The Conversation -- October 23, 2024
Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and his closest allies are again trotting out the theories [that voting machines have been hacked] as part of a late-campaign strategy to assert that this year's election is rigged -- although this time Mr. Trump's campaign appears to be largely acting behind the scenes. The theories are rampant on social media and widely embraced by activists. They have frequently shown up in the blitz of lawsuits that Republicans have filed in the run-up to the election, including a Georgia lawsuit that a judge dismissed this month, calling the security concerns about voting machines raised in the suit 'purely hypothetical.' Mr. Trump's name was not on the suit, nor was the Republican National Committee's. But text messages reviewed by The New York Times suggest that the former president's top aides were behind it." ~~~
~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: Georgia "election officials ... said that ... a woman ... visited a polling site in Whitfield County last week and used a touch-screen voting machine to cast her ballot. She mistakenly selected one candidate's name when she had intended to choose another.... The voter tried again, fixed the mistake and successfully cast her ballot. But online, the story quickly took on a life of its own, catapulted to prominence by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and transforming into an elaborate conspiracy theory involving voting machines that were somehow 'flipping' votes between candidates en masse.... [After posting the false claim on X,] Ms. Greene also joined Alex Jones, the far-right radio host known for spreading conspiracy theories, on his livestream to repeat the false claim.... Election officials in Georgia tried to counter the narrative, but their efforts appeared to pale in comparison to the reach that Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones had online."
Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin's most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.... Disinformation researchers say Dougan's network was probably behind a recent viral fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday was created by Russia." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I scanned the whole story, and Dougan has a long and sordid past. The story doesn't say one thing about Donald Trump. Still, my twisted, conspiratorial mindset cannot get past Dougan's history in Palm Beach County, home of Mar-a-Lardo. Dougan is a Trumpy sort of guy, someone Trump might hire as an occasional bodyguard, someone Trump might like to chat with on road trips to the Doral golf resort. Just saying.
Theodore Schleifer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sent a letter to the super PAC founded by Elon Musk this week warning that awarding $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition might violate federal laws against paying voters, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Similar warning letters from the department's public integrity unit have been sent to businesses and organizations that tied promotions to voting and are intended to suggest that continuing such an activity could result in a criminal investigation.... Three voters in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina have been awarded $1 million checks, and Mr. Musk has promised to award one voter $1 million every day through Election Day as part of his efforts on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign." 24sight broke the news.
Elisabeth Zerofsky of the New York Times Magazine: "The historian Robert Paxton ... is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.... In a column for a French newspaper, republished in early 2017 in Harper's Magazine, Paxton urged restraint [against describing Donald Trump as a fascist]. 'We should hesitate before applying this most toxic of labels,' he warned. Paxton acknowledged that Trump's 'scowl' and his 'jutting jaw' recalled 'Mussolini's absurd theatrics,' and that Trump was fond of blaming 'foreigners and despised minorities' for 'national decline.' These, Paxton wrote, were all staples of fascism.... [But] Jan. 6 proved to be a turning point.... 'The turn to violence was so explicit and so overt and so intentional, that you had to change what you said about it,' Paxton told me.... In a column that appeared online on Jan. 11, 2021, Paxton wrote that the invasion of the Capitol 'removes my objection to the fascist label.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps the most important point Paxton shares with Zerofsky is this one: "Whatever Trumpism is, it's coming 'from below as a mass phenomenon, and the leaders are running to keep ahead of it,' Paxton said.... For fascism to take root, there needs to be 'an opening in the political system, which is the loss of traction by the traditional parties' he said. 'There needs to be a real breakdown.'... Trump's power, Paxton suggested, appears to be different. 'The Trump phenomenon looks like it has a much more solid social base,' Paxton said. 'Which neither Hitler nor Mussolini would have had.' [since both were legitimately appointed to lead their governments]."
Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada faced the stiffest challenge to his leadership from fellow elected Liberal Party members on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting where he was urged to resign to avoid torpedoing the party's chances in the next election.... On Wednesday..., most of the 153 Liberal members of Parliament gathered in Ottawa for a scheduled caucus meeting.... While caucus proceedings are typically secret, Mr. Trudeau, according to Canadian news media citing unnamed sources, was presented with a letter signed by about two dozen caucus members calling on him to step down.... CBC News reported that Mr. Trudeau told the closed meeting that he would reflect on the concerns raised."
Katie Rogers & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that ... Donald J. Trump's reported comments praising Nazi generals offered 'a window into who Donald Trump really is,' calling it 'deeply troubling' that her Republican rival had apparently invoked Hitler in conversations with one of his former chiefs of staff, John F. Kelly.... In her brief remarks, delivered at the vice president's residency in Washington, Ms. Harris warned that Mr. Trump had grown 'increasingly unhinged and unstable' and said that he would require that the U.S. military 'be loyal to him personally,' even if Mr. Trump did not obey the law during the course of a second term." ~~~
Marie: Yesterday, Ken W. recommended this Substack essay by Heather Cox Richardson, and I've just got around to reading it. Richardson discusses political scientist Rachel Bitecofer's Substack essay on Trump's plans, in which Bitecofer gives a very short-course on Hitler's plans, and then, you know, finds parallels that leads her to conclude that Trump will be, after all, a dictator, too. You can read Bitecofer's essay here. But the most striking graf, to me, in Richardson's essay is her own, one in which she recounts a visit by "the First Lady of American Journalism" Dorothy Thompson, to Germany in 1931. Then the wife of Sinclair Lewis, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Thompson interviewed Adolf Hitler. Thompson was no ingenue. By that time, she had been a journalist in Europe for ten years, both freelancing & representing various U.S. news organizations. She was "the undisputed queen of the overseas press corps, the first woman to head a foreign news bureau of any importance."
Nonetheless, Cox writes that Thomas did not see Hitler as "the future dictator of Germany.... She asked him if he would 'abolish the constitution of the German Republic.' He answered: 'I will get into power legally' and, once in power, abolish the parliament and the constitution and 'found an authority-state, from the lowest cell to the highest instance; everywhere there will be responsibility and authority above, discipline and obedience below.' She did not believe he could succeed: 'Imagine a would-be dictator setting out to persuade a sovereign people to vote away their rights,' she wrote in apparent astonishment." Yes, indeed. Imagine that!
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Presidential Race
Victoria Bekiempis of the Guardian: "Kamala Harris said that she has no doubt that the US was ready for a female president, insisting that Americans care more about what candidates can do to help them, rather than presidential contenders' gender. The vice-president's statement came during an interview with NBC News's Hallie Jackson, who asked whether she thought the country was ready for a woman, and a woman of color, to be in the Oval Office. 'Absolutely,' Harris said. 'Absolutely.'... Harris was asked why she hasn't leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy -- that she is a woman of color running for the presidency. 'I'm clearly a woman. I don't need to point that out to anyone,' Harris said with a laugh. 'The point that most people really care about is: can you do the job and, do you have a plan to actually focus on them?'" ~~~
~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Sitting down at her official residence in the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., [Vice President] Harris said that her campaign is prepared for the possibility that ... [Donald Trump] tries to subvert the election, but that she's focused on trying to beat him first. 'We will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that,' Harris said. When pressed on the possibility that Trump will try to declare victory before the votes are counted and a winner is projected by the news networks and other media outlets, Harris said she is concerned." ~~~
~~~ See related NYT story by Maggie Haberman & others, linked below. ~~~
~~~ The full transcript of Hallie Jackson's interview of Vice President Harris is here. YouTube video of the interview is here.
I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world. -- Bill Gates ~~~
~~~ Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "After decades of sitting on the sidelines of politics, Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world, has said privately that he recently donated about $50 million to a nonprofit organization that is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential run.... The donation was meant to stay under wraps. Mr. Gates ... has not publicly endorsed Ms. Harris, and his donation would represent a significant change in the strategy that has previously kept him away from gifts like this. In private calls this year to friends and others, Mr. Gates has expressed concern about what a second Donald Trump presidency would look like..., although he has stressed that he could work with either candidate.... Mr. Gates's donation went specifically to Future Forward's nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, which as a 501(c)(4) 'dark money' organization does not disclose its donors, according to the people briefed."
Rob Copeland of the New York Times: Jamie Dimon, "the usually outspoken chief executive of JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, has been uncharacteristically vague about his political leanings of late. In an interview last week, he even left open the door to endorsing Mr. Trump -- whose behavior in the aftermath of the last election Mr. Dimon once described as 'treason.' In private, however, Mr. Dimon has made clear that he supports Vice President Kamala Harris and would consider a role, perhaps Treasury secretary, in her administration. He has also told his associates that the former president's 2020 election denialism remains close to a disqualifying factor.... Mr. Dimon isn't making his stance known publicly because he's fearful that if Mr. Trump is victorious, he could retaliate against the people and companies who publicly opposed his run, his associates said. That's a concern shared by other powerful corporate executives, and not without reason: Mr. Trump has begun to increase threats of political retribution in recent weeks.... Mr. Trump once -- falsely -- declared that he had [Mr. Dimon's support]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't know how many votes Dimon would move, though he might be able to knock down, in the minds of the slightly rational, the false notion that Donald Trump would be "good for business." The fact that this extremely wealthy man has not got the guts to stand up to Trump is shocking. ~~~
~~~ Update. David Firestone of the New York Times: "The latest example of the power of [Donald Trump's] threats is Jamie Dimon.... Dimon's fear is certainly legitimate; Trump has openly mused about using the military and the power of the executive branch against his enemies. But that's all the more reason someone of Dimon's stature should stand up to Trump's public bullying. No doubt Dimon is concerned about his employees and his stockholders, but he would do them a better service by doing everything possible to prevent Trump's election."
Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "Detroit rapper Eminem stepped into the political arena Tuesday in his hometown, where he spoke briefly at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign before welcoming former President Barack Obama to the stage.... The Detroit rapper ... introduced Obama, who took the stage to the beat of Eminem's 'Lose Yourself.' The former president joked that he 'noticed my palms are sweaty,' a reference to the hit song, before rapping several lines from it." ~~~
Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota raced across battleground Wisconsin on Tuesday, exhorting voters to get to the polls on the state's first day of early voting and just two weeks before Election Day. At a rally in Madison, Mr. Walz appeared alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail, giving Mr. Obama a bro hug onstage. The two took turns, in successive speeches, laying into ... Donald J. Trump and stressing the urgency of the moment to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the Democratic presidential ticket with Mr. Walz.... In Racine on Tuesday night, [Gov. Walz] addressed comments from John Kelly, a former Trump chief of staff, who said recently that Mr. Trump had told him during his presidency that he wished he had generals like Adolf Hitler's. 'As a 24-year veteran of our military, that makes me sick as hell,' Mr. Walz said. 'The guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: President Obama is of course a gifted orator, and you can hear the remarks he made in Madison in this YouTube video. But I wish less-talented speakers could nonetheless muster the sort of enthusiasm and authenticity that Tim Walz brings to the podium. Obama's plane was grounded, so he was late to the event, perhaps causing Walz to run a bit long, but he still managed to be engaging, entertaining, and informative. It seems he knows what "rally" means: ~~~
Joseph Menn & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday said Russians seeking to disrupt the U.S. elections created a faked video and other material smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz with abuse allegations.... The faked content accused Walz of inappropriate interactions with students while a teacher and coach. The posts drew millions of views on social media, falsely tarring the Minnesota governor ahead of Nov. 5. The officials said the Russian videos were part of the most active attempt by another country to tilt the 2024 election. They added that Russian government agencies and contractors, which generally seek to boost ... Donald Trump's campaign, are considering trying to instigate physical violence in the fraught period after voters cast their ballots." The AP's story is here.
Fatima Hussein & Will Weissert of the AP: Speaking at the Democratic campaign headquarters in Concord, N.H., "President Joe Biden tore into his predecessor on Tuesday, suggesting that global leaders are terrified of what Donald Trump's return to the White House could do to democratic rule around the world. 'Every international meeting I attend,' Biden said, specifically referencing his whirlwind trip to Germany last week, 'They pull me aside -- one leader after the other, quietly -- and say, "Joe, he can't win." My democracy is at stake.' His voice rising, Biden then asked if 'America walks away, who leads the world? Who? Name me a country.' The comments came during what was supposed to be a rather staid speech on health care in New Hampshire." MB: I think the end quotation mark is in the wrong place on what Biden says other leaders tell him.
Oops! Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Tuesday that ... Donald J. Trump was a threat to democracy and should be locked up, before quickly amending his comment to say he meant locked up 'politically.' Mr. Biden was speaking at a local Democratic campaign office in Concord, N.H., when he appeared to slip by suggesting he wanted his predecessor put behind bars. While Mr. Trump as a candidate and president has regularly used such language about his opponents, Mr. Biden typically refrains from that kind of talk to avoid fueling Republicans' claims that he is prosecuting his adversary. 'We got to lock him up,' Mr. Biden said at the campaign office, where he dropped by after a speech on health care elsewhere in Concord. Seeming to catch himself, he quickly added: 'Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That's what we have to do.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Thanks, Joe. We needed that.
Graeme Demianyk of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has condemned Donald Trump's performative campaign visit to McDonald's, claiming the GOP presidential candidate is 'making fun' of working people. Speaking at a United Auto Workers event in Pennsylvania on Sunday, the New York lawmaker also hit out at Elon Musk's $1 million cash awards for voters, saying he is 'dangling a million bucks to those of us and many of us who are struggling to make ends meet if they dance for him.'... 'Donald Trump thinks that people who work at McDonald's are a joke,' she added. 'Elon Musk thinks that dangling money in front of a working person is a cute thing to do. They have absolutely no idea what our lives are like.'"
⭐ Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald Trump and his closest allies are preparing a radical reshaping of American government if he regains the White House. Here are some of his plans for cracking down on immigration, directing the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries, increasing presidential power, upending America's economic policies, retreating militarily from Europe and unilaterally deploying troops to Democratic-run cities." (Also linked yesterday.)
General Kelly's October Surprise
Marie: The other day I tried to call up an Atlantic story that I anticipated might be of interest to readers. I don't have an Atlantic subscription, but I thought maybe I could get a freebie, as I had tried to read only one other Atlantic story this month, supposedly a gift link, via a Realty Chex reader. Nothing doing. However, when I tried to call up the story below, the Atlantic let me past its firewall. I hope it works for you. Update: If my link below doesn't work, try this one, which comes courtesy of laura h., an Atlantic subscriber: ~~~
⭐ ~~~ Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic in an article titled "Trump: I Need the Kind of Generals that Hitler Had": (Of course Hitler's generals tried to assassinate him. When former Marine General John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, told Trump about the generals' attacks on Hitler, Trump denied that was true. When Kelly told Trump that Gen. Rommel had committed suicide after his plot against Hitler failed, Trump didn't know who Rommel was.) "Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience. As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver.... Former officials have also cited other recurring themes: his denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
He's certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government.... He just doesn't understand the values -- he pretends, he talks, he knows more about America than anybody, but he doesn't. -- Retired Marine General John Kelly ~~~
⭐ ~~~ Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: Former Marine Gen. John Kelly "-- deeply bothered by Mr. Trump's recent comments about employing the military against his domestic opponents -- agreed to three on-the-record, recorded discussions with a reporter for The New York Times about the former president, providing some of his most wide-ranging comments yet about Mr. Trump's fitness and character.... He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. He discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler, had expressed contempt for disabled veterans and had characterized those who died on the battlefield for the United States as 'losers' and 'suckers' -- comments first reported in 2020 by The Atlantic.... Here are excerpts from, and audio of, Mr. Kelly's comments." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The October Surprise that nearly derailed Donald Trump's first presidential campaign was the Access Hollywood tape. The October Surprise this year is Gen. John Kelly's willingness to come forward, on the record, to describe Trump's unfitness for office, particularly in the capacity of commander-in-chief. It is possible to be a president acting within Constitutional bounds and be so disrespectful and disparaging of women that boasting about "grabbing women by the pussy" seems okay. But it is not possible for a person to fulfill the role of U.S. president if that person has expressed and continues to express a willingness to violate the Constitution by using the military for his own, unlawful purposes.
Sabrina Rodriguez & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump used a racist stereotype to attack Vice President Kamala Harris and described his desire to exercise 'extreme power' as president during an event Tuesday that was billed as a summit to highlight his support among Latinos.... 'She's lazy as hell, and she's got that reputation.' Harris recorded multiple media interviews on Tuesday, according to her public schedule, after campaigning in three battleground states on Monday.... 'Trump is reviving the old trope that Black women are unqualified for jobs historically held by White men,' [Democratic strategist Rachel Noerdlinger] said. 'Not having a campaign event while you're in the middle of also governing isn't "lazy" -- making almost 300 trips to the golf course as president is.'...
"Trump brushed back at Harris's criticism for his opposition to bipartisan legislation to increase border security funding and staffing. Trump argued that the bill was unnecessary, describing it as 'phony' and 'stupid,' because he could shut down the border by executive fiat. 'As president, you have tremendous -- it's called extreme power. You have extreme power,' he said. 'You can, just by the fact, you say, "Close the border," and the border's closed. That's it. Very, very simple. You don't need all of this nonsense that they talk about.'" MB: Notice that Trump is describing any role Congress might play as stupid and phony. The very concept of a president* sharing power with the other branches of government is "nonsense." He is declaring he will be a dictator, not just "on Day One," but every day. ~~~
~~~ Thomas Beaumont & Jill Colvin of the AP: At the Latino event, "he referred to the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket as 'slow' and having a 'low IQ.'... Trump's comments ignored that Harris spent her day in meetings in Washington and recording interviews with Telemundo and NBC.... Tuesday marked the first day in more than two weeks that Harris had no public events scheduled after a run of more than 14 consecutive days of travel to political events in pivotal states, including a three-state run on Monday, starting in Pennsylvania, continuing to Michigan and ending in Wisconsin.... Later in the day during a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, he called Harris a 'stupid person' and went on to ask: 'Does she drink? Is she on drugs?'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll admit that participating in what was supposed to be some kind of Latino "summit" qualifies as campaign work. But holding that campaign event at your own golf resort where you have a private bungalow & other accommodations -- as Donald did -- is not the best place to accuse your opponent of being lazy. On the other hand, she is a Black lady. Perfectly reasonable for an old racist to picture Harris lolling around the Naval Observatory with tha sistas smoking crack & talking smack. ~~~
~~~ Also, maybe the best time to hold a "Latino summit" is not the same day a major story drops which claims, "Donald Trump reportedly declared 'it doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f****** Mexican' after receiving the bill for a murdered soldier's funeral which he had previously offered to pay." (Link is to an Independent story, based on Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic story. Goldberg opens his article with the "fucking Mexican" citation.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Did you know Donald Trump was an animal-lover? Years ago, I read that Donald hated dogs. [NYT link.] There's a good deal of evidence for his dislike of Man's Best Friend. But recently, he has repeatedly expressed deep concern for family pets: "They're eating the dogs! They're eating the cats!") Then I found out he's worried about geese, too! This was weekend, when an interviewer debunked Trump's claims about pet-eating immigrants, Trump countered, "Well what about the goose, the geese?... What happened there? They're all missing." And it isn't just geese. He is concerned about wind turbines because they "kill all the birds." (Actually, the No. 1 killers of birds are cats, so too bad those immigrants are not eating the cats.) Speaking of wind energy, Donald is also worried about all the whales offshore wind farms are killing. (Okay, there's no evidence for this.) And now, and now, I read that at the Latino summit, Trump expressed his deep concern for bunnies: "solar farms in the desert as a 'terrible' threat to rabbits," he said. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, dunnit? ~~~
~~~ Oh, except strangely enough, this doesn't bother Donald at all: "Fossil fuels, primarily through activities like oil drilling, coal mining, and burning, harm a wide range of animals including birds, marine mammals like dolphins and whales, fish, polar bears, caribou, and other species living in habitats disrupted by fossil fuel extraction, primarily due to habitat destruction, pollution from chemicals released, and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels." Via the Googles.
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "A lawyer who tried to help Donald J. Trump overturn his 2020 presidential election loss has been in direct contact with Mr. Trump once again as his allies start to lay the groundwork for challenging this year's election results in key battleground states, according to two people with knowledge of their discussions. The lawyer, Kurt Olsen, has spoken to Mr. Trump multiple times in recent weeks, the people said. In 2021, Mr. Olsen spoke to Mr. Trump several times by phone on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, and a federal judge later imposed sanctions on him for filing baseless claims about the midterm elections in Arizona in 2022.... Even in Mr. Trump's world, Mr. Olsen is viewed as something of a fringe figure."
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk is trying to buy this election for Donald Trump, and everyone who loves our country should be alarmed. I realize, of course, that rich people try to buy elections all the time. But never quite like this. [Robinson lays out Musk's expenditures & the payoff he anticipates.]... The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk's rage at the Democratic Party began in 2021 when President Joe Biden launched his effort to shift the nation toward electric vehicles -- and snubbed Tesla, by far the nation's biggest maker of electric cars.... Why? Because Tesla's factories are nonunion, and Musk has resisted workers' efforts to organize." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you look at the difference between what Elon Musk wants out of Trump -- control of federal agencies that regulate his businesses -- and what Bill Gates wants out of Harris -- "a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change" -- you see the stark moral divide between GOP-backing billionaires & billionaires who back Democrats.
Jordan Green of the Raw Story: "Far-right allies of ... Donald Trump are calling on the state legislature in North Carolina and other closely contested presidential battleground states where Republicans hold control to short-circuit the popular vote and directly award the state's 16 electoral votes to Trump. Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army lieutenant colonel known for pushing a similar plan four years ago to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw the 2020 election, made the pitch during an appearance at the final stop of the ReAwaken America Tour, a roadshow that mixes evangelical Christianity, conspiracy theories and slavish devotion to Trump, on Oct. 18. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security director and the event's star attraction, introduced Raiklin as an 'amazing guy' and a 'friend' who 'has a plan.'... The anti-democratic proposal rests on a novel legal framework known as the independent state legislature theory."
Scriptwriters, Here's Your Film Treatment: Powerful New Yorkers Donald Trump, the POTUS*, and Rudy Giuliani, the former NYC mayor, defame two temporary Georgia election workers -- a Black mother and daughter. The women, though of very modest means, sue Donald & Rudy. They win the suit, and the judge urges them to sue Donald for $2MM, and he gives them control of Giuliani's property, including his snazzy NYC apartment and his vintage Mercedes. The ladies -- Ruby & Shaye -- drive off in the luxury vehicle once owned by Lauren Bacall. Based on a true story. ~~~
~~~ Oh Lord, They Have Got Them a Mercedes-Benz. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to turn over most of his possessions and available cash to a receivership controlled by the two Georgia election workers he defamed after the last presidential election. Mr. Giuliani, 80, has seven days to make the transfer, which includes his New York condominium and his vintage Mercedes-Benz, once owned by the actress Lauren Bacall. The judge also ordered him to turn over certain pieces of furniture, his television, sports memorabilia, jewelry and 26 watches, including one that Mr. Giuliani said his grandfather gave him. 'The watch may be distinctive to defendant as an item of sentimental value, but it is not distinctive to the law,' Judge Lewis J. Liman of Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in the order issued on Tuesday. For now, Mr. Giuliani's son, Andrew, can hold on to his father's Yankee World Series rings while lawyers look into whether they were indeed a gift from father to son, as Andrew Giuliani has told the court. Once the transfers are made, the two election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, can begin selling the assets and putting the proceeds toward the more than $148 million a federal jury determined he owes them. Judge Liman also said Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss could sue ... Donald J. Trump for the $2 million he owes Mr. Giuliani in unpaid legal bills." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's story is here. And here are some photos of the NYC condo. MB: I like it, though it looks as if Rudy stopped decorating after he got through hanging Joe DiMaggio's jersey over the study's fireplace.
Rebecca Elliott of the New York Times: "Gasoline is approaching or has fallen below $3 a gallon in most states, returning to a national average not seen since February in one of the clearest examples of prices declining after a period of rapid inflation.... Gas prices have the added distinction of being prominently displayed almost everywhere, reminding drivers whether it's more or less expensive to get to work or the grocery store. Americans are currently spending around 2 percent of their disposable income on gasoline, less than they did in the run-up to all recent presidential elections besides the 2020 contest, according to ClearView Energy Partners.... The Biden administration's decisions to sell fuel from a national reserve and relax certain gasoline-making rules have helped to lower prices, the White House has said." (Also linked yesterday.)
What if a cruel, misogynistic order by those smug control-freakish Supremes backfired? ~~~
~~~ ⭐ Claire Miller & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023, according to the most comprehensive account of all abortions by state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the 13 states that enacted near-total abortion bans, the number of women receiving abortions increased in all but three, according to the study.... The only states with bans where abortion fell during this period were Texas, where the decrease was small; Idaho, where it was larger; and Oklahoma, where the data showed an unusually large number of abortions in 2020.... Nationwide, the study also found that abortions have continued to rise. There were roughly 587,000 abortions in the first half of this year, an increase of more than 12 percent from the same period in 2023.... Telehealth abortions were a big driver of the increases.... [Also,] new clinics have opened, and a nationwide surge of publicity about the issue may have decreased stigma."
Juliann Ventura of the Hill: "McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers and some ingredients will be temporarily unavailable in some states to protect customers after the food was linked to an E. coli outbreak, according to a press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday. There has been one reported death due to the outbreak, according to the release. No recall has been issued as of Tuesday afternoon. There has been a total of 49 cases across 10 states -- mostly in Nebraska and Colorado -- with 10 cases resulting in hospitalization, the CDC said. Everyone who was interviewed had reported eating McDonald's -- specifically a Quarter Pounder -- before getting sick, the released said. The release noted that one child is hospitalized with complications from the illness."
Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born Muslim cleric who oversaw a global network of schools, media outlets, think tanks and charities from exile in the United States and was vilified in his homeland for alleged attempts to take over the state, died Oct. 20 at a hospital in the United States."
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The Party of Lies, Conspiracy Theories & Delusions. Clara Morse, et al., of the Washington Post: "Nearly half of Republican candidates for Congress or top state offices have used social media to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election, according to a Washington Post analysis, highlighting a pervasive effort within the GOP to undermine public trust in the vote ahead of Nov. 5. From Nov. 9, 2022, to Oct. 11, at least 236 Republican candidates posted or amplified a range of falsehoods or misinformation about election malfeasance. Many candidates baselessly accused Democrats of trying to sway the election through former president Donald Trump's court cases or by registering noncitizens to vote. Others falsely likened Vice President Kamala Harris's nomination to a 'coup' or promoted misinformation about voter fraud."
Georgia. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to reinstate an array of rules approved this year by a pro-Trump majority of the state's election board that a lower court judge had tossed last week after calling them unconstitutional and void. The decision all but ensures that the rules will not be in effect for the November vote. At issue were more than a half-dozen new rules, including one that would have mandated the hand-counting of ballots, which critics feared would delay certification of the election. The state Supreme Court's decision is a victory for Democrats and voting rights groups."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Israel's wars are here. The Washington Post's live briefings are here.
Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid rocket attacks by the militant group Hezbollah into Israel and Israeli bombardment around Beirut, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken began a tour of the Middle East on Tuesday, making renewed calls for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict in Lebanon. Meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Mr. Blinken pressed Israel 'to capitalize on' the killing last week of Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar, and to end the war with Hamas in Gaza, a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in a statement. On his 11th trip to the Middle East since the conflict began a little more than a year ago, Mr. Blinken met with Mr. Netanyahu for two and a half hours." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, well, as I think Akhilleus mentioned the other day, we're all waiting to see if Bibi has planned an October Surprise to help out his friend-of-convenience Donald.
Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: "The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had weeks ago killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hezbollah's recently assassinated leader, in an airstrike near Beirut, Lebanon.... The Israeli military said Mr. Safieddine was killed in a strike about three weeks ago. Mr. Safieddine had a significant influence over Hezbollah and served as the group's leader when his cousin, [Hassan] Nasrallah, [Hezbollah's long-time leader,] was not in Lebanon, according to a statement from the Israeli military."
Ukraine, et al. Eric Schmitt & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea had sent troops to Russia to join the fight against Ukraine, a major shift in Moscow's effort to win the war. Mr. Austin called the North's presence a 'very serious' escalation that would have ramifications in both Europe and Asia.... His statement came as American intelligence officials said they were preparing to release a trove of intelligence, including satellite photographs, that show troop ships moving from North Korea to training areas in Vladivostok on Russia's east coast and other Russian territory further to the north. No troops have yet reached Ukraine, the intelligence officials said. For two weeks, there have been reports of the movements, fueled by the Ukrainian and South Korean governments, that upward of 12,000 North Koreans were training to fight alongside Russian soldiers."
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