It will soon be illegal for public and private universities in California to consider an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors when deciding whether to admit them.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a ban on the practice known as legacy admissions, a change that will affect prestigious institutions including Stanford University and the University of Southern California.
California’s law, which will take effect Sept. 1, 2025, is the nation’s fifth legacy admissions ban, but only the second that will apply to private colleges…
It was pretty obvious that two male flamingos at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park wanted to start a family together, say staff.
The duo, neither of whom had ever raised a chick in their 40 or so years at the zoo, recently started acting as if they were incubating an egg together, taking turns sitting on an empty nest.
But they are empty-nesters, no longer. The pair is now raising a healthy and growing baby bird, after staff gave them an egg of their very own to hatch…
But first, Lutomski says, they gave the birds, both members of the lesser flamingo species, a fake egg in July to see what would happen. This, he says, is necessary because, in the past, some flamingos have rejected eggs that weren’t theirs, or even acted aggressively toward them.
Not so for these boys.
“Once we did give them the fake egg you could, like, see it right away. They ran over to the nest. They started talking back and forth with each other. One of them got on the nest right away and sat on it and started keeping it warm,” Lutomski said.
So staff swapped the fake egg for a real one, which hatched last month. Now they are proud papas to a baby flamingo, also known as a flaminglet…
Male birds raising chicks together is not unheard of.
Curtis and Arthur, male flamingos in a U.K. zoo, hatched an egg in August. Male penguins Elmer and Lima did the same at a New York zoo in 2022. Male vultures hatched and raised an abandoned egg at a zoo in Amsterdam in 2017.
It happens in the wild, too. In 2019, As It Happens reported on a trio of bald eagles, one female and two male, raising eaglets together in the wilderness of Illinois. ..
Bekenstein Boundsays
Back down to 55%.
Why can’t Harris seem to make any permanent gains???
Israel has bombed the main road leading out of Lebanon to Syria. Lebanon has only two land borders, Syria and Israel. It’s progressively becoming a blockade.
people at the Masnaa crossing were so “desperate to flee Lebanon that they walked actually through that destroyed road”. […] between 21 September and 3 October, approximately 235,000 people had crossed into Syria overland […] over the same period, [60,000] had flown out of Beirut airport and around 1,000 had fled by sea.
[…]
Humanitarians said that there was particular concern for the plight of Lebanon’s 180,000 migrant workers—many of whom are female domestic staff—who have been left destitute by the mass displacement. “We are receiving increasing reports of migrant domestic workers being abandoned by their Lebanese employers; either left on the streets or in the homes as their employers flee…They come from Ethiopia, from Kenya, from Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. And they too have been deeply affected by the violence in the country.”
Israeli military on [10-03] warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a U.N.-declared buffer zone, signaling it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week […] Meanwhile, Israeli forces said they had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon
[…]
The World Health Organization reported that 28 health workers were killed in the past day in Lebanon, and access to medical care is becoming limited as three dozen health facilities closed in the south and five hospitals were either partly or fully evacuated in Beirut.
The Lebanese health minister said Israeli strikes that hit nine hospitals and 45 health care centers violate international law and treaties.
[…]
The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike wounded four of its paramedics and killed a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south. It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted Thursday despite coordinating its movements with U.N. peacekeepers.
Dozens of neo-Nazis are fleeing Telegram and moving to a relatively unknown secret chat app that has received funding from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
In a report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue published on Friday morning, researchers found that in the wake of the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov and charges against leaders of the so-called Terrorgram Collective, dozens of extremist groups have moved to the app SimpleX Chat in recent weeks over fears that Telegram’s privacy policies expose them to being arrested. The Terrorgram Collective is a neo-Nazi propaganda network that calls for acolytes to target government officials, attack power stations, and murder people of color…
The UK now has more atheists than people who believe in God, new research has said, with experts saying ‘the UK is entering its first atheist age’.
The news comes from the global project Explaining Atheism which explains why atheism has grown both in the UK and around the world.
The research team found that the common notion of the “purposeless unbeliever”, lacking a sense of ultimate meaning in life, objective morality, and strong values is not accurate, challenging the stereotype that atheists lead lives devoid of meaning, morality, and purpose.
The research team surveyed nearly 25,000 people from across six countries (Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, UK, and US) around the world to find out why people become atheists and agnostics.
They also brought together converging results from the British Social Attitudes Survey and World Values Survey to show the UK now has a relative majority of atheists.
The research project is led by principal investigator, Professor Jonathan Lanman from the school of history, anthropology, philosophy and politics at Queen’s, Dr Lois Lee from the University of Kent and Dr Aiyana Willard from Brunel University London; working in collaboration with colleagues Dr Connair Russell from Queen’s; Professor Stephen Bullivant from St Mary’s University, Twickenham and; Dr Miguel Farias from Coventry University; and a number of additional international researchers.
The project was funded by the John Templeton Foundation and ran over a three-year period…
A recent study published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that while psychedelic experiences increased mind perception across various entities, they did not significantly change individuals’ Atheist-Believer status.
The relationship between psychedelics and belief systems has long fascinated researchers, particularly the possibility that psychedelics like psilocybin might alter spiritual or religious beliefs. Previous cross-sectional studies suggested that psychedelic experiences could lead to shifts in metaphysical beliefs or religious identifications, with some participants reporting increased spirituality and reduced atheism after using these substances. However, these earlier studies had various biases, such as relying on retrospective accounts and self-selection among participants already interested in belief changes.
Sandeep M. Nayak and colleagues addressed these limitations by conducting a prospective longitudinal study to assess how psilocybin, a well-known psychedelic, impacts belief systems and mind perception…
1) Italics by me for emphasis. Can anyone translate this?
2) Why should taking drugs make you more religious? It ought to be extremely obvious that the altered states you are experiencing are due to the drugs.
birgerjohanssonsays
33=half of 66 which looks a bit like 666.
We are only half-evil. We can do better than this!
birgerjohanssonsays
I keep checking celebrities that have recently turned 78, which -if they ran for office- would make them better 78-year-old-candidates than the other one.
I learned Susan Sarandon turned 78 yesterday. And she was in the vampire film The Hunger with David Bowie and
Catherine Devenue. That makes her doubly qualified.
Unlike Hillary Clinton she does not eat children in the basement of a pizza shop, but nobody is perfect.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Reginald Selkirk @9:
1) Can anyone translate this?
2) Why should taking drugs make you more religious?
mind perception (the ability to attribute consciousness or mental states to entities like animals, plants, or even inanimate objects)
[…]
“Replicating previous findings, we observed increases in mind perception across a variety of living and non-living targets (e.g. plants, rocks)”, states the study. “However, we found little to no change in metaphysical beliefs (e.g. dualism) or Atheist-Believer status.”
Sixty years ago, there was a lot of BS of how drugs could help expand the mind.
A lot of this was new-age pseudo-religous stuff, partly rooted in the role psychoactive drugs played in ceremonies among pre-modern cultures especially indians.
Also, I can totally beleve lots of people met god during a trip.
StevoRsays
^ A lot just OD & died too. Or caught varuous diseases from infected needles or ruined their lives by become addicted etc..
At least 223 people have died and hundreds are unaccounted for in the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene since it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26. More than a week later, some residents and communities remain isolated, hundreds of thousands are without power, and spotty service has made communication difficult.
resident Joe Biden said Friday he was confident that the November election would be ‘free and fair’ but expressed concerns that it may not be “peaceful.”
Stocks advanced on Friday after an expectation-defying jobs report gave investors confidence around the health of the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 5,751.07, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.22% to 18,137.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 341.16 points, or 0.81%, to notch an all-time closing high of 42,352.75.
Several people involved with the former president’s company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures were retaliation following internal complaints about CEO Devin Nunes to the company board.
This article first appeared at ProPublica.
Former President Donald Trump’s media company has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.
Several people involved with Trump Media believe the ousters are retaliation following what they describe as an anonymous “whistleblower” complaint regarding Nunes that went to the company’s board of directors.
The chief operating officer and chief product officer have left the company, along with at least two lower-level staffers, according to interviews, social media posts and communications between former staffers reviewed by ProPublica. The company, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, disclosed the departure of the chief operating officer in a securities filing Thursday afternoon.
[…] concerns revolve around alleged mismanagement by Nunes. One person said they include allegations of misuse of funds, hiring of foreign contractors and interfering with product development.
[…] Trump Media’s board comprises a set of powerful figures in Trump’s world, including his son Donald Trump Jr., former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the businesswoman Linda McMahon, a major donor and current co-chair of Trump’s transition planning committee.
Nunes was named CEO of the company in 2021, with Trump hailing him as “a fighter and a leader” who “will make an excellent CEO.” As a member of Congress, Nunes was known as one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists. [Nunes was also known to be a liar.]
After the internal allegations about Nunes were made at Trump Media, the company enlisted a lawyer to investigate and interview staffers […] Then, last week, some employees who were interviewed by the lawyer were notified they were being pushed out, the person said. [Yep, that sounds like retaliation.] The employees being pushed out include a human relations director and a product designer, along with Chief Operating Officer Andrew Northwall and Chief Product Officer Sandro De Moraes. […] Trump Media asked the employees to sign an agreement pledging not to make public claims of wrongdoing against the company in exchange for severance.
[…] Some word of the departures became public earlier this week when former Trump Media employee Alex Gleason said in a social media post that “Truth Social in shambles. Many more people fired.”
Trump personally owns nearly 60% of the company. That stake, even after a recent decline in the company’s stock price, is worth nearly $2 billion on paper, a significant chunk of Trump’s fortune. He said last month he was not planning to sell his shares. What role Trump plays, if any, in the day-to-day operations of the company is not clear.
Since it launched in 2021, the company has become a speculation-fueled meme stock, but its actual business has generated virtually no revenue and Truth Social has not emerged as a serious competitor to the major social media platforms.
Among Nunes’ moves as CEO, as ProPublica has reported, was inking a large streaming TV deal with several obscure firms, including one controlled by a major political donor. He also traveled to the Balkans over the summer and met with the prime minister of North Macedonia, a trip whose purpose was never publicly explained by the company. [Suspicious activity.]
Trump Media has a formal whistleblower policy, adopted when the company went public in March, that encourages employees to report illegal activity and other “business conduct that damages the Company’s good name” and business interests. Do you have any information about Trump Media that we should know? Robert Faturechi can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 213-271-7217. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
I snipped a lot of history with which this article begins. See the link for the details.
The right’s rhetoric around Haitians “eating the dogs” and cats has become the subject of jokes, memes, and editorial cartoons. But as a person who can be targeted simply because I’m not white-skinned, I don’t find it a laughing matter.
On Sept. 22, The Guardian published an editorial titled “The Guardian view on Trump’s attacks on migrants: smirking racism is no less dangerous.”
There is a humanitarian crisis involving Haitians and, despite JD Vance’s lies, it isn’t in Ohio. It’s in Haiti itself, where violence has reached terrifying levels. Five children a week are killed and injured and almost 5 million people – about half the population – face acute hunger. Little wonder families flee. Most of the 15,000 Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield are in the US through the temporary protected status (TPS) granted to them because of the turmoil in their own country.
Now they face fresh danger thanks to the vicious and baseless lies of Donald Trump’s campaign. In his debate with Kamala Harris, Mr Trump declared that “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats.” He had picked up on his running mate Mr Vance’s slanders on X that “pets [have been] abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country”.
These were claims first spread by far-right groups and neo-Nazis. Promoting them had predictable results. Hospitals, schools and government buildings have been forced to close after bomb threats. The town as a whole has been endangered, though of course the Haitian population – or those who might be mistaken for them – are most at risk. Some say they are living in constant fear, and are too scared to leave their homes.
Isaac Chotiner explored the current fiasco in Ohio for The New Yorker in “The Historical Precedents to Trump’s Attacks on Haitian Immigrants.”
An expert on white nationalism explains how such demonizing rhetoric incubates and spreads—and what sets this particular episode apart.
During last week’s Presidential debate, Donald Trump brought up a fake Internet rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, abducting and eating pets. Later in the week, he promised to do “large deportations” in Springfield and accused Haitian immigrants of “destroying” the city.
After news organizations debunked the claim, Trump’s running mate, the Ohio senator J. D. Vance, told CNN, “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” (There are currently some twelve to twenty thousand Haitian immigrants in Springfield, the majority of whom arrived legally; they came largely at the request of groups like the local Chamber of Commerce, which were struggling with job vacancies and a declining population.)
To better understand Trump’s rhetoric and its precedents in American history, I spoke by phone with Kathleen Belew, an associate professor of history at Northwestern University, who’s an expert on white nationalism. (She is also the author of the book “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America.”) During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed what makes Trump’s specific attack so disturbing, how America has dealt with previous panics about immigrants, and how much the white-nationalist movement is dependent on Trump’s political success.
I’ll close with a poem entitled “Parsley” by Ohio’s Rita Dove, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate at the Library of Congress. [Video at the link]
Why are no UN troops in Haiti? Is it the former Haitian president that is blocking it?
I heard Kenya was willing to send troops, but that government is not famous for respecting human rights.
birgerjohanssonsays
Considering the abyssal rule of terror the criminal gangs are inflicting on the Haiti population, that is one of the very few cases where an Israeli ‘kill them all’ tactic against the leaders would be morally justified… (I am NOT condoning what Israel is doing in Gaza).
.
Also, the last times foreign troops were on Haiti territory it did not lead to long-term stability (under Clinton, and the US invasion 1915). So there have to be a clear understanding of what to achieve.
@Reginald Selkirk 9
Piaget’s symbolic function stage abilities being affected.
This paper relates to the tourettic version.
“Triangles, tricks and tics: Hyper-mentalizing in response to animated shapes in Tourette syndrome” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26177119/
A dangerous, damaging and disruptive situation is likely to unfold in Florida next week as Tropical Storm Milton is forecast to evolve into a hurricane and deliver flooding downpours…
ardipithecussays
@25 birgerjohansson
UN peacekeepers are not given a mandate to act to control civilians. They would be no more effective in Haiti than they were in Rwanda or South Sudan. All they could accomplish there was to provide a guarded refugee camp with very limited capacity or resources.
In reality, they should be called ‘Lightly Armed Spectators’.
But new documents obtained by Gizmodo reveal the site has also been flooded with scammers who are swindling users out of enormous sums of money. We’re talking about people who’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a relatively short period of time.
No statistics comparing the scam rate to other sites but Truth Social is a target rich environment for grifters. Somehow I’m not surprised.
birgerjohanssonsays
Fun fact. If we exclude tax havens like Switzerland, Norway has the greatest GDP per capita, not USA.
People living in Ireland may be surprised to learn they have even more GDP per capita, an artefact of tax regulations allowing wealthy people to (nominally) be Irish.
As the wealth in Norway (and the other Scandinavian counties that appear in the top twenty) is very, very much more equally distributed than in some nominally rich countries that also turn up at the top, it is tempting to assume causation between distributed wealth and the social cohesion in the former group of countries compared to the latter group of nations.
You rarely hear of neo-nazis in Finland, for example.
The BBC has confronted a neo-Nazi in Finland who shared online instructions on how to commit arson with UK rioters during the summer.
The 20-year-old was an administrator in the Southport Wake Up group on the Telegram messaging app, where he was known as “Mr AG”. He posted the arson manual, which was pinned to the top of the group chat.
In late July and early August, the group was key in helping to organise and provoke protests that turned to violence in England and Northern Ireland.
We tracked Mr AG – whose real name is Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Rasanen – to an apartment on the outskirts of the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
birgerjohanssonsays
John Morales @ 33
FUUUCK! The bastards turn up everywhere.
birgerjohanssonsays
The wikipedia page of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper that consistently supports human rights and opposes discrimination of arabs.
Haaretz – Wikipedia
.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaretz
birgerjohanssonsays
Sadly the US Tikkun quarterly has ceased publication this year, as Michael Lerner, the editor had ailing health and was unable to find a successor (he died a week ago).
It published material from both Israelis and Palestinians.
Tikkun (magazine) – Wikipedia
.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_(magazine)
birgerjohanssonsays
John Morales @ 33
It is interesting that “nationalists” have no problems cooperating across borders against jews, muslims and people of color…
Californians with medical debt will no longer have to worry about unpaid medical bills showing up on their credit reports under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, adding the nation’s most populous state to a growing effort to protect consumers squeezed by unaffordable medical bills.
The bill, by Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) and backed by Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, will block health care providers, as well as any contracted collection agency, from sharing a patient’s medical debt with credit reporting agencies. At least eight states have banned medical bills from consumer credit reports in the past two years. In June, the Biden administration proposed similar federal protections, but it’s unclear when the rules will be enacted—or, if former President Donald Trump is elected again, if they will be at all.
[…] When California’s new law goes into effect in January, it will extend these protections to credit reports used for employment and tenant screening, Wu said. […]
California lawmakers noted that medical debt—unlike other kinds of debt—isn’t an accurate reflection of credit risk, and its inclusion can depress credit scores and make it hard for people to get a job, rent an apartment, or secure a car loan.
But California lawmakers have left a glaring loophole. Patients who pay hospital bills using medical credit cards or medical specialty loans—which can come with interest rates as high as 36%—won’t get that debt taken off their credit report, as residents of Colorado, Minnesota, and New York do. It’s a concession the financial industry won through late-in-the-game “hostile” amendments, which “influential entities opposed to the measure prevailed” in including, Limón said. In a 2022 KFF poll on medical debt, 15% of adults said they had used a medical credit card.
Kelly Parsons-O’Brien, legislative chair of the California Association of Collectors, which represents collection agencies, said the exemptions were essential because medical credit card holders can buy nonmedical items and medical loans can be refinanced with nonmedical debt, making it “impossible” for creditors to know what’s actually a medical charge.
[…] The three largest U.S. credit agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—said they would stop listing some medical debt, including paid-off debts and those less than $500, but millions of patients were left with bigger medical bills on their credit reports. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in April that 15 million Americans still had medical bills on their credit reports.
About four in 10 Californians report carrying some type of medical debt, which disproportionately affects low-income, Black, and Latino patients, according to the California Health Care Foundation.
Dozens of states have enacted legislation to protect consumers from surprise billing and medical debt, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Newsom, a Democrat, also signed legislation on Tuesday banning hospitals from using liens on all real property owned by Californians who typically earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level. It expands current state law that protects a patient’s home from debt collectors.
A KFF Health News analysis found that credit reporting is the most common collection tactic used by hospitals to get patients to pay their bills. A credit score ban might make it more difficult for hospitals to collect. [All the private equity firms that manage hospitals are not going to like that.]
When Sacramento resident Sonia Hayden and her boyfriend applied for a home loan last year, she discovered her credit score had dropped about a hundred points. It had been downgraded because of an approximately $200 emergency room charge after a car accident years ago.
The 44-year-old said her insurance covered tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills but that the hospital miscoded the $200 charge and she never received a bill for it. That, she said, should also have been charged to insurance.
Hayden tried unsuccessfully for over a year to resolve the issue with her health insurer. It’s still on her credit report. She was eventually able to get a home loan, but her interest rates were higher because of her credit score […]
If you’re an internet scammer, there’s a perfect place to find gullible rubes: Truth Social — a money hemorrhaging site, pushing a meme stock, run by the most dangerous grifter in U.S. history.
As posted in a fascinating article on Gizmodo, Truth Social Users Are Losing Ridiculous Sums of Money to Scams.
It outlines that:
The site has… been flooded with scammers who are swindling users out of enormous sums of money. We’re talking about people who’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a relatively short period of time.
What kind of rackets, you may ask:
The scams happening on Truth Social appear to be most commonly pig butchering, a method of gaining someone’s trust while getting them to give you increasingly large amounts of money, all while making it seem like the victim is making wise investments.
[…] Ah, but why is Truth Social such a draw for swindlers? Well:
If you were a scammer, who would you think might be the easiest marks on the planet, ready to believe anything a conman might say? If you said Trump supporters, you’re clearly not alone.
It is the perfect watering hole for predators:
Truth Social, with its older user base of Boomers who have access to a lifetime of savings and retirement accounts, appears to be an attractive target for scammers running pig butchering operations.
And these are not just penny-ante scams. The losses suffered by some of these marks are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, including: $500,000 from someone in Minnesota; $170,000, from another in Tennessee; $168,000 from another in New York, and the list goes on and on.
[…] collateral carnage unleashed upon the MAGAs by the very false-messiah they hold so dear.
Excerpts from The Hill’s live update presentation of Trump’s rally in Buter, PA today:
[…] Eric Trump and Lara Trump addressed the crowd, with the former president’s son aggressively attacking Democrats.
“They tried to smear us. They tried to bankrupt us. They came after us, they impeached him twice. They went after his Supreme Court justices. They weaponized the entire legal system…and it has not worked,” Eric Trump said. “And then guys, they tried to kill him. And it’s because the Democratic Party, they can’t do anything right.” [That’s a lie … and it is a dangerous lie that is likely to cause someone to commit more violence.]
[…] “And I think you all were join me in saying to Kamala Harris, how dare you talk about threats to democracy, Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy, what the hell have you done,” JD Vance said.
[…] The former president took the stage just before 6 p.m. as Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA” live.
Prior to Trump’s entrance, there was a video that played on screens at the rally site referencing the shooting in July and touting the strength of Trump’s movement.
Washington Post link
EXCLUSIVE
Mossad’s pager operation: Inside Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah
New details emerge of Israel’s elaborate plan to sabotage Hezbollah communications devices to kill or main thousands of its operatives.
In the initial sales pitch to Hezbollah two years ago, the new line of Apollo pagers seemed precisely suited to the needs of a militia group with a sprawling network of fighters and a hard-earned reputation for paranoia.
The AR924 pager was slightly bulky but rugged, built to survive battlefield conditions. It boasted a waterproof Taiwanese design and an oversized battery that could operate for months without charging. Best of all, there was no risk that the pagers could ever be tracked by Israel’s intelligence services. Hezbollah’s leaders were so impressed they bought 5,000 of them and began handing them out to mid-level fighters and support personnel in February.
None of the users suspected they were wearing an ingeniously crafted Israeli bomb. And even after thousands of the devices exploded in Lebanon and Syria, few appreciated the pagers’ most sinister feature: a two-step de-encryption procedure that ensured most users would be holding the pager with both hands when it detonated.
As many as 3,000 Hezbollah officers and members — most of them rear-echelon figures — were killed or maimed, along with an unknown number of civilians, according to Israeli, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, when Israel’s Mossad intelligence service triggered the devices remotely on Sept. 17.
As an act of spy craft, it is without parallel, one of the most successful and inventive penetrations of an enemy by an intelligence service in recent history. But key details of the operation — including how it was planned and carried out, and the controversy it engendered within Israel’s security establishment and among allies — are only now coming to light.
This account, including numerous new details about the operation, was pieced together from interviews with Israeli, Arab and U.S. security officials, politicians and diplomats briefed on the events, as well as Lebanese officials and people close to Hezbollah. They describe a years-long plan that originated at Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv and ultimately involved a cast of operatives and unwitting accomplices in multiple countries. […] the attack not only devastated Hezbollah’s leadership ranks but also emboldened Israel to target and kill Hezbollah’s top leader, Hasan Nasrallah […]
Iran launched around 180 missiles against Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Hezbollah’s leadership and warned of harsher consequences if the conflict escalates.
“The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a Friday sermon in Tehran.
But in Israel, the strike convinced the country’s political leaders that Hezbollah could be put on the ropes, susceptible to a systematic dismantling using airstrikes and, eventually a ground invasion. […]
One Israeli political official, referring to the pager plot, summed up the anxieties in a quip at a meeting with Mossad officials. “We cannot make a strategic decision such as an escalation in Lebanon while counting on a toy,” the official said.
The idea for the pager operation originated in 2022, according to the Israeli, Middle Eastern and U.S. officials familiar with the events. Parts of the plan began falling into place more than a year before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that put the region on a path to war. […]
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service responsible for combating foreign threats to the Jewish state, had worked for years to penetrate the group with electronic monitoring and human informants. Over time, Hezbollah leaders learned to worry about the group’s vulnerability to Israeli surveillance and hacking, fearing that even ordinary cellphones could be turned into Israeli-controlled eavesdropping and tracking devices.
Thus was born the idea of creating a kind of communications Trojan horse, the officials said. Hezbollah was looking for hack-proof electronic networks for relaying messages, and Mossad came up with a pair of ruses that would lead the militia group to purchase devices that seemed perfect for the job — equipment that Mossad designed and had assembled in Israel.
The first part of the plan, booby-trapped walkie-talkies, began being inserted into Lebanon by Mossad nearly a decade ago, in 2015. The mobile two-way radios contained oversized battery packs, a hidden explosive and a transmission system that gave Israel complete access to Hezbollah communications.
For nine years, the Israelis contented themselves with eavesdropping on Hezbollah, the officials said, while reserving the option to turn the walkie-talkies into bombs in a future crisis. But then came a new opportunity and a glitzy new product: a small pager equipped with a powerful explosive. In an irony that would not become clear for many months, Hezbollah would end up indirectly paying the Israelis for the tiny bombs that would kill or wound many of its operatives.
Because Hezbollah leaders were alert to possible sabotage, the pagers could not originate in Israel, the United States or any other Israeli ally. So, in 2023, the group began receiving solicitations for the bulk purchase of Taiwanese-branded Apollo pagers, a well-recognized trademark and product line with a worldwide distribution and no discernible links to Israeli or Jewish interests. The Taiwanese company had no knowledge of the plan, officials said.
The sales pitch came from a marketing official trusted by Hezbollah with links to Apollo. The marketing official, a woman whose identity and nationality officials declined to reveal, was a former Middle East sales representative for the Taiwanese firm who had established her own company and acquired a license to sell a line of pagers that bore the Apollo brand. Some time in 2023, she offered Hezbollah a deal on one the products her firm sold: the rugged and reliable AR924.
[…] As it turned out, the actual production of the devices was outsourced and the marketing official had no knowledge of the operation and was unaware that the pagers were physically assembled in Israel under Mossad oversight, officials said. Mossad’s pagers, each weighing less than three ounces, included a unique feature: a battery pack that concealed a tiny amount of a powerful explosive, according to the officials familiar with the plot.
In a feat of engineering, the bomb component was so carefully hidden as to be virtually undetectable, even if the device was taken apart, the officials said. Israeli officials believe that Hezbollah did disassemble some of the pagers and may have even X-rayed them.
Also invisible was Mossad’s remote access to the devices. An electronic signal from the intelligence service could trigger the explosion of thousands of the devices at once. But, to ensure maximum damage, the blast could also be triggered by a special two-step procedure required for viewing secure messages that had been encrypted.
“You had to push two buttons to read the message,” an official said. In practice, that meant using both hands.
In the ensuing explosion, the users would almost certainly “wound both their hands,” the official said, and thus “would be incapable to fight.”
Most top elected officials in Israel were unaware of the capability until Sept. 12. […]
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, was not informed of the booby-trapped pagers or the internal debate over whether to trigger them, U.S. officials said.
Ultimately, Netanyahu approved triggering the devices while they could inflict maximum damage. Over the following week, Mossad began preparations for detonating both the pagers and walkie-talkies already in circulation.
[…] Mossad had known of the leader’s [Nasrallah’s] whereabouts in Lebanon for years and tracked his movements closely, officials said. Yet the Israelis held their fire, certain that an assassination would lead to all-out war with the militia group, and perhaps with Iran as well.
[…] Senior Israeli officials said they voiced support for the cease-fire proposal, but Nasrallah withheld his consent, insisting on a cease-fire for Gaza first […]
On Sept. 17, even as the debate in Israel’s highest national security circles about whether to strike the Hezbollah leader raged on, thousands of Apollo-branded pagers rang or vibrated at once, all across Lebanon and Syria. A short sentence in Arabic appeared on the screen: “You received an encrypted message,” it said.
Hezbollah operatives dutifully followed the instructions for checking coded messages, pressing two buttons. In houses and shops, in cars and on sidewalks, explosions ripped apart hands and blew away fingers. Less than a minute later, thousands of other pagers exploded by remote command, regardless of whether the user ever touched his device.
The following day, on Sept. 18, hundreds of walkie-talkies blew up in the same way, killing and maiming users and bystanders.
As Hezbollah reeled, Israel struck again, pounding the group’s headquarters, arsenals and logistic centers with 2,000-pound bombs.
The largest series of airstrikes occurred on Sept. 27, 10 days after the pagers exploded. The attack, targeting a deeply buried command center in Beirut, was ordered by Netanyahu as he traveled to New York for a United Nations speech in which he declared, speaking to Hezbollah, “enough is enough.”
“We will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border, able to perpetrate another Oct. 7-style massacre,” Netanyahu said in the speech.
The next day, Sept. 28, Hezbollah confirmed what most of the world already knew: Nasrallah, the group’s fiery leader and sworn enemy of Israel, was dead.
“Helene response hampered by misinformation, conspiracy theories.” Washington Post link
False claims are adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities. Social media platforms such as X have allowed the falsehoods to spread.
[…] Across the Southeast, false rumors and conspiracy theories are flying about Helene, which made landfall as a major hurricane about a week ago, causing at least 229 deaths in six states. The misinformation is adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities […]
Officials have sought to tamp down the misinformation that has continued to spread online. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been updating a webpage seeking to dispute common rumors, while the North Carolina Department of Public Safety has done the same, writing that authorities were “working around-the-clock to save lives and provide humanitarian relief.”
FEMA also said in a news release Saturday that federal aid provided had topped $110 million so far. The agency said it had more than 700 of its staff on the ground in North Carolina and that more than 1,200 search and rescue personnel were at work there, among other officials
.
The Army on Saturday was preparing to expand the active-duty military relief mission and send an additional 500 U.S. troops on top of those already approved by President Joe Biden, said Col. Jimmy Hathaway, the director of operations for U.S. Army North.
The planned increase, which has not previously been reported, would push the number of active-duty forces involved in relief efforts to about 1,500, after the approval of 1,000 from Fort Liberty, N.C., that were in the process of joining the mission on Saturday.
In western North Carolina this week, some residents shared false information that a dam was about to burst, prompting hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate and diverting the attention of first responders. In eastern Tennessee, some locals spread a hoax about federal officials seizing and bulldozing a town hall. And in many parts of the Southeast, a debunked conspiracy theory has circulated about FEMA spending disaster relief money on helping migrants who are in the country illegally.
In places with internet access, such falsehoods have flourished on social media platforms such as X. The tech company has pulled back on efforts to combat misinformation after its takeover by billionaire Elon Musk, prompting concern from many disaster experts.
[…] Donald Trump has amplified the false claim about migrants during campaign rallies and on his platform, Truth Social. And Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, has repeatedly alleged that there has been no state government response to Helene, even though Cooper has traversed the affected areas, visiting emergency operations centers and meeting with storm survivors.
[…] North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin, a Republican, slammed the rampant misinformation Thursday in a Facebook post, tagging several GOP colleagues. “Friends can I ask a small favor? Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC,” he wrote, referring to western North Carolina.
One particularly troubling falsehood that went viral online was a claim that government officials planned to seize the flooded town of Chimney Rock, N.C., and bulldoze bodies under the rubble. Though authorities and local outlets thoroughly debunked the notion, some posts on X asserting it as fact garnered millions of views. One user suggested “a militia to go against FEMA,” in a post that had received more than half a million views as of Saturday afternoon.
Mark Honeycutt, 33, an Asheville resident who has been posting videos of Helene’s destruction to his YouTube channel, said he had seen the viral social media posts about the small tourist town. On Thursday, he drove his motorbike to where the road ended and then hiked nine miles into Chimney Rock, to check out the situation for himself. [Now that is some difficult factchecking!]
The scenes along the way were devastating, Honeycutt said, with entire houses swept away by surging floodwaters. But when he got to Chimney Rock, there was no stench of dead bodies. The sun was shining and bulldozers were at work, but only to move debris out of the road. He approached a police officer to ask about the rumors.
“I felt kind of embarrassed to bring up that conspiracy,” Honeycutt said. “He was like, ‘No, that’s not happening!’”
Honeycutt also spoke to a worker and resident of the area who said the assertion was incorrect.
[…] Before Musk’s takeover in 2022, Twitter had established itself as a go-to source for public agencies to share critical information during emergencies. While false rumors and hoaxes were common, the company hired former journalists to curate reliable information on trending topics and to debunk misinformation. The site also gave blue verification check marks to public agencies, public officials and members of the news media.
Under Musk, the rebranded X has leaned into its role as a primary news source, but it has pulled back heavily on content moderation. The platform has eliminated the curation team, reinstated banned users, and replaced the previous verification system with one that elevates content from paying subscribers, including conservative and right-wing influencers.
[…] As of Saturday morning, only a few of the false and misleading posts about Helene’s aftermath had community notes attached to them. In several cases, users had proposed posts correcting the record, but they had not garnered enough support from other users to appear publicly on X.
Musk, whose 200 million X followers make him the platform’s most influential user, sent at least 12 posts Friday amplifying criticism of the Biden administration’s response to Helene, much of it based on false or misleading claims. [A grave disservice to entire communities.]
Elon Musk labeled FEMA’s actions “treason” and sent a reply indicating agreement with a post from another user who said Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “should be jailed for life for spending FEMA money on illegal aliens and not Americans.”
[…] Outside the visitor center in Black Mountain this week, volunteers set up a table and posted signs with whatever updates they had to share. The signs told which radio stations to tune into for more updates, where people could find a WiFi signal and which gas stations in the area were open and accepting cash or credit.
A handwritten poster nearby offered a plea to residents: “We need everyone to share good, credible information.”
Donald Trump railed against California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) after he recently signed a law that bans local governments from enacting their own identification requirements to vote.
“This is a takeover of the country,” Trump said during his rally in Butler, Pa.
The California secretary of state’s office says that “in most cases, a California voter is not required to show identification to a polling place worker before casting a ballot.”
Trump asserted, without evidence, that Democrats were pushing back on voter ID efforts “only so they can cheat” on elections.
Four people intentionally voted twice in Michigan’s summer primary election, the state attorney general said Friday as she announced felony charges against the suburban Detroit residents as well as part-time employees accused of enabling it to happen…
She said four people who had already cast absentee ballots for the Aug. 6 primary showed up to vote in St. Clair Shores on that day. It’s not legal, Nessel added, to cancel an already-processed absentee ballot on Election Day and then vote in-person.
An electronic poll book showed that the four had already voted. But after poll workers consulted with local election staff, they were still allowed to vote again, Nessel said…
Four voters were charged with voting twice. Three people who were part-time election workers in St. Clair Shores were charged with falsifying election records…
The state stepped in after Pete Lucido, the Republican local prosecutor in Macomb County, said there was “no malicious or criminal intent” and declined to file charges…
Bekenstein Boundsays
StevoR@15: That’s heroin you’re describing, not hallucinogens.
The Russian offensive effort in eastern Ukraine that began in fall 2023 continues to produce gradual Russian tactical gains in specific sectors of the front, but operationally significant gains will likely continue to elude Russian forces. Ukrainian forces are conducting an effective defense in depth along the frontline, inflicting significant losses upon Russian forces while slowly giving ground but preventing the Russian military from making more rapid gains on the battlefield.
Current Institute for the Study of War assessment of the situation in Ukraine. Russia continues to make slow small advances at high cost. Ukraine continues to make organized retreats when pushed hard but drive off less then major attacks.
The summer offense of 2024 is coming to close as weather will make any major moves impractical by the end of October. Russia has not achieved any of it’s strategic goals but has made some localized gains. Ukraine has attacked Russia in Kursk but it isn’t clear if they have achieved their goals or not. They have forced Russia to pull some troops off the rest of the front but have not stopped Russia from advancing entirely. The Ukrainian military may have had other goals though, such as reaching places that can drone strike deep in Russia, bringing the war inside Russian territory and messing up Russian supply lines.
StevoRsays
Live coverage of the controversial (for some anyhow incl. Murdoch media, LNP leader Dutton the Gestapotato* & many state premiers) pro-Palestinian protests being held in Oz right now here :
“I’m not sure that it does end,” Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel-Palestine analyst for International Crisis Group, told the ABC. “At this point, we can’t talk just about the war in Gaza, but we have to talk about the war with Hezbollah, and the war in the West Bank … and of course Iran and its proxies.” All of this makes the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza even less likely, according to Ms Zonszein. “There’s a spectrum,” she said.
For several days this week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been arguing that there is a clear division between the Albanese government and the US and other major Western powers over what is happening in the Middle East.
… (snip).. At a particularly dark and dangerous point of global tension, and amid tensions in the Australian community which are also on a knife edge this weekend as we approach the first anniversary of the appalling massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas, such language (by Dutton – ed) is hardly helpful. Particularly since what the opposition leader is accusing the prime minister and deputy prime minister of is just not true.
Feel free to laugh. There is no such thing as a “sound laser.”
StevoRsays
@ ^ Reginald Selkirk : So its unsound then? ;-)
Rob Grigjanissays
Reginald Selkirk @52:
There is no such thing as a “sound laser.”
Are you sure?
Two independent groups of physicists have unveiled the first phonon “lasers” – devices that emit coherent sound waves in much the same ways as lasers emit coherent light waves. Sometimes called “sasers”, one of the devices emits sound at about 400 GHz while the other operates in the megahertz range.
It’s an “analogy.” In other words, a marketing gimmick, or a lie.
lumipunasays
Re: birgerjohansson32/34 and John Morales 33
I rarely hear about neonazis in other small European countries, but in recent years I’ve unfortunately often heard about neonazis here in Finland.
Regarding Mr. AG aka Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Räsänen,
I mentioned his case on a previous page of this thread weeks ago, when it was covered by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. The reporter then went to question him at his home door, but they didn’t publish his name for legal reasons. Now, I find it hilarious that he was also pestered by the fucking BBC.
Only now Finnish audience knows his name – and the fact that he isn’t white, as was widely assumed. Incidentally, for a long while now, Finnish rightwing politicians and social media commentators who totally aren’t nazis themselves have accused Yle of being a politically biased leftist-wokeist institution that uses tax money to scaremonger on the far right threat. Now, some are convinced that Räsänen’s name and ethnic background had been tactically hidden by Yle for some political reason. Like, POC cannot be real nazis, and also nazism in Finland is the fault of immigrants.
Rob Grigjanissays
@55: Yes, sound amplification by stimulated emission of acoustic radiation is analogous to light amplification by stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. Why the scare quotes, and whence the “lie”?
If we had known about the sound phenomenon before the light phenomenon, we might well be calling lasers “light sasers”.
birgerjohanssonsays
Hossenfelder pulls no punches about climate change desinformation.
“People Don’t Realize This” about Climate Change, Elon Musk Says
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=58I6YQzBrPo
birgerjohanssonsays
Just realised Swedish ‘desinformation’ = ‘disinformation’ in English. So technically not a spelling error.
Also, fuck Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
[…] Trump vividly recounted how the audience at his climactic debate with Vice President Kamala Harris was on his side. Except that there was no audience. The debate was held in an empty hall. No one “went crazy,” as Mr. Trump put it, because no one was there.
Anyone can misremember, of course. But the debate had been just a week earlier and a fairly memorable moment. And it was hardly the only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately. In fact, it happens so often these days that it no longer even generates much attention.
He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own “beautiful” body. He relishes “a great day in Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses fear that North Korea is “trying to kill me” when he presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks after his withdrawal from the race.
[…] He has always been discursive and has often been untethered to truth, but with the passage of time his speeches have grown darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane and increasingly fixated on the past.
According to a computer analysis by The New York Times, Mr. Trump’s rally speeches now last an average of 82 minutes, compared with 45 minutes in 2016. Proportionately, he uses 13 percent more all-or-nothing terms like “always” and “never” than he did eight years ago, which some experts consider a sign of advancing age.
Similarly, he uses 32 percent more negative words than positive words now, compared with 21 percent in 2016, which can be another indicator of cognitive change. And he uses swearwords 69 percent more often than he did when he first ran, a trend that could reflect what experts call disinhibition. […]
Mr. Trump frequently reaches to the past for his frame of reference, often to the 1980s and 1990s, when he was in his tabloid-fueled heyday. He cites fictional characters from that era like Hannibal Lecter from “Silence of the Lip” (he meant “Silence of the Lambs”), asks “where’s Johnny Carson, bring back Johnny” (who died in 2005) and ruminates on how attractive Cary Grant was (“the most handsome man”). He asks supporters whether they remember the landing in New York of Charles Lindbergh, who actually landed in Paris and long before Mr. Trump was born.
He seems confused about modern technology, suggesting that “most people don’t have any idea what the hell a phone app is” in a country where 96 percent of people own a smartphone. If sometimes he seems stuck in the 1990s, there are moments when he pines for the 1890s, holding out that decade as the halcyon period of American history and William McKinley as his model president because of his support for tariffs.
[Video snippets are available at the link] And he heads off into rhetorical cul-de-sacs. “So we built a thing called the Panama Canal,” he told the conservative host Tucker Carlson last year. “We lost 35,000 people to the mosquito, you know, malaria. We lost 35,000 people building — we lost 35,000 people because of the mosquito. Vicious. They had to build under nets. It was one of the true great wonders of the world. As he said, ‘One of the nine wonders of the world.’ No, no, it was one of the seven. It just happened a little while ago. You know, he says, ‘Nine wonders of the world.’ You could make nine wonders. He would’ve been better off if he stuck with the nine and just said, ‘Yeah, I think it’s nine.’”
[…] Sarah Matthews, who was Mr. Trump’s deputy press secretary until breaking with him over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, said the former president had lost his fastball.
“I don’t think anyone would ever say that Trump is the most polished speaker, but his more recent speeches do seem to be more incoherent, and he’s rambling even more so and he’s had some pretty noticeable moments of confusion,” she said. […]
Mr. Trump dismisses any concerns and insists that he has passed cognitive tests. “I go for two hours without teleprompters, and if I say one word slightly out, they say, ‘He’s cognitively impaired,’” he complained at a recent rally. He calls his meandering style “the weave” and asserts that it is an intentional and “brilliant” communication strategy.
[…] John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, was so convinced that Mr. Trump was psychologically unbalanced that he bought a book called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” written by 27 mental health professionals, to try to understand his boss better. As it was, Mr. Kelly came to refer to Mr. Trump’s White House as “Crazytown.”
Some of Mr. Trump’s cabinet secretaries had a running debate over whether the president was “crazy-crazy,” as one of them put it in an interview after leaving office, or merely someone who promoted “crazy ideas.” There were multiple conversations about whether the 25th Amendment disability clause should be invoked to remove him from office, although the idea never went far. His own estranged niece, Mary L. Trump, a clinical psychologist, wrote a book identifying disorders she believed he has. Mr. Trump bristled at such talk, insisting that he was “a very stable genius.”
“There were often discussions about whether he could comprehend or understand the policy and knowing that he didn’t really have a grasp on those kinds of things,” Ms. Matthews said of her time in the White House. “No one wanted to outright say it in that environment — is he mentally fit? — but I definitely had my moments where I personally questioned it.”
[…] One person who has detected a change is Ramin Setoodeh, author of a new book on Mr. Trump’s days hosting “The Apprentice.” Mr. Setoodeh, who has written about Hollywood for years and first met Mr. Trump during his television days, was surprised at how much the former president had changed when he arrived at Mar-a-Lago for the first of six interviews for the book, “Apprentice in Wonderland.”
“The Donald Trump I interviewed in the early seasons of ‘The Apprentice’ had a stronger sense of time and space, and his narratives were a lot clearer,” Mr. Setoodeh said. “And the Donald Trump I interviewed for my book, ironically, could remember things that happened in the ‘Apprentice’ years well, but he struggled with more recent events.”
For instance, Mr. Trump could not remember the day in 2015 that NBC called to cut ties with him after he made derogatory remarks about Mexican immigrants. “He was very clear in terms of his memory of the shows,” Mr. Setoodeh said, even though his versions were often exaggerated or fabricated. “But when we went to more recent years, things got foggier.”
So foggy, in fact, that he forgot Mr. Setoodeh himself. After interviewing Mr. Trump in May 2021, Mr. Setoodeh returned in August. “When I said, ‘Do you remember sitting down with me?’ he said, ‘No, that was a long time ago,’” Mr. Setoodeh said. “It was like we started from square one. He started telling me the exact same stories. He didn’t remember what we had talked about. He didn’t remember me.” [Well, well, well. That is a telling detail.]
[…] watching recordings of Mr. Trump over the years yields a pretty clear evolution. The young media-obsessed developer and reality television star who spoke with a degree of sophistication and nuance eventually gave way to the bombastic presidential candidate with the shrunken vocabulary in 2016 and eventually to the aged former president seeking a comeback in 2024.
Consider the following: In 2002, Mr. Trump was interviewed for an Errol Morris documentary about “Citizen Kane,” the iconic Orson Welles film about a media tycoon. Mr. Trump gave a thoughtful analysis of the movie with a degree of introspection that would be hard to imagine today. “In real life, I believe that wealth does in fact isolate you from other people,” he said. “It’s a protective mechanism. You have your guard up much more so than you would if you didn’t have wealth.”
Now his rallies are powered as much by anger as anything else. His distortions and false claims have reached new levels. His adversaries are “lunatics” and “deranged” and “communists” and “fascists.” Never particularly restrained, he now lobs four-letter words and other profanities far more freely. The other day, he suggested unleashing the police to inflict “one really violent day” on criminals to deter crime.
He does not stick to a single train of thought for long. During one 10-minute stretch in Mosinee, Wis., last month, for instance, he ping-ponged from topic to topic: Ms. Harris’s record; the virtues of the merit system; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement; supposed corruption at the F.D.A., the C.D.C. and the W.H.O.; the Covid-19 pandemic; immigration; back to the W.H.O.; China; Mr. Biden’s age; Ms. Harris again; Mr. Biden again; chronic health problems and childhood diseases; back to Mr. Kennedy; the “Biden crime family”; the president’s State of the Union address; Franklin D. Roosevelt; the 25th Amendment; the “parasitic political class”; Election Day; back to immigration; Senator Tammy Baldwin; back to immigration; energy production; back to immigration; and Ms. Baldwin again. [JFC. Even the summary of the ping-ponging gives me a headache.]
[…] he throws out assertions without any apparent regard for whether they are true or not. Lately, he has claimed that crowds Ms. Harris has drawn were not real but the creation of artificial intelligence, never mind the reporters and cameras on hand to record them.
He mispronounces names and places with some regularity — “Charlottestown” instead of “Charlottesville,” “Minnianapolis” instead of “Minneapolis,” the website “Snoops” instead of “Snopes,” “Leon” Musk instead of “Elon.”
[…] He considers himself the master of nearly every subject. He said Venezuelan gangs were armed “with MK-47s,” evidently meaning AK-47s, and then added, “I know that gun very well” because “I’ve become an expert on guns.” He claims to have been named “man of the year” in Michigan, although no such prize exists.
He is easily distracted. He halted in the middle of another extended monologue when he noticed a buzzing insect. “Oh, there’s a fly,” he said. “Oh. I wonder where the fly came from. See? Two years ago, I wouldn’t have had a fly up here. You’re changing rapidly. But we can’t take it any longer.”
But like some people approaching the end of their eighth decade, he is not open to correction. “Trump is never wrong,” he said recently in Wisconsin. “I am never, ever wrong.”
[…] Forty-seven years ago, the feminist philosopher Susan Rae Peterson identified the syndrome of the “male protection racket,” asking, “Since the state fails them in its protective function, to whom can women turn for protection?” She explained that “women make agreements with husbands or fathers (in return for fidelity or chastity, respectively) to secure protection. From whom do these men protect women? From other men, it turns out.” She continued: “There is a striking parallel between this situation and tactics used by crime syndicates who sell protection as a racket. The buyer who refuses to buy the protective services of an agency because he needs no protection finds out soon that because he refuses to buy it, he very definitely needs protection. Women are in the same position.”
Or as Mae West putatively said: “Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from.”
Donald Trump has it figured out. “Sadly, women are poorer than they were four years ago,” he told a Pennsylvania rally in late September. Also: “less healthy,” “less safe on the streets” and “more stressed and depressed and unhappy.” In a part of his speech aimed explicitly at female voters, he added, “I will fix all of that and fast, and at long last this nation, and national nightmare, will end.” Women, he promised, “will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger.” Why? “You will be protected, and I will be your protector.”
Mr. Trump is a master of the protection racket. He takes the old domestic savior scam national. He’s running a Halloween campaign, leaping from behind every podium to yell “Boo!” to scare his base, male and female both, with any hobgoblin he can conjure — migrants who are “vicious monsters,” who are “poisoning the blood of our country” and who will “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America,” “radical left thugs” who “live like vermin” and “steal and cheat on elections,” Democratic governors who want to “execute” babies after they’re born, liberal schools conducting a “brutal operation” to change a child’s gender. Mr. Trump and his running mate have conjured childless women whose only companions are feline and illegal immigrants dining on felines. To save us from these monsters, Mr. Trump proposes himself.
His protection, of course, is as mythical as the threats he manufactures. Violent crime is near a 50-year low. Homicides fell nearly 12 percent from 2022 to 2023, the largest single-year drop in six decades, and rape declined by more than 9 percent. Women — and especially never-married women — have made significant economic gains since 2019. As for stress, as “The Daily Show” comedian Desi Lydic remarked after Mr. Trump’s speech, “I love how he’s acknowledging that we’re stressed out, as though he’s not the one stressing us out.” But that isn’t the point. The implicit point is: If this is a situation in which we need protection, would you trust Kamala Harris to protect you?
[…] Many voters, especially men, perceive the prospect of being protected by a woman as a threat. In a society where men judge their worth by their ability to protect, being protected by a woman is seen as a disgrace, a stain on one’s honor.
I encountered this dynamic in the late 1990s when a book I wrote on men in crisis was reflexively denounced by male pundits, even before publication. “This woman is clearly on a mission,” declared one. “Find a soft place in the collective male self-esteem and drive at it until the lance runs red.” The “lance” in question? Supportive empathy. “I don’t want Susan Faludi’s pity,” a “Time” columnist began facetiously. “I want her tight little body.” The column was titled, “The Emasculation Proclamation.”
The messages were clear: You cannot defend us without unmanning us.
[…] With his “I am your protector” speech, Mr. Trump was baiting Ms. Harris to cast herself as a protector, knowing he’d have her in a bind. He is a wizard at rope-a-dope, issuing an outrageous assertion in order to goad a response that will trap his opponent. He cast doubt on Ms. Harris’s racial credentials as an invitation for her to come out as an identity warrior. She didn’t take the bait. Now he’s floating protection as a theme, knowing how fraught its expression is for a female candidate. Again, Ms. Harris sidestepped the provocation. In an interview with MSNBC two days after Mr. Trump’s remarks, she responded: “I don’t think the women of America need him to say he’s going to protect them. The women of America need him to trust them.”
Strikingly, Ms. Harris is, in fact, a formidable protector. Protection comes in two forms: symbolic and practical. The symbolic is performative. Those who crave it don’t actually want effective measures to alleviate a threat. They wish to rage against the threat, and they seek a protector in chief who validates their wrath. For them, war’s the point, not victory — outrage, not outcomes, as victim cultures on both the right and the left amply demonstrate.
Symbolic and practical protection aren’t two means to the same end but rather are at cross-purposes, antithetical. The first nurtures a cause for grievance that the second would instead remedy. A failure to remedy the grievance only fuels the fury that symbolic protection thrives on.
This is how recent Republican administrations have profited from their own incompetence. […]
Ms. Harris isn’t looking to compete on the symbolic field. She’s not playacting a guardian stereotype of either gender. […] Her record of public service and her utilitarian policy plans attest to workable fixes to actual dangers instead of the amplification of invented ones. She offers herself up as the calmly common-sensical civic warden.
[…] As president, Mr. Trump undermined Ukraine’s sovereignty to serve his own political fortunes; Ms. Harris traveled to Europe a week before Russia’s invasion to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky to deliver U.S. intelligence assessments and discuss battlefield preparations.
[…] Time and time again, nations that have sought protection under a fantasy führer — or a real one — have reaped the whirlwind.
[…] Ms. Harris has demonstrated her ability to stand up to America’s most poisonous huckster without being intimidated by or engaging with his scare campaigns. That’s not all she needs to do, but it’s important. Crucial to our nation’s future, she’s proving to be an effective protector against the protection racket itself.
Tropical Storm Milton is likely to make landfall as a major hurricane on Florida’s already storm-battered west coast by midweek, federal forecasters said Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center said Milton was rapidly evolving into “an intense hurricane with multiple life-threatening hazards” for the coastline.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news briefing Sunday that Milton is expected to make landfall in Hillsborough or Pinellas counties Wednesday evening. [map at the link]
“I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have significant impacts at this point,” DeSantis said.
The center’s forecasters said Milton was likely to reach hurricane status — defined by sustained winds of at least 74 mph — later Sunday, followed by major-hurricane status (a Category 3 defined by sustained winds of at least 111 mph) as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
[..] a faster northeastward motion across the Gulf of Mexico is expected over the next couple of days, per the hurricane center.
[…] Storm’s path is rare
Milton is fueled by unusually warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, where one National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-tracked buoy near the storm’s projected path Saturday night recorded a water temperature of nearly 86 degrees, 2 degrees warmer than the air. The storm is already being noted for rare attributes during a busy Atlantic hurricane season.
[…] it’s a rarified product of its development in the Bay of Campeche, a sheltered southern bite in the Gulf of Mexico west of the Yucatán Peninsula. Since 1850, only two storms that originated there have struck Florida; none have done it in the past 155 years, with the last to take that path recorded in 1867.
Milton is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which now has recorded the most such storms between Sept. 24 and Oct. 5, according to Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach.
The last time three named storms (including Kirk and Leslie) were spinning in the Atlantic in October was 2018, he said.
[…] Heavy rain possible ahead of storm […] “Regardless of where the track goes, it’s going to produce heavy rain,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said in a video update Saturday. […]
The Israeli military carried out heavy overnight strikes on Dahiya, the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs. An NBC News crew described it as by far the heaviest strikes on Lebanon’s capital since the start of this conflict.
The Israel Defense Forces has issued evacuation orders for much of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, as it returns to the area in what appears to be a major new offensive.
The region remains on edge as Israel continues to threaten to strike Iran in response to Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on Israel last week.
Israeli overnight airstrikes on a mosque and school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 26 and injured nearly 100, according to the health ministry. [head/desk]
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, the IDF said it was bolstering security against potential attacks by Hamas on Israel, as pro-Palestinian demonstrations were held in cities around the world, protesting Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. […]
‘Canada’s Trump’ [Pierre Poilievre] Mad At Fake News For Edited TV Clip
Justin Trudeau was in NYC last month doing important United Nations stuff and squeezed in a visit to the Ed Sullivan Theater to wave the flag while shooting the shit with Stephen Colbert in front of a friendly audience. The Canadian prime minister is on a desperate charm offensive after his nosediving Liberal Party lost yet another former safe spot in a recent byelection — in his hometown of Montreal, no less […]
His main opponent, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, is currently trying to force an early election after his NDP counterpart, Jagmeet Singh, tore up his party’s agreement to prop up the minority Trudeau government in exchange for a teaspoon of policy goodies.
The softball interview might’ve been more entertaining if the host was still doing his rightwinger schtick from the old “Colbert Report” days on Comedy Central, but Trudeau declined the bait when asked about the man who “has been called Canada’s Trump” and pointed out authoritarianism is making a comeback in plenty of other Western democracies as well. [video at the link]
Comparisons to the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist are rarely helpful because nobody comes close to Trump’s unique cocktail of every imaginable character flaw, and Poilievre doesn’t even share an interest in the one thing Dear Leader is said to be reasonably good at: golf. But he definitely shares Trump’s habits of both shamelessly lying and calling the fourth estate enemies of the state. He took his ongoing issues with the Canuckistan lügenpresse up a notch last week, banning elected party members across the country from speaking with CTV News. […] he is super-mad about the growing carbon tax on fossil fuels brought in by the Liberals to at least try to do something about the, you know, existential climate crisis.
It wasn’t a great look for one of the country’s largest news networks which — full disclosure — I briefly worked for several years ago, but mistakes happen in newsrooms just like every other workplace. Especially in ones operating on a skeleton crew after being cut to the bone by their hemorrhaging corporate overlords, in this case Bell Media, who’ve let go more than 4,800 employees this year alone while still lining C-Suite executives’ pockets obv.
Two unnamed CTV staffers were added to the list and sent packing for deleting a sentence fragment from an answer he gave at a recent press conference on Parliament Hill. [Ah. I see. Small error. Big punishment.]
“That’s why it’s time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election” is the reason Poilievre declared for wanting to force Canadians to the polls a year ahead of schedule, but alas the “for a carbon tax election” part was removed, which also came shortly after a reporter said there are “questions” about dental care’s “future” in the broadcast.
CTV quickly issued a mea culpa for taking the comment out of context: “A misunderstanding during the editing process resulted in this misrepresentation. […] We unreservedly apologize to Mr. Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada.”
It’s a cliche Canadians are always offering apologies but this one didn’t cut the mustard for the offended party, and the Conservatives’ media relations guy — the wonderfully named Sebastian Skamski — took to the generic social media platform you’d expect to demand more concessions.
“This wasn’t a simple misunderstanding,” he posted. “Until they explicitly acknowledge their malicious editing and omission of context to undermine Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MPs won’t engage with CTV News and its reporters.”
[Sheesh. Overreacting much?]
His boss took it a step further […]
“The reason why he [Bell’s CEO, Mirko Bibic] and his other cronies at that company are going after me is because he knows that I’m standing up for the people against the crony capitalists and insiders like him.”
He went on to call Bibic “overpaid” and added he “empties the books to pay his wealthy friends,” both of which are objectively true. It’s fun when autocrats turn on each other because you so rarely get to see it! But the notion the CEO would be looking over the shoulder of video editors instructing them to cut footage in the hope of making Peewee look even worse than he does all on his own is ludicrous. [True!]
[…] It’s worth noting the Conservatives haven’t said anything about what they would do about adding visits to the dentist to the country’s universal healthcare system but they certainly didn’t move on this file when they had a majority government under Stephen Harper earlier this century. They probably think it serves low-income Canadians right for growing teeth in the first place if they can’t afford to pay for them and are perhaps workshopping catchy slogans like their beloved “axe the tax” for carbon. “Forswear oral care!” could be an option.
The Canada Dental Benefit providing services to citizens with a family income less than $90,000 CAD was first rolled out two years ago and was one of the main reasons the lefty NDP were willing to get into bed with the Libs in the first place but it’s currently still limited to toothholders under 18 or over 65, and the scheduled expansion of the program has been postponed until the end of next year.
[…] The Tories currently have 119 seats, the Bloc Québécois has 32 and the NDP 24. The three parties could theoretically team up to take out the Grits 175-152 if everyone bothers to show up to work on the same day. Time will tell if repeated attempts will eventually hit paydirt for Peewee or if this will end up being another gong show like the GOP trying their best to nominate a new House Speaker.
But my fingers are crossed Poilievre will start hitting the late-night talk show circuit himself and find out firsthand if it’s as easy as the telegenic Trudeau makes it look.
whheydtsays
@ 52, 53, 54, 55…
The LASER was originally called an “optical MASER”. The first coherent wave emitting device produced microwaves.
My comment: The undecided voters in this Pennsylvania poll are way too few for conclusions to be drawn! Also, it is incredible that half the voters still favor Trump. But ever since Reagan was elected I have had strong opinions about how easily Americans can be deceived.
-Anyway, Harris can win either of two other states and become president, even if she does not win Pennsylvania, see the end of the video.
A 100’ geyser is erupting in Texas. The cause isn’t some deeply buried supervolcano. It doesn’t signal some arcane geologic process. However, it is connected to a recent series of earthquakes. Those quakes and the unexpected geyser have the same cause: injection of wastewater left over from fracking.
The water spraying from the geyser isn’t clean. It’s laced with oil, gas, and the chemicals used when oil companies pump water into the ground to hydraulically fracture (frack) layers of sedimentary rock. It reeks of toxic sulfur dioxide, filling the air with the odor of rotten eggs. [Yuck]
How long it will last isn’t known, but it’s a good bet this jet of stink won’t become as beloved as Old Faithful.
The stench geyser is just one of the treats that fracking has delivered to this area of Texas in the last few years. There are also zombie wells where polluted water is burbling from the mouths of old oil and gas boreholes that were supposedly sealed decades ago—except no one bothered to check. Now farmland is being ruined by toxic streams and vast amounts of methane are escaping into the atmosphere. Similar problems have occurred in other areas where fracking has been used.
Then there are the earthquakes. A surge of small earthquakes ranging up to a magnitude of 3.6 had earlier raised concerns about fracking in Oklahoma. But everything is bigger in Texas. There was a magnitude 5.0 quake in 2020, followed by a 5.4 quake in 2022 and a 5.3 quake in 2023.
These are not amusing little rumbles. They are serious quakes that can cause structural damage. Anywhere else in the nation, such events would raise huge alarms. The quake that sent people in New York City scrambling for cover earlier this year? That was a 4.8. Because the scale for earthquakes is exponential, the Texas quakes are many times more powerful. The recent series of fracking-related quakes are among the largest quakes ever recorded in Texas and could signal worse to come.
But all this isn’t happening somewhere else. It’s happening in the Permian Basin.
The name comes from thick deposits of sedimentary rock laid down during the Permian, from about 300 to 250 million years ago—a geologic age coming millions of years before the first dinosaurs whose conclusion was marked by an extinction event known as The Great Dying. Beds of this age range up to several thousand feet thick in this area of West Texas, and they are a major source of both oil and gas; one that has grown vastly in importance in the age of fracking. When it comes to oil, the basin outproduces all other oil fields in the lower 48 states combined and it accounts for almost a quarter of the nation’s natural gas production.
The number of wells drilled each year varies with the price of oil and gas, but in 2024 around 450 oil and gas wells were drilled there—roughly equal to the number drilled everywhere else across the United States. Between 100 and 200 oil rigs are at work drilling holes in the Permian Basin at any given time.
Economically, the Permian Basin is hugely important. Jobs related to fossil fuels are a major employer in the area, and the fact that the United States is now a net oil exporter and set a record for the most oil ever produced by any nation in a single year, can be largely attributed to production from the Permian Basin.
There is even a University of Texas Permian Basin, marking out its significance to the state (and yes, it does offer an extensive geology program).
The first commercial wells were drilled in the basin over 100 years ago. In the 1960s, production in the area peaked at around 600 million barrels of oil per year, along with over 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But the Basin, like many other oil fields, began to play out in the second half of the twentieth century and seemed on a slow decline … until fracking.
Each one of the hundreds of new wells being drilled—along with hundreds of older wells being rejuvenated—requires the injection of a large amount of water mixed with fine-grained silica sand and often chemicals that act as detergents, breaking away crud and helping to ensure that pores and fractures are opened up for the passage of oil and gas. Increasing the porosity and permeability of the rocks is why fracking has so revolutionized drilling, and why the United States now produces more oil and gas than any nation in world history.
When fracking is complete, all that polluted water has to go somewhere, and the solution has largely come in the form of injection wells, where the water is sent into porous rocks separated by (hopefully) many impermeable layers from aquifers used for humans and animals. That hasn’t always proved to be the case. In 2012, the amount of polluted water pumped into the Earth was tagged at 30 trillion gallons. That was just in the first few years of widespread commercial fracking. It’s safe to say that number is in the hundreds of trillions by now.
That 100′ plume rising over Texas is a big signal that this fracking fluid doesn’t always stay where drilling companies said it would.
The fluid doesn’t just pose a threat to seep through cracks and voids into drinking water or poison surface waters. It also serves as a lubricant for faults and fractures. That generates the earthquakes. Lots of smaller quakes in some areas. Bigger ones in West Texas.
Despite the potential economic impact and the anything-goes attitude of the Republicans who run the state, Texas had already developed a plan for parts of the Permian Basin that would limit injection based on the number and magnitude of earthquakes in the immediate area. They were concerned enough that another quake above M4.5 would call for at least some reduction in new drilling.
Those plans don’t have anything to say about geysers. Because no one was expecting a massive stench geyser.
Maybe they’ll slow the expansion of drilling in the basin before this happens again. But this is Texas. Maybe they’ll just bring in a few bears, throw up a sign or two, and call it a park.
Meanwhile, here in Alberta, we have a landscape dotted with un-remediated gas and oil wells. Of course fossil fuel companies in both countries keep finding new ways to avoid paying for the damage they have caused.
————————–
There is no clean way of getting hydrocarbons out of rock, so please don’t sneer at Kamala over this — she’s just being realistic. What we should do is lobby her to make sure those 3 million homes she wants to build are small and energy-neutral, built with carbon-sink materials (wood, special types of concrete), run on renewable energy feeding their excess into micro-grids for the community, have xerotypic landscaping and are close to all necessary amenities.
——————–
Had we taken a multi-pronged approach decades ago, we would be a lot better off. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Solar energy. More experimentation with EVs. Build smaller, more responsible housing and transportation to fit.
———————
I don’t doubt for a moment that Vice-President Kamala Harris wants to make America better. However, we no longer have time for baby steps that accomplish nothing. I don’t doubt for a moment that President Biden has been trying to make America better with VP Harris’ help.
But honestly where did that get us. America just produced the most oil and gas in a single year in our history. We also exported the most oil and gas ever. How does that reduce global warming and prevent further climate change?
—————————-
Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are billionaires because of of oil and fracking in Texas. Besides destroying the environment, they have been using their wealth to turn Texas into a political cesspool. Many people consider them to be white Christianists. We need to make them as known as the Koch family so that they can’t just act with impunity. Their goals are not just control of Texas. They are poisonous to our whole country.
———————————-
Anyone not acquainted with those ultrarich miscreants, check out the story on ProPublica: “A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start.”
——————–
Mark Sumner adds: “If you follow the USGS “every quake” reporting, this location shows up multiple times a day in connection to small M1-2 quakes. It’s so common that it sometimes makes it hard to pick other quakes out of the noise. Even their “notable quakes” feed is sometimes chock full of reports from this area.”
———————–
Mark Sumner adds: “When I first started in the mining industry, I was sent to an old mine site in western Missouri to help trace some toxic runoff. Mining hadn’t been conducted there in decades, but there were still open cracks in the ground venting smoke and steam as coal in the waste material burned (thankfully, it wasn’t an actual burning coal seam as in Centralia, PA). The water running off the site was piss-yellow and had a pH about equal to the acid in a car battery. We built retainment facilities and guys came by to do regular treatment with calcium carbonate to raise the pH. I remember the first time I saw someone toss a brick of lime into the pond. The whole thing turned deep red, then cloudy, as all the dissolved iron and sulfur began to precipitate out of the acidic water.”
——————————-
Nothing to worry about. The folks who made the money from those wells aren’t affected by the mess and the poison. They are just fine.
#Russia continues its racist policy of trying to force migrants to fight its war.
State news agencies even glory in the fact they managed to “round up” immigrants during a raid on markets in #StPetersburg. They have ‘convinced’ 100 to join the meat market in #Ukraine instead.
President Zelensky reported that over the past week, Russia has launched about 20 different types of missiles, over 800 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 400 strike drones. He emphasized that this daily aerial terror can be stopped through unity among partners and long-range capabilities, which will help save Ukrainian lives. Zelensky stated that discussions on this matter will continue with partners during the upcoming “Ramstein” meeting next week.
I just watched a video of Ukrainian veteran Vladyslav Zadorin, who spent 22 months in a Russian prison. What he talks about is terrible; it is physical and mental torture on a daily basis. Please share this summary so that the world understands what kind of evil Russia is.
Volodymyr Tretyak 🇺🇦@VolodyaTretyak
“We spent 12 hours lying on a pier after being captured on Snake Island. It was late February, it was cold, and the sea was stormy, and freezing water kept splashing on us.” /1 […]
“After arriving at the colony, we stood in the cold snow for hours—some for a few hours, others for up to 15.” /2
“In the colony, they gave us a bowl of clear water with a single strand of beet in it. When we asked what it was, they said, ‘This is your Ukrainian borscht.'” /3
“One guy was forced to do a thousand squats because his heels don’t touch the floor when squatting. If you run out of energy, they will use a taser.” /4
“They used a taser everywhere—inside our mouths, on genitalia, and even in the rectum. The pain and adrenaline made it feel like we could climb walls.” /5
“One guard beat prisoners so badly he broke over 10 bottles on my head. I now have a traumatic brain injury. This guard would beat us on the spine, trying to force the vertebrae inward. This guard had grandkids in Kharkiv, Ukraine.” /6
“They gave me clothes that were deliberately too small just to mock me, even though I weighed 120 kg.” /7
“On the way to the shower, we had to shout ‘one, two, three, four’ in German. They said we were fascists and we should shout in the ‘language of the fascists.'” /8
“One guard loved the Russian band Sector Gaza. We had to sing their songs to get food. Those who refused to sing went hungry.””Besides, we had to sing the Russian anthem 30-50 times a day.” /9
“Some were sexually abused. They inserted objects into the rectum, and some were beaten to death.” /10
“One prisoner’s tongue was cut in two like a snake’s. They would loosen teeth with pliers so they’d fall out over time.” /11
How does paranoid Putin hide the dramatic drop in the Russian population due to horrific losses in #Ukraine? Simple… he’s suspended the All-Russian Population Census until 2029.
So why have any of us even heard of this Heartland Hitler? Why is JD Vance, less then two months after his 40th birthday and with only a couple of years’ experience as a corporate lawyer and a few more as a venture capitalist, perhaps only a few months away from being a heartbeat away from the presidency? Because elites in academia, the news media, entertainment, and the tech industry have promoted him like no other candidate in memory — except, perhaps, Trump himself.
JD Vance is not a “product” of America’s elite institutions so much as he is a creation of them…
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, right-wing media falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration are ignoring millions of Americans impacted by intense flooding. Media personalities and MAGA influencers have falsely and dishonestly claimed that victims are only entitled to $750 in aid, when in reality that is just the start of federal benefits.
FEMA can provide assistance for victims of Hurricane Helene, but chronic underfunding and climate change, not undocumented migrants, threaten future aid availability
– In addition to FEMA providing residents of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia with “a one-time $750 payment to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies,” victims can also qualify for “disaster-related financial assistance to repair storm-related damage to homes and replace personal property.” After visiting the wreckage in Georgia, Harris reiterated that “FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs.” [The White House, 10/2/24, 10/2/24]
– After President Joe Biden signed a stopgap spending bill in September, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA can properly respond to Helene recovery efforts. FEMA spokesperson Daniel Llargués said that FEMA is in a “good position” to respond to Hurricane Helene relief efforts after the agency received $20.3 billion under the spending bill. Biden has suggested bringing lawmakers back to Washington to provide additional funding for disaster relief, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has claimed “there’s no necessity for Congress to come back”. [The New York Times, 9/26/24, 10/2/24; Roll Call, 10/3/24; FEMA, 10/3/24]
– Future concerns for FEMA’s funding are attributable to chronic underfunding by Congress and increased costs associated with extreme weather disturbance as a result of climate change, not aid given to undocumented immigrants. Mayorkas warned that FEMA “does not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season.” A DHS spokesperson clarified, however, that aid provided to undocumented immigrants through the Shelter and Services Program is “a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.” [The Associated Press, 10/3/24; Axios, 7/14/23; Bipartisan Policy Center, 7/23/24; Newsweek, 10/3/24]
Fox News personalities grossly misled viewers about federal aid that Helene survivors are entitled to
– Fox’s misleading coverage of $750 payment was “one of the more dishonest omissions ever seen on Fox News – which is saying something.” Mediaite columnist Michael Luciano wrote of the misleading attack by Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Laura Ingraham. Watters and Ingraham aired misleading clips from a speech by VP Kamala Harris suggesting that $750 was the only benefit survivors were entitled to, while Harris continued explaining that it was just the start of substantial federal aid. Hannity described the aid efforts in similarly dishonest terms:
[More examples at the link]
– As X/Twitter super-poster Acyn Torbai noted in the video below, Fox News actually carried Harris’s speech live the previous day. The vice president explained that the $750 is just the beginning of the assistance available to impacted residents. [Mediaite, 10/3/24]
[…] Fox host Jesse Watters lamented that Vice President Harris is “tossing a few hundred bucks at people who lost everything.” He continued, “$750. Democrats sent checks for thousands of dollars during COVID. Thousands. None of those people had their homes swept away by floodwaters.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/2/24]
[…] Watters scoffed: “$750 per person in America after you lost your entire home, all of your belongings, and you have no food, power, or water.” He complained, “When American citizens — the ones who were born here and pay taxes — deserve help, Biden and Harris are saying, ‘Ah, sorry, we give it all away to the people who broke into the country.’” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/3/24]
Sean Hannity blamed FEMA’s lack of funds on its provision of “free food, housing, health care, education, sex-change surgeries, debit cards, four-star hotels” to undocumented immigrants while Helene victims get “a lousy … $750.” “They’ve been completely abandoned by your border czar, who prioritized her unvetted illegal immigrants over the American people.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/3/24]
MAGA media figures inaccurately blamed migrants for taking FEMA funds
[…] Anti-Muslim activist Brigitte Gabriel claimed that victims of Hurricane Helene would get “$750” but that a “criminal thug from South America” would get “a 4-star hotel with credit cards.” She posted, “If you lost your entire house during Hurricane Helene, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will give you $750. If you are a criminal thug from South America and cross the border illegally through Mexico, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will put you up in a 4-star hotel with credit cards.” [Twitter/X, 10/3/24]
[…] Right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich claimed Mayorkas “laundered all of the money to open borders NGO’s.” [Twitter/X, 10/3/24]
[More examples at the link]
I can see how, if you believed that disinformation, and you were a person in desperate straits in a place like North Carolina, you might allow your rage against “illegals” to be stoked. Dangerous rhetoric from the rightwing doofuses.
Additional embedded links to sources are included at the main link.
birgerjohanssonsays
How Judy-Lynn del Rey shaped science fiction as we know it today | Short Documentary
There were no reports of significant damage or injuries…
Ho hum. 5.0 or it didn’t happen.
Rob Grigjanissays
@75: You haven’t explained anything, just spouted hand-wavy nonsense. What does ‘very un-laser-like’ mean? What does ‘except for this, and except for that’ mean? What are ‘this’ and ‘that’? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?
During a campaign event in Wisconsin, Donald Trump suggested that any supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris who were at his rally could be physically harmed.
“Is there anybody here that’s going to vote for [Harris], please raise your hand,” Trump said. “Actually, I should say don’t raise your hand. It would be very dangerous. We don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”
Washington and Massachusetts are stockpiling abortion pills. California is cutting climate deals directly with automakers. Colorado is rushing to protect the right to same-sex marriage. And attorneys general across the country are marshaling legal resources and privately plotting courtroom strategies.
From the West Coast to the East, blue states are preparing for the possibility that former president Donald Trump wins in November by attempting to shield their policy priorities from the reach of a future Trump administration.
This preemptive strategy — “Trump-proofing” — encompasses a wide range of issues and programs that Democratic leaders fear could be targeted in another Trump presidency, based on his previous actions and his current campaign promises.
Even as they pursue such safeguards, Democrats are projecting confidence in their nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, but they say it would be irresponsible to go into Election Day without a backup plan for their worst-case scenario.
[…]
The effort provides a striking contrast to the 2016 election, when Trump’s victory took Democratic officials by surprise and sent them scrambling to respond. Much has changed in the eight years since, however, and experts say that even with the early Democratic organizing, the reach could be limited by the conservative transformation of the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court in Trump’s first term.
Still, leaders in blue-state America believe the head start and hard-won experience will help them once again act as a bulwark against an agenda they deem dangerous.
“If Donald Trump should somehow be reelected, we’ll be ready from day one to respond,” said Robert Rivas, the speaker of the California Assembly and one of the top elected Democrats in a state that has styled itself as Trump’s fiercest sparring partner. “We’ve already stopped Trump once, and we’re prepared to do so again.”
[…]
States appear to be pursuing a three-pronged self-defense strategy, according to interviews with officials, advocates and experts, situated in governor’s mansions, statehouses and courtrooms.
[…]
In shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes at an undisclosed government facility sits Washington state’s insurance policy against a future Trump administration. In them are 30,000 doses of mifepristone, the commonly used abortion pill that has become a flash point in the fight over reproductive rights.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) was one of several state leaders to order stockpiles of the medication last year, when a lawsuit threatened to limit access to the drug. The Supreme Court later rejected the challenge, but Inslee said last month that he would maintain the state’s stash — at least until the presidential race is decided.
Trump has suggested that he is open to using federal regulations to limit access to mifepristone, declining to rule out the move in a summer news conference. His campaign later said that “the Supreme Court unanimously decided on the issue and the matter is settled,” but the court’s ruling has no bearing on what a future administration could do and it left the drug vulnerable to additional legal challenges.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) is likewise preserving her state’s stockpile of 15,000 pills in case Trump returns to office.
“A Donald Trump presidency would be disastrous for states,” Healey said in a statement to The Washington Post, adding that “he would destroy reproductive freedom even more than he already has.”
….In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), probably MAGA’s most visible state-level foil, has been working to secure a lofty climate agenda.
Trump has long gleefully targeted California, and his campaign has told reporters that as president he would again revoke the state’s power to set its own pollution limits on cars and trucks, among other things. (In a September news conference in the state, he also threatened to block federal fire aid to California unless Newsom bowed to his agenda on taxes and other topics.)
To counter any Trump action on the pollution front, Newsom announced an agreement earlier this year with the automaker Stellantis, one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. The pact ensures that Stellantis will comply with California regulations even if the state is “unable to enforce its standards as a result of judicial or federal action,” an arrangement similar to one Newsom brokered during Trump’s first term.
The deals underscore California’s ability, rare among states, to use its formidable economy and market muscle to shape policy regardless of what happens at the federal level.
[…]
After Trump’s 2016 election, California’s rattled legislative leaders vowed to “lead the resistance” to his administration.
That defiant pledge kicked off years of policymaking as the legislature’s Democratic supermajority pushed dozens of bills designed to insulate California, such as the 2017 “sanctuary state” law that limited communication between local authorities and federal immigration officials amid Trump’s threats of mass deportations.
“Here in California, we are already battle-tested,” Rivas said.
On Sunday, Newsom signed a bill that requires insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization, citing GOP opposition to the treatment in explaining its urgency.
[…]
State lawmakers have also sought to protect same-sex marriage, pushing onto the November ballot constitutional amendments that would secure it in California, Colorado and Hawaii.
[…]
“We had to really address that issue now while we could,” said Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone, co-chair of the Democratic caucus and sponsor of the state’s amendment to remove the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. “A lot of basic protections people take for granted could be changed by a Trump administration.”
[…]
Lawsuits against the federal government …. skyrocketed during the Trump years, with Democratic states suing his administration more than 150 times, according to Nolette’s database of cases….
Democrats were often successful, winning more than 80 percent of the cases against Trump, Nolette said, thus blocking some of his high-profile moves, like his push to include citizenship status on the census and his attempt to cancel the program protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, known as DACA.
But since many of those consequential cases were decided, the Supreme Court has shifted further to the right with Trump’s picks, mirroring a trend at the district level.
And while Democrats have been planning ahead, Trump’s allies also have had years to fine-tune their own legal strategies.
“This isn’t a one-way ratchet,” Nolette said. “They’re both upping their game.”
Bekenstein Boundsays
Unfortunately, Canadian polling is even more dire than American: it would likely take a miracle to avoid Oilievre having at least four years to wreck the country and the climate. I’m slowly circling the drain as it is; it’s unlikely I would personally survive his reign long enough to vote against him a second time. But at least there would be one, unlike in America if Trump gets back in.
Unlike opioid addiction, there are no FDA-approved medications for […] stimulants like meth and cocaine. Instead, the most effective treatment is low-tech […] Offering people small rewards for not using drugs—known as contingency management—dates back to the 1980s. Patients are tested for drugs regularly over several months. They receive a gift card for every negative result, and payouts grow with each test.
The treatment is based on a well-established concept that positive reinforcement is an effective motivator. […] Compared to traditional counseling, researchers have found people are twice as likely to stop […] But the approach has failed to catch on in spite of the evidence.
[…]
Outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has offered contingency management since 2011, the treatment lay dormant for nearly a decade. But attitudes began to shift after the synthetic opioid fentanyl fueled a rise in overdose deaths
[…]
In the last four years, some states have relied on federal grants or court rulings against opioid manufacturers to fund their contingency management programs. [California was the first state greenlit for Medicaid.] At least three other states—Montana, Washington and Delaware—are now running their own programs through Medicaid, and four others are seeking federal approval.
KGsays
It reeks of toxic sulfur dioxide, filling the air with the odor of rotten eggs. – Lynna, OM@69 quoting Mark Sumner @DailyKos
Sulphur dioxide doesn’t smell of rotten eggs, although it is toxic and breathing it in is very unpleasant – it feels, as much as smells, very sharp. It’s hydrogen sulphide that has the smell of rotten eggs (because a rotting egg gives off hydrogen sulphide).
“All teachers and public sector employees were told to hand in our passports,” said a primary school teacher in a major city in the western province of Sichuan told The Financial Times, adding, “If we want to travel aboard, we have to apply to the city education bureau and I don’t think it will be approved,” said the teacher.
China is imposing paranoid government level passport controls. Once this is rolled out a significant portion of the population will need to get government approval for each trip outside the country.
This expands controls to all government employees. Even low level ones like primary school teachers. This includes at least some people working for companies owned by the government, a significant group in China. China has always had tight restrictions but this is bordering on insane and will slow all travel.
Florida’s Gulf Coast is under a Hurricane Watch and a Storm Surge Watch as Hurricane Milton continues to gain strength, intensifying into a major Category 4 storm in the Gulf of Mexico.
As of 9 a.m. on Monday, Hurricane Milton was located at 21.7 N and 92.0 W.
It was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and was moving east-southeast at 8 mph.
According to the National Hurricane Center, wind shear will cause Milton to weaken ahead of landfall late Wednesday. It could remain a major hurricane upon landfall, which will happen on Florida’s west coast.
Some areas will receive heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday, which FOX 13 meteorologists say is not directly related to Milton.
Rain from Milton will likely arrive on Wednesday and will continue into Thursday before the storm moves out…
FOX 13 Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto warns that even if Milton does weaken prior to landfall, it will not lessen the storm surge. The point of landfall south is where the biggest surge will occur.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a molecule that governs how cells in the body function.
Their research revealed how genes, which contain the instruction manual for life, give rise to different types of cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation…
The discovery of gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make that has been at work for hundreds of millions of years – was the result of decades of work by Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Ruvkun, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School…
JMsays
Youtube: Report: Russia FLATTENING Civilian Villages In Kursk!
Russia is turning artillery against Russian villages in the Kursk. There are probably some accidents in there, with the Russian forces not clear on where Ukrainian forces are. The shelling is too wide spread for that to be entirely the case. The Russians are obviously going for a scorched earth strategy, making the villages useless for Ukraine. This is an admission that Russia doesn’t expect to liberate Kursk this year.
Likely there is also an element of Russian officers doing something that they can report back to Moscow so it doesn’t look like they are sitting on their hands. There is also a propaganda element to this, with Ukraine blaming destruction on Russia and Russia blaming it on Ukraine.
As part of his pitch on education policy, Donald Trump is vowing to cut federal investments in education by more than half in a second term.
Donald Trump doesn’t have a detailed plan when it comes to education policy, but he has spent some time in recent months letting voters know about some of his priorities related to schools.
We know, for example, that Trump has repeatedly vowed to cut off public funds “to any school that has a vaccine mandate.” We also know that he plans to shut down the Department of Education if given a second term.
While we’re at it, we also know that Trump continues to champion school vouchers — what conservatives refer to as “school choice” — and he even briefly endorsed the idea of forcing public school principals to get elected to their positions.
What voters might not know, however, is that Trump is the first major-party presidential nominee in recent history to call for slashing federal investments in education.
In June, for example, the GOP nominee vowed to cut federal spending on education “in half,” conceding at the time that schools in some states “won’t do as well” once he has implemented his agenda. Last week, in an interview with Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow — his former White House employee — Trump went a little further, announcing his intention to cut federal education investments by more than half. [video at the link]
As part of the same pitch, Trump added that, by his estimation, schools in 35 states will be fine. Of course, in a nation with 50 states, the Republican seemed to imply that education in roughly 30% of the country would experience some troubles.
To be sure, school budgets mostly rely on local and state spending, the federal government does make some investments that benefit public school districts nationwide, and no major-party presidential nominee in recent history has run on a platform of slashing those investments.
And yet, here we are, watching Trump talk about cutting education spending at least in half while conceding that some parts of his own country would be worse off as a consequence.
If the GOP candidate is under the impression that such an idea will be popular with the American mainstream, he might be in for a surprise.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
* The New York Times reported on conservative activists in Arizona, among other states, monitoring and filming voter-registration sites in pursuit of a larger partisan conspiracy theory.
* In Georgia, the DeKalb County Republican Party had a pending lawsuit, claiming vulnerabilities to the state’s voting system. Last week, a state judge dismissed the case.
* Donald Trump claimed in a social media post last week that he’d been endorsed by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Dimon’s office made clear soon after that he has not, in reality, endorsed Trump or any other candidate.
* And as Election Day 2024 draws closer, expect to see a lot more of Barack Obama. NBC News reported, “Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh [this] week, his first foray into the election as a battleground-state surrogate. The event, according to a senior Harris campaign official, will launch a larger effort by Obama, who intends to ramp up his campaigning for Harris in the final stretch of the election cycle.”
Embedded links are available at the main link. Here’s an excerpt from The New York Times report mentioned in the first paragraph above:
[…] Despite the many debunked falsehoods about widespread voting by noncitizens, liberal Latino advocacy groups say they are being trailed by conservative activists with cameras and accused of registering undocumented immigrants.
The conservative activists are recording them, tactics that have also targeted migrant shelters, Democratic politicians, abortion clinics and student protesters. […] they were increasingly concerned about safety and intimidation. Some tell canvassers to scrub their public social media profiles and avoid posting photos showing their location in real time. These days, many canvassers go out bracing for an argument about stolen elections.
[…] Multiple reviews have found voting by noncitizens is exceedingly rare. The Brennan Center for Justice found that suspected — not confirmed — cases of noncitizen voting accounted for one ten-thousandth of 1 percent of votes cast in 2016.
In Palm Beach, Fla., workers from Mi Familia en Acción say they have been confronted multiple times as they stand at a table handing out voter-registration applications.
In one encounter captured on video in early July, two women were working to register new voters, children playing beside them, when a man carrying a camera approached to ask why they were there.
“You work for an NGO that is paid for by Soros-backed Democrats,” he said, referring to the financier and Democratic donor to nonprofit groups who is a perennial boogeyman for conservatives and antisemitic conspiracy theorists.
A county worker stepped in to tell the man that Mi Familia’s workers had the right to be there. But the unidentified man had none of it. “They’re trying to do it with registering illegal voters,” he said. […]
He presses the workers about why they do not ask for identifications. (The rules vary by state, but in many places voters registering online, by mail or using forms are asked to provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, which are checked by election officials.)
[…] The conservative Heritage Foundation has sent teams with hidden cameras posing as voter-outreach workers groups into apartment complexes in Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia to ask the mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants there if they were citizens and registered to vote.
[…] Outside the Phoenix D.M.V. in September, the interaction between the Poder Latinx workers and Mr. Stepanov lasted just a few minutes.
Mr. Stepanov walked away and the canvassers went back to offering voter forms.
But that night, Mr. Stepanov posted a video of the interaction on social media — calling it “Voter Fraud in Arizona Exposed.” It caught fire with right-wing influencers and garnered more than two million views. […]
birgerjohanssonsays
“Superconducting Cables are Coming. I’m Not Joking”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3gFUwGedayw
This sounds very ‘nineties’ but this time it might just work. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for flying cars and general AI.
Quote Of The Day
Kamala Harris, responding to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), who said last month that her kids keep her humble but Harris has nothing to keep her humble: “I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble.”
Just when you thought everyone had already jumped into the 2024 campaign, here come the porn stars.
Seventeen pornographic film actors on Monday announced that they had launched a $100,000 ad campaign on porn sites warning that Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a Republican administration that has been a centerpiece of some Democratic campaigns — wants to ban pornography and imprison people who produce it. The online ads will run in the states that will decide the presidency: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
The architects of the “hands off my porn” campaign are nothing if not aware of the polling. Vice President Kamala Harris is losing to former President Donald J. Trump among men, but younger men might be winnable — and pornographic websites are among the most heavily trafficked on the internet.
Quoting the Survey Center on American Life, the group said younger men are the biggest consumers of the industry’s products: Among men aged 18-29, 44 percent had watched porn within the past month. Among men aged 30-49, it was 57 percent.
“I have been in this industry for over 25 years and have witnessed many attacks on our industry, but Project 2025’s ban on pornography is the most extreme proposal I have ever seen, and voters have to take that threat seriously,” Holly Randall, a pornographic film actor, said in the group’s announcement. “We cannot simply rely on precedent that consuming pornography is legal and has been legal for a long time.”
birgerjohanssonsays
Lynna, OM @ 95
Stupid activists are a great source of entertainment.
-A classic from three years ago. The ‘My Pillow’ guy tries to prove election fraud, but proves his ignorance of computers. At little over one hour, this deconstruction is one of those podcasts I like to fall asleep while listening to.
“GAM 297 Absolute Interference”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=N3VvkG_QgtA
The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania to a Biden administration executive order that is intended to boost voter registration.
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.
In one case, the court turned away an appeal from Fulton County, Pennsylvania, that questioned a Pennsylvania high court ruling involving voting machines. The other rejected appeal involved claims from people around the country that Denver-based Dominion tried to silence them.
About that executive order, mentioned above:
Biden’s order includes several modest provisions. It directs federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information, calls on the heads of agencies to come up with plans to give federal employees time off to vote or volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers, and pushes an overhaul of the government’s Vote.gov website.
[…] The voting rights bill includes provisions to restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system that allows wealthy donors to anonymously bankroll political causes. […]
JUST NOW: @realDonaldTrump leans heavily into race science by telling @hughhewitt that you can tell whether migrants are predisposed to committing murder by “their genes.”
Video at the link. “Many of them murdered more than one person.” Trump’s answer is so bad. It is worth your time to listen to this rant by Hair Furor so that you will know just how bad it is. The sound track from the Hugh Hewitt show is only about 40 seconds long.
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, confirmed to reporters Saturday that former President Donald Trump is “consistent” in his views on defunding Planned Parenthood.
A journalist asked Vance, R-Ohio, whether a future Trump administration would defund Planned Parenthood, the reproductive health care group that has garnered opposition from many conservatives for its pro-abortion-rights positions.
“On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood, look, I mean our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions,” Vance said after Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around. It will remain a consistent view.”
In 2021, 93.5% of abortions were done at or before 13 weeks’ gestation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this year. About 5.7% of abortions were done between 14 and 20 weeks, and 0.9% were performed at or beyond 21 weeks.
Jenny Lawson, executive director of the organization’s political action committee, Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement Monday morning that a Trump administration move to defund the group’s health centers “would rob millions of people across the country of vital, affordable care.”
“As usual, he is spinning tall tales to make his case,” Lawson said said of Vance. “Here’s the truth: Federal funds cannot be used to provide abortion care at any point in pregnancy — but Planned Parenthood health centers do use federal funds to provide cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and many other essential reproductive health care services. ‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood would only deepen and expand the public health crisis we’re already in thanks to Donald Trump, causing more people to suffer and die for lack of basic reproductive care.”
[…] After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted last year on Truth Social, a sentiment he has echoed on the campaign trail.
In 2019, Planned Parenthood withdrew from Title X, a government family planning program, after the Trump administration passed a rule forbidding clinics participating in the program from providing abortion provider referrals.
Planned Parenthood was already prevented from using federal funds for abortions, though anti-abortion-rights groups have argued that it is impossible for the government to verify that the funding for other services does not help subsidize abortion services.
President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s rule, allowing clinics that provide abortion referrals to once again receive federal funds.
In 2016, then-candidate Trump said in a debate that he would end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, saying he would “defund it because I’m pro-life.
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.
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.
Texas asked the justices to leave the order in place, saying the state Supreme Court ruling meant Texas law, unlike Idaho’s, does have an exception for the health of a pregnant patient and there’s no conflict between federal and state law.
Doctors have said the law remains dangerously vague after a medical board refused to specify exactly which conditions qualify for the exception. […]
Now that Steamboat Willie is open source, there are t-shirts with him leaning over the book from the manga “Death Note” while the malign supernatural entity waits in the background. Japanese and Disney narrative universes colliding to the howling of outraged Disney executives. 🙂
Ainsley Earhardt, co-host of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” morning show, expressed concern on Monday morning that if women hear a recent interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, they may decide to vote for her in the presidential election.
Over the weekend, Harris gave an interview to “Call Her Daddy,” which the Associated Press reports is “the most-listened-to podcast for women,” with millions of fans.
During an interview with a Republican strategist, Earhardt said the interview was a problem.
“If you don’t know the issues, you really think, ‘Okay, she’s selling herself, she’s talking about women’s rights and how Donald Trump has stacked the court with all these conservative justices’—and if you’re a woman listening to that podcast and you don’t know how progressive she is, you might vote for her,” Earhardt said. [video at the link]
[…] Earhardt also alleged that Harris has spread a “lie” about Trump opposing in vitro fertilization. However, the Republican Party platform supports allowing states to make laws that would outlaw the use of embryos created via IVF. A similar situation occurred in February in Alabama, whose state Supreme Court ruled that embryos should be considered children. (The state legislature soon passed a law to protect IVF in the state, though some local clinics say the law wasn’t enough to truly protect the procedure.)
In addition to her appearance on “Call Her Daddy,” Harris is doing a series of interviews this week, including with “60 Minutes,” “The View,” and “The Howard Stern Show.” And all this comes despite Fox News personalities’ frequent complaints that Harris is supposedly “hiding” from the American public. [It is more like Fox News is trying to hide Kamala Harris from their audience.]
Since he became a political figure, Trump has been a fixture on Fox News and particularly on “Fox & Friends,” […] In his appearances on that program, Trump is often allowed to speak at length about a disjointed group of issues with little to no response from Earhardt and her fellow hosts. […]
Tim Walz is getting a number of good reviews for his appearance on Fox News today, mostly for his discussion about abortion rights. Here’s a samplilng.
Tim Walz Easily Bats Down Fox Anchor’s Anti-Abortion Questions Rolling Stone link
Shannon Bream tried to frame the vice presidential nominee as an extremist on abortion. He didn’t let her
Tim Walz Outmaneuvers Fox News Host as He’s Grilled on Abortion
Walz went head-to-head with Shannon Bream Fox News Sunday on abortion, claiming Trump will sign a national abortion ban. Daily Beast link
Here’s the gist of what went down in the Fox interview:
“I have been clear. The restoration of Roe versus Wade is what we’re asking,” Walz said when Bream asked him on Fox News Sunday whether the Democrats would allow abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
“The law is very clear. It does not change that. That was been debunked on every occasion.”
Bream interjected to claim that when he enshrined the right to abortion and reproductive health care into Minnesota’s statutes last year, the legislation did not have a “single limit through nine months of pregnancy.”
Walz, however, calmly kept on message, continuing, “This puts the decision with the woman and her health care providers.”
“The situation we have is when you don’t have the ability of health care providers to provide that, that’s where you end up with a situation in Texas, where they are afraid to do what’s necessary,” he said.
“This doesn’t change anything. It puts the decision back on to the woman, to the physicians […]
“This is a distraction from the real issue here is women being forced into miscarriages, women being forced to go back home, get sepsis, potentially die.”
“Maternal mortality rates in Texas have skyrocketed off the charts because of this. This is bad policy.”
To be clear, since Bream isn’t, Roe protected abortion rights through the first trimester but allowed states to “regulate procedure” — meaning states could restrict or ban abortions — in the second and third trimesters, but it absolutely did not restrict or place limitations on abortions nationwide. Later, in the 1992 case of Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the court protected abortion rights pre-viability and allowed states to restrict abortion post-viability.
[…] Here’s hoping a lot of undecided voters see Tim Walz on Fox and take note of how dishonest he showed Trump, Vance, and Fox themselves are being about what Roe v Wade was and what it wasn’t.
Former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out on Tuesday. Her publisher hilariously describes it as a “compelling and inspirational memoir that offers a glimpse into the life of a remarkable woman who has navigated challenges with grace and determination.” Sure, whatever.
The real function of this memoir is as a vehicle for Melania to shop around her newfound commitment to abortion rights to any news organization gullible enough to believe she’s sincere. Everything about the book screams “rushed to market in the hopes it helps Trump get elected.”
The cover is just a blank black slab with “Melania” in the middle in a completely pedestrian all-cap font. The publisher is Skyhorse Publishing, and you’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of them. Their other new releases include such hot numbers as “Y’all Fired: A Southern Belle’s Guide to Restoring Federalism and Draining the Swamp;” “Emergency Home Preparedness: The Ultimate Guide for Bugging In During Natural Disasters, Pandemics, Civil Unrest, and More;” and “The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which even features a forward by Steve Bannon. [Yikes]
The publisher’s “About Us” page has blurbs from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Alan Dershowitz. In other words, it’s a dumping ground for right-wingers who can’t get a major publisher to pick up their book. Oh, and the publisher demanded a $250,000 licensing fee from CNN to interview Melania about the book, which they later walked back, declaring it an “internal miscommunication.”
The Guardian, which really should know better, published exclusive excerpts of Melania’s pro-choice musings, including such vague statements as “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government.”
She also declared that “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.” [video, complete with distracting lighting, is available at the link]
So, she’s carried this belief forever, but somehow this is the first time she’s ever talked about her deep and abiding belief in the right to an abortion. Besides the fact that this big reveal is conveniently timed to juice sales for her book, which is already, distressingly, the #2 seller on Amazon behind failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, it also comes at a time when her husband is desperately trying to obscure his hardline anti-choice stance.
Indeed, shortly after The Guardian published excerpts, Donald Trump went on Fox News to proclaim his support, saying, “We spoke about it, and I said, ‘You have to write what you believe. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe.’” Donald Trump, famous champion of autonomy for women.
When asked about Melania’s newfound love of choice, all Sen. JD Vance could muster was that she was “entitled to her own views” before immediately pivoting to talking about securing the border. Notably, when Melania went on Fox News, she was not asked about abortion at all.
Meanwhile, Trump biographer and New York Times writer Maggie Haberman went on “The Daily” to praise Donald Trump and preserve her own access should he be elected in 2024. Haberman said Trump “would welcome” Melania’s pro-choice stance and it would “make him happy.” This is, to put it charitably, nonsense.
Trump has bragged about nominating the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. He was the first sitting president to attend the March for Life, an annual rally and march against the legality of abortion. There, he spoke about how, since his first day in office, he has worked to “protect the unborn” and “would veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policies or that encourages the destruction of human life.”
Even if one pretends that Melania is sincere here, her timing is way off. She had an entire four years to speak her truth on this or to try to stop Trump from gutting reproductive rights. Even Haberman was forced to admit that “It is not something that former White House advisers remember her talking about in either direction, pro or con.” Imagine that.
[…] As journalist Dan Savage pointed out on X, this sort of thing has been a habit for Republican wives, who are routinely trotted out to say vaguely pro-choice things while their husbands dismantle reproductive rights. Only one of them—Betty Ford—was ever willing to stand up for abortion rights while in the White House. Otherwise, much like Melania, GOP wives kept their pro-choice thoughts to themselves, revealing it only after it was too late for them to have any real influence.
None of those past statements, however, have been as cynical as the Trump campaign deploying Melania to offset the virulently anti-choice stance of the Trump/Vance ticket.
The bottom line is that Trump is like the dog who caught the car; he succeeded in eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, and now he has no idea what to do. He’s incapable of actually changing his stance because he’d lose the support of his base.
So instead, we get Melania, who has been largely absent from the campaign trail unless she’s paid to show up, pretending that she’s a champion for choice. No one can stop her from lying about this, but no one should fall for it. […]
A variety of Republican U.S. Senate candidates this year have faced credible questions about their connections to the states they’re running in. In Wisconsin, for example, Eric Hovde has lived in California on-and-off since 2012. In Pennsylvania, hopeful David McCormick has been credibly accused of living in Connecticut. In Montana, Democrats have been eager to remind locals that Tim Sheehy is relatively new to the state, having moved there from Minnesota.
Politico, looking ahead to the 2024 cycle, wrote last year, “A number of 2024 Senate candidates in competitive races have a carpetbagger problem,” and there’s ample evidence to bolster the point.
But perhaps no one in Republican politics is struggling with the issue more than former Rep. Mike Rogers.
To be sure, the former congressman was definitely born in Michigan, went to school in Michigan, lived in Michigan, and represented a district in the central part of the state for several years before retiring from Capitol Hill a decade ago.
And then he did what a lot of retirees do: Rogers moved to Florida. We know this for certain, because he’s said so, out loud and on the record. In fact, the Republican, who reportedly purchased a very expensive home in the Sunshine State, was still registered to vote in Florida as recently as this year.
But, according to the former GOP lawmaker, Rogers has returned to the Wolverine State and is ready to serve Michigan as a U.S. senator.
[…] The Detroit Free Press’ M.L. Elrick looked into the matter and explained in his latest column, “I don’t know where Mike Rogers lives, but it’s not where he’s registered to vote.”
Rogers, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, changed his voter registration on July 2 to a home in White Lake Township that is under construction. A month later, he used the White Lake address to vote (presumably, for himself) in the four-way race for the GOP nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. There’s just one problem: The house did not — and still does not — have a certificate of occupancy. That means Rogers could not live there legally. And if he didn’t live there, he may have broken the law by using that address to vote.
Before changing his registration in July, Rogers apparently listed his brother’s address as his own, though locals suggested they never saw him and he never lived there.
Elrick explored all of this in considerable detail — his column is well worth your time — and it’s worth noting that the candidate’s spokesperson appears to have confirmed that Rogers, as a result of construction delays, does not live in the house where he’s registered to vote. […]
I have to wonder if a dark-money donor paid Mike Rogers to run for Senator in Michigan.
It looks like The Detroit Free Press requires a subscription in order to read M.L. Elrick’s report.
We all know that Donald Trump does not believe in science.
Climate change? Please, so the world’s oceans are going to rise a gazillionth of an inch, it just means that in a million years people in West Virginia will own valuable oceanfront property. […] Viruses? Eh, they just disappear eventually, and if you can’t wait for that, you can drink bleach or shine an ultraviolet light up your own butthole to get rid of them. Astronomy? Meh, go ahead and stare down that eclipse without safety glasses. Show the sun who’s boss.
There is one science that Trump believes in, though: race science! Which is less science and more flat-out racism spoken with slightly more erudition than you might find at your average Klan cross burning, but is flat-out racism nonetheless. […]
Of course Trump is a Republican, so he can spew this racist garbage on a conservative’s podcast and that conservative (Hugh Hewitt in this case) doesn’t even blink. [video at the link]
Maybe Hewitt was confused, since he had tried to ask Trump about Kamala Harris’s proposal to deal with America’s housing crisis by building a lot more houses. Apparently this is a ridiculous idea for some reason. Anyway, it’s worth quoting liberally here, so we can get Hewitt’s statement and which darkened forest paths of his mind it sent Donald Trump meandering down:
HH: Well, she also wants to give $25,000 to new homebuilders. That’ll just drive up the price of houses, and then she says…
DT: That’s going to drive the prices up, yeah. Your price is going to be $100,000 dollars more now. No, no, everything they want to do is wrong. First of all, you have to let the private sector do it. You just have to let them do it. She wants to go into government housing. She wants to go into government feeding. She wants to feed people. She wants to feed people governmentally. She wants to go into a communist party type of a system. When you look at the things that she proposes, they’re so far off. She has no clue. How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers. Many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.
Somehow we went from “subsidies encouraging builders to build more housing are a bad idea” to “Hispanic migrants are genetically predisposed to murder” in 159 words and approximately 24 seconds. It’s impressive, in its own terrible way. The modern Republican Party is like thiiiiiiiiiiis close to putting a eugenics plank in its party platform.
If we’re going to go down this road, we must point out that Donald Trump is of German descent, and the Germans started two world wars, carried out the Holocaust, and gave America the Trump family that has been responsible for so much misery. Clearly, the Kaiser was not sending us or anyone else his best. [sarcasm, not meant to disparage all Germans] […]
Trying to ascribe lofty motivations to Republicans has always been a fool’s errand. We’ve mocked elected Democrats in the past when they have waxed poetically about their “worthy opposition” or their “friends on the other side” because it flies in the face of what they are elected to do: represent their constituents.
So, let’s see how these “opposing friends” decided to behave on Sunday.
What’s A Little Incitement Among Friends? [video at the link]
Current Speaker of the House and Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson was on ABC’s “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday.”
On ABC, Johnson was asked about recent comments from Donald Trump’s failson (the blonde one), attributing the attempted assassinations of Trump to Democrats. After host George Stephanopoulos played a clip of it, Johnson’s faux-nice guy “aww shucks” cadence attempted to speak about “lowering the temperature” of political rhetoric while dodging the questions about it.
JOHNSON: I – I don’t know what Eric was saying because I only heard just a – a snippet there. I don’t know the context. I do know that Eric is very level-headed and a very intelligent person.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You just saw it, sir.
JOHNSON: I saw your clip of it, George. I didn’t see the full speech. We need to all look at these things in full context.
Johnson then did precisely the same equivocating by bringing up bullshit about “Democrats using lawfare” and “Trump has been hounded ever since he came down the escalators in 2015.”
Stephanopoulos again pressed him to condemn this:
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you’re actually repeating the charge. And I don’t know what more context you need. 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: George, George, I’m not going to parse the language what people say at rallies. I could give you pages and pages of crazy comments by the leading Democrats in this country. That’s not what this is about. […]
STEPHANOPOULOS: Isn’t that rhetoric the kind of political nonsense you’re talking about?
JOHNSON: Look, we’re in an election cycle. This is a silly season, as they say. We’re in the – 30 days out from the most fateful election of our lifetime.
“Silly season.” What a perplexingly innocuous way to describe riling up your voter base to very possibly commit violence, either now or in the event Trump loses (again). […]
It’s infuriating to see the person second in the presidential line of succession be this callous.
Johnson was also asked about JD Vance’s inability to just say Trump lost the 2020 election during last week’s VP debate. Johnson referred to the question as a “gotcha game,” which only makes sense if you think asking you about the color of the daytime sky is a “gotcha.”
Schrödinger’s Election Results
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton also had a hard time answering this very question on “Meet The Press.” [video at the link]
KRISTIN WELKER: We just played it in the open, when Senator JD Vance refused to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. I want to put this question to you, Senator, just to put this to rest: Can you say definitively here and now that Donald Trump did lose the 2020 election?
COTTON: Kristen, Joe Biden was elected president in 2020. It was an unfair election in many ways. […]
WELKER: But did Trump lose? Just to the –
COTTON: Joe Biden was elected, Kristen. I mean, there’s a process by which we elect presidents. There’s votes in November. You have an Electoral College vote. You certify the election. And then you have the inauguration. Joe Biden was elected president. […]
WELKER: As you know, though, I mean, it has been stated that this was one of the most secure elections in U.S. history. But do you just not want to say that Trump lost? Why not just say the simple –
COTTON: Kristen –
WELKER: If Biden is president, can you just simply say, “Trump lost”?
COTTON: Joe – Joe Biden was elected president in 2020.
`
Imagine twisting yourself into knots trying to explain how Joe Biden won without saying he won, or Trump lost without saying he lost. All because the head of your party and nominee is a thin-skinned narcissist who will throw a tantrum if he’s seen as the loser he is.
Cotton also tried to lie about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, because there’s no low these assclowns won’t stoop to.
Playing ‘Both Sides’ Even In Disaster [video at the link]
Speaking of the federal response to Hurricane Helene, North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis went with a third option on CBS’s “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan: Admit North Carolina is getting aid, while still giving oxygen to Trump’s lies.
BRENNAN: Former President Trump claimed the federal response in North Carolina was terrible, and emergency funding is being spent on immigrants. Do you know what he’s talking about? […] Is he right?
TILLIS: I think that the President is right to say that billions of dollars is being spent as a result of Biden’s failed immigration policies and border policies. However, we have the resources that we need, we’re going to have to go back and pass more resources. […] But right now, not yet is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina.
BRENNAN: It is not an effector, to be clear? Okay.
TILLIS: Not at this time.
Brennan then pointed out that Speaker Johnson has said he’s not calling people back early to vote to approve necessary funding for FEMA disaster funds. Once again, reality and facts have a way of proving who plays politics with the American people’s lives.
What could possibly go wrong or result in people going to prison for up to five years?
Maye Musk — the mother of Elon Musk — took to the site formerly known as Twitter this weekend to encourage Republican users of the site to go out and commit a fuckton of voter fraud this November, assuring them that it was 100 percent legal.
Quoting a post from her sweet baby boy, Maye Musk wrote, “The Democrats have given us another option. You don’t have to register to vote. On Election Day, have 10 fake names, go to 10 polling booths and vote 10 times. That’s 100 votes, and it’s not illegal. Maybe we should work the system too.”
“This is, in fact, illegal,” Community Notes pointed out.
You also very much have to register to vote, though why interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake? [Posts on X are available at the link]
For years, Republicans have soothed their voters’ egos with the fiction that Democrats regularly commit voter fraud and steal elections. It’s a story that serves multiple purposes. It allows them to attack the undocumented immigrants they claim are a part of this, it establishes Democrats as evildoers, and, perhaps most importantly, it allows them to preserve their belief that they are the Real Americans and the “silent majority.” If Democrats can’t win without cheating, it means they’re the real winners.
It’s also a demonstration of how very little Republican politicians and pundits actually care about their constituency. Multiple Republicans have been convicted of voter fraud, often because they thought it was easy to do without getting caught and because they thought they were doing some sort of “turnabout is fair play” with Democrats and “beating them at their own game.” Just like Maye Musk suggested.
Many have also been charged and some have even been convicted and sentenced for their part in trying to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election, which they truly believed he only lost because of “widespread voter fraud.” Just last week, former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for her (very illegal) attempts to stop the non-existent steal.
In-person voter fraud, as Maye Musk describes, is extremely rare, unlikely to make any kind of dent in a national election, and the penalties for getting caught are extremely high. If people were to believe Maye Musk and get caught, they could be sent to prison for five years and also on the hook for up to $10,000. And no, “I just wanted to beat Democrats at their own game, your honor!” is not considered a valid excuse.
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. “By every indication, state and federal agencies have been working to help people in need. They’ve been airlifting food and other supplies to affected areas.”
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’s be clear: Western North Carolina is not a political football. This is not a campaign opportunity,” the outlet continued. “The most unhelpful thing any politician — or anyone else — can do right now is spread misinformation and tell people that their government isn’t doing anything to help them.”
[…] “Sowing the seeds of political division is always an unnecessary and tiresome endeavor,” the Observer continued. “But doing so in times of great need, when unity is paramount, is particularly shameful.”
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.”
“Both Democrats and Republicans have worked together to assist the people in harm’s way,” Cárdenas added. “Well, you know, 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.”
Republicans, including former President Trump have gone after the federal response to Hurricane Helene. Last week, at a rally in Saginaw, Mich., the former president said the response “is going even worse” than Hurricane Katrina.
“A certain president, I will not name him, destroyed his reputation with Katrina,” Trump said of former President George W. Bush. “And this is going even worse. She’s doing even worse than he did.”
Cárdenas said in his appearance on “Morning Joe” that he believes “Harris and [Tim] Walz may not necessarily be my ideal ticket, but they’re not gonna put America in harm’s way.”
“And so I made an easy decision for me,” the former Sunshine State GOP head said. […]
It was nine days ago when Donald Trump decided to lean into a provocative new attack targeting Kamala Harris. The Democratic vice president, Trump said, was born “mentally impaired.” The former president also compared her actions to that of “a mentally disabled person.”
In case that weren’t quite enough, Trump said his 2024 rival is “stupid” and has “cognitive problems.”
The GOP candidate’s rhetoric was obviously as ugly as it was untrue, but it also opened the door to an awkward conversation about the Republican’s own age, fitness, and mental acuity.
In fact, just a few days after attacking Harris as “a very dumb person,” Trump held an event in Wisconsin in which he struggled to pronounce United Arab Emirates, flubbed the basics of hurricane season, mixed up Iran with North Korea, falsely claimed government agencies can’t determine the U.S. population, and referred to an African country before concluding, “I don’t know what that is.”
A Washington Post report told readers soon after, “Trump, 78, often speaks in a digressive, extemporaneous style that thrills his fans at large-scale rallies. But Tuesday’s event, in front of almost entirely reporters, was especially scattered and hard to follow.” Around the same time, Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii noted an online video in which the Republican falsely said North Korea was trying to kill him and concluded, “I think it’s reasonable to watch this clip, add the withdrawal from a 60 minutes interview, and wonder if there’s something actually going on. I don’t know — maybe he’s fine, but it’s not a wacky or nasty thing to inquire about.”
As the week came to an end, The New York Times ran a related front-page report on the same subject. After noting Trump’s boasts about a debate crowd that didn’t exist, the article noted that this was “hardly the only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately.” [See comment 62; and see also PZ’s post When you’ve lost the New York Times… ]
[…] This comes on the heels of a related Trump analysis noting that the Republican nominee “has mixed up names, confused facts and stumbled over his points. Mr. Trump’s rambling speeches, sometimes incoherent statements and extreme outbursts have raised questions about his own cognitive health.”
The list of similar instances in support of the thesis is not short. A few days before targeting Harris’ intellect, for example, the former president referred to Charlottesville as “Charlottestown.” A few days before that, he mixed up Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
In early September, Trump urged people in New Hampshire to vote against Biden, apparently forgetting that Biden isn’t running. Two weeks earlier, he seemed to forget which state he was in during a campaign rally.
It came against a backdrop of weird Trump rhetoric about bacon and wind power [snipped the sharks and batteries nonsense]
As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes recently noted, Trump “is very obviously sharply declining before our eyes,” and MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem added: “Trump has been embedded in the public consciousness as a rule-breaker for so long that it can be easy to forget how far he is from fulfilling the basic requirement of a politician to speak clearly. Trump’s speeches seem to be growing more discursive and difficult to comprehend by the day.”
I continue to be preoccupied with this, not only because he picked a fight over which candidate has “cognitive problems” — a fight that appears increasingly foolish with each passing day — but also because President Joe Biden’s age and fitness were the single most dominant issue in the 2024 race for months. [True!]
[…] The IDF issued evacuation warnings for roughly one-quarter of Lebanon’s coastline, as well as much of northern Gaza in what appeared to be major new offensives.
More than 41,800 people have been killed in Israel’s yearlong assault on the Palestinian enclave, including more than 16,000 children, local officials say. Hamas today hailed its attack a year ago, firing rockets at Tel Aviv.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 8, the majority dying in the last few weeks, according to Lebanese officials. […]
Civilians fleeing violence are at risk following Israeli airstrikes on the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, which could be a violation of international law, according to Human Rights Watch.
Although Israel’s military has defended the strike on the Masnaa crossing over its alleged use by Hezbollah to transport arms, Human Rights Watch posed that it could still be a violation if the “immediate civilian harm is disproportionate to the anticipated military gain.”
A border crossing is a civilian infrastructure still governed by the rules of proportionality in war, the organization said.
Lama Fakih, regional director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the crossing’s inaccessibility “threatens considerable civilian harm.”
“Even if that crossing is used for military purposes, Israel would need to take into account the expected civilian harm compared to the anticipated military gain from the attack,” Fakih said. […]
@118
Al Cárdenas said in his appearance Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that natural disasters have “always been a bipartisan issue.”
There is a history of certain members of Congress supporting disaster aid for their home states, but not for other states. These people tend to be Republican. Ted Cruz comes immediately to mind, but there are others.
Texas Republicans in Congress once stood nearly united against a bill to send billions of dollars in aid to Northeastern states recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Sen. Ted Cruz even ripped the legislation as “a Christmas tree” with billions of dollars in extraneous goodies.
New York and New Jersey Republicans haven’t forgotten the slight. And with Hurricane Harvey wreaking devastation down South — and Congress beginning to contemplate what will likely be a massive aid package — the tough-on-spending Texans could find themselves in an awkward spot…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has refused to take a call with Vice President Kamala Harris about Hurricane Milton, a source close to the governor told ABC News.
The DeSantis team believes the call from the vice president is politically motivated, according to the source, and is thus refusing to take the call…
Next year, more than 30 million Americans in 24 states will be eligible for Direct File, the IRS’ free tax filing program, the agency and U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Thursday.
The Direct File pilot was open to limited taxpayers in 12 states for the 2024 filing season, including Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
For the 2025 season, the program will add 12 new states, including Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the agencies told reporters on a press call.
More states are expected to join in 2026.
During the pilot, Direct File supported the earned income tax credit, child tax credit and credit for other dependents.
For 2025, the program will add support for the child and dependent care credit, premium tax credit for Marketplace insurance, the credit for elderly or disabled and retirement saver’s credit.
Filers still must claim the standard deduction rather than itemizing tax breaks to participate…
Caitlin Clark wasn’t joking when she included golf in her offseason plans.
Clark is going to The Annika in November, the penultimate tournament on the LPGA Tour schedule hosted by Annika Sorenstam, to play in the pro-am and be a panelist at the Women’s Leadership Summit at Pelican Golf Club.
Clark, the WNBA rookie of the year, said last month when the Indiana Fever was eliminated that she planned to play golf until it got too cold in Indiana and, adding with a smile, “Become a professional golfer.” …
The New York Liberty has won their semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces, and has won a spot in the finals.
Their foe will be determined Tuesday night; the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun are tied 2-2 and will decide the best-of-five series then.
The first game of the finals will be Thursday, October 10, 2024.
birgerjohanssonsays
“Why People Leave Trump’s Rallies Early; Elon Musk Campaigns with Trump: A Closer Look”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=4lbgnWP-zw8
The average Trump speech now lasts 82 minutes, compared to 46 minutes 2016.
StevoRsays
Jut watched this live on ABC miday news.
Peter Dutton has refused to support a motion put by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to mark a year since the October 7 attack because it went beyond the focus of the suffering of the Jewish people.
Because it called for peace and included the suffering of other groups including groups of Aussies too.
Peter Dutton is the turd in the punch bowl of Australian politics. He is racist, divisive, extremist, thuggish & outright evil & should be shunned by every decent human. If “parliamentary language” doesn’t allow Dutton to be called out for exactly what he is then “parliamentary language” is fundamentally dishonest
StevoRsays
^ PS. For the last bit see Mr Dutton’s Racism by Australain Greens channel. Almost 5 mins long.
Life-threatening storm surges are expected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast this week with the arrival of Hurricane Milton, which was upgraded Monday afternoon to a Category 5 storm over the southern Gulf of Mexico. […]
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban while it reviews an appeal from the state of a lower court ruling that had struck down the law. The decision goes into effect at 5 p.m. local time, meaning that most abortions will again be illegal in the state after six weeks of pregnancy after that time.
A Colorado judge has been getting multiple threats after he sentenced an election-denying former county clerk [Tina Peters] to prison for orchestrating a security breach to further a conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Sally Field, the Academy Award-winning actress, told her harrowing story of procuring an illegal abortion in Mexico when she was 17, in an Instagram video posted on Sunday.
“I’ve been so hesitant to do this, to tell my horrific story,” the famed actress wrote on Instagram. “It was during a time even worse than now. A time when contraception was not readily available and only if you were married. But I feel that so many women of my generation went through similar, traumatic events and I feel stronger when I think of them.”
“I feel still very shamed about it, because I was raised in the 50s, and, you know, it’s ingrained in me,” she said. “And I was 17. I had no choices in my life.”
In the video, Field details traveling with her mother and two others to a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, where she was not provided a real anesthetic. She also details being molested by a clinic technician and then being rushed out of the facility because abortion was against the law.
Nevertheless, the abortion, as horrible as Field’s experience was, allowed her to start her career in acting. “I began auditioning, and by the end of that year, I was Gidget,” she said, referring to her role as the title character on the beloved TV show that launched her career.
“I was the quintessential all-American girl next door,” Field says, adding, “In reality, I was the quintessential all-American girl next door because so many young women—my generation of women—were going through this, and these are the things that women are going through now.” [video at the link]
[…]
Marjorie Taylor Greene Swears There Is So A Weather Machine, Gosh Darn It!
Doubling and tripling down.
It feels like just last week that […] Marjorie Taylor Greene was not so subtly accusing (((someone))) of firing up their big old hurricane machine and shooting off one giant-ass storm that tore up through several conservative-leaning states, causing flooding, destruction, misery and a couple of hundred deaths (and counting) across a wide swath of the South.
It feels like just last week because it was just last week. Now, not content with the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Helene, (((they))) have spun up a giant sequel named Hurricane Milton, possibly the most insanely milquetoast name ever given to a hurricane that is about to wreck a whole lot of stuff.
How is Greene taking it? By doubling down, of course: [Her post is available at the link.]
Yr Wonkette swears we are not lying to you, so please tell the people to go hate someone else.
The video MTG posted in support of her “theory” is of former CIA head John Brennan giving a very stilted speech about geoengineering, which he calls an “array of technology … that potentially could help reverse the effects of global climate change.” Specifically, Brennan was talking about one idea called stratospheric aerosol injection that involves injecting sulfur dioxide particles into the atmosphere to help reflect the sun’s heat away from the planet.
Now, unlike MTG, we are not dipshit conspiracy theorists with the IQ of spaghetti, so we understand that the geoengineering Brennan is talking about here is not the same thing as weather manipulation, a much more sci-fi-adjacent concept found mostly in movies or those airport thrillers. Climate does not equal weather, which is why a snowstorm in Idaho in February does not mean global warming is a hoax. Thank you for coming to our eight grade earth sciences class.
Anyway, this is all true, STOP LAUGHING AT MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE.
Unfortunately the crazy long ago broke containment. Combine that with a natural propensity of people who got rich doing one thing thinking it makes them geniuses about everything, and then divide by Scientology, and you get idiots like Grant Cardone putting this out in public, where people can actually read it: [His post is available at the link.]
Milton’s is not a common track, but it has happened before. You know when something similar last happened? Last week, when Helene formed in the Gulf and then tracked northeast, coming ashore on the Florida panhandle.
With the Gulf of Mexico’s waters heating up thanks to climate change, scientists have been predicting for, oh, at least a few decades that eventually we would see more giant, powerful hurricanes forming suddenly in the Gulf and barreling straight into America. And guess what, that is exactly what has been happening for a few years now!
[…] We won’t even get into how Greene helped re-circulate the old conspiracy theories about High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which have been debunked over and over and over again.
Stay tuned for next week, when Greene is shocked to learn that The Ultimate Christmas Present is not a documentary.
Hurricane specialist John Morales of WTVJ, an NBC News affiliate, becomes visibly emotional while reporting on Hurricane Milton’s rapid growth. “I apologize. This is just horrific,” he said.
Video at the link.
Bekenstein Boundsays
Hurricane specialist John Morales
Wait, what?
John Moralessays
My anonymity is very well helped by the proliferation of people with my name, BB.
birgerjohanssonsays
28 days bwforw the election, this is how one of the candidates spends his time.
Good Zod, the team of God Awful Movies has blackmailed Cara Santa Maria to watch another awful film: Church of Darkness. It got 4 out of ten on rotten tomatos.
The usual paranoia about a secret society running a town and doing sacrifices. It sounds rather ‘eighties’.
If I was a satanic entity I would go for ruling over sonething more upscale than some godforsaken town full of Republicans (I assume they are republicans, anyway. The cool people do Ctulhu).
John Moralessays
Birger, “a secret society running a town” is not the same as “a satanic entity” running a town.
Two variables in your disjunctive claims, so four possibilities:
1– neither the SS nor the SE run the town;
2– it is SS that runs the the town;
3– it is SE that runs the the town;
2– it is SS and SE that jointly run the town.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 was awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”
StevoRsays
Trump’s lies are literally if indirectly killing Americans again – just as they did with Covid.Via PBS Newshour :
Former President Trump has for several days now spread lies and spouted conspiracy theories about the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene. The disinformation is causing confusion among those most desperate for help and answers. Geoff Bennett discussed this with Juliette Kayyem, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.
“Donald Trump has secretly spoken with President Vladimir Putin of Russia as many as seven times since leaving office, even as he was pressuring Republicans to block military aid to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders, according to a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward,” the New York Times reports.
If true you can draw a plausible obvious line for straight up giving aid to an enemy of the US level treason.
Fox News keeps trying to get Trump to say he won’t prosecute his political enemies in a second term. Unable to help himself, he keeps missing the cues.
Late last year, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Donald Trump if he had plans to “abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people.” The obvious point was to have the former president say he had no intention of breaking the law or abusing his authority. Trump, however, missed the point and deflected.
So, the host tried again to get his guest to say the sensible thing. “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked. Trump responded by saying he wanted to create a temporary American dictatorship.
Six months later, the duo tried again. “Will you pledge to restore equal justice, equal application of our laws, end this practice of weaponization?” the Fox host asked, pointing to developments that have no basis in reality. “Is that a promise you’re going to make?” Trump eventually responded, “Look, I know you want me to say something so nice, but I don’t want to look naive.”
In the same interview, Hannity also noted those who “want people to believe that you want retribution, that you will use the system of justice to go after your political enemies.” Once again, the former president missed the prompt.
“Look, when this election is over, based on what they have done, I would have every right to go after them,” Trump replied.
This week, it was Laura Ingraham’s turn. It went about as well. [video at the link]
The Fox host began by asking the GOP nominee how he intends to “restore faith in our Justice system,” adding, “A lot of people will say, ‘Well, he’s just going to do to them what he they did to him back at them.’”
Trump continued to miss the cues. “A lot of people say that’s what should happen, right?” Trump replied and the nearby audience murmured its approval.
Ingraham tried again. “Punitively using government institutions is what got us in this mess in the first place,” she said, pointing to imaginary circumstances that don’t exist. “In our townhall we did back in February, one of the lines that really resonated, I think, with people is when you said, ‘My revenge is going to be success.’”
It appeared that the Fox host was trying to guide the candidate to safer ground. It also appeared that he didn’t care.
“Well, I do believe that, but I will say this: They have started a terrible precedent,” Trump said. “We’ve never had this. We do have that in Third World countries, banana republics, a lot in South America, where they go after somebody politically that’s an opponent.”
It led Ingraham to try a third time to get the Republican to say the responsible thing. “But you’re not going to do that,” she said. […]
Trump didn’t exactly answer the question directly.
“No, I want to make this the most successful country in the world. That’s what I want to do,” he replied.
To be sure, part of Ingraham’s line of inquiry was problematic. She treated it as a given, for example, that the Biden administration has weaponized federal law enforcement, despite the fact that this hasn’t happened; the ridiculous conspiracy theories have been thoroughly and repeatedly discredited; and there’s unambiguous evidence pointing in the opposite direction.
But Trump’s answers were far worse.
Trump not only took deliberate and abusive steps to target his perceived foes while in office, he’s effectively running on a retaliatory 2024 platform: Trump wants to prosecute his perceived domestic political enemies, and he doesn’t seem especially interested in hiding his intentions. On the contrary, he talks about his desire to abuse presidential powers all the time, even raising the specter of military tribunals for his opponents.
A recent New York Times analysis noted that Trump has effectively put the rule of law “on the ballot.” Fox News hosts keep trying to help the former president take the issue off the ballot, but the GOP candidate, hellbent on revenge, simply can’t help himself.
Vice President Kamala Harris sat with CBS’ “60 Minutes” for a wide-ranging prime-time interview that aired on Monday night. Harris discussed her plans to improve the country if elected president, her personal views, and Donald Trump’s precedent-breaking decision to avoid the interview opportunity.
“60 Minutes” has been a mainstay of television news for over 55 years and has been the highest-rated newsmagazine show for the last 50 of those years. The show also has millions who consume its content via TikTok and YouTube, so an appearance by a candidate there can make an impression with a wide swath of the electorate—especially this close to an election. [video at the link]
In her interview with correspondent Bill Whitaker, Harris noted that while the economy has improved significantly since she and President Joe Biden took office in 2021, she intends to do more to address middle-class families if she is elected.
“Prices are still too high, and I know that, and we need to deal with it,” Harris said. “Part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries.” Harris has proposed a ban on price gouging, which would prevent companies from making exorbitant profits on needed items like food and medicine.
Harris noted that her economic plan—including child tax credits, help for small businesses, and credit for first-time homebuyers—is targeted at the middle class, in contrast to Trump’s preference for cutting taxes for large businesses and billionaires.
“One of the things that I’m going to make sure is that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes,” Harris told Whitaker after he asked how she would pay for her proposals.
Addressing immigration, Harris reiterated her previous statements calling on Congress to pass a border security and reform bill (which Trump opposed). She noted that issues at the border are a “longstanding problem” and that the Biden administration has tried to address the issue, but that it needs congressional action.
The candidate also told CBS that she owns a Glock gun and has fired it at a shooting range. Harris has emphasized that she supports the Second Amendment, and that responsible gun ownership is paramount to public safety, citing her experience as a prosecutor in San Francisco. [video at the link]
Asked about Trump’s repeated racism, such as falsely claiming Haitian migrants are eating pets, Harris said, “I believe that the people of America want a leader who’s not trying to divide us and demean. The true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it’s based on who you lift up.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, also appeared on the program. Whitaker asked Walz to respond to Republican attacks alleging that Minnesota is out of step with the nation under his leadership. Walz explained that he has championed issues like providing free breakfast and lunch to school children and paid family and medical leave. He added, “Trump spends his time tearing down states rather than lifting up the best of what we do.” [video at the link]
Both Trump and running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance were not on the program. “60 Minutes” host Scott Pelley told viewers that the Trump team’s absence was unprecedented in the 50-year history of the program interviewing the major party presidential candidates.
Pelley said the Trump team first agreed to do an interview, but then canceled, citing the network’s plans to fact check, which he reiterated the news program does for every story. Trump also said CBS needed to apologize for the 2020 interview that he cut short after getting upset at the questions he was asked by Leslie Stahl.
Trump’s refusal of CBS’ invitation echoes his decision to refuse engaging in a second debate with Harris. After their Sept. 10 debate, Harris was the consensus winner of the exchange across multiple polls. Since then, Trump has claimed victory and Democrats launched an ad campaign labeling him a “chicken.”
In her interview, Harris was asked about Trump’s unusual decision regarding “60 Minutes.”
“If he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, question and answer with you, then watch his rallies,” Harris said. “You’re going to hear conversations that are about himself and all of his personal grievances. And what you will not hear is anything about you, the listener.”
The state of Florida may be getting pummelled by hurricanes, but Ronald Dion DeSantis had another thing on his mind last week — going after television stations for airing ads encouraging people to vote for the abortion amendment on this year’s ballot.
DeSantis, it seems, deployed the general counsel of the Florida Department of Health to write a letter to the general manager of WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate station in Tampa, demanding that they take the ad down, claiming that it is a “violation of state law.”
The ad in question features the testimony of Caroline, a woman who was diagnosed with brain cancer while pregnant with her second child.
“The doctors knew if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom,” she explained, adding, “Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine.”
The letter from the Department of Health claims that this is “categorically false” and that women can have abortions for health- and life-related reasons — ignoring the fact that the issue is that there is no clear guidance for doctors on when they are allowed to make that call.
[…] The Department of Health warned the station that unless they take the ad down in the next 24 hours, the state will begin legal proceedings against them in order to force them to do so.
The fact is, there can never really be any real “guidance” on this issue while doctors risk imprisonment, fines, and the loss of their medical license for making a decision the state of Florida may not agree with. The stakes are just too high and there is literally no reason at all to trust the state of Florida with something like this. That is why these are decisions that need to be made between a patient and their doctor, not a patient, their doctor, and the governor of Florida.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group running the ad, sent its own letter to WFLA-TV, pointing out that the First Amendment “forbids a public official to attempt to suppress the protected speech of private persons by threatening that legal sanctions will at [their] urging be imposed unless there is compliance with [their] demands.”
They also explained that the ad was entirely accurate and that, unfortunately, Caroline (who, mind you, was telling her own personal story) would be barred from getting an abortion in the state.
Florida regulations provide very limited guidance regarding the exceptions and the only instances where the Agency for Health Care Administration has provided guidance that abortions are permitted after six-weeks’ gestation are when there is an immediate threat to the pregnant person’s life: Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), ectopic pregnancy, and molar pregnancy […]. None of these enumerated exceptions would have applied in Caroline’s case.
Moreover, Caroline’s diagnosis was terminal. Practically, that means that an abortion would not have saved her life, only extended it. Florida law would not allow an abortion in this instance because the abortion would not have “save[d] the pregnant woman’s life,” only extended her life.
Again, this is why these are decisions that need to be made between patient and doctor with no interference from the state. Politicians are not doctors and even doctors cannot predict every possible instance in which an abortion is going to be medically necessary or specify a specific point at which one can give the “all clear” signal. That’s just not how anything works.
Ron DeSantis clearly wants to keep people from finding out about how bad and dangerous the law actually is so that they do not rush to the polls and vote to support the abortion amendment, for fear something similar could happen to them or someone they love.
But the fact is, these stories absolutely are going to come out, whether or not they are aired in a political ad, because they are actually happening to real people — who are under no obligation whatsoever to keep silent about their experiences in order to placate Ron DeSantis and friends.
Mean ’60 Minutes’ Meanly Tells America What A Coward Donald Trump Really Is
Brutal.
This is the meanest, most cattiest “60 Minutes” intro piece in human history. No, we are not going to factcheck that statement, we are just going to say it authoritatively, like some kind of power-mad writer […]
The setup is simple: there’s long been a kind of unofficial tradition in this country of presidential candidates sitting for interviews with “60 Minutes.” And this week, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were both going to go through with the ritual, at least until Trump got cold balls and dropped out, because he was scared.
So “60 Minutes” very appropriately made that into part of the story, the back-and-forth negotiations with Trump, his pathetically ever-changing excuses for why he’s too much of a coward to go on TV and answer questions.
Here’s the video, below the transcript: [Video at the link]
[…]
It’s been a tradition for more than half a century that the major party candidates for president sit down with 60 Minutes in October. In 1968, it was Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. This year, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump accepted our invitation.
But unfortunately, last week, Trump canceled.
The Trump campaign had told us that the interview would be this past Thursday at Mar-A-Lago, Trump’s Florida home. They also asked us whether we would meet 78-year-old Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the Republican candidate for president was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt. We agreed. On Sept. 9, Trump communications director Steven Cheung sent a text that read: “I’m working with our advance team to see logistically if Butler would work in addition to the sit down.” Sit-down meaning the interview in Florida.
Days later, Cheung called to say “the president said yes.”
[Donald Trump is not the president. – Ed.]
Then, a week ago, Trump backed out. The campaign offered shifting explanations. First, it complained that we would fact check the interview.
We factcheck every story.
[Cheung had loser-whined on Twitter that it was “unprecedented” for “60 Minutes” to do live factchecking. – Ed.]
Later, Trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. Trump claims correspondent Lesley Stahl said, in that interview, that Hunter Biden’s controversial laptop came from Russia. She never said that.
[In the official transcript, “60 Minutes” provides this quote of Trump [complaining] about the show being so mean to him in 2020, by calling Hunter Biden’s laptop Russian: “Where’s my apology? They should apologize,” Trump said on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference. “They were wrong on everything. So I’d like to get an apology. So I’ve asked them for an apology.”]
Trump has said his opponent doesn’t do interviews because she can’t handle them. He had previously declined another debate with Harris. So tonight may have been the largest audience for the candidates between now and election day. Our questions addressed the economy, immigration, reproductive rights and the wars in the Middle East and Europe. Both campaigns understood this special would go ahead if either candidate backed out.
And so with that, here’s Bill Whitaker.
“60 Minutes” added Kamala Harris’s response to Trump backing out like a coward, which she gave during her interview, which she apparently was able to handle after all: “If he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, question and answer with you, then watch his rallies. You’re going to hear conversations that are about himself and all of his personal grievances.”
She’s always telling people to check out his rallies, to see what he’s really like. Maybe she also doesn’t like the way the media constantly sanewashes him.
As Lawrence O’Donnell suggested on MSNBC last night, maybe Trump’s brain is just too far decomposed for his people to trust him to sit for an interview with a real journalist. Maybe his handlers are scared of having him do an interview for another reason. Maybe he’s just personally terrified of “60 Minutes,” the same way he’s terrified of shark, battery, and stairs.
By the way, here’s the transcript for the interview Harris did with “60 Minutes” personality Bill Whitaker. A lot of people are saying his questions were total shit, that he seemingly worked so hard to launder Republican talking points and make Harris deny them, it’s almost like Trump was there after all.
Example: “With so many people supporting Donald Trump, a man you have called a racist. How do you bridge that seemingly unbridgeable gap?” [Yeah, he said that. I didn’t like that framing by Whitaker. It was so blatantly give-Trump-a-break that it startled me when I heard it.]
You know, because it’s her job to bridge the gap of Trump’s racism.
But hey, at least she sat for the interview, because she’s not fucking chickenshit.
birgerjohanssonsays
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics Did Not Go To Physics — This Physicist Is Very Surprised.
My comment about odd choices: The Nobel committe wanted to award a Prize to the engineer behind Sputnik 1, but Chrustchev wanted to keep Korolev’s identity a secret.
There are literally a bunch of pro-Trump whales on Polymarket who shift the betting odds in his favor
One dude holds almost 8 million pro-Trump shares. Same guy also has $600,000 on Trump winning the popular vote and 200 grand on him winning Michigan lol
In an election cycle full of the outrageous, absurd, and ridiculous, the newfound excitement among conservatives over a betting site is pretty much top-10 territory.
Polymarket is a political betting site. Traders use crypto to place bets on the outcome of races and events. It is funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel and happens to be statistician Nate Silver’s current employer […] The crypto requirement means it’s heavily used by tech bros, so not exactly a representative sample of anything.
For weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris was the bet to win the election, a fact that no one outside of the site’s users cared about.
Yet over the last few days, that trend reversed, and on Monday, Trump’s chances rose dramatically. Conservatives are delirious with excitement. [Bonkers graph is available at the link.]
Check out Russian-funded propagandists like Benny Johnson, claiming a “collapse” that has zero bearing with reality. [Screen grab of X post is available at the link.]
The conservative push seems almost coordinated, see here, here, and here. [Embedded links are available at the main link.] Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Donald Trump hype man, has been pushing the narrative heavily. [Screengrab of Musk’s post is available at the link: “Trump no leading Kamla by 3% in betting markets. More accurate than polls, as actual money is on the line.” [Bullshit from Musk]]
Note the hilarious notion that betting markets are “more accurate than polls,” which is beyond absurd. But given the lack of any real good news in recent polling for Team Trump, Polymarket has become the conservative moment’s heaviest dose of coping.
The reality, of course, is that nothing has changed in a race that has remained remarkably static despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent and so many dramatic twists and turns. If an attempted Trump assassination doesn’t move numbers, pretty much nothing will. The electorate is locked in, vote intentions decided. The only question mark is who will vote, and how many of them. […]
On the other side, there’s been plenty of chortling, noting that it is a well-known fact that gamblers never lose. Except when they do: [Aaron Rupar’s X post is available at the link.]
And really, political betting is as predictive as sports betting. Otherwise, the city of Chicago would collectively bet their way to a Super Bowl championship, with me happily chipping in! Just because people wager on an outcome, it has zero bearing on that actual outcome. So what exactly is happening?
A couple of rich MAGA gamblers went all in on Trump. [See X post featured above.]
More speculation and analysis here, here, here, and here. [Embedded links available at the main link.]
Think of what happens when buyers go all in on a stock—the price skyrockets. A bunch of kids on Reddit single-handedly rescued AMC Theaters by aggressively purchasing the stock. They recreated that success with GameStop. The problem, of course, is that the tactic was a sugar high—the stock prices eventually crashed back down to earth, as those companies’ fundamentals are challenging at best.
Whether that happens in this worthless Polymarket gambling site remains to be seen. It depends on how committed these cope-mongering Republicans are to feeding money into the wood chipper, much like they did for so long with Truth Social. [Graph at the link.]
Trump’s supporters love to be scammed out of money, given how freely they let themselves be used and abused by MAGA grifters, including Trump himself. It’s not unreasonable for either crowdsourced MAGA deplorables or Musk or other wealthy Trump backers to drop a few hundred thousands on Polymarket. It gives them a fresh injection of hopium, even if the rest of the world looks at them with raised eyebrows, wondering how they could possibly be this stupid.
Yeah, that’s what I thought when I saw Elon Musk’s thoughts on the subject.
[…] on page 5 of the 920 page Project 2025 manifesto is language condemning pornography and saying it leads to transgender ideology and child predators. It goes on to call for an outright ban of all pornography, with prison time for the producers and distributors of adult content, and having educators and public librarians who “purvey” adult content having to register as sex offenders.
Now maybe that doesn’t mean anything to you, or maybe you support getting rid of porn. But this is absolutely an existential threat to the livelihoods of everyone involved in the adult entertainment industry. So in response, a group of adult entertainment actors is about to spend $100,000 in the next 29 days running anti-Project 2025/anti-Trump ads on adult websites targeting their male audiences in seven battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
The architects of the “Hands Off My Porn” campaign are nothing if not aware of the polling. Vice President Kamala Harris is losing to former President Donald J. Trump among men, but younger men might be winnable — and pornographic websites are among the most heavily trafficked on the internet.
[…] If you want to reach young males, advertise on porn sites. According to the Survey Center on American Life, 44% of men ages 18 to 29 and 57% of men ages 30 to 49 reportedly watched porn within the past month.
“While there are a lot of jerk-offs in Washington DC, the ones you should worry about are the right wing conservatives working to end the porn industry,” the “Hands Off My Porn” site says, pointing the finger at “140 Trump appointees” involved in Project 2025, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and JD Vance.
Regardless of anyone’s feelings about the adult entertainment industry and pornography, I for one welcome this effort. It’s actually very smart and targeted, and just might be enough to earn some additional support from a demographic where Harris/Walz are lagging. Every vote in these battleground states helps.
Those political ads on porn sites precede the pornographic video the viewer has chosen.
When we first meet Donald Trump in the new movie “The Apprentice” it is in the early 70s and Trump is in his mid-20s. He is a slumlord collecting rent from poor tenants for his abusive father. Some of them pour water on him. Some cuss him out. Some avoid him completely.
Facing bankruptcy for discriminatory rental policies, young Donald, looking for help, turns to the one man he believes can successfully bully the government – Roy Cohn. The infamous attorney takes Trump under his wing, teaches him how to dress, act, and above all how to “win.” Thus begins an acidic mentorship that ends up giving us the Donald Trump we all know today.
“The Apprentice” is a dark comedy and drama that shows us what happens when our darkest desires, tempered by amorality, grim determination, a substandard intellect and greed all converge into a real-life Shakespearian tragedy. In Ali Abbasi’s movie, as in real life, Trump relies on the mentorship of a lean and mean Falstaff (Cohn as played by the brilliant Jeremy Strong) to guide him through his business dealings in New York.
Trump, as played by Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes in the Marvel movies) is a dead-ringer for the Trump we all know today. Stan plays Trump as a blank slate. In the beginning, he is naïve. Cohn quickly schools him up in his limousine about the reality and facts of the case against him and his father about the accusations of racial discrimination in their housing project. Through it all we see a Trump who is simultaneously ambitious and cowardly. Barnes nails Trump’s pursed lips and soft squint without ever descending into mimicry. He becomes Trump in such a frightening fashion that at times if you blink, you’ll swear it’s the real Trump on screen.
The movie played to raves at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, but after the real Trump and his lawyers threatened legal action with a cease and desist demand, the producers could not get a distribution deal. Briarcliff Entertainment and Tom Ortenberg stepped in and took up the cause. Ortenburg is well known for having the courage others have lacked in Hollywood and has distributed several controversial projects like “Spotlight,” which won two Academy Awards – including Best Picture.
“The Apprentice” may not be the movie Trump wants, but it’s the movie everyone should see. It embraces Trump’s controversies and takes us through a harrowing and yet, dare I say it, entertaining ride through the darker side of the American dream.
It’s the story of Cohn, who at the top of his game adopts and mentors the vacuous and malleable Donald Trump. … He preaches three rules of success: attack, deny everything, and never admit defeat. It is the template by which Trump operates to this day.
[…]
Snipped much more detail about the movie and the great acting. Strong’s Cohn is “Oscar worthy.”
It’s an important character story of a characterless man. It entertains and explains how Trump became who he is. All of the abuse, anger, shallowness, greed and insecurity is there from the very beginning; a volcano of human pettiness and greed stoked by the racist fire of his father, his own sense of entitlement and sparked by a man who helped defend Joe McCarthy.
In the end, more than anything else, “The Apprentice” is simply one of the most effective studies of the American Dream since Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”
Trump Ran A Catch-And-Kill For Brett Kavanaugh
We all watched it happen, and it’s now confirmed, again.
Welp, guess this is not shocking. According to a new report from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Trump was running a little catch-and-kill operation to shush up any potential witnesses to Brett Kavanaugh’s grossitudes back in the day.
Remember that awful time Brett Kavanaugh got confirmed to the Supreme Court six years ago? […]
The year was 2018, and soon after President Donald J. Trump nominated Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford came forward to say that he had groped her and tried to take her clothes off at a high school party. Then other skeevy and disgusting stories started coming out from Kavanaugh’s time at Yale, involving him being an aggressive, puking drunk; waggling his weenus at a freshman then shoving it in her face and demanding she “kiss it”; belonging to a fraternity with the slogan “No means yes, yes means anal,” and belonging to a Yalie secret society that was nicknamed “tit and clit.”
Classmates said his group of friends “treated women like meat,” were like “Lord of the Flies,” and plied women with “jungle juice” to try to take advantage of them. There was that yearbook page, with the boofing, and the devil’s triangle. Yeah, you remember. [Image of yearbook page at the link]
As more stories about the guy’s party-hog lifestyle at his molto costoso private high school and in college kept popping up, then-President Trump — who, as we were later to learn, dabbled in a bit of rape himself — promised that the FBI would have “free rein” to “to interview whoever they deem appropriate.” For one whole week! Then he proceeded to mock Christine Blasey Ford at his rallies. “How did you get home? I don’t remember. How did you get there? I don’t remember. Where was the place? I don’t remember.” He lamented that the poor bro’s life was now “in tatters.” [Video at the link.]
But it was not! Kavanaugh showed up to his confirmation hearing and wept about his beautiful calendars, which showed that on July 1, 1982, he had been at Tobin’s house doing a football workout with Ernie, Tim, Squee, and Donkey Dong Doug or whoever, which somehow proved that he could not have assaulted Ford. Then he snarled about how he liked beer, and ultimately he was confirmed to the bench. Where he went on to help overturn Roe v. Wade — and, just yesterday, to thumbs-up Texas letting women die of pregnancy complications before offering an abortion in emergency rooms. […]
Lamented a corroborating witness, Deborah Ramirez, in 2018: “What does it mean, that this person has a role in defining women’s rights in our future?” Worse things than we even imagined at the time, as it turned out.
It was Christine Blasey Ford’s life that got tattered, actually. She and her family had to hire around-the-clock security after a barrage of death threats, and move around from hotel to hotel. She still has security, and PTSD, to this day.
And so now we learn that the coverup was all even worse than it seemed at the time. The tips — 4,500 of them — got forwarded to the White House. And the FBI pursued NONE of them. The FBI was instructed by the White House to talk to 10 potential witnesses. And that’s it. They were not allowed to pursue any corroborating witnesses, even the dozens that lawyers for Blasey Ford and Ramirez had provided to the FBI.
“Assurances that everything was being done by the book and according to standard FBI procedures omitted the fact that for supplement background investigations, there is no book and there are no procedures,” Whitehouse lamented to the Washington Post. “You simply do what the White House tells you.”
And then the senators who voted to confirm Kavanaugh cited the lack of corroborating evidence as a reason to confirm him. It was an updated version of Trump’s old National Enquirer catch-and-kill maneuver, Supreme Court edition.
And just like dude’s old Yalie roommates, we all were forced to watch it happen. […] And as egregious as it all was, there isn’t a lot to be done about it now. But at least we know we weren’t imagining things?
Anyway, here’s your obligatory Matt Damon. [SNL skit video at the link]
“The Apprentice” is a dark comedy and drama that shows us what happens when our darkest desires, tempered by amorality, grim determination, a substandard intellect and greed all converge into a real-life Shakespearian tragedy. In Ali Abbasi’s movie, as in real life, Trump relies on the mentorship of a lean and mean Falstaff (Cohn as played by the brilliant Jeremy Strong) to guide him through his business dealings in New York.
As Donald Trump and JD Vance celebrate Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, a growing number of Republican senators are pushing back in the opposite direction.
In last month’s presidential debate, Kamala Harris bested her Republican rival on a variety of fronts, but one point seemed especially brutal. “I have traveled the world as vice president of the United States,” the Democratic nominee said, “and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump.”
Given a chance to respond, Trump clung to a curious defense. “Let me just tell you about world leaders,” he replied. “Viktor Orbán, one of the most respected men — they call him a strongman. He’s a tough person. Smart. Prime minister of Hungary.”
In other words, Trump wanted to present proof that he wasn’t an international laughingstock, and he immediately touted the support he’s received from Orbán — a Russia-aligned leader who’s aggressively chipped away at Hungary’s democracy.
Trump’s rhetoric was not, however, surprising: He has spent months turning to Orbán for validation, publicly celebrating him, having private conversations with the Hungarian, and even welcoming Orbán to Mar-a-Lago. The more the prime minister’s authoritarian takeover of his country generated international outrage, the more Trump extended his over-the-top support to the prime minister.
His running mate has made similar comments. As recently as May, for example, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio appeared on CBS and said the United States “could learn from” Orbán when it comes to targeting universities. (It fell to “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan to remind the senator that the Hungarian strongman has “seized control of state universities” and put them under the control of foundations run by his allies.)
But as unsettling as the GOP ticket’s embrace of Orbán is, it would be a mistake to assume the entirety of the party is aligned with the prime minister. The Hill reported over the weekend:
Five Republican senators issued a joint statement Friday questioning Hungary’s ties to Russia, as the nation tightens relations with China and its war on Ukraine nears the three-year mark. “Our delegation and many of our congressional colleagues are increasingly concerned by Hungary’s deepening and expanding relationship with Russia and the continued erosion of its democratic institutions,” the senators wrote, according to the statement, shared on social platform X by U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman.
The five Republican signatories were Arkansas’ John Boozman, Maine’s Susan Collins, Texas’ John Cornyn, North Dakota’s John Hoeven, and Kansas’ Jerry Moran.
The joint statement was no doubt well received by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who’s gone to extraordinary lengths to try to drag his party away from Orbán.
It was five months ago, for example, when the Kentucky Republican, still hoping to salvage what remains of the GOP’s traditional foreign policy vision, condemned Orbán and urged fellow conservatives to reject the far-right strongman. McConnell pushed the same line in July, reminding his party that Orbán is “completely in bed with the Chinese and the Russians.”
A few weeks ago, the Senate Republican reiterated the message, declaring, “I’ve spoken before about Hungary’s decadelong drift into the orbit of the West’s most determined adversaries. It’s an alarming trend. And nobody — certainly not the American conservatives who increasingly form a cult of personality around Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — can pretend not to see it.”
The letter from five senior GOP senators last week suggests McConnell has allies within his party on the issue, but it’s clear that Trump and Vance are pushing in the opposite direction. Indeed, the more Orbán’s Republican critics denounce the Hungarian’s Russian ties and hostility toward democracy, the more one wonders whether Trump sees the criticisms as praise.
Either way, those looking for meaningful divisions in the Republican Party’s vision for the near future should start here.
The official congressional investigation into the Trump rally shooting is struggling, but the unofficial congressional investigation is vastly worse.
Nearly three months after being targeted by a would-be assassin, Donald Trump returned to Butler, Pa., over the weekend for a follow-up campaign rally. The event also served as a reminder that members of Congress are investigating the incident from July, hoping to come to terms with how the former president was nearly killed.
How’s that process going? Not especially well.
There is, of course, an official congressional task force, with bipartisan membership, though House GOP leaders stacked the panel with some very conservative conspiracy theorists. It was against this backdrop that the task force invited two other House Republican conspiracy theorists to testify as witnesses during an official hearing, prompting a Democratic boycott.
But if the official congressional investigation is struggling, the unofficial congressional investigation is vastly worse.
As we discussed in late August, two GOP members — Arizona’s Eli Crane and Florida’s Cory Mills — announced that they were overseeing a “parallel investigation” because they “don’t trust the federal government to actually do the job necessary.”
Crane added in an interview around the same time that he was concerned that government officials might’ve been involved in the shooting — a radical idea that even other Republicans have avoided.
But as The New York Times reported, the Arizonan is determined to pursue his rather off-the-wall theories — for which there is no evidence — including bizarre claims that there might be a secret mole within Trump’s Secret Service detail; the FBI might hide the truth; the would-be assassin might’ve had confederates; and the second would-be assassin might’ve been an “asset” of a foreign adversary who was being “handled.”
Literally everything we know about the incidents suggest Crane’s theories are baseless. He doesn’t appear to care.
At this point, some might be inclined to shrug. An odd congressman is wasting time pursuing odd ideas, which has a familiar ring to it. But consider this tidbit from the Times’ report:
Crane … has been everywhere that will have him, promoting conspiracy theories about the assassination attempts against Mr. Trump, despite all evidence that such theories are false. And far from sidelining or attempting to silence him, Republican leaders have given him a prominent platform to air his outlandish claims at the highest levels, lending credence to the conspiracy theories spread by him and others on the far right.
And therein lies the rub: Key House GOP officials aren’t embarrassed by Crane and his weird conspiracy theories, they’re encouraging Crane and his bizarre pursuits.
Indeed, when Democrats recently boycotted a task force hearing, it was in large part because the official investigation panel agreed to give Crane a platform.
I won’t pretend to know what will become of the investigation, House Republicans aren’t exactly inspiring confidence.
Vice President Harris on Tuesday introduced a new plan to expand Medicare benefits so that the program covers the costs of long-term home care for older Americans.
The plan, formally announced on ABC’s “The View,” is aimed at helping the “sandwich generation” take care of their aging parents. According to Pew Research, nearly a quarter of all American adults fall into that category — needing to take care of their parents while also still raising their own children.
“There are so many people in our country who are right in the middle. They’re taking care of their kids, and they’re taking care of their aging parents, and it’s just almost impossible to do it all,” Harris said. “Especially if they work. We’re finding that so many are then having to leave their job, which means losing a source of income, not to mention the emotional stress.”
Under the plan, Medicare will cover home care for the first time ever for all of our nation’s seniors and those with disabilities on Medicare who need it, in addition to vision and hearing benefits to help seniors live independently for longer. [good idea, but I added some caveats below]
It would need congressional action to be put into effect and would likely face long odds of becoming law with Republicans in control of Congress.
But such a plan could offer significant financial relief to families. It’s part of a series of Harris health proposals, such as eliminating medical debt and capping prescription drug costs, that’s broadly popular and easy for voters to understand.
[…] According to AARP data, 34 percent of older women in Michigan identify as family caregivers, compared to 30 percent of older voters overall. In Georgia, 37 percent of older women identify as family caregivers, compared to 34 percent of older voters overall.
Seventy-six percent of likely voters 50-plus in Pennsylvania said they would be more likely to support a candidate who provides support for family caregivers who are helping their loved ones live independently in their homes.
Millions of Americans struggle to find affordable home-based care for themselves or their family members, and many wind up taking on the responsibility themselves.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14 percent of the adult population provides some form of unpaid eldercare. About 59 percent of those caretakers are women.
Medicare does not cover long-term services and assistance, like home health aides, except under very narrow circumstances, such as if a person is recovering from an acute medical condition. Private insurance doesn’t cover those services either, leaving families to pay out of pocket.
The Harris campaign noted the average cost of a full-time home care aide is almost double the income of the typical Medicare beneficiary, and the problem will only get worse as our population ages.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that an average American turning 65 will incur $120,900 in future long-term services and support costs, with families paying for over one-third of that themselves.
According to the nonpartisan health research group KFF, a round-the-clock professional live-in home health aide can cost more than $288,000 a year.
Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term services, but it’s only an option for people with low incomes. Even for qualifying beneficiaries, there’s often an extremely long waitlist for home care providers.
The lack of options often leaves people with no choice but to rely on a family member.
[…] Harris’s campaign did not release a detailed spending breakdown, but an estimate by the Brookings Institute, a centrist think tank, estimated a similar plan would cost $40 billion a year.
Democrats tried to create a new home care program under the “Build Back Better” domestic policy legislation that became the Inflation Reduction Act, but it was cut due to spending concerns.
Harris said her plan would be paid for using savings from Medicare’s drug price negotiations.
“We are going to save Medicare the money, because we’re not going to be paying these high prices,” she said. “Those resources are best then put in a way that helps a family.”
One thing that bothers me about this is that I already see a lot of corrupt practices in the companies that provide long-term services and assistance. More oversight is needed. I would also be worried that private equity doofuses would see a new pot of money to be exploited, sort of like they already did with hospitals.
The Florida Aquarium in Tampa is transferring its animals to safer ground in anticipation of Hurricane Milton, according to a news release. Nine penguins were moved this morning from their habitat on the first floor to higher ground. This will help protect them from the possibility of severe flooding at the aquarium.
Other animals moved today as part of the aquarium’s hurricane preparedness plan include six snakes, three lizards, three turtles, two alligators, two toads and a hermit crab.
The GOP candidate expects people to believe he was close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. It’s a fantasy, intended to obscure his costly failure.
It’s been about a week since Donald Trump downplayed the importance of American troops with traumatic brain injuries — the latest in a series of slights toward members of the armed services — which generated a fair amount of attention. What received less coverage, however, is what the former president said in the next sentence.
“So, just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher on Iraq,” the Republican said, referring to Iran. “They had no money with me, they would have made any deal with me. I would have had a deal made within — literally, I would have had a deal made within one week after the election.”
He’s been saying this quite a bit lately. A few weeks ago, during a rambling press conference, Trump said that he was prepared to reach an agreement with Iran “within one week after the election” if he’d won in 2020. And during his latest interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, the GOP candidate said it again.
“I would have had a deal a long time ago,” the former president claimed, adding, in reference to Iranian officials, “They were totally busted. They were ready to make a deal. They would have made a deal.” [Sound file at the link]
Trump might not remember his presidency as well as he should. [understatement]
Iran already made a deal with the United States — in Barack Obama’s second term. It was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and it came to be known as the Iran nuclear deal.
As regular readers know, the international agreement with Iran did exactly what it set out to do: The policy dramatically curtailed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and established a rigorous system of monitoring and verification. Once the policy took effect, each of the parties agreed that the participants were holding up their end of the bargain, and Iran’s nuclear program was, at the time, on indefinite hold.
And then Trump took office and abandoned the policy for reasons he was never able to explain.
In broad strokes, Obama set out to use economic sanctions to get Iran to the international negotiating table. That worked and a breakthrough agreement eventually followed. Trump came to believe he could duplicate the strategy by abandoning the policy, restoring the old sanctions, and adding new ones.
This was known as the Republican’s “maximum pressure” campaign, and it was pursued with the assumption that Tehran would inevitably return to the negotiating table. If Obama’s sanctions led to a landmark deal, the argument went, then maybe Trump’s sanctions could produce an even better deal.
That didn’t happen. Trump’s approach failed.
In fact, once the United States was no longer a part of the agreement, the West lost verification access to Tehran’s program, and Iran, rather than begging the White House for attention, almost immediately became more dangerous by starting up advanced centrifuges and ending its commitment to limit enrichment of uranium.
A couple of years ago, Robert Malley, the then-special envoy for Iran, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that after Trump’s decision, Iranian attacks on U.S. personnel in the region got worse, Iranian support for regional proxies got worse, and the pace of the Iranians’ nuclear research program got “much worse.”
A year later, Colin Kahl, the then-under secretary of Defense, explained to the House Armed Services Committee that Iran’s nuclear progress since Trump abandoned the international nuclear agreement has been “remarkable.” Around the same time, the Pentagon told Congress that Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days” — a number that is now smaller — as opposed to the year it would’ve taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.
How Trump arrived at his decision adds insult to injury. One of my favorite stories about the Iran deal came a few months into Trump’s term in the White House, when the then-president held a lengthy meeting with top members of his team: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford. Each of the officials told Trump the same thing: It was in the United States’ interest to preserve the JCPOA policy that existed at the time.
Trump expected his team to tell him how to get out of the international agreement, not how to stick with it. When his own foreign policy and national security advisers told him the policy was working, Trump “had a bit of a meltdown.”
Soon after, he abandoned the JCPOA anyway, not because it was failing, but because Trump was indifferent to its success.
All Trump had to do was nothing. He could’ve simply left the policy alone and allowed it to keep working. He instead did the opposite. He was convinced that his strategy would work — he even boasted at one point during his term that he was prepared to be Iran’s “best friend” — but the entire gambit backfired and left the world less safe.
The GOP candidate now expects people to believe he was this close to succeeding. It’s a fantasy, intended to obscure his costly failure.
birgerjohanssonsays
The Secret of the Goo: The Absolutely Bonkers Process of Butterfly Metamorphosis (aka worse than Cronenberg body horror)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=iHoAIhU1XpM
Florida’s Department of Health is threatening to bring criminal charges against local TV stations airing a campaign ad to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban [via a constitutional ammendment ballot measure.]
[…]
Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC chair, said that stations should not be intimidated for airing political ads. […] The FCC’s show of support for the stations is noteworthy given the federal agency controls broadcast station licenses across the country.
[…]
The 30-second ad depicts a woman named Caroline who became pregnant with her second child after a brain cancer diagnosis.
“The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom […] Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine.”
Asked later what Mr. Trump was referring to when he said he had “been there,” a Trump campaign official […] said, “Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.”
Facing bankruptcy for discriminatory rental policies, young Donald, looking for help, turns to the one man he believes can successfully bully the government – Roy Cohn. The infamous attorney takes Trump under his wing, teaches him how to dress, act, and above all how to “win.” Thus begins an acidic mentorship that ends up giving us the Donald Trump we all know today.
“The Apprentice” is a dark comedy and drama that shows us what happens when our darkest desires, tempered by amorality, grim determination, a substandard intellect and greed all converge into a real-life Shakespearian tragedy.
“Always two there are, a master and an apprentice.” So, now that Darth Trump is busily grooming a young and ambitious Darth Vance, what, one wonders, must have quietly happened to Darth Cohn somewhere offstage?
Sky Captain@161: Erm, do the words “First Amendment” mean anything to DeSantis?
John Moralessays
Ah yes, the factual and historical insight provided by a cheap biopic.
what, one wonders, must have quietly happened to Darth Cohn somewhere offstage?
Wonder no more, Wikipedia can elucidate for those on the internet:
“In 1984, Cohn was diagnosed with AIDS and attempted to keep his condition secret while receiving experimental drug treatment.[60] He participated in clinical trials of AZT, a drug initially synthesized to treat cancer but later developed as the first anti-HIV agent for AIDS patients. He insisted until his dying day that his disease was liver cancer.[61] He died on August 2, 1986, in Bethesda, Maryland, of complications from AIDS, at the age of 59.[7]”
Sky Captain@161: Erm, do the words “First Amendment” mean anything to DeSantis?
Probably, but the specified agent is “Florida’s Department of Health”, not whatshisname.
John Moralessays
Basically, Roy Cohn perished at 59 and Donald Trump remains vigorous enough to campaign at 78.
Hardly comparable on so very many factors.
It’s pretty vacuous to imagine [Trump:Vance::Cohn:Trump]
(Deepeties, you attempt, BB)
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Video / Transcript: US State Dept – Daily Press Briefing 2024-10-08
8:14 to 21:55
Spox Miller: I did see these reports that Hizballah now wants a ceasefire […] de-linked from Gaza; that they just want a ceasefire on its own terms. […] for a year, Hizballah said that they would not do it unless there was a ceasefire in Gaza. They linked the two when the international community was saying stop the fighting, and Israel was saying if Hizballah stopped attacks across the border Israel would stop its attacks in response against Hizballah. […] And now that Hizballah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire.
[…]
We continue to ultimately want a diplomatic solution to this conflict. But […] Hizballah’s forces in southern Lebanon refuse to fully implement United Nations Security Council 1701. […] Hizballah was supposed to put down its arms, and it was supposed to withdraw beyond the Litani River. 18 years […] they refuse to do either of those things. In fact, […] they increased their [forces] just over the border from [Israel].
[…] Reporter: what you are saying is yes, we ultimately want a diplomatic solution to stop this war, but not yet; we want to give a window for Israel to attack Hizballah more.
[…] Miller: in 2006 […] Hizballah said that they would implement 1701. And they blew through all of their commitments. So there is an obvious lack of faith in Hizballah’s ability to do […] what it’s saying it would do now, which is agree to an actual ceasefire
[…] yes, we do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hizballah’s infrastructure so ultimately we can get a diplomatic resolution that allows 1701
[…] Reporter: Netanyahu also today spoke directly to the Lebanese people […] to take their country back. […] some inside Lebanon are afraid of this conflict to spill into another civil war in Lebanon.
Netanyahu: You can now take back your country. […] If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. […] all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.
[…] Miller: I’m not going to comment on the prime minister’s statement. […] Ultimately, it’s an opportunity for the Lebanese people. What we have always wanted is for the Lebanese people to be able to choose their leaders, to be able to choose their government without […] a veto over that process and without a terrorist organization that wields force independent of the state. That’s what 1701 called for.
[…] Reporter: two weeks ago you were proposing a three-week ceasefire, calls for all sides not to escalate. The Israelis have escalated, and now you’re saying it’s an opportunity for the Lebanese people. People might see that as disingenuous that you’re happy with this outcome.
[…] Miller: the situation on the ground has changed over the past few weeks, and Hizballah’s leadership has been degraded.
[…] Reporter: as the facts on the ground change, your position seems to be, “We’re okay with the new normal.”
[…] Miller: what 1701 calls for is Israeli troops back on the Israeli side of the border, Hizballah pulled back beyond the Litani River, and the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL exercising security control over southern Lebanon.
Reporter: Given that Hizballah is now saying they’re open to a ceasefire, are the Israelis calling for a ceasefire?
Miller: No, they are not.
[…] Reporter: you’ve said repeatedly it takes two to tango when it comes to a ceasefire. […] At what point is it significantly degraded enough for the U.S. to say, “Enough is enough; we’ve got something to start off with,” here?
Are you talking about supporting Israel to the point of removing Hizballah entirely? There’s got to be some endpoint you guys are working with. If that’s something you can’t talk to us about now, then okay. But we’re going to keep asking you this every day.
30:46
Miller: I did see that [video of Israeli troops raising their flag in Lebanese town, Maroun El Ras]. It’s obviously inappropriate […] they have said […] these are limited incursions not with the goal of holding territory.
Incidentally, any relation of yours there John Morales? (You have said its a common name if memory serves so unlikely but still..)
Ona much more serious note, best wishes to all the regular commenters here who are facing this storm and hope you and your loved ones all stay safe and things go as well as possible for y’all. I remember from a previous thread on Helene that there’s a few people here living there. (Florida anyhow.)
StevoRsays
Yesterday saw the successful launch of the Hera spacecraft on its journey to inspect the damage done to the “didymoon” of asteroid Didymos which is officially named Dimorphos :
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera spacecraft has officially begun its journey toward a small, harmless asteroid that was rammed by NASA two years ago in a dress rehearsal for the day a killer space rock threatens Earth. Called Dimorphos, the rammed space rock, located 11 million kilometres away, is a moonlet of Didymos — a fast-spinning asteroid that is five times larger.The September 2022 crash by NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft marked the first part of a planetary defence test that could one day save the planet.
Incidentally, to answer the question “First crater made by humans?” asked in the youtube thumbnail at least of that video – No. The Deep Impact mission already beat them to that on comet Tempel 1! See :
On February 15, NASA scientists identified the crater formed by Deep Impact in images from Stardust. The crater is estimated to be 150 meters (490 ft) in diameter, and has a bright mound in the center likely created when material from the impact fell back into the crater.
‘These new scientific fraud cases worry me: Now also in material science’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=EpQobaBCSYk
When an institute is abbreviated SHIL it is a big red flag!
birgerjohanssonsays
In Farsi, “Iraq” is named Aaragh, which -considering the fundamentalist turn of legislation lately- I find oddly appropriate.
birgerjohanssonsays
(Let’s see if it works copying this excerpt)
The hidden virosphere: AI helps discover more than 160,000 new virus species
“The vast majority of these viruses had been sequenced already and were on public databases, but they were so divergent that no one knew what they were,” Professor Holmes said. “They comprise what is often referred to as sequence ‘dark matter.’ Our AI method was able to organize and categorize all this disparate information, shedding light on the meaning of this dark matter for the first time.”
At Sen. JD Vance’s latest event in Michigan, a Detroit News reporter spoke to several people wearing “Auto Workers for Trump” shirts at the rally. Some admitted, however, that they were not actually auto workers.
Typical. A trumpian visual scam of sorts.
NBC News:
With time running out in the 2024 election cycle, the Trump campaign is starting to go after Harris with anti-trans ads that will air during football games.
Politico:
VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, this week began a $10 million ad campaign designed to boost Harris and several down-ballot Democratic candidates.
Donald Trump’s agenda regarding immigration and deportations is already radical. The former president has, after all, raised the prospect of militarized deportations and mass detention camps. Indeed, he’s made little effort to deny the scope and scale of his right-wing plans.
But what’s less appreciated is what the Republican and his team intend to do with people who entered the United States legally.
A few weeks ago, for example, as the GOP’s presidential ticket peddled ugly and dangerous lies about Springfield, Ohio, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance was reminded that the Haitian immigrants in question are not, in reality, “illegals.” The Ohio senator replied that because he disagreed with the existing legal process, “I’m still going to call them an illegal alien.”
In other words, American laws are all fine and good, but as far as the senator was concerned, a Trump/Vance administration would be free to decide who is and is not in the country legally. Vance didn’t express hostility toward the rule of law, so much as he expressed indifference.
Three weeks later, his running mate said effectively the same thing. As Rolling Stone summarized:
Donald Trump threw logic out the window on Tuesday. During an interview with Newsmax, the former president claimed that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio — who haven been given Temporary Protected Status and are in the U.S. legally — are ‘illegal immigrants as far as I’m concerned.’
In the former president’s latest Newsmax interview, he seemed to briefly acknowledge that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are not undocumented, shortly before concluding that he considers them “illegal immigrants” anyway — because he says so. [video at the link]
This is consistent with Trump’s usual attitude toward the rule of law, but it also offers a timely reminder to the public: When Trump talks about launching a mass deportation policy affecting a significant percentage of the country’s residents, legal immigrants have reason to be concerned, too.
Because as Trump told a national television audience, his standards are guided by his whims and preferences, not his own country’s policies.
As a Washington Post analysis summarized last week, “Whom does Trump plan to deport? Whomever Trump wants to deport.”
It is by now well-established that the process of identifying, detaining and removing millions of people from the country would be enormously challenging and destabilizing, both economically and to individual communities. What Trump’s and Vance’s claims have reinforced is that it would also be arbitrary, with legal immigrants viewed as undesirable to the president and his supporters slated for ouster, while other groups remain in relative protection.
I’m reminded of a New York Times report published in July about Latino voters and their perceptions of the Republican’s plans. Many, the article noted, were “unfamiliar with Mr. Trump’s platform, including his plans to round up undocumented people on a mass scale and to detain them in camps pending their deportation.”
They might be surprised by just how far the GOP candidate is prepared to go.
During her “60 Minutes” interview, Vice President Kamala Harris was pressed to explain how she intended to pay for key elements of her progressive agenda. The Democratic nominee told CBS News’ Bill Whitaker that she intends to “make sure that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes.”
A day later, Donald Trump sat down for his latest interview with Newsmax, a conservative outlet, and the host asked the former president for his reaction to Harris’ comments.
“You don’t tax the rich,” the Republican said, adding that the wealthiest Americans already “pay most of the tax in the country.” [video at the link]
At first blush, this might not seem especially notable. After all, this has been standard GOP orthodoxy for many years.
But what was striking about Trump’s latest comments was the degree to which they reject the rhetoric that helped get the Republican elected in the first place.
Eight years ago, Trump sat down with NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie who asked the then-candidate about his views on tax policy. “Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy?” the “Today” host asked.
“I do,” Trump replied. “I do — including myself. I do.”
The audience, it’s worth noting, applauded the answer — because raising taxes on the wealthy tends to be quite popular.
A few months earlier, the future president told Bloomberg Politics that multi-millionaires were “paying very little tax and I think it’s outrageous. … I know people in hedge funds that pay almost nothing and it’s ridiculous, OK?”
Asked if he was prepared to raise his own taxes, Trump said at the time, “That’s right. That’s right. I’m OK with it.”
To be sure, once he was in the White House, the Republican quickly abandoned all of this and prioritized deep and unpopular tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, but at least as a candidate, Trump pretended to support measures that would’ve asked more from the rich. He was at least willing to pay lip service to the kind of policies most voters wanted — and continue to want — to see.
Eight years later, he no longer bothers to keep up the pretense. Trump hasn’t unveiled any detailed plans related to tax policy, but the GOP candidate and his team have made clear that they want to build on his regressive record and approve another round of tax breaks for those at the very top.
After all, as Trump told Newsmax, “You don’t tax the rich.”
There are no doubt plenty of voters who backed the Republican in the 2016 race, assuming he was relatively moderate on policies like these and willing to break with his own party’s orthodoxy. In 2024, those same voters shouldn’t be fooled twice.
Oy …
Fulton County filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Georgia State Election Board to try to block it from sending in election deniers to serve as election “monitors.” The MAGA Republican majority on the board wants to appoint its own monitors despite Fulton County already having appointed a team to monitor its performance in this election.
Check out these bios of the “monitor” assigned to Fulton County:
They include former [state] Rep. Frank Ryan [R-PA], who asked his state’s congressional delegation not to recognize its electors in December 2020, and Heather Honey, a subcontractor in the Cyber Ninjas audit of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona. [Really? The Cyber Ninjas? Sheesh.]
Honey is also responsible for the false claim, repeated by Trump, that there were “205,000 more votes than you had voters” in Pennsylvania.
Vote-rich Fulton County is plurality Black and had been a frequent target of Republicans trying to sow doubt and discord about election results.
The State Election Board responded to the Fulton County lawsuit yesterday by subpoenaing the county’s records for the … 2020 … election. Will it never end?
Sign O’ The Times
Bloomberg: “A new wrought-iron fence wraps around the Maricopa County office where votes will be counted next month. On Election Day, there’ll be concrete barriers too, along with plainclothes officers and mounted police.”
Alleged Election Day Terror Plot Thwarted
The FBI arrested an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was allegedly plotting an Election Day terror attack. The FBI got wind of the 27-year-old man, allegedly inspired by the Islamic State, and used a confidential informant to sell him and his juvenile brother-in-law a pair of AK-47 rifles and ammunition, at which point they were arrested Monday.
2024 Ephemera
– Presidential Transition: The Trump campaign has blown deadlines to participate in the official presidential transition process that both candidates usually engage in to smooth the post-election change of power, the NYT reports. One potential advantage for Trump of not participating: “His refusal to sign the documents allows him to circumvent fund-raising rules that put limits on private contributions to the transition effort, as well as ethics rules meant to avoid possible conflicts of interest for the incoming administration.”
– Electoral College: Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) reiterated his call to abolish the Electoral College, a position not favored by his running Kamala Harris, their campaign was quick to point out.
Which Is Worse?
The two big Trump-Putin reveals from Bob Woodward’s new book “War”:
– Trump has spoken with Putin as many as seven times since leaving office, according to an unnamed Trump aide. (That account was not able to be immediately confirmed by other journalists.)
– Trump secretly sent COVID tests to Putin for his personal use in 2020 when the tests were in short supply. (The Kremlin confirmed this account but denied that two leaders have spoken by phone since Trump left office.) [Might be correct? It would be trumpian to send Putin COVID tests and then brag about phone calls that never happened.]
The Antisemitic Overtones Of Hurricane Helene Misinformation
– Politico: “FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the swirl of false conspiracy theories around Hurricane Helene is dissuading survivors from seeking help and hurting morale among responders.”
– NYT: “A wave of antisemitic rhetoric and online threats has been leveled at state and federal officials in North Carolina in recent days as they respond to the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to a report released on Tuesday by a nonprofit research group that studies online platforms.”
– WaPo: “The report noted that antisemitic sentiments were largely directed at three individual officials: FEMA director of public affairs Jaclyn Rothenberg, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Asheville, N.C., Mayor Esther Manheimer.”
[Embedded links are available at the main link.]
[…] Oklahoma Shamed Out Of Trump Bible Grift?
Oklahoma modified the specs Monday for its request for proposals to provide 55,000 Bibles that State Superintendent Ryan Walters wants to put in public schools. The RFP now appears to be broad enough to include Bibles other than a specific Trump-endorsed Lee Greenwood edition. […]
When I asked to see the text messages you’re receiving I was mainly interested in the presidential race and even more those coming from the right. I’m also interested in ones from the Harris side and also the big Senate races. It’s a fascinating and illuminating prism into an often subterranean part of the campaigns and ones that can fly under the radar. But I was particularly struck by this text TPM Reader BG received in New York City.
It identifies itself as coming from a group called “Turn Left” which is associated with Richard Ojeda from West Virginia. Ojeda’s name isn’t a household word. But you may remember him. He came to a fame as a West Virginia Democrat who voted for Trump in 2016 and then turned against him. He gained a lot of attention in 2018 and 2020 as a candidate who could give Democrats purchase in rural, Trumpy parts of the country. This ad combines the hurricane misinformation of the moment – $750 checks to storm survivors – with pretty florid and traditional antisemitic tropes about a “genocidal AIPAC” that has its “claws so deep in Washington” that it “cuts checks to bomb civilians while your neighbors drown.”
“This is what happens,” it continues, “when genocidal groups like AIPAC buy off our leaders. When the same corrupt politicians line their pockets with blood money, then look us in the eye and tell us there’s nothing left for healthcare, education or disaster relief.”
Full text after the jump … [See screengrabs at the link]
Needless to say there are many people who disagree with US military aid to Israel. And AIPAC has legions of critics, among whom I include myself. But this language and the tropes it invokes are stock and trade anti-Semitism not to mention peddling false information about hurricane relief that is mainly coming from the right.
Turn Left’s website provides no contact information. Attempts to contact Ojeda were unsuccessful.
Text above is from Josh Marshall’s newsletter, which requires a subscription to Talking Points Memo.
Looks like right-wingers are fitting anti-semitism into political discourse wherever they can.
Vide, and excerpts from the transcript are available at the link.
birgerjohanssonsays
NB!
‘Like a sylvan spa!’ Inside Zurich’s staggering, revolutionary new hospital for kids | Architecture | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/09/zurich-hospital-kinderspital-herzog-de-meuron
Locally, our Umeå hospital built a child-friendly wing where kids with cancer and other serious diseases can stay with their families. Not quite as classy as Zurich, but it is a good trend.
Thousands of copies of Donald Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible were printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices—China.
Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a printing company in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States between early February and late March.
The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that use customs data to track exports and imports. The minimum price for the Trump-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million.
The Trump Bible’s connection to China, which has not been previously reported, reveals a deep divide between the former president’s harsh anti-China rhetoric and his rush to cash in while campaigning.
[…] Trump says his Bibles would help America
The largest and most recent load of 70,000 copies of Trump’s Bible arrived by container vessel at the Port of Los Angeles on March 28, two days after Trump announced in a video posted on his Truth Social platform that he’d partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood to hawk the Bibles.
In the video, Trump blended religion with his campaign message as he urged viewers to buy the Bible, inspired by Greenwood’s ballad, “God Bless the USA.” The Bible includes copies of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Pledge of Allegiance.
“This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back in America, and to make America great again, is our religion, Trump said. Judeo-Christian values, he added, are “under attack, perhaps as never before.”
Trump didn’t say where the “God Bless the USA” Bibles are printed, or what they cost; a copy hand-signed by the former president sells for $1,000. Trump also didn’t disclose how much he earns per sale.
A version of the $59.99 Bible memorializes the July 13 assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania. Trump’s name is on the cover above the phrase, “The Day God Intervened.” The wording appears to have been stamped on after the Bible was produced. Trump said Saturday his would-be assassin did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.” [JFC]
The Bibles are sold exclusively through a website that states it is not affiliated with any political campaign nor is it owned or controlled by Trump.
A photo posted on the website shows Trump sitting at his desk in the Oval Office with Greenwood standing beside him. In another photo, the former president smiles broadly while holding a copy of the Bible.
Trump’s name and image are licensed
The website states that Trump’s name and image are used under a paid license from CIC Ventures, a company Trump reported owning in his most recent financial disclosure. CIC Ventures earned $300,000 in Bible sales royalties, according to the disclosure. It’s unclear what period that covers or how much Trump received in additional payments since the disclosure was released in August. […]
[…] Pitching Bibles is one of a dizzying number of for-profit ventures Trump has launched or promoted, including diamond-encrusted watches, sneakers, photo books, cryptocurrency and digital trading cards.
The web of enterprises has stoked conflict of interest concerns. Selling products at prices that exceed their value may be considered a campaign contribution, said Claire Finkelstein, founder of the nonpartisan Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law and a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
“You have to assume that everything that the individual does is being done as a candidate and so that any money that flows through to him benefits him as a candidate,” Finkelstein said. “Suppose Vladimir Putin were to buy a Trump watch. Is that a campaign finance violation? I would think so.”
Selling Bibles, she added, “strikes me as a profoundly problematic mixing of religion and state.”
Potential conflicts of interest
As president, Trump would be in a position to influence policies and markets to benefit businesses in which he and his family have financial stakes. While president, Trump’s administration exempted Bibles and other religious texts from tariffs imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese goods.
There’s a potentially lucrative opportunity for Trump to sell 55,000 of the “God Bless the USA” Bibles to Oklahoma after the state’s top education official ordered public schools to incorporate Scripture into lessons for grades 5 through 12. Oklahoma plans to spend $3 million on Bibles that initially matched Trump’s edition: a King James Version that contains the U.S. founding documents. The request was revised Monday to allow the U.S. historical documents to be bound with the Bible or provided separately. […]
“There are hundreds of Bible publishers and we expect a robust competition for this proposal,” said department spokesman Dan Isett. [Yeah, right. You say that after your first attempt to scam the public into buying Trump bibles failed.]
Chinese printing company confirms shipments
China is one of the world’s leading producers of Bibles, so it’s not unusual for the Trump-endorsed version to be printed there. [more details at the link]
Critics call Trump Bible a ‘toxic mix’
The King James Version used in the Trump Bible is in the public domain. Greenwood had initially planned to use the best-selling New International Version licensed in North America by HarperCollins Christian Publishing. But the publisher abandoned the arrangement amid pressure from religious scholars and authors who denounced the merger of Scripture and government documents as a “toxic mix” that would fuel Christian nationalism sentiments in evangelical churches.
[…] Christian nationalists are likely to believe the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God and that the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation.
Other critics called the Trump Bible blasphemous. “Taking what has long been understood as a global message religiously and stamping it with the flag of one nation is the type of thing that for centuries theologians would call heresy,” said Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister and president of the Christian media company Word&Way.
‘Love of money’
Tim Wildsmith, a Baptist minister who reviews Bibles on his YouTube channel, said he quickly noticed the signs of a cheaply made book when his “God Bless the USA” Bible arrived wrapped in plastic inside a padded mailer.
It had a faux leather cover, and words were jammed together on the pages, making it hard to read. He also found sticky pages that ripped when pulled apart, and there was no copyright page or information about who printed the Bible, or where.
“I was shocked by how poor the quality of it was,” Wildsmith said. “It says to me that it’s more about the love of money than it is the love of our country.”
KGsays
The UK Conservative Party has been choosing a new leader, in an agonisingly prolonged and complicated process. The remnant 121 MPs have voted in successive rounds, starting with the six candidates who got enough MPs to nominate them, and ending with two (between whom the party membership will choose). In every round, the candidate with fewest votes is eliminated – a procedure which encourages tactical voting to try to push out the candidate who you think most dangerous to your own in later rounds, or if they were pitched against yours in the members’ vote. Before the final MPs round today, it was considered virtually certain that one of the two to go forward would be James Cleverly (often described as a one-man refutation of nominative determinism, but in relative terms, a moderate); to be joined by either corrupt opportunist Robert Jenrick – who was a socially liberal Remainer and supporter of David Cameron back before the Brexit vote, but now wants to leave the European Convention on Human Rights so refugees trying to cross the Channel in small boats can be machine-gunned [OK, he hasn’t actually said that, but it’s the logical endpoint of his policies]; or Kemi Badenoch, a swivel-eyed loon and LGBTQ+-hater who makes LIz Truss look rational, and is notoriously able to start a fight in an empty room. But in fact, Cleverley is out (speculation is that either he received tactical votes in the preceding round, or some of his supporters cast tactical votes in this last round – acting too Cleverly by half, one might say), and members get to choose between the totally unprincipled opportunist and the swivel-eyed loon. Since the last time they got to choose* they went for a swivel-eyed loon (Truss) and the time before for a totally unprincipled opportunist (Johnson), it’s hard to guess which way they will go. Labour and LibDem leaders are delighted, or at any rate, plausibly say they are.
*They didn’t get a choice when Sunak became leader, as no other candidate stayed in the contest to the end of the MPs’ phase.
How do you get people to the polls when they lack power, gas, water, or usable roads? That’s the challenge facing the North Carolina Board of Elections since Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26.
[…] As of Oct. 7, all 100 county election offices were open, including those in hurricane-affected areas. A new bipartisan resolution passed unanimously by Republican and Democratic elections officials aims to assist voters in these counties.
[…] The Board of Elections’ resolution addresses accessibility by extending polling hours, creating temporary voting facilities, and allowing staff from other counties to assist as poll workers. [It is probably a safe bet that some Republican election-deniers/chaos-agents will sue the state of North Carolina over these accommodations that make it easier to vote.]
[…] National Guard tents will be set up at polling locations destroyed by flooding. Bell assured residents that the necessary space, power, and security to vote on Nov. 5 are paramount priorities. Residents who are temporarily relocated can also request an absentee ballot which they or a family member can return before polls close on Election Day.
Staffing has also been impacted, with poll workers facing disrupted cell and internet service and no water or power in their homes. In response, the state board will allow staff members from other counties to work at polling places with early in-person voting starting Oct. 17.
[…] Another necessary provision: multipartisan assistance teams, known as MATs, which have been tasked with facilitating voting at disaster shelters. These nonpartisan volunteers will assist with absentee voting for those who lost family members, homes, and businesses and are being housed in shelters and other places where disaster relief is provided to the general public.
Combating misinformation and voter doubt
Years of misinformation, election lies, and social media conspiracies have taken a toll on Republican voters’ confidence in our democracy. It’s even more difficult to restore faith in elections when the GOP’s current presidential nominee is happily parroting the lies.
Recent surveys show less than one-third of Republicans have faith in our election results. Gallup’s research shows a record-high gap of 56 percentage points when it comes to “faith in the accuracy of the vote,” with 84% of Democrats believing that votes for president will be accurately cast and counted, compared to only 28% of Republicans. […] Republicans are more likely to believe Donald Trump’s lies than fact-checked claims.
North Carolina and other states impacted by Helene, like Georgia and Tennessee, are at the center of right-wing political talking points. […] Henderson County resident Brown said the misinformation isn’t helping the victims—and it could hurt election turnout.
[…] Conspiracy theories started circulating on social media, claiming that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is stealing money from donations and denying body bag orders. State government officials have been forced to deny cruel claims that bodies aren’t being buried and denounce ridiculous theories that the government is controlling the weather and trying to harvest lithium from western North Carolina.
Former President Trump and his son Eric pushed misinformation about FEMA’s response to Helene, claiming that funds were diverted to migrants and that Democrats were not willing to help Republican-leaning areas.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, owner of X, and a trollish Trump ally, claimed FEMA was blocking flights trying to aid the area on Friday, calling it “belligerent government incompetence.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was forced to reply to Musk’s inflammatory post, which had 28.7 million views as of Tuesday evening.
“No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights,” Buttigieg wrote. “If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”
Those on the ground confirmed the claims were false and North Carolina officials, including Republican state Sen. Kevin Corbin, pleaded with residents to stop spreading “conspiracy theory junk.”
[…] FEMA had to publish a “hurricane rumor response” page on its website to combat the flurry of misinformation. Board of Elections Executive Director Bell had to shoot down rumors that she is partisan—and made it clear she took offense.
[…] “It is not helpful, and as a matter of fact, it is a disservice to these people who have already faced disaster and put themselves in harm’s way and are hurting,” she said. “What a disgrace for someone to provide misinformation or disinformation affecting someone’s ability to vote.”
According to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, FEMA has received 50,000 calls for assistance, and $6 million in aid has already been dispersed.
On “Fox & Friends” Monday, Trump’s running mate JD Vance spouted more lies about the Biden-Harris administration’s response, claiming they “turned FEMA into an agency that helps to resettle and helps to deal with illegal immigration.” The Ohio senator also said “from the get-go, you should’ve imposed military-style command and control.”
Except that’s what the president did. On Oct. 2, Biden deployed 1,000 active-duty military personnel to the region. Then, on Oct. 6, Biden announced he was sending 500 extra troops to add to more than 700 FEMA employees and 1,500 National Guard soldiers and airmen. FEMA approved $30 million in housing and other assistance, and officials said nearly 1,700 people were housed in hotels through a FEMA program.
According to North Carolina officials, as of Saturday, those troops had moved 3.5 million pounds of commodities, while 50 helicopters and more than 400 specialized vehicles were in operation.
A big blue dot in a sea of red
Asheville is located in one of the counties most affected by Helene and is among the state’s bluest cities. North Carolina is a swing state, meaning it can sway presidential election results. Republicans hold a slight lead in presidential polls, and the state has not voted for a Democrat since 2008, when it awarded its delegates to then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Much of western North Carolina, the region hardest hit by Helene, is predominantly red, except for Buncombe County, home to Asheville. The area is reliably blue […]
For Henderson County resident Brown, it’s not about who is determined enough to make it to the polls. She wants government officials to make sure that voting is accessible and the process is streamlined for a reeling, devastated community.
“Officials should be thinking now about how to make voting as easy and simple as possible for everyone so we won’t fall through the cracks and be forgotten […]” Brown said.
[…] A storm like Hurricane Helene, which has killed at least 227 people so far and caused close to $50 billion in estimated property losses across the southeast, is about two-and-a-half times more likely in the region today compared to what would be expected in a “cooler pre-industrial climate,” WWA found. That means Helene, the kind of storm one would expect to see once every 130 years on average, is now expected to develop at a rate of about once every 53 years. Additionally, WWA researchers determined that extreme rainfall from Helene was 70% more likely and 10% heavier in the Appalachians and about 40% more likely in the southern Appalachian region, where many of the deaths occurred, due to climate change. […]
Thanks, Marge! Now ‘Weather Control’ Is A Campaign Issue, At Least For Crazy People
Like for instance, ‘Donald Trump.’
You probably didn’t have “weather control conspiracy theory” on your list of potential issues that might come up in the 2024 presidential election, because you are probably a sane person who thinks the economy or abortion or democracy or something similarly real is what matter to voters.
But thanks to Donald Trump and his dangerous lies about the federal response to hurricane Helene, the small but extremely vocal subculture of internet weirdos who are absolutely certain the government controls the weather are certain they finally have friends in high places, and not just on the satellites that make hurricanes happen. Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-QAnon), the Georgia conspiracy freak who turned her raging paranoia into a seat in Congress and in the rightwing media spotlight, returned to her wackaloon roots and proclaimed on Twitter that “Yes, they can control the weather. […] Anyone who says they don’t, or makes fun of this, is lying to you.” You know, (((THEY))).
As “proof,” Greene cited the fact that some people advocate “geoengineering” — injecting tons of sulfur dioxide particles into the stratosphere to mimic the temporary sunlight-blocking effects of a huge volcanic eruption — as a possible way of temporarily reducing global warming. There’s the slight catch that nobody has actually done it, because the potential unanticipated effects could create awful results. And even its advocates don’t claim it would be so precise as to change particular storms’ behavior, just that it would, hypothetically, temporarily slow global warming while we transition away from fossil fuels. […]
No, conspiracy theorists don’t fret too much over the details. They do, however, thrive in a crisis.
Since then Greene has continued to explain that weather control IS TOO a very serious threat, and the crazies on Twitter have joined in, because it just makes too much sense that Democrats would steer hurricanes into areas where they’ll kill hundreds, including fellow Democrats, in hopes that it might affect the election.
And because cranks are magnetically drawn to each other, the rightwing weirdos at Gateway Pundit, that notorious source of disinformation, ran a story yesterday proclaiming that “Marjorie Taylor Greene was right. Yes, scientists do control the weather.” (Our link goes to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, so you won’t give the liars at Gateway Pundit any traffic.) The article claims to be a “heavily researched” deep dive into the “history of weather manipulation,” and that it will in fact “BLOW YOUR MIND.”
Greene triumphantly tweeted that she had been vindicated by the conspiracy site, of course. [post available at the link]
Gentle readers, I have read (OK, skimmed) the article and can assure you my mind remains unblown. It’s a collection of nonsense claiming that cloud-seeding is PROOF of weather manipulation. The reality is that various attempts to coax rain out of cumulus clouds, usually by dropping silver iodine into ‘em, can work. And indeed, during Vietnam, the US military experimented with trying to erase the Ho Chi Minh Trail with thunderstorms, but as you may recall, North Vietnam still managed to get plenty of arms to the Viet Cong rebels in the south.
Also, the article mentions failed government efforts to break up hurricanes using cloud seeding, because even though the experiments failed, that proves the government wants to control hurricanes. […]
The article focuses almost entirely on cloud seeding, with a brief nod to the concept of geoengineering to cool the planet, but it never offers the slightest bit of evidence to show that the government or even the global Jewish cabal can create hurricanes or steer them to hit a particular place. That’s because there’s fuck-all evidence of such fine-tuned weather control, so yeah, “THEY control the weather” remains bullshit and Greene is a crazy asshole, a lying liar, or, probably, both.
Still, props to the Gateway Pundit for mentioning that one of the top cloud-seeding researchers in the 1960s was Bernard Vonnegut, the older brother of Kurt Vonnegut, and that Kurt spun Bernard’s research into the idea of “ice-nine” in Cat’s Cradle. […]
The Gateway Pundit does not, however, mention the saddest line Kurt Vonnegut ever wrote, which appears in his final novel, Timequake, published the year after Bernard’s death in 1997: “I was the baby of the family. Now I don’t have anybody to show off for anymore.” So it goes.
Walter Solomonsays
Kurt spun Bernard’s research into the idea of “ice-nine” in Cat’s Cradle.
Kremlin Confirms: OF COURSE Trump Sent Putin Romantic COVID Care Package And Mixtape In 2020
Just kidding about the mixtape. Probably.
When news broke yesterday, from Bob Woodward’s new book War, that during 2020 Donald Trump mailed poor Vladimir Putin all the home COVID testing kits he could find — there was a shortage in the US at the time — Trump’s spokes-pube Steven Cheung huffed and puffed and denied everything, without actually denying anything at all. [Screengrab of statement is available at the link]
Which stories are fake and made up? Oh, just all of them. More importantly, Bob Woodward is angry and bad and little, and Steven Cheung is mad about that!
He didn’t bother to actually deny that Trump mailed Putin COVID testing kits, or other aspects of Woodward’s reporting, like the part about Putin and Trump talking on the phone as many as seven times since Trump lost the 2020 election. Cheung moreover gave no further details, like how often they talk on the phone now, nor did he clarify whether Trump often sends Putin care packages, with love notes, or brownies, or mixtapes […]
Luckily, a slightly more credible source than Trump or Cheung has emerged, and it’s the Kremlin. Please realize that we are not saying the Kremlin is a reliable source. Merely that when compared to a brain-damaged pathological liar like Trump and anybody he hires, the Kremlin is a fount of truth, a goddamn oracle.
They’re still liars, too, though, obviously.
We believe them, though, when they confirm that yes, Bob Woodward got it right, Trump sent Putin COVID tests in 2020.
Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov — who himself got a care package from Trump in 2017 when Trump spurted code-word level classified Israeli intelligence all over him in the Oval Office — confirmed the story about the COVID tests to Bloomberg, but denied the part about Putin and Trump having spoken seven times since Trump ceased being president.
[…] Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to what Trump did yesterday when she was on Howard Stern, echoing the refrain she’s been hammering about how slobbering and pathetic Trump is with dictators, because he wants to be one, because he thinks they actually like him and want to be his friend:
“That is just the most recent, stark example of who Donald Trump is,” Harris said Tuesday in an interview on The Howard Stern Show.
The vice president said people were “scrambling to get these kits” during the pandemic, adding, “And this guy who is president of the United States is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator, for his personal use?”
“I believe that Donald Trump has this desire to be a dictator,” Harris said. “He admires strong men, and he gets played by them because he thinks that they’re his friends and they are manipulating him full-time, and manipulating him by flattery and with favor.”
Harris has also already made it into an ad, because her campaign is good: [video at the link]
Somebody should check and see if Trump has sent Putin any care packages lately, like maybe right before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for the classified documents he had stolen. We dunno, check the tracking receipts from the FedEx and UPS stores in Palm Beach or whatever. […]
Republican, Out Of Options To Deal With Trump Hurricane Lies, Tries Truth Instead
Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican congressman from western North Carolina, has apparently decided that the best way to serve constituents who have been digging out from Hurricane Helene is to tell them the truth and to debunk many of the lies being spread by Donald Trump, Twitter, and rightwing media. In a letter to constituents also posted on his congressional website yesterday, Edwards wrote something he probably never thought he’d have to actually spell out: “Nobody can control the weather.”
Edwards started by saying how proud he is of “how our mountain communities have come together to help one another” — we have to assume he’s talking about the queer anarchist feminist bookstore people — and praised all the support from outside the area, then got straight to work debunking various conspiracies that have been circulating following the disaster.
To start with, he made clear that thing about the weather, explaining that no technology exists that can “create or manipulate hurricanes.” Edwards went on to explain that no, the federal government also isn’t trying to seize the heavily damaged town of Chimney Rock to mine lithium deposits, nor is it bulldozing the town.
He added that, contrary to another stupid but widespread rumor, search and rescue in Chimney Rock isn’t being abandoned and bodies aren’t going to be left uncollected and unidentified, good lord will you people listen to yourselves.
Local officials are NOT abandoning search and rescue efforts to bulldoze over Chimney Rock.
– Chimney Rock is NOT being bulldozed over.
– Rutherford County emergency services personnel are going to extensive lengths to search for missing people, including in debris by using cadaver dogs to locate any remains of individuals trapped in the debris.
The letter is astonishingly patient, given the absurdity of some of the rumors. Edwards explains that FEMA can’t seize your property, and that signing up for disaster aid doesn’t grant the government ownership of your house or land. What’s more, no, FEMA isn’t stealing donations, seizing do-gooders’ vehicles, or closing roads, and if roads are closed, that’s local law enforcement and probably because the road or a bridge was washed away. Oh, and the FAA isn’t closing airspace to nice people delivering stuff either. [I didn’t know that there were that many bonkers claims circulating]
Furthermore, Edwards points out that no, FEMA isn’t out of money, and no, FEMA disaster funding didn’t go to shelter migrants either. Yes, FEMA is distributing emergency cash aid of $750, but no, that’s not the only aid people can get, and accepting it won’t prevent you from applying for more help. Edwards didn’t address whether the FEMA cash is the Mark of The Beast, however, so be careful, folks.
For the sake of sounding like a Republican, Edwards did say Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s request for additional disaster funding for the rest of the hurricane season was “an irresponsible attempt to politicize a tragedy for personal gain,” which was pretty scuzzy of Edwards […] But at least he’s not among the Republicans who voted against boosting disaster funding. (Which was, in Florida at least, all of them.) Edwards also promised that he’s working on supplemental FEMA funding, which “will be considered in the House once we return to session in mid-November.” No special session for him!
Edwards closed with a reminder that constituents should “remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.”
Why no, he didn’t mention Donald Trump at all. Why would he do that? Also, when CBS News tweeted a link to its story about Edwards’s letter, the Blue Checks swarmed it and said WEATHER CONTROL IS TOO TRUE, IT IS!!! The real winner might be a guy who replied, “I didn’t think they could control the weather until you guys started saying they can’t. You guys lie about everything. So that means they can.” [head/desk]
Also, in related news, Media Matters notes that Tuesday evening on Fox News, the network’s congressional correspondent Chad Pergram teased a story on Twitter about a real scoop: He had acquired a copy of a fact sheet, written by Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, which explained that FEMA “has enough funding in the short-term to address immediate needs for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.” What’s more, Pergram added, the fact sheet
also declares there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. It adds there is “no intermingling of funding between these two programs.” It adds that “the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.”
Now, none of that is really new, since we’ve all known it since last week. But the newsy part would certainly be that Republicans on the Appropriations Committee would commit it to writing. And curiously, Media Matters points out, Pergram hasn’t yet reported on that list on any Fox show. Maybe they’ll get to it eventually. Or maybe they won’t pursue the story, because wouldn’t that make the Great Leader look bad?
We are sorry to have to do this to you, but it happened, so you need to know about it.
Jesse Watters had Trump Nazi Stephen Miller on his Fox News show last night — Stephen Miller, the one who looks like Voldemort, or Nosferatu, or one of the “gentlemen” from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” — and they spent far more time than you’d imagine talking about how sexually attractive Stephen Miller is, and allowing Stephen Miller to dole out hot sex tips for scoring the lady of your dreams.
Hey where are you going? Video time, you sit back down! [video at the link]
It went like this:
WATTERS: We are getting a lot of texts from women about Miller and his appearances and his appearance.
At this point Miller made some kind of “Nervously laughing with a boner while pooping” sounds, you just have to hear it yourself.
WATTERS: Our audience at “Primetime” believes you are some sort of sexual matador. What do you have to say for yourself?
Some sort of sexual matador, that Stephen Miller.
What a cool audience Jesse has.
MILLER: Well let me give advice to any young man that’s out there.
Sex advice from Stephen Miller, the president of sex!
MILLER: I’m married now, I have children, but I wasn’t married that long ago. I was single and I was in the market.
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, want to rip some babies out of their mommies’ arms while they all cry?
MILLER: If you’re a young man — it’s very important in an election season — who’s looking to impress ladies, to be the alpha …
There’s that well-documented MAGA masculine insecurity complex.
MILLER: … to be attractive, the best thing you can do is to wear your Trump support on your sleeve. Show that you are a real man.
[aiyiyiyiyi]
It’s funny because MAGA people [complain] so much about how everybody swipes left on Trump supporters on dating apps, and now they’ve created their own dating app, which is totally cool except for how there are no women on it.
MILLER: Show that you are not a beta, right? Be a proud and loud Trump supporter and your dating life will be fantastic.
Sure thing.
Also, he pronounced “beta” like “betta,” because that’s how talking works. And dating.
Are even Fox News viewers going for this? […] Do they think Stephen Miller is a sex symbol of the MAGA movement?
If you’ve never read the story of how Stephen Miller found another unpleasant Trump Nazi to marry him and even breed with him, refresh yourself. Jesse Watters, of course, once bragged about how he snagged his much-younger wife (while he was married) by letting the air out of her tires and manipulating her into getting into the car with him.
So these guys are on the same level, although we reluctantly admit that Watters has a leg up on Miller, because he doesn’t look like a med school cadaver.
Regardless, if any human men are taking sex and dating advice from Jesse Watters and Stephen Miller, they deserve whatever charges they end up catching as a result.
OMG. So painful.
Reginald Selkirksays
WNBA update:
The Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals, and so will face the New York Liberty for the championship. Game 1 is Thursday, October 10, 2024.
[…] Much of central and southern Florida is under elevated risk of tornadoes, with 53 tornado warnings having already been issued today as of 3 p.m. ET, according to the Miami branch of the National Weather Service.
The weather service’s map of tornado warnings is a tangled web of red that extends from Osceola County south to Miami-Dade County. […] [map at the link
Around 14 million people are at risk for tornadoes in Tampa, Sarasota, Naples, Fort Myers, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach and other cities.
Tornadoes associated with tropical systems are generally weak, but they can spin up quickly and be difficult to detect because they are often accompanied by heavy rain.
Several tornadoes have already been reported today in Florida, including in Pine Island and Fort Myers and along the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. […]
Link. That’s the “Live Updates” link for NBC News.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on CNN Wednesday, to talk about evacuation preparations underway in Florida, as Hurricane Milton approaches. He also offered a calm voice to counter the stream of misinformation and disinformation being pushed by right-wing politicians and their supporters regarding the relief efforts underway in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
“We’re working through our Federal Highway Administration with Florida’s DOT and local officials. Things like making sure that the shoulder can be used to effectively add a lane on I-4 or I-75,” Buttigieg explained. “The airlines have added capacity and capped fares going out of the affected airports. But most of those are either closed or they’re about to close.”
Host John Berman also asked Buttigieg about his handling of billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk, who has been promoting misinformation on X.
Musk has a history of spreading false information about a wide array of subjects, and he promoted the idea that the FAA was blocking rescue efforts after Helene. Buttigieg responded to Musk’s dangerously childish tantrum on the tech bro’s social media platform, but was also able to have a real conversation.
“Yeah, I’m a big believer in picking up the phone. So I saw information that he was putting out that didn’t seem right to me. It’s suggested that the FAA was preventing emergency flights, which is definitely not the case. So I encouraged him to, to, talk to me. That’s what I would do with any major business leader who’s encountering a problem.”
It turns out Musk’s insistence that the FAA and/or FEMA was obstructing rescue efforts was untrue. There were, however, “coordination issues on the ground,” and Buttigieg was able to find a solution to Musk’s personal grievances.
“So, you know, I guess the moral of the story for me is, before taking to Twitter, getting online, work through things, through credible sources, and often the most credible sources in these disaster scenarios, in addition, of course, to FEMA, is folks on the ground, your local first responders.”
Buttigieg was able to put out this single Musk misinformation fire, but he warned that the problems of misinformation remain. “This is something that actively harms the ability of responders to do their job,” he said. “I think a lot of it’s driven by politics. Some of it’s just, the internet doing what it seems to do lately, and amplify the loudest or strangest thing that is being said.”
“You need information, good, accurate information,” Buttigieg continued. “That’s what this administration will provide, and that’s what we’re also, of course, counting on the media to make sure it gets out.” [video at the link]
A succession of controversies marks Republican Austin Knudsen’s nearly four years as Montana attorney general.
His office sided with a man who made an armed threat over a pandemic mask mandate and was accused of pressuring a Helena hospital over its refusal to administer a parasite drug to a COVID-19 patient. He tried to block three constitutional initiatives from the November ballot, recruited a token opponent for the June primary so he could raise more money, and got sued after forcing the head of the Montana Highway Patrol to resign.
Knudsen is facing a hearing Wednesday that could bring a reckoning in yet another dispute: allegations of professional misconduct over his aggressive defense of a law that allows Montana’s Republican governor to directly fill judicial vacancies. That law was part of a nationwide GOP effort to forge a more conservative judiciary.
A judicial disciplinary office concluded in 2023 that Knudsen’s office tried to evade the state Supreme Court’s authority by rejecting the validity of court orders.
His hearing before a state judicial panel on 41 counts of professional misconduct could last up to three days, officials said…
birgerjohanssonsays
Sky & Telescope’s Sky Tour Podcast – October 2024 | A Comet, Andromeda, and Pegasus.
.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=QYgRmEKOVXk
NB The instructions for spotting the comet starts at 3.15 and continues to 5.50.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Lynna @197:
WATTERS: Our audience […] believes you are some sort of sexual matador.
They made up a new term not knowing what bulls are, or what matadors do.
Should’ve gone with lady-killer. That would track.
For the third time this week, people across portions of the United States may get the chance to see the northern lights. A solar storm is expected to hit Earth on Thursday, potentially bringing the dancing lights as far south as Alabama and California on Thursday night. But the influx of solar energy and particles, poised to arrive just after Hurricane Milton hits Florida late Wednesday or early Thursday, could affect power systems and satellite operations, including low Earth-orbiting commercial satellites.
Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Donald Trump’s campaign, appeared on CNN on Wednesday to do what Trump press secretaries do: misinform the public. This time, it was about the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. However, host Kate Bolduan was not having it.
“The former president has said that [Federal Emergency Management Agency] funds were stolen to be used to house illegal migrants, that no one from FEMA was on the ground in North Carolina, that funds were being withheld from Republican areas of the state on purpose,” Bolduan said at the outset of the interview. “None of that is true. … Is the former president going to stop saying this?”
Trump and others’ claims have been debunked repeatedly, and Leavitt’s replied with one disinformation talking point after another. But Bolduan cut her off, pointing out that Trump’s claim about President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris using disaster-relief funds to house migrants was “not true.”
“There’s no disaster-relief-fund money that was going to house migrants,” Bolduan said.
“I don’t think the American people care which pocket the money came from,” Leavitt said, ignoring that the “pocket” was the crux of the question—and Trump’s lie. [video at the link]
[…] Bolduan then detailed Trump’s 2019 redirection of FEMA disaster funds to migrant operations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“So he is then okay with moving disaster-relief funds for dealing with migrants, but now is not. Is that what you’re saying?” Bolduan asked.
“What President Trump didn’t do is allow an open-border policy for four years,” Leavitt said, launching into one of Republicans’ favorite false talking points. [video at the link]
[…] before Leavitt can give a nonanswer again, Bolduan closes the whole thing down, saying, “We’re going to leave it there because I offered you three times to give me the answer, and I’m not getting it.” [video at the link]
[…] Trump’s campaign staff and hangers-on have two job responsibilities: spewing misinformation to the public and doing damage control for their incompetent boob of a boss. The only character trait required for the work is a lack of shame.
[…] “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt went on to complain that the two-minute segment featuring Harris drinking a Miller High Life means inflation won’t get solved (note: inflation has recently gone down).
When you look at her drinking a beer with Stephen Colbert and you see all of the destruction in North Carolina, destruction in Florida. Another hurricane about to hit, and blast out all these people’s lives and houses and pictures, and belongings, and you see her drinking a beer, and you know inflation’s up and we can’t afford groceries and you can’t afford college, but we’re paying for college for everyone else who took a loan out, or we’re paying for illegal immigrants to have free health care and food and go to school in our country, and then she drinks a beer and says that she wouldn’t have changed anything over the last four years.
The long-winded rant has no basis in reality when it comes to Harris’ actions in relation to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. In fact, just a few hours after the Fox News attack, Harris appeared alongside President Joe Biden to receive a briefing on preparations before Milton makes landfall.
[…] At around the same time as the Fox anchors were airing their grievances, Harris’ office released an official statement warning citizens about possible price gouging in response to the storm.
The administration has taken a “whole-of-government” approach to hurricane response, and Biden has authorized the deployment of military troops and other resources to help local governments in affected areas.
Harris traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday to represent the administration. While there she thanked National Guard members and other first responders for their ongoing work.
The Biden-Harris administration has run into obstacles while responding to the storms—not because of Harris drinking a beer, but because of misinformation promoted by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, members of the Republican Party, and—you guessed it—Fox News.
“A number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort, including ways to access critical and live-saving resources. This is wrong, dangerous, and it must stop immediately,” the White House said in a news release.
Fox News is no stranger to propagating misinformation. The right-leaning network has done so for the entirety of its 28-year history and was compelled to pay a nearly $800 million settlement for airing falsehoods about the outcome of the 2020 election.
Fox talking heads eagerly heaped criticism on Harris’ activities during the storm. […]
for the first time since 2012, the platform makes no mention of abolishing the death penalty. On the subject of solitary confinement, the contrast is subtle but still possibly significant. […] The 2024 platform states: “Democrats will… restrict state and local practices like solitary confinement, chokeholds, and restraints on pregnant inmates.” The current version focuses only on “state and local practices,” as if the federal Bureau of Prisons did not remain the single largest user of solitary confinement, with more than 10,000 people currently in solitary—something the president could change by executive order.
Nor—unlike the 2020 platform—did it call for ending the “war on drugs,” for repealing mandatory prison sentences for specified federal crimes, or for eliminating qualified immunity, the Supreme Court doctrine that can make it virtually impossible to sue police for violation of one’s civil rights. The platform also includes a statement that “we need to fund the police, not defund the police.”
There were still substantial differences between Democrats and Republicans, whose agenda includes large-scale executions, fewer restrictions on police searches, […] and “the largest deportation program in American history.” But the Democratic platform on crime and punishment, which drew little attention at the Chicago convention, suggests a shift in ideology.
about criminalizing poverty, none of that language really is in the new edition. […] The explicit statement of ‘we want more police officers on the ground’ is a pretty dramatic thing to include and it’s obviously a very deliberate appeal to a fearful America.
[…]
The 2024 platform states that “no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.” However […] the 2020 platform went a step further than this, stating: “Democrats will decriminalize marijuana use.”
Democrats believe that torture is immoral and ineffective. […] We will condemn the mistreatment of imprisoned individuals wherever it occurs, and we will hold to account those who perpetrate human rights abuses.
CA7746, yeah, their platform doesn’t even know who the candidate is.
From your crickets link: “In his second term, President Biden will continue to promote a free, open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific. He will deepen economic engagement to drive inclusive growth. He will champion human rights. And he will continue to strengthen our traditional alliances and broaden regional partnerships to bolster deterrence and resist coercion.”
Bekenstein Boundsays
I was able to track down that secular, scientific “Genesis” book I mentioned previously. Turns out it’s by John Gribbin, originally published in 1981.
StevoRsays
@174. birgerjohansson : In Farsi, “Iraq” is named Aaragh, which -considering the fundamentalist turn of legislation lately- I find oddly appropriate.”
Get ready, aurora chasers: There’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch a nice light show by the end of the week! Forecasters with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) are highlighting the potential for a severe geomagnetic storm on Thursday (Oct. 10) and Friday (Oct. 11). That storm is likely to be in the G4 class — the second-highest level on the SWPC’s geomagnetic storm scale, which takes into account both severity and potential impacts.
Dr. Firass Abiad: (Lebanese Public Health Minister -ed.)
Lebanon, in my opinion, is really at an existential juncture in its history. I think that, for me as Lebanese who have lived through all of the past crisis, including the civil war, the ’82 invasion, to me, this is the moment in time where I really fear for the future of Lebanon, or at least for the future of the Lebanon that I know and I love.
Will Lebanon truly embody what people say about them, as the phoenix that rises among the ashes? I don’t know. I know that we have the fire. We have the ashes. But whether we will be able to rise from this or whether this will prove to be really a bridge too far for us, oh, it’s to be seen.
As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, meteorologists are staying awake for days at a time trying to get vital, life-saving information out to the folks who will be affected. That’s their job. But this year, several of them tell Rolling Stone, they’re increasingly having to take time out to quell the nonstop flow of misinformation during a particularly traumatic hurricane season. And some of them are doing it while being personally threatened.
“People are just so far gone, it’s honestly making me lose all faith in humanity,” says Washington D.C.-based meteorologist Matthew Cappucci, in a phone interview conducted while he was traveling down to Florida for the storm. “There’s so much bad information floating around out there that the good information has become obscured.”
Cappucci says that he’s noticed an enormous change on social media in the last three months: “Seemingly overnight, ideas that once would have been ridiculed as very fringe, outlandish viewpoints are suddenly becoming mainstream and it’s making my job much more difficult.” …
This hurricane season, Cappucci and the other meteorologists I spoke with say, conspiracy theories have been flooding their inboxes. The main one that people have seemed to latch onto is the accusation that the government can control the weather. This theory seems to be amplified with climate change creating worsening storms combined with a tense election year, and the vitriol is being directed at meteorologists. “I’ve been doing this for 46 years and it’s never been like this,” says Alabama meteorologist James Spann. He says he’s been “inundated” with misinformation and threatening messages like “Stop lying about the government controlling the weather or else.” …
Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, has lost part of its roof to the extreme winds of Hurricane Milton. Watch this video to see what happened as panels of the roof were ripped off in real-time.
birgerjohanssonsays
Time flows
Christine Applegate -who once played the awful daughter of the awful parents Al and Peggy Bundy- is 52 years today (which is 26 years less than if you are running for president as a MAGA candidate).
Reginald Selkirk @ 218
I have always known the Jews can control the weather. It is the people who claim that earthquakes can be controlled that are the kooks / s.
StevoRsays
So, any land snail expewrts here by any chance? My google-fu has already faield toanswr this question & hoping some one here might know:
There’s this endangered land snail called the Mission Creek Oregonian (Cryptomastix magnidentata) and its only found in .. erm, Idaho? Oh and also apparently its also been found in ..Utah. See :
Oregon is a neighbouring state but from what I’ve found online these land snails aren’t found there at all. So, where does the Oregonian part of its name come from?
StevoRsays
So, any land snail expewrts here by any chance? My google-fu has already faield toanswr this question & hoping some one here might know:
There’s this endangered land snail called the Mission Creek Oregonian (Cryptomastix magnidentata) and its only found in .. erm, Idaho? Oh and also apparently its also been found in ..Utah. See :
Oregon is a neighbouring state but from what I’ve found online these land snails aren’t found there at all. So, where does the Oregonian part of its name come from?
In Roe v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, (MD LA, Oct. 8, 2024), a Louisiana federal district court refused to dismiss many claims brought by high school seniors and their parents asserting violations of the Establishment Clause, infringement of parental rights, sex discrimination, violation of the Louisiana Parents Bill of Rights, negligence, infliction of emotional distress and fraud. According to the court:
Plaintiffs’ lawsuit centers around the overarching allegation that, “[f]or several years going back to at least 2016, [defendants] … were engaged in a conspiracy to expose public school children to overtly sectarian and religious experiences directly through the East Baton Rouge School System…, often without the knowledge or permission of the students’ parents or guardians.” [They] …developed a program called ‘Day of Hope’, whereby public school students of the East Baton Rouge School System would be sent to a religious service during school time, chaperoned by EBRSB employees.” … [Defendants] advertised the 2022 event to parents and students as a ‘College and Career Fair’, providing ‘a college and career fair, breakout sessions, live music, a keynote speaker, free food, and more.’ None of the promotional materials or advertisements for the event provided any obvious religious connection.” Plaintiffs claim that, “[i]n actuality, ‘Day of Hope’ speakers were almost exclusively pastors or other religious speakers who describe their participation in the public school event as ‘worship[]’ and ‘minister[ing] to over 1000 kids’, including hashtags on social media posts describing the event like ‘#GodGetsTheGlory’.”…
The Title IX claim focuses ….. while the male students engaged in “frivolous recreational activities,” the female students were “exposed to a ‘girls gender talk’ including traumatizing lectures by pastors and other religious figures about virginity, rape, abuse, and suicide, even being told to ‘forgive’ their rapists and abusers.”…
KGsays
@185 I described Robert Jenrick, the UK Tory leadership contender, as “corrupt”. Going through my 1,000+ open tabs, I’ve come across a link to an explanation of the most obvious example of his corruption.
Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug finds the guy who was sure HE wouldn’t be harmed by a Trump presidency
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 225
Living the American right-wing dream: Being the hero of your very own action film where you get to mow down all the people you perceive to be the ‘bad guys” who are out to “take what is yours!”
Down in Alabama, in the nation’s newest congressional district, an interesting battle is brewing—one that pits the daughter of the family that birthed the KKK against the son of the man who bankrupted it.
Democrats nominated Shomari Figures in the newly redrawn Alabama 2nd Congressional District, while Republicans opted for Caroleene Dobson. The district is a result of the Supreme Court’s Allen v. Milligan surprise decision which ordered the state to draw a second Black-opportunity district.
Dobson comes from one of the wealthiest families in America—the Kings of King Ranch, the largest contiguous land ownership in the country (825,000 acres!), larger than the size of Rhode Island. How did they get all that land? This story by the amazing Michael Harriot for TheGrio has all the gory details, and it’s a sordid affair.
Dobson is the great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of John Hardee, a “prominent state senator and slaveholder” who lived in North Carolina before receiving 1,360 acres in Camden County, Ga., for his service as a soldier in the American Revolution. The plantation became known as the Rural Felicity Plantation, where Hardee’s descendants bought and sold 183 human beings between 1816 and 1850, according to our search of Camden County census records and Tara D. Field’s abstracts of Georgia Slave Deeds. By 1840, the Hardees owned 137 pieces of human chattel, placing Dobson’s ancestors in the top .1% of American enslavers.
Also this:
In 1817, 200 years before Caroleene Dobson’s conservative colleagues used their “Alabama roots and values” to outlaw squatter’s rights, John Ziba Hardee, moved to Alabama. By the time the U.S. government kicked an estimated 23,000 members of the Muscogee Nation off their native land in the 1830s, his son Joel Hardee (Dobson’s great-great-great grandfather) had already moved to Monroe County, Ala., and claimed squatters rights on 50 acres of land. Then Joel used the Land Act of 1820 to take advantage of this massive redistribution of native American wealth, paying $1.25 per acre for nearly 400 acres in Monroe County, including a 198.235-acre tract, a 39.9-acre plot and another parcel containing 37.64 acres.
It’s much easier to accumulate generational wealth when you build it on the backs of Black slaves and displaced Native Americans. And of course, Dobson doesn’t have the ability to grapple with her inherent privilege.
But it wasn’t enough for her family to enslave some and pilfer the land from expelled Native Americans. They also worked hard to enforce a system of inherent bigotry, racism, and oppression. As Harriot explains:
After the Civil War, Joel’s uncle, William Hardee, joined the Hardees in nearby Selma and became a “well-known member” of the Ku Klux Klan. Joel served 50 years as justice of the peace while William used his confederate hero status to terrorize Black Alabamians. Aside from Jefferson County (home to Alabama’s Blackest city), no county in Alabama had more lynchings than the two counties (Selma and Monroe) where the Hardee brothers dispensed their brand of justice.
Dobson’s forefathers literally ran one of the most brutal outposts of the KKK. And despite slavery being outlawed, they weren’t done oppressing Black people.
Although the 1850 Census listed Joel as a “farmer,” there is no evidence that he ever farmed a single plant or ranched a single cattle. After the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery, Joel negotiated sharecropping contracts with formerly enslaved men Mitchell Chapman, Cyrus Boatwright and Isaac Bulloch to exploit their labor (and their children’s labor) for less than 34 cents per day, a pair of shoes and three outfits a year. If you lost count, this is Coleene Dobson’s “fifth generation cattle farm.” And since sharecroppers are technically entrepreneurs, Dobson’s campaign bio was not technically lying when it says her family’s reappropriated land is “where she learned the meaning of hard work and developed a firsthand understanding of the challenges faced by hardworking families and entrepreneurs.”
She never said it was her family doing all that hard work.
[…] it’s not Dobson’s fault her ancestors were brutal slave owners and stole tribal lands. It is her fault that she brags about it as “Alabama roots and values” and has zero introspection as to what those words actually mean in her instance.
Her wealth was literally built on the backs of others. And she is now a member of the one political party in the United States dedicated to whitewashing that history and exacerbating the economic and societal legacy of our nation’s darkest shames.
Dobson is quite possibly the polar opposite of Figures. For one, he is Black. But his family is also of great consequence to the racial history of Mobile, Alabama.
Figures’ father, Michael Figures, the son of a janitor, was Alabama Law School’s first Black graduate after integrating the formerly segregated school in 1969. In 1979 he was elected to the Alabama state Senate, one of just three Black members, Harriot reported. And then …
On March 21, 1981, police in Mobile, Ala., called Sen. Figures to the scene where someone had kidnapped 19-year-old Michael Donald, beaten him with a tree limb and strangled him with a rope before slitting his throat. A police investigation and a federal inquiry yielded no suspects and investigators eventually closed the case. Michael, who represented Mobile, pleaded with the federal authorities to reopen the cold case. After Mobile’s first Black district attorney had just got a job as assistant U.S. attorney in Mobile, he agreed to resume the investigation, eventually arresting and convicting four members of the United Klans of America for the murder. You may know him as the person whom former Jeff Sessions told: “I thought the KKK was OK until I learned they smoked pot.”
His name is Thomas Figures, the older brother of Michael Figures.
This is one hell of an impressive, groundbreaking family.
Shomari’s father … eventually filed a civil suit on behalf of Donald’s mother that bankrupted the United Klans of America, the organization responsible for the 16th Street Church Bombing, the murder of Viola Luizzo and a half-century of racial terrorism.
After his father died in 1996, Figures’ mother Vivian won his seat, and in 2008 was the Democratic nominee for Alabama’s Senate race, the first Black woman to accomplish that. She was also the first woman to head either party in the Alabama legislature, and continues to serve today. [Impressive!]
Figures himself graduated from Alabama Law School, served in the Obama White House and Justice Department, as Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s legal counsel, and returned home when the seat was first drawn. It’s unsurprising that, given his family stature and his own impressive credentials, he sailed through a crowded Democratic primary.
[…] no one is taking the race for granted. Dobson has all the money, and younger Black voters vote at a disproportionately lower rate than the general electorate.
And Democratic fundraising is difficult in this economically disadvantaged district. As of the end of June, Figures had raised nearly $900,000 to Dobson’s $2.2 million (though she did loan nearly $1.4 million to her campaign). […]
[…] I highly recommend reading Harriot’s story, as I left out a lot of details. It is absolutely a fascinating look at how different “Alabama roots and values” can look from two different lenses. This district has a chance to elect the version that serves the people, and not the family of former slave owners and land stealers who continue, to this day, to fight to maintain a system that benefits the wealthiest and most powerful at the expense of everyone else.
One last note—I had the pleasure of meeting Figures recently, and he is indeed an impressive individual. It’s rare to sit with a candidate who knows his district’s numbers, can delve deeply into Supreme Court jurisprudence, and communicate the importance and relevance of policy in people’s lives.
If you didn’t catch his Democratic National Convention speech, you can see what a dynamic speaker he is: [video at the link]
Figures isn’t a future backbencher. He is destined for leadership and could very well be running things someday, if not leading a Democratic revival in what is, for now, a solidly politically segregated and Republican state.
[…] Trump will be in Aurora, Colorado on Friday; Coachella, California on Saturday; and Madison Square Garden in New York City later this month.
Coachella is in Riverside County, not far from the Mexican border. The desert city is predominantly Latino, and its voters largely Democratic (like the state as a whole).
Local leaders have made it clear that Trump is far from welcome, even dropping Kendrick Lamar lyrics to make the point clear.
“He has consistently expressed disdain for the type of diversity that helps define Coachella,” Mayor Steven Hernandez told the Desert Sun. “We don’t know why Trump is visiting near Coachella, but we know he wasn’t invited by the people who live here. He ain’t like us.”
[…] With the high temperature predicted to reach 99 degrees on Saturday, there is a bigger chance that Trump’s makeup will run in the oppressive heat […] than of him landing any kind of significant blow on Harris at the planned event. And if he can’t draw a crowd in that heat, in the middle of a desert, then the optics will be particularly bad.
And Trump sure as heck ain’t Lana Del Rey, Bad Bunny, or Billie Eilish.
Aurora, Colorado, is the city that Republicans claim has been overrun by Venezuelan gangs. Trump repeated the claim during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
Ironically, this visit is a chance for Trump to see that it’s all a lie. Maybe he’ll follow the lead of a local columnist who visited the town and the apartment building supposedly controlled by vicious gang members, and instead found tenants living in squalor because of slumlords.
[…] Even the city’s Republican mayor questioned Trump’s planned visit, and urged him to correct the record.
“Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city – not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” said Mayor Mike Coffman.
His visit and inflammatory language will surely garner headlines and be the talk of conservative media. But again: There are no electoral votes to gain in blue Colorado. And again, a campaign rally’s value isn’t in the resulting coverage on Newsmax or Fox News, but in local media coverage and motivating attendees to participate in get-out-the-vote efforts.
And a rally in Manhattan? In the closing weeks of the campaign?
It’s just more evidence that as much as conservatives criticize and cry about New York City and other blue Democratic strongholds, Trump would much rather spend the day surrounded by liberals than in the Alabama region of Pennsylvania talking to his actual supporters.
UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit.
This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital.
IDF soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system.
[…]
Yesterday, IDF soldiers deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras. They also deliberately fired on UNP 1-32A in Ras Naqoura, where regular Tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging lighting and a relay station.
[…]
Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701.
Porch pirates across the country for months have been snatching FedEx packages that contain AT&T iPhones—within minutes or even seconds of delivery.
The key to these swift crimes, investigators say: The thieves are armed with tracking numbers. Another factor that makes packages from AT&T particularly vulnerable is that AT&T typically doesn’t require signature on delivery.
Doorbell camera videos show the thefts in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Texas. The details are similar: A FedEx driver drops off a box with an iPhone from AT&T. Then a person walks up—sometimes wearing an Amazon delivery vest—and plucks the package off the front step. The heist can be so quick that in some videos, the FedEx driver and thief cross paths…
… Now, a spate of thefts that began a few months ago is targeting FedEx deliveries for AT&T. The two companies said they were working with law enforcement to investigate, and declined to disclose how many such packages have been stolen…
Astronomers used the Hubble space telescope to look at Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) from December 2023 to March 2024, and they observed the massive storm changing dimensions over the 90-day period. The reason behind this unexpected shapeshifting is unknown, but it revealed that the famous red storm is not as stable as it seemed. The results of the Hubble observations are detailed in a study published Wednesday in The Planetary Science Journal.
Using Hubble’s observations, the team of astronomers behind the new study measured the Great Red Spot’s size, shape, brightness, color, and vorticity over one full oscillation cycle. The combined images act like a time-lapse of the storm’s changing behavior, revealing its famous red eye varying in size, while its core gets brighter when the Great Red Spot is at its largest during the 90-day cycle…
A Democratic National Committee campaign office in suburban Phoenix has been struck in a third shooting in recent weeks, police said Wednesday.
No one was inside the building in Tempe, Arizona, and no injuries were reported in any of the shootings. The latest incident occurred Sunday, when someone fired shortly after midnight at the door and windows of the office.
A $1,000 reward has now been offered for any information leading to the arrest or indictment of those responsible. Police did not provide any other new details in the latest update.
The most recent shooting came days before Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to return for another campaign visit to Arizona, this time to host a Phoenix rally on Thursday. The Tempe location is one of 18 field offices the Democratic presidential nominee has in Arizona.
[…] Police have said they are analyzing evidence from the scene and taking measures to ensure the safety of those who work in the building and nearby.
In the first shooting on Sept. 16, authorities reported that the office was struck by pellet or BB gun rounds. As in the most recent incident, actual gunfire was reported in the second shooting on Sept. 23. […]
Social Security recipients will get smaller increase than in past years, by Associated Press
Millions of Social Security recipients will get a 2.5% cost-of-living increase to their monthly checks beginning in January, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday.
The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees translates to an average increase of more than $50 for retirees every month, agency officials said.
About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, get Social Security benefit.
But even before the announcement, retirees voiced concern that the increase would not be enough to counter rising costs.
Sherri Myers, an 82-year-old retiree from Pensacola City, Florida, is now hoping to get an hourly job at Walmart to help make ends meet.
“[…] When I’m at the grocery store, I just walk past the vegetables because they are too expensive. I have to be very selective about what I eat — even McDonald’s is expensive,” she said.
Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.
The smaller increase for 2025 reflects moderating inflation.
[…] ”I’ve heard the stories and it is a struggle for seniors,” he [Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley] said, adding that “in their older years, they have to spend their money on a different array of costs and expenses, including prescription drugs.”
He said policies advanced by the Biden-Harris administration should result in many people seeing lower prescription drug costs.
The agency will begin notifying recipients about their new benefit amount by mail starting in early December. Adjusted payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on December 31.
The program is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers and that is slated to increase to $176,100. The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes was $168,600 for 2024, up from $160,200 in 2023.
[…] AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement that “there is more we must do to ensure older Americans can continue to count on Social Security. AARP continues to call on Congress to take bipartisan action to strengthen Social Security and secure a long-term solution that Americans can rely on.”
[…] AARP conducted interviews with both Harris and Trump in late August and asked how the candidates would protect the Social Security Trust Fund.
Harris said she would make up for the shortfall by “making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes and use that money to protect and strengthen Social Security for the long haul.”
Trump said “we’ll protect it with growth. I don’t want to do anything having to do with increasing age. I won’t do that. […]”
O’Malley said there is a push for the Social Security Administration to use a different index to calculate the cost-of-living increase that measures price changes based on the spending patterns of older people on things such as health care, food and medicine costs.
The COLA is now calculated according to the Consumer Price Index, a market basket of consumer goods and services. O’Malley said lawmakers who are advocating for a shift “are advancing a very sound policy.”
[…] All the major “liberal” media are calling this the closest race in history. Of course that is in their own self interest. A horse race sells, a runaway is a yawner.
As for the poll aggregators 538 and Nate Silver, one analyst I trust says that they are stacking the deck. According to him there are a number of outfits on the edge that he has never heard of, have no history and he can’t even find out who they are or even where they are. Some examples are So Cal Strategies and Red Eagle. Their results are very favorable to Trump. Then there are stalwarts like Trafalgar, Inside Advantage and Rasmussen. Also very Trump-biased. In fact Rasmussen has gone into hiding. Their polls are now marked RMG Research. On their website, the lead story even today is Joe Biden’s unfavorables. As if anyone cares. Meanwhile Trafalgar showed Trump +2 in all important Pennsylvania. It didn’t hurt that their crosstabs showed Trump winning 46 percent of the African-American vote!
[Bullshit being marketed as reliable polls.]
So 538 is unashamed to throw all of this garbage into their aggregate. [WTF?] Even so, Harris has been consistently ahead, albeit within the margin of error. And RCP, CNN and the NYT then use these numbers to show a pick em race.
Here is what I see. Democrats and pro-choice have been outperforming the polls by 5% or more in election after election for two years. And that is where we are today. By the way this doesn’t bother me a bit. If it motivates our voters to turn out like their lives depend upon it, then it is all good.
So the big question is why is this happening. My answer is that the polls are missing something important and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what it is. They are just not polling enough women, particularly young women, a group notorious for not voting. And they are the very people who have been registering in droves. Of course they are not being polled, they don’t fit the old models.
[…] Isn’t anybody noticing the sizable gap between the polls and results that has been so consistent for the past two years? My prediction. Harris is up in the aggregate by about 3 percent. The final results? 52-44. […]
It’s getting harder and harder to find words to describe the desperation coming from Convicted Felon and Adjudicated Rapist Donald J. Trump. First as we have learned he says Vice President Kamala Harris interview on 60 minutes was illegal. Never said why it was illegal, just that’s it’s illegal. He even demands the government investigate CBS for deceptive editing & wants CBS licence revoked. People who use critical thinking and common sense will ask why or how was her interview illegal and deceptive ( deception actually is trumps game which makes this laughable) but the Cult of trump will be satisfied and fed new fodder just from the words typed on his failing social media blog. Now, trump is demanding this:
Trump previously called for an investigation Wednesday, but escalated those calls Thursday, saying Harris should now “concede the election”.
Why?
“A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes. Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal.” […]
”The Dems got them to do this and should be forced to concede the Election? WOW!”
Trump just took insanity and fear to a whole new level.
And yet, Trump can mouth absolute rot like your kid goes to school a boy and comes home a girl, thanks to the school nurse and her union, and survives to run neck and neck with a sane, intelligent candidate with 34 years of public service in local to national office. [caveats in comment 235 about those polls!]
———————–
When an ignoramus gets desperate they are capable of saying the most comically absurd stuff.
—————————
CBS doest have a license to revoke. Those are only held by local TV and radio stations using the public airwaves. They are the ONLY universal media delivery system that has an FCC license.
————————–
It’s been far too easy for the press to accept Trump’s explanation of “Everybody knows it, and you do too” without follow up. When cornered, he leaves or goes on to the next reporter / question. There is no coordination to try and debunk him in real time. This is why we’ve been stuck with him for so long and why we’ll keep hearing from his pie hole even if he’s soundly defeated.
—————————–
“A lot of people are saying”.
——————————
I can win if you concede.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday condemned reports of online harassment of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
“We’re seeing horrific hate speech of all types propagated on online platforms. That deplorable speech has an impact on people’s lives and it is also a motivating force for people to do harm. And it has got to stop,” Mayorkas told reporters at a White House press briefing.
Federal officials have had to combat misinformation spreading online as they work to respond to the two major storms, which hit swaths of the southeastern U.S. False claims began circulating in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene that devastated parts of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.
Mayorkas spoke at the White House press briefing from North Carolina.
The claims have been refuted by FEMA, which created a page titled “Hurricane Rumor Response,” where users can see debunked rumors about the agency’s response.
The White House and officials in impacted states have for days been trying to push back on misinformation surrounding the hurricane response. The Biden administration also launched a Reddit page intended to share the facts about the response. [Good for Biden. He went right at the source of some of the misinformation.]
Rep. Chuck Edwards (N.C.), a Republican who represents a district hit by Hurricane Helene, posted a press release Tuesday debunking eight “myths” about the storm response, including multiple claims shared by former President Trump. […]
The free Starlink service Elon Musk and SpaceX so graciously promised for communities devastated by Hurricane Helene in the US is not actually entirely free, according to those living in the aftermath – and the internet satellite operator’s own signup page.
There is a significant caveat: You are still expected to foot the bill for the hardware.
Starlink’s Twitter account declared last week, in a post with tens of millions of views, that “Starlink is now free for 30 days.” The world’s richest man, with a net worth of approximately $260 billion, followed up by saying, in quite the PR coup, that all Starlink terminals would now work automatically “without [the] need for payment in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene.”
But try to sign up for the ostensibly “free” service in an area Starlink has designated as a Helene disaster zone, and surprise: You still have to pay for the terminal (normally $350, but reportedly discounted to $299 for disaster relief, though that’s not reflected in Starlink’s signup page), plus shipping and tax, bringing the grand total to just shy of $400…
Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm late Wednesday along Florida’s Gulf Coast, bringing powerful winds, a deadly storm surge and flooding to much of the state.
Officials said Thursday morning that the danger had yet to pass.
Power outages were widespread early Thursday and deaths have been reported. Nearly 3.5 million Floridians are without power, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
While Tampa was spared a direct hit, Milton compounded the misery wrought by Helene.
President Biden also spoke to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier Thursday regarding the impacts of Hurricane Milton.
The governor said officials were still assessing the damage across the state and thanked Biden for federal support, according to the White House. […]
President Biden, in a storm update from the White House, said Congress should return from recess to pass more emergency funding.
“I think that Congress should be coming back and moving on the emergency needs immediately and they’re going to have to come back after the election as well,” Biden said.
He added that he has not yet spoken to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about returning.
“I think Congress should move as rapidly as it can,” Biden added, stressing that FEMA has funding but the Small Business Association funding is “pretty on the edge right now.”
[…] The St. Petersburg area received the most rainfall, with 18.87 inches, and the surrounding areas received double-digit totals.
Tampa International Airport, which stopped flights beginning Tuesday morning, received 11.73 inches.
At Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, 7.57 inches of rain fell, but wind gusts were reported to reach 102 mph.
[…] Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA has enough funds to handle the immediate needs of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, but he signaled more money will be needed soon.
“We will need additional funds, and we implore Congress when it returns to fund FEMA as is needed,” Mayorkas said at a White House press briefing. […]
The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to 53-year-old South Korean novelist Han Kang for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”. Her works include The Vegetarian, The White Book, Human Acts and Greek Lessons…
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #233…
Yeah… Social Security is going up 2.5%, or an average of $50 per month. My Medicare Part D drug coverage is going up 35%. There will also be a doubling of drug co-pays, though since it’s pretty low now, the impact will actually minor. No idea what the Part B “Medigap” coverage will cost next year, but it’s already at $700 per quarter. Bet it goes up enough to eat all of the SS increase.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: StevoR @222:
Oregon is a neighbouring state but from what I’ve found online these land snails aren’t found there at all.
First link, under “Descripion and Range”:
The Mission Creek Oregonian is found in the Snake River Canyon, Grand Ronde Canyon, and Joseph Creek Wildlife Area in Asotin County, Joseph Canyon, Wallowa County, Oregon, and in Lewis and Nez Perce Counties, Idaho.
This snail appears very nearly as C. magnidentata […] Because of the strong similarity, I have included it in this taxon, however, [others have] described it informally as Cryptomastix (Cryptomastix) n. sp. 2, Hells Canyon oregonian. This snail is found along [yadda yadda above]. Cryptomastix magnidentata has previously been known from Mission Creek, Idaho
Mission Creek Oregonian (Cryptomastix magnidentata). First described in 1940, […] thought to occur only in association with a single, small limestone outcrop directly adjacent to Mission Creek within the [Nez Perce] Tribe’s 1863 Reservation.
[…]
Its scientific description is based solely on shell morphology, and additional genetic evaluation is needed to clarify this species’ uniqueness and relationship to other land snail species in the region. In addition, the distribution of this species throughout its remaining habitat at the Mission Creek site has never been comprehensively assessed.
species were discovered in Utah in recent years that have not been previously documented in the state. […] Cryptomastix magnidenta, found in Cache County […] also the first representatives of their genera found in the state.
The abstract omitted criteria used for assigning the existing name to what they found. Could be identical snails in Idaho and now Utah, with strongly similar, arguably the same ones, in all those other places including Oregon.
So, where does the Oregonian part of its name come from?
AFAICT every member of Cryptomastix is called [Something] Oregonian, presumably by heritage broad similarity rather than location of individual species’ discovery.
Tethyssays
I think the snails were ‘discovered’ and named way back in the days of Oregon Territory, which precedes Oregon State and included all of Washington, Idaho, and a bit of Montana too. Anything south of that was still under Spanish rule.
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon.
TD Bank will pay $3 billion to settle charges that it failed to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels, regulators announced Thursday.
The fine includes a $1.3 billion penalty that will be paid to the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a record fine for a bank. TD also intends to pay $1.8 billion to the US Justice Department and plead guilty to resolve the US government’s investigation that the bank violated of the Bank Secrecy Act and allowed money laundering.
Big fine and the bank is pleading guilty, which is very uncommon itself. The bank is also going under monitoring and is limited in it’s US expansion. In theory the fine is substantially more then the money that was laundered, but that is only the money the government can prove was laundered. So only a fraction of what was flowing through.
This was a widespread problem, something not an accident or one branch getting out of line. People high up at TD knew or should have known they were overlooking transactions and didn’t care as long as TD got a share.
Presidential transition planning for the federal government has hit a snag as former President Trump’s refusal to date to accept official services has disrupted the process from moving forward on a normal schedule.
Both campaigns faced a Tuesday deadline to move into a new stage of the quadrennial transition planning, but Trump’s team is still weighing its options on how or whether to formally work with the government in that process. Its wavering has the potential to hold up preparations for both he and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Harris campaign is also behind on signing but is just having problems with organization with a campaign started late. Trump seems to be rejecting dealing with the General Services Administration and has not signed anything yet. There have been talks and some informal meetings can be held without any agreements.
The Trump people are not talking about why and there are a number of possible reasons. You have to meet certain ethics requirements that limit campaign donations from single big donors, which would be bad for Trump. You have to fall in line with government ethics and security standards, which Trump likely wants to violate. Those standards gave him lots of problems staffing in his last presidency. Trump may simple not be interested in working with the Biden administration, both because they plan to gut a lot of the government and because they want to complain about the government.
In other news, here is a Hurricane Milton update from NBC News:
[…] At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in the storm’s aftermath, including six deaths in St. Lucie County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, where officials said tornadoes touched down.
Some 11 million people were at risk of flash and river flooding and a record number of tornadoes caused widespread damage yesterday.
More than 3.4 million energy customers were without electricity in Florida around 11:50 a.m. ET, according to poweroutage.us. […]
Disney World and Universal Studios will both reopen tomorrow, the Orlando, Florida, area theme parks announced.
Disney World said all of its theme parks, along with the Disney Springs shopping center, will resume operations Friday.
Universal Orlando said they will return to normal operations Friday across all theme parks, including Universal Studios, CityWalk and Halloween Horror Nights.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this afternoon that more than 10,000 federal staff were on the ground supporting the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton across the southeast.
“Every available resource is being deployed as fast as possible to impacted communities, and we will not leave until the work is done. The same is true for communities devastated by Hurricane Helene,” he said during a briefing.
Mayorkas said that the federal government and FEMA has the capacity to help the communities impacted by both storms. […]
Tampa International Airport announced it will reopen tomorrow.
The airport, which remains closed today because of Hurricane Milton, will open its doors to travelers tomorrow at 8 a.m.
[…] Multiple bridges in the Tampa area have reopened today after their closures yesterday when Hurricane Milton swept through the region.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Howard Frankland Bridge and the Gandy Bridge have reopened, according to Sgt. Steve Gaskins with the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Courtney Campbell Causeway also reopened, Gaskins said. […]
@18 John Morales wrote:
shermanj:
Welcome to the united states, entertaining ourselves to death
Um. “in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”, which is not the United States (of America — there are also united states of Mexico).
(You might be entertaining ourselves to death, but clearly PZ is not)
Point being, it’s not all about the USA, solipsistic as USAnians might be.
I read your comments more carefully and I want to clarify: John, You are correct, it should not be ‘all about the USA’. I should have been more precise that I was referring to the ‘united states of america’ and NOT the United Mexican States – Estados Unidos Mexicanos. But, I decry the poor priorities (the panem et circenses) that is so prevalent here in the ‘united states of america’. And, yes there are still many here, including PZ as you pointed out, that have much better priorities.
“Our whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Kamala Harris is elected, Donald Trump said, perhaps unaware that he was in Detroit at the time.
When Donald Trump spoke to congressional Republicans in June, the former president apparently thought it’d be a good idea to trash Wisconsin’s largest city. Milwaukee, the GOP candidate told his allies behind closed doors, is a “horrible” city that’s overrun by crime.
Trump’s timing could’ve been better: He slammed Milwaukee just weeks before the city would host the Republican National Convention.
But at least in this instance, the former president trashed the city before arriving there. During Trump’s remarks at the Detroit Economic Club, the GOP nominee was more direct in his insults. The Washington Post reported:
In bashing Vice President Kamala Harris in his remarks to the Detroit Economic Club Thursday, Donald Trump also insulted the city hosting him. “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s the president,” Trump said. “You’re gonna have a mess on your hands.”
“The whole country will be like, you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. … We’re not going to let her do that to this country. We’re not gonna let it happen.” [video at the link]
It’s possible that Trump simply forgot during his improvised comments that he was in Detroit while he was disparaging the city. The former president did, after all, recently relish “a great day in Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia.
It’s also possible that the GOP nominee knew where he was, and he simply didn’t care whether he was insulting his hosts’ hometown or not.
Either way, Mike Duggan, the city’s Democratic mayor, quickly responded online that crime is down in Detroit and the local population is growing. “Lots of cities should be like Detroit,” the mayor wrote, “and we did it all without Trump’s help.” [LOL]
Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s Democratic governor, had a similar message around the same time, writing online, “Detroit is the epitome of ‘grit,’ defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and create their communities — something Donald Trump could never understand. So keep Detroit out of your mouth. And you better believe Detroiters won’t forget this in November.”
This probably isn’t the “let Detroit go bankrupt” line that undermined Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes in Michigan eight years ago, but it’s not that far off, either.
If you’re thinking that local voters will be hearing a lot about Trump’s rhetoric between now and Election Day, you’re not the only one.
Regarding the storm damage, I was saddened and frustrated to see a news report showing a man pointing to his home in the south, partially rebuilt from the previous storm on the same low concrete foundation, now ruined by the current storm. This should be examined in greater depth. I know it would be a lot more expensive in the short term, but much more cost effective in the long run (given absurdly high insurance cost and multiple rebuilding costs) if the cities/counties would require hurricane proof buildings (yes, they exist there).
A group of Virginia voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit this week against GOP Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s recent efforts to purge supposed non-citizens from the voter rolls just before the election, using what plaintiffs argue is unreliable information from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The Youngkin effort — which plaintiffs argue is a violation of the National Voter Registration Act and risks purging eligible voters from the rolls — also serves as another misleading datapoint for Republicans’ false narrative that non-citizens are voting en masse on behalf of Democrats, as they set themselves up to cry voter fraud if Donald Trump loses the upcoming election.
[…] On August 7, Youngkin signed Executive Order 35, which removed over 6,000 alleged non-citizens from the voter rolls, and also announced the state’s new program designed to purge supposed non-citizens from the rolls. The order, however, as previously reported by TPM, does not specify whether Youngkin’s office checked the current status of the over 6,000 people removed to confirm that they had indeed not become naturalized citizens since errantly registering to vote.
The executive order requires the Department of Elections to send only a single notice to those who may be removed from the rolls. And, according to the order, the Department of Elections is not required to verify the accuracy of the DMV information.
[…] The order also requires that local election officials generate a “daily file of all non-citizen transactions, including addresses and document numbers.”
The plaintiffs, which include the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the League of Women Voters of Virginia and the League of Women Voters of Virginia Education Fund, are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the ongoing purge of voters so close to the November presidential election.
“There may be a lot of people out there who are now citizens that are being purged, and they only give you 14 days to respond,” said Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia.
According to the National Voter Registration Act, no voter cancellation or systematic list maintenance program can occur within 90 days of an election. […] Aside from violating the NVRA, the lawsuit also argues that the program itself is an “illegal, discriminatory, and error-ridden program that has directed the cancellation of voter registrations of naturalized U.S. citizens and jeopardizes the rights of countless others.”
“It’s relying on data that is fundamentally unreliable and even demonstrably inaccurate in some cases,” Snow said.
[…] In Virginia, a driver’s license is valid for eight years. This means that it’s actually possible to obtain a license as a non-citizen, and then within that eight-year period, become a citizen without ever having to obtain an updated license. The concern, then, is that eligible voters are erroneously being kicked off the voter rolls and disenfranchised based on outdated DMV information.
“The State knows or should know that countless individuals who obtained drivers’ licenses while legal permanent residents have become naturalized citizens, many even registering to vote during naturalization ceremonies,” the lawsuit argues. “But Defendants make no effort to conduct any individualized analysis.” [True.]
As TPM has repeatedly reported, there is simply no evidence to suggest that non-citizen voting en masse is a real issue. The perpetuation of this myth this election cycle is simply a way to sow seeds of doubt and inject chaos into the election system.
The lawsuit comes against the backdrop of a similar legal challenge in Alabama. In August, Alabama’s Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) also announced the implementation of a new process to remove supposed non-citizens from the voter rolls. Last month, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Allen and the state of Alabama, arguing that the state’s voter purge program is in violation of the NVRA.
Donald Trump held a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, where he attacked the wind and called it “bullshit.”
Trump’s rally rant, filled with all of the lies, misinformation, and general self-pitying grievances we have come to expect, reached a new level of bonkers when the convicted felon got to his favorite subject: windmills.
“They’re falling down,” Trump explained. “They’re all over the place. They’re all over the place. The gorgeous, beautiful Pennsylvania countryside. They got these big ugly suckers hanging down there, rusting and rotting.” He added that most windmills were spinning slowly or not at all.
“You know, the environmentalists say it’s also, very importantly, the most expensive form of energy there is. You cannot get more expensive,” Trump said, which isn’t true at all. Studies show that renewable energy plants like sun and wind are far more cost effective than coal-powered plants 99% of the time.
Trump bypassed his standard attack on windmills being bird killers in order to voice an even larger grievance: the wind itself!
“The wind, the wind. It sounds so wonderful,” Trump meandered on. “The wind, the wind, the wind is, the wind is bullshit. I’ll tell you. It’s horrible.”
Trump followed up this terrible haiku by doing another well-worn windmill story about a couple that cannot watch TV at night because there is no wind. “You remember when I used to say, ‘Darling, I want to watch our president tonight on television,’ and the husband looks, ‘I’m sorry, dear, but the windmills aren’t wind. There’s no wind tonight.’”
He did say “the windmills aren’t wind.” Just remember, this could be our next president, so vote accordingly. [video at the link]
The banana you know and love — specifically, the Cavendish cultivar — faces a deadly threat. Fungal diseases are spreading across the globe, jeopardizing the future of this staple fruit…
This isn’t a new problem. For decades, the global banana industry has been under siege. Two destructive diseases — Tropical Race 4 (TR4) and black sigatoka — have ravaged banana plantations, costing farmers hundreds of millions of dollars and threatening the availability of the world’s most popular fruit. But now, researchers have developed a new banana plant that could revolutionize banana farming and secure the fruit’s future…
The new hybrid is called Yelloway One, and Gert Kema, a professor at Wageningen University, views it as a major breakthrough in banana cultivation. Working with companies like Chiquita and KeyGene, Kema has created a hybrid banana variety that is resistant to both TR4 and black sigatoka.
The process behind Yelloway One combines traditional crossbreeding methods with cutting-edge DNA analysis technology. By utilizing modern genetic tools with well-established hybridization practices, the researchers were able to select plants with traits like disease resistance quicker and more efficiently than ever before. The result is a plant that holds the promise of standing strong against the bananas’ menacing enemies…
Australia’s huntsman spiders grow as big as your hand but are they deadly?
What The Duck?! with Dr @annjonesnature
00:00 Intro
00:16 Family scream in terror as HUGE spider crawls inside their car: https://www.tiktok.com/@news.com.au/v…
01:21 Are You Moving Out Now? • Hatching Spiders Found in Bedroom
02:51 Huntsman Spider Molting • Huntsman Spider | Molting
04:00 How to catch a Huntsman Spider! • How to catch a Huntsman Spider!
05:23 Pilot Lands Plane With Large Spider Sitting On Ceiling • Pilot Lands Plane With Large Spider S…
Gotta say, that molting spider did look just like a squid at one point!
Four daughters in the royal family were kept drugged and imprisoned for almost two decades. A physician who tried to free them speaks out for the first time.
By Heidi Blake, excerpts below.
Dwight Burdick, a private physician to the Saudi royal family, was on a rotation at the King’s palace, in Jeddah, when he got an urgent summons. Princess Hala, a daughter of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, had gone wild with a knife. Burdick was asked to enter her quarters and forcibly sedate her.
Burdick, a lifelong peacenik with a neat white beard, had moved to Saudi Arabia from Texas in the mid-nineties. He had served for years on the King’s personal medical detail, but had never before encountered Princess Hala. The request to drug her alarmed him—forced sedation was a “violation of my professional ethics,” he said—but he was curious. Though he admired Abdullah, who styled himself a champion of women’s rights, he knew little about the lives of the ruler’s daughters.
Burdick drove to a walled compound on the palace grounds. Soldiers unlocked imposing gates to reveal a large villa set in landscaped gardens, facing the Red Sea, and Burdick instructed the guards to stay back as he entered the house. Italian pop music was blaring from a second-floor landing, and he followed the sound. “At the top of the stair, I could see a young female with a large kitchen knife in hand,” he wrote, in a detailed account of the incident.
The princess was slender, dressed in a loose T-shirt and joggers, and her dark curls were cut short. When Burdick approached, he recalled, “she responded with a demand that I not touch her. She said she was the daughter of the King and I was nobody.” He promised not to come closer, but asked for permission to rest a moment.
Hala gestured at a sofa and Burdick sat. As she stood over him, he spoke softly. “I explained to her that I didn’t intend to provide her with medication that I thought was inappropriate, that I was there to listen,” he said. Eventually, she perched on the far end of the sofa, still gripping the knife, and began to talk.
Hala said that she and three of her sisters—Sahar, Maha, and Jawaher—were being held captive in the villa. They had been there since their mother, one of the King’s wives, absconded to London to escape his control years earlier. Burdick offered to try to find a way to help, and the princess agreed to return the knife to the kitchen. “I did my method of sedating a patient, which is to talk with them,” he said.
Back at the royal clinic, Burdick reviewed the princesses’ charts and was dismayed to learn that they were being regularly dosed with a combination of Valium, Ativan, Xanax, and Ambien. “They’re chemically immobilizing them,” he recalled thinking. He learned that he would now be required to write the medical orders for these drugs. “I felt between a rock and a hard place,” he wrote. If he refused, he reasoned, he would likely be replaced by someone more pliable, and, even if he could stop the drugs, an abrupt withdrawal after years of chronic use would have dire consequences. “With the intention of buying time to learn more about the difficult situation these young ladies faced, I set aside my ethics,” he wrote.
For more than seven years, Burdick was part of a team of trusted physicians charged with medicating the princesses with prescription tranquillizers. The sisters also seemed to have unfettered access to cocaine, amphetamines, and alcohol, Burdick said, further jeopardizing their health. At the same time, he grew to be a close confidant of Princess Hala, and worked to secure her and her sisters’ release.
[…] Their mother, living in exile in London, begged the United Nations to intervene, alleging that her daughters were being forcibly drugged. “These are terrible violations of the most basic human rights,” she wrote. Her pleas drew no help. Last year, I reported that, after King Abdullah died, in 2015, the princesses abruptly lost all contact with the scholars and journalists who had championed their cause. […]
Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince who became Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler after the death of Abdullah, has touted women as a key part of his plan, called Vision 2030, to modernize the country; he has created employment opportunities for women and appointed female ministers and ambassadors. These gestures have been welcomed by Western governments, though many experts discount them as a fig leaf. […]
Burdick told me that Salman’s administration continued to crack down hard on the sisters, who were deprived of food and water and whose contact with the outside world was cut off. […]
I spoke with four former palace medics who further corroborated significant aspects of Burdick’s account. […] He confirmed that Hala and Maha were kept on a regimen of heavy sedatives. […]
Burdick, who is now eighty-three, left his post not long after Abdullah died. He told me that he has struggled ever since to fathom what he witnessed. “Here’s this man that I just have immense respect for, who I think was really a force for good in the international world, and I think he was particularly a force for good for women’s rights in the Middle East,” he said. “How do you square that with locking his four daughters up and subjecting them to fifteen years of torture?”
Burdick decided to speak out after learning that Hala had died in 2021, in her mid-forties, after years of malnutrition complicated by substance abuse. Her sister Maha died six months later, according to several authoritative sources. Though Burdick knew the risks involved in criticizing the Saudi regime—“note the fate of Jamal Kashoggi,” he wrote me in an e-mail—he insisted that he was unafraid. “I’m old, and I’m going to die one of these days, and I want to die with some satisfaction that I’ve done my best,” he said.
[I snipped a lot of history, including details of how Burdick came to be working in Saudi Arabia, and details noting how luxurious the accommodations in Saudi Arabia were that Abdullah arranged for Burdick and his wife.]
The King had fathered as many as thirty-five children with a multitude of wives. Hala and her sisters were born to Alanoud Al-Fayez, a Jordanian noblewoman, whom Abdullah had married when she was fifteen and he was about fifty. For a time, the princesses had enjoyed relative freedom, studying at expensive schools and travelling with their mother. “Princess Hala had yachted, skied, traveled on private jets, ate in Michelin starred restaurants, and slept in Palaces and 5 star hotels,” Burdick wrote.
Things soured when King Abdullah turned against Al-Fayez, blaming her for their failure to produce a son. Al-Fayez recounted in a filing to the U.N. that she fled to London in 2003, hoping that her adult daughters would be able to join her. Instead, they were locked up. “I was able to leave,” she wrote. “But my girls’ destiny is shattered more day by day.”
[…] Hala Aldosari, a Saudi scholar and human-rights activist, told me that Abdullah’s imprisonment of the princesses was initially designed to exact revenge on their mother, and that their continued rebellions likely prolonged it. “Women from ruling families must reinforce the power of the state,” she said. “If they challenge those norms, or express any support for any critical opinion, the repression will be severe.”
[…] Hala gradually got off drugs and stopped drinking. As she worked to stay sober, she began to dream of a future beyond the palace walls. […]
She was permitted to join her father for dinner, but when she returned she was despondent. “What he said was, ‘We need to find you a good Saudi Muslim husband, get you married, and then we can talk about releasing your restrictions,’ ” Burdick said. “And she said, ‘I’m not going to have a Saudi husband. I’m not going to have a Muslim husband. I’m not going to do any of that.’ And so that was the last exposure she had to her father.”
After the dinner, Hala relapsed, Burdick said. By 2014, she had grown so desperate that she went through spells of starving herself. That March, Burdick sent two memos reporting that Hala’s health was being threatened by “inadequate nutrition” and excessive drug use, and that she complained of water leaks, fungal contamination, and pest infestations in her villa. By then, he said, he had accepted that his efforts to free her were futile. But, he added, “I did what I could to ease the suffering.”[…]
Publicly, the Saudi authorities rebuffed questions about the princesses, describing their situation as “a private matter.” Behind the scenes, the palace retaliated viciously against Sahar and Jawaher. [The two had participated in a Channel 4 interview]
Burdick told me that food deliveries to the sisters’ villa were halted and their water supply began to be shut off. “It was really draconian,” he said. He had use of an official car, meaning he could enter the princesses’ compound without inspection, and he began smuggling in food on his visits. Leftovers from the King’s banquet table were often given to staff, Burdick said, and he would gather these up and deliver them to Hala, who would climb the wall between the villas and lower the food to her sisters. […]
Inflation has come full circle for the Biden administration. Consumer price growth slowed to its lowest pace since February 2021 — the first month the president took office, the Labor Department said Thursday in its final inflation report before Election Day. The data, while a bit hotter than expected, points to an economy seeing cooler inflation even as the job market remains sturdy and interest rates ease.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his ‘Victory Plan’ to end the war with Russia were dealt a significant blow this week by an unexpected foe — Hurricane Milton. A meeting of Kyiv’s allies, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, scheduled for this weekend at Ramstein Air Base in Germany was postponed after President Joe Biden canceled his travel plans to stay in the United States as the Category 3 storm made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night. It’s unclear when the summit will now take place and whether the same senior delegations, including Biden, will attend.
Eight days into the fiscal year, the federal government has spent nearly half the disaster relief that Congress has allocated for the next 12 months. The rapid spending — which is likely to accelerate as aid flows to states pulverized by Hurricanes Helene and Milton — soon will force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to restrict spending unless Congress approves additional funding.
The ladies of ABC’s “The View” came onto set Thursday to the song “Dirty” by Christina Aguilera, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg explaining it was in response to Donald Trump’s attacks on them and Vice President Kamala Harris at a pair of rallies in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
“[Goldberg’s] mouth was so foul,” Trump told his rally-goers. “She was so filthy, dirty, disgusting.”
But Goldberg was not fazed by the attack.
“As it turns out, I was filthy. I was filthy, and stand on that fact,” Goldberg said on “The View,” to applause from the studio audience. “And you knew that when you hired me. I headlined, babe, at your casino—which I might have continued to play had you not run it into the ground.”
“How dumb are you?” Goldberg continued, facing the camera and addressing Trump. “You hired me four times, and you didn’t know what you were getting? How dumb are you?”
Co-host Sunny Hostin also had some thoughts to share with the convicted felon who, during his rally, called her “one dumb woman.”
[…] said Hostin, a former federal prosecutor. “Donald Trump, I want to thank you for personally telling so many lies and committing so many alleged crimes and providing us with material on a daily basis. You help us do our jobs, and I’m so appreciative.”
This is just one example of many reasons why Trump continues to poll poorly with women. [video at the link}
More than 3.4 million energy customers were without electricity in Florida around 11:50 a.m. ET, according to poweroutage.us.
Really? They have proper tracking of outages in Florida now, instead of relying on Waffle House closures as a proxy? When did that happen?
birgerjohanssonsays
The three polls that adress Pennsylvania voters start at 7.10
‘The 2024 Election Map Based On The NEWEST Poll From All 50 States!’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=sQ4PZ_8YtfI
I still find it depressing the margins are so small.
birgerjohanssonsays
Jimmy Kimmel:
Gassolini:
‘Trump Farts on Stage, MAGA Nuts Push Insane Weather Lies & Mr. USA’s Products Are Made In China.’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3gXLdl-aj_w
I just realised “Milton” is an appropriate name for a dangerous hurricane;
It is named after Milton Friedman, the most destructive economist since someone convinced Adolph Germany needed ‘lebensraum’.
@242. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain & #243. Tethys : Thankyou! That makes sense now and very much appreciated. Cheers to you both.
KGsays
birgerjohansson@266,
If you’re going to chummily refer to Hitler by his personal name, you might as well get it right: it was Adolf, not Adolph. German rarely uses “ph” instead of “f”, and AFAIK, never in personal names.
StevoRsays
There’s an aurorae visible in Adelaide or at least from the Adelaide hills outside right now. Barely visible as a faint glow easily confused with just skyglow as seen by the unaudided eye but much more visible somehow through the camera phone view.
StevoRsays
@270. KG : Dolph Lundgren?
birgerjohanssonsays
JG @ 270
The name of the art-school reject is Adolf in both Swedish and German. I anglizised the name as a service to english-language readers.
Guessing is exception to the rule.. German / Deutsch makes more sense here to me actually as someone who generally likes things to be written as they sound. i.e. phonetically, wait, fonetikallee..
birgerjohanssonsays
Phonetic spelling is great, the downside is, you lose the historical connections to previous iterations of that word.
Old spelling for instance reveal the relationship with words in other languages with similar meanings whose pronounciation now has
become quite different.
.
TrUmp SpeLing in qUite anotHer mater.
KGsays
StevoR@272,
Dolph Lundgren is Swedish. But even if you can find a genuine German Adolph, Hitler wasn’t one.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.” …
Reginald Selkirksays
WNBA finals game 1
Minnesota Lynx beat New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime
After the former president again called for a major broadcaster to lose its license, the Federal Communications Commission chair intervened.
Every four years, CBS’s “60 Minutes” invites the major-party presidential nominees to sit down for interviews. In nearly every instance, they accept, as Vice President Kamala Harris did this year. Donald Trump, however, refused this year’s invitation — at least in part because, as one anchor explained on the air, the former president was concerned that the show would fact-check his claims.
Nevertheless, the Harris interview aired on Monday, even as Republicans claimed she was ducking interviews. Two days later, however, her GOP rival took matters in a decidedly weird direction.
Trump concocted a bizarre conspiracy theory in which CBS News personnel went to extraordinary lengths to deliberately edit the interview to make the Democratic nominee look better. The former president offered literally no evidence, but he nevertheless suggested that “60 Minutes” had engaged in “possibly illegal“ misconduct. The Republican concluded that his weird conspiracy theory “must be investigated, starting today!”
A day later, his hysterics managed to get worse. Trump used his social media platform to argue that the people who work at “60 Minutes” are “A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY” and responsible for “the single biggest scandal in broadcast history.”
In a separate item, as his online meltdown continued, he added that the “UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! — which only appears to exist in his mind — should possibly force Democratic to “concede the Election.”
Perhaps most importantly, the GOP nominee wrote, “CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!”
In case that weren’t quite enough, Trump kept going during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club — he was supposed to deliver remarks on economic policy — adding new and imaginary details to his conspiracy theory, while again calling for CBS to lose its broadcast license. [video at the link]
After the event, the former president returned to his online platform, claiming he has “PROOF” to substantiate his bizarre claims, though he still hasn’t shared any such evidence.
This proved to be a bit too much for Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who issued a written statement responding to Trump’s nonsense. From her statement:
“While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored. As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
The part of this that stood out for me was the fact that the FCC “does not” revoke licenses for broadcast stations. It’s a highly relevant detail. In fact, as The Washington Post reported, “According to the FCC, only individual broadcast stations are licensed, not networks in their entirety. ‘We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR, except if those entities are also station licensees,’ the FCC says on its website.”
In other words, Trump didn’t just concoct a hysterical conspiracy theory, he also reminded the public that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Nevertheless, Trump is now on record targeting the broadcast licenses of CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC (my employer).
The latest national NBC News poll found Donald Trump trailing Kamala Harris by 21 points among women voters. The good news for Republicans is that the former president is well aware of the gender gap. The bad news for Republicans is that he doesn’t know what to do about it. […]
[video of Obama speaking is available at the link]
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, women. I will be your protector,’” Barack Obama explained. “I will tell you how he ‘protected’ you. He hand-picked three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, went out and bragged about it, and now there are Trump abortion bans in 20 states.”
Honestly, everything about Trump’s pitch isn’t just ridiculous, it’s insulting. The idea that Americans will be “safe” under his presidency is apparently rooted in the idea that he’ll be tougher on crime. In reality, Trump is himself a criminal; he pardoned a great many other criminals; he’s running on a platform of pardoning many more violent criminals; and crime rates in the United States are better now than when he was in the White House.
It also doesn’t help that the Republican’s pitch is also rooted in creepy paternalism. For that matter, Obama is entirely right about the policy consequences of Trump’s efforts, which have had dramatically detrimental effects on the lives of countless women.
And then, of course, there’s the idea that “with” Trump, women are “safe.” In reality, so many women have accused the Republican candidate of sexual misconduct that I’ve literally lost count (he denies any wrongdoing); Trump was recorded bragging about his willingness to grab women’s genitals because he’s a “star”; and last year, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexually abusing a woman.
If the 2024 election comes down to the question of whether women are “safe” with the GOP nominee, Trump should lose 50 states.
Rallying for Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama spoke directly to American men and characterized Donald Trump as mendacious and self-centered, saying he doesn’t represent “real strength.”
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think some of Trump’s behavior — the bullying and the putting people down — is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you: That is not what real strength is. It never has been,” Obama said, drawing heavy applause from the Democratic crowd.
“Real strength is about working hard. And carrying a heavy load without complaining. Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it’s inconvenient,” he said. “Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves. That is what we should want for our daughters and our sons, and that is what I want to see in a president of the United States of America.”
Obama said Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, represent the “character” and “values” a president should have.
[…] Obama took particular umbrage at Trump’s spreading false claims about the government’s response to hurricane victims and expressed bafflement that some consider Trump to be strong.
“I want to ask Republicans out there, people who are conservative, who didn’t vote for me, didn’t agree with me,” he said. “When did that become OK? Why would we go along with that?”
He added: “Even if you had a family member who acted like that, you might still love them, but you’d tell them you got a problem. And you wouldn’t put them in charge of anything. And yet when Donald Trump lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls POWs losers or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it. They think it’s OK.”
Obama is particularly focused on reaching African American men in the final weeks before the election, a source familiar with his thinking said. “They are definitely a targeted constituency for him for the next 26 days.”
Before the rally, Obama spoke to volunteers and expressed his concerns more explicitly.
“We have not seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers,” he said, according to a pool report.
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” he said. “You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses. I’ve got a problem with that.”
He called on them to “speak to people on the sidelines” and urge them not to consider “sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you because you think that’s a sign of strength.”
“Because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” Obama told them. “That’s not acceptable.”
Two federal judges have rejected requests to immediately reopen voter registration in Georgia and Florida as the southeast continues to grapple with significant storm damage ahead of the November election.
Southern states impacted by Hurricane Helene have been facing intense pressure by voting and civil rights groups to give residents more time to register to vote given the devastation wrought by the storm and the disruption already caused by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Florida’s western coast late Wednesday.
[…] Attorneys for Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both of whom are Republicans — argued there would be a significant “administrative burden” on the state’s elections offices if the voter registration deadline were to be extended.
Ruling from the bench, Ross agreed, saying, “Harms to the state’s interest outweighs the interest of the plaintiffs.”
[…] “We did not hear from anyone specifically who could not register to vote.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida similarly turned down a request from civil rights groups to reopen that state’s voter registration window, which closed on Monday just as the state was recovering from Hurricane Helene and bracing for Hurricane Milton.
US District Judge Robert Hinkle, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, declined the request a day after the case was brought by the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Florida NAACP.
The groups had argued that the October 7 deadline was “sandwiched between two life-threatening obstacles” that forced some residents to choose between seeking safety from the hurricanes and signing up to vote.
Without an extension, attorneys for the groups wrote in court papers, prospective voters “will be deprived of that fundamental right because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the threat to safety caused by Hurricane Milton, and the resultant shutdown of all means of voter registration, including government offices, roads, the Internet, and the postal service twice within the last weeks leading up to the voter registration deadline.” […]
A man named Anthony called into to SiriusXM […] to talk about how his father-in-law in North Carolina refused all FEMA help due to the right-wing conspiracy theories about FEMA that have been spewed out by Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and right-wing influencers.
Allison Detzel at MSNBC.com:
As Americans across the Southeast continue to reel from the devastating one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, one man says the storm-related disinformation campaign peddled by Donald Trump and other Republicans is tearing his family apart.
A man identifying himself only as Anthony called into Sirius XM’s “Dan Abrams Show” this week to share the story of his father-in-law, whose property near Ashville, North Carolina, was badly damaged by Helene. Despite the destruction, Anthony said his father-in-law is unwilling to accept assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“He has refused all FEMA help because he’s a hardcore Trumper,” Anthony told Abrams. “He literally believes that if he accepts anything from FEMA, they’re going to take his house.”
Disinformation about the Biden administration’s response to the storms across the Southeast has been running rampant on social media. One rumor making the rounds falsely claims that if a person applies for disaster assistance, FEMA could confiscate their property. […]
More at the link, including excerpts from other media coverage, and two videos.
[…] Yet again it turns out the ‘Scranton firefighters for Trump’ at his event were not firefighters but just random people holding signs. […]
[video at the link: "Trump: These things were coming cylinders, no wings, no nothing, and they're coming down very slowly, landing on a raft in the middle of the ocean someplace with a circle, reminded me of the Biden circles that he used to have.. then I heard we lost." WTF?]
Daniel Dale: “Donald Trump is on his usual pre-election lying spree. He made at least *40 separate false claims* in his two Pennsylvania speeches yesterday. Fact check: [video with fact check at the link.] Link
[…]
Notice Trump argues he has a First Amendment right to make his Ellipse speech. But Jack Smith reminded us in his immunity brief to SCOTUS last year that the First Amendment protects PRIVATE CITIZENS, not the government.
[…] An AARP poll last month had him tied 47 to 47 with his Democrat opponent, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who was not well-known outside of her county. So for a minute there it looked like he had a crab’s asshair of a shot.
[…] But not any more! Later polls have shown him sinking. And then right before the debate was taped at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Time magazine busted open one doozy of a self-dealing real-estate scandal (more on that in a minute). That story apparently broke too late to come up in the debate, but there was plenty to drag him about anyway. And drag Alsobrooks did, all glowing and senatorial, while Hogan sputtered and repeated that he’s “not about the red and blue, he’s about the red, white and blue.” Nothing like a slogan you’ve practiced in front of a mirror […]
But this is Maryland, where it’s not about the red and blue, it’s about the blue and deeper blue. So the debate for a US Senate seat means arguing over who hates Mitch McConnell and guns the most […]
And if Hogan is such a maverick, a rebel, and a loner, Dottie, why are the Republicans paying for his ads? If he’s independent and thinks Mitch McConnell sucks and blows so hard, why didn’t he run as, oh, I don’t know, an independent? [video at the link]
Alsobrooks pointed out that if Republicans have a majority, there won’t be any vote on codifying Roe, or anything else for that matter, with the “you numpty” implied. And if he thinks Mitch McConnell and his team are so squicky, why did Hogan “put on the jersey and run into the game” when Mitch blew his little whistle? And gush that Trump’s Supreme Court picks were “incredible”?
Watch Hogan twitch and deflate like an old air mattress. [video at the link]
And moderator Chuck Todd did not get a new haircut and drive all the way to Owings Mills just to let Hogan slide. Would Hogan have voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, or Brett Kavanaugh?
“If there’s one thing we should not be politicizing, it’s the Supreme Court,” Hogan sputtered, lamely. LOL, WHAT?!! Eventually Hogan said that he did not know. Would Hogan help to end the filibuster? He would not. Does he think weed should be illegal on the federal level? He doesn’t know. Does he think federal employees should be able to work from home two days a week? He doesn’t. Hogan lied that “nobody” wanted the Red Line, an expansion of Baltimore’s light rail that he killed, wasting $300 million state dollars that had already been spent, and giving up $900 million in federal Obamabucks in the process.
And then Alsobrooks finished him with a piledriver. Hogan fucked away his votes in three elections now, writing in the corpse of “deceased individual” Ronald Reagan twice, and he says he won’t vote for Harris or Trump this year. If he wanted to be so bipartisan, he could vote for Harris. As a Senator, VOTING IS YOUR ONE JOB! If you can’t undither yourself to even vote for president, THAT IS A DISQUALIFIER. If you only watch one clip, make it this one! [video at the link]
[…] And Now For the New!
And then there’s Hogan’s scandal that broke yesterday. […]
It goes like this: When Larry Hogan was elected governor of Maryland back in 2015, he was also head of a privately held real estate brokerage, subtly named HOGAN. The head of the Maryland State Ethics Commission sent him a letter telling him to put it in a blind trust. But he did not! He made his brother Timothy head of the trust, and continued to be involved in meetings, even though he told the ethics board he would just stay apprised but not involved. Then somehow, over the eight years of his governorship, 40 percent of the competitive affordable housing awards overseen by himself went to six clients of his brokerage. And somehow, even though his official annual salary ranged from $165,000 to $180,000, in his first three years in office he made $2.4 million. Just luck, probably.
It gets better! By which we mean worse! In 2018 the Maryland Matters website sniffed out that Hogan held ownership in a company called Brandywine Crossing Realty Partners LLC, a controlling partner for a parcel of land behind the Brandywine Crossing Shopping Center in Prince George’s County. And then he earmarked $55.7 million to build a new highway interchange there, neglecting to mention to legislators that he had a financial interest. […] he’d awarded the contract to Facchina Construction Company, which donated to Hogan’s reelection campaign. And then HOGAN (the company) bought 14 more parcels of land near it. And Hogan (the governor) earmarked $23 million in public funds for crosswalks and other road improvements near his other properties around the state.
And there’s more! Hogan revealed in 2017 he had a stake in 16 LLCs for development projects […] For every development project, a state transportation infrastructure project or five would pop up in the vicinity, like a patch of hives.
The deals added up to $90.3 million in subsidies to clients of his businesses while he was governor. All at the very same time Hogan was turning down that $900 million in federal Obamabucks to expand light rail service in Baltimore city with the Red Line. Hogan shifted $736 million of state money to roads instead.
It was all so Spiro-Agnew-y and shady that the Maryland Senate passed a law in 2020 to enhance disclosure requirements, just for Hogan, and he quickly scrubbed his client list from his website. The pandemic was raging, term limits were going to have him out anyway, and so no one was really paying attention. But the Internet remembers!
“This is what they call an October surprise, where they dredge up some old false conspiracy theory and throw it out there and then try to make it into a campaign issue,” Hogan told reporters after the debate. “There’s no truth to it at all.” Except for the part where his clients were on his own website and the money was his own disclosures, I guess!
Yeah, he’s done. And from the looks on his face, he knows it.
But at least he can dry his tears with all that sweet developer cash.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Lynna @286:
“He literally believes that if he accepts anything from FEMA, they’re going to take his house.”
* A national Pew Research Center study found that 74% of Americans believe Trump will not concede the election, even if he loses. A similar number of respondents said they expect Harris will concede if she loses. […]
* And The Atlantic magazine this week endorsed Harris’ candidacy. It’s only the fifth time in the publication’s 167-year history that it’s formally announced its support for a presidential candidate. […]
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News show Friday to talk about relief efforts underway in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“We also get a lot of misinformation, don’t we?” Cavuto said. “We get people who say in North Carolina that if you’re a Republican, you’re not going to get help, and that if you’re a Democrat, you’ll get help. I would imagine that does a huge disservice to people working together, and scares the bejesus out of others when they believe it.”
Cavuto was referring to false claims promoted by Donald Trump that Republican-leaning areas were not receiving federal help in the wake of the hurricanes. Trump has been deservedly criticized for his irresponsible promotion of those lies.
“There are real costs and real consequences to that misinformation,” Buttigieg responded. “But I also want to say, for the most part, we’ve seen a lot of responsible actors on both sides of the aisle saying that there’s no place for that misinformation.”
“Well, Donald Trump said that about North Carolina—Republicans not getting help, Democrats getting help,” Cavuto said, less diplomatically. “That was Donald Trump.”
“I think that’s really unfortunate because it’s just not true,” Buttigieg replied.
Cavuto ended the segment by admonishing the irresponsible behavior of people like Trump, saying that “whether [misinformation is] perpetrated by a politician or someone you think is someone of note and authority, it is wrong. And it is bull. And it cannot be tolerated.” [video at the link]
A team of researchers that has spent years testing remains to determine the final resting place of Christopher Columbus say the explorer’s remains are in a cathedral in Seville, Spain…
Now, a team of scientists in Spain say that an incomplete set of remains in Seville’s cathedral are that of the 15th-century explorer. The team DNA-tested samples of the remains in the tomb as well as DNA from Columbus’ brother Diego and his son, Fernando…
“Today, thanks to new technology, the previous partial theory that the remains in Seville are those of Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” José Antonio Lorente, a forensic researcher at the University of Grenada, told The Guardian.
The team did not immediately publish a scientific paper of their findings accompanying those claims, though they stated they’ll reveal the explorer’s true origins in a TV special shown in Spain on Saturday, when the country commemorates Columbus’ arrival in the Americas…
This morning, UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters was affected by explosions for the second time in the last 48 hours. Two peacekeepers were injured
AP: one of the peacekeepers was in critical condition. The Israeli military said […] the intended target of Israeli fire was located some 50 meters from the UNIFIL position.
[…]
several T-walls at our UN position 1-31, near the Blue Line in Labbouneh, fell when an IDF caterpillar hit the perimeter
I’d heard of Israeli bulldozers but hadn’t realized they’re armored (since the 1980s)—with machine gun / grenade launcher attachments and remote-controlled variants—deployed up to 100 at a time. HumanRightsWatch tried to get Caterpillar to stop selling vehicles to Israel in 2004.
There’s been an update on a Florida man who strapped his home down in preparation for Hurricane Milton…
One of those is Pedro Casares, who decided to protect his home by strapping it down before the hurricane hit…
His daughter has posted a video to TikTok showing the aftermath of Hurricane Milton and fortunately, the house is still there, the straps are still there, and they appear to be in good condition.
She thanked people for worrying about them and said that with ‘no crazy damages to the home’, she and her dad were going to see if any of their neighbours needed some help…
Other people who gained viral fame during Hurricane Milton have begun to emerge in the aftermath of the deadly weather.
Joseph Malinowski is one of them. A stubborn sailor, Malinowski decided not to accept the offer of a shelter, and that he would instead ride out the weather in his boat.
He ended up being nicknamed ‘Lieutenant Dan’, and he said he’d survived the ‘pretty mellow’ hurricane despite his boat being slammed against the harbour wall a few times…
The Republican senator’s “table scraps” comment probably won’t go over well in Michigan, but let’s not overlook the larger policy context.
Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act approved last year by Democratic policymakers, the Biden/Harris administration announced an important investment a few months ago: $500 million will be spent to help General Motors convert a Cadillac plant in Lansing, Mich., into a facility that will produce electric vehicles.
As HuffPost explained, it’s part of a larger $1.7 billion program “aimed at revamping 11 auto plants to make electric cars or components of them as part of the Joe Biden administration’s effort to speed up the conversion of Americans’ internal combustion-powered cars to more efficient and reliable electric ones.”
The question, of course, is what would happen to these investments in the event Donald Trump wins the election.
The answer is far from certain: Not only has Trump vowed to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, he’s also effectively running on an anti-climate platform.
With this in mind, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, was asked last week whether the $500 million investment in Michigan would be revoked after the election. The Ohio Republican refused to give a straight answer.
This week, as The Detroit News reported, Vance said something a little different.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance campaigned Tuesday in Detroit, where he described $500 million that the federal government is providing to convert a General Motors plant in Michigan for electric vehicles as “table scraps” compared with larger job losses he contends could be on the horizon.
In fairness, the senator did say that he and Trump “want to invest in Michigan auto workers as much as possible,” which was vague and unhelpful. But he also nevertheless characterized the pending $500 million investment — with several hundred jobs on the line — as “table scraps.”
That hardly inspired confidence in the future of the project, and it didn’t take long for Democrats to seize on this, as evidenced by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks at his latest event in Michigan. [video at the link: "Gov. Walz: JD Vance just said if he and Trump win they might cancel Biden-Harris’ $500 million investment in a Michigan auto plant. He even called those jobs ’table scraps’. Tell that to 650 families who feed their families with those ‘table scrap’ jobs."]
Around the same time, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said in a written statement, “Major investments in Michigan auto jobs made possible by Vice President Harris aren’t ‘table scraps,’ they’re a lifeline that is building the future of American manufacturing. JD Vance and Donald Trump are out of touch with Michigan, and it’s obvious when you see them threatening to abandon Michigan workers and cede the future of manufacturing to China.”
That last point was of particular interest, because it speaks to the broader policy context.
To be sure, Vance’s “table scraps” comments reflected the latest in a series of out-of-touch moments for the Ohioan, but the larger question is whether a Trump/Vance administration would allow China to take the lead on building the next generation of vehicles.
To hear Vance tell it, Beijing already controls much of the E.V. manufacturing supply chain, so investing in E.V. vehicles necessarily helps China. But The New Republic’s Greg Sargent had a great report on this, explaining the nature of the Republican’s “misdirection.”
The [Inflation Reduction Act] contains many provisions ensuring that more E.V. parts are manufactured in the United States. Indeed, the whole point of it is to help the U.S. better compete with China in such manufacturing, on the understanding that the world is moving toward E.V.s and the U.S. shouldn’t cede that industry to China. But ceding the industry to China is exactly what Vance and Trump would do.
The “table scraps” gaffe matters. The GOP ticket planning to let China win — effectively ceding the future of auto manufacturing to the United States’ preeminent economic rival — matters more.
Jonathan Mitchell enabled private parties to sue anyone who facilitates an abortion. But his test case might have collapsed when an appeals court blocked his subpoena to the woman whose abortion was at issue.
In May 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed his state’s version of a “heartbeat” ban, forbidding nearly all abortions after six weeks — but with a twist. The Texas bill, as The New York Times reported, also empowered “any private citizen to sue doctors or abortion clinic employees who would perform or help arrange for the procedure.”
Left unsaid was that private citizens, rather than law enforcement or other state officials, would be the only people who could enforce the ban. By empowering private actors to enforce the ban, the thinking went, abortion providers and other prospective plaintiffs couldn’t sue the state to prevent its enforcement; instead, anyone and everyone could be a prospective plaintiff, and state officials would have no role at all.
That “bounty hunter” feature of the law — designed specifically to circumvent judicial review — was the conceptual brainchild of a then-relatively unknown conservative lawyer, Jonathan Mitchell, whose admirers have praised him as a “technical magician.” And it worked. S.B. 8 took effect in September 2021, despite providers’ petition to the Supreme Court to stay its implementation. It then survived a more thorough Supreme Court review months later.
Of course, S.B. 8 has never produced an onslaught of litigation, nor did anyone expect it to. The fear of being sued (not to mention the potential liability) was the whole point. And that worked too, effectively ending abortion services in Texas even before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.
Since then, Mitchell, who clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia and served as Texas’ solicitor general, has become something of a conservative legal hero. In February, through a methodical, “buttoned-down presentation,” he convinced the Supreme Court to rule unanimously that former President Donald Trump should not be disqualified from appearing on Colorado’s presidential primary ballot, thereby overturning the Colorado Supreme Court’s interpretation of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
But Mitchell’s most notorious case has ended with far less fanfare. In March 2023, Mitchell decided to test the bounty hunter provision by filing a lawsuit in Galveston County court on behalf of Marcus Silva, who had divorced his ex-wife, Brittni, just the month prior. Silva alleged Brittni had undergone a medication abortion during their marriage with the help of two friends, one of whom obtained abortion pills from a third woman. Silva sued all three women — but not his ex-wife, who is immune from liability under the Texas statute — alleging they caused the wrongful death of his child and conspired “to murder Baby Silva with abortion pills.” And Silva sought more than $1 million in damages from each of them.
Further, Silva attached to his complaint screenshots of text exchanges between and among his ex-wife and the defendants. Those text chains included discussions of how and where to obtain the pills, when to take them and even how to ensure Silva never found out about her pregnancy or the abortion.
Within weeks of Mitchell’s opening legal salvo, Brittni Silva’s friends sued him too, charging that her ex-husband had invaded their privacy. Despite the defendants’ counterpunch, Marcus Silva’s suit shocked even pro-abortion advocates familiar with Mitchell’s track record. Legal commentators Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, for instance, remarked that by representing Silva, Mitchell seemed to have twin aims: “to set a precedent that helps isolate pregnant people through terror and surveillance” — or what they called “spousal abuse via lawsuit” — and “to make it clear that anyone offering advice about abortion may be bankrupted in a court of law.”
But on Oct. 10, on the eve of a trial, Mitchell filed papers to terminate the case “with prejudice,” meaning Silva cannot refile his suit. Mitchell’s co-counsel, Briscoe Cain, told The Washington Post “the parties have executed a settlement agreement and all claims and counterclaims have been dismissed”; a court filing confirms “the parties’ agreed resolution.” […]
In April, a Texas appeals court ruled that Marcus could not force Brittni to turn over communications relating to her abortion, including with the defendants. The court noted that his complaint alleges she violated “numerous state and federal criminal laws,” including the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits the mailing of anything “intended for producing abortion.” Even though the Biden administration does not interpret Comstock broadly as prohibiting the mailing of abortion medication, the court reasoned that to compel her to produce the communications at issue could violate her constitutional rights, notably her right against self-incrimination.
Mitchell then appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which denied the petition in June in a three-sentence order. One justice of that court, in a concurring opinion, called out Silva’s “disgracefully vicious harassment and intimidation of his ex-wife Brittni during the course of their marriage’s demise and during this litigation,” noting that his “atrocious treatment” of her made him a “particularly unsuitable beneficiary of this Court’s discretionary” powers. (Among other things, The Washington Post reports, “Silva’s ex-wife shared with the court transcripts of recordings of the verbal abuse she said she experienced from Silva ahead of the lawsuit being filed, including threats to persecute her if she didn’t have sex with him and do his laundry.”) [JFC]
And finally, we know that earlier this week, the trial judge refused Silva’s request to delay trial, which was scheduled to begin on Oct. 14.
Neither Silva nor his lawyers have explained publicly why they backed down, but without Brittni’s communications, it may be that they simply lacked the evidence to win at trial. Meanwhile, one of the defendants told the Post “[t]here was no money exchanged in connection with” the settlement.
And the ultimate irony? Despite losing her constitutional right to abortion, a woman’s other constitutional rights may have prevented the guy who wrote the country’s most infamous abortion ban from enforcing it in court.
North Korean soldiers are supporting Russian troops on the ground, and some may have already been killed and injured, South Korean and Ukrainian officials said this week, raising questions about whether the military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has advanced to a new stage. […]
Science educator Bill Nye spoke out on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) recent comments suggesting hurricanes are controlled by the government, calling the theories “physically impossible.”
In an interview Friday on CNN “Newsroom,” Nye explained from a scientific perspective why the storm couldn’t have been geoengineered and tied the topic back to climate change.
“The amount of energy in a storm like Milton is more than every military in the world put together at the same time,” he said. Hurricane Milton also caused several tornadoes to break out and strike the state of Florida.
He said a claim like Greene’s “plays on people’s grievances and frustrations,” and he urged people to go out and vote.
Last week, Greene began sharing posts on her social media attempting to tie the areas impacted by Hurricane Helene to the election. She shared a map made by influencer Matt Wallace, who claimed the storm “seemed to almost methodically miss the bluest parts” of “crucial swing states, while simultaneously ravaging the red parts.”
In a post on social platform X on Oct. 3, Greene wrote, “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
X’s community note system flagged the content, adding context that weather cannot be controlled.
Republicans opposed Greene’s comments, with Florida Republican Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez on Wednesday suggesting Greene should have her “head examined” following her posts.
Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards (N.C.), who represents the Asheville area ravaged by Hurricane Helene, also spoke out, releasing a list Tuesday attempting to refute the rumors about Helene and the government’s response, although he did not name Greene directly.
[…] 1. He avoided it in an interview with The New York Times
During The New York Times’ podcast “The Interview,” host Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Vance if Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance responded similarly to his answer in the VP debate, saying he’s “focused on the future.”
“There’s an obsession here with focusing on 2020,” Mr. Vance said. “I’m much more worried about what happened after 2020, which is a wide-open border, groceries that are unaffordable.”
2. And a second time.
Garcia-Navarro pressed a second time: “Senator, yes or no, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”
“Let me ask you a question,” Vance said. “Is it OK that big technology companies censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, which independent analyses have said cost Donald Trump millions of votes?”
3. And a third time.
“Senator Vance, I’m going to ask you again,” Garcia-Navarro said. “Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”
“Did big technology companies censor a story that independent studies have suggested would have cost Trump millions of votes?” Vance replied.
4. And a fourth time.
“Senator Vance,” Ms. Garcia-Navarro continued. “I’m going to ask you again, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”
“And I’ve answered your question with another question,” Mr. Vance said. “You answer my question and I’ll answer yours.”
5. And a fifth time—yes, during the same interview.
Garcia-Navarro said there is “no proof, legal or otherwise,” of election fraud. Vance dismissed that as “a slogan.”
“I’m not worried about this slogan that people throw, ‘Well, every court case went this way,’” he said. “I’m talking about something very discrete—a problem of censorship in this country that I do think affected things in 2020.”
Vance topped it off by saying he would not have certified the 2020 election. Watch the infuriating exchange for yourself. [video at the link]
6. He blamed the media.
During a Michigan rally the day after the debate, Vance said, “Well look, here’s the simple reason: The media’s obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to common-sense economic policies.”
7. He dodged it on the debate stage
And of course, there was the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, in response to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s question: “Did he lose the 2020 election?”
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance told Walz, before pivoting to an absurdly unrelated topic. “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
It’s easy to shake your head in wonder at Vance’s absolute gall. But polls show the Trump-Vance ticket has an actual shot at winning in November, which means Vance would be charged with certifying electoral votes in a future election. [Yikes]
And one thing is chillingly clear: Vance is no Mike Pence.
John Moralessays
StevoR @271, aurorae is the plural; aurora is the singular.
At a campaign event in Michigan on Friday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz defended Detroit against disparaging remarks that Donald Trump made the day before.
“Donald Trump was in Detroit, and he said, ‘Our whole country will end up being Detroit. You’re going to have a mess on your hands,’” Walz said, speaking at Macomb Community College. “That’s not unexpected for him … But if that guy would have ever spent any time in the Midwest, like all of us know, he’d know Detroit’s experience and American comeback and renaissance.”
“City’s growing, crime’s down, factories are opening up,” Walz continued. “But those guys, all’s they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bullshit—every time they show up, every time they show up.”
Walz highlighted Trump’s failure to deliver on his promises to workers, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs (even before COVID-19 pandemic). Walz reminded the audience how Trump promised them, “If I’m elected, you won’t lose one plant.” It was a promise he broke just a couple of years later when GM announced closures of plants across the country, including in Ohio and Michigan.
“Technically, it wasn’t a lie because he lost six of them, not one.” Walz said. [LOL, well said.]
Mark Milley, the US Army general who Donald Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now says the current Republican presidential nominee is a “fascist to the core” and says no person has ever posed more of a danger to the United States than the man who served as the 45th President of the United States.
Milley, a decorated military officer who became a target for right-wing scorn after it became known that he expressed concerns over Trump’s mental stability in the wake of his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, is described by journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, War, as incredibly alarmed at the prospect of a second Trump term in the White House. The Independent obtained a copy ahead of the book’s October 15 release date.
In the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a riotous mob of the then-president’s supporters, Woodward writes that Milley insisted on securing a meeting with the then-newly-minted attorney general, Merrick Garland, to urge him to investigate domestic violent extremism and far-right militia movements.
According to Woodward, a senior Department of Justice lawyer said at the time that Milley’s sit-down with Garland might have been the first-ever meeting between a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the country’s top civilian law enforcement official. He writes that the general asked for the meeting because he was “deeply convinced” that Trump remained “a danger to the country” even though he had been forced from office after Biden’s election win.
But the Army veteran expressed even more strident concerns to Woodward himself at a March 2023 meeting at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.
Woodward writes that when he approached Milley at a reception, the general spoke first and told him: “We gotta talk.”
He told the journalist that “no one has ever been as dangerous to this country” as the former president.
He asked: “Do you realize, do you see what this man is?”
Milley, who had been a source for Woodward’s last book, Peril, said he’d “glimpsed” Trump’s true nature when they previously spoke during the writing of that 2021 release, but he said he now knew exactly what the ex-president is.
“He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country,” he said.
“A fascist to the core,” Milley repeated.
The general’s private comments to Woodward, which have not been previously reported, were echoed in cutting remarks Milley made publicly at his September 2023 retirement ceremony, when, without mentioning Trump’s name, he appeared to take a swipe at the ex-president.
In the impassioned speech, he defiantly said the US military is “unique” among the world’s fighting forces because it does not profess fealty to any one person.
“We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator,” he said.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is not holding back as we approach Election Day—and we are here for it.
The vice president’s campaign released a blistering ad in response to her opponent Donald Trump’s Thursday appearance at the Detroit Economic Club, where he proceeded to insult the city. […]
Hospitals delayed or canceled treatments after IV fluid maker Baxter International closed its North Carolina facility because of damage from Hurricane Helene.
Yvonne Hemz was scheduled to have a cancerous tumor removed from her kidney Tuesday.
On Sunday, however, Hemze, 52, of Farmington, Minnesota, got a call from the hospital, Abbott Northwestern, telling her that her surgery had been canceled. The hospital was getting reduced shipments of intravenous fluids, essential for patients during surgeries, after Hurricane Helene damaged a Baxter International facility in North Carolina, leading to its temporary closure. The plant is the nation’s largest producer of IV fluids.
Hemze said she hasn’t been able to get in contact with her doctor since the cancellation and fears her cancer will only get worse.
“The cancer is not going to stop growing just because they can’t have their surgery,” she said.
On Thursday, shortly after NBC News reached out to Allina Health, a network of hospitals that includes Abbott Northwestern, for comment, Hemze said she got a call from her doctor informing her that her surgery had been rescheduled for Friday morning. In a statement, a spokesperson for Allina Health said the hospital had been working to reschedule appointments Thursday and prioritizing cases such as Hemze’s.
Her case is far from unique, however: Hospitals across the United States have said they’re taking steps to conserve their supply of IV fluids, including postponing or canceling nonemergency surgeries. Where possible, patients are provided with Gatorade or water for hydration, instead of IV solutions.
IV fluids do more than deliver drugs or electrolytes directly into a patient’s bloodstream. They’re needed during surgeries to keep patients hydrated, regulate blood pressure and compensate for lost fluid, including blood. Certain IV fluids are used for kidney failure patients; others, as a form of intravenous nutrition.
“They are the lifeblood of treating patients in hospitals and if you turn off hospital supply to these critical IV fluids like normal saline and lactated Ringer’s, it’s almost like turning the water off to your house,” said Dr. Chris DeRienzo, a neonatologist and the chief physician executive of the American Hospital Association. (Lactated Ringer’s is an electrolyte solution, similar to saline.)
There are only a handful of IV fluid manufacturers in the U.S. and abroad, so any disruption can have a significant impact, he said.
On Monday, the AHA urged President Joe Biden to declare a nationwide emergency over the limited supply of IV fluids. […]
The federal government is working with Baxter to quickly resolve the supply issue.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would temporarily allow for the importation of IV fluids from Baxter plants in Canada, China, Ireland and the United Kingdom. It remains unclear how long it will take for the product to arrive in the U.S. […]
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, has also been helping Baxter get its facility back up and running. […]
New Zealand’s defense minister issued stinging rebukes of what she said were “vile” and “misogynistic” online remarks by “armchair admirals” about the woman captain of a navy ship that ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa.
“Seriously, it’s 2024,” Judith Collins told reporters Thursday. “What the hell’s going on here?”
After days of comments on social media directed at the gender of Commander Yvonne Gray, Collins urged the public to “be better.” Women members of the military had also faced verbal abuse in the street in New Zealand since the ship — one of nine in the country’s navy — was lost on Sunday, Collins said.
All 75 people on board evacuated to safety with only minor injuries after the vessel ran aground on the reef it was surveying about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island. The cause of the disaster is not known.
“The one thing that we already know did not cause it is the gender of the ship’s captain, a woman with 30 years’ naval experience who on the night made the call to get her people to safety,” Collins said.
[…] About 20% of New Zealand’s uniformed military members are women. Collins is New Zealand’s first woman defense minister and said she stood alongside Gray and Maj. Gen. Rose King, the country’s first woman army chief, who assumed her role in June.
“We are all appointed on merit, not gender,” said Collins.
The sinking prompted fears of a major fuel spill. On Thursday, officials in Samoa said while the vessel was leaking oil from three places, the amount was reducing each day and was dissipating quickly due to strong winds in the area.
Most of the ship’s fuel appeared to have burned out in the fire, according to a statement by the Marine Pollution Advisory Committee. Officials were due to meet with locals Thursday to discuss how to remove the vessel’s anchor and three shipping containers from the reef without further damaging the fragile marine ecosystem.
New Zealand’s government has ordered a military court of inquiry into the episode, which will be led by senior military officers. It will assemble for the first time on Friday.
Passengers, including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel, left the vessel on life boats in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters after the sinking.
Those on board have since returned to New Zealand by plane.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway. The military said the ship, purchased for NZ$100 million ($61 million), was not covered by replacement insurance.
The state of New Zealand’s aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy’s eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.
Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period before the deployment.
Breakdancers have been urged to avoid headspinning after a dancer who developed a cone-shaped lump on his head due to “years of extensive headspinning practice” had to have it surgically removed.
The benign tumour, dubbed a “breakdance bulge”, was more than an inch thick, according to a report published by the British Medical Journal.
The condition is thought to be caused by repeated friction between the scalp and the floor, combined with pressure from the dancer’s body.
The unnamed dancer from Denmark trained five times a week – including up to seven minutes of headspinning – and had been wearing a hat to hide the bulge.
He had continued spinning on his head despite developing the “protuberance” over 19 years of breakdancing.
“Prophet” Julie Green told followers that the Lord told her that the recent hurricanes were “all man-made” and that the weather events were deliberately created or manipulated as a form of “election interference.” She added that “they” will “set off” an earthquake at some point.
Green isn’t a random grifter: She’s connected to Trump’s inner circle and has been heavily endorsed by Eric Trump. The former president’s son told Green that she’s “so incredible,” stated that he’s saved one of her messages, called her a “warrior,” and thanked her for their “friendship.”
Green has also spoken with Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump, who told Green that she was “so honored” to be on her podcast. She also said: “On behalf of our whole family, thank you for all of the prayers, thank you for believing in my father-in-law, and for fighting alongside of us.”
During a recent podcast appearance, Green — as she does — pushed far-right conspiracy theories while telling people what “the Lord had talked about” regarding the country, including that the Lord supposedly said that the recent hurricanes were “deliberate,” “man-made,” and “another form of election interference”: [video at the link]
JULIE GREEN: This is exactly one of the things that the Lord had talked about. I have to get out which prophecy it was. I think it was the one from yesterday or Monday. He was talking about how this is the same thing as Maui. This is all on purpose. This is all done for complete devastation. And one of the things that He actually had on there and I have to — I’ll look it up, of which one it was because I have several of them pulled up here again. But He said it was blatant. It was deliberate. What happened in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and those really hard areas, those areas were hit for a specific reason. And again, this is all man-made. All of the stuff, we know they can modify weather, and they’re doing this on purpose. This is another form — and I hate to say this, but it’s so true. This is what the Lord was saying. It’s another form of election interference. This is another form to weaken people, to destroy people more, it’s more to get us to the point where we are so broken spiritually, physically, financially that we will not fight them back. This is another tactic and a strategy of war.
Green then said that California would soon experience an earthquake so “they” can “bury us financially and get ourselves over burdened and way down and so broken and devastated that we will just accept anything they do from here on out.” [I snipped that. See the link for details.]
Numerous Trump allies have promoted the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene may have been controlled or manipulated, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Georgia GOP official Kandiss Taylor, Veterans for America First official Lucretia Hughes, Trump event organizer Clay Clark, and commentator Wayne Allyn Root.
And two other pro-MAGA “prophets,” Lance Wallnau and Hank Kunneman, similarly suggested that God said the hurricanes were unnatural and election interference.
Laugh out loud funny … if not for also such serious misinformation that it is affecting recovery efforts.
(Not impressed by the title, but the content makes up for it — she’s a very reputable YouTuber)
Bekenstein Boundsays
Israel again struck UN bases
So, when exactly does the UN quit wringing its hands and start writing out arrest warrants for the war criminals responsible?
John Moralessays
BB:
So, when exactly does the UN quit wringing its hands and start writing out arrest warrants for the war criminals responsible?
Relax.
Ahem: “Unsustainable things always seem to be ramping up the hardest-ever right before the bottom drops out.”
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Bekenstein Bound @310:
So, when exactly does the UN quit wringing its hands and start writing out arrest warrants
The UN’s ICJ has adjudicated the Palestinian occupation as genocide and illegal. The process of litigation takes years, and that court has no authority to enforce its rulings.
Sometime this fall, […] the International Criminal Court (independent from the UN)—will issue one of two far more consequential rulings.
[…]
ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC) may approve Khan’s application, in which case arrest warrants would likely be issued shortly thereafter. Alternatively, the PTC may tell Khan that Israel should have an opportunity to prove its own legal system is capable of holding Israelis responsible […] a process that could drag on for months. […] The first of these two scenarios was what ICC watchers had anticipated, in the weeks following Khan’s arrest warrant application. Then, the process went sideways.
[…]
“There is no information indicating that [Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant] are being criminally investigated or prosecuted, and indeed the core allegations against them have simply been rejected by Israeli authorities,” Khan told the Chamber.
Israel has rejected the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants […] in filings to the court made late [September] […] based on technical grounds […] the documents challenge the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that Mr. Khan failed to provide sufficient notice of the scope of his inquiry or to give Israel time to show that it is capable of independently investigating the same matters. Under the treaty setting up the International Criminal Court, which Israel is not a party to, a case could be inadmissible in the court if it is already being or will be investigated by a state
[…]
Israel is now asking the I.C.C. to delay the request for arrest warrants […] to show the court that it will address the accusations internally.
[…]
The I.C.C. does have jurisdiction to proceed when a state is unable or unwilling to investigate accusations, or if the state inquiry is conducted in bad faith to protect the accused. And each situation is assessed on a case-by-case basis, so an Israeli inquiry wouldn’t necessarily preclude an I.C.C. prosecution going forward even if the court decides to grant Israel’s initial requests.
The ICC and the ICJ, both of which are based in The Hague, investigate serious crimes but serve different purposes and have different outcomes.
[…]
The ICC was born out of the Rome Statute, an international treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998, to investigate the “gravest crimes of concern to the international community.” It has a relationship with the United Nations but is independent of the world body.
[…]
If a case moves to trial, a panel of three judges will consider the evidence and issue a ruling. When there is a conviction, a suspect can face up to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment in exceptional cases.
The court requires member states—the signatories to the Rome Statute—to cooperate with it. The court relies on member states to arrest and transfer suspects. (In some cases, a summons is issued and a suspect may appear voluntarily).
[…]
Israel is not one of them (neither is the U.S.), so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad. […] Although Palestine is not a recognized state—it has non-member observer status at the UN—it accepted the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute and the ICC in 2014.
neither signed nor acceded to the Statute: Lebanon
[…]
In March 2009, Lebanese Justice Minister said the government had decided not to join for now. The Coalition for the International Criminal Court claimed this was due in part to “intense pressure” from the United States, who feared it could result in the prosecution of Israelis in a future conflict. […] in April 2024 Lebanon’s cabinet decided to submit a declaration to the ICC accepting the court’s jurisdiction over crimes committed on Lebanese territory since 7 October 2023. However, the following month this decision was reversed, and the declaration was not submitted.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Israel has gotten away with doing worse to UN facilities.
on April 18, 1996, […] in then Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon, when the Israeli military fired artillery shells at a United Nations compound, which was sheltering around 800 Lebanese civilians, killing 106 and injuring around 116. Four Fijian United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers were also seriously injured.
[…]
a United Nations investigation which later found that the Israeli shelling was deliberate […] Naftali Bennett, the commander of the Israeli commando unit which had called in the barrage, entered politics, eventually becoming Prime Minister of Israel.
[…] Shelling of UN compound
By April 14, 745 people took shelter in a United Nations compound at Qana, a UN battalion headquarters for 18 years, well-marked on Israeli maps, and bearing white and black UN signs. By April 16, Hezbollah had fired 120 Katyusha rockets into Israel, causing one casualty […] while Israel was firing over 3,000 shells, conducting 200 missile raids a day into Lebanon, and firing from gunboats on the refugee-crowded roads to Beirut.
[Hezbollah fighters fired rockets and mortars at positions 350m, 600m, and 220m from the compound. Israeli Howitzers hit the compound with 13 shells clustering in a manner not likely to have resulted from gross error, with a drone watching above the civilians.]
[…]
The Qana massacre resulted in a wave of international condemnation. As a result of the intense diplomatic pressure that followed, Israel ended Operation Grapes of Wrath before it had originally planned to.
[…] UN General Assembly vote
On 12 May 1997 Arab members of the United Nations financial committee lodged a claim against Israel […] The following month, by a 66 to 2 vote (59 abstentions, United States and Israel voting against), the United Nations General Assembly decided that the $1.7 million cost of repairs to the UNIFIL headquarters should be paid for by Israel.
Votes to reaffirm the resolution that Israel should pay the costs of damage appeared before the General Assembly every year until 2003 with the same pattern—one third for, one third abstaining, two (United States and Israel) against. The United States claims that financial resolutions, such as this, had to be adopted by consensus to apply, and Israel rejected any responsibility for it, claiming that “any damage caused to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)”, is “the direct consequence of terrorist aggression and Lebanese collusion.”
‘Best Up & Coming Military Gear from Finland, Norway, Sweden & Denmark’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Bst5PUoDZg
I hope some of this will become available in Ukraine.
KGsays
The UN’s ICJ has adjudicated the Palestinian occupation as genocide and illegal. – CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@312
Illegal, yes. On the question of genocide, I think it has only said that South Africa’s accusation is “plausible”; for the court to come to a definitive conclusion is likely to take years.
At least 16 people have been confirmed dead in Florida after tornadoes touched down and Hurricane Milton slammed into the state this week, leaving a trail of damage and devastation. Millions of customers are still without electricity.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, since she joined the Court, has taken on a singular, likely uncomfortable mantle. She’s often the only one willing to relitigate fights already lost to the conservative supermajority. Often, she does this alone, either out loud or in writing.
A perfect example of this cropped up during oral arguments on Tuesday, when the Court was considering whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ decision that ghost guns — guns you assemble from a kit — must be regulated like normal guns passed muster.
While her colleagues debated the intricacies of the guns and the rule, Jackson stayed quiet until the round-robin section, when it was her turn to question Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.
“Justice Kagan talked about the problem of the agency potentially taking over what is Congress’ business, and I guess I’m worried about the different concern, which is about the Court taking over what Congress may have intended for the agency to do in this situation,” she said. “All of my questions — the reason why I didn’t really engage with the other part of this is because all of my questions for you stem from that concern.”
The other liberals had moved on to trying to get their colleagues on board with rejecting the gun manufacturers’ frankly insane request to let these untraceable guns promulgate. Jackson was stuck on the underlying issue — why are they litigating this at all? ATF, the agency in charge of knowing about guns and how to regulate them, already observed a problem (the explosion in the use of ghost guns to commit crimes) and addressed it, requiring those guns to have serial numbers and background checks.
She’s fighting a lost battle; this Court is unapologetically hostile to federal agency power, unabashedly committed to the right-wing cause of dismantling the regulatory state. Its overturning of Chevron deference last term was just the opening salvo.
So what Jackson is doing may seem fruitless. She has no chance of winning over her right-wing peers on this argument. But when one political party is stuck in the minority on the Court, this is what they can do: lay the groundwork in dissent for ideological reorientation that can become possible in the future, when that bloc amasses enough justices and the majority swings left.
And in the meantime, in the years before that happens, she can provide an important service too: the equivalent of a main character in a sitcom breaking character, locking eyes with the camera and saying “you guys see that this is all bullshit right?”
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz had some fun at Donald Trump’s expense in Michigan on Friday.
During a campaign event, where Walz also detailed how destructive Trump’s White House stay had been for American workers, Walz went on a run about Trump’s big talk about China—and his “God Bless the USA” Bible.
“Trump’s all talk when it comes to being tough on China. Some of you heard this. We just found out his Trump-branded Bibles, yeah, they’re printed in China,” Walz told the crowd. “This dude even outsourced God to China,” Walz said, eliciting laughs.
“Again, I’m going to try and be generous here,” Walz continued. “I don’t blame him. He didn’t notice the ‘Made in China’ sticker because they put it inside, a place he’s never looked in the Bible.”
Trump has made it clear that he is mostly interested in selling junk to enrich himself while promoting a bigoted Christian Nationalism, and has very little regard for the areas and people that rely on manufacturing jobs.
It is said that all jokes have a little truth behind them. In Trump’s case they’re almost 99% true.
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee, has said on Friday morning that he thinks former President Barack Obama will vote for him over “extremely Low IQ” Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, the former president said: “Obama admits a total lack of enthusiasm for Kamala, especially with Black Men. I think Obama will be voting for me because he doesn’t like the fact that Kamala is an extremely Low IQ Person!”
[…] The Trump rally featured the former Liar-in-Chief bobbin’ and weavin’ much to the delight of some locals. Behind Trump was a sea of hand-held signs touting the GOP ticket. Ordinary citizens including a good number of what seemed to be Scranton firefighters were cheering Trump on. Or were they? If you look at the photo above you would think that Scranton firefighters, some wearing what looked like official uniforms, were out in force supporting the man who has turned the children’s taunt “liar, liar, pants on fire” into a four-alarm trouser blaze.
Scranton firefighters Local 60 was– well– afire to learn that they had endorsed a candidate in the presidential race because the union hadn’t. A close inspection revealed that the uniforms were bogus and none of the firemen holding signs were actually Scranton firemen. The SFD local #60 union chief responded with a firehose of truth to try to put out the fire:
“Local 60 would like to address the rally held earlier today in Scranton for former President Trump and the Office of President of the United States. This is not a political post, rather a clarification post for anyone who sees or may see the event. Multiple CITIZENS were seen with “Scranton Firefighters for Trump” signs at today’s rally. It is noted that no member of Local 60 were carrying those signs as the IAFF has chosen not to endorse a candidate this election. We honor and respect each and every person’s political opinions as well as our members own opinions on what they believe is the right choice for them. We just want to clarify that Local 60 has not endorsed a candidate for the Office of President following the path of the IAFF. The signs seen were not a representation of SFD Local 60 nor an endorsement of any candidate.”— Allen Lucas, Scranton Forefighters Local 60 Union President
The ruse would be funny if it weren’t so subversive. Trump campaign spokesman, Kush Desai, responded to a Scranton Times-Tribune reporter and then added to the original lie with the candidate’s singular diddle— the double down. Desai tells the reporter that the “campaign” had nothing to do with the signs and he had “no idea” where they came from, yet the signs were professionally printed and the men in uniform looked staged. The ex-president was well aware of the firefighters behind him and included them in his remarks:
A little over an hour into the event, Trump references firefighters, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube.
“We got the firefighters endorsed us, you probably heard,” Trump said. The crowd cheered and some of the attendants behind Trump held aloft the ‘Scranton Firefighters for Trump’ signs.
“That’s a very good looking group of human beings,” Trump said. He then went on to speak about the Teamsters and United Auto Workers unions, before coming back to firefighters.
Looking off to his right and directly addressing some people in the crowd, Trump said, “Thank you fellas very much. It’s great. Any fires lately? Have you put out any fires lately? Any big bad ones? You guys have a lot of guts doing what you do, let me tell you.”— The Scranton Times-Trinune, “Scranton firefighters were not holding pro-Trump signs at rally,” by Jim Lockwood
The thing about lies is that they require willing dupes whose duty, from the liar’s perspective is not only to believe but to spread the lie. Well, Kush, the folks in Scranton may be spun from blue-collar stock, but they aren’t dupes. They smelled a rat.
The campaign’s ruse is even more inflammatory, given the planning and execution of the fiction onstage. The authoritarian playbook is generally written with the arrogance of an egoist. Trump believing he can fool enough voters to win an election is the height of arrogance. The lies aren’t even good ones, they are simply pervasive. […]
That he is smarter than, richer than, and more famous than the rest of us is something he has to constantly reassure himself of. His vanity allows no less. He delights in naming others in order to demean them. Nomenclature is something that Trump uses to amuse himself and his followers– “Lil Marco”, “Crooked Joe”, and “Lyin’ Kamala” are all part of an obsession to own their identities, to brand them. When he named his absurd rambling “The Weave” it was a sign that while others recognized his wandering attention as a sign of diminished mental acuity, giving it a name creates cover for his intellectual decline. […]
The phony firefighters he employed as pawns were a glum reminder of his own brand of cosplay as a middle-class everyman, a protector of women, and a defender of democracy. He is none of these. Stephen King once said, “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” […]
[…] “There actually have been studies looking at taking the COVID vaccine and the flu vaccine together, and even in the same arm or in different arms. And the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter,” said Dr. Andrew Pekosz, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
[…] While which arm you get boosted in doesn’t seem to matter much, the timing of the shots does, Pekosz said.
“It’s best to get them both taken as close as possible to each other,” Pekosz explained, “simply because studies have shown if you go in to get one and say that you’ll go in three or four weeks to get the second, many people never actually go back to the pharmacy to get that second vaccine.”
[…] the CDC emphasizes these side effects are mild and short-lived, and are outweighed by the benefits of getting vaccinated.
… Intrigued, Ukrainians soon found out from the fallen debris that they had just witnessed the destruction of Russian’s newest weapon – the S-70 stealth combat drone.
This is no ordinary drone. Named Okhotnik (Hunter), this heavy, unmanned vehicle is as big as a fighter jet but without a cockpit. It is very hard to detect and its developers claim it has “almost no analogy” in the world…
This war has seen many drones but nothing like Russia’s S-70.
It weighs more than 20 tonnes and reputedly has a range of 6,000km (3,700 miles).
Shaped like an arrow, it looks very similar to American X-47B, another stealth combat drone created a decade ago.
The Okhotnik is supposed to be able to carry bombs and rockets to strike both ground and aerial targets as well as conduct reconnaissance.
And, significantly, it is designed to work in conjunction with Russia’s fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets.
It has been under development since 2012 and the first flight took place in 2019.
But until last weekend there was no evidence that it had been used in Russia’s two-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine…
[…] Obama said they need to ask whether anything Trump shakes up would actually be good for them.
“And the reason some people think, ‘Well, I don’t know. I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good.’ Yeah, it was pretty good because it was my economy! We had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him. It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time. Just in case everybody has a hazy memory, he didn’t, he didn’t do nothing except those big tax cuts!”
Obama also went after Trump’s incredible — in the literal sense of the word — lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, pointing out how completely unlike any president ever that was:
“Donald Trump, at a rally, just started making up stories about the Biden administration withholding aid from Republican areas and siphoning off aid to give to undocumented immigrants. Just made the stuff up! Everybody knew it wasn’t true. Even local Republicans said it was not true.”
Obama urged people to watch for a rerun of that following Hurricane Milton:
“We have a guy who will just lie about it to score political points, and this has consequences. People are afraid and they’ve lost everything and now they’re trying to figure out how do I apply for help? […] The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments. My question is: When did that become okay?”
While reminding the audience of Harris’s proposal to give new parents a $6,000 tax credit to help pay for their new babbies, Obama delivered the biggest laugh of the speech, with some help from the crowd.
OBAMA: I remember buying diapers. I remember the first time I went in the store right after Malia was born. I was like, “What? That’s how much diapers cost?” I remember changing diapers. Do you think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?
VOICE IN CROWD: HIS OWN!
OBAMA: Yeah. I almost said that, but I decided I shouldn’t say it.
[…] To close, let’s skip back a bit, to just after Obama tore into Trump about the hurricane lies, when he called out Republicans who glibly put up with it or refuse to challenge Trump about it. Doing that, Obama said, isn’t just cowardly or bad politics. It reinforces a false sense of what strength means.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and of putting people down is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. It never has been. Real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining. Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth, even when it’s inconvenient. Real strength is about helping people who need it, and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves.
“That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that is what I want to see in a president of the United States of America!”
[…] It does help to have Tim Walz on the team, since he embodies that very different vision, call it Dad Masculinity or whatever. Obama alluded to that, too, earlier in the speech:
“Tim is a veteran. He is a teacher. He’s a coach. He’s a hunter. He’s been a great governor, working with Democrats and Republicans to get stuff done. He can also take a vintage truck apart and put it back together again. You think Donald Trump can do that? For that matter, do you think Donald Trump has ever changed a tire in his life? No. I’m just trying to picture it.”
Walz should definitely challenge Trump to change a tire, is what we are saying.
@288 Reginald Selkirk wrote about the muskrat’s ‘generosity’ for storm victims
AND to confirm that —-
The elongated muskrat is a conman and ahole just like tRUMP. I knew he would not be honest and caring towards hurricane victims. It was just confirmed:
The “free” internet Musk offered to Hurricane Helene and Milton victims
comes with a $400-for-Musk catch. https://crooksandliars.com/2024/10/elon-musk-pulls-bait-and-switch-hurricane
And, if you are too busy recovering from the storm to dump starlink after the free ONE month, you immediately, automatically get billed $120 for month two and on, and on.
IIRC, Ukraine got (bought?) starlink equipment and the muskrat turned it all off in support of putin, WTF!!!
KGsays
I’m pleased to report the death of Alex Salmond, former first minister of Scotland. The linked article reports his acquital on various sexual charges, but the harrassment of women he admitted should have led to the end of his public life. He crawled up Trump’s fundament (in the days before the latter stood for president, but when it was already quite clear in Scotland what a shit he was – see the 2011 film You’ve Been Trumped), had his own show on RT (although he did pack it in after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine), and became a leading transphobe. Hopefully, the reactionary-nationalist political party Alba, which he founded and led after leaving the SNP, will now collapse (it has never yet won an election – all its representatives in the UK and Scottish parliaments and on local councils were elected as representatives of the SNP, then defected).
ENTERPRISE, Ala. — The transition from the bustling Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to a small Alabama city on the southernmost tip of the Appalachian mountain range was challenging for Sarah Jacques.
But over the course of a year, the 22-year-old got used to the quiet and settled in. Jacques got a job at a manufacturing plant that makes car seats, found a Creole-language church and came to appreciate the ease and security of life in Albertville after the political turmoil and violence that’s plagued her home country.
Recently, though, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate began promoting debunked misinformation about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, causing crime and “eating pets,” Jacques said there have been new, unforeseen challenges.
“When I first got here, people would wave at us, say hello to us, but now it’s not the same,” Jacques said in Creole through a translator. “When people see you, they kind of look at you like they’re very quiet with you or afraid of you.”
Amid this mounting tension, a bipartisan group of local religious leaders, law enforcement officials and residents across Alabama sees the fallout in Springfield as a cautionary tale. They’ve been taking steps to help integrate the state’s Haitian population in the small cities where they live.
As political turmoil and violence intensify in Haiti, Haitian migrants have embraced a program established by President Joe Biden in 2023 that allows the U.S. to accept up to 30,000 people a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela for two years and offers work authorization. The Biden administration recently announced the program could allow an estimated 300,000 Haitians to remain in the U.S. at least through February 2026.
[…] A representative from Albertville’s school system said that, in the last school year, 34% of the district’s 5,800 students were learning English as a second language — compared to only 17% in 2017. [map at the link]
In August, weeks before Springfield made national headlines, a Facebook post of men getting off a bus to work at a poultry plant led some residents to speculate that the plant was hiring people living in the country illegally.
Representatives for the poultry plant said in an email to The Associated Press that all its employees are legally allowed to work in the U.S.
The uproar culminated in a public meeting where some residents sought clarity about the federal program that allowed Haitians to work in Alabama legally, while others called for landlords to “cut off the housing” for Haitians and suggested that the migrants have a “smell to them,” according to audio recordings.
To Unique Dunston, a 27-year-old lifelong Albertville resident and community activist, these sentiments felt familiar.
“Every time Albertville gets a new influx of people who are not white, there seems to be a problem,” Dunston said.
Dunston runs a store offering free supplies to the community. After tensions boiled over across the country, she put up multiple billboards across town that read, in English, Spanish and Creole, “welcome neighbor glad you came.”
Dunston said the billboards are a way to “push back” against the notion that migrants are unwelcome.
When Pastor John Pierre-Charles first arrived in Albertville in 2006, he said the only other Haitians he knew in the area were his family members.
In 14 years of operation, the congregation at his Creole-language church, Eglise Porte Etroite, has gone from just seven members in 2010 to approximately 300 congregants. He is now annexing classrooms to the church building for English language classes and drivers’ education classes, as well as a podcast studio to accommodate the burgeoning community.
[…] After the fallout from the initial public meetings in August, Pierre-Charles sent a letter to city leadership calling for more resources for housing and food to ensure his growing community could safely acclimate, both economically and culturally.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, to be a bridge,” said Pierre-Charles.
[…] In September, Hanson [Gerilynn Hanson, 54], an electrical contractor and Trump supporter, formed a nonprofit that she hopes will work with Pierre-Charles and other Haitian community leaders to offer more stable housing and English language classes to meet the growing demand.
“We can look at (Springfield) and become them in a year,” Hanson said, referring to the animosity that’s taken hold in the Ohio city, which has been inundated with threats. “We can sit back and do nothing and let it unfold under our eyes. Or we can try to counteract some of that and make it to where everyone is productive and can speak to each other.”
[… In Enterprise, not far from the Alabama-Florida border, cars packed the parking lot of Open Door Baptist Church in September for an event that promised answers about how the growing Haitian population was affecting the city.
After the event, James Wright, the chief of the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe, was sympathetic to the reasons Haitians were fleeing their home but said he worried migrants would affect Enterprise’s local “political culture” and “community values.”
Other attendees echoed fears and misinformation about Haitian migrants being “lawless” and “dangerous.”
[…] Enterprise police Chief Michael Moore said he shared statistics from his department that show no measurable increase in crimes as the Haitian population has grown.
“I think there was quite a few people there that were more concerned about the fearmongering than the migrants,” Moore told the AP.
Moore said his department had received reports of Haitian migrants living in houses that violated city code, but when he reached out to the people in question, the issues were quickly resolved. Since then, his department hasn’t heard any credible complaints about crimes caused by migrants.
“I completely understand that some people don’t like what I say because it doesn’t fit their own personal thought process,” said Moore. “But those are the facts.”
Keir Starmer’s Bafflingly Bad Start as the U.K.’s Prime Minister
The Labour government’s first hundred days in power have been characterized by mistakes, infighting, and drift.
People used to say that Sir Keir Starmer would make a good Prime Minister because he wasn’t very political. The leader of the Labour Party, which won a huge victory at this summer’s general election, was always fairly wooden on the campaign trail. He wasn’t a vision guy. He didn’t understand why he—a former prosecutor of terrorists, a knight of the realm in his early sixties—was expected to talk about his parents so much. The truism, among people who worked with Starmer and knew him well, was that 10 Downing Street was where he belonged: that he was serious and dedicated, a truly effective leader. It would be as Prime Minister that the people would come to know, and love, the real Keir. In a largely edifying biography by Tom Baldwin, a former Labour communications director, Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner, described her boss as “the least political person I know in politics.” I think it was a compliment. After fourteen years of turbulence and performative self-harm at the hands of the Conservative Party, the British population was ready for a little less politics, too.
But maybe not quite so little. The first hundred days of the new Labour government have been underwhelming in the extreme. As Prime Minister, Starmer has delivered a minor scandal over alleged corruption, a lot of office gossip, and a depressing atmosphere of economic constraint. The political calendar has been unfortunate. Labour won power just before the summer parliamentary break, which was followed by the annual party-conference season, giving the new government limited time to introduce legislation. But the rest has been, in the British political euphemism of the moment, missteps.
A major part of Starmer’s public image is his workaday-ness. So it hasn’t looked great that, since April, he has disclosed receiving nearly forty thousand pounds’ worth of gifts in kind—including high-end clothes, eyeglasses, and the loan of an apartment—from a single Party donor. By coincidence, or not, the same donor, a TV executive and Labour peer named Waheed Alli, was given a security pass to Downing Street. The scandal, such as it is, has become known as “passes for glasses.” All of Alli’s gifts, along with other donations, were recorded and itemized, dutifully, by Starmer’s office—the cost of “multiple pairs of glasses” came to two thousand four hundred and eighty-five pounds—and then were seized on by his political opponents as evidence of sleaze and the new Prime Minister taking to the high life. (Since June, Starmer and his family received a total of ten tickets, worth more than seven thousand pounds, to see Taylor Swift, and four more tickets to see horse races in Doncaster.) Adding to the awkwardness, on October 2nd, Alli was put under an investigation by the House of Lords for allegedly failing to register his own financial interests properly.
There have also been reports—from the opening weeks on—of dysfunction among Starmer’s closest advisers. In March, 2023, Starmer hired Sue Gray, one of the U.K.’s most senior civil servants, to be his chief of staff. The appointment was controversial. […] After the election, however, gossip spread among Labour insiders—and into the newspapers—that Gray was a micromanager with poor political instincts. […] (It didn’t help that Gray’s son, a newly elected Labour Member of Parliament named Liam Conlon, was another recipient of Alli’s donations.)
The result has been incoherence; a sense of governing without meaning. Since taking over a country and an economy hobbled by years of underinvestment and political instability, Starmer and his ministers have done little more than complain about how hard everything is. […] Both Labour and Starmer’s popularity ratings have tanked.
[…] This week, as the hundredth day of Starmer’s government approached, it was impossible not to compare the sense of drift with the dynamic early months of Tony Blair’s Labour premiership, in 1997, which followed a brisk “route map” of policy announcements. […]
Starmer’s own behavior has been erratic. He has veered between attempting to stay aloof from petty criticism and giving long, overwrought explanations. (The Prime Minister said that he needed to borrow Alli’s eighteen-million-pound apartment during the election campaign so his son could have somewhere quiet to study for his high-school exams. “Any parent would have made the same decision,” he told Sky News.) […]
[…] On October 2nd, Starmer announced that he had paid back some six thousand pounds’ worth of gifts that he had received since becoming Prime Minister and that the rules on hospitality for ministers would be modified. Four days later, Gray quit as Starmer’s chief of staff and was replaced by McSweeney. […]
On Wednesday, I went to see Starmer respond to Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. P.M.Q.’s, as they are known, are British politics at its silliest and most self-referential. But they are also important tests of a leader’s mettle and the energy of the parliamentary parties at their back. Starmer arrived in the chamber a moment before noon. He took a sip of water and cracked a rueful smile. As a former prosecutor, the baying of the Commons does not usually faze him. His main interlocutor this week was Rishi Sunak, the previous Prime Minister and outgoing leader of the Conservatives.
Starmer was in a hurry to name-check things that his government was actually doing: introducing a new bill to strengthen workers’ rights and hosting an upcoming international investment summit. Sunak used his questions to allude to Gray’s departure and the Alli donations and to catch Starmer out on potential tax increases, but the Prime Minister used almost every reply throughout the session—on subjects that ranged from access to family physicians in the Midlands to Basingstoke’s high street, from hospices in Bolton to flooding in Gosport—to hammer the Tories’ record in office and the wreckage they left behind. He talked about a twenty-two-billion-pound “black hole” in the public finances. Each time Starmer let fly at the Conservatives, the Labour M.P.s behind him cheered lustily. It was blunt, but restorative.
[…] Starmer still has time, but not much more, to find his story. ♦
More at the link.
KGsays
Lynna, OM@333,
I’m absolutely no admirer of Starmer, but I’ve been truly gobsmacked at the degree of political incompetence he and those around him have shown in his first 100 days as PM. The exposure of the expensive gifts he’s received (while in opposition) from Lord Alli came alongside a decision to limit a benefit which everyone over state pension age got to help with winter heating bills to the very poorest (those receiving a benefit called “pension credit”) in that group. (I get it, I can well do without it, donate it to some good cause, but there are many who don’t get pension credit but do need it). And a failure to remove a restriction on a benefit poorer parents get to help with the costs of children – the restriction means it only applies to the first two children. So Starmer has appeared greedy, entitled, callous and out-of-touch. In addition, the degree to which and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have stressed how things would get worse before they get better, and threatened cuts in the forthcoming budget, has caused a slump in consumer confidence which threatens to cause real damage to the economy. He has also continued to demonstrate a considerable degree of vindictiveness, suspending 7 Labour MPs for voting for an opposition amendment that would have removed the two-child limit, and refusing Emily Thornberry, a senior member of the shadow cabinet before the election, a place in his government, apparently because she once criticised him.
Incidentally, saying he won a “huge victory” at the election is only part of the story. Yes, Labour won nearly 2/3 of the seats, but on fractionally over 1/3 of the vote – and fewer actual votes than Labour got under Corbyn in the disastrous defeat of 2019. The “huge victory” was not down to McSweeney so much as to Trump suckup Nigel Farage, who split the right-wing vote.
Starmer still has time, but not much more, to find his story.
Yes, the problem is, there’s no evidence he has or had any goal other than to become PM and provide competent centrist government, and on current evidence, it’s unclear he can manage the latter.
Donald Trump ‘s aides have requested a slew of stepped-up security measures, including military aircraft capable of shooting down surface-to-air missiles to transport the former president in the race’s final stretch, amid growing concerns over threats from Iran in a campaign already shaken by violence.
He is likely to get at least some of what his campaign has asked for. Approval for this would come from Biden directly and after 2 assassination attempts it would look bad to not provide some. That neither assassin seems to be connected to Iran doesn’t matter. The real point is that Trump is complaining that Biden is trying to block his campaign by limiting his access to security and Biden will want to head that off.
John Moralessays
Yes, the problem is, there’s no evidence he has or had any goal other than to become PM and provide competent centrist government, and on current evidence, it’s unclear he can manage the latter.
So, providing competent centrist government is not good enough?
(I would personally settle for that)
KGsays
So, providing competent centrist government is not good enough? – John Morales@336
No, it most certainly is not. Both the UK and the world are mired in a worsening polycrisis – wars, galloping inequality, the rise of fascism, the unaccountable power of the tech lords, and the looming climate and wider environmental emergency. Of course the scale of the polycrisis is such that any UK PM could only make a small contribution to dealing with it, but Starmer has already shown himself completely lacking in the kind of leadership desperately needed, for example by failing to stop arming Israel, and by yielding to the fossil fuel lobby by promising £21bn for the “carbon capture and storage” boondoggle, rather than serious measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
John Moralessays
Fair enough, KG.
Alas, I don’t see anyone better on the horizon, but at least PMs can be changed without an election, if it comes to that.
At an Oct. 5 rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump told a seemingly apocryphal story about a decades-old women’s weightlifting record that was purportedly broken with ease by a man who had “never lifted before” but cheated the system by identifying as trans. A Canadian women’s powerlifter named April Hutchinson, who seemed to believe that the former president was referring to a specific trans rival of hers from the province of Alberta, posted a clip of the anecdote (which Trump tells frequently) on Twitter/X. The details Hutchinson gave, though, don’t really line up with the vague scenario that Trump describes in his stump speech, in which he sometimes claims to have watched actual footage of a woman losing a competition to the trans lifter in question.
Fortunately Jay Richards, director of the DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank, was there to square the circle. “Classic Trump hyperbole,” he declared. “Directionally correct but carefully engineered to drive critics crazy over the details.” Problem solved: Trump wasn’t exaggerating, and he definitely wasn’t just getting mad about something that never happened—he was being directionally correct.
And being directionally correct—or sometimes directionally accurate—is, according to many of Donald Trump’s supporters, something that Donald Trump is very good at. His claims about trans athletes, immigrants, and the 2020 election might not be strictly true, these advocates say, but they are directionally so, because he’s talking about a real problem, or at least a feeling that there’s a real problem.
Two Georgia election workers have reached a settlement in their defamation lawsuit against a Missouri-based conservative website that falsely accused them of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing earlier this week.
The lawsuit against The Gateway Pundit, its owner Jim Hoft and his brother Joe Hoft “has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement,” lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss said Friday.
Monday’s filing in St. Louis City Circuit Court didn’t give any terms of the settlement, but said actions under the agreement are supposed to be completed by March 29. Both sides asked a judge to postpone the case until then, when they expect to request a dismissal…
Nearly 70 articles cited as defamatory in the lawsuit were no longer available Friday on The Gateway Pundit website, The Associated Press found.
The company that owns The Gateway Pundit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but a judge dismissed the case in July, finding the company was solvent and had filed the suit in bad faith in an effort to frustrate the lawsuit by Freeman and Moss…
Freeman and Moss also sued others, including including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and One America News Network, saying they pushed Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen, which led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.
Freeman and Moss are trying to collect a $148 million defamation judgment they won against Giuliani for his false ballot fraud claims.
OAN settled with Freeman and Moss in 2022…
As the allegations spread, Freeman received emails, text messages and threatening phone calls, and strangers showed up at her house, the lawsuit said. The FBI concluded on Jan. 6, 2021, that she wasn’t safe at home, and she relocated for two months. She abandoned her business selling clothing.
Moss’ teenage son was bombarded with threatening messages after harassers found her old phone number, which he was using, the lawsuit said. Because she previously lived with her grandmother, the lawsuit said, strangers showed up at her grandmother’s house at least twice and tried to enter to make a “citizen’s arrest.”
What started as an appealing character trait has quickly become one of Tim Walz’s biggest problems: His way with words.
Exaggerations from the 60-year-old Minnesota governor’s past, combined with a series of verbal gaffes, have helped define the Democratic vice presidential nominee during a critical two-month period since he joined Kamala Harris atop the party’s 2024 ticket. Selected in part for his Midwestern plainspokenness and ability to connect to people, Walz’s introduction to the nation’s voters has also been hampered by his having to answer for why he cannot seem to say the right things.
“Welcome to the NFL,” said Chris Pack, a Republican strategist who argued that while “Tim Walz may be a nice guy in Minnesota” the national political arena will hold candidates more accountable for what you say…
But apparently only if you’re a Democrat. The article makes no mention of Vance’s many falsehoods, nor his practice of doubling down on them even after they have been called out. And Trump’s regular stream of lies? Ha ha ha.
“A Ukrainian military intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter, said “several thousand” North Korean infantry soldiers are undergoing training in Russia now and could be deployed to the front line in Ukraine by the end of this year.
The official said North Korean officers are already on the ground in Russia-occupied Ukraine to observe Russian forces and study the battlefield, but Kyiv hasn’t seen any North Korean units fighting yet.”
More text, presented as screen grabs, is available at the link.
[…] Hoping the Russians were correct when they posted this:
Based on the realities observed directly in the Special Military Operation (SMO) zone, European countries have not only failed to stop but have significantly increased the supply of artillery ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The information suggesting that the enemy’s artillery is experiencing a shortage of ammunition does not reflect reality. Moreover, we continue to report and identify signs that the enemy is preparing for a full-scale offensive.
Text in the paragraph above is excerpted from a longer presentation of news, available here: Link
Conservative organizers of the “Million Women” worship rally billed the event — and the November election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from satanic forces.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
[…] For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.
“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”
Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.
“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us, God!”
[…] Thousands of women came wearing pink shirts emblazoned with the words “Don’t Mess With Our Kids” — the name and slogan of an anti-LGBTQ activist group that claims library books, public school teachers and pop culture are tricking children into changing genders. [OMG. How many times have these groups been told lies?]
Susan Marsh, who drove from Maryland, said she attended because she fears if Democrats maintain power, her 10-month old grandson will grow up in a nation where he’s pressured to identify as a girl. As she sang and prayed, Marsh waved a large Appeal to Heaven flag — a prominent symbol of the Christian movement to end the separation of church and state in America.
[…] Maryn Freitag was part of a group of about 50 people who traveled from Minnesota. She said she came “to stand with the man who God has selected as the president.” She then gestured to her hat, which spelled out “Trump 2024” in shimmering rhinestones.
Freitag refused to contemplate what would happen if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris: “I don’t even want to go there,” she said.
Sandi Woskie, another member of the Minnesota contingent, overheard the comment. She leaned in and said: “Think Armageddon.”
“That’s right,” Freitag said. “If we don’t turn this nation back to the Lord, we’re on a fast slide into the abyss with no return.”
Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the nonprofit Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Maryland, said those comments are representative of a dangerous and increasingly widespread embrace of apocalyptic political messaging on the Christian right.
Taylor, who attended the march Saturday as part of his research, has spent years studying the New Apostolic Reformation and its unwavering support for Trump. He documented in his book, “The Violent Take It by Force,” how false claims about widespread election fraud by Engle and other Christian nationalist leaders helped fuel the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Taylor said he worries that the dire messaging — and the portrayal of Trump as God’s chosen candidate to defeat evil Democrats — could set the stage for more violence. [Yes. That is worrying.]
“This is about activating the most ardent Christian supporters of Donald Trump, putting them into an apocalyptic mindset that says this election is do or die for America,” Taylor said. “The danger is that these folks can easily be converted over into Capitol rioters if the right circumstances come about and if their leaders give them that guidance.”
Taylor — and many others in attendance — noted that the crowd was more racially and ethnically diverse than most conservative political rallies. Churches from across the country, including some majority-Black denominations, chartered buses for the event. [Well that’s a bad sign.] Organizers chose to hold the event on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, because it is a day to atone for sin.
LaTrece Curry, a Black mother who said she voted for Barack Obama in 2008, drove from Ohio with her husband and four children. She said her support for Trump — a twice-divorced billionaire who’s facing a range of criminal charges related to his business practices and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election — has led to divisions and arguments with her Black friends and family members. But she believes he’s the only candidate who will set America back on a moral course.
“I do think it is a last stand,” Curry said. “But God has given us so much time. Now judgment will come.”
Phil Heilman drove with his wife from Florida. They learned about the event while attending a get-out-the-vote rally in Georgia hosted by Lance Wallnau, an evangelist who coined and popularized the Seven Mountains Mandate — a growing belief on the American right that says conservative Christians are called to occupy positions of power in seven key spheres of society, including business, education, media and government. Wallnau was among the speakers Saturday.
Heilman said he gets his news from FlashPoint, a TV program that reaches hundreds of thousands of followers with a blend of pro-Trump political commentary and prophetic messages about God’s divine plans for America. [Mainlining the toxic sludge.]
He worries about what will happen if Trump loses, but he said he has faith that Satan will be defeated even if Harris and the Democrats prevail.
“If that happens, it’s not going to be a political solution,” Heilman said. “God will provide other opportunities to take the country back that will be more surreptitious, or underground.”
Heilman, holding a large, red “Jesus Is King” flag over his shoulder, didn’t expand on what that might look like.
One way or another, he said, “righteousness will prevail.”
birgerjohanssonsays
Lynna, OM @ 343
I sincerely hope they make a documentary of this event, full of unintended humor. It will be an obvious pick for God Awful Movies, alongside ‘Bells Of Innocence’ or ‘International Guerillas’.
birgerjohanssonsays
I hope this link will work.
Countries in Europe that have a higher quality of life that the US
‘European countries that have a higher quality of life than the US’
.https://www.facebook.com/share/462zz4Ro7JnHykDE/
Switzerland is not a surprise, nor is The Netherlands. I am a bit surprised Germany did not make it, but they have had an economic hangover for some time.
“Welcome to the NFL,” said Chris Pack, a Republican strategist who argued that while “Tim Walz may be a nice guy in Minnesota” the national political arena will hold candidates more accountable for what you say…
Reginald ~ But apparently only if you’re a Democrat. The article makes no mention of Vance’s many falsehoods, nor his practice of doubling down on them even after they have been called out. And Trump’s regular stream of lies? Ha ha ha.
Well, it is from Yahoo News. It’s an appropriate name. A whole article that is attempting to smear Walz for something that isn’t remotely true is generally called propaganda, no matter what Mr Republican Yahoo claims.
By welcoming Tim Walz into the NFL, I assume the strategist suffered a football related head injury of some sort, as he is obviously confusing the 2024 election with the Super Bowl.
It’s almost comical that he is implying that Walz is some sort of provincial dolt who is constantly making verbal blunders because he is stunned and dazzled by the big city.
Tim Walz was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, and the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2019. He was re-elected to Congress five times, and then he ran for Governor and won. Twice.
It’s disturbing that the strategist thinks being nice is something to sneer about? Good manners are free, but that doesn’t mean Minnesotans aren’t equally capable of using the other type of “Minnesota Nice” behavior that smiles oh-so politely while plotting the unfortunate event that will ruin your day. Passive aggression is an Art.
A group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration said its computer systems were breached, marking the second known instance that people supporting the former president have been the target of a cyberattack.
The America First Policy Institute discovered the breach last week. It would not say what materials were compromised…
Reginald Selkirksays
@348: Yahoo News is an aggregator. That piece originated with Sam Woodward of USA Today.
John Moralessays
“A group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration said [blah]”
Very credible, is any group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration.
At the heart of the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, carved into pink sandstone cliffs, lies an elaborate monument known as the Khaznah, or the Treasury.
And buried beneath that edifice, archaeologists recently discovered, is a tomb with at least 12 human skeletons and artifacts that are estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.
Archaeologists led by Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research, unearthed the ancient tomb…
Creasman and his team performed ground-penetrating radar — a remote sensing technique that uses radar pulses to detect underground objects — earlier this year to see whether the physical features on the left, where the original tombs were found, matched those on the right. The detections revealed strong similarities among the two sides, and it was the proof they needed to receive permission from the Jordanian government to dig beneath the Treasury…
With a film crew, the team excavated the newly uncovered tomb in August. But the real surprise was what lay within the tomb. While many tombs uncovered within Petra are found empty or disturbed, the chamber was filled with complete skeletal remains and grave goods made from bronze, iron and ceramic. The intact burial found beneath the Treasury provides rare insight into the lives of the Nabataeans, ancient Arabian nomads whose desert kingdom thrived during fourth century BC to AD 106, Creasman said….
Interesting stuff.
Among the artifacts were several vessels, with one skeleton found clutching a ceramic chalice that resembled the shape of the Holy Grail…
Oh crikey, that’s a buzz kill. The “Holy Grail” is fictional, and depictions of it in works of fiction vary quite a bit.
John Moralessays
Reginald @352, I refer you to my #339.
Tethyssays
A detail about the person who made the stupid grail comparison in the CNN report about the tomb in Petra
Josh Gates, host of Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown.”
Raiders of the Ark is not a documentary.
The holy grail has always been an entirely fictitious literary device.
If he knew anything about Archeology he would know that including a drinking vessel in grave goods was a very common practice in multiple cultures. Sometimes they would include enough vessels and tableware to hold a feast.
Those burials aren’t even dated yet but the fact that they are Nabatean means that they have absolutely nothing to do with Jewish or Christian history.
JMsays
@351 John Morales: Politico run down on AFPI
America First Policy Institute is trying to lay a groundwork for a new Trump administration and is filled with loyalists from the previous Trump administration. It has no official connection to the Trump campaign but Trump said he approved of it’s creation. It is likely to be important if Trump does get elected.
About a month ago, Rosenberg predicted that a slew of polls by Republican organizations would flood the zone, showing Trump leading — and, like clockwork, it has happened.
It’s the same tactic the Republicans used in 2022. Then they created the impression of a possible red wave by publicizing a lot of polls by Republican leaning groups. Now they are pushing the idea that Trump is moving ahead by pushing polls from right wing organizations.
birgerjohanssonsays
US version :
‘Have I Got News For You US ‘
StevoRsays
Don’t tell those in Florida (perhaps at some level they already know hence why such extreme denial – unhelpful speculation..) but What Will Our World Look Like at 4 Degrees? PBS Terra
under 15 mins long – note the 3 mins 25 econds mark & note it may happen faster given the conservative nature of science and possible under-estaimation factors and that there’s also storm frequency & severity to consider among much more..
Will future historians look at this years Helene & Milton storms as the beginning of the end for Florida maybe?
His claims about trans athletes […] might not be strictly true, these advocates say, but […] he’s talking about a real problem, or at least a feeling that there’s a real problem.
From the article: “A claim that is directionally correct, it seems, is simply one that the person using the phrase wants to be true.”
Even as they retreat to truthiness, they still faceplant.
More than half of the proposed legislation around transgender rights [in 2021 were] about limiting sports participation […] But nationally, these proposed laws are unpopular. […] Opposition is consistent across the political spectrum with two-thirds of Democrats, Republicans and independents all in agreement. […] Some of the lawmakers supporting the bans say they know of no transgender athletes competing in their states, but that they consider the bills to be proactive.
“They have an interest in keeping the base riled up about one thing or another, and when one issue fades, as with same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, they’ve got to find something else,” […] [From the 1970s] Weyrich would continue to test issue after issue to keep evangelicals voting, including abortion. This idealized rewind to 1950s America would systematically challenge the basic rights gained by Black Americans, LGBTQ+ people and those with disabilities. “As they were searching for different issues, I think they understood that any issue that had some sort of connection to sexuality or sexual behavior was going to work for them,”
[…]
“It’s staggering how quickly [marriage] disappeared as an issue,” Balmer said “And so, they almost frantically began looking for something else. And of course, the trans thing was the next thing on the horizon.”
[…]
In 2020, […] white evangelicals made up just 28 percent of the vote, and [LGBTQ+] equality voters had jumped to 37 percent of the electorate.
[…]
there’s a reason why anti-trans bills still have a foothold. “Even as they’ve shrunk as part of the population, [white evangelicals] are still showing up to vote in disproportionate numbers, in much higher numbers of their proportion of the population,” he said. In this, Balmer sees a desperate last gasp.
in poll after poll, even Republicans place trans issues relatively low in their lists of concerns. Trans panic as a wedge issue also hasn’t been electorally successful […] Anti-trans politics had just one thing going for it: Attacks on trans people were what differentiated Ron DeSantis from Donald Trump. […] Republican voters needed to be primed to see his signature issue as being of paramount importance. […] Now the candidate’s balloon has burst, but the panic rages on.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbfVcgser3I
Unsurprisingly, the art-school reject ignored advice, making the Panther combat debute a disaster. Those who think the Pershing should have been used in Normandy should take note of what happens when you rush an AFW into service.
Bekenstein Boundsays
Lynna@325:
Trump believing he can fool enough voters to win an election is the height of arrogance.
Why? He did it once before.
Reginald Selkirk@353:
Among the artifacts were several vessels, with one skeleton found clutching a ceramic chalice that resembled the shape of the Holy Grail…
“He chose … poorly.”
StevoRsays
In case he wins another term in the White House, former President Donald Trump seems to have big plans for one close adviser, Mike Davis. “We want him in a very high capacity,” Trump said Friday at a rally in Colorado, where Davis has had a house for years. If certain people in Trump’s inner circle get their way, “high capacity” could mean Davis serves as U.S. attorney general or acting attorney general. …(Snip)..Davis listed his main objectives: fire “a lot of people” in the executive branch; indict Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election; deport “10 million people and growing,” or about 3% of the country’s population; detain “a lot of people” in Guantanamo Bay and “the D.C. gulag”; and pardon those charged over the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We’re going to put kids in cages. It’s going to be glorious,” Davis said of migrant children.
former President Donald Trump seems to have big plans for [blah]
At least to the credulous.
Bah.
StevoRsays
@ ^John Morales : It seems like a legit news article and concern in this case. (news report in # 365.) What makes you think this isn’t credible?
StevoRsays
A nearby alien planet is the first of its kind, new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest.Located around 100 light-years away from Earth, the exoplanet is shrouded in a thick envelope of steam. This world, designated GJ 9827 d, is around twice the size of Earth, three times more massive than our planet, and has an atmosphere almost entirely composed of water vapor. “This is the first time we’re ever seeing something like this,” team member and former University of Michigan undergraduate student Eshan Raul ..(says – ed.)
Live that is.. Looks like it went extremely well aand there was successful splashdown for Starship & a successful booster catch too! Amazing stuff.
The latest Starship launch by SpaceX was Starship Flight 5, a test flight that lifted off on Oct. 13 and saw the successful first landing and capture of the Super Heavy booster.
[…] Earlier this week, the site [the conservative blog “The Gateway Pundit”] settled with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two former Georgia election workers. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
“Georgia officials concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020. The results of this investigation indicate that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night,” said the note published to the website Saturday morning by the publication’s founder and editor, Jim Hoft. “A legal matter with this news organization and the two election workers has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement.”
The Gateway Pundit wrote a series of articles about the 2020 presidential election amplifying spurious claims that Freeman, Moss and former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer helped rig the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.
The idiocy of the big media’s dismissing Harris’s interviewers can be refuted simply by its massive and varying audiences: Stern draws an estimated 10 million listeners, and his audience is three-quarters male. Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy is the number-one podcast on Spotify, and reaches 5 million listeners a week, overwhelmingly female. The View is the number-one daytime talk show, averaging 2.5 million viewers, most of them women. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is the top-rated nighttime talk show, also averaging 2.5 million viewers. Harris’s 60 Minutes appearance drew 5.7 million voters, second only to Monday Night Football. No ratings are available yet for the Univision Town Hall.
It’s mathematically dubious to simply add up the shows’ viewership, since some people watch more than one, but let’s do it anyway: More than 25 million people potentially viewed Harris’s media swing; millions more likely saw the Univision special.
But we all know quantity is not quality. So how did Harris do? […] Quick summary: She rocked it, dealing with tough questions and funny ones, showcasing policy and empathy, unapologetically centering women, while not ignoring men. […] those critics are mainly jealous that they are no longer the gatekeepers.
John Roberts Knows He Lost the Public. Does He Care?
[…] Roberts, according to observers, “was shaken by the adverse public reaction to his decision affording Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution. His protestations that the case concerned the presidency, not Trump, held little currency.” […]
The chief justice was meant to be the one with the savvy to understand the stakes for the court and the country. But Roberts has either developed a tin ear when it comes to public opinion, or—more worrying still—he has not just “frozen out” the liberal justices, as Kantor and Liptak [NYT] put it last month, but has actually frozen out any feedback or media sources that might have warned him that the public mood was not going to be welcoming of near-blanket immunity from a coup-fomenting president, even if that decision came trussed up in magisterial language about the separation of powers and the safeguarding of the “unitary executive.” […]
At minimum, the fact that the new John Roberts may be tuning out any of the voices that are critical of the high court’s current public approval trajectory would explain why he has failed absolutely to take seriously the ethics violations of his colleagues; failed to show up for congressional hearings when summoned; and even seemingly failed to concern himself with the court’s nosediving public confidence numbers… And once you have lost your ability to read the room—because you think the room is full of liars, whiners, and liberal operatives—you are going to keep misjudging how much rank partisanship the American public will tolerate.
In an attack on the “woke” military, Trump used the famously dark Kubrick film to display the ideal fighting force. It’s part of selling a real plan to remake the war machine.
On Sunday [today], former President Donald Trump posted on X a video he had debuted a few days earlier at a rally: A montage decrying the “woke” military, showing clips of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket—a film, famously, about the dark cost to the human soul of creating a war machine—as an example of the halcyon days of a battle-hardened Army to which we must return.
“WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY!” Trump wrote. His post was accompanied by a 94-second edited video alternating clips of a screaming general from the film Full Metal Jacket with shots of Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine—the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official—and TikTok videos of people changing from military garb into drag queen ensembles.
The clips from Full Metal Jacket are labeled “President Trump,” while those featuring LGBTQ people are labeled “Comrade Kamala.” The video ends with a Trumpian exhortation: “LET’S MAKE OUR MILITARY GREAT AGAIN.”
“Absolutely,” Elon Musk, right-wing owner of X, replied to Trump’s post. “The military’s job is to defend America, not engage in social activism.”
The clip is not just absurd. Beneath it is a real aim. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that created Project 2025 has decried “the rise of wokeness in the military.” And as my colleague Noah Lanard wrote back in 2022, the former president has made clear to his inner circle that going after “woke” generals would be a priority if he’s reelected.
What, exactly, would this look like? I’m not sure if Trump knows. But Project 2025 offers some clues, stating that “those with gender dysphoria should be expelled from military service” […] The Heritage Foundation, in its critiques on “wokeness in the military” attacks the familiar suspects: DEI initiatives, critical race theory, LGBTQ people.
With Trump and Harris now tied in a dead heat just three weeks out from the election, according to a new NBC News national poll, it’s also worth remembering Trump has reportedly flirted with a return to mandatory military service.
“Trump suggests heckler should ‘get the hell knocked out of her’ after rally.”
The remarks were part of a dark speech at a California rally where Trump called the U.S. an “occupied country.”
[…] Trump suggested that a heckler would later get “the hell knocked out of her” during an insult-laced speech here Saturday that portrayed a dark image of the country and demonized undocumented immigrants.
As Trump called the Nov. 5 election a “chance to send a message,” he stopped his remarks and turned to the crowd.
“Back home to mommy, she goes back home to mommy,” Trump said, resuming his speech and appearing to address a heckler. “‘Was that you darling?’ And she gets the hell knocked out of her. Her mother’s a big fan of ours, you know that right? Her father, her mother. You always have that.”
It was not the first time Trump has used violent language to attack hecklers who interrupt his rallies. […]
During his Saturday speech in Coachella, Trump repeated falsehoods about migrants and sought to portray the country in apocalyptic terms. He described the elections on Nov. 5 as “liberation day,” comparing the United States to an “occupied country.”
“We are known all throughout the world now as an occupied country,” Trump said. “We’re like an occupied country. We got people taking over parts of Colorado, we have people taking over other states, a lot of states don’t want to talk about it, because they’re embarrassed … But it’s no different really than if we lost a war.”
Trump used similar language on Friday, when he visited Aurora, Colo. Trump has promised to launch a deportation program called “Operation Aurora” to dismantle “illegal migrant criminal networks” operating in the United States, under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The law was last invoked during World War II to intern immigrants of Japanese, German and Italian descent.
[…] In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Trump has leaned into an anti-immigrant message. Earlier this week, he suggested that undocumented immigrants who commit crimes have “bad genes.” While speaking here Saturday, Trump described the border as the top issue and continued to portray undocumented immigrants as criminals, even as federal data shows that the vast majority of people arrested at the southern border do not have criminal convictions. […]
The California rally capped off a controversial [“controversial”? How about “alarmingly unacceptable” or “beyond the pale”]week for the former president during which he said he had been to Gaza when he hadn’t; suggested CBS News should lose its broadcasting license; continued to spread misinformation about the Biden administration’s hurricane relief efforts; described “The View” co-host’s Sunny Hostin as a “dummy”; and insulted the city of Detroit while giving a speech there.
[…] Trump’s remarks in California carried the same themes that he has featured in swing states. He repeatedly mispronounced Harris’s first name. He warned about being “very close to World War III.” He described Democrats as “professional thieves.”
And he continued to insult both Harris and other opponents. He referred to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as Gavin “New-scum.” He jabbed at former GOP primary rival Chris Christie’s weight. And he called Adam Schiff, the Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat in California, unattractive and repeated his frequent criticisms of the size of Schiff’s neck.
“Pencil neck!” A woman in the crowd yelled as others cackled.
“Tampon Tim!” a man shouted as Trump spoke, referring to the nickname MAGA supporters have given to Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz. Trump has used the phrase, too.
“She’s a ho!” others yelled as Trump moved on to Harris, using a term for a sexually promiscuous woman.
The audience grew especially animated when Trump pointed out the “fake news” watching from the press pen, jumping up on their seats to boo and give thumbs down in what has become a Trump rally tradition.
[…] During his speech, Trump once again threatened that, if he became president, he would withhold funds for California wildfires if Newsom didn’t change his water policies. The remark came at the same time that Trump has been criticizing the Biden administration for its allegedly slow response to hurricanes in the Southeast.
“We’ll say, Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the forest fires that you have,” Trump said.
What a parade of dull-wittedness and noxious prejudices.
Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday issued a series of dire warnings about a potential future Trump administration, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that people ought to “carefully” consider what another Trump presidency would look like.
“Donald Trump believes he will be immune for anything he does once he’s in office,” Cheney, a fierce Trump critic, told moderator Kristen Welker.
[…] “He will not respect the rulings of our courts, and people have to realize our courts can’t enforce their own rulings. So if a president refuses to carry out his obligation to do so, then we are no longer a nation of laws.”
“The people that stopped him from his worst desires last time around won’t serve again,” she added.
Cheney also declined to disagree with remarks from retired Gen. Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and President Joe Biden, calling Trump “a fascist to the core” in a forthcoming book by Bob Woodward.
“I have tremendous respect for for Gen. Milley, and I see no reason to disagree with that assessment,” Cheney said.
[…] Cheney said Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol for hours while the then-president watched without condemning them, were “fundamentally cruel,” drawing a comparison to Trump’s repeated false statements that the federal government under Biden is preventing aid from going to hurricane-stricken areas. […]
“Think about the fact our fellow citizens are in dire straits, they’re in dire needs, people’s lives are at risk, and he’s lying to them for his own political gain about where they can get relief,” Cheney said. “That kind of cruelty makes somebody unfit.” [I agree.]
The former congresswoman also warned that another Trump administration would bring an “erratic and a chaotic” foreign policy agenda because she said “Donald Trump is embracing tyrants. Donald Trump loves tyrants. He idolizes them.”
“JD Vance and Donald Trump both support a very isolationist foreign policy and an erratic and a chaotic foreign policy,” Cheney said, referring to the Republican senator from Ohio, who is the former president’s running mate. Cheney cited an internationalist foreign policy, including strong support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia, as an area where she agrees with Harris.
[…] “that’s why it’s so important for people to focus on the fact that I am supporting her now, and that there’s such a broad coalition that’s coming together to support her.”
“It’s based in part on who she is, on the fact that she will lead with a sincere heart, on the fact that she is somebody who’s dedicated her life to public service, and looking at what Donald Trump poses, the kind of of chaotic, absolute depravity that he would bring if he were ever to be elected again,” Cheney added.
The former congresswoman also criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who appeared on the program before her, for saying there was a peaceful transfer of power to Biden after Trump lost in 2020.
[…] Cheney disputed Johnson’s claim, pointing to the Jan. 6 riot as evidence that the transfer of power was not peaceful.
Johnson “has a record repeatedly of doing things that he knows to be wrong, that he knows to be unconstitutional, in order to placate Donald Trump,” Cheney said, citing Johnson’s role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. “And frankly, you saw that sycophancy just now on display. So I think that it is very concerning. I do think that Donald Trump has consistently said again and again and again, you know, in the last few months, that this election is going to be rigged, […] So I think it’s very important that that the Republicans not be in the majority in the House come January 2025.”
An expert who studies authoritarianism and fascism said Trump’s rhetoric about criminalizing dissent is familiar, and could carry serious implications for the country if he’s elected president.
“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power, or exposes their corruption, or releases information that’s harmful to them in any way becomes illegal,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and professor at New York University who wrote the 2020 book “Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present.”
“He’s actually rehearsing, in a sense, what he would be doing as head of state, which is what Orban does, Modi is doing, Putin has long done,” she said, referring to the leaders of Hungary, India and Russia, respectively. “Just as there’s a divide now because of this brainwashing about who is a patriot and who is a criminal about Jan. 6, right? In the same way, telling the truth in any area — journalists, scientists, even people like me, anybody who is engaged in objective inquiry, prosecutors, of course — they become criminal elements and they need to be shut down.”
[…] Trump has suggested investigations involving his conduct are illegitimate under the law and vowed revenge against the prosecutors who oversee them. He has also claimed, with no evidence, that President Joe Biden directed those prosecutions, even the state indictments he has no authority over. […]
Trump voters have mixed views on revenge
Trump rallied a raucous crowd Wednesday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, launching personal attacks on Harris and drawing jeers and boos from a sea of red MAGA-hatted supporters as he spoke of the “enemy from within” — government officials with whom he’s clashed. He mentioned as one example Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., which sparked a “lock him up!” shout from one supporter.
But some of Trump’s own voters told NBC News they disapprove of the revenge-based themes in his campaign while still planning to support him because of their concerns about the economy and immigration.
Walter Buckman, a Scranton native, said he’s supporting Trump because of his views on immigration and the economy. But the self-described Catholic is “absolutely not” on board with his rhetoric about exacting revenge and getting even.
“The way to get even with anybody is to change the economy. Getting even should not be in the playbook,” he said. “Is revenge a good thing? It’s not a good thing.”
Debbie Hendrix, a Pennsylvanian who attended the Trump rally donning a “MAGA” hat, said she’s excited to vote for Trump a third time. But even she is put off by his talk of retribution.
“I don’t agree with that. I think people like ‘Drain the swamp,’” she said, but in her view that doesn’t mean personally going after his critics. “I don’t think he should sink to their level.” [LOL. As if there is a level below which Trump has not not already sank.] […]
Fetterman: ‘A menu of dumb s—’
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who is campaigning in conservative rural areas for Harris, said Trump is no stranger to “bizarre ramblings,” but warned that it doesn’t demotivate his voters.
“That’s just a menu of dumb shit that he always says,” Fetterman said. “I don’t even pay attention to those kinds of things. Most people don’t really take it at face value or whatever.”
It’s important for everyone who’s troubled by it to turn out and vote for Harris, he said, criticizing the “uncommitted” movement, supporters of perennial Green Party nominee Jill Stein, and others who abhor Trump but could waste their vote.
“If you are not 100% voting for Harris, then you are either directly or indirectly helping Trump,” Fetterman said. “Go ahead and try that again. That’s what happened in 2016 when people threw their votes away on that dope Jill Stein.”
Trump has responded to criticisms of his authoritarian rhetoric by repeatedly claiming Democrats are the real fascists and accusing them of “weaponizing” the government against him. […]
“It is about criminalizing dissent,” she [Ben-Ghiat ] said. “There is a method to his madness in that he has taken people on a journey of indoctrination.”
The conservative think tank’s requests are clogging the pipeline at federal agencies in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.
Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.
All three men who filed the requests — Mike Howell, Colin Aamot and Roman Jankowski — did so on behalf of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, an arm of the conservative group that uses FOIA, lawsuits and undercover videos to investigate government activities. In recent months, the group has used information gleaned from the requests to call attention to efforts by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to teach staff about gender diversity, which Fox News characterized as the “Biden administration’s ‘woke’ policies within the Department of Defense.” Heritage also used material gathered from a FOIA search to claim that a listening session the Justice Department held with voting rights activists constituted an attempt to “rig” the presidential election because no Republicans were present.
An analysis of more than 2,000 public-records requests submitted by Aamot, Howell and Jankowski to more than two dozen federal offices and agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission, shows an intense focus on hot-button phrases used by individual government workers.
Those 2,000 requests are just the tip of the iceberg, Howell told ProPublica in an interview. Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project, estimated that his group had submitted more than 50,000 information requests over the past two years. He described the project as “the most prestigious international investigative operation in the world.”
Among 744 requests that Aamot, Jankowski and Howell submitted to the Department of the Interior over the past year are 161 that seek civil servants’ emails and texts as well as Slack and Microsoft Teams messages that contained terms including “climate change”; “DEI,” or diversity, equity and inclusion; and “GOTV,” an acronym for get out the vote. Many of these FOIAs request the messages of individual employees by name.
Trump has made clear his intentions to overhaul the Department of the Interior, which protects the nation’s natural resources, including hundreds of millions of acres of land. Under President Joe Biden, the department has made tackling climate change a priority.
Hundreds of the requests asked for government employees’ communications with civil rights and voting rights groups, including the ACLU; the Native American Rights Fund; Rock the Vote; and Fair Count, an organization founded by Democratic politician and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Still other FOIAs sought communications that mention “Trump” and “Reduction in Force,” a term that refers to layoffs.
Several requests, including some sent to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, focus on personnel. Some ask for “all employees who entered into a position at the agency as a Political Appointee since January 20, 2021,” the first day of the Biden administration. Others target career employees. Still other FOIAs seek agencies’ “hierarchy charts.”
“It does ring some alarm bells as to whether this is part of an effort to either intimidate government employees or, ultimately, to fire them and replace them with people who are going to be loyal to a leader that they may prefer,” Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, said of the FOIAs.
[…] Bookbinder also pointed out that inundating agencies with requests can interfere with the government’s ability to function. “It’s OK to make FOIA requests,” said Bookbinder, who acknowledged that CREW has also submitted its share of requests. “But if you purposely overwhelm the system, you can both cause slower response to FOIAs … and you can gum up other government functions.”
Indeed, a government worker who processes FOIAs for a federal agency told ProPublica that the volume of requests from Heritage interfered with their ability to do their job. “Sometimes they come in at a rate of one a second,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The worker said they now spend a third of their work time processing requests from Heritage, including some that seek communications that mention the terms “Biden” and “mental” or “Alzheimer’s” or “dementia” or “defecate” or “poop.”
“They’re taking time away from FOIA requesters that have legitimate requests,” said the worker. “We have to search people’s accounts for poop. This isn’t a thing. I can’t imagine a real reporter putting in a request like that.”
Asked about the comment, Howell said: “I’m paying them, so they should do their damn job and turn over the documents. Their job is not to decide what they think is worth, you know, releasing or not.” He added that “we’re better journalists by any standard than The New York Times.”
[…] The records requests are far reaching, seeking “full calendar exports” for hundreds of government employees. One FOIA submitted by Aamot sought the complete browser history for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, “whether exported from Chrome, Safari, Windows Explorer, Mozilla.” […]
Heritage’s FOIA blitz has even sought information about what government employees are saying about Heritage and its employees, including the three men filing the thousands of FOIAs. One request sent to the Interior Department asks for any documents to and from the agency’s chief FOIA officer that mention Heritage’s president, Kevin Roberts, as well as the names of Aamot, Howell and Jankowski.
This Is Just A Good And Normal Story About The Occult Forces Infiltrating Five Below Stores
On Friday, while doing my best to figure out the narrative of a QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was in some way related to the prevalence of Wiccans in Asheville, North Carolina (which I still don’t get beyond the fact that it perhaps involves Gloria Vanderbilt in some capacity), I stumbled upon a truly magical story. I found it on the Telegram channel of Kandiss “Jesus Guns Babies” Taylor, so you know it’s good.
In a poignant essay titled “Witches For Kamala” published on the “Intercessors for America” website, a contributor “who does not want to be named because of the potential for witchcraft curses” tells the story of how they went to Five Below one time and … saw some things.
They write:
On a recent shopping trip, I found myself inside a novelty store called Five Below which specifically markets to tweens and teens. I had been there before, looking for inexpensive gifts for my nieces. Each time I perused the merchandise, however, my spirit felt uneasy. While the décor and staff were upbeat and lively, there was something very troubling lurking among the sea of trendy nick knacks and style hacks targeted for today’s youth.
Oh no! What could it be? Knock-off Crocs? Snacks you were not aware existed anymore? Bath bombs that just scream “I’m going to give you a yeast infection”?
No. They saw … books and stuff.
I didn’t need anything on this particular occasion, but felt compelled to browse through the book section. Immediately my gaze stopped upon an uncanny array of titles that were displayed in the center of an aisle. Here’s just a small sample of what I found: The Unofficial Harry Potter Spell Book, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, The Seven Healing Chakras, Buddhism 101, Healing Crystals, The Book of Astrology, and The Book of Wizard’s Magic. Other titles I’d encountered during previous visits were How to Be a Psychic, What’s My Aura, The Power of Numbers, Crystal Pairings, The Circle of Fire–A Toltec Wisdom Guide (Inspiration and Guided Meditations), House Magic, Moon Magic, Tap Into Your Power, and the Four Agreements Wisdom Book.
Sadly, not only did I find many occult (New Age) books in the store, I discovered “healing crystals,” incense, zodiac stones, manifestation coloring books, “angel number” keychains/jewelry, Ouija Board themed candy and a plethora of New Age inspired T-shirts, gifts and room décor.
Oh, the horror! Things for people — and even teenagers — with different religious and spiritual beliefs than this person! Don’t they know that’s not allowed? Except for how it is allowed, by the Constitution?
[…] This would have just been your regular “Christian person very upset to discover that other people have different beliefs” essay … were it not for what happened next.
After leaving the store I felt the need to pray. “Dear Lord, what should we do? The occult is infiltrating the lives of our youth, especially the minds of our precious girls.” At that moment the Holy Spirit impressed something upon me. It was the phrase, “Witches for Kamala Harris.” At first, I wondered if it was a random thought, but after I prayed about it, I realized there must be some sort of connection between what I observed at Five Below and the phrase.
Gee, maybe she should have picked up that How to be a Psychic book!
I decided to do some research on the internet. I typed “Witches for Kamala” into the search engine. One of the first websites I found was an openly occult online store called The Spirit Den. Its homepage contains a “shop the magick” tab which leads customers to products such as ritual and altar tools, witch bells, altar and tarot cloths, as well as T-shirts and holographic stickers that say, “Witches for Kamala.” One shirt labeled, “Witches for Kamala Pentacle T-Shirt” is described this way: “Embrace the boldness and risk-taking spirit of Kamala Harris…This shirt is perfect for any witch who stands with Kamala’s message of equality and justice. Join the movement and make a statement for change.” Many of the other items on the website were described as tools for spiritual growth which could help users “align with their highest potential.”
[…] it was not long before she discovered that the Witches for Kamala and Five Below were in cahoots.
After browsing these witchcraft promoting websites, I clearly understood how the products being sold in Five Below, and the phrase “Witches for Kamala” were connected. It was very apparent in both cases that girls and women were the targeted audience. The New Age books and products in Five Below, as well as the witchcraft websites, were selling their versions of empowerment, balance, harmony, healing and self-love.
You know … now that I think about it, the hair elastic I am wearing at this very moment is from Five Below (they have the good ones that are made of like, tights material, but for way less than I see them anywhere else!). It is all coming together now!
The anonymous author then goes on explain that “witches” believe in bodily autonomy and choice, which … is bad?
It’s important to understand that witches (which can also include those who refer to themselves as “Wiccans,” “Pagans” or Druids”) define themselves as “modern women” who are “catalysts for change.” They believe they can impact the world through rebellious acts, spells and rituals. Bodily autonomy is sacred, as they work to be “in balance” with nature, the cycles of the moon/earth, and ancient spirits. Above all, their paths are not defined by a particular truth. Instead, they find their own truth and destiny by using tarot cards, crystals, astrology, ancient pagan writings, Ouija boards, nature and the paranormal. These tools of divination direct their paths and embolden them along the way.
It gets worse, because they don’t even tell girls what to believe based on the morals of a 2000-year-old book, but rather (the author imagines) suggests that they be “mindful” without even demanding that they repent from sin!
The occult/New Age books and products marketed to young girls in stores such as Five Below teach these same principles. They encourage them to chart their own course using an occult GPS that deceptively teaches the concept of “mindfulness.” Impersonal forces such as nature, earth cycles, and “energy” are touted as guide stones, but these “forces” do not ask them to recognize or repent from sin. Instead, their minds are filled with mantras like “girl power,” “you are the change,” and “live your truth.” Over time, young girls become young women who believe there are no defined moral boundaries when it comes to their bodies, or the bodies of those around them. Their identity is found through the deceptive world of the occult.
Can you guess what’s coming next and how this is alllllll related back to Kamala Harris? I bet you can!
As these ideas of “bodily empowerment” are seeded into the minds of young girls, we see a large movement of voting age women who are attracted to the political agenda of Kamala Harris. Her platform hinges on the lie that women are strengthened and liberated through abortion, [wWell that’s a misleading statement!] or what she terms “reproductive rights.” Harris also removes all boundaries when it comes to the LGBTQ/Trans agenda. Her adamant support for gender transition surgeries is seen as “progressive,” “mindful,” “liberating” and “just.”
Yep! It’s abortion! It’s people deciding when or if they want to have children, deciding who they want to have sex with and what gender they are without even checking with people like the anonymous author of this piece!
Rules for morality in the occult world are seen as slavery. Thus, when Kamala Harris says she wants to restore “reproductive freedom,” by allowing the killing of the unborn, she’s falling in line with this thinking.
I don’t know a ton about “the occult world” because I actually find New Age shit mind-numbingly boring [likewise], but like … what if people just have a different idea of morality? Like, for me — someone who believes in nothing supernatural whatsoever — I consider it “moral” to take care of the poor, to ensure that everyone has health care, to treat people fairly, and to not be a grotesque bigot. I will take my morality any day over that of whoever wrote this article. Hell, I’ll happily take the morality of any witch in America over theirs.
But they didn’t just go to Five Below. They also went to Etsy.
The popular online marketplace Etsy sells yard signs which promote the reproductive “rights” that Kamala Harris endorses. One sign’s slogan reads, “Vote Like Your Daughter’s Rights Depend On It–Kamala Harris 2024.” At the time when I did the search, this particular sign was labeled a “bestseller,” that was “in demand.” Above the price were the words, “41 people bought this sign in the last 24 hours.”
Yes, because people do care about whether or not their daughters have reproductive rights. One would think that might be clear by all of the states that have voted in favor of preserving them since Dobbs was overturned.
Another similar yard sign for sale said, “Vote Like Your Rights Depend on It,” but the letters of the word VOTE were made into illustrations that depicted a female reproductive system, an LGBTQ rainbow, “banned” books, and a fist with a heart inside.
Yes! Again, people like having rights. They like not being forced to be pregnant, they like not being forced to pretend they are something they are not, and they like being able to read any books they want. Including books about crystals, Buddhism, astrology, or even moon magic (whatever that is) from Five Below.
You know, because we live in the United States of America and not a fascist theocracy? (For now)
They continue:
“Reproductive rights,” as well as being able to choose one’s own sex/gender, is important to witches because they believe they are in control of their own destiny. In their eyes, all women are goddesses, so they can receive and use this power supernaturally.
I don’t know that this is something specific to witches so much as all of the people in general who don’t want people who freak out over the book selection at their local Five Below to tell them what to do. I don’t need to think I am a goddess (though if you want to think that, I won’t argue) to believe I deserve to have my basic humanity respected!
Interestingly enough, if one browses through some of the New Age books marketed to teens and tweens, these same ideas of charting your own course, manifesting your highest potential, and “having the power (magic) within you,” are a repetitive theme. Even if some of these New Age books and products are not specifically labeled as witchcraft, they’re instilling the same principles.
Intercessors, our youth are being influenced from every angle. Whether it’s movies, social media, or books/products marketed to children, there’s a wide, open door to the occult. Through prayer and fasting we must shut this door.
Oh, I’m sorry — who is it that wants to do magic now?
I hope they enjoy fasting because it looks like they are going to be doing a lot of fasting.
The Pentagon announced it would send the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and its crew as Israel considered retaliatory attacks against Iran.
The United States is sending an advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with about 100 American troops to operate it, the Pentagon announced on Sunday. It is the first deployment of U.S. forces to Israel since the Hamas-led attacks there on Oct. 7, 2023.
President Biden directed Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, and its crew, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement on Sunday.
The move will put American troops operating the ground-based interceptor, which is designed to defend against ballistic missiles, closer to the widening war in the Middle East. It comes after Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 and as Israel plans its retaliatory attack.
The THAAD battery, a mobile defense system, will give the Israel Defense Forces another layer of protection to defend cities, troops and installations from short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles like those deployed by Iran in its last attack.
When asked about it on Sunday, Mr. Biden said only that he had ordered the Pentagon to deploy the system “to defend Israel.” General Ryder said in his statement that the battery would “augment Israel’s integrated air defense system.”
“This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” the statement said. “It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias.”
A senior U.S. military official said on Sunday that it would take at least a week to get the new system, and the necessary troops, to Israel. […]
It’s so ironic that fascists are making a nuisance of freedom of information requests.
————————
If a FOIA request is denied, the requester has the right to appeal to the head of the agency. If the denial is upheld, the requester can file a lawsuit in federal court.
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Yes there’s a fee although it can be waived if the information is important to the public. None of these would be waived
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Where is the line? I mean transparency is needed for a democracy to operate fairly, but this is literally an assault on the personnel
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The lines are in the statute and are very specific. Everything is public unless there’s an exemption.
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The fascists are very well-funded.
Reginald Selkirksays
WNBA finals update:
New York Liberty beat Minneosta Lynx 80 – 66.
Series now tied at one win apiece.
So, is NBC now a right-wing poll? Because they’re now showing Trump and Harris even at 48%.
That must be fake. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that Harris chasing right-wing votes by doubling down on the Israeli genocide and even further military/police spending while backing off on climate change at the exact same time as climate change starts wiping US towns off the map is a fucking losing strategy. I mean, look at how well kicking the base in the teeth and chasing Republican votes worked for Gore, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton! It’s practically a guaranteed strategy! Democrats shouldn’t be worried at all that the largest concentrations of arab voters are in swing states that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 (like Michigan), and that Harris is apparently pissing them off on purpose by telling them she wants their relatives dead. Nosiree, the Democrats don’t have to actually earn any votes, they’re just entitled it all because they aren’t Trump and that’s all that matters.
I have to agree with The Vicar@393: the Harris campaign has failed to separate her from Biden – who, however much his fans think it’s unfair, is very unpopular – and establish her as offering positive change. Here’s a report from the Guardian: Democrats on edge in critical Michigan amid fears of waning enthusiasm:
Behind the scenes, Democratic strategists are increasingly alarmed by the numbers. The party’s US Senate candidate in Michigan, Elissa Slotkin, warned last month that Harris was not polling as well as expected.
“I’m not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan,” she told a fundraiser. “We have her underwater in our polling.”
Some Democratic campaigners blame the campaign.
Carly Hammond is an organiser for the US’s largest trade union confederation, the AFL-CIO, for the Saginaw region who is running for city council while also canvassing for Harris.
“This is the most expensive election in American politics so far. There’s more money around, more ads, more signs, the volunteers are there. I really haven’t seen anything like this in terms of the mobilisation efforts,” she said.
“What is missing is Harris’s policies. People ask: ‘What is she going to do?’ I’ve heard about 200 Harris ads in the past few weeks just because they’re inescapable. But I couldn’t tell you what her concrete plan is to tackle anything.”
Some of the Democratic messaging in Michigan plays to Trump’s agenda, with repeated promises to “secure the border” even though Saginaw is 1,500 miles from the Mexican frontier and undocumented immigrants make up only about 1% of the state’s population. But it does not appear to be doing Harris much good while alienating some Democrats.
Hammond said she feared that Harris had retreated into defensive messaging and a reliance on scaring voters over Trump’s ties to Project 2025, the authoritarian plan to impose rightwing control across the entire US government, that is costing her momentum.
“When it switched over from Biden to Harris, there was an expectation that Harris would put out her own aggressive policy proposals and that hasn’t happened. There’s been a kind of walking back. Harris’s campaign said she’s going to take on the billionaires and corporate interest rates. A lot of that language fell off and now it’s just kind of ‘Project 2025, it really sucks’,” she said.
Harris this week proposed to have Medicare cover in-home care for seniors and people with disabilities
[…]
a handful of outlets (including HuffPost) had stories ready to go. […] articles on Harris’ proposal […] in The New York Times and the Washington Post […] didn’t get much play on their homepages […] vanished from talk shows within a day, and so far it hasn’t drawn much coverage in the opinion pages. […] All of this reflects judgments by editors and producers—and the campaign professionals who talk to them—that the proposal just isn’t that important.
[…]
feels a little pie-in-the-sky, since it’d likely require not just a Harris win but full Democratic control of Congress […] Still, the relative lack of attention to Harris’ proposal is more than a little ironic given all the grief she has taken for not putting forward enough policy, or not outlining a vision, or not distinguishing herself from President Joe Biden. Now she’s doing all three and the response is… a collective shrug? It doesn’t have to be that way.
[…]
with the costs of full-time care for one person easily surpassing $100,000 a year. Nine in 10 adults say it would be “impossible or very difficult” to pay such costs on their own […] Harris’ solution is to make in-home care a regular Medicare benefit […] the official release cited an independent study that sketched out what such a program could look like and estimated […] a ten-year figure approaching half a trillion dollars […] It would arguably represent […] the single biggest investment in caregiving in modern history. […] offsetting much of the cost with savings from another campaign proposal, […] extracting lower drug prices from manufacturers.
[…]
the Harris plan represents one of the first serious, high-profile efforts to address a need that’s likely to touch most families eventually […] That alone makes it worthy of more attention than it’s gotten
Vem Miller, the Nevada man arrested at a checkpoint in southern California allegedly en route to a Donald Trump campaign rally, was associated with a far-right movement called the Sovereign Citizens, according to the local sheriff.
Miller was arrested after police officers questioned him at a checkpoint and noticed his vehicle sported an irregular license plate. The license plate was “one that is homemade and indicative of a group of individuals that claim to be sovereign citizens,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told reporters Sunday.
The Secret Service and other federal agencies said Trump was never in danger. Miller was released on $5,000 bail…
In a toss-up race, Kamala Harris is going to great lengths to reach out beyond her party’s base. Donald Trump’s approach is … different.
With roughly three weeks remaining before Election Day, and early voting already underway across much of the country, there’s nothing subtle about Kamala Harris’ closing message — or its intended audience. Politico reported, for example, on the Democratic vice president’s newest television ad:
Kamala Harris’ campaign is out with a new ad targeting Republican voters in the battleground state of Arizona that features the GOP mayor of Mesa saying that he is a “lifelong Republican” but he has “always put country over party.”
In the spot, Mayor John Giles, who helps lead Arizona Republicans for Harris, tells viewers, “I know Donald Trump’s second term would be all about himself. That’s why, like so many other Republicans, I cannot support Donald Trump. Kamala Harris and I may not agree on everything, but I do know that she will always put country first.”
The message was part of a larger and unsubtle push. Late last week, for example, the Democratic nominee held an event in Arizona — speaking in front of a backdrop featuring the phrase “Country Over Party” — where Harris vowed to convene a bipartisan council of policy advisers if she wins the White House.
A few days earlier, during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Harris also said, “You asked me what is the difference between Joe Biden and me — that will be one of the differences. I’m going to have a Republican in my Cabinet.”
The week before that, the incumbent vice president held a campaign event in Wisconsin alongside former House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney. (There were, of course, “Country Over Party” signs behind them, too.)
There’s no great mystery here. Harris and her team, mindful of the fact that the presidential race is incredibly close and competitive, is taking deliberate steps to reach out beyond her party’s base. The goal, obviously, is to appeal to independents and disaffected Republicans, with an emphasis on bipartisanship and patriotism. […]
As Harris tries to expand her reach and appeal, Trump isn’t making any meaningful attempt to motivate anyone outside his far-right base. The Washington Post, for example, reported in the wake of his ugly campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado:
Donald Trump is leaning into a nativist, anti-immigrant message in the final stage of his third presidential campaign, advancing a closing argument centered on fearmongering, falsehoods and stereotypes about migrants as polls show his edge on economic issues fading.
The conventional wisdom has long held that national candidates make appeals to their respective bases during the presidential primaries, before ultimately targeting the center as Election Day draws closer. The GOP nominee clearly has no use for that model.
By and large, Trump appears to have come to the conclusion that the surest way back to the White House is through an anti-immigrant message. With this in mind, the former president has already raised the prospect of militarized deportations and mass detention camps. He’s also echoed Adolph Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” complaining about those whom he believes are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
But that was the start, not the end, of a radical pitch. In recent days, the Republican candidate has done everything from accuse immigrants of spreading “highly contagious” diseases to talking up eugenics to raising the prospect of executions. He’s begun speaking with greater frequency about deporting people who entered the United States legally.
On Friday night in Nevada, Trump said immigrants were blocking Americans from enrolling children in public schools or finding a bed in local hospitals. Hours earlier, in Colorado, the Republican vowed to send “elite squads” into areas nationwide to conduct deportation raids — a promise he echoed over the weekend.
A Politico analysis of 20 recent Trump speeches found that the Republican’s rhetoric has become more overtly “racist” — and his messaging “is getting darker.”
[…] those suggesting there are no real differences between the major party nominees have no idea what they’re talking about.
On Saturday night, Donald Trump inexplicably held a rally in Coachella, California. The Golden State, of course, will go Democratic by massive majorities, and no amount of rallying in the state will make any difference.
But Trump is not getting the big rallies in the battleground states, and he heard how California was home to lots of Republicans. So off he went looking for his big rally.
And then he screwed over those Republicans.
The rally wasn’t held at the same venue as the famous music festival that draws a quarter million people over two weekends to the southern California desert. Trump clearly was banking on the famous name for positive association, though he held his rally on a private ranch. Everyone was required to take shuttle buses, no one was allowed to either drive or car-share to the venue.
“The Trump campaign said Friday that all guests arrive by shuttle bus and people will not be allowed to walk or take rideshare vehicles to the venue, an isolated ranch,” reported the Desert Sun, a local newspaper. “Instead, starting at 6 a.m., attendees can park at three designated locations and be shuttled to and from the venue. At the end of the event, they’ll have to make sure they board a bus headed for the right lot.”
While Trump claimed 100,000 attended the rally, the event was only permitted to have up to 15,000 people. [LOL]
So the Trump campaign holds a rally at a location that is only accessible via shuttle. They move up to 15,000 people into the venue. Their own guidance instructs attendees to board a bus back to their parking lots.
And then those buses didn’t show up after the event.
This video from a Trump supporter captured the post-event chaos. [More video and an X post at the main link.]
One Trump supporting attendee tweeted about the mess:
It’s 10:22pm. Rally ended at 7pm. Thousands of people still stranded here waiting for transit back to the parking lots. Something has gone horribly wrong. Someone needs to ask the Coachella mayor if he had anything to do with this. Parking lot is a 2 hour walk. Countless elderly stranded here and can’t walk anymore. No restroom facilities accessible anymore. No more water. No food. Started with 20 busses for escorting people to the rally, and now only 1 bus remains at this point. Busses apparently went home. Not confirmed, but no more buses have showed up in the last hour and a half. Someone find out what happened here. This is not normal and feels nefarious and criminal.
And more:
2 busses just drove by. Haven’t seen any busses move for almost 2 hours. Someone please reach out to Sheriff Chad Bianco and President Trump to get to the bottom of this. I think something nefarious went down tonight trying to spark a riot.
Hilariously, this guy wanted to blame the local mayor. The guy filming the video above demanded “an investigation” and wanted to “get the mayor on the phone right now.”
What is there to investigate? There was one organization in charge of transportation, the Trump campaign, and it just didn’t give a damn. The mayor has nothing to do with a private event, but god forbid these cultists admit the very simple fact that they were left high and dry by Trump himself.
[…] So these stranded jokers kept coming up with excuses for their man’s incompetence.
I deleted the posts because I was hoping some help would come from it, but all it did was cause drama. Many poor people were stranded last night and it had everything to do with the bus gas stations not having any fuel. The buses had to drive 30 minutes out to find fuel and many didn’t return and some got stranded themselves trying to find fuel. Then the CHP ordered the bus drivers to stop driving. This all came from the bus drivers updating us as we sat on the bus asking what happened. They and the Sheriffs were all just as confused as we were. My story stands, but the drama got out of hand.
Ah, the buses ran out of gas, did they? Gosh, if only there were establishments nearby to supply these transportation vehicles with the necessary fuel. [map showing nearby gas stations]
On Google Maps, I counted four gas stations within two miles of the venue, and 13 within five miles. One of those locations is a Love’s, which is literally a truck stop.
But here’s the thing—this Trump supporter ended up deleting his outraged tweets because his own Trump-supporting allies were haranguing him for making Trump look bad. That’s what he meant by “caus[ing] drama.”
Having stranded thousands in the hot desert, Trump and his campaign can’t even be bothered to issue an apology to their own people. They were used, abused, and tossed aside.
On the plus side, by holding his own supporters hostage, no one could leave the rally early.
So as far as Trump is concerned, mission accomplished.
The Washington Post is reporting that Federal emergency-response staffers in hard-hit Rutherford County, North Carolina were directed on Saturday to stop working and move to a different area due to concerns about “armed militia” members on the prowl for FEMA personnel.
Early Saturday afternoon, an official with the U.S. Forest Service sent an urgent email message to a number of different Federal agencies warning that, “FEMA has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately.” The message stated that National Guard troops ‘had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”
The email message also stated that, “The IMTs [incident management teams] have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county.”
The article goes on to say that the alert had triggered a pause in clearing trees off of dozens of blocked roads to make them available to search-and-rescue teams and to groups delivering supplies. By Sunday afternoon, the teams were back in position, according to an anonymous official.
Chimney Rock, in Rutherford County, has become one of the centers of tension and conflict after a rumor spread on social media that government officials planned to seize the decimated village and bulldoze bodies under the rubble. Authorities and news outlets debunked the assertion, but people still took to social media imploring militias to go after FEMA.
A person familiar with FEMA operations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the agency was working out of an abundance of caution and its teams were operating at fixed locations and secure areas instead of the usual practice of going door to door.
Riva Duncan, a Forest Service official who lives in Asheville, who is also with the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, told a reporter that people have been yelling, “We don’t want your help here,” at federal employees who were delivering aid or showing up to effect repairs. She also said that one Forest Service employee was pulling into a gas station when someone yelled at him to leave, saying “We don’t want the government here!”
Two Cajun Navy volunteers said that, on Saturday, a resident came to a supplies-distribution center and threatened FEMA personnel who were stationed there. Lake Lure Police and Rutherford County Sheriff’s offices confirmed the incident.
It is a very sad commentary on the times in which we live that civil servants who come to help those in need are met with threats. Every public official, and those who seek to hold public office, should roundly condemn such threats. In one particular case, no… make that two particular cases, I will not hold my breath.
Women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter has died, according to a family representative. She was 86.
Ledbetter, best known for advocating for equal pay for women, died as a result of respiratory failure on Saturday night. She was in Alabama, where she was born and raised.
“She was surrounded by her family and loved ones,” her family said in a statement on Sunday. “Our mother lived an extraordinary life.” [video at the link]
Ledbetter’s fight for equal pay started in the 1990s, when she received an anonymous letter that said she was being paid far less than her male colleagues who had similar, or less, seniority and experience at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Gadsden, Alabama, where she worked as an area supervisor.
“I took a job that had normally been considered a man’s job. I don’t agree with that term,” Ledbetter said in an interview with Forbes in 2019. “It’s a job. Whether it’s a man, African American, Latino, heavy, skinny, whatever. If they’re the best qualified for that job, they should get it, and they should get the money to go with it.”
Thus began years of legal battles that climbed all the way to the Supreme Court. Ledbetter ultimately lost the lawsuit against Goodyear, with the high court ruling she had missed the deadline for filing her claim. But Democrats in Congress — urged on by a dissenting opinion from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — fought to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
[…] The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the first bill Barack Obama signed into law as president in 2009. […]
Video showed shot in the aftermath of the bombing at Al-Aqsa Hospital showed at least one person being burned alive.
The Israeli military launched a series of deadly strikes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, including on a flour distribution center, as well as on a school and a hospital where displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
Video of a fire that ignited at a tent camp Sunday after Israeli forces launched an airstrike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah showed harrowing scenes.
In multiple videos shared on social media and verified by NBC News, at least one person could be seen reaching their hands out from the flames as they were burned alive. Others could be seen racing away from the fire, some carrying the injured with them while others ran toward the blaze to help.
At least four people were killed in the strike and its fiery aftermath, with dozens more injured, including women and children, local health officials said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting Hamas militants operating out of the hospital in the attack.
On Friday, a fact-finding mission set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate war crimes in occupied Palestinian territories and Israel said the Israeli military’s targeting of hospitals in Gaza constituted “the war crimes of willful killing and mistreatment and the crime against humanity of extermination.”
Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry dismissed the accusations from the commission as “outrageous.” […]
* The New York Times reported that the Arizona Democratic Party “shut down a campaign office in suburban Phoenix after it was struck by gunfire and a BB gun on three occasions over the past month.” The report added that while no one was hurt, the shootings “raised concerns about the safety of campaign workers and volunteers.”
* At a campaign rally in Nevada on Friday night, Trump told supporters that Harris “doesn’t know she’s alive.” (I’m still not entirely sure what that meant.) A day later, the GOP candidate told a different audience that the vice president “essentially” hasn’t gone to North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Harris was in North Carolina at the time.
* In Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, Democrats are staying on the offensive against Republican Bernie Moreno, launching new ads highlighting the fact that he called women who are single-issue voters on abortion “crazy.” [summarized from NBC News]
* In Missouri’s U.S. Senate race, the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorsed Democrat Lucas Kunce over Sen. Josh Hawley, arguing, among other things, that the Republican incumbent “is quite possibly the worst sitting senator in America right now.”
Trump didn’t just denounce “The Apprentice” movie. He also lamented the fact that filmmakers are “allowed” to say “whatever they want.”
It’s unlikely that Donald Trump has seen “The Apprentice,” a movie that chronicles his early rise, but he evidently doesn’t care for it. The Hill reported:
Former President Trump is slamming “The Apprentice,” calling the film about his early rise in New York “fake and classless.” “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country,” Trump wrote in an early morning Truth Social post on Monday.
The 150-word missive, published shortly before 1 a.m. ET, covered some predictable ground, including the Republican expressing hope that the film will “bomb.”
But there was one sentence in the online piece that stood out for me: “So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want.”
It’s not surprising that Trump would whine incessantly about a movie he almost certainly hasn’t seen, but note the phrasing in his message: The GOP candidate lamented the fact that these filmmakers are “allowed” to say “whatever they want.”
It’s as if some people believe it’s a free country with a First Amendment. What nerve.
The line came almost seven years to the day after Trump declared during an Oval Office event that he considered it “disgusting” that the nation’s free press can “write whatever it wants.”
In recent days, of course, the former president hasn’t just lashed out at those responsible for “The Apprentice” movie. He also has launched a bizarre campaign against CBS and “60 Minutes,” accusing the outlet and the news program of a “scandal” that does not exist.
Trump has nevertheless repeatedly called for CBS to lose its broadcast license — an appeal that doesn’t actually make sense — a point he seemed especially excited about over the weekend. On Friday night, for example, the Republican said “60 Minutes” should be “taken off the air,” and a day later, he suggested during a Newsmax interview that the government should somehow pull CBS from the airwaves.
And did I mention that Trump said in reference to The New York Times: “Wait until you see what I’m going to do with them”? Because that happened last week, too.
[…] The Republican nominee for the nation’s highest office is threatening perceived foes with prison sentences, endorsing a “strongman” leadership style, bragging about his support from dictators, raising the prospect of a temporary American “dictatorship,” and talking about “terminating” parts of the Constitution that stand in the way of his ambitions.
Trump is also arguing that his rivals shouldn’t be “allowed” to run against him, targeting immigrants with Hitler-style rhetoric while promising to create militarized mass deportations and detention camps, speaking with greater frequency about deporting people who entered the United States legally, promising pardons to politically aligned criminals, raising the specter of military tribunals for his perceived domestic political foes, and talking about expanding the use of the U.S. military on American soil.
But specifically when it comes to the First Amendment, Trump recently insisted that those who criticize judges and Supreme Court justices that he likes “should be put in jail,” pushed for CBS to be pulled from the nation’s airwaves, made veiled threats against the nation’s largest newspaper, and asserted in writing that it’s awful to see filmmakers being “allowed” to say “whatever they want.”
It’s almost as if the former president were running on an authoritarian-style platform. [Heh. Nice understatement.]
In early 2017, the then-president delivered a speech in which he boasted, “I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me. Nobody.”
It was ridiculous at the time. It’s vastly worse now.
Vice President Kamala Harris described Donald Trump as “weak and unstable” at a rally on Sunday, noting his failure to release his medical records, his avoidance of an interview with “60 Minutes,” and his refusal to have another debate with her.
Harris made her comments while speaking in Greenville, North Carolina.
KAMALA HARRIS: He is not being transparent. So check this out: He refuses to release his medical records. I’ve done it. Every other presidential camp—every other presidential candidate in the modern era has done it. He is unwilling to do a “60 Minutes” interview, like every other major-party candidate has done for more than half a century. He is unwilling to meet for a second debate. And here’s the thing, here’s the thing—it makes you wonder why his staff wants him to hide away? One must question: Are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead America? Is that what’s going on?
If he is elected and finishes his term, Trump would be the oldest person to ever serve as president, but he has refused to release his medical records, despite promising that he would. In addition to his age, Trump was hospitalized with a COVID-19 infection in 2020, and he failed to release medical information on his health following the July 13 attempt on his life.
On Saturday, Harris’ physician Dr. Joshua Simmons (a U.S. Army colonel) released a statement on her medical status. Simmons noted, “Vice President Harris remains in excellent health,” adding, “She possesses the physical and medical resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”
Asked about Trump’s failure to disclose his information, House Speaker Mike Johnson provided cover for Trump’s obfuscation, saying on “Meet the Press” that Trump’s medical status was “irrelevant” to voters.
But independent, outside evaluations of Trump’s behavior have raised concerns.
Discussing his Sept. 10 debate with Harris, Trump claimed that an audience “went crazy” for his performance, but there was no in-studio audience for the debate. The New York Times noted that the statement was just one of many recent incidents that Trump “has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality.”
The paper analyzed Trump’s current speeches and compared them with his performance in 2016. They found that he speaks for nearly twice the amount of time on average (82 minutes in 2024 versus 45 minutes in 2016) and that he has significantly increased his usage of “all-or-nothing terms,” which “some experts consider a sign of advancing age.”
Trump also complained recently that “nobody” knows “what the hell a phone app is,” despite that 96% of Americans own a smartphone, which has become a staple of modern life, including for millions of older Americans.
[…] Very early on Monday [today], Trump lashed out at Harris’ criticism, writing on his Truth Social account, “I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility. Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her.” [LOL, classic projection.]
[…] If Trump were to win and pass away while in office, the presidency would be inherited by Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who has an extensive history of misogynistic comments and hostility to immigrants and women.
Two Georgia election workers are pushing to collect their $146 million defamation judgment against Rudy Giuliani, but the former New York City mayor is digging in amid an array of financial troubles.
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who became a centerpiece of Giuliani’s baseless mass voter fraud accusations following the 2020 election, have asked a federal judge in New York to turn over his two properties, Mercedes-Benz, luxury watches, portions of his bank accounts and more. The parties are due back in court later this month.
Giuliani claims much of the property shouldn’t be liquidated yet because it has “a level of public interest,” such as watches gifted to him by two foreign heads of state after 9/11.
Meanwhile, Giuliani’s son, Andrew, is intervening in the legal battle to claim the election workers aren’t entitled to three Yankees World Series rings because his father gifted them to him in 2018.
And a battle is also brewing over Giuliani’s past assertion that the Trump campaign owes him $2 million in unpaid legal fees for his work after the 2020 election. Freeman and Moss now hope to pursue that claim, but Giuliani is insisting it must wait until after November’s election to avoid a “media frenzy.” [WTF?]
The litany of disputes over the former New York City mayor’s assets marks the latest phase of the entrenched battle between him and the two Georgia election workers.
In December, a jury in Washington, D.C., ordered Giuliani to pay the mother-daughter duo $148 million for upending their lives by falsely claiming they engaged in mass voter fraud when working in Atlanta on Election Day in 2020. The amount was later adjusted to roughly $146 million plus interest.
Giuliani has avoided paying the sum for months. He hastily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which automatically froze the judgment, but a judge later kicked Giuliani out of the bankruptcy system for failing to provide transparency into his finances.
Now, Freeman and Moss are pouncing. In August, they filed a motion to enforce their judgment in federal court in New York.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman, a liberal nominated to the bench by then-President Trump in 2018 as part of a bipartisan agreement, is moving closer to deciding whether Giuliani must hand over his assets, which he estimated during his bankruptcy amounted to $10.6 million.
“The Court intends to handle this matter without delay, in keeping with the judgment enforcement nature of the proceedings,” Liman wrote in a brief order late last month.
Liman has scheduled a status conference for Oct. 28, when the parties are set to return to court to discuss next steps. It was originally set for Thursday, but the judge delayed it at a request at one of the election workers’ attorneys, who said he is taking time off for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. […]
In their continued fight against Giuliani, Freeman and Moss are now asking for a ruling ordering he turn over his nonexempt assets within a week or face a receivership, which would give the election workers immediate control to begin liquidation.
“The record is clear that any enforcement devices that rely on even minimal participation by the judgment debtor would run aground on Mr. Giuliani’s demonstrated strategy of disobedience and delay,” their attorneys wrote in court filings. […]
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Monday used the occasion of Indigenous Peoples Day to attack Vice President Kamala Harris for her support of the Native American community. Trump’s attacks were amplified by right-wing media outlets, like Fox News.
Indigenous Peoples Day is being celebrated this year on Oct. 14. In an email to reporters, the Trump campaign alleged that Harris “wants to get rid of Columbus Day,” which is celebrated on the same day.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said in a statement that Harris “wants to cancel American traditions like Columbus Day.” She added, “President Trump will make sure Christopher Columbus’ great legacy is honored and protect this holiday from radical leftists who want to erase our nation’s history like Kamala Harris.”
The campaign also posted a tweet with videos of Harris expressing support for the holiday, and said it was evidence that she had “radical left Marxist” beliefs.
The Trump campaign’s attack was amplified by friendly outlets like Fox News and the New York Post, both owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The video excerpt of Harris used by the Trump campaign to back up their attack was footage of the vice president’s remarks in 2021 before the National Congress of American Indians at their 78th annual convention.
“Since 1934, every October, the United States has recognized the voyage of the European explorers who first landed on the shores of the Americas,” Harris said. “But that is not the whole story. That has never been the whole story.”
She noted that the exploitation that came with the arrival of figures like Christopher Columbus “ushered in a wave of devastation for Tribal nations—perpetrating violence, stealing land, and spreading disease.”
“We must not shy away from this shameful past, and we must shed light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on Native communities today,” Harris said.
The historic record shows that Harris’ characterization of historical events is accurate. Experts estimate that millions of indigenous people were killed in the process of colonization, while many others were abducted and taken as slaves. Many were sexually assaulted.
[…] President Joe Biden is the first president to issue an official proclamation acknowledging the holiday. Additionally, it was under the Biden-Harris administration that the first Native American Cabinet secretary, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, was nominated and confirmed.
The White House also issued a proclamation on Columbus Day, which celebrates “the proud heritage of Italian Americans in our Nation, whose contributions and character have shaped our country’s soul.”
Since Harris entered the presidential campaign, she has made outreach to Native American communities a significant component of her attempt to secure votes.
In contrast, Trump has a history of hostility and bigotry toward Native Americans, which is in line with his approach to other minority communities. Trump faced criticism for rolling back policies and regulations meant to assist Native Americans, including protection of tribal land.
Trump’s negative stance goes back to the days before he was a political figure. He financed advertising that claimed members of a tribe in New York were cocaine traffickers and claimed in testimony that dark-skinned Native Americans were misrepresenting their tribal ancestry.
In a radio interview, Trump said, “I think I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.”
Trump’s rhetoric was part of a campaign to oppose expansion of Native American casinos. Trump operated a resort company that owned several casinos, including the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Like many other Trump business ventures, the company filed for bankruptcy and was later sold off.
Donald Trump appeared on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” where Bartiromo asked the convicted felon about his threats to put a 200% tariff on all car imports from Mexico. Bartiromo pointed out that “it’s only going to mean higher prices for consumers.”
“It’s not that. No, no, it doesn’t mean that,” Trump said.
“It’s got to be passed on somewhere,” Bartiromo pointed out.
Trump then all but admitted that his understanding of tariffs and his highly criticized tariff plans are basically an attempt to scare companies into manufacturing in the United States.
“All I’m doing is saying I’ll put 200 or 500, I don’t care, I’ll put a number where they can’t sell one car into the United” States, Trump explained.
When Bartiromo pressed Trump on his repeated use of a 200% tariff during speeches, Trump further admitted, “Oh I say, I’ll say 100, 200. I’ll say 500. I don’t care. They’re not going to bring cars into the country from Mexico and destroy what car companies we have left.” [video at the link]
Trump’s misunderstanding of how tariffs work has already been proven during his tenure in the White House. As the Progressive Policy Institute and others have shown, the tariffs Trump put on foreign metals, washing machines, and other goods from China hurt U.S. jobs and did not lead to an increase in domestic manufacturing.
The Wall Street Journal recently surveyed dozens of economists, most of whom say Trump’s economic policies, when compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ proposed plans, would result in higher interest rates and deficits for Americans.
Nearly 70% of respondents told the Wall Street Journal that inflation would be far worse under Trump’s plans, compared to only 12% saying Harris’ plans would be worse. Studies have estimated Trump’s tariffs costing American households thousands of dollars a year in increased costs on consumer items.
But it isn’t just inflation that is causing economists to criticize Trump’s ideas. According to the WSJ, 59% said unemployment would be worse under Trump’s policies, and only 16% believed he would be able to increase employment.
And for those conservative debt hawks: 65% of economists answered that Trump’s plans would increase the federal deficit far more than Harris. This falls in line with a recent study released by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which projected Trump’s policy ideas would increase the deficit by $7.5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years—more than twice what Harris’ proposed plans would cost.
These increases under a Trump economy would likely lead to higher interest rates, say 61% of economists asked. More economists also thought the economy would grow faster during a Harris administration than a Trump one.
As Philip Marey, senior U.S. strategist at Rabobank, told the WSJ, “If the tariffs work the way economists think they work, I think people are in for a very nasty surprise.”
[…] authorities in North Carolina arrested an individual and charged him in connection with alleged threats made against FEMA, a spokesman with the Rutherford County Sherriff’s Office said.
Capt. Jamie Keever, the spokesman, said the charge is going armed to the terror of the public, a misdemeanor, and the man will be identified later Monday in a news release.
The threats were made at a gas station on Route 9 in neighboring Polk County, prompting an attendant there to share concerns with active-duty U.S. soldiers who visited, Keever said. The Army reported the incident to law enforcement authorities, who arrested the man Saturday night.
Keever said while there have been unconfirmed reports of “truckloads of militia men” in the area, the details in this case do not bear that out. “This was a lone individual,” Keever said. “We’re trying to get the word out about that.”
Quoted text is from the Washington Post. The link above leads to a DailyKos presentation of an excerpt.
[…] Trump’s latest vomit projection of psycho idiocy, to wit; scared stiff folks are contacting me to see if it would be either “legal” or even “possible” for Trump to use our U.S. military and National Guard as weapons to seek revenge on his political and, apparently, any other rivals, should he be become our next President: Trump suggests using military against ‘enemy from within’.
Once and for all, and let me make this PERFECTLY CLEAR:
NO, it would not be remotely legal.
NO, it would not be remotely ethical.
NO, it would not be remotely moral.
YES, it would be 100% totally possible!
But ONLY if the trio of our nation’s Constitutionally-designed judicial, executive, and legislative branches of government and the civil/criminal/administrative regulatory guardrails of our American democracy have been SO fatally compromised as to be utterly useless to deter such promised tyranny.
And that VERY same fatal compromising is PRECISELY what Trump’s fundamentalist Christian Nationalism-generated “Project 2025” is ALL about.
There have been a lot of bizarre conspiracy theories and disinformation going around about Hurricanes Helene and Milton over the last few weeks — that the government created them and controls them, that those who had suffered extreme losses would only get $750 total from the government, AI images of children who don’t exist, etc. etc.
Thus, it was only a matter of time before someone connected at least one of them to the ongoing imaginary fight against imaginary child sex traffickers who keep said children in imaginary underground tunnels. And last week, someone did!
A story has been circulating over the last week or so, among the usual conspiracy wackos, claiming that “white hats” in the US military had captured a child sex trafficking kingpin known only as “The High Horseman,” along with 40 of his “henchmen,” in Asheville, North Carolina. You would think, just looking at some of the tweets, that this information came from a mainstream news story of some sort, from something that any regular person would accept as “real,” but no.
The story, it turns out, comes from a Telegram channel called “Ginger’s Liberty Lounge,” hosted by a lady named Ginger who describes herself as “Ambassador for God’s Abundance with the New Earth Alliance God’s Daughter of Jubilee,” […] She dropped this “Gintel,” as she calls it, in a recent audio message, which has been turned into a press release by one of her minions.
Seemingly unconnected stories surfacing since the Hurricane Helene went through North Carolina, and at the end of last week, a helicopter piloted by a masked individual hovered above a relief area and many supplies were blown around many were destroyed. At first, the meaning was not understood.
Rescuers in the Asheville NC area have found numerous bodies of babies floating down the flooded river, plus the remains of people the locals didn’t recognize. Many of the adult bodies were also not from that local community.
[Aiyiiyiyi, what a load of nonsense. Dangerous nonsense at that.]
Spooky! Now, the helicopter thing did happen, sort of, but there was no greater meaning to it. The North Carolina National Guard explained what happened in a statement posted to Facebook: “While attempting to land, rotor wash caused items to blow away from the local distribution set up by a group of civilians in the area. The crew immediately identified the situation, aborted the landing for safety reasons, and departed the area.”
As for the bodies floating down the river? Rescuers in North Carolina actually say that’s bull. People have died, obviously, in the hurricanes, but there are not numerous bodies floating down the river.
But wait! It gets even more blatantly false!
On Tuesday, in Candler NC near Asheville one of biggest human traffickers ever, the kingpin of all time, “High Horseman” was taken into custody along with 41 of his men. He has eluded arrest for 30 years having undergone 18 facial reconstruction surgeries to stay under the radar. According to Ginger, Candler NC is a hotbed of a WICCAN community which is witches, witchcraft and the occult.
It turns out the helicopter that was flying low over the rescue site was one of people looking for the High Horseman and he had to fly exceptionally low for facial recognition. The Military confirmed that many of the babies’ bodies that were floating in the river weren’t from local families, but were from the tunnels, now flooded, where human trafficking has taken place.
[NO. None of that is true.]
[…] If you were wondering where Ginger gets her “Gintel,” she explains that she has White Hat sources inside the military who have told her things to pass on to the public. However, in another explanation of the events on October 8, she reveals that at least some of her information has come directly from angels!
On Tuesday, October the 8th, 2024, in Candler, North Carolina, near Asheville, one of the biggest human traffickers of all time the kingpin, called the High Horseman was taken into custody along with 41 of his men. […]Ginger received confirmation from her Celestial Alliance contacts my Angelic communications, that the high horsemen serviced Diddy as well as many known politicians and elites as he aided them in procuring children to be abused and trafficked. He was known to be the biggest human trafficker in the United States and presumably the entire world due to his vast network he created throughout decades of his treacherous criminal career. The Celestial Alliance also confirmed for me that the High Horsemen has ties to the criminal cartel South of the border as this was explained to me by Archangel Michael.
[Well now I’m convinced.]
[…]
So, who are you, Ginger, to be getting this kind of information? Well, that’s a great question! And the only answer I have is this is God’s business, and He has orchestrated all of this. All along, I have just been doing my own thing, plowing my fields for truth and freedom, minding my own business, and God has literally brought the right people in my path as He saw fit. The Celestial Alliance has called me to action and the Military Alliance found me. I did not find them.
Well, that certainly sounds believable. Tell us more!
I am Ginger of the Liberty Lounge and I do have the reputation of being sincere, a straight shooter with integrity as my North Star. I have a reputation of giving out truthful and solid information. I have received numerous shout- outs on the Gematria board from Q-coms and Trump campaign texts, even, when decoded, point to my role in the plan with my name, Ginger, and the descriptions nearby, Ginger, say, pure, truth, teacher, be ready, boom. And the Gematria board even includes my real name, Evelyn and the words nearby are child of God, prayer, and God bless. So, for those who do not know me, I am the real deal, and I do not share BS. For some reason, the White Hats gave me a seat at the table, and I was supposed to emerge for such a time as this. And like Esther of old, I want nothing more than to see the freedom and liberty for my countrymen and for all of humanity.
Well, who can you trust more than a Gematria champion?
The story has been going around for a week — without any reference to the help our gal Ginger received from the angels — and it’s already beginning to take on a life of its own, with various people adding to the legend, expounding on what it means that Asheville supposedly has a lot of Wiccans and pagans, how “high witch” Gloria Vanderbilt must have been involved, how the children were being harvested for adrenochrome, etc. etc., because this is how these things work. It’s like the worst improv show on earth […]
Hopefully this won’t morph into something bigger and less controllable […]
This conglomeration of conspiracy theories and misinformation is already big enough to be noticed. An attempt at debunking has been made: “Rescuers in North Carolina actually say that’s bull.”
Akira MacKenziesays
@410
I’m going to see that tomorrow.
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #414….
If people really want to celebrate/commemorate Columbus Day, they should recognize that the 12 October date would have to have been on the Julian Calendar, and now that we use the Gregorian Calendar, the corresponding date is 22 October.
The digital library is back online with limited capabilities, according to its founder.
The Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library that has served as a main repository of internet history, is back online with limited functionality after weeks of being harassed by hackers.
Brewster Kahle, the Archive’s founder, wrote on his social media channels Sunday night that services had resumed in a read-only mode and that new webpages can’t be saved yet.
“Safe to resume but might need further maintenance, in which case it will be suspended again. Please be gentle,” Kahle wrote.
The California-based Archive has run the Wayback Machine, devoted to preserving the internet as a historical and cultural artifact, since 1996. It has taken more than 150 billion snapshots of webpages and uploaded hundreds of thousands of movies, concert recordings, books and software programs.
For reasons that are not clear, the Archive has been the victim of at least three recent attacks: the theft of tens of millions of users’ usernames and email addresses; a brief defacement of the site; and repeatedly being knocked offline for days by overwhelming it with traffic, a tactic known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
[…] The theft of usernames and passwords happened first. Troy Hunt, who runs the website Have I Been Pwned, a database for people to check whether their information has been breached online, posted on X that on Sept. 30 he received the breach of 31 million users’ usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords. […]
Starting on Tuesday, the Archive came under repeated DDoS attacks and was briefly replaced with a taunting message from the hackers.
A spokesperson for the Archive declined to comment on who was responsible for the attacks, saying that “the team is focused on resolving things.”
A hacker group claimed on its X and Telegram channels to be responsible before the second day of attacks. The group claims to be Russia-based, anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. hacktivists, though it’s common for both criminal and nation-backed hackers to deliberately lie about their identities. In a bizarre, rambling screed on X, the group claimed they had attacked the Archive for violating copyright, a reference to the nonprofit losing a lawsuit over digitizing books so that anyone could read them.
Jake Moore, the global cybersecurity adviser for the cybersecurity company ESET, said that while hackers are often motivated by money or a government’s interests, like conducting cyberespionage, it can be difficult to speculate why someone would seek to disrupt a nonprofit generally seen as promoting the public good.
“It’s often difficult to know the true reason,” Moore said. “We never really know the true motivation behind most attacks until much later, if at all.”
JMsays
@393 The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs): The election is close, the point of the article is that the idea that Trump is surging is fake. By having Republican organizations push out more polls a simple count of polls shows Trump suddenly doing much better.
As for Harris separating herself from Biden I agree it is an issue. She has some big problems though. She has had little time to do it because she started late. As VP there are limits to how far she can publicly disagree with Biden. Worse, she is caught in the common Democratic vice where Biden is unpopular but his policy largely is popular. How does she separate herself on economic policy when Biden’s has worked so well? Where does she go on China or Russia that Biden isn’t?
Supreme Court reform is a risky and technical topic, Israel a mine field and one she can’t stray too far from the policy of the current administration. Better to avoid talking about either issue much on the campaign trail.
She has picked a couple of issues where she make popular proposals that Biden has not. Home care as part of Medicare and legalization of marijuana. Both good idea that she can promote easily, both unlikely to get through Congress without a Democratic sweep.
I fully agree that making a sweep of Republican areas now is a waste of valuable time. If she had a full length campaign some time should be spent in Republican areas to show people the Democrats are not abandoning them even if they don’t expect to win this election. Harris doesn’t have the time for that. She needs to concentrate on swing areas, places that might go either way.
Bekenstein Boundsays
The Internet Archive under attack, armed goons disrupting hurricane relief efforts, and Lilly Ledbetter dead. This day just keeps getting better and better! /s
‘Vinylon: North Korea’s Best Invention’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=MO9wsylFdhE
The Swedish ‘Fjällräven’ backpack is a product made from vinylon, as it is quite durable. Downsides: rather stiff, hard to add dyes. Itchy, if worn close to the skin.
@393 The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs): The election is close, the point of the article is that the idea that Trump is surging is fake. By having Republican organizations push out more polls a simple count of polls shows Trump suddenly doing much better.
He’s not doing “much better” if you look at the various poll aggregators, all still show Harris with a national polling lead – it’s a matter of 1/2% or so change. But that (if real, and if the polls are close to correct) could well mean Trump rather than Harris winning.
How does she separate herself on economic policy when Biden’s has worked so well?
Large numbers of people don’t feel that. When asked if there’s anythnig in Biden’s policies she would change, I think she made a big mistake in saying no – she should have said she would build on what he’d done but push it in new directions, or some such formula. Early on, she was talking about making the rich and big corporations pay more. Now she’s stopped doing that, presumably because she’s decided that persuading Republicans and right-wing independents who are queasy about Trump to back her is the best strategy. But the polls indicate it’s not working. On Israel, she could be much more outspoken about Netanyahu and the slaughter of children in Gaza and Lebanon – again there were some signs of this early on, but she’s stopped. She should shut up about immigration – talking about it just raises its salience, without convincing those who think it’s a problem.
KGsays
Kari Lake will support “UVF”. – birgerjohansson@425
Huh. To me, UVF still means Ulster Volunteer Force – a Protestant terrorist group during Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”. According to Wikipedia:
It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities.
So perhaps that is what Lake meant!
birgerjohanssonsays
KG @ 431.
Makes sense. The Trumpistas are usually mega-protestant. And UDF is allied with the Orange Order. It all adds up!
Its really -& Imena really the leats of his problems but Trump literally stinks as Secular Talk’s Kyle Kulinski notes here Trump Sharts Lve During Rally Speech and watch the facial expressions of the other global leaders. The wold respects Trump? LOL! Fuck no!
StevoRsays
Gotta admit I suspect they, er, enhanced (maybe added?) the sounds and, again., the leatrs of Trump’s issues and dangerous hit coming from him but still. Some light relief? (Emphais on last word there. Yeah, I know I’m an old toddler.. but I’m NOT running for POTUS and that guy, well..)
AJ+ traveled to the town of Teaneck, New Jersey, where a modern Orthodox Jewish community is confronting pro-Palestinian protesters who want an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and to these Israeli real estate conventions. Meanwhile, residents told us that town council members are using their power and relationships with high-profile politicians to smear pro-Palestinian voices and give political cover to these real estate events – which could violate local and federal discrimination laws.
As a rule, confident candidates on pace to prevail don’t look and sound like the Texas Republican senator looks and sounds right now.
As 2024 got underway, and political insiders started drawing up lists of competitive Senate races, few gave Texas a second look. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was seen as a shoo-in for another term, despite his poor record and unpopularity.
But as Election Day nears, the Lone Star State’s contest has become a lot more interesting.
Public polling generally shows the GOP incumbent with small-but-steady leads over Rep. Colin Allred, a well-liked Texas Democrat and former NFL star. But private polling is causing fresh anxieties for Cruz and his party: Politico reported this week that the latest round of polling from the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate Republicans’ top super PAC, found Cruz’s advantage over Allred “slipping … from 3 points in mid-September to 1 point in October.”
This comes on the heels of Chris LaCivita, a senior campaign adviser for Donald Trump, recently wring via social media, “What the hell is wrong with the Senate race in Texas?” A new Wall Street Journal report on the contest asked in a headline, “Is Ted Cruz Blowing His Re-Election Race?”
It’s against this backdrop that the controversial senator has begun whining a bit about intraparty support. The Hill reported:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) vented his frustration with the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), for not spending any money in his competitive reelection race, accusing McConnell of using the group to “punish” his critics in the Senate GOP conference.
[Ted Cruz can’t even get Mitch McConnell to give him some money?]
“Mitch McConnell runs the largest Republican super PAC in the country and has $400 million but that super PAC is used to reward the Republican senators who obey him and to punish those who dare to stand up him,” Cruz told conservative talk show host Mark Levin.
The Texan went on to complain that “not a penny“ from the Senate Republican super PAC’s coffers has been spent on his race, before pleading with Levin’s audience to send him some money.
Hours later, in a move that probably wasn’t a coincidence, Donald Trump used his social media platform to publish a couple of fresh Cruz endorsements.
I won’t pretend to have any special insights into the race, but as a rule, confident candidates on pace to prevail don’t look and sound like Cruz looks and sounds right now.
If election board officials in Georgia are thinking about refusing to certify election results they don’t like, a judge has now told them they can’t.
Arguably no state has taken more provocative pre-election steps than Georgia, where conspiratorial Republican officials on the Georgia State Election Board have recently created a series of unnecessary “reforms” that might very well create election-administration problems next month. That’s not, however, the only area of concern in the Peach State.
After the 2020 elections, several local Republican election board members refused to certify elections for a variety of assorted and dubious reasons, and there are plenty of concerns that there will be related tactics in this year’s cycle. It’s against this backdrop that a Georgia judge issued a ruling this week rejecting this as a possibility. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Tuesday:
Certifying elections is a required duty of county election boards in Georgia, and they’re not allowed to refuse finalizing results based on suspicions of miscounts or fraud, a Fulton County judge ruled Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected claims brought by Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, who voted against certifying this spring’s presidential primary. McBurney ruled that Georgia law requires certification, and county election boards don’t have any discretion not to do so.
“If election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge and so — because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud — refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced,” McBurney wrote. “Our Constitution and our election code do not allow for that to happen.” [Yep. That’s correct.]
In other words, there might be legitimate questions in some areas in some elections, but as the state judge explained, it’s not up to local election boards to adjudicate those questions. [very sensible]
Tristan Snell, who provides legal commentary for MSNBC, described the ruling as a “huge victory for democracy” and a “huge defeat for Trump’s attempts to scuttle the election.” Several other legal and election experts praised McBurney’s decision.
Indeed, my colleague Lisa Rubin published a report last month in which she characterized this case as one of the “most critical” trials of the 2024 election season. Lisa explained:
Imagine a world in which local election board members are empowered, through the guise of doing their own “research,” to delay or refuse the certification of county results. That could hold up the certification of the entire state’s results and even potentially its certificate appointing electors. And if that were to happen, Georgia’s missing electors would be subtracted from the total needed to win the electoral college. Put another way, the failure to certify thousands of votes could end up depriving the rightful winner of a presidency voted upon by nearly 200 million.
With this in mind, it’s a big deal that McBurney ruled that Georgia law requires certification, and the matter is not discretionary for members of local election boards.
The ruling, incidentally, coincides with the start of early voting in Georgia.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to fresh records Monday as investors awaited the next batch of key corporate earnings. The broad market index climbed 0.77% to 5,859.85, while the 30-stock Dow advanced 201.36 points to 43,065.22. Both averages hit all-time highs and closed at records, with the Dow ending the session above the 43,000 mark for the first time.
Yep, as expected Trump is ramping up the most despicable and/or ridiculous aspects of his plans:
[…] Over the holiday weekend, Trump’s language became more sinister, unhinged, and unapologetic, baiting his legions of supporters with promises of violence, retribution, and purifying purges.
He continued to evoke key tenets of the Great Replacement Theory: America under attack by migrant invaders soiling the purity of traditional towns and villages. He threatened to unleash police and to use the military to go after “radical left lunatics.” All of this came against the backdrop of Trump refusing to abide by the results of any election he loses.
The way that Trump has ramped up his darkest rhetoric in recent weeks suggests he is building toward an Election Day crescendo that is intended (i) to activate his supporters to vote for him; and (ii) to rally them for his post-election plans to dispute, disrupt, and delegitimize any results that don’t show him as the winner.
At the same time, Trump is giving himself the opportunity to point to any victory – whether by hook or by crook – as creating a mandate for exactly the kind of hard-core, extremist, racist fever dreams he is engaging in during the campaign’s final days.
Whatever you thought of Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020 or even in the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump is promising in no uncertain terms a new more apocalyptic and unrepentant version of himself. After a decade of listening to his jeremiads, you may be inclined to tune out Trump by now. But the rhetoric he’s engaged in now – even if it’s mixed into a slop of droning, meandering, and incoherent phrasings – is the Trump that would be elected and the version he would claim has a mandate to follow through on the worst of his threats.
[…] It’s not new, but it’s important that Trump continues to center his campaign around racist attacks – mostly on immigrants of color, whether undocumented or not – and that those attacks are becoming more toxic and virulent as Election Day approaches: [video at the link]
[…] In campaign appearances and national TV interviews, Trump is ratcheting up his threats to misuse and abuse the military to consolidate power and target his political foes, what he is now calling the “enemy from within”: [video at the link]
Meanwhile, former Trump national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn was asked by a supporter if he would “sit at the head of a military tribunal to not only drain the swamp, but imprison the swamp, and on a few occasions, execute the swamp.” […]
Former Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley fears being court-martialed if Trump wins […]
Vice President Kamala Harris is dialing up her direct attacks on Donald Trump as a threat to democracy and to real people: “Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” she told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.
In an unusual move, Harris played video for her rally’s audience of Trump’s weekend comments about using the military before she launched into her criticism: [video at the link]
[…] Politico: “Florida’s public universities are purging the list of general education courses they will offer next year to fall in line with a state law pushed for by Gov. Ron DeSantis targeting “woke ideologies” in higher education.” […]
Trump posted that Kamala Harris is, “slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions.”
Whoa. Kamala Harris’ style of speaking is the opposite of slow and lethargic.
Commentary:
[…] Of course, Trump hears the whispers about his cognitive decline, and it infuriates him. And when he’s angry, he lashes out with his “I know you are but what am I?” bit. So sure, of course he’s going to accuse Harris of exactly the thing he’s guilty of. […]
When it comes to overseas voters, the Trump campaign can’t quite decide what to do. On one hand, Donald Trump wants their votes. On the other, he thinks they are traitorous scumbags who are part of a vast voter-fraud scheme. So, while he is wooing overseas voters with tax-break promises, Republicans are filing a flurry of lawsuits explicitly targeting overseas voting. No one will be surprised to learn that Republicans are only worried about overseas votes in the swing states.
Last week, Trump released a video pledging to end what he calls “double taxation” on Americans who live overseas. Currently, Americans abroad are required to pay income taxes in their country of residence and here. It’s easy to get whipped into a frenzy about this until you learn that the tax exemption for overseas taxpayers is $126,500, and they can also reduce their tax bill with foreign tax credits. Because of that, roughly 82% don’t pay any taxes here. So, any giveaway to overseas voters is really a gift limited to the rich.
Trump’s pitch didn’t arise organically. In fact, it looks a lot like he made up this whole plank of his tax policy platform because basically one random Republican dude asked him to. Solomon Yue, who heads the advocacy group Republicans Overseas, bragged to the Wall Street Journal that he decided to approach Trump after seeing how willing Trump was to promise tax giveaways to everyone else.
[…] Hilariously, it’s not even clear that Yue represents a large contingency of voters. The website for his group, Republicans Overseas, has such a low-rent vibe that one of the handful of pictures is sideways. The New Republic found that neither Yue nor his group appears to have given at all this election cycle. [LOL. Trump was, perhaps, scammed.]
In the video, Trump also did his weird, overdramatic thing where he promises to be a strong protector, telling overseas voters, “You’ve been wanting this for years, and nobody has listened to you. And you deserve it. And I’m going to do it.”
[…] But while Trump is begging Americans overseas to vote and wooing them with tax cuts, he’s also working to make it harder for them to vote.
Last month, Trump coughed up a new voter-fraud fixation: that anyone living overseas can get a ballot even if they aren’t registered to vote, which somehow is also election meddling. He said that Democrats will use UOCAVA, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, to email ballots to people “without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever.” Then he mused that this might show foreign interference with elections. He also took to Truth Social to complain that Democrats “want to dilute the TRUE vote of our beautiful military and their families.”
Falling right in line, the GOP has sued multiple swing states, bringing lawsuits about overseas voters. The lawsuit against Michigan is over “never resided” voters—people who have never lived in America but whose parents previously lived in Michigan. The state has said this is a vanishingly small amount, but Republicans are concerned that they lean “overwhelmingly” Democratic.
The Michigan suit asserts this violates the residency requirements of the state constitution and asks that the state reject all votes from never resided voters or to “segregate” them until they can determine if it affects the outcome. The lawsuit against North Carolina is basically the same—demanding the state reject all votes from never resided voters. Thirty-eight states and Washington, D.C., have similar laws, but somehow, Republicans find fault only when it’s a swing state.
In Pennsylvania, the allegation is that because overseas voters don’t have the same ID requirements as absentee voters who live in the state, it is supposedly a vehicle for voter fraud. Notably, six members of Pennsylvania’s eight-Republican House delegation signed on to the lawsuit—and on Jan. 6, 2021, every last one of those six voted against certifying the commonwealth’s 2020 electoral votes.
Most overseas voters still have to undergo various confirmations of their identity and ballots are sent only to people whose registrations have been verified by their state. [True.]
[…] Here’s the real issue. Until 2016, overseas voters were largely military, but in that election cycle and in 2020, civilians cast the vast majority of ballots. Voters who are veterans overwhelmingly back Trump, so to him, their votes are great—but votes from other Americans abroad, not so much. The allegations of overseas fraud are also likely flying fast and furious because Democrats are actively making a play for overseas voters, spending $300,000 on voter outreach for the first time.
[…] In the end, the GOP and Trump just can’t stop themselves. They’re now so wedded to the Big Lie that they will shoot themselves in the foot and depress turnout from their own base. It’s such a sharp contrast to the Democratic message of outreach and encouragement, a message that voting matters and voting works. All Trump offers is the bleak vision that everything is rigged.
There were a couple medical incidents in an overheated crowd at a Trump rally last night, and Trump started glitching. Steve Benen has a good account, but he’s the exception.
To be sure, there was some Q&A during the event. Someone asked Trump about his plan to address grocery prices, for example, and his odd answer included references to Hannibal Lecter — who remains a fictional character that the former president frequently talks about for reasons unknown — and immigrants taking Black jobs.
During a different exchange, Trump encouraged his supporters to vote on “January 5th,” flubbing the date of Election Day.
But there were apparently a couple of medical emergencies in the audience, which prompted the candidate to just stand there for more than a half-hour, unsure what to say or do, while a variety of songs played over the loudspeaker.
We know what the media chorus would have been, had President Biden done something similar.
The Washington Post had a somewhat accurate but still inadvertently revealing headline:
Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode
Vice President Kamala Harris has called Trump, 78, unstable and questioned his mental acuity.
Of course, with every slip by Biden— none of which were as bizarre as Trump’s last night— it wasn’t just his political opponents questioning his mental acuity, it was a cacophony from the media themselves. But even with that helpful main headline, the Post can’t manage to voice its own questions about Trump’s mental state.
And then this is their lede:
For 39 minutes, Trump swayed, bopped — sometimes stopping to speak — as he turned the event into almost a living-room listening session of his favorite songs from his self-curated rally playlist.
He played nine tracks. He danced. He shook hands with people onstage. He pointed to the crowd. Noem stood beside him, nodding with her hands clasped. Trump stayed in place onstage, slowly moving back and forth. He was done answering questions for the night.
“Total lovefest at the PA townhall! Everyone was so excited they were fainting so @realDonaldTrump turned to music,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on X. “Nobody wanted to leave and wanted to hear more songs from the famous DJT Spotify playlist!”
[Wow. That is some really desperate spin.]
A living-room listening session! A Trump spinner framing it as a lovefest!
For fuck’s sake!
The Associated Press:
Trump’s Pennsylvania town hall turns into impromptu concert after medical incidents
An impromptu concert? The functioning mind reels.
But the New York Times was even worse. Of course.
Their sanewashing headline:
Donald Trump cut off questions and simply bobbed his head to the music for half an hour after a town hall was interrupted.
That Trump is so cool. Grooving in the moment. Feeling it.
And their lede:
And so Mr. Trump, a political candidate known for improvisational departures, made a detour. Rather than try to restart the political program, he seemed to decide in the moment that it would be more enjoyable for all concerned — and, it appeared, for himself — to just listen to music instead.
Mr. Trump had his staff fire up his campaign playlist, standing on the stage for about half an hour and swaying to songs as his crowd slowly dwindled.
He bobbed his head through the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” his usual closing song. He swayed soberly to Rufus Wainwright’s version of “Hallelujah,” watched a Sinead O’Connor video, rocked along to Elvis, watched the crowd during “Rich Men North of Richmond” and then, finally, left the stage to shake hands on his way out during one last song.
Improvisational departures! Decided in the moment it would be more enjoyable! Rocked along to Elvis! DJ Trumpy Trump! A dance party!
The legacy media are complicit. The only people who can save this republic are us, the voters. So vote! Get every conscious adult you know to vote! This is not a drill!
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @447: Anyone who did not leave during that pitiful “dance” show is a brain-dead dipshit who has no hope of recovering any sanity. The US has WAY too many of these people, and they are allowed to vote. If the Orange Idiot is elected, I think it will be the death of me.
johnson catman @448, I saw an interview with an attendee who stayed. The guy said he felt like he was in Trump’s living room enjoying music with Trump. The guy loved it. His wife said she did wish that Trump had taken more questions, but otherwise she was pleased and glad she came. She is definitely voting for Trump.
Not much can be done when people are willing to delude themselves.
On the other hand, a lot of attendees did leave during Trump’s impromptu, spacey, where-the-fuck-am-I “dance” routine. Trump actually tried to deny reality in real time by saying, “No one’s leaving!”
JD Vance insisted that Donald Trump was impeached over the Russia scandal. I know this guy is new to politics, but that never actually happened.
Eight years after Donald Trump pushed “drain the swamp” rhetoric, the phrase has apparently made a comeback, despite the fact that this became one of the Republican’s most notorious broken promises.
His running mate, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, took some time at an event last week to explain what he thinks the phrase means in 2024. [video at the link]
“I mean, look, just go back a few years ago, you had the entire government, you had an impeachment, a fake impeachment that was completely oriented around the idea that Donald Trump was in bed with a foreign government,” the senator said. “We all remember that the Russia Russia Russia scam? That scam was a complete lie.
“Even the independent justice department investigator basically said this is all completely made up. But here’s the problem. They admit that it was made up. They admit that it distracted this country. It led to a fake impeachment. How many people have been fired from that? Zero.”
[Maximum use of revisionist history, and gaslighting the public.]
So, a few things.
First, Trump was impeached twice, but he was never impeached for the Russia scandal. I know Vance is new to politics, but his running mate’s presidency really wasn’t that long ago, it’s kind of weird that the senator doesn’t know why Trump was impeached. (It was especially amusing to see Vance incorporate the phrase “we all remember that” in his comments, because he clearly doesn’t remember the story at all.)
Second, the scandal was neither a “scam” nor a “lie,” no matter how many times Republicans claim otherwise. In reality, investigations from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee documented the extent to which Trump and his team welcomed, received, and benefited from Russian campaign assistance. (They also obstructed the investigation into this assistance — by some measures, 10 times.)
Third, Vance told the public that “the independent justice department investigator basically said this is all completely made up.” This is apparently in reference to former special counsel John Durham, whose report Republicans only pretended to read, and who did not in any way conclude that the underlying scandal was baseless. (I’m reminded of a New York Times report from last year, which noted the GOP’s partisan reactions to Durham’s findings had become “Exhibit A in how the American right seems to be living in its own universe.”)
But even if we put all of these relevant details aside, does Vance really want to spark renewed interest in Trump’s Russia ties right now? Because it was just days before the Ohioan made these comments when the public learned about Bob Woodward’s new book, which alleges that the former president has spoken to Vladimir Putin “as many as seven times“ since leaving office.
Woodward’s book also alleges that the former Republican president, while in office, secretly sent Covid testing equipment to Putin at the height of the pandemic, even as people in his own country struggled to gain access to such resources.
If Vance wants to explore all of the allegations surrounding Trump’s Putin ties in more detail, I’m game, but this seems like a conversation the GOP ticket should want to avoid.
Embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.
The first impeachment of Trump (2019) was for abuse of power an obstruction of Congress.
The second impeachment of Trump (2021) was for incitement of an insurrection.
Trump continued to defend his proposed tariffs, despite pushback Tuesday that they would only bring in $200 billion to cover campaign promises that could add $7.5 trillion to the national debt.
“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” …
Later, Trump doubled down when Micklethwait pointed out that such tariffs could plunge America into a huge trade war.
“It must be hard for you to, you know, spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong,” Trump retorted……….
Asked if he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Bob Woodward reported in his new book “War,” Donald Trump said he does not “comment on that.”….“I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing,” he continued. “If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing…
Trump has repeatedly veered off topic during his answers to questions from Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait.
Asked about currency, Trump addressed the topic before moving to how he has been criticized for how he talks and his thoughts on French President Emmanuel Macron. As Micklethwait cut in, Trump said he should be able to continue speaking.
“You got to be able to finish a thought,” he said……
Asked whether he would keep Jerome H. Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, Donald Trump didn’t directly answer but suggested that the position requires little work.
“I think it’s the greatest job in government. You show up to the office once a month and you say, ‘Let’s see, flip a coin.’ And everybody talks about you like you’re a god,” Trump said……..
Donald Trump said Tuesday there’s “tremendous” waste and fraud in the federal government and that cutting it would lead to a surplus, in which the U.S. government would bring in more money than it spends.
Trump has characterized his plans to cut government waste as saving the U.S. government trillions of dollars, budget experts have said it would be impossible to cut anywhere near that amount without severely affecting federal programs and benefits.
Asked what he would do to cut government waste if elected again, Donald Trump did not provide a direct answer. Instead, he revisited an old anecdote boasting about getting a new Air Force One for $1 billion cheaper when he was president, a claim that was later proved untrue; the cost was higher. The CEO of Boeing also later said he regretted the Air Force One deal with Trump…..
Asked if he would allow a peaceful transfer of power after this election, former president Donald Trump did not directly say if he would but defended the violence that took place in 2021, falsely claiming that “you had a peaceful transfer of power.”
Trump also continued to falsely claim that no one died from the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 except Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt and no one who went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 had a gun……
Pressed on the question about a peaceful transfer of power in 2025, Trump pivoted to suggest that Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait may be biased against him, saying he “has not been a big Trump fan,” and that Trump had considered whether to do the interview……..
Donald Trump has come up with all kinds of attacks against Kamala Harris, but late last week, the Republican rolled out a new label he hadn’t used before. NBC News reported:
In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. “She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump. … “She really is, if you think about it.”
So let me get this straight. As recently as May, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 felonies. This is not to be confused with a different jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse or the case in which a court found that Trump oversaw a business that engaged in systemic fraud.
The former president has also surrounded himself with other criminals, has demonstrated a habit of issuing scandalous pardons to politically aligned criminals, and if elected to a second term, has promised to issue even more pardons to politically aligned criminals, including those who violently clashed with police officers.
While we’re at it, let’s also note that Trump is effectively out on bail; he’s awaiting criminal sentencing; and he’s still facing pending felony charges across multiple jurisdictions. […]
His opponent, meanwhile, is a former prosecutor who hasn’t been accused of any crimes whatsoever.
And yet, there was Trump on Friday, telling an audience — out loud and in apparent seriousness — that the Democratic vice president “really is” a “criminal,” if you “think about it.” [video at the link]
Of course, Trump “really is” a criminal whether one thinks about it or not.
A few days earlier, [Trump said] President Joe Biden was “essentially convicted“ in the classified-documents matter, despite the fact that the Democratic incumbent was never charged or accused of criminal wrongdoing.
To be sure, to know anything about Trump is to know that he lies uncontrollably. […]
But I think there’s more to this.
For one thing, as NBC News’ report added, Trump is “ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals,” and the recent list includes everyone from Harris to Biden, Google to CBS News, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to members of the Jan. 6 committee.
Given Trump’s eagerness to use federal power to retaliate against his perceived foes, and his demonstrated willingness to try to prosecute those who bother him, it’s difficult to simply shrug off his rhetoric as meaningless.
But there’s a related dimension to this: As the public conversation continues about whether Trump deserves to be seen as a “fascist,” it’s important to emphasize that a key element of authoritarian regimes is delegitimizing political opposition.
“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power, or exposes their corruption, or releases information that’s harmful to them in any way becomes illegal,” NYT historian and professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat told NBC News.
“He’s actually rehearsing, in a sense, what he would be doing as head of state, which is what Orban does, Modi is doing, Putin has long done,” she added. “Just as there’s a divide now because of this brainwashing about who is a patriot and who is a criminal about Jan. 6, right? In the same way, telling the truth in any area — journalists, scientists, even people like me, anybody who is engaged in objective inquiry, prosecutors, of course — they become criminal elements and they need to be shut down.”
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
[…] * In Michigan, Republican congressional hopeful Tom Barrett ran an advertisement in a Black-owned newspaper, incorrectly telling readers that Election Day is Nov. 6, instead of Nov. 5. The GOP candidate blamed a clerical error, but the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office, seeking an investigation into whether Barrett’s campaign was trying to suppress Black turnout. [Summarized from the Washington Post.]
* Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is scheduled to unveil a “Plan for Rural America” in Pennsylvania, which focuses on adding 10,000 health care workers in rural areas, expanding access to telemedicine, lowering child care costs, expanding the Child Tax Credit and boosting access to markets, credit and land for farmers and producers. [Summarized from NBC News. Sounds like a good idea.]
[…] * At Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally in Pennsylvania, he thanked independent presidential candidates Jill Stein and Cornell West by name, boasting to supporters that the far-left third-party candidates are helping him. [Summarized from an X post by trouble_man90.]
* During the former president’s event late last week in Colorado, he suggested he was “very close” to winning the Rocky Mountain State, claiming that he had seen a poll showing him up “by a little bit” in Colorado. No such poll appears to exist in reality, his campaign isn’t on the air in the state, and Trump lost Colorado four years ago by double digits. [Summarized from an X post by Acyn.]
* Around the same time, Trump said he believes former President Barack Obama might vote for him, which might very well be the most ridiculous claim the Republican has ever made. [Summarized from New Republic.]
Rachel Maddow tackled the myth that a Donald Trump presidency would be “good for business” on Monday night’s show.
That is the excuse that many prospective Trump voters give for why they are willing to overlook all of his … failings. Even Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, a man whom Trump has attacked mercilessly for not helping him overturn the 2020 election, seems willing to turn the other cheek.
“Look, you may not like Donald Trump personally, but you’ll like his policies a lot better than Kamala Harris’. It’s a business decision,” Kemp said.
“I mean, if you’re making a business decision about who will do a better job handling the economy well,” Maddow says, referring to a recent article from The Economist calling the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the American economic recovery “the envy of the world.”
”The Biden-Harris economy has not only left every other rich country in the world in the dust, it has left the record of the Trump administration in the dust. Right?” Maddow remarks.
The Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the U.S. economy after the disastrous mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the previous administration is well documented. Trump’s vague campaign proposals are considered by economists to be far weaker than his opponent’s. [video at the link, 8:29 minutes long, a great presentation]
Maddow interviewed billionaire investor Mark Cuban in the second segment of her show. Cuban has been a critic of Trump for some time.
“You nailed it. I mean, you took it line item by line item and then laid it all out,” Cuban said of Maddow’s opening segment. “There’s really no good reason to vote for Donald Trump as the business candidate.”
“You know, in doing business, whether you’re a small company or a very large company, you want stability,” Cuban continued. “You don’t want to wake up one morning as the CEO of John Deere and find out all of a sudden you’ve got a 200% tariff.”
Cuban also explained why he’s said that tech donors believe they can easily manipulate Trump. “He’s very transactional for the right amount.”
As for Trump’s business savvy, Cuban says you need only look at what his businesses are. “The only reason you sell cologne, you sell commemorative coins, you sell sneakers, and you put together this DeFi project is because you need the money,” Cuban laughed. “You know, you have to. And that’s the insanity of it all: people trying to look at him as a good business person when he literally can’t run his own businesses.” [video at the link, 6:38 minutes long, another excellent presentation]
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @453:
Around the same time, Trump said he believes former President Barack Obama might vote for him, which might very well be the most ridiculous claim the Republican has ever made.
It is hard enough to narrow the field to the top ten most ridiculous things that The Orange Idiot has said, but that claim really tops the chart. Obama, after all, is out campaigning for Harris.
Tethyssays
Lynna @452
And yet, there was Trump on Friday, telling an audience — out loud and in apparent seriousness — that the Democratic vice president “really is” a “criminal,” if you “think about it.” [video at the link]
I saw a longer version of video of Trump speaking in Aurora, CO, and it sounds like some members of the audience responded with grumbles and boos. It’s hard to tell as you can’t see anything but the backdrop and a sweaty liar on video.
I can’t imagine he has many supporters there after claiming that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the town and were terrorizing the populace. Colorado is not going to vote for him.
[…] On the Democratic side, second gentleman Doug Emhoff recently spent his 60th birthday campaigning in Philadelphia. And the Harris campaign announced that her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will spend Tuesday making at least three stops in Western Pennsylvania.
It’s worth remembering that in 2020, Biden won the state by a nail-biting 1.2 points. And it took four long, sleepless days of vote-counting for the Associated Press to call the race.
This time around, Americans should expect Pennsylvania to take its time counting every vote due to a state provision that allows for ballot counting to start at only at 7 AM ET on Election Day.
“Donald Trump and his [associates] have lost every race since 2016 in Pennsylvania, every statewide race, and by the way, even some races for school board and local races,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to CNN on Sunday. “They don’t have a particularly strong track record in Pennsylvania.”
The campaign has made a point to travel into rural areas in Pennsylvania. When CNN asked Shapiro whether he thought this was an effective strategy, he replied, “I do. . . I’d rather be us than them.”
Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris took fresh steps to demonstrate a commitment to transparency, releasing a summary of her medical records from her White House physician, who explained that the Democratic nominee “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief.”
A day later, this became a key point in Harris’ campaign pitch. “He refuses to release his medical records,” she said at a rally. “I’ve done it. Every other presidential candidate in the modern era has done it.”
Trump, of course, has not done it — despite saying he would — and neither he nor his campaign have explained the need for secrecy.
That said, three days after Harris made her disclosure, shortly before 1 a.m. eastern, the Republican decided it was time to explore the issue in more detail with a couple of items published to his social media platform. The Hill reported:
Former President Trump in a series of social media posts early Tuesday morning claimed Vice President Harris’s seasonal allergies were “deeply serious” and asserted he was “far healthier” than she and other former presidents, amid growing pressure on him to release a detailed medical report.
Taking stock of the GOP candidate’s odd pitch, Trump’s messages included a handful of core claims:
– He’s “already provided” his medical records.
– He thinks Harris’ seasonal allergies represent a “dangerous situation,” which will “impact her functioning.”
– He’s been more transparent about his medical history “than any other President in History.”
– He’s “far healthier” than Harris.
– And he’s “far too busy” for another medical exam.
Let’s take these one at a time.
First, if Trump genuinely believes that he’s “already provided” his medical records, he’s deeply confused.
Second, the idea that seasonal allergies represent a “dangerous situation” is insane.
Third, Trump has been less transparent about his medical history than any modern major-party nominee. As regular readers might recall, it started before he took office. In late 2015, during the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Team Trump released an unintentionally hilarious, four-paragraph letter from the late Dr. Harold Bornstein, asserting that Trump’s “physical strength and stamina are extraordinary” and that his lab tests results were “astonishingly excellent.” The doctor added at the time, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
We learned several months later that Bornstein wrote the letter in five minutes while a limo, dispatched by Trump, waited for the document.
In the years that followed, disclosures did not improve — even when the then-president was hospitalized with a Covid infection.
Last fall, Trump released the first updated report on his health in more than three years, but it came by way of a statement issued by one of his golf club customers, and it omitted basic details such as his blood pressure and medications.
More recently, the former president and his team also ignored calls for basic medical details after he was shot in the ear.
[…] Harris appears to be in excellent shape, while The New York Times recently reported that Trump, if re-elected, would become “the oldest person ever to serve as president,” and he “could enter the Oval Office with an array of potentially worrisome issues, medical experts say: cardiac risk factors, possible aftereffects from the July assassination attempt and the cognitive decline that naturally comes with age, among others.”
Finally, Trump might want people to believe he’s “far too busy” for another medical exam, but if he has time to watch and whine about assorted Fox News segments, he has time for a physical.
After Harris’ disclosure, the core question was simple: Why is Trump hiding his medical records? After the GOP candidate’s latest statements on the subject, the question remains unanswered.
In 2020 […] things shifted for Jessica Reed Kraus. A Southern California–based lifestyle blogger who got her start writing about motherhood, Kraus felt dubious about Covid safety measures and vaccines, and disaffected from mainstream liberal politics.
[…] she wanted to talk about natural immunity and her objection to “vax cards,” she later wrote, and how they would “eliminate portions of society from general aspects of life.” […]she wrote that she was branded “an anti-vax Qanon nutjob which made me overly defensive.”
The pandemic ushered in a new focus […] she grew both increasingly conspiratorial and, at the same time, more invested in carving out a niche where celebrity gossip met hard news. […]
Today, Kraus has a million followers on Instagram, and her Substack, House Inhabit, is top-ranked in the platform’s culture category, with some 380,000 subscribers, many of whom pay $7 a month for her paywalled posts. (By the Wall Street Journal’s estimate, the site pulls in more than $1 million annually.) Over the the last year, she’s given more attention to a new set of boldface names, becoming a fixture in both the Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. universes, providing unstinting positive coverage of both men that she depicts as free from mainstream media bias. [sigh, head/desk]
During his now-suspended campaign and into his current Trump-surrogate phase, Kraus has provided a glossy view of Kennedy, depicting him as a handsome, breezy scion of his famous family. “My campaign coverage has provided a rare source of balanced insight,” she writes, “presenting an authentic interpretation of Kennedy and his messaging amid a storm of recycled, slanderous articles.” After she accompanied Kennedy, family members, and actress Alicia Silverstone on a hike, she described being allowed to linger in his office while he hurried off to a campaign event in ecstatic terms: “My dreams are manifesting now as reality,” [I diagnose self-delusion]
Kraus’ depiction of Trump has been statesmanlike; she’s called him “a showstopper” and depicted him as a mesmerizing speaker whose supporters have been unfairly tarnished by the mainstream media for their abiding and patriotic love for him. Her Substack posts from the Republicans’ convention were as schmaltzy as they were high-flown, depicting a normal political gathering as a battle for the soul of a nation. “With every story and tear shed, it became clear that this was not just another convention,” she wrote. “It was a watershed moment, a fierce reclamation of a vision for America that many felt had been slipping away.”
This intense rhetoric—good versus evil, manful heroes facing off against the abyss of the Deep State—helps Kraus inject drama and glamour. […]
Despite her protests about being called a “Qanon nutjob,” for years Kraus has been obsessed with Pizzagate-ish ideas about occult rituals among Hollywood celebrities, making claims that Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld festival, where 10 people died in a concert stampede, was literally a demonic ritual.
She and her occasional Substack co-author, Emilie Hagen, have hosted and platformed the work of New Age conspiracy Instagrammer Jennifer Carmody, who has claimed that celebrities like Elvis were victims of CIA mind control. She’s reposted comments by far-right conspiracist Liz Crokin asserting that “Israel can’t have the truth about Pizzagate coming out.” Whatever the most eyeball-grabbing news of the day—Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, Diddy’s arrest—she’ll spin the event as a forerunner to a promised post that will blow the lid off a sprawling sexual abuse scandal.
Kraus’ oeuvre is a window into a world of exceedingly rich and privileged women enmeshed in conspiracy theories, especially those involving allegations of elite occult sexual abuse. […] Kraus appears to be friendly on social media with Lady Victoria Hervey, an English model and socialite (and former girlfriend of Prince Andrew) who now posts Instagram musings about “Hollywood’s dark Satanic cults” and “plandemics,” both posts that Kraus has liked. […]
Kennedy’s political team, which did not respond to a request for comment, has been happy to reward and promote her positive coverage, making her the moderator of a September 12 conversation between Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard in Arizona. […] Her efforts to get close to the Trump campaign haven’t been as successful, though there have been some inroads: In August, Donald Trump Jr. showed up at a backyard meetup for Kraus’ followers in Jupiter, Florida. “Sitting fireside, in front of a group of strangers, he shared funny stories about his father,” Kraus wrote on Instagram.
After Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed the former president, she posted a photo to Instagram of the two men sharing a stage. “You know I fought hard for this,” she wrote, adding a weeping emoji and telling her readers the endorsement was “significant and deeply emotional, built of Shakespearean bones.”
Since then, she’s filmed herself backstage at several Trump campaign events, standing next to personalities who have endorsed the former president, like Roseanne Barr. She also shows signs of becoming a more regular feature in Republican circles, especially Kennedy-adjacent ones: she was spotted at a DC book party in May for Gabbard. She also posted a beaming photo of herself backstage at one of Tucker Carlson’s recent live events, wedged into frame with him and conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones.
[…] [snipped details of Kraus’ background and previous forays into online-influencer territory]
Kraus has said she fell under the spell of 2021’s Maxwell trial, watching obsessively from home until Mike suggested she simply go to New York and see it herself. In her coverage from the courtroom, Kraus developed what seems to be a queasy kind of sympathy for Maxwell—describing her “uncomfortable magnetism” and “electric presence,” as she depicted Jeffrey Epstein’s enabler as taking the fall for more powerful male abusers.
During the 2022 defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, New York’s Choire Sicha wrote about how influencers—Kraus first among them—were, to Depp’s benefit, “shaping the general public’s understanding” far more than many mainstream reporters. Kraus, he wrote, became “a trial-obsessed Instagrammer” and “a chief instigator of the anti-Heard story line.” […]
While Catherine, the Princess of Wales, was being treated for an undisclosed illness, she claimed to have spoken to “an individual connected to hospital staff.” She deleted that phrase, replacing it with the more ambiguous “an individual connected to recovery.” […] wilder stories remain on her platforms, like one purporting Amber Heard presided over sex parties with “Satanic themes” and “lesbian orgies.” She wrote that Elon Musk not only attended, but is also the father of Heard’s young daughter. Kraus later wrote on Instagram that Elon Musk and Amber Heard had teamed up to file a potential lawsuit against her. “Completely false,” says Heard attorney Elaine Bredehoft. “I have never even heard that.”
[…] Kraus is fascinated by legacies, famous people, and power. She’s written at length on Maxwell’s tony upbringing and the royal family, and is clearly more than a little attracted by what the Kennedys represent. A key part of her appeal to readers are claims to have inside sources and tipsters close to the nerve centers of politics and entertainment alike.
[…] In early October, Kraus Instagrammed herself aboard a yacht with Kennedy and a handful of other supporters, including Sopranos actress Drea de Matteo. […] Soon after, Kraus jetted to Trump’s marquee rally in Butler, the site of July’s assassination attempt, where she provided rapturous play-by-play coverage from somewhere extremely close to the stage.
What Kraus is doing here—a sometimes queasy blend of journalism and fluffery [“Queasy” is the right word. Yuck.]—is certainly not new. Conspiracy influencers cosplaying as journalists have been a regular feature of the last few election cycles. Men’s rights activist, Pizzagate promoter, and all-purpose alt-right troll Mike Cernovich began pivoting to a form of hyper-partisan journalism during the Trump administration, with posts that suggested sourcing in the White House and on the National Security Council. Jack Posobiec, who could be described using many of the same terms as Cernovich, also got a White House press pass. Far-right figure and Trump-confidant Laura Loomer wields similar tools and affects, traipsing with cameras in tow to migrant camps and promising up inside knowledge. [True]
[…] But campaign season only goes so long, which raises the question of what Kraus will do next. She clearly has ambitions to extend her brand, recently placing an enormous billboard promoting her site on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard. In the event of a second Trump White House, you could see her taking up a perch at Mar-a-Lago. But even if he wins, she could end up on the margins, chasing celebrity gossip and Satanic shadows.
“She thinks it will go on and on and on,” her detractor, who’s familiar with the Trump world, said dismissively. “No. After the election, it’s over and bloggers like her are invited nowhere.”
Still, Kraus now has “a million followers on Instagram, and her Substack, House Inhabit, is top-ranked in the platform’s culture category, with some 380,000 subscribers, many of whom pay $7 a month for her paywalled posts.” Sheesh.
As of 3:30 p.m. today, 234,000 votes have been cast so far in Georgia on the first day of in-person early voting in the state, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
That’s a record for the first day, a Georgia secretary of state spokesperson said. And “Georgia voters have surpassed all daily records for any day of early voting in 2022,” Raffensperger said.
Interesting. We don’t yet know if it is Democrats or Republicans casting all of those early votes. I will keep an eye out for some analysis to show up in the media.
That’s one of many new stories posted on NBC News’ “Live Updates” page.
The former president has said that if he’s elected to a second term, he’ll bring Tom Homan back on board to oversee his mass deportation plan.
This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 14 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Over the weekend, the Rod of Iron Ministries held their annual Freedom Festival in Pennsylvania. The group describes the event as the “largest open carry rally in America.” Holding a golden AR-15 and donning a crown made of bullets, the group’s leader welcomed attendees to the three-day event and called on God to save America by “using President Trump.”
Also in attendance was Tom Homan, who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Donald Trump’s first term. He is largely considered an architect of Trump’s policy to tear little kids away from their moms and dads at the border.
Homan was one of the event’s featured speakers on Saturday. He bragged about his vision for leading a deportation program under Trump. “I will run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen,” Homan said.
That’s not just wishful thinking on his part. Trump has said publicly that if he is elected to a second term, he will indeed be bringing Homan back on board to oversee his immigration policy, the centerpiece of which is ordering the U.S. military to build camps to hold tens of millions of people and then to deport tens of millions of people. It’s one of, if not the, defining policy position of the Trump campaign this time around.
If you are wondering how the Trump administration would go about this, how they would actually carry out the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen, whether it would be approached carefully and soberly, consider for a moment that the guy who could reasonably be in charge of the camps, in charge of the deportations, was a headliner at the “assault rifles are God’s will” rally this weekend, where their leader was wearing a crown of bullets.
During his remarks, Homan made a promise to the crowd, “I’ve said it 100 times: Trump comes back, I come back.”
Embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.
While Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is posting bizarre videos wishing for a return to the violent masculinity that brought us the Vietnam War, the Biden-Harris administration has scored another big win for LGBTQ+ justice.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday that more than 800 former service members discharged under the homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy have had their status upgraded to “honorable discharge” after a yearlong review.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” affected more than 13,000 military members during the 17 years it was in effect and barred openly gay people from serving. According to Christa A. Specht, a legal policy director at the Pentagon, while most of those members were given honorable discharges, “nearly 2,000 were separated with less than fully honorable characterizations.”
While many of those affected by the policy appealed for an upgrade after the policy was reversed in 2011, others likely didn’t know that was an option and did not apply. Austin announced in September 2023 that the Pentagon would be reviewing the remaining cases in order to “do right by our outstanding service members, military families, and civilian employees.” According to Austin, 96.8% of the cases reviewed received an upgrade to their status.
“We’re encouraging anyone who still believes that there is something in their military record that is an error or an injustice—in particular, service members who might have been impacted by records that predate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell who were separated for their sexual orientation—to come forward and request relief through the boards,” Specht said. “They have a high chance of success.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s most notable achievement when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community was banning transgender service members from the military. That bigoted ban was lifted by Joe Biden in 2020, just days after he was sworn in as president. […]
Israel has threatened to launch a siege operation in northern Gaza to root out Hamas militants that have reemerged in that area of the war-torn enclave.
The Biden administration is issuing a new ultimatum to the Israeli government: address a deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza within 30 days or risk restrictions on future U.S. military aid. [A lot of people will say this is too little, too late.]
In a Sunday letter to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that the U.S. is deeply alarmed by the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and demanded more actions from Israel to allow aid to enter the territory, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.
[…] In the letter, Blinken and Austin outline specific action items for Israel to ameliorate the increased risk of starvation in the territory, including allowing at least 350 trucks a day to enter Gaza through the territory’s four major crossings ahead of winter. And the two want to see the U.S. and Israel create a new communication channel to discuss incidents surrounding civilians that would begin to be used by the end of this month.
The administration also wants Israel to implement pauses across Gaza to enable aid groups to distribute supplies and provide vaccinations over the next four months. And Israel must also allow people in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone inside Gaza to move inland before winter and improve security for humanitarian convoys and movements. […]
It’s not the first time the U.S. has sent a letter to Israel voicing concerns over its handling of humanitarian assistance. […]
But this letter comes as Israel has threatened to launch a siege operation in northern Gaza to root out Hamas militants that have reemerged in that area of the war-torn enclave. The U.N. has warned that food has not entered northern Gaza since Oct. 1. Those claims prompted calls from Vice President Kamala Harris to Israel to ramp up humanitarian efforts.
And the disclosure of the letter also follows an Israeli airstrike over the weekend against the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. Images of the aftermath of the attack, which Israel argues was a “precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center” near the hospital, circulated online showing civilians burning alive in tents. […]
birgerjohanssonsays
Crossposted with “He is notceven a good dancer”.
.
Early voting in Pennsylvania:
Democrats so far 285,072
Republicans so far 95,066
Early votes; Dems outvoting GOP by 300%.
In 2020 it was just 273%.
My conclusion is, unless early voting patterns have changed there are more Democratic voters in this crucial swing state, bringing Harris up above 270 in the electoral college.
270 is the midway point so anyone above 270 becomes president.
birgerjohanssonsays
Goddamit, my optimism may jinx the election…
If Trump becomes president, you know who to blame.
birgerjohanssonsays
God Awful Movies.
“GAM478 Dolls”
Anna Bosnick brings some class to the event. Murderous dolls? I wish my worst problem was murderous dolls.
birgerjohanssonsays
Format question: if Dems have 3 times the early votes I assume the correct term would be “having 200% more early votes” rather than “outvoting the Republicans by 300%”?
Language, how the fck does it work? Also, magnets.
*Insane Clown Posse reference.
Rob Grigjanissays
birger @466: Can I blame you for Keir Starmer and Pierre Poilievre as well? I feel the need for a scapegoat.
birgerjohanssonsays
Good news. This explains the polling anomalies.
.
“THIS IS A PROBLEM: The 2024 Election Map Based On The NEWEST Poll From All 50 States
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=xyqfxDSILcg
In the last weeks there have been as many Republican-aligned polls as there are unaligned polls.
This tilts the total results towards an apparent picture that favors Republicans.
birgerjohanssonsays
Rob Grigjanis @ 469
Better blame me rather than the Haitians in Springfield.
Akira MacKenziesays
Turned in my absentee ballot yesterday. Yes, I voted for Harris and Dems down the ballot.
Tethyssays
From Txitter, using only the reliable polling organizations.
@464 Lynna, OM: Nothing constructive will happen until the election is decided. Then I have a small hope that Biden will put some real pressure on. As long as the election is decided fairly quickly there will be a window for Biden to take some strong action. He will be retiring after he leaves office, he can afford to take some blame for doing things the next administration won’t want to touch.
Donald Trump’s town-hall-style campaign event in Pennsylvania on Monday understandably attracted more attention for its conclusion than for its contents. But the actual question-and-answer period did provide useful insights that should not be overlooked.
One of the questions posed to Trump — apparently prescreened by the campaign — came from a Black woman standing behind him on the stage. Reading from a card, the woman said she had been raised in a Democratic, union household in Philadelphia before (as other question-askers said as well) seeing the light about America’s problems — and, in particular, how they affect the Black community.
“Like my fellow Americans,” the woman said, “my grocery bill has not gone down. Everything is still so very expensive. What steps will your administration take to help American families suffering from this inflation?”
What follows is Trump’s response in its entirety…. we’ve added some footnotes for clarification and correction.
Trump’s answer
“So, you know, it’s such a great question in the sense that people don’t think of grocery. You know, it sounds like not such an important word when you talk about homes and everything else, right? But more people tell me about grocery bills, where the price of bacon, the price of lettuce, the price of tomatoes, they tell me. [1] And we’re going to do a lot of things.
“You know, our farmers aren’t being treated properly. And we had a deal with China, and it was a great deal — I never mentioned it because once covid came in, I said, that was a bridge too far because I had a great relationship with President Xi [Jinping]. And he’s a fierce man and he’s a man that likes China and I understand that. But we had a deal and he was perfect on that deal, $50 billion he was going to buy. [2] We were doing numbers like you wouldn’t believe, for the farmer. But the farmers are very badly hurt. The farmers in this country, we’re going to get them straightened out. We’re going to get your prices down.
“But you asked another question about safety and also about Black population jobs and Hispanic population in particular those two. [3] So when millions of people pour into our country, they’re having a devastating effect on Black families and Hispanic families more than any others. [4] I think it’s going to spread to a lot of other places.
“I think it’s going to spread to unions. I think unions are going to have a big problem because, you know, employers are just not going to pay the price. They’re going to — and it’s going to be — it’s a very bad thing that’s happening.
“So they’re coming in. Many are coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions, insane asylums. [5] That’s like, you know, step above, right? Insane asylum. And whenever I go, Hannibal Lecter, you know what I’m talking about. They always go — the fake news. That’s a lot of fake news back there, too.”
“They always mention — you know, it’s a way of demeaning, they say, ‘Hannibal Lecter, why would he mention?’ [6] Well, you know why, because he was a sick puppy, and we have sick puppies coming into our country. I figured that’s a lot — that’s better than wasting a lot of words. You just say, ‘Hannibal Lecter. We don’t want him.’ But. But they always sort of say, ‘Why would he say that?’ I do it for a lot of reasons.
“But I do it because we are allowing some very bad people into our country. And they’re coming as terrorists. You know, you saw the other day, last month they had the record number of terrorists. [7] I had a month — and I love Border Patrol.
“Did you see they gave me a full endorsement two days ago? Border Patrol.” [8]
“The Border Patrol. And they’re great. And, you know, they want to do their job. They don’t want to let these people come in. They look at them. They can tell. They can look at somebody, say good, bad. They say what’s coming into our country now, it’s having a huge negative impact on Black families and on Hispanic families and ultimately on everybody.
“And we’re going to close that border so tight. It’s going to be closed. And I said the two things I’m going to do, first, we’re going to close that border — [9] and people are going to come in. You want people to come in. We need people to come in. People are going to come into our country legally.
“You know, it’s so unfair. You have people that are waiting on a system, in a line and they’ve been waiting in this line. You know how long? For years, 10 years, 12 years and they study and they take tests. And then people come. I actually say, ‘Why don’t you just go and just come on across?’ I tell people that it’s terrible, right? I said, ‘Go out. You’re incredible.’ They say, ‘What can I do to speed up the process?’ I say, ‘You know what, go to the southern border. I’ll see you on the other side.’ It’s so unfair. [10]
“But we’re going to have them come in legally. You have to see what they have to do. They take tests on, you know, who was the first one here? What date was this? What does 1776 mean? All this stuff.
“And these other people are coming in and they’re affecting the school systems and they’re affecting the hospital system. I mean, if you take a look at what’s going on in Springfield, Ohio, a town of 50,000 people, they’ve just added 32,000 people. Illegal immigrants. [11] And we’re not going to put up with it.
“And we’re going to take care of your costs are going to come down, and you’re not going to have a problem with — because the biggest problem, and I’m hearing it from Black people and to a lesser extent right now, but it’ll be the same, Hispanic people.
“And I’ll tell you what, our poll numbers have gone through the roof. With Black and Hispanic, have gone through the roof. [12] And I like that. I like that. I like that. So we’re going to take care of it. You will be — I’ll tell you, if everything works out, if everybody gets out and votes on January 5th. [13] Or before.
“You know, it used to be, you’d have a date. Today, you can vote two months before, probably three months after. They don’t know what the hell they’re doing. But we’re going to straighten it all out. We’re going to straighten that out. We’re going to straighten our election process out, too. That’s going to be important, also. So thank you very much, darling. We’re going to get it straight. Thank you.”
And that is how Trump will address inflation.
Footnotes
[1] The Wall Street Journal recently conducted a survey of economists. Overwhelmingly, they indicated that Trump’s stated economic policies — heavy on tariffs that would raise the cost of goods for Americans — would be inflationary.
[2] Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton claimed that Trump had pushed the Chinese president to buy goods from American farmers specifically to boost his reelection bid. In part thanks to the pandemic, the purchases stipulated in the deal were not made.
[3] She did not ask this question.
[4] Black and Hispanic unemployment hit record lows during the Biden administration.
[5] These comments about prisons and insane asylums are years-old rhetoric from Trump that is not substantiated.
[6] Here’s the answer to the very good question of why Trump keeps talking about 1990s movie character Hannibal Lecter.
[7] Like many on the right, Trump opportunistically conflates being on the Terrorist Screening Dataset with being a terrorist. While apprehensions of people on that watch list between border checkpoints are up, more people on the watch list were stopped at the southwest border in 2019, under Trump, than at any point in Joe Biden’s presidency.
[8] The union of Border Patrol agents endorsed Trump, not the government agency.
[9] Trump was probably going to refer to his “dictator on day one” pledge of addressing the border and drilling for oil, if he hadn’t gotten sidetracked.
[10] This comment about going to the southern border is not good advice, unless the people Trump knows have viable reasons to seek asylum in the United States.
[11] The number of immigrants from Haiti presented by Trump is exaggerated. More important, they are in the country legally.
[12] Trump’s poll numbers with Black and Hispanic voters are better than the support he saw in 2020, but he is still losing with both groups.
[13] Election Day is Nov. 5.
StevoRsays
@472. Akira MacKenzie : “Turned in my absentee ballot yesterday. Yes, I voted for Harris and Dems down the ballot.”
Thankyou. That makes me happy and is much appreciated for whatever little that’s worth from me. I know you would have found it hard to do. Trump absolutely needs stopping. Get Harris in then pressure the fuck out of her to push things leftwards.
StevoRsays
From PBS Newshour :
Few journalists working today have covered as many presidents as the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward. His latest book, “War,” is about war in Ukraine, war in the Middle East and a war for the American presidency. Nick Schifrin sat down with Woodward to discuss more.
…(Snip!)…
Nick Schifrin :…(Snip!)… You described this meeting that Vice President Harris had with Benjamin Netanyahu back in July. And after the meeting, you quote the Israeli ambassador here saying that the meeting was cordial. But, after, Harris comes out and says: “I will not stand silent as the people of Gaza suffer.”
And Netanyahu, you say, was furious.
Bob Woodward :
He was furious because, at the meeting, which was a kind of, hey, Israel, United States, everything is fine, and then when she comes out and makes that declaration, which tells you something about her. She’s separating herself from some of the Biden policy.
And Netanyahu is just burning, furious. But this is just a couple of months ago. And she’s libel to be the next United States president, as we know, as he knows. So there’s a fury, but it seems to stay private.
Aussie news program analysising the news here – Media Watch:
But now to the war in the Middle East and yet more dead journalists. The latest being Hassan Hamad, a Palestinian video journalist who freelanced for Al Jazeera and Turkish news agency Anadolu. He was 19 years old, the age of my youngest son. Hassan was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza on 6th October, after receiving threatening WhatsApp messages from an Israeli number telling him:
… (snip).. In two tweets on X, the deputy editor in chief of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Barry Malone, wrote:
I feel sick. How many more colleagues do we need to see this happen to?
X, @MaloneBarry, 10 October, 2024
And he asked:
If you’re a journalist and you’re not speaking out in solidarity … why?
On some media’s misleading portrayal of Electric Vehicles and the myths they keeppushing a s anti-Green propaganda.
StevoRsays
Okay one more segment fromlast night’s Media Watch here :
After warning that last month’s Hurricane Helene would prove catastrophic — which it was — Morales was labelled a ‘climate militant’. But he’s unrepentant, writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
I must communicate the growing threats from the climate crisis come hell or high water—pun intended.
… no one can hide from the truth.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 30 September, 2024
But unfortunately many still do, including in the Australian media. And we all know who they are. No need to give them any more airtime today.
After Georgia voters began heading to the polls Tuesday for the first day of early voting in the state, a judge enjoined election officials from moving forward with a controversial new rule that would require the hand counting of ballots when polls close on Nov. 5.
Judge Robert McBurney called the rule “too much, too late.”
[…]
McBurney wrote that with Election Day around the corner, “there are no guidelines or training tools for the implementation” of the rule.
[…]
It’s a busy week of election cases for McBurney, who on Monday issued a ruling concluding that election officials are required under Georgia law to certify election results even if they have concerns about fraud. He wrote that if such concerns arise, their job is to forward those concerns to law enforcement.
McBurney, who presided over the Georgia special purpose grand jury that in 2023 voted to recommend Trump be indicted for seeking to overturn the state’s 2020 results, is also overseeing a similar case brought by the national and state Democratic parties challenging the rules.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
birgerjohanssonsays
Pervarotti!
Jimmy Kimmel:
‘Trump’s Mad at “Loser” Jimmy Kimmel Again, Holds a DOOZY of a Town Hall Meeting & Attacks Kamala Harris’ Health’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PpbKWFehKyE
KGsays
JM@474,
Biden has a long record of unconditional support for Israel’s illegal, oppressive and bloody actions. There is absolutely no reason to think that will change in his last months in power.
BTW I seem to recall a president of Equador had to step down three decades ago because of mental instability, he performed music on TV among other things.
.
I have an idea.
Just to show hiw bizarre the town hall meeting was, let us have a Joe Biden lookalike sway on stage to music for 37 minutes.
Chip-making rivals Intel Corp. and AMD Inc. finally agree on something: They’re among the founding members of x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, a consortium designed to push forward the ecosystem around x86 processors.
This is a big deal in the computer field. Intel has always been a “We define the industry and everybody exists in our shadow” type of company. They have lost it over the last couple of years though as problems both internal and external have hit the company. Internally they have not had great success with new chips, performance has not hit the levels they wanted and production has been low. Externally AMD has matched them on the desktop and other companies have dominated AI systems. Because of a weird quirk of chip design history graphic card companies dominate AI chip production.
There is also an element of Intel and AMD working to keep ARM from becoming a competitor to x86. ARM based chips are mostly a factor in the low end but as there are fewer real new features to X86 it looks better. With everything moving to the cloud in vast banks of computers a cheap low energy ARM system could be a real threat.
World Liberty Financial, which aspires to be a sort of crypto bank, launched its token sale on Tuesday, a day after project co-founder Zachary Folkman said “well over 100,000 people” are on the whitelist to invest.
But WLF’s website suffered regular and lengthy outages for much of the morning and early afternoon, contributing to a limited number of sales. Only about 4,300 unique wallet addresses hold the token as of Tuesday afternoon, according to blockchain data tracked by Etherscan, representing roughly 4% of the total number of people who registered.
Trump’s crypto coin went on sale Tuesday to low sales and numerous technical problems. It still isn’t clear what the project is entirely but is some form of crypto coin bank for bigger investors. Only people potentially investing a chunk get the full prospect of what they are doing.
whheydtsays
Re: JM @ #492…
Intel lost that dominance over 20 years ago when AMD beat them to 64-bit chips, the Athlons and Opterons.
America Pac has quietly become the principal ground game partner for the Trump campaign, doing the bulk of the voter turnout work across the battleground states, according to people familiar with the matter.
Musk is the only donor for America Pac. Musk’s group is now doing far more canvasing then the Trump campaign itself. Musk appears to be another figure that publicly aligned with whatever party was advantageous to his business. Now he has gone for Trump in a big way. Musk should know better, Trump feels no need to keep his written contracts, spoken promises and favors dealt are worthless.
There’s been a considerable amount of interest in the 2024 race about the prospect of post-election political retaliations. Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, however, has been eager to put voters’ minds to rest.
Over the summer, for example, the senator appeared on Fox News and said that Donald Trump is “not a vengeful guy,” all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. This past weekend, Vance took the same line a little further, delivering this line on ABC News’ “This Week” with a straight face:
“[Trump] was president for four years, and he didn’t go after his political opponents. You know who did go after her political opponents? Kamala Harris, who has tried to arrest everything from pro-life activists to her political opponents … and used the Department of Justice as a weapon against people.”
Look, I realize that Vance lies a lot. By some measures, he appears to have received tutorials from his running mate about how to deceive the public on a daily basis, and the lessons have gone tragically well
[True! And Vance is a, slicker, slimier, better-educated liar than Trump is. Vance is also ROTFL ridiculous, but we shouldn’t let that obscure the fact that he is dangerous.]
But this is just straight-up gaslighting.
Let’s quickly discard the obvious absurdity that the vice president used the levers of federal power to target her perceived political foes. If Vance or anyone in GOP politics has any evidence to substantiate such a bizarre assertion, they’ve kept the proof well hidden.
The larger problem, of course, is Trump’s record that Vance is pretending to know nothing about.
[…] In the recent past, Trump was in the White House, where the then-president spent an outlandish amount of time and energy retaliating against perceived political foes — both in the political and private-sector realms — seeking meritless prosecutions against opponents. All of this has been thoroughly documented, and confirmed by officials who worked closely with the Republican during his tenure.
In the present, Trump is a private citizen who lacks access to governmental power, but he’s nevertheless tried to use his political influence to seek revenge — even against members of his own party. [Embedded links to sources are available at the main link.]
As for the near future, the former president is effectively running on a retaliatory 2024 platform: Trump wants to prosecute his perceived domestic political enemies, and he doesn’t seem especially interested in hiding his intentions. On the contrary, he talks about his desire to abuse presidential powers all the time, even raising the specter of military tribunals for his opponents. [Embedded links to sources are available at the main link.]
When The Washington Post pressed Vance’s aides for some kind of explanation, they said the Republican senator was referring to federal criminal indictments when he said Trump “didn’t go after his political opponents.”
But that also doesn’t make any sense, in part because there’s literally no evidence of Harris even trying to secure federal criminal indictments against her political opponents, and in part because there’s overwhelming evidence that Trump, while in office, went to great lengths to demand that prosecutors file charges against his perceived domestic foes. [Embedded links to sources are available at the main link.]
In other words, Vance peddled a plainly false claim, which his team defended with another false claim.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
[…] the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that convicted felons who served their sentences can legally vote, despite efforts from Nebraska’s secretary of state’s office to block released felons from casting ballots. [summarized from NBC News]
[…] * The latest campaign finance filings suggest three extraordinarily wealthy people — Republican megadonors Elon Musk, Miriam Adelson and Dick Uihlein — donated a combined $220 million into groups supporting Trump’s candidacy. That total only reflects campaign investments during the third quarter (July through September). [summarized from The New York Times]
* Though Trump had agreed to a CNBC interview, the former president ended up canceling. The same thing happened, of course, with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” [summarized from an X post]
* More than 300,000 voters in Georgia cast ballots on the first day of early, in-person voting, easily breaking a state record. [summarized from NBC News]
* And speaking of the Peachtree State, Jimmy Carter, who recently turned 100, hoped to live long enough to vote for Harris. On the first day of early voting in Georgia, the former Democratic president was able to fulfill his wish. [summarized from Atlanta Journal Constitution]
California bans legacy admissions at all colleges
These male flamingos are ‘doing a great job’ raising a chick together
Back down to 55%.
Why can’t Harris seem to make any permanent gains???
Harris is up against the billionaire dude bros.
Elia Ayoub (10-04)
UN
Politico
Neo-Nazis head to encrypted SimpleX Chat app, bail on Telegram
VC titan Ben Horowitz plans “significant” donation to Kamala Harris
UK has more atheists than people who believe in God, new research claims
Psilocybin boosts mind perception but doesn’t reduce atheism
1) Italics by me for emphasis. Can anyone translate this?
2) Why should taking drugs make you more religious? It ought to be extremely obvious that the altered states you are experiencing are due to the drugs.
33=half of 66 which looks a bit like 666.
We are only half-evil. We can do better than this!
I keep checking celebrities that have recently turned 78, which -if they ran for office- would make them better 78-year-old-candidates than the other one.
I learned Susan Sarandon turned 78 yesterday. And she was in the vampire film The Hunger with David Bowie and
Catherine Devenue. That makes her doubly qualified.
Unlike Hillary Clinton she does not eat children in the basement of a pizza shop, but nobody is perfect.
Re: Reginald Selkirk @9:
Another report of the paper reads:
Show me the real villain of the 1980s.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/jmaMRdQ4zvQqysTD/
Sixty years ago, there was a lot of BS of how drugs could help expand the mind.
A lot of this was new-age pseudo-religous stuff, partly rooted in the role psychoactive drugs played in ceremonies among pre-modern cultures especially indians.
Also, I can totally beleve lots of people met god during a trip.
^ A lot just OD & died too. Or caught varuous diseases from infected needles or ruined their lives by become addicted etc..
Some powerful points made here Caller Wants To Debate Israel’s Genocide –
The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder (15 mins 20 secs) If you don’t call it genocide what is it and is it actually okay?
NBC News:
NBC News:
NBC News:
A good (I think? Maybe? Not a resident or expert on the place but memorable way of putting it..) description of how Lebanon is and interview with Nadim Houry, (Lebanese executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative) here – “Don’t Do It”: Lebanese Lawyer Warns Israel Against Using War to Create a “New Middle East” – 18 minutes long.
Top Execs Exit Trump Media Amid Allegations of CEO’s Mismanagement and Retaliation
Several people involved with the former president’s company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures were retaliation following internal complaints about CEO Devin Nunes to the company board.
This article first appeared at ProPublica.
Trump’s anti-Haitian rhetoric evokes 1937 massacre
I snipped a lot of history with which this article begins. See the link for the details.
Cartoon: Poker face
“When the Author Understands the Game”
The Dungeon Meshi anime has the best parts of Dungeons and Dragons
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=BCBLfKudX7A
Why are no UN troops in Haiti? Is it the former Haitian president that is blocking it?
I heard Kenya was willing to send troops, but that government is not famous for respecting human rights.
Considering the abyssal rule of terror the criminal gangs are inflicting on the Haiti population, that is one of the very few cases where an Israeli ‘kill them all’ tactic against the leaders would be morally justified… (I am NOT condoning what Israel is doing in Gaza).
.
Also, the last times foreign troops were on Haiti territory it did not lead to long-term stability (under Clinton, and the US invasion 1915). So there have to be a clear understanding of what to achieve.
Signal boost :
https://proxy.freethought.online/daylight/2024/10/04/richard-dawkins-keeps-getting-smaller/
@Reginald Selkirk 9
Piaget’s symbolic function stage abilities being affected.
This paper relates to the tourettic version.
“Triangles, tricks and tics: Hyper-mentalizing in response to animated shapes in Tourette syndrome”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26177119/
Attribution by the perceiver.
Tropical Storm Milton forms, expected to strengthen into a hurricane and target Florida
@25 birgerjohansson
UN peacekeepers are not given a mandate to act to control civilians. They would be no more effective in Haiti than they were in Rwanda or South Sudan. All they could accomplish there was to provide a guarded refugee camp with very limited capacity or resources.
In reality, they should be called ‘Lightly Armed Spectators’.
Gizmode: Truth Social Users Are Losing Ridiculous Sums of Money to Scam
No statistics comparing the scam rate to other sites but Truth Social is a target rich environment for grifters. Somehow I’m not surprised.
Fun fact. If we exclude tax havens like Switzerland, Norway has the greatest GDP per capita, not USA.
People living in Ireland may be surprised to learn they have even more GDP per capita, an artefact of tax regulations allowing wealthy people to (nominally) be Irish.
As the wealth in Norway (and the other Scandinavian counties that appear in the top twenty) is very, very much more equally distributed than in some nominally rich countries that also turn up at the top, it is tempting to assume causation between distributed wealth and the social cohesion in the former group of countries compared to the latter group of nations.
You rarely hear of neo-nazis in Finland, for example.
Birger:
John Morales @ 33
FUUUCK! The bastards turn up everywhere.
The wikipedia page of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper that consistently supports human rights and opposes discrimination of arabs.
Haaretz – Wikipedia
.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaretz
Sadly the US Tikkun quarterly has ceased publication this year, as Michael Lerner, the editor had ailing health and was unable to find a successor (he died a week ago).
It published material from both Israelis and Palestinians.
Tikkun (magazine) – Wikipedia
.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_(magazine)
John Morales @ 33
It is interesting that “nationalists” have no problems cooperating across borders against jews, muslims and people of color…
California governor signs law banning medical debt from credit reports
Followup to JM @31.
MAGAs Fleeced on Truth Social
Excerpts from The Hill’s live update presentation of Trump’s rally in Buter, PA today:
Link
More on this later.
Washington Post link
EXCLUSIVE
Mossad’s pager operation: Inside Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah
New details emerge of Israel’s elaborate plan to sabotage Hezbollah communications devices to kill or main thousands of its operatives.
Making everything worse.
“Helene response hampered by misinformation, conspiracy theories.”
Washington Post link
False claims are adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities. Social media platforms such as X have allowed the falsehoods to spread.
WaPo Live:
Maegan Vazquez
4 voters charged with intentionally voting twice in Michigan primary election
StevoR@15: That’s heroin you’re describing, not hallucinogens.
ISW: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 3, 2024
Current Institute for the Study of War assessment of the situation in Ukraine. Russia continues to make slow small advances at high cost. Ukraine continues to make organized retreats when pushed hard but drive off less then major attacks.
The summer offense of 2024 is coming to close as weather will make any major moves impractical by the end of October. Russia has not achieved any of it’s strategic goals but has made some localized gains. Ukraine has attacked Russia in Kursk but it isn’t clear if they have achieved their goals or not. They have forced Russia to pull some troops off the rest of the front but have not stopped Russia from advancing entirely. The Ukrainian military may have had other goals though, such as reaching places that can drone strike deep in Russia, bringing the war inside Russian territory and messing up Russian supply lines.
Live coverage of the controversial (for some anyhow incl. Murdoch media, LNP leader Dutton the Gestapotato* & many state premiers) pro-Palestinian protests being held in Oz right now here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-06/live-israel-gaza-middle-east-war-protests-sydney-melbourne/104438056
Also via Aussie ABC :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-06/israel-gaza-war-one-year-anniversary/104413078
.* See among other things here :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-05/laura-tingle-on-middle-east-politics-and-dutton-albanese-divide/104433752
@45.Bekenstein Bound : StevoR@15: That’s heroin you’re describing, not hallucinogens.
Heroin among some other drugs yeah.
StevoR, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen
Why Do Utah’s Uinta Mountains Run East-West?
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=kX46ybp665Q
What happens after you fire all the competent people:
Brazil’s top court says X paid pending fines to wrong bank
Chinese Scientists Unveil the World’s Most Powerful Sound Laser
Feel free to laugh. There is no such thing as a “sound laser.”
@ ^ Reginald Selkirk : So its unsound then? ;-)
Reginald Selkirk @52:
Are you sure?
https://physicsworld.com/a/hail-the-first-sound-lasers/
@52, 53, 54
It’s an “analogy.” In other words, a marketing gimmick, or a lie.
Re: birgerjohansson32/34 and John Morales 33
I rarely hear about neonazis in other small European countries, but in recent years I’ve unfortunately often heard about neonazis here in Finland.
Regarding Mr. AG aka Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Räsänen,
I mentioned his case on a previous page of this thread weeks ago, when it was covered by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. The reporter then went to question him at his home door, but they didn’t publish his name for legal reasons. Now, I find it hilarious that he was also pestered by the fucking BBC.
Only now Finnish audience knows his name – and the fact that he isn’t white, as was widely assumed. Incidentally, for a long while now, Finnish rightwing politicians and social media commentators who totally aren’t nazis themselves have accused Yle of being a politically biased leftist-wokeist institution that uses tax money to scaremonger on the far right threat. Now, some are convinced that Räsänen’s name and ethnic background had been tactically hidden by Yle for some political reason. Like, POC cannot be real nazis, and also nazism in Finland is the fault of immigrants.
@55: Yes, sound amplification by stimulated emission of acoustic radiation is analogous to light amplification by stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. Why the scare quotes, and whence the “lie”?
If we had known about the sound phenomenon before the light phenomenon, we might well be calling lasers “light sasers”.
Hossenfelder pulls no punches about climate change desinformation.
“People Don’t Realize This” about Climate Change, Elon Musk Says
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=58I6YQzBrPo
Just realised Swedish ‘desinformation’ = ‘disinformation’ in English. So technically not a spelling error.
Also, fuck Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
German Luftwaffe Prototypes and concepts that never made it to the prototype stage.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y-m9Z5qxxxE
This one is for everyone, but PZ, especially, will enjoy it:
https://assets.amuniversal.com/482aa110574f013d6f7d005056a9545d
Finally, the New York Times publishes a truthful headline: Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age
New York Times link
More at the link. I snipped a lot of text.
Tropical Storm Milton expected to make landfall in Florida as major hurricane
Beirut faces heavy bombardment
https://www.wonkette.com/p/canadas-trump-mad-at-fake-news-for
‘Canada’s Trump’ [Pierre Poilievre] Mad At Fake News For Edited TV Clip
@ 52, 53, 54, 55…
The LASER was originally called an “optical MASER”. The first coherent wave emitting device produced microwaves.
Harris On Track To Win Based On New 2024 Polling
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WQKhZXN4a_E
My comment: The undecided voters in this Pennsylvania poll are way too few for conclusions to be drawn! Also, it is incredible that half the voters still favor Trump. But ever since Reagan was elected I have had strong opinions about how easily Americans can be deceived.
-Anyway, Harris can win either of two other states and become president, even if she does not win Pennsylvania, see the end of the video.
Toxic geysers, zombie wells, and earthquakes: The real cost of cheap gas, by Mark Sumner
Breakthrough: NASA’s Webb Discovers Gravitationally Lensed Supernova That Solves The Hubble Tension
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bvYsGguUx3g
Followup to comment 69.
Posted by readers of the article:
https://x.com/TWMCLtd/status/1842666071444041974
https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1842885429294506166
https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1830695062457426211
https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1830695063925522498
https://x.com/GlasnostGone/status/1842838597713485931
@57: The properties of the described phenomenon are very un-laser-like. So you could say it is analogous, except for this, and except for that…
None of us should even know who JD Vance is
New Yorker’s ‘Social Media Is Killing Kids’ Article Waits 71 Paragraphs To Admit Evidence Doesn’t Support The Premise
Right-wing media falsely and dishonestly claim that Hurricane Helene survivors are only entitled to $750 in aid
I can see how, if you believed that disinformation, and you were a person in desperate straits in a place like North Carolina, you might allow your rage against “illegals” to be stoked. Dangerous rhetoric from the rightwing doofuses.
Additional embedded links to sources are included at the main link.
How Judy-Lynn del Rey shaped science fiction as we know it today | Short Documentary
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bO9oSyR-5UM
Magnitude 4.0 earthquake rocks Southern California’s Inland Empire
Ho hum. 5.0 or it didn’t happen.
@75: You haven’t explained anything, just spouted hand-wavy nonsense. What does ‘very un-laser-like’ mean? What does ‘except for this, and except for that’ mean? What are ‘this’ and ‘that’? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?
WaPo Live :
WaPo:
Democrats try ‘Trump-proofing’ their states ahead of Election Day
By Reis Thebault / October 6, 2024
Unfortunately, Canadian polling is even more dire than American: it would likely take a miracle to avoid Oilievre having at least four years to wreck the country and the climate. I’m slowly circling the drain as it is; it’s unlikely I would personally survive his reign long enough to vote against him a second time. But at least there would be one, unlike in America if Trump gets back in.
STOP Patting Your Dog’s Head! Here’s What They Actually Want!
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=wUESqNpfeOc
There is apparently an election hoing on in the Indian state Haryana, so the Youtube searches for “poll” are half indian exit polls.
A controversial but effective treatment for meth addiction gains ground
Sulphur dioxide doesn’t smell of rotten eggs, although it is toxic and breathing it in is very unpleasant – it feels, as much as smells, very sharp. It’s hydrogen sulphide that has the smell of rotten eggs (because a rotting egg gives off hydrogen sulphide).
KG@88
Mmmm… The scent of fermented herring. Yum.
FirstPost: Why China is asking school teachers to hand in their passports
China is imposing paranoid government level passport controls. Once this is rolled out a significant portion of the population will need to get government approval for each trip outside the country.
This expands controls to all government employees. Even low level ones like primary school teachers. This includes at least some people working for companies owned by the government, a significant group in China. China has always had tight restrictions but this is bordering on insane and will slow all travel.
Hurricane Milton strengthens to major Category 4 storm, Hurricane Watch issued for Florida Gulf Coast
Nobel Prize in medicine goes to two American biologists for work on the discovery of microRNA
Youtube: Report: Russia FLATTENING Civilian Villages In Kursk!
Russia is turning artillery against Russian villages in the Kursk. There are probably some accidents in there, with the Russian forces not clear on where Ukrainian forces are. The shelling is too wide spread for that to be entirely the case. The Russians are obviously going for a scorched earth strategy, making the villages useless for Ukraine. This is an admission that Russia doesn’t expect to liberate Kursk this year.
Likely there is also an element of Russian officers doing something that they can report back to Moscow so it doesn’t look like they are sitting on their hands. There is also a propaganda element to this, with Ukraine blaming destruction on Russia and Russia blaming it on Ukraine.
Trump promises (again) to slash federal investments in education
As part of his pitch on education policy, Donald Trump is vowing to cut federal investments in education by more than half in a second term.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Link
Embedded links are available at the main link. Here’s an excerpt from The New York Times report mentioned in the first paragraph above:
“Superconducting Cables are Coming. I’m Not Joking”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3gFUwGedayw
This sounds very ‘nineties’ but this time it might just work. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for flying cars and general AI.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/06/harris-huckabee-sanders-podcast-00182637“>Link
The quote above is excerpted from a longer article posted by Politico.
Lynna, OM @ 94
Yes, it is widely known that countries that waste money on ‘education’ never get much in return/s .
I borked the link in comment 97.
Harris punches back at Huckabee Sanders: ‘This is not the 1950s anymore’
birger @98, LOL. Yeah.
NYT Live:
The porn industry is jumping into the presidential campaign, targeting Project 2025.
3 hours ago
Jonathan Weisman
Lynna, OM @ 95
Stupid activists are a great source of entertainment.
-A classic from three years ago. The ‘My Pillow’ guy tries to prove election fraud, but proves his ignorance of computers. At little over one hour, this deconstruction is one of those podcasts I like to fall asleep while listening to.
“GAM 297 Absolute Interference”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=N3VvkG_QgtA
Good news, as posted by ABC News.
Supreme Court rejects Republican-led challenge to ease voter registration
The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania to a Biden administration executive order that is intended to boost voter registration.
About that executive order, mentioned above:
Video at the link. “Many of them murdered more than one person.” Trump’s answer is so bad. It is worth your time to listen to this rant by Hair Furor so that you will know just how bad it is. The sound track from the Hugh Hewitt show is only about 40 seconds long.
https://x.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1843275407963164984
Link
@ 29, 64, 91
Hurricane Milton is a Category 5
Oh no.
Link
Now that Steamboat Willie is open source, there are t-shirts with him leaning over the book from the manga “Death Note” while the malign supernatural entity waits in the background. Japanese and Disney narrative universes colliding to the howling of outraged Disney executives. 🙂
Fox News host warns that listening to Harris might make you like her
Cartoon: The astonishing magaverse
That cartoon features “the Sultan of Smarm,” JD Vance.
Good news:
Link
Oh great, now Melania Trump has thoughts on abortion
A key GOP Senate candidate faces new ‘carpetbagger’ accusations
I have to wonder if a dark-money donor paid Mike Rogers to run for Senator in Michigan.
It looks like The Detroit Free Press requires a subscription in order to read M.L. Elrick’s report.
Followup to comment 104.
Trump Doing Race Science. Again.
Lying Liars And The Lies They Tell On The Sunday Shows
Elon Musk’s Mom Gleefully Encourages Trump Supporters To Do Voter Fraud
What could possibly go wrong or result in people going to prison for up to five years?
Major North Carolina newspaper knocks Trump over Helene response ‘falsehoods’
Agreed.
Related to comment 117.
Former Florida GOP chair backs Harris after Helene ‘trolling’
Followup to comment 62.
After picking ‘cognitive problems’ fight, Trump faces awkward questions
Link
There is a history of certain members of Congress supporting disaster aid for their home states, but not for other states. These people tend to be Republican. Ted Cruz comes immediately to mind, but there are others.
Cruz, Texans accused of hypocrisy on Harvey aid
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refuses call from VP Kamala Harris ahead of Hurricane Milton: Source
IRS free tax filing will be available in 24 states for the 2025 season — here’s who can use it
Caitlin Clark to tee it up in LPGA pro-am at The Annika
WNBA update
The New York Liberty has won their semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces, and has won a spot in the finals.
Their foe will be determined Tuesday night; the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun are tied 2-2 and will decide the best-of-five series then.
The first game of the finals will be Thursday, October 10, 2024.
“Why People Leave Trump’s Rallies Early; Elon Musk Campaigns with Trump: A Closer Look”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=4lbgnWP-zw8
The average Trump speech now lasts 82 minutes, compared to 46 minutes 2016.
Jut watched this live on ABC miday news.
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/federal-parliament-live-blog-october-8/104441336
Because it called for peace and included the suffering of other groups including groups of Aussies too.
Peter Dutton is the turd in the punch bowl of Australian politics. He is racist, divisive, extremist, thuggish & outright evil & should be shunned by every decent human. If “parliamentary language” doesn’t allow Dutton to be called out for exactly what he is then “parliamentary language” is fundamentally dishonest
^ PS. For the last bit see Mr Dutton’s Racism by Australain Greens channel. Almost 5 mins long.
NBC News:
NBC News:
MSNBC:
Sally Field reveals chilling story of her own illegal abortion at 17
https://www.wonkette.com/p/marjorie-taylor-greene-swears-there
Marjorie Taylor Greene Swears There Is So A Weather Machine, Gosh Darn It!
Doubling and tripling down.
Florida meteorologist becomes emotional while reporting on ‘horrific’ Hurricane Milton
Video at the link.
Wait, what?
My anonymity is very well helped by the proliferation of people with my name, BB.
28 days bwforw the election, this is how one of the candidates spends his time.
‘Trump Attacks Jimmy Kimmel AGAIN, Elon Musk Joins Rally & Marjorie Taylor Greene Weather Conspiracy.’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=q3V5xIvddf0
Good Zod, the team of God Awful Movies has blackmailed Cara Santa Maria to watch another awful film: Church of Darkness. It got 4 out of ten on rotten tomatos.
The usual paranoia about a secret society running a town and doing sacrifices. It sounds rather ‘eighties’.
If I was a satanic entity I would go for ruling over sonething more upscale than some godforsaken town full of Republicans (I assume they are republicans, anyway. The cool people do Ctulhu).
Birger, “a secret society running a town” is not the same as “a satanic entity” running a town.
Two variables in your disjunctive claims, so four possibilities:
1– neither the SS nor the SE run the town;
2– it is SS that runs the the town;
3– it is SE that runs the the town;
2– it is SS and SE that jointly run the town.
(Only one that makes sense is #4)
—
BTW, that name literally is Face Holy Maria.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024
Trump’s lies are literally if indirectly killing Americans again – just as they did with Covid.Via PBS Newshour :
Source : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/helene-recovery-complicated-by-lies-hoaxes-and-conspiracy-theories
Political wire: Trump Secretly Stayed in Touch With Putin
If true you can draw a plausible obvious line for straight up giving aid to an enemy of the US level treason.
Asked about targeting his foes after the election, Trump hedges (again)
Fox News keeps trying to get Trump to say he won’t prosecute his political enemies in a second term. Unable to help himself, he keeps missing the cues.
Harris nails ’60 Minutes’ interview Trump was too afraid to do
Ron DeSantis Will Put You In Jail If You Run Ads Supporting Abortion Amendment
https://www.wonkette.com/p/mean-60-minutes-meanly-tells-america
Mean ’60 Minutes’ Meanly Tells America What A Coward Donald Trump Really Is
Brutal.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics Did Not Go To Physics — This Physicist Is Very Surprised.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=dR1ncz-Lozc
My comment about odd choices: The Nobel committe wanted to award a Prize to the engineer behind Sputnik 1, but Chrustchev wanted to keep Korolev’s identity a secret.
Couldn’t resist mentioning it here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2024/10/08/another-fun-computer-game-you-can-play/comment-page-1/#comment-2238693
Already but again, Happy World Octopus Day y’all!
See also here :
https://www.salishseacentre.org/blog/2023/9/18/eight-arms-eight-interesting-facts-world-octopus-day
Plus World Octopus Day #WorldOctopusDay #Octopus – 60 seconds long clip here by Eco Lens.
https://x.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1843382352766189575 Details in a list at the link.
Commentary: The right’s new useless obsession is betting on elections
Yeah, that’s what I thought when I saw Elon Musk’s thoughts on the subject.
Adult Entertainment Actors Undertake anti-Project 2025 Campaign Targeting Swing State Male Audience
Those political ads on porn sites precede the pornographic video the viewer has chosen.
Salon:
“The Apprentice” gets honest about the making of Donald Trump
There’s a reason Trump doesn’t want you to see this movie – which is why you should
By Brian Karem
Snipped much more detail about the movie and the great acting. Strong’s Cohn is “Oscar worthy.”
https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-ran-a-catch-and-kill-for-brett
Trump Ran A Catch-And-Kill For Brett Kavanaugh
We all watched it happen, and it’s now confirmed, again.
tomh @151, this is such good description:
A new foreign policy dividing line emerges in Republican politics
As Donald Trump and JD Vance celebrate Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, a growing number of Republican senators are pushing back in the opposite direction.
“Skepticrat234 – Liar Liar Vance on Fire Edition”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNKD0j_bD_c
The problem(s) with the probes into the Trump rally shooting
The official congressional investigation into the Trump rally shooting is struggling, but the unofficial congressional investigation is vastly worse.
A firehose of misinformation.
Harris aims to help adult caregivers with Medicare benefit expansion
One thing that bothers me about this is that I already see a lot of corrupt practices in the companies that provide long-term services and assistance. More oversight is needed. I would also be worried that private equity doofuses would see a new pot of money to be exploited, sort of like they already did with hospitals.
Video shows Tampa aquarium moving penguins to higher ground
Why Trump’s talk about a ‘deal’ with Iran makes so little sense
The GOP candidate expects people to believe he was close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. It’s a fantasy, intended to obscure his costly failure.
The Secret of the Goo: The Absolutely Bonkers Process of Butterfly Metamorphosis (aka worse than Cronenberg body horror)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=iHoAIhU1XpM
Florida is threatening to prosecute TV stations over an abortion rights ad
Trump says he’s visited gaza, but no record of such a trip exists
That frame is beyond capitulating to Netanyahu’s demands.
tomh@151:
“Always two there are, a master and an apprentice.” So, now that Darth Trump is busily grooming a young and ambitious Darth Vance, what, one wonders, must have quietly happened to Darth Cohn somewhere offstage?
Sky Captain@161: Erm, do the words “First Amendment” mean anything to DeSantis?
Ah yes, the factual and historical insight provided by a cheap biopic.
Wonder no more, Wikipedia can elucidate for those on the internet:
“In 1984, Cohn was diagnosed with AIDS and attempted to keep his condition secret while receiving experimental drug treatment.[60] He participated in clinical trials of AZT, a drug initially synthesized to treat cancer but later developed as the first anti-HIV agent for AIDS patients. He insisted until his dying day that his disease was liver cancer.[61] He died on August 2, 1986, in Bethesda, Maryland, of complications from AIDS, at the age of 59.[7]”
Probably, but the specified agent is “Florida’s Department of Health”, not whatshisname.
Basically, Roy Cohn perished at 59 and Donald Trump remains vigorous enough to campaign at 78.
Hardly comparable on so very many factors.
It’s pretty vacuous to imagine [Trump:Vance::Cohn:Trump]
(Deepeties, you attempt, BB)
Video / Transcript: US State Dept – Daily Press Briefing 2024-10-08
8:14 to 21:55
30:46
Psilocybin may lead to increased optimism, rat study suggests
.https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-psilocybin-optimism-rat.html
-This is peoof that I have never used psilocybin!
#14 & #15 in this thread become more amusing in light of #167.
(Well, for me, obs)
Apparently if there was such a thing as a category 6 hurricane, well, Milton would be a category 6 as mentioned here – “I Apologize, This Is Just Horrific” Meteorologist Gets Real About Hurricane Milton – a dozen and a half minute long.
Incidentally, any relation of yours there John Morales? (You have said its a common name if memory serves so unlikely but still..)
Ona much more serious note, best wishes to all the regular commenters here who are facing this storm and hope you and your loved ones all stay safe and things go as well as possible for y’all. I remember from a previous thread on Helene that there’s a few people here living there. (Florida anyhow.)
Yesterday saw the successful launch of the Hera spacecraft on its journey to inspect the damage done to the “didymoon” of asteroid Didymos which is officially named Dimorphos :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/hera-spacecraft-on-its-way-to-study-asteroid/104444546
The ESA has this excellent video – “Why are we going back to this asteroid?” on that here which is a dozen minutes long.
Incidentally, to answer the question “First crater made by humans?” asked in the youtube thumbnail at least of that video – No. The Deep Impact mission already beat them to that on comet Tempel 1! See :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(spacecraft)#Crater
Signal boost – well put :
https://proxy.freethought.online/gas/2024/10/09/left-accelerationists/
Fundamentalist preacher disgraces himself
‘Don’t call them daughters’: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik refuses to share stage with orphan girls in Pakistan – South Asia News
.https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/dont-call-them-daughters-islamic-preacher-zakir-naik-refuses-to-share-stage-with-orphan-girls-in-pakistan-764401
There is still hope when Pakistanis dare call out idiots like Zakir Naik.
‘These new scientific fraud cases worry me: Now also in material science’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=EpQobaBCSYk
When an institute is abbreviated SHIL it is a big red flag!
In Farsi, “Iraq” is named Aaragh, which -considering the fundamentalist turn of legislation lately- I find oddly appropriate.
(Let’s see if it works copying this excerpt)
The hidden virosphere: AI helps discover more than 160,000 new virus species
.https://phys.org/news/2024-10-hidden-virosphere-ai-virus-species.html
“The vast majority of these viruses had been sequenced already and were on public databases, but they were so divergent that no one knew what they were,” Professor Holmes said. “They comprise what is often referred to as sequence ‘dark matter.’ Our AI method was able to organize and categorize all this disparate information, shedding light on the meaning of this dark matter for the first time.”
Detroit news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Typical. A trumpian visual scam of sorts.
NBC News:
Politico:
When it comes to his mass deportation plans, Trump will apparently be guided by his arbitrary whims, not his country’s immigration laws.
Eight years ago, Donald Trump said he supported raising taxes on the wealthy. In 2024, the Republican is no longer bothering with the pretense.
Georgia Board Turns Election Deniers Into Election ‘Monitors’
Talking Points “Morning Memo,” with coverage of several issues.
The Text Campaign Underworld and the Florid Anti-Semitism You Can Find There
Text above is from Josh Marshall’s newsletter, which requires a subscription to Talking Points Memo.
Looks like right-wingers are fitting anti-semitism into political discourse wherever they can.
Harris mocks ‘loser’ Trump in hilarious but substantive ‘Colbert’ visit
Vide, and excerpts from the transcript are available at the link.
NB!
‘Like a sylvan spa!’ Inside Zurich’s staggering, revolutionary new hospital for kids | Architecture | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/09/zurich-hospital-kinderspital-herzog-de-meuron
Locally, our Umeå hospital built a child-friendly wing where kids with cancer and other serious diseases can stay with their families. Not quite as classy as Zurich, but it is a good trend.
Tories shocked at Cleverly exit while Labour MP says Badenoch-Jenrick contest is a ‘gift’ – UK politics live
.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/oct/09/conservatives-leadership-james-cleverly-robert-jenrick-kemi-badenoch-pmqs-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-news
Trump blasts China’s trade practices, but his Bibles were printed there
The UK Conservative Party has been choosing a new leader, in an agonisingly prolonged and complicated process. The remnant 121 MPs have voted in successive rounds, starting with the six candidates who got enough MPs to nominate them, and ending with two (between whom the party membership will choose). In every round, the candidate with fewest votes is eliminated – a procedure which encourages tactical voting to try to push out the candidate who you think most dangerous to your own in later rounds, or if they were pitched against yours in the members’ vote. Before the final MPs round today, it was considered virtually certain that one of the two to go forward would be James Cleverly (often described as a one-man refutation of nominative determinism, but in relative terms, a moderate); to be joined by either corrupt opportunist Robert Jenrick – who was a socially liberal Remainer and supporter of David Cameron back before the Brexit vote, but now wants to leave the European Convention on Human Rights so refugees trying to cross the Channel in small boats can be machine-gunned [OK, he hasn’t actually said that, but it’s the logical endpoint of his policies]; or Kemi Badenoch, a swivel-eyed loon and LGBTQ+-hater who makes LIz Truss look rational, and is notoriously able to start a fight in an empty room. But in fact, Cleverley is out (speculation is that either he received tactical votes in the preceding round, or some of his supporters cast tactical votes in this last round – acting too Cleverly by half, one might say), and members get to choose between the totally unprincipled opportunist and the swivel-eyed loon. Since the last time they got to choose* they went for a swivel-eyed loon (Truss) and the time before for a totally unprincipled opportunist (Johnson), it’s hard to guess which way they will go. Labour and LibDem leaders are delighted, or at any rate, plausibly say they are.
*They didn’t get a choice when Sunak became leader, as no other candidate stayed in the contest to the end of the MPs’ phase.
Voting in North Carolina:
Link
Cartoon: Project 1025
Cartoon: North Carolina
Watch Kamala Harris react to ‘SNL’ impression of her for the first time
Video at the link.
How Climate Change Is Supercharging Hurricane Milton
https://www.wonkette.com/p/thanks-marge-now-weather-control
Thanks, Marge! Now ‘Weather Control’ Is A Campaign Issue, At Least For Crazy People
Like for instance, ‘Donald Trump.’
Ice IX is a real phase of ice.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/kremlin-confirms-of-course-trump
Kremlin Confirms: OF COURSE Trump Sent Putin Romantic COVID Care Package And Mixtape In 2020
Just kidding about the mixtape. Probably.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/republican-out-of-options-to-deal
Republican, Out Of Options To Deal With Trump Hurricane Lies, Tries Truth Instead
https://www.wonkette.com/p/here-have-some-kamala-harrishoward
Here, Have Some Kamala Harris/Howard Stern Interview!
Video excerpts and transcript excerpts are available at the link.
Republicans’ Closing Message: We Lie to You
https://www.wonkette.com/p/sex-tips-with-stephen-miller
Sex Tips With Stephen Miller!
OMG. So painful.
WNBA update:
The Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals, and so will face the New York Liberty for the championship. Game 1 is Thursday, October 10, 2024.
Link. That’s the “Live Updates” link for NBC News.
Buttigieg is a voice of reason, whether it’s hurricanes or Elon Musk
Cartoon: Wind-battered flag
Montana’s attorney general faces a hearing on 41 counts of professional misconduct
Sky & Telescope’s Sky Tour Podcast – October 2024 | A Comet, Andromeda, and Pegasus.
.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=QYgRmEKOVXk
NB The instructions for spotting the comet starts at 3.15 and continues to 5.50.
Re: Lynna @197:
They made up a new term not knowing what bulls are, or what matadors do.
Should’ve gone with lady-killer. That would track.
Viruses Found on Toothbrushes Are ‘Unlike Anything Seen Before’
Washington Post:
Cartoon: Storm warning
Watch Trump’s press secretary get shut down on air over hurricane lies
Fox News melts down because Harris shared a beer with Stephen Colbert
Something from August I just heard about.
Democratic platform backtracks on solitary and the death penalty
San Francisco Chronicle
Time
2020 Platform
2024 Platform
CA7746, yeah, their platform doesn’t even know who the candidate is.
From your crickets link: “In his second term, President Biden will continue to promote a free, open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific. He will deepen economic engagement to drive inclusive growth. He will champion human rights. And he will continue to strengthen our traditional alliances and broaden regional partnerships to bolster deterrence and resist coercion.”
I was able to track down that secular, scientific “Genesis” book I mentioned previously. Turns out it’s by John Gribbin, originally published in 1981.
@174. birgerjohansson : In Farsi, “Iraq” is named Aaragh, which -considering the fundamentalist turn of legislation lately- I find oddly appropriate.”
isn’t that an exotic alcoholic beverage?
Oh wait, that’s Arak! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arak_(drink) )
Source : https://www.space.com/severe-solar-storm-geomagnetic-storm-auroras-power-grids-october-10-11-2024
Via PBS Newshour :
Source : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/more-civilians-in-lebanon-displaced-and-in-dire-need-amid-israels-battle-with-hezbollah
Potassium chloride and kidney disease.
What Happens If You Switch From Sodium Chloride (Salt) to Potassium Chloride?
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=V4VS6GoK-eo
Sugar Vladdy!
Trump Denies Inappropriate Relationship with Putin, JD Vance is a Hypocrite & My Pillow Mike for MTG.
Meteorologists Get Death Threats as Hurricane Milton Conspiracy Theories Thrive
Hurricane Milton shreds Tropicana Field roof
Time flows
Christine Applegate -who once played the awful daughter of the awful parents Al and Peggy Bundy- is 52 years today (which is 26 years less than if you are running for president as a MAGA candidate).
Reginald Selkirk @ 218
I have always known the Jews can control the weather. It is the people who claim that earthquakes can be controlled that are the kooks / s.
So, any land snail expewrts here by any chance? My google-fu has already faield toanswr this question & hoping some one here might know:
There’s this endangered land snail called the Mission Creek Oregonian (Cryptomastix magnidentata) and its only found in .. erm, Idaho? Oh and also apparently its also been found in ..Utah. See :
https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/cryptomastix-magnidentata
Plus :
https://www.nezpercewildlife.org/terrestrial-snails
As well as :
https://bioone.org/journals/western-north-american-naturalist/volume-84/issue-1/064.084.0112/Three-Gastropod-Species-Reported-in-Utah-for-the-First-Time/10.3398/064.084.0112.
Oregon is a neighbouring state but from what I’ve found online these land snails aren’t found there at all. So, where does the Oregonian part of its name come from?
So, any land snail expewrts here by any chance? My google-fu has already faield toanswr this question & hoping some one here might know:
There’s this endangered land snail called the Mission Creek Oregonian (Cryptomastix magnidentata) and its only found in .. erm, Idaho? Oh and also apparently its also been found in ..Utah. See :
https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/cryptomastix-magnidentata
Plus :
https://www.nezpercewildlife.org/terrestrial-snails
As well as :
https://bioone.org/journals/western-north-american-naturalist/volume-84/issue-1/064.084.0112/Three-Gastropod-Species-Reported-in-Utah-for-the-First-Time/10.3398/064.084.0112.
Oregon is a neighbouring state but from what I’ve found online these land snails aren’t found there at all. So, where does the Oregonian part of its name come from?
Suit Over Deceptively Promoted School Religious Program Moves Ahead
@185 I described Robert Jenrick, the UK Tory leadership contender, as “corrupt”. Going through my 1,000+ open tabs, I’ve come across a link to an explanation of the most obvious example of his corruption.
Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug finds the guy who was sure HE wouldn’t be harmed by a Trump presidency
@ 225
Living the American right-wing dream: Being the hero of your very own action film where you get to mow down all the people you perceive to be the ‘bad guys” who are out to “take what is yours!”
Link
Commentary regarding Trump’s bonkers rally schedule:
Link
Israeli forces fire on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Porch Pirates Are Stealing AT&T iPhones Delivered by FedEx
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Shapeshifting in Ways ‘Never Identified Before’
Arizona Democratic office hit by third shooting in weeks. There were no injuries or arrests
Social Security recipients will get smaller increase than in past years, by Associated Press
Cartoon: Weather machine
About those polls:
Link
Link
Posted by readers of the article:
Mayorkas condemns reported harassment of FEMA officials responding to hurricanes
Starlink was offered for free to those hit by Hurricane Helene. It is not entirely free
Live updates: At least 4 dead, millions without power in aftermath of Hurricane Milton
South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature
Re: Lynna, OM @ #233…
Yeah… Social Security is going up 2.5%, or an average of $50 per month. My Medicare Part D drug coverage is going up 35%. There will also be a doubling of drug co-pays, though since it’s pretty low now, the impact will actually minor. No idea what the Part B “Medigap” coverage will cost next year, but it’s already at $700 per quarter. Bet it goes up enough to eat all of the SS increase.
Re: StevoR @222:
First link, under “Descripion and Range”:
Its citation elaborates a little, “Spring 2012 Blue Mountains terrestrial mollusk surveys” page 43.
Second link
Working third link, the abstract anyway (2024)
The abstract omitted criteria used for assigning the existing name to what they found. Could be identical snails in Idaho and now Utah, with strongly similar, arguably the same ones, in all those other places including Oregon.
AFAICT every member of Cryptomastix is called [Something] Oregonian, presumably by
heritagebroad similarity rather than location of individual species’ discovery.I think the snails were ‘discovered’ and named way back in the days of Oregon Territory, which precedes Oregon State and included all of Washington, Idaho, and a bit of Montana too. Anything south of that was still under Spanish rule.
CNN: TD Bank hit with record $3 billion fine over drug cartel money laundering
Big fine and the bank is pleading guilty, which is very uncommon itself. The bank is also going under monitoring and is limited in it’s US expansion. In theory the fine is substantially more then the money that was laundered, but that is only the money the government can prove was laundered. So only a fraction of what was flowing through.
This was a widespread problem, something not an accident or one branch getting out of line. People high up at TD knew or should have known they were overlooking transactions and didn’t care as long as TD got a share.
Government Executive: Trump still declining federal transition services even as second deadline passes
The Harris campaign is also behind on signing but is just having problems with organization with a campaign started late. Trump seems to be rejecting dealing with the General Services Administration and has not signed anything yet. There have been talks and some informal meetings can be held without any agreements.
The Trump people are not talking about why and there are a number of possible reasons. You have to meet certain ethics requirements that limit campaign donations from single big donors, which would be bad for Trump. You have to fall in line with government ethics and security standards, which Trump likely wants to violate. Those standards gave him lots of problems staffing in his last presidency. Trump may simple not be interested in working with the Biden administration, both because they plan to gut a lot of the government and because they want to complain about the government.
whheydt @241, that’s discouraging.
In other news, here is a Hurricane Milton update from NBC News:
Belatedly, a few days ago in the comments for
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2024/10/07/sports-organizations-have-way-too-much-money/
I wrote: Welcome to the united states, entertaining ourselves to death
@18 John Morales wrote:
shermanj:
Welcome to the united states, entertaining ourselves to death
Um. “in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”, which is not the United States (of America — there are also united states of Mexico).
(You might be entertaining ourselves to death, but clearly PZ is not)
Point being, it’s not all about the USA, solipsistic as USAnians might be.
I read your comments more carefully and I want to clarify: John, You are correct, it should not be ‘all about the USA’. I should have been more precise that I was referring to the ‘united states of america’ and NOT the United Mexican States – Estados Unidos Mexicanos. But, I decry the poor priorities (the panem et circenses) that is so prevalent here in the ‘united states of america’. And, yes there are still many here, including PZ as you pointed out, that have much better priorities.
Trump trashes Detroit, while delivering a speech in Detroit
“Our whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Kamala Harris is elected, Donald Trump said, perhaps unaware that he was in Detroit at the time.
Regarding the storm damage, I was saddened and frustrated to see a news report showing a man pointing to his home in the south, partially rebuilt from the previous storm on the same low concrete foundation, now ruined by the current storm. This should be examined in greater depth. I know it would be a lot more expensive in the short term, but much more cost effective in the long run (given absurdly high insurance cost and multiple rebuilding costs) if the cities/counties would require hurricane proof buildings (yes, they exist there).
Voting Rights Groups Fight Youngkin’s Sweeping Last Minute Voter Purge
Noted gasbag Donald Trump takes aim at his nemesis—the wind
Researchers develop new banana strain that can withstand “bananocalypse”
A video about spiders:
Gotta say, that molting spider did look just like a squid at one point!
The Texan Doctor and the Disappeared Saudi Princesses.
New Yorker link
Four daughters in the royal family were kept drugged and imprisoned for almost two decades. A physician who tried to free them speaks out for the first time.
By Heidi Blake, excerpts below.
More at the link.
NBC News:
Washington Post:
Politico:
‘How dumb are you?’: Watch ‘The View’ hosts clap back after Trump diss
Sabine Hossenfelder
” I Didn’t Believe that AI is the Future of Coding. I Was Right.”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3A-gqHJ1ENI
Trump sabotaging the FEMA response.
.http://youtube.com/post/UgkxSBaAF2T-_yRwgK0f9GCk1VNfGRxwam4R
Geology: This Australian Island Is Unlike Any Other on Earth
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=18vLcTXn_dU
Lynna@246:
Really? They have proper tracking of outages in Florida now, instead of relying on Waffle House closures as a proxy? When did that happen?
The three polls that adress Pennsylvania voters start at 7.10
‘The 2024 Election Map Based On The NEWEST Poll From All 50 States!’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=sQ4PZ_8YtfI
I still find it depressing the margins are so small.
Jimmy Kimmel:
Gassolini:
‘Trump Farts on Stage, MAGA Nuts Push Insane Weather Lies & Mr. USA’s Products Are Made In China.’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3gXLdl-aj_w
Neil de Grasse Tyson
Hurricane Milton;
Why Hurricanes Are Becoming More Dangerous
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=A3FFKYyuem4
I just realised “Milton” is an appropriate name for a dangerous hurricane;
It is named after Milton Friedman, the most destructive economist since someone convinced Adolph Germany needed ‘lebensraum’.
The Spiders in Your Yard – The Goldenrod Crab Spider
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=MyshXlHuZdc
Another Aurora Alert!
.http://youtube.com/post/UgkxYI9fqVkmgVc_iFPrZtD1jOhZwqoMz_rc
@242. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain & #243. Tethys : Thankyou! That makes sense now and very much appreciated. Cheers to you both.
birgerjohansson@266,
If you’re going to chummily refer to Hitler by his personal name, you might as well get it right: it was Adolf, not Adolph. German rarely uses “ph” instead of “f”, and AFAIK, never in personal names.
There’s an aurorae visible in Adelaide or at least from the Adelaide hills outside right now. Barely visible as a faint glow easily confused with just skyglow as seen by the unaudided eye but much more visible somehow through the camera phone view.
@270. KG : Dolph Lundgren?
JG @ 270
The name of the art-school reject is Adolf in both Swedish and German. I anglizised the name as a service to english-language readers.
SaveAFox:
‘Night time fox play with Malachi Fox, Skeeter Fox, Cerby Fox, Firefly Fox and Mufasa Fox ‘
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=FrMJOB-Kryk
I don’t recall if I have previously forwarded this link, so here we go.
‘Skepticrat234 – Liar Liar Vance on Fire Edition’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNKD0j_bD_c
Guessing is exception to the rule.. German / Deutsch makes more sense here to me actually as someone who generally likes things to be written as they sound. i.e. phonetically, wait, fonetikallee..
Phonetic spelling is great, the downside is, you lose the historical connections to previous iterations of that word.
Old spelling for instance reveal the relationship with words in other languages with similar meanings whose pronounciation now has
become quite different.
.
TrUmp SpeLing in qUite anotHer mater.
StevoR@272,
Dolph Lundgren is Swedish. But even if you can find a genuine German Adolph, Hitler wasn’t one.
Nobel Peace Prize given to Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo for its work against nuclear weapons
WNBA finals game 1
Minnesota Lynx beat New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime
Yes, water was ‘sucked out’ of Tampa Bay by Hurricane Milton due to ‘reverse storm surge’
FCC chair intervenes as Trump threatens the free press (again)
After the former president again called for a major broadcaster to lose its license, the Federal Communications Commission chair intervened.
Obama mocks Trump over rhetoric about ‘protecting’ women
Obama tells men Trump doesn’t represent ‘real strength’
Federal judges decline to extend voter registration deadline in Georgia and Florida as states face hurricane damage
The consequences of right-wing disinfo on Hurricane Helene: a father-in-law refusing FEMA help
More at the link, including excerpts from other media coverage, and two videos.
“For Trump, freedom means getting away with stuff.” He affirms Ellipse speech was private conduct
Maryland Senate Hopeful Angela Alsobrooks Dragged Larry Hogan’s Ass To Hell Last Night
Re: Lynna @286:
That would be Medcaid, primarily for recouping elder care costs after death—ineffective and cruel, almost certainly also the work of Republicans.
Campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Link
Even Fox News is slamming Trump’s hurricane-relief lies
Researchers Claim Bones in Spanish Church Belong to Christopher Columbus
Israel again struck UN bases in Lebanon
I’d heard of Israeli bulldozers but hadn’t realized they’re armored (since the 1980s)—with machine gun / grenade launcher attachments and remote-controlled variants—deployed up to 100 at a time. HumanRightsWatch tried to get Caterpillar to stop selling vehicles to Israel in 2004.
Update on Florida man who strapped entire house down ahead of life-threatening Hurricane Milton
‘Lieutenant Dan’ survives Hurricane Milton in a sailboat
Why Democrats are seizing on JD Vance’s ‘table scraps’ comments
The Republican senator’s “table scraps” comment probably won’t go over well in Michigan, but let’s not overlook the larger policy context.
The guy who wrote Texas’ most infamous abortion law just quietly settled his test run
Jonathan Mitchell enabled private parties to sue anyone who facilitates an abortion. But his test case might have collapsed when an appeals court blocked his subpoena to the woman whose abortion was at issue.
Washington Post:
Bill Nye calls Greene’s conspiracy about hurricanes ‘physically impossible’
7 Times JD Vance refused to admit Trump lost in 2020—this month
StevoR @271, aurorae is the plural; aurora is the singular.
bEnjoy 90 seconds of Tim Walz calling out Trump’s ‘bullsh-t’
Video at the link.
Trump’s top general calls ex-president ‘fascist to the core’ and ‘most dangerous person to this country,’ new book says
‘Trump should be so goddamned lucky’: New Harris ad is FIRE
Video at the link.
Patients scramble for treatments as hospitals conserve IV fluids after storms
Hospitals delayed or canceled treatments after IV fluid maker Baxter International closed its North Carolina facility because of damage from Hurricane Helene.
More at the link.
Ship didn’t sink because its captain was a woman, ‘appalled’ defense minister says
The things one learns:
Oh FFS.
Lara and Eric Trump-backed “prophet” claims God told her the hurricanes were “man-made” and “they” will also “set off” an earthquake
Laugh out loud funny … if not for also such serious misinformation that it is affecting recovery efforts.
Only analogue that comes to mind is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_callus
A most excellent overview of the current status of cultured meat:
Would you eat MAMMOTH?! How To Cook That Ann Reardon
(Not impressed by the title, but the content makes up for it — she’s a very reputable YouTuber)
So, when exactly does the UN quit wringing its hands and start writing out arrest warrants for the war criminals responsible?
BB:
Relax.
Ahem: “Unsustainable things always seem to be ramping up the hardest-ever right before the bottom drops out.”
Re: Bekenstein Bound @310:
The UN’s ICJ has adjudicated the Palestinian occupation as genocide and illegal. The process of litigation takes years, and that court has no authority to enforce its rulings.
The ICC has pending applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu et al.
Mondoweiss
NYTimes
CBC
Wikipedia – States parties to the Rome Statute
Israel has gotten away with doing worse to UN facilities.
Wikipedia – Qana massacre
Neil de Grasse Tyson:
“Things You Thought You Knew – Metric system, acceleration, and heat shields.”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=fSNg2pKtE68
Targeting hippocampal neurons to unlock existing Alzheimer’s drugs
.https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-hippocampal-neurons-alzheimer-drugs.html
This looks quite promising!
Oregon police find bag full of drugs marked ‘definitely not a bag full of drugs’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/oregon-police-portland-drugs-bag
MAGA people? Creationists? It is too far north to be ‘Florida men’.
‘Best Up & Coming Military Gear from Finland, Norway, Sweden & Denmark’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Bst5PUoDZg
I hope some of this will become available in Ukraine.
Illegal, yes. On the question of genocide, I think it has only said that South Africa’s accusation is “plausible”; for the court to come to a definitive conclusion is likely to take years.
Update from NBC News:
Just a fun reminder for us, here. And something to enrage the rtwingnut business class:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/111817/my-2024-election-video-of-the-week-trump-s-business-failures
Link
Link
Video at the link.
Newsweek:
Link
Link
Mystery of Russia’s secret weapon downed in Ukraine
https://www.wonkette.com/p/lets-watch-barack-obama-kick-donald
Lots of video snippets are available at the link.
@288 Reginald Selkirk wrote about the muskrat’s ‘generosity’ for storm victims
AND to confirm that —-
The elongated muskrat is a conman and ahole just like tRUMP. I knew he would not be honest and caring towards hurricane victims. It was just confirmed:
The “free” internet Musk offered to Hurricane Helene and Milton victims
comes with a $400-for-Musk catch.
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/10/elon-musk-pulls-bait-and-switch-hurricane
And, if you are too busy recovering from the storm to dump starlink after the free ONE month, you immediately, automatically get billed $120 for month two and on, and on.
IIRC, Ukraine got (bought?) starlink equipment and the muskrat turned it all off in support of putin, WTF!!!
I’m pleased to report the death of Alex Salmond, former first minister of Scotland. The linked article reports his acquital on various sexual charges, but the harrassment of women he admitted should have led to the end of his public life. He crawled up Trump’s fundament (in the days before the latter stood for president, but when it was already quite clear in Scotland what a shit he was – see the 2011 film You’ve Been Trumped), had his own show on RT (although he did pack it in after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine), and became a leading transphobe. Hopefully, the reactionary-nationalist political party Alba, which he founded and led after leaving the SNP, will now collapse (it has never yet won an election – all its representatives in the UK and Scottish parliaments and on local councils were elected as representatives of the SNP, then defected).
Cartoon: Trophy shelf
Associated Press:
New Yorker link
Keir Starmer’s Bafflingly Bad Start as the U.K.’s Prime Minister
The Labour government’s first hundred days in power have been characterized by mistakes, infighting, and drift.
More at the link.
Lynna, OM@333,
I’m absolutely no admirer of Starmer, but I’ve been truly gobsmacked at the degree of political incompetence he and those around him have shown in his first 100 days as PM. The exposure of the expensive gifts he’s received (while in opposition) from Lord Alli came alongside a decision to limit a benefit which everyone over state pension age got to help with winter heating bills to the very poorest (those receiving a benefit called “pension credit”) in that group. (I get it, I can well do without it, donate it to some good cause, but there are many who don’t get pension credit but do need it). And a failure to remove a restriction on a benefit poorer parents get to help with the costs of children – the restriction means it only applies to the first two children. So Starmer has appeared greedy, entitled, callous and out-of-touch. In addition, the degree to which and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have stressed how things would get worse before they get better, and threatened cuts in the forthcoming budget, has caused a slump in consumer confidence which threatens to cause real damage to the economy. He has also continued to demonstrate a considerable degree of vindictiveness, suspending 7 Labour MPs for voting for an opposition amendment that would have removed the two-child limit, and refusing Emily Thornberry, a senior member of the shadow cabinet before the election, a place in his government, apparently because she once criticised him.
Incidentally, saying he won a “huge victory” at the election is only part of the story. Yes, Labour won nearly 2/3 of the seats, but on fractionally over 1/3 of the vote – and fewer actual votes than Labour got under Corbyn in the disastrous defeat of 2019. The “huge victory” was not down to McSweeney so much as to Trump suckup Nigel Farage, who split the right-wing vote.
Yes, the problem is, there’s no evidence he has or had any goal other than to become PM and provide competent centrist government, and on current evidence, it’s unclear he can manage the latter.
ABC news: Trump’s campaign requests military aircraft and armored vehicles in response to threats from Iran
He is likely to get at least some of what his campaign has asked for. Approval for this would come from Biden directly and after 2 assassination attempts it would look bad to not provide some. That neither assassin seems to be connected to Iran doesn’t matter. The real point is that Trump is complaining that Biden is trying to block his campaign by limiting his access to security and Biden will want to head that off.
So, providing competent centrist government is not good enough?
(I would personally settle for that)
No, it most certainly is not. Both the UK and the world are mired in a worsening polycrisis – wars, galloping inequality, the rise of fascism, the unaccountable power of the tech lords, and the looming climate and wider environmental emergency. Of course the scale of the polycrisis is such that any UK PM could only make a small contribution to dealing with it, but Starmer has already shown himself completely lacking in the kind of leadership desperately needed, for example by failing to stop arming Israel, and by yielding to the fossil fuel lobby by promising £21bn for the “carbon capture and storage” boondoggle, rather than serious measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Fair enough, KG.
Alas, I don’t see anyone better on the horizon, but at least PMs can be changed without an election, if it comes to that.
Seems plausible to me:
Georgia election workers settle defamation lawsuit against conservative website
Tim Walz faces new question: How many ‘misspeaks’ can a ‘knucklehead’ get away with?
But apparently only if you’re a Democrat. The article makes no mention of Vance’s many falsehoods, nor his practice of doubling down on them even after they have been called out. And Trump’s regular stream of lies? Ha ha ha.
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1845046161490526397
Followup to comment 297.
https://x.com/RALee85/status/1844798457929711654
More text, presented as screen grabs, is available at the link.
[…] Hoping the Russians were correct when they posted this:
Text in the paragraph above is excerpted from a longer presentation of news, available here: Link
Christians flock to Washington to pray for America to turn to God — by electing Trump
Conservative organizers of the “Million Women” worship rally billed the event — and the November election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from satanic forces.
Lynna, OM @ 343
I sincerely hope they make a documentary of this event, full of unintended humor. It will be an obvious pick for God Awful Movies, alongside ‘Bells Of Innocence’ or ‘International Guerillas’.
I hope this link will work.
Countries in Europe that have a higher quality of life that the US
‘European countries that have a higher quality of life than the US’
.https://www.facebook.com/share/462zz4Ro7JnHykDE/
Switzerland is not a surprise, nor is The Netherlands. I am a bit surprised Germany did not make it, but they have had an economic hangover for some time.
A very important map
Migration of cats to Europe.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/8hPwJhttABQykED4/
“Surprise Comeback: Dark Energy Could Be Holographic After All”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=NHrL4fkyWKI
@341
Well, it is from Yahoo News. It’s an appropriate name. A whole article that is attempting to smear Walz for something that isn’t remotely true is generally called propaganda, no matter what Mr Republican Yahoo claims.
By welcoming Tim Walz into the NFL, I assume the strategist suffered a football related head injury of some sort, as he is obviously confusing the 2024 election with the Super Bowl.
It’s almost comical that he is implying that Walz is some sort of provincial dolt who is constantly making verbal blunders because he is stunned and dazzled by the big city.
Tim Walz was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, and the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2019. He was re-elected to Congress five times, and then he ran for Governor and won. Twice.
It’s disturbing that the strategist thinks being nice is something to sneer about? Good manners are free, but that doesn’t mean Minnesotans aren’t equally capable of using the other type of “Minnesota Nice” behavior that smiles oh-so politely while plotting the unfortunate event that will ruin your day. Passive aggression is an Art.
America First Policy Institute, group advising Trump, says systems were breached
@348: Yahoo News is an aggregator. That piece originated with Sam Woodward of USA Today.
“A group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration said [blah]”
Very credible, is any group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration.
(Surely no mendaciousness there!)
Vance says ‘childless cat ladies’ comment was ‘dumb’ but his point stands
Nope. His point was also dumb.
Secret tomb found under ‘Indiana Jones’ filming location in Petra
Interesting stuff.
Oh crikey, that’s a buzz kill. The “Holy Grail” is fictional, and depictions of it in works of fiction vary quite a bit.
Reginald @352, I refer you to my #339.
A detail about the person who made the stupid grail comparison in the CNN report about the tomb in Petra
Raiders of the Ark is not a documentary.
The holy grail has always been an entirely fictitious literary device.
If he knew anything about Archeology he would know that including a drinking vessel in grave goods was a very common practice in multiple cultures. Sometimes they would include enough vessels and tableware to hold a feast.
Those burials aren’t even dated yet but the fact that they are Nabatean means that they have absolutely nothing to do with Jewish or Christian history.
@351 John Morales:
Politico run down on AFPI
America First Policy Institute is trying to lay a groundwork for a new Trump administration and is filled with loyalists from the previous Trump administration. It has no official connection to the Trump campaign but Trump said he approved of it’s creation. It is likely to be important if Trump does get elected.
NJ.com: Harris vs. Trump analyst tells panicky Dems: GOP is creating fake polls
It’s the same tactic the Republicans used in 2022. Then they created the impression of a possible red wave by publicizing a lot of polls by Republican leaning groups. Now they are pushing the idea that Trump is moving ahead by pushing polls from right wing organizations.
US version :
‘Have I Got News For You US ‘
Don’t tell those in Florida (perhaps at some level they already know hence why such extreme denial – unhelpful speculation..) but What Will Our World Look Like at 4 Degrees? PBS Terra
under 15 mins long – note the 3 mins 25 econds mark & note it may happen faster given the conservative nature of science and possible under-estaimation factors and that there’s also storm frequency & severity to consider among much more..
Will future historians look at this years Helene & Milton storms as the beginning of the end for Florida maybe?
Then there’s this one as well – THE RISKIEST Places to Live in the US as Our Climate Changes | Weathered: Earth’s Extremes – just PBS & 8 minutes long :
Okay one more Climate youtube clip here : Paul Beckwith a cliamet scientist – Perilous Times on Planet Earth: New 2024 State of the Climate – 27 minutes long.
Re: John Morales @339:
From the article: “A claim that is directionally correct, it seems, is simply one that the person using the phrase wants to be true.”
Even as they retreat to truthiness, they still faceplant.
Americans overwhelmingly oppose anti-transgender laws
Why is the GOP escalating attacks on trans rights? Experts say the goal is to make sure evangelicals vote
There’s also the hyping DeSantis hypothesis for recent years’ worsening.
SaveAfox:
‘Rescuing a black bear cub’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kah1tAbkgmY
‘How Germany failed the Panther tank’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbfVcgser3I
Unsurprisingly, the art-school reject ignored advice, making the Panther combat debute a disaster. Those who think the Pershing should have been used in Normandy should take note of what happens when you rush an AFW into service.
Lynna@325:
Why? He did it once before.
Reginald Selkirk@353:
“He chose … poorly.”
Source : https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/maga-stalwart-sought-for-top-trump-administration-job-has-a-shocking-agenda/ar-AA1sa3NT
At least to the credulous.
Bah.
@ ^John Morales : It seems like a legit news article and concern in this case. (news report in # 365.) What makes you think this isn’t credible?
Source : https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-steam-exoplanet
Happening lie right now – Starship about tosplahsdown now – seeWatch live! SpaceX launches Starship, booster catch successful
Live that is.. Looks like it went extremely well aand there was successful splashdown for Starship & a successful booster catch too! Amazing stuff.
Source : https://www.space.com/news/live/spacex-starship-missions-updates
Washington Post:
Joan Walsh, writing for The Nation:
Dahlia Lithwick, writing for Slate:
Trump Wants to Make the Military Like “Full Metal Jacket”
In an attack on the “woke” military, Trump used the famously dark Kubrick film to display the ideal fighting force. It’s part of selling a real plan to remake the war machine.
Washington Post link.
“Trump suggests heckler should ‘get the hell knocked out of her’ after rally.”
The remarks were part of a dark speech at a California rally where Trump called the U.S. an “occupied country.”
What a parade of dull-wittedness and noxious prejudices.
Link
Link
https://x.com/rothschildmd/status/1844774767858946075
“Elon is actually doing all the things that the far right thinks George Soros has been doing for 20 years.
Musk is buying the election, actively censoring speech he doesn’t like, and swaying a cabal of billionaires. Not Soros.”
Via,
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/10/the-twitter-files
Heritage Foundation staffers flood federal agencies with thousands of information requests
https://www.wonkette.com/p/this-is-just-a-good-and-normal-story
This Is Just A Good And Normal Story About The Occult Forces Infiltrating Five Below Stores
I hope they enjoy fasting because it looks like they are going to be doing a lot of fasting.
U.S. to Deploy Missile Defense System and About 100 Troops to Israel
The Pentagon announced it would send the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and its crew as Israel considered retaliatory attacks against Iran.
The link in comment 382 leads to a New York Times article.
If you do not wish to to use that link, here is a link to an NBC News article covering the same subject:
NBC News link
@368: because Trump said it.
Followup to comment 380.
Posted by readers of the article:
WNBA finals update:
New York Liberty beat Minneosta Lynx 80 – 66.
Series now tied at one win apiece.
SpaceX Starship launch: Mechanical arms catch rocket booster back at the launch tower / launch pad.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=rk9Uwvno9SU
.
Boom! SpaceX Starship (upper stage) successfully re-enters atmosphere, splashes down and explodes.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iwaq71P88T8
Man with guns arrested outside Trump rally in California
Brony@379:
But of course — every accusation is a confession with these fuckheads.
Space dot com on the Europa Clipper laucnh attemp here :
https://www.space.com/nasa-spacex-europa-clipper-launch-what-time-livestream
Plus here too – live updates : https://www.space.com/news/live/europa-clipper-mission-updates
Scott Manley:
How SpaceX Landed A Rocket… Without Landing Legs. Catching a Giant Rocket With Giant Chopsticks.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ysx4t7ICO58
@#357, JM:
So, is NBC now a right-wing poll? Because they’re now showing Trump and Harris even at 48%.
That must be fake. I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that Harris chasing right-wing votes by doubling down on the Israeli genocide and even further military/police spending while backing off on climate change at the exact same time as climate change starts wiping US towns off the map is a fucking losing strategy. I mean, look at how well kicking the base in the teeth and chasing Republican votes worked for Gore, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton! It’s practically a guaranteed strategy! Democrats shouldn’t be worried at all that the largest concentrations of arab voters are in swing states that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 (like Michigan), and that Harris is apparently pissing them off on purpose by telling them she wants their relatives dead. Nosiree, the Democrats don’t have to actually earn any votes, they’re just entitled it all because they aren’t Trump and that’s all that matters.
Europe’s Lost Civilisation, the Cucuteni Trypillians, 6000 years ago
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=__csi2hZzSE
.
Volunteers help identify hundreds of undiscovered prehistoric barrows
.https://phys.org/news/2024-10-volunteers-hundreds-undiscovered-prehistoric-barrows.html
Europe’s Lost Civilisation, the Cucuteni Trypillians, 6000 years ago
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=__csi2hZzSE
.
Volunteers help identify hundreds of undiscovered prehistoric barrows
.https://phys.org/news/2024-10-volunteers-hundreds-undiscovered-prehistoric-barrows.html
Actor Demond Wilson turned 78 this week. And he would make a darn better president than the other 78-year-old.
Mano Singham found this gem.
If Ayn Rand reviewed children’s films …
.https://proxy.freethought.online/singham/2024/10/13/if-ayn-rand-reviewed-childrens-films/
I have to agree with The Vicar@393: the Harris campaign has failed to separate her from Biden – who, however much his fans think it’s unfair, is very unpopular – and establish her as offering positive change. Here’s a report from the Guardian: Democrats on edge in critical Michigan amid fears of waning enthusiasm:
.
50 Times Urban Planners Failed To Understand People’s Needs, And It Resulted In ‘Desire Paths’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=A9mDVU-PmRo
Harris’ Home Care Plan Is A Big Deal
What’s a sovereign citizen? Trump rally gun suspect shows radical signs, sheriff says
Harris and Trump push different kinds of closing messages with 3 weeks to go
In a toss-up race, Kamala Harris is going to great lengths to reach out beyond her party’s base. Donald Trump’s approach is … different.
Link
Looks like the Trump team organizes rallies the same way they intend to govern, lackadaisically or not at all, and with lots of ensuing chaos.
Cartoon: Down the memory hole
Hurricane recovery officials in N.C. relocated amid report of ‘armed militia… out hunting FEMA.’
Lilly Ledbetter, equal pay and women’s rights activist, dies at 86
Israeli strike on Gaza hospital ignites devastating fire
Video showed shot in the aftermath of the bombing at Al-Aqsa Hospital showed at least one person being burned alive.
More at the link, including images.
“Texas county sidelines librarians, reclassifies book on abuse of Native Americans as “fiction””
https://popular.info/p/texas-county-sidelines-librarians
Campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Why Trump’s furious condemnation of ‘The Apprentice’ film matters
Trump didn’t just denounce “The Apprentice” movie. He also lamented the fact that filmmakers are “allowed” to say “whatever they want.”
Link
Video at the link.
Georgia election workers move closer to collecting Rudy Giuliani’s assets
“In the Netherlands, we’re closing our emptying prisons. What can other countries learn from how we did it?” | Renate van der Zee | The Guardian
.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/14/netherlands-prisons-dutch-sentencing
Link
Trump admits he’s making up numbers
Followup to comment 405.
Arrest made in NC threats against FEMA
Quoted text is from the Washington Post. The link above leads to a DailyKos presentation of an excerpt.
Link
Oh FFS.
This conglomeration of conspiracy theories and misinformation is already big enough to be noticed. An attempt at debunking has been made: “Rescuers in North Carolina actually say that’s bull.”
@410
I’m going to see that tomorrow.
Re: Lynna, OM @ #414….
If people really want to celebrate/commemorate Columbus Day, they should recognize that the 12 October date would have to have been on the Julian Calendar, and now that we use the Gregorian Calendar, the corresponding date is 22 October.
Here is the link for text quoted in comment 418.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/qanon-idiots-are-pizzagating-hurricanes
The Internet Archive has faced a barrage of cyberattacks
The digital library is back online with limited capabilities, according to its founder.
@393 The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs): The election is close, the point of the article is that the idea that Trump is surging is fake. By having Republican organizations push out more polls a simple count of polls shows Trump suddenly doing much better.
As for Harris separating herself from Biden I agree it is an issue. She has some big problems though. She has had little time to do it because she started late. As VP there are limits to how far she can publicly disagree with Biden. Worse, she is caught in the common Democratic vice where Biden is unpopular but his policy largely is popular. How does she separate herself on economic policy when Biden’s has worked so well? Where does she go on China or Russia that Biden isn’t?
Supreme Court reform is a risky and technical topic, Israel a mine field and one she can’t stray too far from the policy of the current administration. Better to avoid talking about either issue much on the campaign trail.
She has picked a couple of issues where she make popular proposals that Biden has not. Home care as part of Medicare and legalization of marijuana. Both good idea that she can promote easily, both unlikely to get through Congress without a Democratic sweep.
I fully agree that making a sweep of Republican areas now is a waste of valuable time. If she had a full length campaign some time should be spent in Republican areas to show people the Democrats are not abandoning them even if they don’t expect to win this election. Harris doesn’t have the time for that. She needs to concentrate on swing areas, places that might go either way.
The Internet Archive under attack, armed goons disrupting hurricane relief efforts, and Lilly Ledbetter dead. This day just keeps getting better and better! /s
Kari Lake will support “UVF”.
IVF
UVF
We all WF.
Jimmy Kimmel:
‘Trump Gets More Erratic, Doubles Down on Kamala & Do MAGA Voters Even Know What They Are Against?’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=NQEKgoIr_6A
Stephen Colbert:
“Harris: My Opponent Is Weak & Unstable | Out Of Context Trump | Concert For Carolina”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bqYhl4T9SU0
‘Vinylon: North Korea’s Best Invention’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=MO9wsylFdhE
The Swedish ‘Fjällräven’ backpack is a product made from vinylon, as it is quite durable. Downsides: rather stiff, hard to add dyes. Itchy, if worn close to the skin.
The Problems with China’s Space Program
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dsk0aIRrHb4
Carciogenic propellant falling down on the villages…
JM@423,
He’s not doing “much better” if you look at the various poll aggregators, all still show Harris with a national polling lead – it’s a matter of 1/2% or so change. But that (if real, and if the polls are close to correct) could well mean Trump rather than Harris winning.
Large numbers of people don’t feel that. When asked if there’s anythnig in Biden’s policies she would change, I think she made a big mistake in saying no – she should have said she would build on what he’d done but push it in new directions, or some such formula. Early on, she was talking about making the rich and big corporations pay more. Now she’s stopped doing that, presumably because she’s decided that persuading Republicans and right-wing independents who are queasy about Trump to back her is the best strategy. But the polls indicate it’s not working. On Israel, she could be much more outspoken about Netanyahu and the slaughter of children in Gaza and Lebanon – again there were some signs of this early on, but she’s stopped. She should shut up about immigration – talking about it just raises its salience, without convincing those who think it’s a problem.
Huh. To me, UVF still means Ulster Volunteer Force – a Protestant terrorist group during Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”. According to Wikipedia:
So perhaps that is what Lake meant!
KG @ 431.
Makes sense. The Trumpistas are usually mega-protestant. And UDF is allied with the Orange Order. It all adds up!
Excerpt from Enoch. It’s seriously weird.
“The 10th Heaven: What Happens When You See God?”
.https://youtube.com/shorts/kvXJQ36R0fI
Thanks fb memories – 5 years old but still sadly relevant I fear here Are we living through an insect extinction? | Foreign Correspondent – half an hour long on youtube.
Its really -& Imena really the leats of his problems but Trump literally stinks as Secular Talk’s Kyle Kulinski notes here Trump Sharts Lve During Rally Speech and watch the facial expressions of the other global leaders. The wold respects Trump? LOL! Fuck no!
Gotta admit I suspect they, er, enhanced (maybe added?) the sounds and, again., the leatrs of Trump’s issues and dangerous hit coming from him but still. Some light relief? (Emphais on last word there. Yeah, I know I’m an old toddler.. but I’m NOT running for POTUS and that guy, well..)
Just seen tonight’s (last nights) Colbert monologue Harris: My Opponent Is Weak & Unstable | Out Of Context Trump | Concert For Carolina – just over 12 mins.
Via AJ see Israelis Are Selling Stolen Palestinian Land To Americans – Fifteen minutes length.
WARNING : Confronting material and events referred to here. Gaza. Atrocities, Owen Jones youtube clip Sky News Causes OUTRAGE Over Gaza Coverage – They’re Not Even Pretending – just over eleven minutes long.
Somewhat encouraging news: Ted Cruz starts to sound rather nervous about his re-election bid
As a rule, confident candidates on pace to prevail don’t look and sound like the Texas Republican senator looks and sounds right now.
Judge: Georgia must certify election results, regardless of outcome
If election board officials in Georgia are thinking about refusing to certify election results they don’t like, a judge has now told them they can’t.
CNBC:
Yep, as expected Trump is ramping up the most despicable and/or ridiculous aspects of his plans:
Link
WTF?
Trump posted that Kamala Harris is, “slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions.”
Whoa. Kamala Harris’ style of speaking is the opposite of slow and lethargic.
Commentary:
Link
Link
Cartoon: Security detail
A followup to PZ’s post He’s not even a good dancer.
Trump glitches, and of course the legacy media make it seem he improvised a dance party
re Lynna @447: Anyone who did not leave during that pitiful “dance” show is a brain-dead dipshit who has no hope of recovering any sanity. The US has WAY too many of these people, and they are allowed to vote. If the Orange Idiot is elected, I think it will be the death of me.
johnson catman @448, I saw an interview with an attendee who stayed. The guy said he felt like he was in Trump’s living room enjoying music with Trump. The guy loved it. His wife said she did wish that Trump had taken more questions, but otherwise she was pleased and glad she came. She is definitely voting for Trump.
Not much can be done when people are willing to delude themselves.
On the other hand, a lot of attendees did leave during Trump’s impromptu, spacey, where-the-fuck-am-I “dance” routine. Trump actually tried to deny reality in real time by saying, “No one’s leaving!”
Despite reality, Vance says Trump was impeached over Russia scandal
JD Vance insisted that Donald Trump was impeached over the Russia scandal. I know this guy is new to politics, but that never actually happened.
Embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.
The first impeachment of Trump (2019) was for abuse of power an obstruction of Congress.
The second impeachment of Trump (2021) was for incitement of an insurrection.
For lists of impeachment charges see: this Wiki page
Speaking at the Chicago Economic Club, Trump was interviewed about business and the economy by John Micklethwait, the editor in chief of Bloomberg.
A few quotes from WaPo Live:
As Trump ironically and falsely accuses Harris of being “a criminal,” remember: Authoritarians always try to delegitimize the political opposition.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is correct.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Watch Rachel Maddow debunk one of the biggest Trump myths
re Lynna @453:
It is hard enough to narrow the field to the top ten most ridiculous things that The Orange Idiot has said, but that claim really tops the chart. Obama, after all, is out campaigning for Harris.
Lynna @452
I saw a longer version of video of Trump speaking in Aurora, CO, and it sounds like some members of the audience responded with grumbles and boos. It’s hard to tell as you can’t see anything but the backdrop and a sweaty liar on video.
I can’t imagine he has many supporters there after claiming that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the town and were terrorizing the populace. Colorado is not going to vote for him.
All eyes are on Pennsylvania—again
Cartoon: A biblical grift
Why is Donald Trump hiding his medical records? The Republican tried to answer the question. It really didn’t go well.
Still, Kraus now has “a million followers on Instagram, and her Substack, House Inhabit, is top-ranked in the platform’s culture category, with some 380,000 subscribers, many of whom pay $7 a month for her paywalled posts.” Sheesh.
Link
Georgia sees record voting on the first day of in-person early voting
Interesting. We don’t yet know if it is Democrats or Republicans casting all of those early votes. I will keep an eye out for some analysis to show up in the media.
That’s one of many new stories posted on NBC News’ “Live Updates” page.
Architect of Trump’s family separation policy promises he’ll be back
The former president has said that if he’s elected to a second term, he’ll bring Tom Homan back on board to oversee his mass deportation plan.
Embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.
Link
US issues ultimatum to Israeli government over Gaza crisis
Israel has threatened to launch a siege operation in northern Gaza to root out Hamas militants that have reemerged in that area of the war-torn enclave.
Crossposted with “He is notceven a good dancer”.
.
Early voting in Pennsylvania:
Democrats so far 285,072
Republicans so far 95,066
Early votes; Dems outvoting GOP by 300%.
In 2020 it was just 273%.
My conclusion is, unless early voting patterns have changed there are more Democratic voters in this crucial swing state, bringing Harris up above 270 in the electoral college.
270 is the midway point so anyone above 270 becomes president.
Goddamit, my optimism may jinx the election…
If Trump becomes president, you know who to blame.
God Awful Movies.
“GAM478 Dolls”
Anna Bosnick brings some class to the event. Murderous dolls? I wish my worst problem was murderous dolls.
Format question: if Dems have 3 times the early votes I assume the correct term would be “having 200% more early votes” rather than “outvoting the Republicans by 300%”?
Language, how the fck does it work? Also, magnets.
*Insane Clown Posse reference.
birger @466: Can I blame you for Keir Starmer and Pierre Poilievre as well? I feel the need for a scapegoat.
Good news. This explains the polling anomalies.
.
“THIS IS A PROBLEM: The 2024 Election Map Based On The NEWEST Poll From All 50 States
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=xyqfxDSILcg
In the last weeks there have been as many Republican-aligned polls as there are unaligned polls.
This tilts the total results towards an apparent picture that favors Republicans.
Rob Grigjanis @ 469
Better blame me rather than the Haitians in Springfield.
Turned in my absentee ballot yesterday. Yes, I voted for Harris and Dems down the ballot.
From Txitter, using only the reliable polling organizations.
@464 Lynna, OM: Nothing constructive will happen until the election is decided. Then I have a small hope that Biden will put some real pressure on. As long as the election is decided fairly quickly there will be a window for Biden to take some strong action. He will be retiring after he leaves office, he can afford to take some blame for doing things the next administration won’t want to touch.
And how many will die in the meantime?
WaPo:
Here’s how Donald Trump would lower grocery prices
In his own words
Column by Philip Bump
@472. Akira MacKenzie : “Turned in my absentee ballot yesterday. Yes, I voted for Harris and Dems down the ballot.”
Thankyou. That makes me happy and is much appreciated for whatever little that’s worth from me. I know you would have found it hard to do. Trump absolutely needs stopping. Get Harris in then pressure the fuck out of her to push things leftwards.
From PBS Newshour :
Source : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/bob-woodward-discusses-war-his-new-book-breaking-down-world-conflicts-and-u-s-politics
Some cause for hope maybe?
Aussie news program analysising the news here – Media Watch:
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/idf/104471176
Plus ibid sep story here :
https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/evs/104471178
On some media’s misleading portrayal of Electric Vehicles and the myths they keeppushing a s anti-Green propaganda.
Okay one more segment fromlast night’s Media Watch here :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/hurricane/104471174
CBS News:
Georgia judge blocks election rule requiring hand counting of ballots
By Graham Kates, Katrina Kaufman
Updated on: October 15, 2024 / 10:39 PM EDT
Pervarotti!
Jimmy Kimmel:
‘Trump’s Mad at “Loser” Jimmy Kimmel Again, Holds a DOOZY of a Town Hall Meeting & Attacks Kamala Harris’ Health’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PpbKWFehKyE
JM@474,
Biden has a long record of unconditional support for Israel’s illegal, oppressive and bloody actions. There is absolutely no reason to think that will change in his last months in power.
Op-erratic
Stephen Colbert:
“Trump’s Bananapants Boo-Boo-Bonkers Town Hall | VP Harris Heads To Fox News’
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=fSsrHkOOOJo
Crossposted with He is not even good at dancing.
.
From Sept 16: National Dance Day
.https://www.facebook.com/share/v/3wn42J8EHHJvcNzX/
BTW I seem to recall a president of Equador had to step down three decades ago because of mental instability, he performed music on TV among other things.
.
I have an idea.
Just to show hiw bizarre the town hall meeting was, let us have a Joe Biden lookalike sway on stage to music for 37 minutes.
Trevor Noah on Trump’s Feud with Jimmy, Mets Game with Jerry Seinfeld & Missing The Daily Show
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WFITOJFvUXs
Yes, but we harmed the EU too.
“Ex Tory Minister Paul Scully Makes Fool Of Himself On NewsNight!”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=YjjCmrSH494
Joe Manchin Explodes In Panicked Rage Over Kamala’s Announcement She Is Ready To Do Away With The Filibuster.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=x1xk9-xsy4k
Bye, bye Joe. Don’t let the door hit you in the back on your way out.
NB
Former Biden Officials Launch Group To Shift Israel Policy |
HuffPost Latest News
.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-administration-former-officials-launch-new-policy-pac-reform-israel-palestinian-poiicy_n_670ef2a5e4b094567cfeae10
Tech.ai: Intel and AMD Help Launch x86 Consortium
This is a big deal in the computer field. Intel has always been a “We define the industry and everybody exists in our shadow” type of company. They have lost it over the last couple of years though as problems both internal and external have hit the company. Internally they have not had great success with new chips, performance has not hit the levels they wanted and production has been low. Externally AMD has matched them on the desktop and other companies have dominated AI systems. Because of a weird quirk of chip design history graphic card companies dominate AI chip production.
There is also an element of Intel and AMD working to keep ARM from becoming a competitor to x86. ARM based chips are mostly a factor in the low end but as there are fewer real new features to X86 it looks better. With everything moving to the cloud in vast banks of computers a cheap low energy ARM system could be a real threat.
CNBC: Trump’s coin sale misses early targets as crypto project’s website crashes
Trump’s crypto coin went on sale Tuesday to low sales and numerous technical problems. It still isn’t clear what the project is entirely but is some form of crypto coin bank for bigger investors. Only people potentially investing a chunk get the full prospect of what they are doing.
Re: JM @ #492…
Intel lost that dominance over 20 years ago when AMD beat them to 64-bit chips, the Athlons and Opterons.
“New Theory Inspection: Is the Universe a Bubble? I had a look”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bwOERPO7xT4
😵💫
Huge Blow To Trump As Top Donor Abandones Him For Kamala Harris
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=DjA84CQSB3o
Idiot Trump Tells His Supporters To Vote On The WRONG DAY
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WnsjCja7Mfo
Guardian: Elon Musk gave $75m to his pro-Trump group in three months
Musk is the only donor for America Pac. Musk’s group is now doing far more canvasing then the Trump campaign itself. Musk appears to be another figure that publicly aligned with whatever party was advantageous to his business. Now he has gone for Trump in a big way. Musk should know better, Trump feels no need to keep his written contracts, spoken promises and favors dealt are worthless.
Vance’s laughable lie: Trump ‘didn’t go after’ his political foes
Yep.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen: