The Conversation -- October 22, 2024

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, if you can.

⭐ 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."

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."

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]." ~~~

     ~~~ 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 genuinely shocking.

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. ~~~

~~~ 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."

Marie: RAS linked the X post below earlier today. I thought it was funny enough that I listened to it twice in order to make sure I'd caught all the references. This young woman has figured out just the right way to talk to a bratty man-baby: ~~~

🫢

pic.twitter.com/6JdxWTMpBu

— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) October 21, 2024

~~~ Marie: Oh, heck, let's see what Kamala thought: ~~~

Presidential Race

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "With two weeks until Election Day, more than 15 million people have already cast their ballots, the clearest sign yet that voting habits were forever changed by the coronavirus pandemic and that early voting has become a permanent feature of the American democratic process.... Many states have set records for the first day of early voting." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Very nice. But I haven't voted early because New Hampshire, the Backward State, doesn't offer early voting.

It's a Secret Ballot. Erica Green & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris made a concerted effort on Monday to appeal to Republican women in the nation's suburbs, using former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming as her ambassador to conservatives during events in well-to-do suburbs of the biggest cities in three important battleground states. Stumping together in town-hall-style settings before intimate crowds at small theaters in the Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia suburbs, Ms. Harris and Ms. Cheney presented a united front against ... Donald J. Trump.... On abortion rights, national security and foreign policy, Ms. Cheney painted Mr. Trump as irresponsibly dangerous while describing Ms. Harris as the safer, reasonable choice to maintain the stability of the country and protect women's health.... In effect, Ms. Cheney told Republican women that they could back Ms. Harris with a clean conscience.... 'I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me, "I can't be public." They do worry about a whole range of things, including violence, but they'll do the right thing. And I would just remind people, if you're at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.'"

Marcy Wheeler: "As Vice President, [Kamala Harris] should not discuss pending Federal cases against a criminal defendant, including the January 6 case charged against Trump. But Liz Cheney can [and she does].... But I also realized, as I watched the Michigan version of these events today, that Harris and Cheney are also modeling democracy. They are giving people -- women who are my age and Cheney's age and moderator Maria Shriver's age are the primary but by no means the only target -- what they want: a democracy where people talk to one another." At a Harris-Cheney event Wheeler watched, Harris warned against despair: "Let's not let the overwhelming nature of this strip us of our strength." she said.

Saint Donald of Queens. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Monday used the language of persecution to make a sweeping claim that only he could protect Christian voters, darkly warning religious communities that they would come under legal, cultural, political and global assault if he lost in November. Mr. Trump, a former tabloid fixture who was once caught on tape boasting of grabbing women by their genitals, spoke of himself at the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, N.C., as not just a champion of Christian causes and values but as a member of the faithful. Two days after he made a crude remark at a rally about a famous golfer's penis size and used profanity to insult Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump spoke on Monday of the importance of religion in his life, recalling going to church as a child and framing his survival of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., as an act of divine intervention....

"He began the day with a news conference in storm-battered western North Carolina, where he criticized the Biden administration's response to Hurricane Helene and made false claims about the federal response. Later, he traveled to Greenville, N.C., for a rally where he continued to hammer the federal response to the hurricane, lobbed repeated personal insults at Ms. Harris and stoked fear around illegal immigration. He also revived his calls to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport criminal gang members without due process. 'Think of that, 1798,' Mr. Trump told the crowd. 'That's when we had real politicians that said we're not going to play games. We have to go back to 1798.'" ~~~

~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump used a Monday visit to North Carolina to repeat debunked lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene. Speaking to reporters in a hard-hit community near Asheville, Trump kept repeating a false claim that was widely debunked when he made it earlier in October -- his assertion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency took money that was supposed to go to disaster relief and instead spent it on migrants who entered the country illegally, leaving the agency with no funds to help Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Dale points out, one person who thoroughly debunked Trump's lies about misspent FEMA funds was Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who even put out a fact-sheet he called "Debunking Helene Response Myths." So what is Rep. Chuck Edwards doing now? Do read on. ~~~

~~~ Trump Receives McDonald's Medal of Fried'em. Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "After making some remarks, Trump ceded a podium set up in Swannanoa, North Carolina to Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who thanked Trump 'for taking the time to come to western North Carolina. We've seen other folks do a fly over. It is so heartening to see you here with some dust on your shoes, actually seeing what's taken place.... For those of you who who did not get to see it, I offered, because you know, I also own McDonald's restaurants, I know that you perfected your skills behind the counter a day or so ago. And it was my honor to present ... Trump with the French Fries Certification Pin,' announced Edwards as Trump held up his pin for the cameras to see." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary (x 3) in yesterday's thread.

Steve Benen of MSNBC notes that several news outlets reported that Trump "worked" at McDonald's for half-an-hour. Not so. "There's an important difference between work and theatrics, and this was definitely the latter. Just as notably, this was a trolling exercise, rooted in the idea that Trump caught Harris in a lie, despite the fact that neither the former president nor any of his allies have presented a shred of evidence discrediting [her] ... claim." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Benen doesn't bother to point out what that difference is, but anyone who has worked a menial job like McDonald's fry cook does know. Besides being potentially dangerous, it gets more dangerous as you get tired toward the end of your shift. It's boring. It's standing on your feet for several hours straight, so it's physically exhausting. Your boss or other employees might yell at you. Customers might complain about the fries. You could lose the job if you are absent even if you have good reason to be. It's low status, so you might not get much respect. All of that can be emotionally stressful. If you're seeking a better job, it doesn't much bolster your résumé (which explains why Kamala Harris didn't put it on her résumé when she was looking for a job as a lawyer). It doesn't pay enough to allow you to make ends meet, but you probably can't get overtime (time-and-a-half, you know), so you might have to work a second job.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On his social media platform, Trump claimed that his campaign had obtained proof that [Vice President] Harris's assertions [that she had briefly worked at McDonald's in 1983] were false. 'We have checked with McDonald's, and they say, definitively, that there is no record of Lyin' Kamala Harris ever having worked there,' he wrote Sunday afternoon. 'In other words, she never worked there, and has lied about this "job" for years.'... The restaurant chain -- obviously not unhappy at the attention -- sent a message to its employees that ... indicates that no records of Harris's employment exist, but makes clear that this is not an aberration and not a reason to think that she didn't." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Is it chutzpah to tell a lie that your opponent is lying? Or should we give Trump the benefit of the doubt and assume his mental capacity is so diminished that he doesn't know the difference between "no record" and "proof"? If so, OMG, don't give him the nuclear codes, please. Don't give him control of the DOJ, for Pete's sake.

McDonald's does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next President. We are not red or blue -- we are golden. -- McDonald's Corporation ~~~

~~~ Francisco Velasquez of Quartz: "McDonald;s is distancing itself from ... Donald Trump after his headline-grabbing stop at a Pennsylvania location, where he pretended to work during a closed event attended by pre-screened supporters. The fast food giant clarified that it did not facilitate Trump's visit.... The [corporation] said it has invited [Vice President] Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to visit one of its restaurants to showcase how McDonald's creates opportunities and supports local communities." ~~~

     ~~~ Let's Clarify That. Dee-Ann Durbin of the AP: "McDonald's Corp. agreed to host ... Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania store over the weekend but said it isn't endorsing a candidate in the U.S. presidential race. In a message to employees obtained Monday by The Associated Press, McDonald's said the owner-operator of the location, Derek Giacomantonio, reached out after he learned of Trump's desire to visit a Pennsylvania restaurant. McDonald's agreed to the event. 'Upon learning of the former president's request, we approached it through the lens of one of our core values: we open our doors to everyone,' the company said.... The Chicago burger giant said franchisees have also invited Vice President Kamala Harris ... and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, to their restaurants." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a good example of why we have to take reports from even fairly reliable sites with a grain of salt. I'm not 100% certain that the AP reporter is right and the Quartz reporter is wrong, but it appears that Quartz did not properly distinguish between the corporation & the franchisee. Quartz attributed the "open to everyone" remark to the franchisee; the AP said it came from the corporation. And Quartz claimed the corporation "did not facilitate" Trump's stunt. But the AP said the corporation "approved" it; that sounds pretty close to "facilitating" to me. None of this is going to matter a whit in your life, but we are reminded that well-meaning journalists don't always get it right. Unless I've read or heard something in several reliable media outlets or maybe heard it myself, I tend to preface many of my "statements of fact" with something like, "I read in the Times that...."~~~

~~~ Ha Ha. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "The McDonald's restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, where ... Donald Trump posed for a photo op over the weekend has gotten slammed with negative reviews on Yelp, Newsweek reported Monday. Many of the reviews appeared to be tongue-in-cheek, referencing the former president's various legal problems and his recent rants about celebrities' genitals. 'Customer service was a joke. Senile old man got bronzer on my fries, didn't wear gloves,' one reviewer, 'Karen S', stated. 'Repeated himself several times, something about Ronald McDonald in the showers at the golf club? ... 0 stars. Do not recommend.'... 'Christopher F' complained his fries had 'a long strand of disgusting yellow hair among them' and a 'creepy old man' working the drive-through window 'offered to pay me some hush money to keep this story quiet.' 'Usually I hold high praise for a company that employs the mentally impaired but this one seemed more off then usual, stated 'Chuck P.'" ~~~

~~~ Maybe Christopher F. wasn't kidding about the hair in his fries: ~~~

     ~~~ Kelly Rissman of the Independent: "Donald Trump's obsession with questioning Kamala Harris' work experience at McDonald's peaked over the weekend when he worked the fry cooker at a Pennsylvania branch -- without a hairnet or gloves.... A health inspection in March at the Feasterville-Trevose location resulted in four violations, including citing employees not having their 'hands clean & properly washed'.... The report also noted a lack of hairnets." Emphasis added.

On the Edge of the City of Brotherly Love. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "On Sunday afternoon..., Donald J. Trump dropped by a McDonald’s in Bucks County, Pa.... A few hundred Trump supporters were lining the shoulder of the road and holding a tailgate party in the parking lot of a strip mall right where Philadelphia ends and the suburbs begin. Another group of locals -- maybe 50 people -- had turned up to protest Mr. Trump's visit. People on the two sides spent the sunny autumn afternoon screaming into one another's faces while filming the skirmishes on their iPhones. The parking lot throbbed with hatred, fear and neighbor's suspicion of neighbor. It became a microcosm of this year's election, vicious and absurd.... 'They're the party of hate,' said one Trump supporter, Stephanie Inselberg, 49.... She seemed to genuinely feel that way. A moment later, she began fighting with a Harris supporter....

"The parking lot continued to whip itself into a partisan frenzy while Mr. Trump hammed it up inside the McDonald's. His aides filmed him as he toddled around the establishment, working the fryer. At one point, he stuck his head out of the drive-through window and chirped: 'I'm having a lot of fun here, everybody!'"

Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Since [Vice President] Harris emerged on the top of the Democratic ticket in July, Trump has repeatedly attacked her intelligence -- deriding her as 'dumb,' 'mentally unfit,' 'slow,' 'stupid' and an 'extremely low IQ person,' among other similar pejoratives.... Trump's attacks on her intelligence happen on an almost daily basis -- and sometimes more than once a day.... For many voters, as well as experts Trump's sneering dismissiveness of Harris's intellect reeks of racism and sexism.... The attacks are particularly striking given Harris's deeply accomplished résumé.... The Trump campaign rejected the notion that Trump's questioning of Harris's intelligence is in any way racist or sexist. 'Only dumb and low IQ individuals would be offended by that, expressing faux outrage because they need every excuse to explain away their insecure, miserable, and pathetic existence,' Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One cannot be intellectually honest and deny that the basis for Trump's attacks must be either racist or sexist -- and likely both. What else can it be when he asserts that she "was born ... mentally impaired"? That is to say, there is something about Harris that has made her innately impaired. Trump says he is "a very stable genius" because he has "good genes." Why isn't Harris a very stable genius, too? If it's not because of her race or her sex -- if it's the city where she was born or her astrological sign, say, -- then Trump should explain that.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Something is clearly happening with Donald Trump. Even a year ago I don't think he would have begun a rally with 12 minutes of rambling remarks about the late golfer Arnold Palmer, concluding with a discussion of the size of Mr. Palmer's penis.... But ... Trump's most disturbing remark over the past few days may have been his unprompted comment about Abraham Lincoln ...: 'Lincoln was probably a great president. Although I've always said, why wasn't that settled, you know? I'm a guy that -- it doesn't make sense we had a civil war.'... As Abraham Lincoln explained in his landmark 1860 Cooper Union address, which set him on the path to the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency, the reason that the Union was facing an existential crisis was a demand by the South -- namely, that the North not only let slavery continue unimpeded but also protect the practice from criticism....

"To a large extent, Trump's campaign is being kept afloat financially by a handful of aggrieved billionaires, Elon Musk in particular.... Trump and many of those around him are hypersensitive to criticism, and if he wins, you can expect them to punish critics, whoever they are, and demand affirmations of loyalty across the board."

Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Former Republican lawmakers, advisers and Justice Department officials have called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate tech billionaire Elon Musk for awarding cash prizes to voters in swing states if they sign his political organization's petition, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post and sent to Garland on Monday. The letter argues that the large prizes set up by Musk, a vocal supporter of Republican nominee Donald Trump, violate federal voting laws that prohibit paying people to register to vote.... The former officials who signed the letter to Garland and Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry argue that Musk's petition is a disguised voter drive in which he is essentially bribing people to register.... Among the people who signed the letter: Donald Ayer, deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission; Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey; and Olivia Troye, who was special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence."

Julia Ingram & Madeleine May of CBS News: "Elon Musk has used the social media platform he owns to amass nearly 3.3 billion views on X by fueling doubts about election security issues since January this year -- making the tech mogul one of the most viral voices on elections during the 2024 campaign, a CBS News investigation has found.... The CBS News Confirmed team fact-checked Musk's posts on election security and found that 55% contain misleading or false statements, or amplify posts that do. Further analysis of these posts showed that 40 of the accounts Musk replied to or reposted were accounts researchers have identified as promoters of voter fraud claims.... Each one [of Musk's election security posts] had an average of 9.3 million views as Musk continues to be the most followed profile on X. [MB: That's because Musk has had X programmers skew X algorithms toward his page.] Experts are concerned that such high audience engagement on posts amplifying election fraud conspiracies could set the stage for possible post-election chaos."

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) accused billionaire Elon Musk of spreading 'dangerous disinformation' about voting in her state after Musk ... shared a post suggesting falsely that the state's voter rolls, swelled by large numbers of inactive voters, were likely to result in widespread fraud. Benson and Musk exchanged heated messages after he used his powerful platform to spread a popular Republican talking point Saturday night that the state ... had more registered voters than eligible citizens and therefore was opening itself up for election-altering fraud. Musk ... has spent months promoting false and misleading claims about voting, which election officials previously told The Washington Post led to increased requests to purge voter rolls...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Jocelyn. Quit squabbling with an arrogant, "dangerous" liar. It's like trying to reason with a bratty toddler. You're the secretary of state. Enlist the state's attorney general (also a Democrat) to issue Musk a cease-and-desist letter. And if he doesn't obey, she can arrest his golden butt.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: Just when I think maybe the New York Times is getting a little better, somebody like Steve M. comes along and snaps me back to reality. Steve got the goods on the Times' reporting Donald Trump's Arnold Palmer-has-a-big-dick story. After a reader called out Michael Gold for "reporting" the dick story as "telling Arnold Palmer golf stories," Gold wrote back that he did report the dick story in one of his posts but his editors removed the post (or that part of it). Gold suggested the reader complain to senioreditor@nytimes.com . May that happened, because the Times then published the full story, which led with the dick remark. Steve wonders, "Did reader complaints pressure the Times to run this story? Or was it the fact that most other media organizations, including The Washington Post, AP, CNN, USA Today, and even Fox, recognized the news value of the joke?" Thanks to RAS for the link. (See also Akhilleus's commentary below on the Times "equality of outcomes" standard.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Times is quite all right with reporting dick jokes if Democrats tell them. Here's Peter Baker, reporting on President Obama's 2024 Democratic convention speech:

"Mr. Obama scorned his successor's fixation with 'childish nicknames' and his 'crazy conspiracy theories' and 'this weird obsession with crowd sizes.' At that point, Mr. Obama held his hands together in a way that implied a certain concern over masculine proportions. When the crowd roared with laughter, he made an I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about face of faux innocence."

     ~~~ Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump are former presidents, even if one of them was a president*. Why is it okay to report on Obama's joke but not on Trump's vulgar remark?

Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "The star political writer Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine, who has been embroiled in scandal since she disclosed a personal relationship with the former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has left the magazine. New York Magazine said in a note to readers on Monday that an investigation by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine had found 'no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias' in Ms. Nuzzi's coverage of the 2024 campaign. 'Nevertheless, the magazine and Nuzzi agreed that the best course forward is to part ways,' the statement read. 'Nuzzi is a uniquely talented writer and we have been proud to publish her work over her nearly eight years as our Washington correspondent. We wish her the best.'&"

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Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "An Arizona Republican who helped inspire national concerns over county-level certification of the 2024 presidential election pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge Monday related to a 'failure or refusal' to perform her duty. Peggy Judd, who helps lead Cochise County, southeast of Phoenix, was indicted by a state grand jury a year ago, accused of flouting the state's deadlines to formally accept the results of the 2022 midterm general election. Judd and another Republican supervisor, Thomas Crosby, were charged with conspiracy and interfering with an election officer after an investigation by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D). Both supervisors initially pleaded not guilty. In a plea agreement signed by Judd, she acknowledged that she 'knowingly' refused to perform her duty to certify the election results by Nov. 28, 2022.... [Crosby's] case is ongoing."

To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it's the First Amendment, stupid. -- U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in a temporary injunction prohibiting the state from sending threatening letters to broadcasters ~~~

~~~ Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Letters that threatened Florida TV stations with criminal penalties if they aired a political ad backing a referendum that would repeal the state's six-week abortion ban came directly from Gov. Ron DeSantis's office, according to the attorney who signed and sent them. Attorney John Wilson said that he resigned as general counsel for the Florida Department of Health rather than 'complying with the directives' of DeSantis's executive staff to send more cease-and-desist letters to TV stations running the ad. 'I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to Oct. 3,' Wilson wrote in an affidavit filed in federal court Monday. Instead, he said, three attorneys on the governor's staff gave him the letters to send. In an earlier letter, Wilson condemned the actions of the administration.'A man is nothing without his conscience,' Wilson wrote in a resignation letter on Oct. 10 obtained by the Miami Herald." ~~~

~~~ Brendan Farrington of the AP: "After a month of updating Floridians on hurricanes, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is now focusing his official office on fighting an abortion rights amendment, holding a campaign-like rally at state expense two weeks before the election. DeSantis' event Monday, which was capped with a prayer from the archbishop of Miami and the lieutenant governor asking people to not vote like atheists, came after the Department of Health's top lawyer resigned over a letter he said the governor's office forced him to send to television stations in an effort to stop a pro-Amendment 4 ad.... 'DeSantis continued his weaponization of state government against his own constituents by coordinating a taxpayer-funded press conference with the political campaign opposing Amendment 4 in his quest to silence the voices of doctors and patients suffering under Florida's extreme abortion ban,' said DeSantis Watch spokesman Anders Croy."

Texas Senate Race. Alex Henderson of AlterNet, republished by the Raw Story: "In a front-page editorial published on Sunday, [Rep. Colin] Allred [(D-Texas), who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)] picked up an endorsement from the Dallas Morning News -- Texas' largest daily newspaper. The editorial criticized Cruz for promoting 'the politics of division,' noting that he 'could have supported the peaceful transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election' but didn't.... 'He instead was the first senator to rise in objection to certifying the electoral vote and one of just six to do so. His actions were a catalyst for what became one of the worst days in our nation's history.'... The editorial praised Allred's willingness to work with Republicans, arguing that [he] ... has 'demonstrated over time that both the words and action of bipartisanship matter to him.'"

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: "The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday said it had launched a missile attack at an Israeli military base near Tel Aviv, sending residents fleeing into shelters hours before Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was due to arrive in the city for meetings with Israeli officials."

The Conversation -- October 21, 2024

Marie: Just when I think maybe the New York Times is getting a little better, somebody like Steve M. comes along and snaps me back to reality. Steve got the goods on the Times' reporting Donald Trump's Arnold Palmer-has-a-big-dick story. After a reader called out Michael Gold for "reporting" the dick story as "telling Arnold Palmer golf stories," Gold wrote back that he did report the dick story in one of his posts but his editors removed the post (or that part of it). Gold suggested the reader complain to senioreditor@nytimes.com . May that happened, because the Times then published the full story, which led with the dick remark. Steve wonders, "Did reader complaints pressure the Times to run this story? Or was it the fact that most other media organizations, including The Washington Post, AP, CNN, USA Today, and even Fox, recognized the news value of the joke?" Thanks to RAS for the link. (See also Akhilleus's commentary below on the Times "equality of outcomes" standard.)~~~

     ~~~ The Times is quite all right with reporting dick jokes if Democrats tell them. Here's Peter Baker, reporting on President Obama's 2024 Democratic convention speech:

"Mr. Obama scorned his successor's fixation with 'childish nicknames' and his 'crazy conspiracy theories' and 'this weird obsession with crowd sizes.' At that point, Mr. Obama held his hands together in a way that implied a certain concern over masculine proportions. When the crowd roared with laughter, he made an I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about face of faux innocence."

     ~~~ Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump are former presidents, even if one of them was a president*. Why is it okay to report on Obama's joke but not on Trump's vulgar remark?

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Presidential Race

Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "Kamala Harris spent the Sunday of her 60th birthday working to turn out Black voters in Georgia, where she asked congregants at two churches outside of Atlanta to choose between a country of 'chaos, fear and hate' -- represented, she implied, by ... Donald Trump -- and the 'country of freedom, compassion and justice' that she envisions.... At her first stop, at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest on Sunday morning, Harris told congregants that she was guided by the teachings of the Bible from an early age, and that growing up in the Black church in Oakland has shaped her leadership style.... At her second stop -- a Souls to the Polls event at Divine Faith Ministries International where musician Stevie Wonder serenaded her with 'Happy Birthday' -- Harris again framed the election as a choice between a leader who would denigrate others and one who would seek to lift them up.... Harris's campaign hopes that the Souls to the Polls effort -- led by its National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders -- will allow it to bank millions of early votes so it can focus on turning out lower-propensity voters, including non-churchgoers skeptical of her, in the final days before the election." (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's story is here.

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "In an interview on Sunday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Kamala Harris responded to a profanity-laden insult that ... Donald J. Trump used about her tenure as vice president, saying he had 'not earned the right' to hold office again. 'The American people deserve so much better,' she told Mr. Sharpton on his show.... Ms. Harris spent much of Sunday, her 60th birthday, at churches in Georgia, as part of the campaign's 'Souls to the Polls' mobilization effort to reach Black faith communities." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jess Bidgood, et al., of the New York Times: "... Vice President Kamala Harris is moving aggressively to make sure voters in the battlegrounds remember precisely why they rejected Donald J. Trump four years ago. Gone is the euphoria of her joyful first weeks as the Democratic presidential nominee. She is no longer trying simply to diminish the former president.... 'See for yourself,' she told a crowd in Ashwaubenon, Wis., on Thursday, gesturing to two large television screens installed at the rally. 'Let's roll a clip.' The video screens lit up with a 40-second montage of Mr. Trump bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade.... Deploying his words as her sharpest weapons, Ms. Harris is pointing to Mr. Trump's erratic behavior and increasingly outlandish and antidemocratic statements to paint him as unfit, unstable and, above all, too dangerous for another term.... His recent run of undisciplined behavior has given Ms. Harris ample material to highlight.... Mr. Trump has been delivering winding speeches that have alarmed some allies, and he has doubled down on politically toxic threats to his opponents and a dark, apocalyptic message that helps to illustrate Ms. Harris's point."

Theodore Schleifer & Albert Sun of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign set a record for the biggest fund-raising quarter ever this fall, raising $1 billion in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. Ms. Harris's campaign and its allied party committees raised over $359 million in September alone, compared with the $160 million reported by ... Donald J. Trump's campaign and allied groups. Ms. Harris and her groups entered October with over $346 million on hand; Mr. Trump's aides said his campaign and its affiliated groups had $283 million.... Each month since Ms. Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, she has significantly out-raised and outspent Mr. Trump, building a vastly bigger campaign than has the Republican nominee." ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's story, under the headine "Harris outraised Trump more than 3-to-1 in September," is here. MB: I sure hope a good portion of Harris' money is going to a GOTV effort. The Harris campaign probably can't do worse than Elon who has funded GOTV efforts in which canvassers are scamming him by not actually visiting potential voters.

Donald McDonald. Jacob Gallagher of the New York Times: "At a McDonald's in Pennsylvania, [Donald Trump] manned the fry line and dispensed orders to supporters in the drive-through lane.... He did not wear a hairnet.... Beyond the apron, Mr. Trump ... [didn't wear the McDonald's] uniform.... He didn't change into the pedestrian dark shirt and slip-resistant shoes like the rest of the McDonald's staff. Mr. Trump didn't plop on a McDonald's branded visor. Certainly, he was the only 'employee' at the franchise on Sunday to be packing orders in a shirt with French cuffs.... The visual differences between Mr. Trump and the franchise's employees mostly served to underscore ... that the former president ... exists in a vastly different class of someone working a service job to get by.... His unpaid campaign stunt reaffirmed Mr. Trump's well-crafted image as a rich man with relatable, unvarnished sensibilities." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Of course there's a reason Relatable Don put on that McDonald's apron, and it's not because he's the Hamburglar: ~~~

~~~ Heather Knight & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris has recalled her stint at a Bay Area McDonald's 41 years ago in introducing herself to voters -- a biographical detail relatable to millions of Americans who have toiled in fast-food restaurants. But ... Donald J. Trump has repeatedly accused her of inventing it. Lacking a shred of proof, he has charged that she never actually worked under the golden arches == recalling his earlier false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Mr. Trump's latest allegation also appears to be false.... Wanda Kagan, a close friend of Ms. Harris's when they attended high school together in Montreal, said she recalled Ms. Harris having worked at McDonald's around that time.... Ms. Kagan said that Ms. Harris's mother, who died in 2009, had told Ms. Kagan about the summer job years ago." MB: Oddly, the reporters wait till the 11th paragraph to get to Kagan's recollections. This is particularly peculiar because, as far as I know, this is the first time a major news outlet has reported out a refutation of this particular Trump invention. ~~~

~~~ AND, as we have come to expect, Donald McDonald's stunt was even phonier than the Times let on:

~~~ Marianne LeVine & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "The restaurant was closed to the public during Trump's visit, and the motorists whom Trump served were screened by the U.S. Secret Service and positioned before his arrival. No one ordered food. Instead, the attendees received whatever Trump gave them. Trump was at the fry station for about five minutes and spent about 15 minutes at the drive-through window, much of it taking questions from reporters.... Trump ... did not answer a question about whether he supported raising the minimum wage. 'Well, I think this. These people work hard,' Trump said. 'They're great. And I just saw something -- a process that's beautiful.'... Instead, he focused on promoting his unsubstantiated claim that Vice President Kamala Harris did not work at the fast-food chain in college.... In pro-Trump media..., the absence of documentation [that Harris worked at a McDonald's in 1983] has morphed into proof that Harris lied." ~~~

~~~ Now Serving: Fries & Lies. John Bowden of the Independent: "As he took a question from a reporter through the drive-thru window, Trump once again resorted to baseless suggestions that the 2024 presidential election results would be tainted by fraud, a charge he and running mate JD Vance have repeated about the past presidential election. 'Will you accept the results of the election?' asked a reporter. 'Yeah, sure, if it's a fair election,' the apron-clad Trump declared, his head fully poking out of the drive-thru.... He now looks poised to contest the results of the race again should he lose; whether it be through legal challenges or merely rhetoric."

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... on Sunday, [Donald Trump] sat for an interview on Fox News, where he was challenged directly on some of his most glaring falsehoods of the campaign.... Mr. Trump repeatedly denied knowledge of information that has long been publicly available, questioned the sources and then pivoted away to an unrelated topic. On one point, though, he stuck by his words with no deflection or equivocation: He absolutely believed, he said, that his political opponents were an 'enemy from within' who posed a greater threat than foreign adversaries. Here's a look at notable moments in Mr. Trump's interview with Fox News's Howard Kurtz[.]" Do read on if you have a NYT subscription. (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "America for the first time in its history may send a criminal to the Oval Office.... What would once have been automatically disqualifying barely seems to slow Mr. Trump down in his comeback march for a second term that he says will be devoted to 'retribution.'... He has survived more scandals than any major party presidential candidate, much less president.... He has turned them on their head, making allegations against him into an argument for him by casting himself as a serial victim rather than a serial violator.... Any one of [Mr. Trump's] scandals by itself would typically have been enough to derail another politician. Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s first bid for the presidency collapsed when he lifted some words from another politician's speech." Baker runs down many of Trump's scandals & failures. It is, for that reason, quite a long article. (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Bender of the New York Times: Donald Trump "says that his [speaking] style is to 'weave' from one subject to the next.... His critics say such detours are a troubling sign of his incoherence and raise questions about his age and cognitive health.... Here are four examples of Mr. Trump's rambling from just this past week. Schoolchildren asked him about boyhood heroes. He ended up at the border wall.... Asked about inflation, he roamed to his annoyance with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's college experience.... Asked about climate change, he drifted to his golf course and then to World War III.... He started discussing tax breaks for car loans. He found his way to a nerve-racking rocket landing." In each case, Bender transcribes Trump's quite crazy meanderings. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I realize that when most of us speak extemporaneously, our remarks don't sound as if we're reading from a well-edited textbook. On the other hand, politicians should be able to anticipate a high percentage of the questions they'll be asked, and they should be able to give coherent answers that more-or-less address the questions. At the same time, politicians -- unlike most of us -- are accustomed to answering questions, so they should know how to do it, even when they don't like the questions, or even when they're unprepared for particular questions. I don't care if Trump's groupies find him entertaining or even mesmerizing; I find his incoherence in and of itself disqualifying.

⭐ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin in Salon: "If Donald Trump wins the Nov. 5 election, the New York Times will be partly responsible. As the dominant voice in American journalism, the Times could have fundamentally changed the way Trump has been covered not just by its own journalists but by the political media as a whole. It could have stopped using soft, empty language and false equivalence, and made it crystal clear to the public that if elected Trump would turn America into a racist, authoritarian regime where facts don't matter. But ... the Times has chosen to engage in tortured euphemisms, passive construction, and poor news judgment.... The day-to-day coverage treats Trump like a normal candidate, rather than as the wildly dangerous and unhinged felon that he is. Day in and day out, the Times 'sanewashes' his dark and unintelligible ramblings.... New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and editor Joe Kahn have made it abundantly clear time and again that they prize their so-called 'journalistic independence' over any obligation to sound the alarm that electing Trump would be a disaster for the country." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't disagree with Froomkin, except to the extent that other outlets need not mimic the Times' "standards." For instance, if you listen to "neutral" CNN through several segments covering U.S. politics, you'll see that their reports & panel discussions treat the candidates from president on down as equals. If you watch CNN, you have to already know Trump's MO to figure out when on-air personalities are reporting or alleging scary news about his latest threat.

Ruthless Rick Wilson, the former (and likely future) GOP strategist, said on his latest podcast: "This is why they're canceling [Trump's] events. He's too tired. He's too sick. His brain is too broken and he can't keep doing this. He has lost a fundamental edge.... He has for the last two weeks displayed an acute, immediate, severe mental decline. His family should frankly have him withdraw from the race and get him some immediate medical attention. This is elder abuse at this point, folks.... He's out there threatening to put his political opponents in jail, but he won't be the president for very long. JD Vance will be the president.... Now, this is the dirty little secret of this campaign. Peter Thiel and JD. Vance and Chuck Johnson and Steve Bannon and all the rest of these people around Trump. Elon. The second Trump by some chance is inaugurated, the clock starts running. They will replace him under the 25th Amendment...." There's more. Via Red State Rachel of Crooks & Liars.

Marie: Depending upon whose reporting you believe, Donald Trump drove his companies into bankruptcy four or six times (and would have done so more often if his father hadn't repeatedly bailed him out). So are we surprised that his latest plan is to bankrupt Social Security? ~~~

~~~ Julie Weil of the Washington Post: "A new report projects that the Social Security Trust Fund might run out of money within six years under a Donald Trump presidency, while Vice President Kamala Harris's proposed policies would not meaningfully change the current trajectory. Social Security faces a looming funding crisis in an aging country, with trustees most recently predicting that the retirement and disability program's trust fund will become insolvent in 2035. Many of Trump's campaign proposals would accelerate that timeline, potentially by years, said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that opposes large federal deficits." MB: Bear in mind that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people are voting for Trump because they think -- and are willing to say out loud -- that he is better at business than Harris. Every week we get at least one stunning new story that disproves their theory of the case. Nitwits. ~~~

~~~ AND This. Steve Peoples & Linley Sanders of the AP: "Voters remain largely divided over whether they prefer Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris to handle key economic issues, although Harris earns slightly better marks on elements such as taxes for the middle class, according to a new poll. A majority of registered voters in the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research describe the economy as poor. About 7 in 10 say the nation is going in the wrong direction." MB: Gosh, too bad the reporters don't bother to report that by most measures, this is perhaps the best U.S. economy in history, and it is currently the "world's strongest" economy. I don't see much point in running a survey asking how people "feel" about the national economy without comparing or contrasting those "feelings" with the facts. The average person has no way to know the state of the economy.

Yesterday, Jamelle Bouie tries to reassure us how unlikely it is Trump will successfully overturn the election results if he loses. Come now Kyle Cheney and others at Politico to explain how Trump could pull it off. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Daddy, What's an Oligarchy? ~~~

~~~ Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: Elon "Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, effectively dictates NASA's rocket launch schedule. The Defense Department relies on him to get most of its satellites to orbit. His companies were promised $3 billion across nearly 100 different contracts last year with 17 federal agencies. His entanglements with federal regulators are also numerous and adversarial. His companies have been targeted in at least 20 recent investigations or reviews, including over the safety of his Tesla cars and the environmental damage caused by his rockets.... [Mr. Musk] has thrown his fortune and power behind ... Donald J. Trump and, in return, Mr. Trump has vowed to make Mr. Musk head of a new 'government efficiency commission' with the power to recommend wide-ranging cuts at federal agencies and changes to federal rules. That would essentially give the world's richest man and a major government contractor the power to regulate the regulators who hold sway over his companies, amounting to a potentially enormous conflict of interest.... Instead of entering this new role as a neutral observer, Mr. Musk would be passing judgment on his own customers and regulators. Already, Mr. Musk has discussed how he would use the new position to help his own companies." (Also linked yesterday.)

Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times asks some campaign finance lawyers to address whether or not Elon Musk's financial incentives to voters are legal. "Brendan Fischer ... said, 'There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning the payments on registration arguably violates the law, which prohibits giving anything of value to induce or reward a person for registering to vote.'... Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and the state's former attorney general, said on Sunday on Meet the Press that the giveaway was 'something that law enforcement could take a look at.'" Schleifer did find one expert who said it was okay: former SEC chair Brad Smith. MB: I checked out Smith: he's a member of the right-wing Federalist Society, he planned to testify for Trump in his hush-money trial, he's probably the country's most prominent opponent of campaign finance laws. Oh, and Bill Clinton, formerly our sleaziest modern president, appointed him to head the FEC, an appointment which horrified campaign finance reform advocates. (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin -- who is a lawyer -- pointed out in an appearance on MSNBC that the payments may be illegal because they appear to be unreported campaign contributions.

Colby Hall of Mediaite: "CNN's Jake Tapper and Speaker Mike Johnson battled over former President Donald Trump's recent warning of an 'enemy within' the nation and the suggestion of using the National Guard against them.... At one point, after Speaker Johnson tried to insist he wasn't talking about American democratic officials, Tapper interjected with, 'Nope! He talked about Adam Schiff, the Pelosis....'" Tapper played a clip of Trump saying exactly that, after which Johnson had the gall to say, "... No. He's talking about using the National Guard in the military to keep the peace in our streets in the summer of 2020 that my Democratic colleagues call this summer of love...." The article includes a transcript of the full exchange between Tapper & Johnson as well as of the clip Tapper played. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ At about the same time Bible Mike was lying about what he had just heard on the CNN teevee, Donald Trump was over at Fox, confirming what Bible Mike just lied about. According to Maggie Astor of the New York Times (linked above), "Mr. Kurtz asked who the 'enemy from within' was, and Mr. Trump identified Representative Adam Schiff of California and the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi." Marie: Some reporter should ask Bible Mike if his church suspends the Ninth Commandment ("Thou shall not bear false witness" [i.e., lie]) during campaign season. ~~~

~~~ Kelby Vera of the Huffington Post: "Jake Tapper couldn't get a straight answer from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) when he asked him Donald Trump's recent rally riff about golfer Arnold Palmer's penis on Sunday's episode of 'State of the Union.'... Though the speaker tried to deflect, Tapper pressed on.... After a bit of back and forth, Johnson reluctantly relented. 'I'll address it. Let me answer it. OK. Don't say it again,' the clearly uncomfortable speaker told Tapper, before dismissing the Palmer penis comments as mere 'lines in a rally.' 'You can cherry pick a few words or lines out of a two-hour event,' he later added, then criticizing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' communication style as 'word salads.'"

60 Minutes, in a statement: "... Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false. 60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment. Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated."

Hannah Nichols & Stef Kight of Axios: "In a biography set to publish a week before the election, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell backed special counsel Jack Smith and said he hopes former President Trump will 'pay a price' for his role in Jan. 6th.... 'If he hasn't committed indictable offenses, I don't know what one is,' the longest-serving Republican leader told journalist Michael Tackett in an interview for 'The Price of Power,' weeks after Smith brought the charges against Trump in August 2023. 'From the start, McConnell thought the charges brought by federal prosecutors against Trump had merit.' Tackett writes. McConnell told him 'there's no doubt who inspired it, and I just hope that he'll have to pay a price for it,' referencing Jan. 6." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Axios now requires readers to "subscribe" to its content and to provide Axios with their email addresses. It took maybe 10 seconds for Axios to send me a verification email and another 15 seconds to send me their first "regular" email. I'm afraid this may become (at least) a daily thing.

Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "President Biden released a statement mourning the 'devastation' after a bridge collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island, killing 7 people.'We are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island. What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,' Biden said in a statement Saturday evening." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Vice President Harris's statement, via the White House, is here. See stories under Sunday's Ledes. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Ohio Senate Race. Julie Smyth of the AP: "Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, scion of one of the state's best-known Republican families, threw his support Sunday behind Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in his hotly contested reelection race against GOP nominee Bernie Moreno. Taft, 82, made known his intention to vote for Brown over Moreno, a Donald Trump-backed Cleveland businessman, in a letter to the editor of the Dayton Daily News. The grandson of 'Mr. Republican' Robert A. Taft Sr. and great-grandson of William Howard Taft, the only person in American history to have been president and chief justice of the United States, praised Brown in the letter without mentioning Moreno. Taft cited, among the reasons for his decision, Brown's collaboration with U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on behalf of the Dayton area, including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Brown's 25 years of experience in public office; and Brown's committee assignments as a result of his senior status in the Senate.... Bob Taft is the only politician in Brown's long political career to ever defeat him in an election. Taft beat Brown in his 1990 bid for reelection as secretary of state."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Israel's wars are here: "Israel launched a string of airstrikes across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, saying it was targeting the financial operations of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah."

News Ledes

New York Times: "John Kinsel Sr., a World War II veteran who was one of the last surviving Navajo Code Talkers, a group of Marines whose encrypted wartime messages based on the Navajo language helped secure an Allied victory in the Pacific, died on Saturday. He was 107.... An estimated 400 Navajo Code Talkers served during World War II, transmitting a code crafted from the Navajo language that U.S. forces used to confuse the Japanese and communicate troop movements, enemy positions and other critical battlefield information.... The code was never broken." The AP's obituary is here.

AP: "Thelma Mothershed Wair, one of the has died at age 83."

AP: "Two crew members who were missing following the crash of a fighter jet in mountainous terrain in Washington state during a routine training flight have been declared dead, the U.S. Navy said Sunday. The EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron crashed east of Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon, according to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Search teams, including a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, launched from the air station to try to find the crew and crash site. Army Special Forces soldiers trained in mountaineering, high-angle rescue and technical communications were brought in to reach the wreckage, which was located Wednesday by an aerial crew resting at about 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area east of Mount Rainier, officials said."

New York Times: "Hundreds of people were rescued in eastern New Mexico late Saturday and Sunday, as torrential rains dumped more than a third of the city of Roswell's annual rainfall total in just a few hours, causing at least two deaths, officials said. Search and rescue efforts were still underway on Sunday morning, as forecasters warned that storms were expected to continue in the area, carrying the threat of more floods, large hail and possibly tornadoes. As of Sunday morning, nearly 300 people had been rescued by county and state agencies and 38 people had been taken to local hospitals, the New Mexico National Guard said."

The Conversation -- October 20, 2024

Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "Kamala Harris spent the Sunday of her 60th birthday working to turn out Black voters in Georgia, where she asked congregants at two churches outside of Atlanta to choose between a country of 'chaos, fear and hate' -- represented, she implied, by ... Donald Trump -- and the 'country of freedom, compassion and justice' that she envisions.... At her first stop, at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest on Sunday morning, Harris told congregants that she was guided by the teachings of the Bible from an early age, and that growing up in the Black church in Oakland has shaped her leadership style.... At her second stop -- a Souls to the Polls event at Divine Faith Ministries International where musician Stevie Wonder serenaded her with 'Happy Birthday' -- Harris again framed the election as a choice between a leader who would denigrate others and one who would seek to lift them up.... Harris's campaign hopes that the Souls to the Polls effort ... will allow it to bank millions of early votes so it can focus on turning out lower-propensity voters, including non-churchgoers skeptical of her, in the final days before the election."

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "In an interview on Sunday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Kamala Harris responded to a profanity-laden insult that ... Donald J. Trump used about her tenure as vice president, saying he had 'not earned the right' to hold office again. 'The American people deserve so much better,' she told Mr. Sharpton on his show.... Ms. Harris spent much of Sunday, her 60th birthday, at churches in Georgia, as part of the campaign's 'Souls to the Polls' mobilization effort to reach Black faith communities."

Donald McDonald. Jacob Gallagher of the New York Times: " A McDonald's in Pennsylvania, [Donald Trump] manned the fry line and dispensed orders to supporters in the drive-through lane.... He did not wear a hairnet.... Beyond the apron, Mr. Trump ... [didn't wear the McDonald's] uniform.... He didn't change into the pedestrian dark shirt and slip-resistant shoes like the rest of the McDonald's staff. Mr. Trump didn't plop on a McDonald's branded visor. Certainly, he was the only 'employee' at the franchise on Sunday to be packing orders in a shirt with French cuffs.... The visual differences between Mr. Trump and the franchise's employees mostly served to underscore ... that the former president ... exists in a vastly different class of someone working a service job to get by.... His unpaid campaign stunt reaffirmed Mr. Trump's well-crafted image as a rich man with relatable, unvarnished sensibilities." ~~~

~~~ Of course there's a reason Relatable Donald put on that McDonald's apron, and it's not because he's the Hamburglar: ~~~

~~~ Heather Knight & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris has recalled her stint at a Bay Area McDonald's 41 years ago in introducing herself to voters -- a biographical detail relatable to millions of Americans who have toiled in fast-food restaurants. But ... Donald J. Trump has repeatedly accused her of inventing it. Lacking a shred of proof, he has charged that she never actually worked under the golden arches -- recalling his earlier false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Mr. Trump's latest allegation also appears to be false.... Wanda Kagan, a close friend of Ms. Harris's when they attended high school together in Montreal, said she recalled Ms. Harris having worked at McDonald's around that time.... Ms. Kagan said that Ms. Harris's mother, who died in 2009, had told Ms. Kagan about the summer job years ago." MB: Oddly, the reporters wait till the 11th paragraph to get to Kagan's recollections. This is particularly peculiar because, as far as I know, this is the first time a major news outlet has reported out a refutation of this particular Trump invention.

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... on Sunday, [Donald Trump] sat for an interview on Fox News, where he was challenged directly on some of his most glaring falsehoods of the campaign.... Mr. Trump repeatedly denied knowledge of information that has long been publicly available, questioned the sources and then pivoted away to an unrelated topic. On one point, though, he stuck by his words with no deflection or equivocation: He absolutely believed, he said, that his political opponents were an 'enemy from within' who posed a greater threat than foreign adversaries. Here's a look at notable moments in Mr. Trump's interview with Fox News's Howard Kurtz[.]" Do read on if you have a NYT subscription.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "America for the first time in its history may send a criminal to the Oval Office.... What would once have been automatically disqualifying barely seems to slow Mr. Trump down in his comeback march for a second term that he says will be devoted to 'retribution.'... He has survived more scandals than any major party presidential candidate, much less president.... He has turned them on their head, making allegations against him into an argument for him by casting himself as a serial victim rather than a serial violator.... Any one of [Mr. Trump's] scandals by itself would typically have been enough to derail another politician. Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s first bid for the presidency collapsed when he lifted some words from another politician's speech." Baker runs down many of Trump's scandals & failures. It is, for that reason, quite a long article. ~~~

~~~ Daddy, What's an Oligarchy? ~~~

~~~ Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: Elon "Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, effectively dictates NASA's rocket launch schedule. The Defense Department relies on him to get most of its satellites to orbit. His companies were promised $3 billion across nearly 100 different contracts last year with 17 federal agencies. His entanglements with federal regulators are also numerous and adversarial. His companies have been targeted in at least 20 recent investigations or reviews, including over the safety of his Tesla cars and the environmental damage caused by his rockets.... [Mr. Musk] has thrown his fortune and power behind ... Donald J. Trump and, in return, Mr. Trump has vowed to make Mr. Musk head of a new 'government efficiency commission' with the power to recommend wide-ranging cuts at federal agencies and changes to federal rules. That would essentially give the world's richest man and a major government contractor the power to regulate the regulators who hold sway over his companies, amounting to a potentially enormous conflict of interest.... Instead of entering this new role as a neutral observer, Mr. Musk would be passing judgment on his own customers and regulators. Already, Mr. Musk has discussed how he would use the new position to help his own companies."

Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times asks some campaign finance lawyers to address whether or not Elon Musk's financial incentives to voters are legal. "Brendan Fischer ... said, 'There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning the payments on registration arguably violates the law, which prohibits giving anything of value to induce or reward a person for registering to vote.'... Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and the state's former attorney general, said on Sunday on Meet the Press that the giveaway was 'something that law enforcement could take a look at.'" Schleifer did find one expert who said it was okay: former SEC chair Brad Smith. MB: I checked out Smith: he's a member of the right-wing Federalist Society, he planned to testify for Trump in his hush-money trial, he's probably the country's most prominent opponent of campaign finance laws. Oh, and Bill Clinton, formerly our sleaziest modern president, appointed him to head the FEC, an appointment which horrified campaign finance reform advocates. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin -- who is a lawyer -- pointed out in an appearance on MSNBC that the payments may be illegal because they appear to be unreported campaign contributions.

Down the page, Jamelle Bouie tries to reassure us how unlikely it is Trump will successfully overturn the election results if he loses. Come now Kyle Cheney and others at Politico to explain how Trump could pull it off.

Colby Hall of Mediaite: "CNN's Jake Tapper and Speaker Mike Johnson battled over former President Donald Trump's recent warning of an 'enemy within' the nation and the suggestion of using the National Guard against them.... At one point, after Speaker Johnson tried to insist he wasn't talking about American democratic officials, Tapper interjected with, 'Nope! He talked about Adam Schiff. the Pelosis....'" Tapper played a clip of Trump saying exactly that, after which Johnson had the gall to say, "... No. He's talking about using the National Guard in the military to keep the peace in our streets in the summer of 2020 that my Democratic colleagues call this summer of love...." The article includes a transcript of the full exchange between Tapper & Johnson as well as of the clip Tapper played. ~~~

     ~~~ At about the same time Bible Mike was lying about what he had just heard on the CNN teevee, Donald Trump was over at Fox, confirming what Bible Mike just lied about. According to Maggie Astor of the New York Times (linked above), "Mr. Kurtz asked who the 'enemy from within' was, and Mr. Trump identified Representative Adam Schiff of California and the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi." Marie: Some reporter should ask Bible Mike if his church suspends the Ninth Commandment ("Thou shall not bear false witness" [i.e., lie]) during campaign season.

Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "President Biden released a statement mourning the 'devastation' after a bridge collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island, killing 7 people. 'We are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island. What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation,' Biden said in a statement Saturday evening." ~~~

     ~~~ Vice President Harris's statement, via the White House, is here. See stories under Sunday's Ledes.

Michael Bender of the New York Times: Donald Trump "says that his [speaking] style is to 'weave' from one subject to the next.... His critics say such detours are a troubling sign of his incoherence and raise questions about his age and cognitive health.... Here are four examples of Mr. Trump's rambling from just this past week. Schoolchildren asked him about boyhood heroes. He ended up at the border wall.... Asked about inflation, he roamed to his annoyance with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's college experience.... Asked about climate change, he drifted to his golf course and then to World War III.... He started discussing tax breaks for car loans. He found his way to a nerve-racking rocket landing." In each case, Bender transcribes Trump's quite crazy meanderings. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I realize that when most of us speak extemporaneously, our remarks don't sound as if we're reading from a well-edited textbook. On the other hand, politicians should be able to anticipate a high percentage of the questions they'll be asked, and they should be able to give coherent answers that more-or-less address the questions. At the same time, politicians -- unlike most of us -- are accustomed to answering questions, so they should know how to do it, even when they don't like the questions, or even when they're unprepared for particular questions. I don't care if Trump's groupies find him entertaining or even mesmerizing; I find his incoherence in and of itself disqualifying.

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Presidential Race

Brianna Tucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Kamala Harris criticized ... Donald Trump over the issue of abortion access at a rally in Atlanta on Saturday, pointing out that the family of Amber Thurman -- a Georgia woman who died in 2022 after she did not receive proper medical care because of abortion restrictions -- was in the audience.... Harris played a clip of Trump at an all-women Fox News town hall, in which the moderator said Thurman's family had just participated in a call hosted by the vice president's campaign. 'Oh, that's nice,' Trump said in the clip. 'We'll get better ratings, I promise.' Harris said Trump had 'mocked' Thurman's family in the clip and later asked, 'Where is the compassion?'... Harris also repeated her assertion that Trump is exhausted from campaigning after several canceled appearances, and called into question Trump's coherence.... At a smaller campaign event earlier Saturday in Detroit, Harris said that voters need to 'just watch' Trump's rallies if they remain undecided.... In Atlanta, R&B singer Usher rallied for Harris."

Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris let her T-shirt do the talking in Detroit on Saturday. The black shirt ... bore the words 'Detroit vs. Everybody.' The attire was a clear response to ... Donald J. Trump, who last week disparaged what is one of the nation's largest majority-Black cities, portraying Detroit as a decaying harbinger of America's future under Ms. Harris. In brief remarks to the crowd on the inaugural day of early voting in the city, Ms. Harris urged her supporters to reject Mr. Trump's division and insults. 'We stand for the idea that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it's on who you lift up,' she said, saying that her campaign was seeking the kind of 'grit' and 'excellence' possessed by 'the people of Detroit.'... Speaking before Ms. Harris at the rally in Detroit, [singer & Detroit native] Lizzo also challenged Mr. Trump's attacks on the city. 'They say if Kamala wins, this whole country will be like Detroit,' she said. 'Well, I say proud like Detroit. I say resilient like Detroit. This is the same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry. So put some respect on Detroit's name.'"

Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "NBC News correspondent Yasmin Vossoughian spoke with a panel of Arab American viewers, all of whom refused to back Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election." MB: I do understand their anger; however, there is not a whiff of a chance xenophobic Muslim-Ban Donald would be a better president for Arabs or Arab-Americans. "Gosh, you guys don't 'look American.' Off to the detention/deportation camp you go." Think clearly, people.

Benjamin Oreskes of the New York Times: "For [Nevada] Democrats [on the first day of early voting], Saturday culminated with an appearance in Las Vegas by former President Barack Obama, who has been visiting battleground states to energize Democrats. Speaking in a high school gym filled to capacity with 3,000 people and another thousand watching in an overflow area, according to the Harris campaign, Mr. Obama acknowledged the struggles Nevadans were facing -- how people are 'treading water,' as he put it, from high housing and consumer prices.... 'I get why people are looking to shake things up,' he told the crowd. 'What I cannot understand is why anyone would think Donald Trump would shake things up in a way that's good for you.' He added, 'We do not need a president who makes problems worse just to make his politics better.'" Democrats are holding several events in Nevada, including one with Sen. Alex Padilla (Cal.) and Rep; Nanette Barragán (Cal.) in Reno on Saturday and another with Gwen Walz & actor Jennifer Garner in Reno, scheduled for Sunday.

A Genuine New York Times Front-Page Headline: "At a Pennsylvania Rally, Donald Trump Descends to New Levels of Vulgarity." Michael Gold: "... Donald J. Trump on Saturday spewed crude and vulgar remarks at a rally in Pennsylvania that included an off-color remark about a famous golfer's penis size and a coarse insult about Vice President Kamala Harris. The performance, 17 days before the election in a critical battleground state, added to the impression of the Republican nominee as increasingly unfiltered and undisciplined.... Mr. Trump opened his speech at the airport in Latrobe, Pa., with 12 minutes of reminiscing about the golfer Arnold Palmer, who grew up in the Western Pennsylvania town and for whom the airport was named. His monologue culminated in lewd remarks about the size of Mr. Palmer's penis.... [After goading the audience to shout the word 'shit,'] Mr. Trump urged his supporters to vote, telling them that they had to send a crude message to Ms. Harris: 'We can't stand you, you're a shit vice president.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funny how the Gray Lady can twist her sensible underthings in knots over vulgarities but quietly sip her tea & nibble on scones while contemplating the impending inauguration of a racist, nationalist dictator and his host of enablers in Congress and the courts. ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times tries to calm the anxieties of everyone who fears Donald Trump will try to steal the election if he loses. Yeah, he will. BUT "His ability to reverse a loss is limited to his ability to inspire others to commit crimes on his behalf. Remember, the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 clarified that congressional counting of the electoral votes is a formality and has no real bearing on the outcome. The Jan. 6 method is off the table. More important, Trump is not the president. He has no legal authority. If he loses, he'll be just another private citizen.... Trump has a better chance of winning outright than he does of overturning a defeat.... [So] you might want to focus more on putting him out to pasture on whether he can break out of the enclosure."

MoDo Is Not Amused. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: Cardinal "Timothy Dolan let a white-tie charity dinner in New York showcase that most uncharitable of men, Donald Trump. At the annual Al Smith dinner, Dolan suffused the impious Trump in the pious glow of Catholic charities. Dolan looked on with a doting expression as Trump made his usual degrading, scatological comments about his foils, this time cloaked as humor.... As he did in 2016 when he crudely attacked Hillary Clinton as she sat on the dais, Trump added a rancid cloud to what used to be a good-tempered bipartisan roast.... Instead of telling Trump he was over the line, Dolan enabled him in his blasphemous effort to cast his campaign as a quasi-religious crusade and himself as a saintly martyr saved by God.... Al Smith ... would have detested Trump, a bigot cynically stoking racial fears and bloodthirsty impulses to get elected.... The pols on the dais looked like a Last Supper for this unnerving election. Hopefully, it's not a Last Supper for the Republic."

Kipp Jones of Mediaite: Donald Trump & Elon Musk insulted billionaire Mark Cuban (and Musk insulted not-billionaire Rachel Maddow), presumably because Cuban is supporting and campaigning for Kamala Harris. MB: I won't bother running down the insults, but you can read 'em at the link.

Jason Koebler of 404 Media: "An Elon Musk-funded group called Future Coalition PAC is targeting Muslim voters in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania with diametrically opposed political advertisements about Kamala Harris. In areas of Michigan with relatively large Muslim populations, the Super PAC is painting Harris as a close friend of Israel and is suggesting that she is beholden to the beliefs of her Jewish husband Doug Emhoff; in parts of Pennsylvania with relatively large Jewish populations, the advertisements call Harris antisemitic and say she 'support[s] denying Israel the weapons needed to defeat the Hamas terrorists who massacred thousands.' Meanwhile, a related PAC also funded by Musk is microtargeting likely Black voters on Snapchat with ads that says Kamala Harris is trying to ban menthol cigarettes (surveys have shown that 81 percent of Black smokers use menthols, and big tobacco has disproportionately marketed menthol cigarettes to Black Americans)." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not familiar with 404 Media, but I've seen this story elsewhere, so I think it's solid. Update: I see Josh Marshall of TPM also cites 404's reporting, so we're in good company. So does digby, beneath a swell headline and subhead: "Move Over Roger. There's a new ratfucker in town." As for Elon, I know he's one of the richest people on the planet, but if money could buy that guy a conscience, I'd start a GoFundMe page for him. ~~~

~~~ Oh, not only immoral, but also criminal, according to election law expert Rick Hasen: ~~~

~~~ Rick Hasen on his Election Law Blog cites Hugo Lowell on  X: "Elon Musk says on stage at a town hall that America PAC will be awarding $1 million every day until the election to a registered Pennsylvania voter who has signed his petition. Musk awarded the first $1 million this evening to someone at the town hall, bringing the guy onto the stage and handing him a jumbo check, lotto-style. Musk is essentially incentivizing likely Trump voters in PA to register to vote: Petition is to support for 1A [First Amendment] and 2A [Second Amendment], so basically R voters. But they also have to be registered to vote, so if they weren't already, they would do it now." ~~~

     ~~~ Hasen: “Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal. See 52 U.S.C. 10307(c): 'Whoever knowingly or willfully ... pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both...." (Emphasis [Hasen].) ~~~

~~~ And This. Arianna Coghill of Mother Jones: "On Thursday, [Elon Musk] tweeted to more than 200 million followers that he's offering $100 to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign his pro-Trump petition." MB: Here again, the offer incentivizes people to register to vote. So if $1MM to a few lucky voters is unlawful, then so is $100 to everyone who signs the petition. BTW, Monday is the last day one can register to vote in Pennsylvania.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's campaign may be failing to reach thousands of voters they hope to turn out in Arizona and Nevada, with roughly a quarter of door-knocks done by America Pac flagged by its canvassing app as potentially fraudulent, according to leaked data and people familiar with the matter. The potentially fake door-knocks -- when canvassers falsely claim to have visited a home -- could present a serious setback for Trump.... The Trump campaign earlier this year outsourced the bulk of its ground game to America Pac, the political action committee founded by Elon Musk.... Paid canvassers are typically not as invested in their candidate's victory compared with volunteers or campaign staff​.... The Trump campaign took a gamble this cycle when it outsourced the bulk of its ground game to political action committees, after the Federal Election Commission​ earlier this year for the first time allowed campaigns to coordinate its voter turnout efforts with ​outside groups." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wouldn't it be a terrible shame if these lowly temps were ripping off multi-billionaire Elon Musk and probable billionaire Donald Trump, who is himself the Scam King?

Marco Margaritoff of the Huffington Post: "Dominion Voting Systems released a pointed statement Saturday following remarks from billionaire Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who have reiterated debunked conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from Republican nominee Donald Trump.... Musk ... promoted the false assertion that Dominion manipulated the election in 2020 at his first solo event to support Trump's campaign on Thursday, insinuating without proof that 'some very strange things' happened to people's votes.... Dominion ... reacted strongly to Musk's comments [citing what the company said were facts that countered Musk's claims].... Separately, Greene ... appeared on Alex Jones' InfoWars network on Friday, where she claimed that a Dominion machine 'changed' the ballot of a voter in her district [this past week]." On its Website, Dominion debunked Greene's claim.

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Israel's wars are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here: "On Sunday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said it struck about 175 militant targets in Gaza and Lebanon in the past day. At least 73 people were killed when an Israeli airstrike pummeled a group of homes in the northern border town of Beit Lahia on Saturday, according to Gaza's Civil Defense. Rescue operations continued through the night, with many people still buried under the rubble, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense."

Aaron Boxerman, et al., of the New York Times: "Israeli forces pounded targets in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya on Saturday, killing at least 33 people and injuring dozens of others in the bombardment, a Palestinian emergency services group said.... Fighting also escalated in Lebanon on Saturday, as the Israeli military targeted several areas outside of Beirut in airstrikes that covered the area in clouds of dust."

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The leak of a pair of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents describing recent satellite images of Israeli military preparations for a potential strike on Iran offers a window into the intense American concerns about Israel's plans. It also has U.S. officials working to understand the size of the improper disclosure. The two documents were prepared in recent days by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which is responsible for analyzing images and information collected by American spy satellites. They began circulating on Friday on the Telegram app and were being discussed by largely pro-Iran accounts. The documents, which offer interpretations of satellite imagery, provide insight into a potential strike by Israel on Iran in the coming days. Such a strike has been anticipated in retaliation for an Iranian assault earlier this month, which was itself a response to an Israeli attack." CNN's story focuses on the leak.

News Lede

New York Times: "At least seven people were killed on Saturday when a ferry dock gangway collapsed on a Georgia island where hundreds had gathered to celebrate the heritage of a community of slave descendants, the authorities said. The deaths on Sapelo Island were confirmed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which manages the island and operates its ferry service. The island is about 70 miles by road south of Savannah, Ga. The department said late Saturday that at least 20 people went into the water when the gangway collapsed, and that it was not immediately clear how many people had been injured." A CBS News story is here.