Tuesday
Apr092024
The Conversation -- April 9, 2024
Arizona. How "Leave It to the States" Works. Cindy Von Quednow of CNN: "In a historic decision Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the state must adhere to a 123-year-old penal code barring all abortions except in cases when 'it is necessary to save' a pregnant person's life. The law, which can be traced to as early as 1864, also carried a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers.... Last week, Arizona for Abortion Access, a group of abortion rights organizations, announced it had gathered enough signatures for a November 2024 ballot measure that would ask voters to enshrine abortion rights in the stat's constitution." ~~~
~~~ President Joe Biden's statement on the Arizona ruling, via the White House. ~~~
~~~ Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Tucson, Arizona on Friday just days after the state's Supreme Court upheld one of the nation's most far-reaching abortion bans.... The campaign trip, which was already in the works prior to the court decision, will likely take on a heightened focus on abortion rights and access." ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Biden campaign aides and allies on Tuesday wasted little time tying an Arizona court ruling effectively outlawing abortion in the state directly to former President Trump and his call for abortion policy to be decided by the states. 'This is what leaving it to the states looks like,' Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa wrote on the social platform X. 'This is what Donald Trump endorsed yesterday,' Kate Bedingfield, a former top aide on the Biden 2020 campaign and in the Biden White House, posted on X. 'An abortion ban from 1864 ... that's what Trump supports,' wrote Kevin Munoz, another Biden campaign aide.... The ruling came one day after Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for November's presidential contest, issued a video statement in which he said states will be allowed to determine abortion law either by legislation or by vote.... In the same statement, Trump said he was 'proudly' responsible for bringing about the end of Roe v. Wade through the appointment of three conservative justices."
Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "An appeals court judge has denied ... Donald Trump's request to delay the start of his New York hush money trial so he can challenge the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan. New York Associate Justice Cynthia Kern denied the application for an interim stay just minutes after hearing arguments on the matter Tuesday. A full appeals court panel will still consider Trump's petition, though it will not delay the start of the trial. Motions are due on Monday, the day the jury selection is scheduled to start. The panel of judges will rule on whether to stay the trial after they receive briefs that day, and will decide about the gag order after April 29, when submissions are due. The panel will rule on the written papers; there will be no oral arguments."
Rob Wile of NBC News: "Shares of Trump Media have erased all their gains since they began trading under the ticker DJT last month. The stock closed down more than 8% Monday at $37.17 after falling about 11% earlier in the day. It had traded above $79 a share on March 26, the day of its debut. But experts say it's hard to draw any firm conclusions about what the stock price's movement means. That's because so many available shares -- about 12%, one of the highest ratios of any active stock listing -- reflect traders' bets that the stock will fall, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director at S3 Partners, a data and predictive analytics company."
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "More than 200 chemical plants across the country will be required to curb the toxic pollutants they release into the air under a regulation announced by the Biden administration on Tuesday. The regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. This is the first time in nearly two decades that the government has tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants. The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber in footwear. The E.P.A. has classified the two chemicals as likely carcinogens. They are considered a top health concern in an area of Louisiana so dense with petrochemical and refinery plants that it is known as Cancer Alley."
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon has provided Ukraine with thousands of Iranian-made weapons seized before they could reach Houthi militants in Yemen, U.S. officials said Tuesday. It's the Biden administration's latest infusion of emergency military support for Kyiv while a multibillion-dollar aid package remains stalled in the Republican-led House. The weapons include 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, along with a half-million rounds of ammunition. They were seized from four 'stateless vessels' between 2021 and 2023 and made available for transfer to Ukraine through a Justice Department civil forfeiture program targeting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East."
Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford, Mich., school shooter, were sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years each after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials.... Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald had sought a total of 10 to 15 years for each parent in a sentencing memo last week that detailed the trauma, terror and devastation caused by what she said was the Crumbleys' gross negligence that resulted in their son Ethan Crumbley killing Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17, while wounding others at Oxford High School."
Edward Moreno of the New York Times: "Norfolk Southern announced on Tuesday that it agreed to pay $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from a February 2023 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio. The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson, includes payments to residents and businesses within 20 miles of the derailment. It also resolves personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius of the derailment."
Rachel Sharp of the Independent: "Seven years on from the notorious moment where he stared directly at the sun during the last solar eclipse over the US, [Donald Trump] is jumping on the sungazing bandwagon yet again. On Sunday night, Mr Trump posted a bizarre campaign ad on Truth Social where his own head takes on the role of the moon -- blocking out the sun and plunging America into total darkness."
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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Monday announced a large-scale effort to help pay off federal student loans for tens of millions of American borrowers, seeking an election-year boost by returning to a 2020 campaign promise that was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. Mr. Biden's new plan would reduce the amount that 25 million borrowers still owe on their undergraduate and graduate loans. It would wipe away the entire amount for more than four million Americans. Altogether, White House officials said, 10 million borrowers would see debt relief of $5,000 or more.... Mr. Biden announced the plan in Madison, Wis., the capital of a critical swing state and a college town that symbolizes the president's promise to make higher-education affordability a cornerstone of his economic agenda. But it is a promise he has so far failed to achieve, largely because of legal challenges from Republicans and other critics." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Post-grads left in limbo should keep in mind that it is Republicans who are actively working to make sure they are saddled with crushing debt during what should be among their most productive work years and when they most need money to establish their families and homes. If they're really concerned -- as they purport to be -- that President Biden is overstepping his executive authority by forgiving these debts, Republicans should be sponsoring & passing Congressional bills to eliminate or reduce these student-loan debts. They are not. Republicans have chosen instead to side with the banks to make sure young people pay lucrative interest rates.
Caitlin Yilek of CBS News: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday endorsed a bill that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S. after its momentum slowed in the Senate following its whirlwind passage in the House last month. 'This is the matter that deserves Congress' urgent attention, and I'll support common sense bipartisan steps to take one of Beijing's favorite tools of coercion and espionage off the table,' the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor, describing the platform as 'a tool of surveillance and of propaganda.' The legislation seeks to force its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months to maintain access to U.S. web-hosting services and app stores.... Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has been noncommittal about bringing it up for a vote, though he included TikTok legislation among his top priorities in a letter to Democrats last week."
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Justice Department officials told House Republicans they don't intend to provide audio recordings of President Biden's interviews with the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents -- suggesting that since lawmakers already have the transcripts of those interviews, the request was more about scoring political points than seeking information.... Their demand for the recordings, after already having the transcripts, 'indicates that the Committees' interest may not be in receiving information in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files,' [senior DOJ official Carlos] Uriarte wrote in the letter sent on Monday [to committee chairs James Comer & Jim Jordan].... Jordan and Comer have threatened to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt if the department doesn't turn over the audio recordings...."
The Trials of Trump, Ctd.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting ... Donald J. Trump on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reject Mr. Trump's claim that he is immune from prosecution. 'The president's constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them,' Mr. Smith wrote. The filing was Mr. Smith's main submission in the case, which will be argued on April 25.... 'The absence of any prosecutions of former presidents until this case does not reflect the understanding that presidents are immune from criminal liability,' Mr. Smith wrote. 'It instead underscores the unprecedented nature of petitioner's alleged conduct.'" ~~~
~~~ Smith's brief, via the Court, is here. ~~~
~~~ Gary Warner of Stars & Stripes: "Nineteen retired generals, admirals and former top civilian defense officials have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing ... Donald Trump's bid for immunity from prosecution. 'We risk jeopardizing America's standing as a guardian of democracy in the world and further feeding the spread of authoritarianism, thereby threatening the national security of the United States and democracies around the world,' the group wrote. The 38-page amicus brief includes officials from Democratic and Republican administrations dating back to former President John F. Kennedy, as well as four-star generals from the Army, Air Force and Marines, and Navy and Coast Guard admirals.... The amicus brief ... argues that without rapid action to negate the claims of immunity, the cases could become moot since they would not be heard prior to the November presidential election. Trump is the expected Republican nominee against Biden. If elected, Trump could use his presidential authority in a bid to pardon himself from prosecution."
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, a week away from standing trial in Manhattan on criminal charges that he falsified records to cover up a sex scandal, has indicated he plans to file a lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case. Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump was filing an action against the judge, Juan M. Merchan, though the papers were not immediately made public. An online court docket where Mr. Trump is expected to file the so-called Article 78 action -- a special proceeding that can be used to challenge New York state government agencies and judges -- showed that the related paperwork was sealed. Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump's lawyers on Monday planned to file the action calling on an appeals court to delay the trial and to challenge a gag order that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president.... Mr. Trump's unorthodox move -- essentially an appeal in the form of a lawsuit -- is unlikely to succeed, particularly so close to trial." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Well, that was yesterday. The article has been updated. New Lede: "One week before Donald J. Trump is set to face a criminal trial in Manhattan, an appeals court judge on Monday rejected his effort to pause the case and move it to a different location. The judge, Lizbeth Gonzalez, issued the decision Monday afternoon after hearing arguments from Mr. Trump's lawyers and lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney's office.... In a separate proceeding, he indicated that he planned to file an unusual type of lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan.... Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump had begun the process of filing the action against Justice Merchan, though the papers were not immediately made public." An AP story is here. A Law & Crime story on the bid to remove Justice Merchan is here.
Aaron Katersky & Peter Charalambous of ABC News: "As Donald Trump's lawyers on Monday afternoon attempted to convince an appellate judge that a fair jury selection could not happen in a Manhattan courtroom, the judge overseeing the former president's criminal trial, Judge Juan Merchan, released the questionnaire he plans to use to oversee jury selection for the trial, which is scheduled to begin on April 15. Prospecutive jurors will be asked if they have ever attended one of Trump's rallies, if they belong to groups like the Proud Boys or Antifa, or if they volunteered with a political entity associated with the former president. 'Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about whether a former president may be criminally charged in a state court?' one question asks. 'Do you have any feelings about how Mr. Trump is being treated in this case?'... [And so forth.] Merchan also included the summary he intends to read to the prospective jurors next week, offering them a glimpse of the months-long trial."
Rachel Maddow's long opening segment last night featured the crooked business practices of Don Hankey, the usurious car-loan billionaire whose various enterprises cheated mostly low-income Americans of billions, but had somehow found his "generous" side in rescuing -- for a "low fee" -- Donald Trump and Jared Kushner (Kushner, while Trump was president*). Here's a part of that segment:
~~~ Hankey's bond to cover Trump in the New York fraud case is in some trouble inasmuch as Hankey, et al., are not registered to make bond in New York. Then there's this: ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$ republishes part of a Daily Beast report: "'The little-known insurance company that rescued Donald Trump by providing a last-minute $175 million bank fraud bond isn't just unlicensed in New York; it hasn't even been vetted by a voluntary state entity that would verify it meets minimum 'eligibility standards' to prove financial stability. Perhaps even more troubling, the legal document from Knight Specialty Insurance Company [that's a Hankey-controlled company] doesn't actually promise it will pay the money if the former president loses his $464 million bank fraud case on appeal. Instead, it says Trump will pay, negating the whole point of an insurance company guarantee, according to three legal and bond experts who reviewed the contract for The Daily Beast.'... It looks more like a piece of paper that says Donald Trump is going to pay you and if he doesn't we don't promise to do anything about that! HOW IS THIS A BOND EXACTLY?" Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is Donald Trump's playing "catch me if you can" with New York State. So far, Trump is winning the game, even if it doesn't necessarily look that way on paper. Judge Arthur Engoron will hear arguments April 22 on whether or not the bond is sufficient.
Presidential Race
A Method to His Lies. Angelo Fichera of the New York Times: "In the week starting with Mr. Trump's victory speech in Iowa through his win in the New Hampshire primary -- the contests that put him on the path to becoming his party's nominee for the third consecutive time -- The New York Times analyzed all of his public statements, including speeches, interviews and social media posts. His words focused heavily on attacking his political rivals, self-aggrandizing and stoking fear to make his case for 2024. In doing so, Mr. Trump often relied on repeated falsehoods and half-truths. He has yet to deviate from this approach in the general election....
"He grossly distorts his opponents' records and proposals to make them sound unreasonable.... He exaggerates and twists the facts to make his record sound better than it is.... He relies on both well-worn and fresh claims of election rigging to suggest he can lose only if his opponents cheat.... He has turned his criminal cases into a rallying cry, baselessly asserting that he is being persecuted by his successor.... He makes unverifiable claims about what the world would have been like had he secured a second term.... He describes the United States as a nation in ruins." (Also linked yesterday.)
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said in a video statement on Monday that abortion rights should be left up to the states, remarks that came after months of mixed signals on an issue that he and his advisers have worried could cost him dearly in the election. Mr. Trump said his view was that the states should decide through legislation, and that 'whatever they decide must be the law of the land, and in this case, the law of the state.' But he added that he was 'strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.'... Mr. Trump appeared to be trying to move past the issue of abortion rights as quickly as possible without discussing a federal ban, which would face steep odds in the House and Senate. He has privately discussed supporting such a ban. But politically, Mr. Trump's announcement that abortion should be left to the states will allow Democrats to tag him with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, including a six-week ban in Florida that he has said was a 'terrible mistake.'... In the video, Mr. Trump said he was 'proudly the person responsible' for overturning Roe and eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years. Mr. Trump falsely claimed that 'all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and in fact demanded' that Roe should be ended. He then falsely claimed that Democrats wanted babies 'executed after birth.'" CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "President Biden slammed former President Trump on Monday for saying he thinks abortion policies are best left to the states, and for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's role in overturning Roe v. Wade. 'Donald Trump made it clear once again today that he is -- more than anyone in America -- the person responsible for ending Roe v. Wade,' Biden said in a statement. 'Let there be no illusion. If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law.'... 'Trump is scrambling. He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024,' Biden said. 'Well, I have news for Donald. They will. America was built on personal freedom and liberty. So, there is nothing more un-American than having our personal freedoms taken away. And that is what Donald Trump has done.'"
~~~ Michael Shear & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden's re-election campaign on Monday released a searing campaign ad blaming ... Donald J. Trump for the near-death of a Texas woman who suffered infections after she was denied an abortion following a miscarriage. The ad, in which the woman, Amanda Zurawski, sobs about the loss of the baby she and her husband had wanted to name Willow, describes the infection that nearly killed her because of the Texas law that prohibits abortions even when they are medically necessary. Viewers then see a black screen with a single phrase: 'Donald Trump did this.'" ~~~
Marie: Closer readings of Trump's cop-out reveal that the situation is considerably worse than President Biden and his campaign suggest. Read on. ~~~
~~~ Don't Believe What You Read in the MSM. Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "On Monday, with great fanfare, Donald Trump released his 'plan' on abortion in a video posted to Truth Social. As with most things Trump says, the short statement was an avalanche of lies. He claims overturning Roe v. Wade was 'about will of the people.' In reality, strong majorities of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court's actions. He claims 'all legal scholars' on 'both sides' wanted to repeal Roe, another lie.... He claimed, as he does routinely now, that Democrats want abortion 'after birth,' a vile lie that has become normalized through brute repetition. But the most consequential deceit is from Trump implying -- but notably never actually saying -- he's on the 'leave it to the states' bandwagon.... [Trump said,] 'The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.' As sharp observers noticed (which most mainstream media missed), Trump's language here is descriptive of the current state of play and avoids committing to any future action or inaction.... Matt Gertz of Media Matters correctly criticized the press for leaving 'pro-choice swing voters with the false impression that he is more moderate than he actually is.' As he points out, Trump sidestepped the question of what he plans to do if he's in the White House. That's because he plans to ban abortion nationwide." ~~~
~~~ See also Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread. ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... the most misleading part of [Trump's] spiel was the way he implied that in a second Trump administration, abortion law will be left entirely up to the states.... Should Trump return to power, he plans to surround himself with die-hard MAGA activists, not the establishment types he blames for undermining him during his first term. And many of these activists have plans to restrict abortion nationally without passing any new laws at all.... [The 19th-century anti-vice Comstack Act] was never actually repealed, and now that Trump's justices have scrapped Roe, his allies believe they can use Comstock to go after abortion nationwide.... A resurrected Comstock Act wouldn't just stop women from ordering abortion pills through the mail. It could also prevent doctors and pharmacies from dispensing them, since neither the Postal Service nor express carriers like UPS and FedEx would be allowed to ship them in the first place. And it would give the Justice Department a rationale for cracking down on the networks that help provide pills to women in states with abortion bans." ~~~
~~~ Law Dork Chris Geidner: "While once again taking credit for the end of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion, Donald Trump nonetheless tried to distance himself on Monday from the most extreme anti-abortion positions of his party in an explicit effort to 'win elections.' The purported abortion position Trump peddled in a video posted Monday on Truth Social -- after avoiding laying out his position throughout the primary -- is unrealistic, unworkable, and unpopular. Don't fall for it.... Right now, a majority of Republicans in Congress support an argument that could lead to an effective nationwide abortion ban without the passage of any new legislation.... In a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, 145 Republicans expressed the view that the Comstock Act -- an 1873 law -- criminalizes any mailing of abortion drugs, contrary to the views of courts that have interpreted it and the Biden administration.... Although he is not on the brief, House Speaker Mike Johnson had joined an earlier and even more extreme letter led by Sen. James Lankford in January 2023 challenging the administration's position.... It is important to consider, in detail, just how far removed Trump's claimed position on Monday is from Republican reality."
~~~ Lisa Lerer & Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "... on Monday, [anti-abortionists'] biggest champion, the man whom they call the 'most pro-life president in history,' chose politics over their principles -- and launched a series of vitriolic attacks on some of their top leaders.... His remarks [about abortion] were low on specifics.... Mr. Trump reacted to the criticism with a series of scathing attacks on ... Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the leading anti-abortion group..., and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who also questioned the former president's commitment to the anti-abortion movement on Monday. Mr. Trump took full credit for the decision to overturn Roe, disregarding the decades of work by activists and lawyers to build a conservative movement to undercut Roe. 'Lindsey, Marjorie, and others fought for years, unsuccessfully, until I came along and got the job done,' he posted on his social media site...." ~~~
~~~ Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "'I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him!' Trump said in one of several posts shared on Truth Social, his social media site, in which he targeted one of his top allies in Congress.... Throughout Monday afternoon, Trump raged at Graham in post after post on the social media platform after Graham said he 'respectfully' disagreed with Trump's conclusions about abortion policy." MB: Lindsey, Lindsey, no matter how many times you pucker up to Trump's backside, you can never disagree with him, "respectfully" or otherwise. You must treat him as the infallible god he thinks he is, even when he makes contradictory assertions within the same fake tweet. When will you ever learn? ~~~
~~~ Let's Ask Mikey! Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered a scathing rebuke to ... Donald J. Trump's announcement on Monday that he thought abortion rights should be left to the states, calling Mr. Trump's video statement a 'slap in the face' to the anti-abortion voters who supported him in 2016 and 2020. In a statement on social media, he described Mr. Trump as retreating on the issue and indicated that his discontent was centered on Mr. Trump's lack of endorsement, or any mention at all, of a federal ban." Politico's story is here.
Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "Jared Kushner's investment fund ... is bringing with it ethical issues that would only grow if his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, should win another term as president. His $3 billion fund is financed almost entirely from overseas investors with whom he worked when he served as a senior adviser in the Trump White House. He has taken money from government wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as from Terry Gou, a founder of Foxconn, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer, whose role in Mr. Kushner's firm has not been previously disclosed. In total, 99 percent of the money placed with him by investors has come from foreign sources, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late March." Oh, read on.
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Haiti. Widlore Merancourt & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Heavily armed gangs control 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, [Haiti,] the United Nations has estimated, where they rape, kidnap and kill with impunity. Haiti doesn't manufacture firearms, and the United Nations prohibits importing them, but that's no problem for the criminals. When they go shopping, the United States is their gun store. The semiautomatic rifles that have wrought human carnage from an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., to a Walmart in El Paso are also being used to menace the Haitian government and terrorize the population ... owing to access in the United States, corruption in Haiti and insufficient screening in both countries.... The influx of U.S. guns to criminals is a growing problem across the Caribbean.... Exasperated Caribbean leaders last year declared the flood of U.S. weapons 'a direct threat to our democracy' and urged Washington to join their 'war on guns.'... U.S. officials say they're trying to disrupt what they describe as a relatively new flow."
Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Hamas is reviewing the latest cease-fire proposal presented by mediators, according to a statement released Tuesday, after negotiators left Cairo and a senior official said talks were 'on hold.' Hamas criticized the proposal for not meeting Palestinian demands, but said it would nonetheless study it and respond. Israel's foreign minister said Monday that the talks were at a 'critical point,' and 'if matters work out, a large number of hostages will return home and, in stages, everyone.'... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date had been set for Israel's planned ground offensive in the Rafah but he did not specify when. Displaced Palestinians have evacuated to the southern city, where the population has swelled to about 1.4 million. The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and France called for a permanent cease-fire and a two-state solution in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on Monday. They also demanded the immediate release of all hostages." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
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Reader Comments (9)
Weasels, weasel words, and lazy reporting.
The Orange Weasel yesterday came out with his “long awaited” (*snigger*) position on abortion.
Ya know, words matter, right kids? And one would think if you work in media, as a reporter, you would be careful not only with your words, but with the words of others.
I’m not going to beat that dead horse about how Trump has been normalized, his gobbledygook statements cleaned up and helpfully edited by the press. That horse is not just dead, the bones have been picked clean. But here we go again.
Headlines all across the media landscape proclaim “Trump says abortion should be left to the states!” giving the impression that he has backed off a more draconian approach to women’s healthcare.
That’s not what he said. Surprised? Don’t be.
Here’s what he really said:
“The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case the law of the state…”
Did you catch it?
There is no “should”. Why does that make a difference?
“Former President Donald Trump’s strategy of ducking questions on abortion requires mainstream reporters to let him off the hook and leave pro-choice swing voters with the false impression that he is more moderate than he actually is. So far, it’s working.
Major news outlets are falsely claiming that Trump said abortion ‘should be left to the states’ in a video announcement Monday on his Truth Social platform. In fact, Trump said only that abortion ‘will’ be left to the states, a statement of law that does not address how he would respond if Congress passed a federal abortion ban or how regulators would treat abortion under a second Trump administration.”
The “will” is his weasel word. Trump isn’t good at much, but he’s excellent at conning the media. He’s still treated like a semi-normal politician. He’s nothing of the kind. He’s a conniving weasel, among many other even more horrible things.
Rachel Maddow does a nice job of showing how the media whiffed on coverage of Fatty’s latest bit of shifty dissembling. Her point is that rather than give this deceitful piece of shit an out, the headlines should have been “Trump proudly takes credit for taking away a constitutional right and lies about Democrats murdering babies”.
She also points out that by stating he’s okay with whatever states come up with, that complete bans on abortion are perfectly acceptable.
But no. Headlines make it seem that he’s moderating his position.
See, the calculus here is typical Trump slickness (sickness?). PoT anti-choice fanatics are pissed? So what? Are they gonna vote for Biden? Never. Fatty was hoping the media would take the bait and make him look more moderate for independents and swing voters.
And that’s exactly what they did.
Good job, weasel lovers!
So now they’re saying it out loud:
A vote for RFK, Jr., is a a vote for Trump!
A consultant working with the Kennedy campaign, staunch anti-vaxxer, Rita Palma, says the goal is to “get rid of Biden”. Meaning, to make sure Trump gets elected.
Among many other bits of nuttiness, Kennedy himself routinely has claimed that Trump’s J6 thugs carried no weapons (a lie, since retracted) and still maintains that “reasonable people” doubt there was any insurrection at all.
I’m guessing our definitions of what constitutes a reasonable person differ dramatically.
Over the course of just a few brief encounters with Kennedy while we were in college, I came away thinking that he was not just odd, but damaged somehow. He was a strange dude. At the time I chalked it up to his obviously pretty horrible family experiences which resulted in a serious, and lengthy heroin addiction. He could have been using back then. If so, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. And kudos to the guy for overcoming that huge problem. But his thinking, which seemed paranoid even back then, hasn’t improved very much, at least with respect to his approach to a variety of issues before the public.
Money, notoriety, trauma, death, and drugs, from an early age aren’t typically the ingredients for a great presidential candidate, but then look at Trump. Even without the death, trauma, and drugs, he’s a fucking cesspool.
There’s always the odd whack job running for various elected offices in this country, but they don’t usually command huge audiences for their demented crap. This time around we have two such, and with both working to bring down the only truly qualified, sane candidate, we could be in big trouble.
Trump Eclipse
Had good training in how to detect symbolism and divine its meanings, but am complete bollixed by the Pretender as Moon photo.
Seems its obvious meaning is the Pretender intends to plunge the world into perpetual darkness, but that's too odd (because too self-defeating and too true?) a campaign promise even for him, isn't it?
Ken, I guessed that the point was the light shining out his ear pointing out that there's nothing in there.
@Bobby Lee: That was the joke "ad" that RAS linked. The original Trump ad doesn't show any holes in Trump's head. His head just blocks the sun.
And, as Ken suggests, it doesn't make sense on any level. It does seem to advertise that Trump will bring darkness to the U.S. Not only that, since the total eclipse lasted, at the most, less than 4 minutes, it suggests that Trump's attempt to ruin the country would be transitory.
It would have made more sense to have a silhouette of Biden's blocking out the sun, but I guess Trump couldn't stand to post a graphic illustration of Biden, so he pitched himself as the moon god. (Maybe I called him "Luna-tick" one too many times.) Anyhow, weird.
Luckily for Trump, as Jon Stewart "reports" in the video I just embedded, Miss Margie probably topped Trump in "analyzing" the meaning of the eclipse. She does remind me of a prehistoric person trying to suss out the message in an awesome celestial event.
What's confusing? DiJiT moons the world. Dog bites man.
The image of Trump’s fat head occluding the sun may appeal to the MAGAts as an indication of some supposed astral power, but that’s only for ignoramuses who can’t distinguish between “cool” (faked) imagery, and scientific fact.
A smart image creator would have positioned Fatty as the sun god, the biggest, baddest ball of fire in the solar system, just bursting with atomic powered energy, and made Biden the tiny, desiccated, moribund object which can only block the majesty of the star Sol for a few minutes before drifting off into space as the implacable sun resumes its glorious position as solar system alpha.
Instead, Fatty is positioned as the smidgey, cold, dead satellite, floating around with no real power of its own.
Sounds about right.
They’re all fucking morons.
For those interested, the makeup of the governor-appointed Arizona Supreme Court is here--and, may I say, there are no surprises.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Supreme_Court#:~
More democracy not at work.