The Conversation -- November 2, 2024
Marie: I don't do polls, but this one is such a shocker, I'll share it: ~~~
~~~ Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register: "Kamala Harris now leads Donald Trump in Iowa -- a startling reversal for Democrats and Republicans who have all but written off the state's presidential contest as a certain Trump victory. A new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Vice President Harris leading former President Trump 47% to 44% among likely voters.... The results follow a September Iowa Poll that showed Trump with a 4-point lead over Harris and a June Iowa Poll showing him with an 18-point lead over Democratic President Joe Biden, who was the presumed Democratic nominee at the time.... A victory for Harris would be a surprising development after Iowa has swung aggressively to the right in recent elections, delivering Trump solid victories in 2016 and 2020. The poll shows that women -- particularly those who are older or who are politically independent -- are driving the late shift toward Harris." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Des Moines Register poll is considered to be a highly-reliable, "gold-standard" poll. To me, the result doesn't necessarily mean Harris will win Iowa, but it may bode well for Harris's position in battleground states.
PLEASE SEE THE CORRECTION BELOW ON THE OBAMA VIDEO. THANKS.
Marie: As usual, the Gray Lady doesn't tell us the whole, sordid story. In an updated story I linked earlier today, Times reporters write,
"... [Mr. Trump's] closing pitch was derailed by problems with the microphone that seemed to frustrate him during a particularly busy stretch of the campaign.... After members of the crowd began chanting that they could not hear him properly, Mr. Trump yanked the microphone out of its holder. At one point, he pantomimed adjusting the microphone setup and bobbing down toward it, to the laughter of the crowd. But Mr. Trump, standing in front of people waving signs that said 'Trump will fix it,' was visibly irritated by the technical issue. 'Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?' he asked the crowd, on a day when his violent language had already drawn attention." ~~~
~~~ But Then. There are other stories that provide a different characterization: ~~~
~~~ Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "The former president was rallying in Milwaukee on Friday night, and amid his usual fear-mongering over crime and immigration, he went on a weird, prolonged rant about the venue's microphone -- which apparently wasn't functioning properly. 'You gotta be kidding,' Trump said. 'Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?... I get so angry, I'm up here seething, seething,' he continued. 'I'm working my ass off with this stupid mic.' Trump complained about the mic for nearly four full minutes, bashing the 'stupid people' responsible, griping about how worn out his throat is, and complaining that it was set up too low. He also threatened to stiff the contractors, something he has a history of doing.... At one point, Trump bizarrely moved his head up and down from the empty mic stand on his podium, presumably to demonstrate how low he needed to bend over to get the mic to pick up his voice. The act resembled something else, though. 'BLOWING IT: TRUMP SIMULATES ORAL SEX ON STAGE!' read a front-page headline from Drudge." AND ~~~
~~~ Ben Blanchet of Huffington Post, via Yahoo News: "Trump also complained about the low height of microphone stands at his events and showed how he would work around such issues, bobbing his head up and down in what many observers suggested was an imitation of oral sex." AND ~~~
~~~ Kevin Manahan of NJ.com: "Trump, in one of his final rallies on Friday night, simulated sexually stroking and then performing oral sex on his malfunctioning microphone in Milwaukee." (Includes video; the supposed sex simulation part begins at about 2:55 minutes into the video embedded in a tweet.) ~~~
~~~ ⭐ UPDATE. In a surprising move, the Times has published a new (12:21 pm ET), stand-alone story by Michael Gold in which Gold describes the whole mic meltdown, including this: "But observers on social media shared a 5-second clip of the moment, suggesting the former president was pantomiming oral sex. Those short clips quickly received millions of views." Marie: This is remarkably similar to what happened two weeks ago: Michael Gold wrote a campaign update item mentioning Trump's Arnold Palmer big-dick remark, but -- according to Gold -- his editor removed the item. When a reader complained to Gold that he had sane-washed Trump's remarks about Palmer, Gold wrote back saying, "I filed something that included the thing you mention as omitted, but I am not given the power to publish what I say." Gold suggesting the reader direct his complaint to a senior editor, and a short while later, the Times published a full story that led with Trump's reflections on Arnold Palmer's big dick. (See Steve M. on this.)
Marie: This is what I was saying was needed. George Clooney, who does the voiceover, apparently agreed: ~~~
Marie: By accident (or diabolical design), my teevee switched itself to Fox "News" this morning. I wasn't watching at the time, but I heard someone -- sounded like Neil Cavuto -- say that everyone agreed Trump would win the election. He might be right. So I switched off the teevee. I've abandoned Twitter since Elon has done what he could to wreck it, but Bill Madden's account is full of TikTok videos that may hearten you. And who knows? These hopeful young people might be the ones who are right. Thanks to RAS for the lead.
~~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race
Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris and ... Donald J. Trump converged on Milwaukee on Friday night during their final scheduled visits to Wisconsin, a battleground state where neither of them has a lead and which is considered particularly essential to a Harris victory. With the election just three days away, Ms. Harris adopted an upbeat tone during an evening of musical performances and urged her supporters in Milwaukee, where early voting lags the balloting in other parts of the state, to 'please get to it when you can.' The rally for Mr. Trump, who was returning to the site of his Republican coronation in July, had an entirely different tone. He employed fear-mongering language about immigration, repeated his 2020 election lies and lobbed insults at his political foes. He also suggested that Milwaukee's Greek-born basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is Black, seemed less Greek than Mr. Trump did, and spent several minutes erupting in frustration over a faulty microphone." This is an update of this report, linked yesterday: ~~~
~~~ Michael Gold & Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris and ... Donald J. Trump clashed on Friday over violent comments he made suggesting that Liz Cheney, one of his fiercest Republican critics, should be put somewhere 'with nine barrels shooting at her.' Ms. Harris suggested that the remarks should disqualify Mr. Trump from serving as the nation's chief executive, while he tried to clean up his comments by repeating them in marginally softer terms. He also attacked the vice president for campaigning with Ms. Cheney.... Ms. Harris, speaking to reporters in front of Air Force Two after landing in Madison, Wis., said that Mr. Trump had 'increased his violent rhetoric.'... This must be disqualifying.... Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified, and unqualified, to be president.'..."
Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden reminded Pennsylvanians on Friday that he, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats safeguarded more than 1 million people's pensions without any help from the GOP. Visiting a union hall in Philadelphia, Biden and local union leaders highlighted the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and how it funded union pension plans that were facing insolvency. The pensions of an estimated 1.2 million workers and retirees have been protected from cuts due to the legislation.... Biden made sure anyone listening knew that the pension rescue got no Republican backing when Democrats muscled it through Congress over three years ago as part of a larger, pandemic-era stimulus package. It passed on a party-line vote in the Senate, with Harris casting a tie-breaker at a critical juncture for the bill.... [Biden said,] '... Not a single, solitary Republican in the House or the Senate, not one, voted to help with the pensions. Not one single one.'"
Here's what can happen when a former President goes to exercise his franchise at his local polling place. In today's Comments, NiskyGuy pointed to this video to illustrate a matter unrelated to the gist of the conversation herein, but I think we can all appreciate it on the level CBS News intended: SEE CORRECTION BELOW. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oops! My bad. This video is ten years old. That was President Obama, voting in the November 2014 midterm elections. I apologize.
Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "Thousands of people are expected to rally Saturday in Washington and in cities across the country to bring an enthusiastic boost of support to Vice President Kamala Harris just days before Election Day. The Women's March event ... comes at a time when Harris could become the first female president in the nation's history. The Women's March movement launched the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, when hundreds of thousands of women poured into the District and across the country in what is widely considered the largest single-day protest in American history."
Trump's So White. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump stumped in Michigan on Friday, where he told rally-goers he has 'beautiful white skin' after criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris.... [Trump] griped that the presidential race has prevented him from getting a proper tan: 'I could've been at the great Turnberry in Scotland. I could've been anywhere I wanted to be. I could've had those waves smacking me in the face. That white, beautiful white skin that I have would be nice and tan. I got the whitest skin 'cause I never have time to go out in the sun. But I have that beautiful white, and you know what? It could've been beautiful, tanned, beautiful.'" In another Mediaite post, Luciano quite properly ties Trump's remarks about his beautiful white skin to his questioning of the nationality of Greek-born basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is Black. Trump asked a Milwaukee crowd who was more Greek -- the Greek-speaking Greek citizen Antetokounmpo, or Trump himself (who most likely does not know Greek and who is of German & Scottish heritage). ~~~
~~~ Marie: Well, sure. This is a legitimate grievance. It's very unfa-a-a-air that campaigning forces Trump to slather on Cheeto-brand orange-face while Harris naturally looks fine wearing far less makeup than Trump does.
Hannah Knowles, et al., of the Washington Post: "Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) said her office is investigating whether Trump's comments [about having a 9-person firing squad shoot Liz Cheney] could have violated state laws involving intimidation of public officials, spokesperson Richie Taylor said.... Trump did not mention Cheney later in the evening at a rally in Milwaukee. He did, however, become preoccupied with his microphone, which he pulled from its stand. Trump told the crowd, 'This mic stinks,' later adding, 'Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?'" An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Only an insane megalomaniac would immediately think the way to react to possibly faulty equipment was to "beat the hell out of" the people who provided it. This is madness. (It's also a Class B felony in Wisconsin. I'm right sorry Milwaukee cops didn't arrest Trump then and there.)
Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "Trump still can't stop talking about women.... In the past two days, he has vowed to be a protector of women 'whether they like it or not.' He said that if he won the presidential election, he would want Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man who is a vaccine skeptic, to work on 'health and women's health.' And, speaking with Tucker Carlson [Thursday] night in Glendale, Ariz., Trump imagined a supremely violent fate for Liz Cheney, the Republican former congresswoman who has become a prominent surrogate for [Vice President] Harris.... The remark was graphic even by the standards of Trump.... And it fed right into Democrats' efforts to frame the election ... as a reckoning over bigger questions of freedom, control and women's fundamental place in society.... Harris has responded to Trump's freewheeling provocations with discipline." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, indeed. Here's Harris responding to Trump's vile attack on Liz Cheney in which he suggested Cheney should suffer death by firing squad: ~~~
~~~ It strikes me that to some extent, Harris's discipline is performative. That is, she wants voters to know that (a) she is outraged, but (b) she can hold it together no matter how outrageous the conduct she encounters. Notice how she keeps looking at her notes, as if to hold herself back, in her response to remarks that would leave many of us sputtering. With provocative cool, she faces down a madman.
Ha Ha! Via digby: ~~~
I think Trump has seen the "your vote is your secret" ads targeting women living with Trumper men... pic.twitter.com/cGCIuv7vb2
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) November 1, 2024
~~~ Marie: Another caption I saw for this photo: "Breaking News: Trump accidentally votes for Harris after copying answers." Thanks to Bill near San Jose for that link. What this photo really does show is that Trump cheats at everything; he doesn't even respect the secret ballot. Then he has the gall to repeatedly accuse Democrats of cheating in elections.
No Sychophantic Deed Goes Unpunished. Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's campaign released a copy of a Federal Election Commission complaint against The Washington Post on Friday, alleging that the newspaper made illegal in-kind contributions to the campaign of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, through the advertising of its journalism. The six-page complaint, dated Thursday, cites an Oct. 30 article in Semafor that suggests, without citing a source, that The Post purchased advertising to boost readership of negative articles about Trump. Those ads, according to Semafor, were bought following the Oct. 25 announcement by The Post's publisher, William Lewis, that the newspaper would cease issuing presidential endorsements, a decision that prevented publication of a drafted editorial endorsing Harris, the Democratic nominee. Following the announcement, at least 250,000 readers canceled their subscriptions and three members of the 10-person editorial board stepped down from the board in protest. The Semafor article posits that the ad purchases were made in reaction to the cancellations....
"FEC complaints against newspapers are exceedingly rare, according to Mark Tushnet, a Harvard University emeritus law professor. After reviewing the Trump campaign's complaint, Tushnet called it 'ridiculous' and said the First Amendment 'would almost certainly' protect The Post."
Tim Balk of the New York Times: "Nicolle Wallace, who was a White House communications director in George W. Bush's administration, called on Friday for Mr. Bush to have a late-hour 'change of heart' and speak out against ... Donald J. Trump. Speaking on her 'Deadline: White House' program on MSNBC, Ms. Wallace said Mr. Trump's violent language about former Representative Liz Cheney had pushed her to publicly raise the question she gets 'asked more than any other' off the set: 'Where is George W. Bush?'... Ms. Wallace said she had appealed directly to Mr. Bush's office, and had been told that the former president would continue his silence. But she said that it felt 'important' to make her appeal...." (Also linked yesterday.) The Raw Story report is here.
Edward Hellmore of the Guardian: "A New York author and journalist has released audio tapes that appear to detail how Donald Trump had a close social relationship with the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein that he has long denied. The tapes, released as part of the Fire and Fury podcast series by Michael Wolff, author of three books about Trump's first term and 2020 bid for a second, and James Truman, former NME journalist and Condé Nast editorial director, include Epstein's thoughts about the inner workings of the former US president's inner circle.... Wolff claims the excerpt tape is a mere fraction of some '100 hours of Epstein talking about the inner workings of the Trump White House and about his longstanding, deep relationship with Donald Trump'.... Wolff claims on the podcast that he became an 'outlet' for Epstein 'to express his incredulity about someone whose sins he knew so well.... Epstein was utterly preoccupied with Trump, and I think, frankly, afraid of him.'... Wolff said: 'Here are these two guys both driven by a need to do anything they wanted with women: dominance and submission and entertainment. And one of them ends up in the darkest prison in the country and the other in the White House.'"
Marie: Woe is me. I am having a sad! ~~~
~~~ Irie Sentner of Politico: "Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt resigned Friday from his columnist position at The Washington Post, he confirmed to Fox News, after walking out on a live interview on the paper's video platform -- the latest blow to the Post after facing widespread blowback over halting presidential endorsements. Hewitt stormed out during a live broadcast of the Post's show 'First Look' during a discussion Friday morning about ... Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to potentially contest the election, leaving host Jonathan Capehart and fellow guest Ruth Marcus stunned." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Marie: It sounds to me as if Hewitt was criticizing Capehart for a failure of journalistic integrity, which is kinda funny because "journalist" Hewitt frequently hosts Trump on his radio broadcast and allows Trump to spout whatever hoohah he wants, no fact-checking involved.
Akhilleus wrote yesterday in an essay discussing the right wing's various sex obsessions, "The invented scary fairy tales [about] ...a tidal wave of sex change operations ... are reminiscent of medieval fables of secret witch covens casting evil spells on decent god-fearing folk in the villages and hordes of scabrous, vengeful demons abroad in the land seeking out virgins to defile and babies to eat." ~~~
~~~ But Wait! There ARE vengeful demons, and the demons'll get ya if ya don't watch out. ~~~
~~~ Edward Hellmore of the Guardian: "Tucker Carlson ... has said he was 'physically mauled' by a demon a year and a half ago, in an assault that he says left him bleeding and with scars from 'claw marks'. Carlson made the claim while speaking in an upcoming documentary, Christianities? In a preview clip on YouTube, Carlson is asked by John Heers of the non-profit First Things Foundation if he believed that 'the presence of evil is kickstarting people to wonder about the good'. 'That's what happened to me. I had a direct experience with it,' said Carlson. Asked if he was referring to journalism, Carlson responded: 'No, in my bed at night. I got attacked while I was asleep with my wife and four dogs and mauled, physically mauled.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Army criminal investigators are reviewing an 'incident' involving the top U.S. general overseeing military affairs in the Middle East ... Gen. Michael 'Erik' Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command..., defense officials said Friday, a potential complication for the Biden administration as it continues to grapple with a region-wide crisis spawned by the war in Gaza.... The news site Military.com reported Thursday night that Kurilla was under investigation for pushing a U.S. airman during a September trip to Israel. Citing an unidentified defense official with direct knowledge of the incident, the report said that Kurilla had become frustrated with his communications access and got into an argument with a member of the flight crew on a C-17, an Air Force transport plane. Army CID's statement stopped short of saying that a criminal investigation has been opened against the general."
~~~~~~~~~~
Georgia. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Two of Georgia's top election officials, both Republicans, called out a video circulating social media this week as 'fake' and an 'obvious lie.'... Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling ... shared a post from RNC national committeewoman Amy Kremer that spread the video which purported to show Haitian migrants claiming they voted illegally for Vice President Kamala Harris.... Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) also released a statement about the clip on Thursday. 'Earlier today, our office became aware of a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs claiming to have voted multiple times. This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we've seen in this and other elections.... In the meantime, we ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Kentucky. Orlando Mayorquin of the New York Times: "The former police detective who fired 10 shots through Breonna Taylor's apartment in a deadly raid in Louisville, Ky., in 2020 was found guilty on Friday night of violating her civil rights by using excessive force. But the federal jury earlier in the evening cleared the former officer, Brett Hankison, of violating the rights of Ms. Taylor's neighbors, according to ... the U.S. attorney's office. Mr. Hankison, who is white, was the only officer to be charged for his actions during the botched operation that set off a wave of protests across the country. But his shots did not kill Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who worked as an emergency room technician. Two other officers, also white, fired the fatal shots, but neither was charged."
Maryland Senate Race. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "A new robocall targeting Maryland voters attacks Larry Hogan for acknowledging Joe Biden won the 2020 election. The recording knocks Hogan, the GOP nominee for Senate, for not being MAGA enough and urges support for Libertarian Party candidate Mike Scott, who is 'pro-pardoning President Trump' and 'the only true conservative on the ballot.... A disclaimer on the robocall says it was sent by a mysterious new super PAC called Save Western Culture, which has been spending against GOP House and Senate candidates in several races.... The group filed with the Federal Election Commission in mid-October and will not have to disclose its donors until after Election Day. Hogan, a popular former governor, is battling Democrat Angela Alsobrooks for Maryland's open Senate seat."
Pennsylvania. Nick Corasanti & Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "A state judge in Pennsylvania has found that a mail-ballot vendor contracted by the Erie County Board of Elections failed to meet demand and that 13,000 to 17,000 Erie County voters may not have received their ballots in time for the election on Tuesday. The judge, David Ridge, ordered the Board of Elections to keep its offices open on Friday and Saturday, for voters to be able to request and fill out ballots, and to add a printer. Citing a shortfall of extra ballots and provisional ballots, the judge instructed the board to 'ensure that an adequate number' of ballots was available at all polling locations in the county. In addition to the thousands of voters who might not have received ballots, the judge also found that about 1,200 out-of-state voters who are registered to vote in Erie County might not have received mail ballots. And given what the judge described as an 'unknown number' of people who might not have been accounted for, he raised the likelihood that upward of 20,000 ballots could have failed to reach voters.... Erie County is one of the swingiest counties in Pennsylvania and is often considered a bellwether in a critical battleground state."
Pennsylvania. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday evening cleared the way for some voters in Pennsylvania whose mail-in ballots had been deemed invalid to cast provisional ballots in person, rejecting an appeal by Republicans not to count such votes. The decision was unsigned and gave no reasoning, which is common in such emergency petitions. The decision could affect thousands of mail-in ballots in a state that is crucial to each party's path to victory in the presidential contest and could be consequential in determining control of the Senate. The latest polls show Vice President Kamala Harris and ... Donald J. Trump virtually tied there.... The ruling, which thrust the justices into a hotly contested legal fight in a critical battleground state, was among a flurry of decisions by the court this week related to the presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News story is here.
Pennsylvania. They're Getting Worse. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "A parade float [in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania,] depicting Vice President Kamala Harris chained behind a truck with ... Donald Trump on it drew outrage from residents and officials who compared it to an infamous lynching." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "... officials in Mount Pleasant[, Pennsylvania,] apologized for a Halloween parade float in which a slow-moving Kawasaki farm truck, carrying what appeared to be a sniper rifle and [a] person in a Trump mask, slowly moved through the annual parade in Mount Pleasant, a community of about 4,200 about 25 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. People wearing Secret Service agent costumes walked with the vehicle while someone dressed as [Vice President] Harris walked with their hands bound by rope or a chain to the back of the truck.... 'The depiction of Kamala Harris tied to the back of the vehicle and being marched down Main Street seemed very symbolic of the violence and racism against people of color in our country's history,' said [Ashley] Frailey, who lives in Mount Pleasant and ... [recorded the parade entry].... Borough officials, in a statement released Friday, called it an understatement to say that the float was 'appalling.'... On Thursday, the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, which sponsored the parade, said it sincerely apologized for the display...."
Texas. Trump, Abbott & the Six Dwarfs kill another young woman: ~~~
~~~ Diagnosis: Strep Throat. Lizzie Presser & Kavitha Surana of ProPublica: "It took three ER visits and 20 hours before a hospital admitted Nevaeh Crain, 18, as her condition worsened. Doctors insisted on two ultrasounds to confirm 'fetal demise.' She's one of at least two Texas women who died under the state's abortion ban.... The first hospital diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her sharp abdominal cramps. At the second, she screened positive for sepsis, a life-threatening and fast-moving reaction to an infection, medical records show. But doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat and that Crain was fine to leave. Now on Crain's third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to 'confirm fetal demise,' a nurse wrote, before moving her to intensive care. By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain's blood pressure had plummeted and a nurse had noted that her lips were 'blue and dusky.' Her organs began failing. Hours later, she was dead." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Israel's wars are here: "U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered additional resources to the Middle East, including ballistic missile defense destroyers, fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, and several B-52 long-range strike bombers, the Pentagon announced Friday.... A person close to Israeli leaders who was briefed on the situation told The Washington Post that intelligence suggests 'Iran is preparing an attack on Israel in coming days.'... Leaders from 15 aid organizations and U.N. agencies described the situation in northern Gaza as 'apocalyptic' after an almost month-long siege and called for U.N. member states to withhold arms transfers 'where there is a clear risk that such arms will be used in violation of international law.' Signatories to the joint statement included Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization."
Russia. A $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Fine -- And Growing. Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "U.S. tech giant Google has closed up shop in Russia, but ... a court there [has] levied] a fine [against it] greater than all the wealth in the world -- a figure that is growing every day. The fine, imposed after certain channels were blocked on YouTube, which Google owns, has reached more than 2 undecillion rubles, Russian business newspaper RBC reported this week. That's about $20 decillion -- a two followed by 34 zeros.... Google's parent company, Alphabet -- one of the five most valuable companies in the world -- is valued at about $2 trillion. The fine is about 10 billion trillion times the company's value. In a case of verbal symmetry, the penalty could soon reach a googol, a 1 followed by 100 zeros, the mathematical term that inspired the name of the search engine. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for ... Vladimir Putin, told reporters Thursday that the figure was symbolic and should be a reason for Google to pay attention to the Moscow Arbitration Court's order to restore access to the YouTube channels."
News Lede
New York Times: "As the death toll passed 200 from floods this week that triggered the deadliest natural disaster in Spain's recent history, southern regions were battered by more heavy downpours on Friday, complicating an already strained rescue effort. Valencia, the region that suffered the worst of the deluge, recorded 202 deaths, regional president Carlos Mazón said at a news conference at the disaster coordination center. Three more people have died in neighboring regions, bringing the total of confirmed deaths to 205, according to the authorities. That toll was expected to rise as rescue workers continued to dig through sodden towns, clogged with mud and debris, making access extremely challenging. Late Thursday and Friday, rains spread to other southern regions."
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Reader Comments (18)
Regarding that photo of Trump casting his ballot; I voted in person for going on 50 years before going to mail in and I never saw a voting station with side shields so low. Those literally do not exist.
@Bobby Lee: You're right. Interesting observation.
I Googled "voting booth" images, and most are too high for an average-height person to see over, though a few are fairly low and in a few instances, I saw where the tables were so low, they made the flimsy "booths" low enough to see over. (Some of these low tables appear to have been set up to accommodate people who needed to vote while sitting down.) I did see some "privacy shields" advertised as being only two feet tall.
But again, for the most part, either because of the height of the shield and/or the distance between voting stations, it would be difficult for most people to see another voter's ballot.
Here is an example of a voting setup not that different from the photo above:
https://youtu.be/L5p8avFoUWo?si=L_7cJL9AqNeBFc5T
t**** is complaining that he doesn't have time to go outside and get a tan? According to Wikipedia, the Fat Fuck was on one of his properties 438 days of his 1461-day *presidency, and played around 260 rounds of golf in that time. The Seattle Medium wrote, on January 4, 2021, that FF played golf 307 days of his *presidency. Made-up grievance every single time.
https://seattlemedium.com/donald-trump-spent-almost-a-year-playing-golf-during-presidency/
Just opposing everything Democrats do doesn't always work out well.
"House Speaker Johnson says GOP may try to repeal CHIPS Act, then walks it back
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that Republicans “probably will” try to repeal legislation that spurred U.S. production of semiconductor chips, a statement he quickly tried to walk back by saying he would like to instead “streamline” it.
Johnson made the initial comment while campaigning for a vulnerable New York GOP congressman in a district that is anticipating a large new Micron semiconductor manufacturing plant.
A reporter asked Johnson whether he would try to repeal the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had disparaged last week. “I expect that we probably will, but we haven’t developed that part of the agenda yet,” Johnson replied."
Speaking of RFK Jr with regards to women's healthcare I'm reminded that he like Trump is a man who doesn't know how many women he may have sexually assaulted. He said it was "quite possible" that there were more victims after a woman came forward saying he groped her years ago. He knows less than nothing about healthcare and is terrible for women. But in Trump's eyes that makes him perfect for running all the government's health and drugs and food safety. Only the best for Trump except they always turn out to be the worst.
So Trump is unhappy with another microphone, asking the audience if they want to see him go backstage and "knock hell out of" some people. I can picture some muscular stage hand telling him to stand down his bodyguards and then come on and try it.
My stubborn gene at work. I'll try this one again.
Must have been very bored. Read Douthat this morning…..and even responded to his drivel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/opinion/trump-harris-election.html
We've come this, I guess.
Nearly every time a contemporary conservative claims that liberals have gone over the deep end, they either fail to name that "deep end" or leap off their own, which seems always to have something to do with sex or gender.
Judging from Vance's cat lady remarks, Trump's repeated claim that public schools provide free sex change operations (in their liberal libraries?) and the predominance of Republican tv ads slamming Harris' support of transgender people, it seems conservatives have nothing but sex on their minds. It's very weird.
What about the Biden era legislation and the actions he has taken? The infrastructure bill that became far more than a joke? The way he handled a broken economy? His support of workers as he resolved national train and auto strikes? All "liberal" stuff.
Or are those liberal "ends" too deep for you?
Bobby Lee,
My thoughts exactly about faux tough guy Fatty. But it would never get that far. First, he wouldn’t want to muss his hair and makeup. It takes hours to get that bird’s nest looking like that, and that pumpkin orange gunk on his fat puss would be smeared by a bitch slap. Besides, he can barely walk these days. He needs three guys to help him get into a truck. He’d probably collapse if he swung those flabby arms too far. A fraud in every way possible.
A Little Hopium
Marie,
The accepted strategy in MAGAstan, especially by corrupt mouthpieces like the Faux slugs, is to declare overwhelming victory before a single vote has been counted. Trump will declare himself the winner before polls close on Tuesday. The idea is to make a Fatty win a fait accompli, that way, if he loses, they can all scream bloody murder. “EVERYONE said he had already won! Stop the steal!”
Of course Trump, per usual, is playing both sides. He’s already won, AND there’s massive fraud.
Akhilleus,
Would hope the Pretender doesn't win VIA massive fraud, but it's hard to trust those R's these days, isn't it?
I should note that the video with President Obama is from 2014, while he was still in office.
The laziest grifters
"This PSA is an Election Day guide for Trump voters."
Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic, discusses t****'s pantomine in Milwaukee (and the rally-goers who laughed along).
"Whatever small mercies and considerations you might offer to a man acting like Trump, you would certainly not place him in positions of pressure or responsibility, or inflict situations on him in which he would be called upon to make speedy and important decisions. You definitely would not make him the commander in chief of the most powerful military on the planet and place the safety of billions of innocent human beings in his hands."
Trump Needs Help
Re: the AG Times bowdlerization of the Orange Monster’s fellatio pantomime.
The day that Fat Fuck does finally shoot someone in Times Square, in broad daylight, the Times lede will be “Altercation in Times Square. Pedestrian shot and killed. Donald Trump, who was found by police to be holding a smoking gun, said he just found the gun on the pavement and wanted to make sure no children were hurt. Onlookers report that Trump shot the dead person, but Democrats were also in the vicinity. Merrick Garland reports that there’s not enough evidence for a full investigation. In other news, President Biden called Trump supporters garbage! The DOJ promises an in depth investigation of that!”
Turn back the clock, not the country