If Putin Is Running Musk, Trump Should Be Terrified The Media Started Capitulating to Trump with Russia Russia Russia 
If Putin Is Running Musk, Trump Should Be Terrified The Media Started Capitulating to Trump with Russia Russia Russia
Before listening to the video, I want to add to the sentiment to not despair. My trip to the grocery store included an encounter with one of my favorite checkout clerks, an uneducated man from Indonesia, who has been here long enough to become a citizen. Such people are not supposed to talk politics, but he and I have a special rapport, so he voluntarily unloaded his outrage at Trump, especially about immigrants(naturally). The message about Fascism and Trump was expressed in broken English, but conveyed his fury that anyone would vote against democracy in this country. I expect he is not alone in his demographic.
This is what gives me hope, as well as the secret smiles of young employees I encounter at businesses when they see my old campaign pin, “Dissent is good for democracy.” Early voting is going strong, here, in my part of northern Florida. I hope it augers as well as it has in the past for Democrats.
Like Anne Frank, I believe that most people are good at heart. Human decency still exists across a wide spectrum of people, many of who are humble, modest, and lacking political or economic clout. Such folk won’t vote for an evil vulgarian like Trump.
They may not vote for Trump, but at least 70 million will.
The question is will non-Trump voters win the electoral college numbers and overcome SCOTUS?
Don’t despair, Magbeh4. Thank you for sharing your encounter. Even if Trump wins we still can’t despair, not for too long anyway. The fight will continue.
No dispair in the air here, I’m happy to report.
As an antidote to the Circus returning to Madison Square Garden, I walked out to the corner to join the Broadway Street Fair & Party. Joyous Harris folks. The guy who sold me my new “Harris: ‘I’m Speaking'” Tee*, emblazed with her face tells me he’s as certain as I am. He relays that some Trumpsters stopped to argue (modeling Der Leader) that he should also be selling Trump gear. He responds that isn’t it funny how no Harris supporters bitch that there’s no Harris gear at Trump Swag & Hate events.
Long story short, I don my new acquisition and get nothing but smiles. Maybe I’ll accent it with my “Jews for Harris” pin.
The graphics are beautiful, knocking off Shepard Fairey’s “Hope”.
Thank you, Magbeth4. I needed that pep talk exactly at this moment. Much appreciated.
I can’t even look at my MAGA neighbors now.
Will you when they’re pictured on “wanted” posters?
It may have already been discussed, I haven’t been able to find it yet. Anymore information on the Ziegler CCFA case being dismissed? I can’t see 24-4511 on RECAP.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67788762/68/robert-hunter-biden-v-garrett-ziegler/
ORDER from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed re: Notice of Appeal to 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 55 filed by ICU, LLC, Garrett Ziegler. CCA # 24-4511. Appellants’ unopposed motion (Docket Entry No. 13) for voluntary dismissal is granted. This case is dismissed. Fed. R. App. P. 42(b). This order served on the district court acts as the mandate of this court. (car) (Entered: 10/21/2024).
To be clear, what was dismissed was the appeal, via the appellant’s unopposed motion. The case therefore returns to the District Court for further proceedings.
Thank you very much for the clarification. When the docs come out, I wonder if it was just a obvious future loss (or money) to ask for the appeal dismissal. The *CFAA angle is interesting for the IT community. I look forward to the hearing on 12 Nov 24 then.
Only somewhat OT:
LA Times Planned ‘Case Against Trump’ Series Alongside Kamala Harris Endorsement Before Owner Quashed It [The Wrap]
“Alongside its endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Los Angeles Times editorial board had also planned a multi-part series against Donald Trump before the whole thing was quashed by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, TheWrap has learned.
According to internal memos viewed by TheWrap, the series, tentatively called “The Case Against Trump,” would have ran throughout this week. The endorsement of Kamala Harris would then have been published on Sunday. … ”
https://www.thewrap.com/la-times-case-against-trump-kamala-endorsement-canceled/
As someone once said, every billionaire is a policy failure.
It’s also clear that every billionaire-owned major media outlet is a constitutional disaster.
I canceled my subscription for WaPo today. I never had a subscription for LA Times, so I couldn’t cancel it.
I also “cancelled” my WaPo sub. In quotes, because you can’t really cancel until the subscription period fully expires. I’ve contacted them about an immediate cancellation and a pro-rated refund. I’ve yet to hear from a human.
I was only paying about $30 for the full year digital. But I want them to know.
Such subservient cowardice.
But now: What to do about Amazon?
Cancel Amazon Prime. It’s overpriced now anyway.
I know the right thing would be to cancel Amazon Prime as well, but it’s integrated so much into our life, it would be hard to do this.
It’s like an episode of Scooby Doo where Velma pulls the mask off the dark prince to reveal it was Jeff Bezos all along.
I cancelled my WaPo subscription on Friday. What really ticks me off is that I had renewed the annual subscription just 14 days prior. Grrrr. I asked for a prorated refund but I’m not holding my breath.
I did subscribe to Reuters’ new plan ($45/yr) and also made a donation at AP. I’m still happy with my Guardian subscription and also The Economist.
I’ve been complaining about how right wing the L.A. Times has become (more so than historically) for the last two years, let alone no news reported on the weekends. I.e. twitterX can have more influence, weeding out us simple real peoples issues with instant lies instead of discourse. Not that instant real news isn’t also just as very cooly important.
The not so subtleties of the oligarchs owning the news & suppressing Democracy because it wouldn’t surprise me that they are able to take a tax write off if the paper isn’t profitable or just that they’re so rich it’s just the cost of keeping control of the population so they can rip off the people and increase their wealth.
Point being I hope someday WE get to legislation where oligarchs at a certain level of wealth aren’t allowed tax write offs and are taxed according to their wealth level.
I watched a bit of this. How incredible Marcy relayed a million people asked to be able to attend the Harris Beyonce rally. WOW just WOW.
OT but magic. Freddy Freeman in extra innings with the L. A. Dodgers 1 out away from defeat, hit a grand slam walk off win, for the first time in World Series history, yesterday in the 1st game of the World Series. I didn’t click on the L. A. Times link afterwards because of the oligarch owner of, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiongs’ fucking over the editors et al recently by cancelling at the last minute a planned endorsement of Harris & week long series of articles about TFG being unfit. People quit, people cancelled their subscriptions. I’ve been reading The Guardian news link. I have to say I really, really like The Guardian except they have way too many interesting stories.
Buh buy L.A. Times. Been there done that in this Democrat city with very past owners. My hope is someone like MacKenzie Scott offers to fund a workers owned newspaper. BIG : )
Marcy – thanks much for the detailed critique of the current polling starting at about 40:00. I listened closely, but when you said that the current polling is not capturing the effect of Dobbs, I did not catch they reason why.
I’m saying that when people explain how pollsters are trying to adjust for past misses, they simply don’t address Dobbs, even though Dobbs has led to the same kind of misses in opposite directions as Trump. Maybe it’s not an issue. Or maybe it is affecting turnout models. We don’t know bc pollsters aren’t addressing it.
I think we’ll know in 11 days…if Kamala blows him out of the water. There are enough abortion referenda on state ballots for very strong inferences to be made, if and when that occurs – and such will be necessary to counter the Trumpists claiming fraud, as they have promised to do.
Thanks Marcy and Nicole for reminding us of Bill Clinton’s Turd Way hand in bringing us today’s billionaire-graft-bonanza that our electoral system has become. I screamed at my phone last week when I saw him campaigning for her, as the asks from Dem candidates up and down the ballots are inundating my devices because they have to counter the fucking billionaires.
Some data points to consider, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/28/how-republican-billionaires-learned-to-love-trump-again:
1. ‘Democrats have retained an advantage in small online donations, while Republicans rely on a higher percentage of large contributions. As of late September, sixty-eight per cent of contributions to the Trump political network had come from big donors, compared with fifty-nine per cent for the Democrats. Trump, in other words, needs his billionaires more than the other side does. Raising more money from fewer donors is the Party’s strategy.’
2. ‘Democrats who have enjoyed a clear advantage with the nation’s wealthiest political donors. According to OpenSecrets, big donors—those who gave $100,000 or more to just one party—contributed $5.2 billion to Democratic causes and candidates in the last election cycle, and $3.3 billion to Republican ones. Despite Trump’s cultivation of the crypto bros and Wall Street money, his online chats with Musk and his Mar-a-Lago fund-raisers with Big Oil executives, that trend is on track to continue this year. A recent Bloomberg survey of billionaires showed Harris receiving support from twenty-one of the country’s richest people, compared with fourteen who were backing Trump. The difference, though, is that Trump had taken in millions more from these supporters. His campaign is far more dependent on its shrinking segment of the ultra-rich.’
3. ‘In at least one notable case, Harris managed to regain a major donor who had defected to Trump, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. Horowitz and his business partner, Marc Andreessen, who are both longtime Democratic givers, had stunned the tech world in July by endorsing the ex-President, citing, in part, Trump’s newfound support for the crypto industry. But, in October, Horowitz announced that he and his wife planned to make a “significant donation” to Harris, saying that, though the Biden Administration had been “exceptionally destructive on tech policy,” he had spoken personally with Harris, a friend from California, and was “hopeful” that she would take a different approach.’
The point about polling is that sample sizes are too small, and methods to get “random” samples do not generate random because of the huge difficulty of getting a random sample. Pollsters use “models” to adjust their results when the sample seems to suffer from these defects. They literally change the poll result on the assumption that they oversampled certain groups based on models.
The point here is they have allegedly made adjustments for prior undercounts of Trump. They have apparently done nothing to account for a Dobbs effect on their models. The 2022 polls badly overcounted GOP support for example.
1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.
The so-called Free Press, those who ask the questions, apparantely on your behalf, suddenly, after hounding a sitting President – have nothing to say.
Great show, and don’t despair!
America will make it through this tumultuous time, and be stronger for it.
Trump’s gonna lose, the GOP’s gonna self-immolate, Putin’s gonna lose in Ukraine and by the end of it all America will be respected around the world again.
Watching the show now and jumped back here to see what people thought. I am with you.
The Women’s Power is palpable these days. I voted by mail, and when I walked along Broadway wearing my “I Voted” sticker, women were flexing muscles or pumping fists in response.
Got set off this morning with Trump’s warning that, “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, ***Donors***, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”
So now he’s threatening me?
People are so done with this and won’t let it stand any longer.
Watch the rally in Michigan that VP Harris just held with Michelle Obama:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaYXybmmfSI
That’s the hopeful future for America that I want to see. I hope swing-state voters have had enough of the division, lies and hate sowed by Trump and his enablers. I hope they cast enough votes for Kamala Harris to consign Trump to the dustbin of history.
While searching for a link to the article on Bill Barr representing Murdoch in a closed suit out in Reno (wherein he’s trying to break a codicil to a settlement), what should pop up but the other lawsuits in which Barr is repping Murdoch and/or Fox.
Patsy Baloney joined the firm in January. Get me my Roy Cohn!!!
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/barr-takes-on-murdoch-ai-case-as-firm-stockpiles-gop-lawyers
Do not despair. We got this. When we VOTE we WIN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-jeVAoT24
“I’m here as a mother’: Beyoncé@ endorses Kamala Harris in emotional Texas rally speech”
I haven’t listened, yet, but since Jeff Bezos is tagged on the post,
I’ll link to Timothy SNYDER and Jamison FOSER:
Obeying in advance https://substack.com/home/post/p-150757391
Timothy SNYDER Oct 26, 2024 [VIDEO]
The Washington Post Chooses Darkness America’s institutions and elites have already begun yielding to fascism. They will not save America. We’re going to have to do that ourselves. https://www.findinggravity.net/p/the-washington-post-choses-darkness
Jamison FOSER Oct 25, 2024
The NYT op-ed:
There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/opinion/democracy-defense-us-authoritarian.html
Oct. 24, 2024
By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Mr. Levitsky and Mr. Ziblatt are professors of government at Harvard and the authors of “Tyranny of the Minority.”
I may be an outlier here but I think anger at the Washington Post editors is misplaced. According to Robert Kagan, Bezos cut a deal with Trump.
I suppose we could suggest that the editors resign in protest. Carol Leonnig tweeted that she had gotten a lot of suggestions from sources, colleagues, etc. that she should resign. She said that up until now Bezos had been hands off.
Their editorial boards should have walked out and made it clear they did so because of Bezos.
They can still do that, preferably by EOD Monday.
Then they get replaced by cretins selected by Will Lewis.
Or they stay and their work is compromised by working for tabloid hacker Lewis and corrupt, spineless Bezos.
The criticism of the WaPo’s editors and key contributors is not at all misplaced.
Not everyone has a credible option to leave. But if you do, and choose to stay, you’ve joined the Bezos-Lewis team and adopted its priorities.
“Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board”
Thus WaPo stakes its credibility as a/the leading element of the 4th Estate on the independence and integrity of the named members of its Editorial Board.
When push came to shove obligation of the Ed Board was to threaten Bezos with resignation en mass, to publish their reasoning if he prevaricated, and carry through with that threat if the first two steps did not have the desired effect.
They would have better served democracy, and their standing in the field in which they are leaders, had they made this a matter of resignation/constructive dismissal on a matter of high principle.
Failing personally and collectively to extract the highest possible price to Bezos for his act of obeisance to Trump, is cowardice and no amount of sophistry washes that away.
Upvoting is not a feature of this site (thankfully), so I’m replying simply to thank you for this concise and emphatic description of the cowardice of the WaPo editorial board in response to Bezos’s diktat. Mine was among what I have read are the thousands of cancelled digital subscriptions as a result of its abject failure to print a presidential endorsement.
Further down this thread I note some slagging of the Guardian/Observer which has been my principal news source for years. While I share some of eoh’s disappointment in the pallidness of the Observer’s endorsement of Harris, like you I found the tenor and text of the Guardian’s declaration fully and vigorously responsive to this dark moment.
MarkPalm
October 27, 2024 at 10:17 am
Thank you for your kind remarks
I had intended to observe in my WaPo comment that it was inspired by EW comment in the podcast in which she referred to WaPo Ed Board as displaying cowardice, and invoking Milley.
I also had in mind the pushback by Rosen and Donoghue against the appointment of Clark as Trump’s latest acting AG. So I simply elaborated on a theme which was not an original thought.
https://bsky.app/profile/jeffjarvis.bsky.social/post/3l7imw3dcxb2f
October 27, 2024 at 8:44 AM
Inside The Washington Post’s Decision to Stop Presidential Endorsements Post owner Jeff Bezos ended the decades-long practice, weeks after a discussion at a meeting in Miami. The move has drawn criticism in and outside the newsroom.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/27/business/media/washington-post-president-endorsement.html Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson Oct. 27, 2024, 5:04 a.m. ET
They were blindsided by Bezos.
And Bezos now looks like a coward groveling before Trump. If Trump loses, he will look like a stupid, groveling coward.
Just a compliment +. Did the drop out during the late 60s college age years. I don’t consider myself of upper intelligence level. I’m a good listener & have common sense. I’ve been blessed to have had very intelligent friends so this blog is very fun to me. I learn.
One time after eating rice I wondered where did rice originate and internet searched. 3 hours later, I knew some about the history of rice. I mention this because in an earlier comment in this post, I wrote, reflecting in this comment more, I hope someone like Mackenzie Scott funds an employee (workers) newspaper, news site and like xtwitter blog combined. Simplified, minor league possible to major league confirmed, timely. It’s the lanes of learning we are all in now but disjointed, IMO by oligarchs.
The mental learning power of having a question and learning the answer right away is incredible but in reporting needs to be backed up with credible. It’d be nice to have that in one site, newspaper & blog. Can you imagine an all employee owned employees debating content. I think there’d end up being a lot of ayes.
I hope I’m OK to add in the news… I’m so stoked Irans’ missile (to Russia) making facilities were bombed. An artist could photoshop a photo image of the huge murals of missiles in Iran & elsewhere captioned over with GAME OVER! Whats a Putin to do?
I understand and agree with your ideas about having a rich source of reliable information that might be tailored to the environment (employment, etc.) That was what the WWW was (and earlier non-www variations), but even in the beginnings, the usefulness of some information was questionable (usenet/alternet/aol/compuserv).
Once the corporates understood that they could control and monetize ‘knowledge’ the playing field started slanting drastically. Now it is really how to control users from escaping from an ecosystem (facebook, twitter, corporate media).
So much of my hope for the future rides on sites like emptywheel where the fingers of greed have not strangled the voices or overwhelmed the ability to hear clearly.
True that. This site is like a well of normal intelligence that supersedes and clears our consciousness after the slog through the days “news.” TY Marcy & Rayne.
Me my hope is always astonished at evolution. Just for reference I’m 73. There’s a park nearby where I live. Our city, West Hollywood, in the eighties & nineties welcomed with open arms Russian Jewish immigrants. It was a natural fit, next door to the Fairfax & Beverly Hills area of an aging Jewish population. I sit in marvel at the dexterity and natural grasp of understanding in toddlers, maybe 2 to 2 1/2 years old, on tiny foot scooters. My point is that at 5 or 6 years old of my gen, didn’t have that level of mental coordination. I love to people watch. I look at everyone with they could be a genius. May a group of young geniuses, clear this debris, is my hope. Evolution is a reality.
My immediate hope is WE win this election. Elon mama’s boy is becoming way more unhinged. In wealthy L.A., we have a bunch of those fucking insane, how could one fit it in a parking space ugly so called “trucks.” Elon mama’s boy’s attempt to turn the world into the Jetsons cartoon & his infamous genius not, writ in history. The absurdity. Here in rich Hollywood there are examples in vividly painted gold & all sorts of me, me, me dazzle colors. Yesterday, a gold one on Hollywood Blvd. was in traffic, behind me & my HARRIS for sticker on my truck. A black woman crossed the crosswalk. As soon as the gold could get by me turning onto an open blvd. cross street, I learned that a gold mess can double + the speed limit. Poor thing. LOL.
TY my friend : )
MAGAs keep asking about Harris policies. That’s easy.
Immediately after taking her oath to uphold the law she will uphold the law by not pardoning anyone with 34 felonies
It’s not a difficult concept. Why do MAGAs have to make everything harder than it needs to be?
Has there been any discussion of the Lancaster DA’s press release in regards to the discovery of an organized voter registration fraud operation?
https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/da/11617/post/lancaster-county-board-elections-district-attorney-hold-press-conference-attempted-voter
Not mentioned in press release: Other counties involved.
https://www.timesleader.com/news/1671147/barrage-of-public-comment-dominates-luzerne-county-election-board-meeting
Keep an eye on PA come Monday. Someone had plans for 10/29. The DA press release contained just enough detail to signal they were aware of said plans. Keep in mind, PA’s entire GOTV operation has been segregated from all other states. Its been operating under a vastly different rule set compared to other states.
NPR reported on this story yesterday:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5165382/lancaster-county-voter-registration-fraud
“Someone had plans for 10/29.”
What does that mean?
Scott Presler has been running an absolute terror campaign against a number of county elections offices. Just doing everything in his power to run them ragged hoping they miss the next mandated deadline (10/29). He’s been commandeering all of there board meetings with legions of his followers demanding ludicrous public comments for 3 hours, sometimes 5+ hours. He shows up with his crew to turn forms in, spouting of all the rules and regs, threatening that if he sees anything doesn’t like, he’s suing. And he has been suing them. Constantly.
So dropping ~2500 voter registrations last minute (60% being fraud) at all these offices has them drowning, with an upcoming deadline that might now be impossible to meet. With them distracted, he’s been able to inject smaller batches of fraudulent voter registrations in here and there previously unnoticed. For the finale on 10/28 and 10/29, he has instructed all MAGAs statewide to show up to election offices and demand to be allowed to cast a vote in person, immediately. He had hoped to unveil all the voter fraud (He committed) and claim he “discovered” but they discovered his game, though with little time to spare. He’s hoping somewhere escalates into violence.
Okay so who is Scott Presler?
Sounds bizarre : this https://co.lancaster.pa.us/elections is the official website?
coalesced linked the DA’s website so it seems legit to me
This seems relevant and important!
https://www.odni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2024/4011-odni-pr-24-24
In early voting so far women are voting more than men. NBC has the total up to 38 million. If that continues VP Harris wins. And its likely to continue. And older voters vote earlier than younger voters.
Yes.
And it’s not just me agreeing, Michael Moore was on this and James Carvell.
NYC is a place where life is evident on our streets. Just look at the women these days, they are determined on this.
On the other hand, all the Money Sucking Media are making bank (in the short run, it’s a dying gasp).
Read this from Maggie the PR Agent at her PR Agency aka NYT:
“Maureen Dowd
How Bad Do You Want It, Ladies?
Oct. 26, 2024
Usually, I get political wisdom from Rahm Emanuel, not his brother Ari.
But a quote from Ari, the Hollywood macher, to Puck’s Matthew Belloni about the gender chasm in 2024 caught my eye.
“’This election is gonna come down to probably 120,000 votes,” Ari said. “You probably have 60 percent of the male vote for Trump, and the female vote is 60-40 for Kamala. It’s a jump ball. We’re gonna find out who wants this more — men or women.’”
SHE’S GOTTA’ KNOW THAT THERE’S MORE WOMEN, RIGHT? [ Women have registered and voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980, with the turnout gap between women and men growing.
But to keep the horserace goin’ she bullshits.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/opinion/donald-trump-gender-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VU4.ME8c.YHBPrNdcr1b_&smid=url-share
Did I effectively remove the Tracking?
Did I also inadvertantly remove the Article Gift?
According to its headline, this Observer/Guardian editorial is meant to be a pro-Kamala Harris endorsement. That’s hard to tell from reading it. This paragraph, in particular, highlights problems created when the mainstream press fails to do its job.
Biden’s Unpopular Legacy: Biden’s policies have been a resounding success. He led the country’s recovery from the depths of the Covid pandemic and depression that Trump made so bad. He reinvigorated antitrust enforcement, and has begun to lower inflation, by hiring Lina Khan. Unemployment is low, inflation is lower, poor and middle income families have more money to spend. He’s repaired alliances to which Donald Trump took a meat cleaver. Republicans torpedoed Biden’s immigration initiatives and his attempts to cut the harm done by massive student debt. There’s little Harris should back away from. But you wouldn’t know that from reading mainstream press coverage. You would only learn that Biden, not Trump, is “old.”
Harris’s Political Savvy. She lacks savvy? Could Trump or Vance have launched a successful election campaign from scratch in a few months? NFW. Did anyone not in private equity or from Ohio know JD Vance before Trump picked him? Harris, otoh, was a US Senator and sitting VP. Lots of people knew her, including the nearly ten percent of the electorate living in California. The mainstream press is cooking the books.
Harris, as VP, Failed to Curb Immigration. President’s, not VP’s, determine and implement policy. The failure to improve immigration is owing to GOP obstruction in the House, which Trump demanded and received, so he could campaign on the failure.
The real failure is that the press continues to treat this as a normal election and Donald Trump as a normal politician. But the Observer does get a few things right.
Link, EoH? I’d like to know the byline because first, it’s the Observer which I believe is still associated in some way with Jared Kushner. And second, who contorts like that? I’d like to know.
I believe Jared Kushner and family are linked to Observer Media in NY, an American online media company. I don’t think it has any connection with the Observer in the UK, a Sunday newspaper with an old pedigree that’s owned by the Guardian, which may be in talks to sell it to an unrelated party.
Thanks, that’s the clarification I needed.
Torn about the chickenshit-edness of hiding behind the editorial board identity to make an endorsement. I can see a united board doing so but if they actually said they were unanimous in their endorsement. Otherwise the endorser(s) are opaque.
When Kushner bought the New York Observer my heart broke. The end of Michael Thomas’ column, who I followed at previous papers.
He exposed Wall Street as a 2nd generation Lazard Senior Partner.
His byline was: “For the benefit of the few, at the cost of the many.”
Apologies, thought I’d provided a link to the Observer’s endorsement:
“Americans who believe in democracy have no choice but to vote for Harris. The US remains a great country with many strengths and many problems – and Trump is not the answer.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/26/vote-kamala-harris-observer-editorial
Here’s a separate endorsement from the Guardian, the Observer’s sister newspaper:
The Guardian mistakenly describes voting for Trump, though, as leading to a “retreat” to a reactionary past. No, but it would launch us into an unprecedented fascist future, not even J. Edgar Hoover dreamt of.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2024/oct/23/the-guardian-view-on-the-us-presidential-election-2024-a-democratic-government-is-the-one-we-need
Re
“The Guardian mistakenly describes voting for Trump, though, as leading to a “retreat” to a reactionary past. No, but it would launch us into an unprecedented fascist future, not even J. Edgar Hoover dreamt of.”
I read the piece a little differently, and here’s why I think it may be a fairer reading
The piece has 13 paragraphs and doesn’t use the phrase “retreat” to reactionary past
The closest is final sentence of
para 9:
“This election is a leap of faith in Ms Harris, who offers a sense of possibility for the future, while Mr Trump clings to a reactionary past”
Thus that refers to the tone of the respective campaigns
But the sentence in no way contradicts the tenor of the piece which indeed articulates and argues that election of Trump would in substance
“launch us into an unprecedented fascist future,”
See Paras
“1A second Trump term would erode the rule of law, diminish America’s global standing and deepen racial and cultural divides
2 [Republicans] ….refused to support Mr Trump owing to the threat he poses
3 Mr Trump’s authoritarianism may finish US democracy. …..He has suggested bypassing legal norms to use potentially violent methods of repression, blurring the lines between vigilantism law enforcement and military action, against groups – be they Democrats or undocumented immigrants – he views as enemies.…
4 …But it is likely that, in office, Mr Trump would adopt many of these [P2025] intolerant, patriarchal and discriminatory plans. He aims to dismantle the government to enrich himself and evade the law
5 Mr Trump is a transactional and corrupting politician. His supporters see this as an advantage. Christian nationalists want an authoritarian regime to enforce religious edicts on Americans. Elon Musk wants to shape the future without regulatory oversight…
6 With a focus on joy, the vice-president sharply contrasted with Mr Trump’s grim narrative of US decline
7 The Trump agenda threatens to dismantle voting rights, women’s rights and minority rights – not just reversing decades of social progress but burying it
8…
9 (above)…
13 .. ..Defeating Mr Trump protects democracy from oligarchy and dictatorship. There is too much at stake not to back Ms Harris for president.”
I’ve spent pints of virtual ink describing how editorial staff undercut the meaning and impact of their writers’ work with their headlines, superimposing a different editorial take. That they differ is often the point.
Readers often only read the headline and maybe the first paragraph, which gives editors an unfair advantage. In the Harris article, editors have a greater opportunity to affect the article’s impact, owing to the extended cutesy graphic they chose.
Its first two lines, for example, take seconds to scroll through – a long time when skimming. The text? “This election presents a critical choice. Do we embrace a hopeful future or retreat to a reactionary past.”
That’s followed by, “We’re backing Kamala Harris. She will unlock democracy’s potential, not give in to its flaws,” which is the article’s key takeaway, if you get that far.
What’s more, describing the probable outcome of a second Trump administration as merely giving in to democracy’s flaws takes academic understatement a bridge too far.
earlofhuntingdon
October 27, 2024 at 1:35 pm
You make an excellent point, and I apologise for
1 not paying full attention to, and applying the lesson of, your ‘pints of virtual ink’
2 scrolling through the ‘extended cutesy graphic they chose’ paying no attention at all to its contents.
3 both of which are poor excuses for imagining that “retreat” was your own choice of words rather than a direct quote of something on the page. I know you to be a close reader of texts, and I am sorry to have unnecessarily put you to proof.
Hopefully this schooling will be a useful lesson to others.
My county.
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/norristown/bomb-threat-closes-montgomery-county-gop-headquarters
Am I risking my life keeping my Harris signs up?
In case you were wondering.
https://6abc.com/man-sentenced-montgomery-county-democratic-headquarters-pa-politics-anthony-francis-nero/11841484/
I’m not certain how you make a leap between alleged threats to a GOP office and yard signage for a Democratic candidate.
I’m going to urge caution about assuming anything related to the alleged threats to the GOP office as well.
Example: Maricopa County Dems in AZ has to shut down their office this past week because of a MAGA supporter who fired on the office using different guns. However, the Maricopa County Dems office was completely destroyed by fire in 2020, by a former volunteer (not MAGA). In neither case was signage in the county an issue.
2024 shootings:
https://apnews.com/article/tempe-arizona-dnc-office-shootings-6f93528b571cd4c148dfd1612600854a
2020 arson:
https://apnews.com/general-news-5fcba2dfb75f462b4b382ee82546beab
Worry more about the ballots — mailboxes containing ballots were set on fire in Phoenix (which is Maricopa County).
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/ballots-damaged-after-usps-mail-collection-box-fire-near-7th-avenue-and-indian-school-road
All it takes is one unhinged MAGA who gets triggered by my signs. Highly unlikely but more likely now than ever before.
https://www.threads.net/@ronaldfilipkowski/post/DBoQclVxs4h
Possible captions:
1. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
2. “But Your Honor, she was putting her hands all over me!”
Great show! Thank you both!
Who needs police, fire or other services in their town?
“North Dakota voters may end most property taxes. Government programs could face huge cut.”
https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-property-tax-election-ballot-measure-8cfb4588f2b066347fef44ceab7865d6
Kinda makes you wonder what it would be like to get some insurance coverages in the North Dakota if the state can’t come up with some kind of budgetary alchemy.
After Hurricane Milton, I imagine many residents in the state will not be able to get reasonably priced insurance coverage, if they can even get any.
Oh yeah, North Dakota is totally known for its hurricanes! /snark
With regards to “Despair is not an option”, I try to keep in my mind the chorus in Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke”:
“Let ’em laugh while they can
Let ’em spin, let ’em scatter in the wind
I have been to the movies, I’ve seen how it ends
And the joke’s on them”
OT: Katie Couric interviews Gwen Walz.
I hadn’t seen her before. Gwen seems so decent and real, just listening to her is inspiring. Such a contrast with the MAGA assholes.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here but I want to share an example of how bad Fox News is.
Brian Kilmeade told Mark Cuban that 401ks are down 9% because of inflation.
Reality: S&P 500 is up 56% under Biden.
When Cuban told Kilmeade he’s wrong Kilmeade changed the subject.
I think Cuban may have botched his answer to Kilmeade.
I’d have responded, “Are you talking about YOUR 401K? Because if you’re down 9% in *this* market, you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. You should have made almost 29% on a NYSE index fund and almost 40% on a S&P 500 index fund in the last 12 months.”
Did you laugh as hard as I did when Kilmeade called his research team “The Brain Room”?
Oh, I don’t watch Kilmeade because he nauseates me. He’s like a right-wing chipmunk on crack.
Which of course makes any reference to a Brain Room even more absurd — Fox’s branding of a carnival of weirdness hawked by barkers.
S&P 500 growth after 45 months:
Obama 71%
Biden 56%
Trump 43%
Dow Jones growth after 45 months:
Obama 63%
Biden 40%
Trump 33%
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/charts/stock-indexes
Donald J. Trump
realdonaldtrump
The Dow Jones Industrial just closed above 29,000! You are so lucky to have me as your President With Joe Hiden’ it would crash
Sep 2nd 2020 – 4:05:43 PM EST·Twitter for iPhone·
DJT stock is up in a month from $12 to $51.
Major holders of DJT:
Breakdown
61.39% % of Shares Held by All Insider (Can you say “Cui bono?”?)
6.54% % of Shares Held by Institutions
16.95% % of Float Held by Institutions
Major holders of McDonalds:
Breakdown
0.18% % of Shares Held by All Insider
72.05% % of Shares Held by Institutions
72.18% % of Float Held by Institutions