Alito and Thomas will blow a gasket when they hear about this.
https://digbysblog.net/2024/09/30/yes-it-is-right-out-of-the-handmaids-tale/
“A new ruling from Judge McBurney in Georgia overturning the [Trump] abortion ban and allowing the procedure to continue is amazing.
‘While the State’s interest in protecting “unborn” life is compelling, until that life can be sustained by the State — and not solely by the woman compelled by the Act to do the State’s work — the balance of rights favors the woman.’
‘Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have.’
‘For these women, the liberty of privacy means that they alone should choose whether they serve as human incubators for the five months leading up to viability. It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could — or should — force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.’”
Trump, Shady, and their rabid misogyny bros will not be liking this.
Some petard hoisting for the Arizona R's:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/30/adrian-fontes-arizona-noncitizen-voters/