Wednesday, October 09, 2024

I Know I Have A Larger Vocabulary Than Trump, But…

...didn’t he just say that Pence, on J6, wouldn’t do the wrong thing?
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Roe v Wade Came Out Of Texas, Too

I would say 50% of the campaign ads I see (locally) are about abortion; either candidate ads (Allred) or SuperPAC ads. And they aren’t about the splendor of current Texas law.

Perhaps the most powerful one is the woman who almost bled to death in her third pregnancy (the first two ended in miscarriages) because the equipment used to treat her condition was locked away, as it was also used for abortions. It’s a very potent first person, direct to the camera, presentation.
 
The study also cites a report from July of this year published by the Commonwealth Fund, which characterizes the condition of women’s health in the United States as "in a perilous place," noting the "continuing rise in deaths from preventable causes, the lowest recorded women’s life expectancy in nearly 20 years and deep, persisting racial inequities within most communities in the United States." That study ranked Texas 50th (out of 50 states and Washington, D.C.) in women's health overall, 49th for the category "Health Care Quality and Prevention for Women," 38th for "Health and Reproductive Care Outcomes," and 51st for "Coverage, Access, and Affordability."
We’ll see in November if it makes a difference.
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A Reminder

All federal courts (with exceptions) are Art. III institutions. With the exception of the Supreme Court in minor ways, they are all the creation of Congress. They are not “co-equal” because their authority rests on acceptance of their authority, and nothing else. They do not pass laws (Congress), nor enforce them (Administration). They, in essence, arbitrate. They do not directly answer to Congress or the Administration, but neither do they stand equal to it. They simply don’t have that kind of power. The Roberts Court has been so foolish as to not understand that. At. All.
It isn’t hard to imagine a future President Trump, returned to the Oval Office perhaps with the court’s help, thumbing his nose at the justices should they have the temerity to rule against his policies, as they often did during his first term. (For example, if the Supreme Court rules that some future executive order is unconstitutional, Mr. Trump could nevertheless illegally order law enforcement or administrative agencies to implement it.) Defying the Supreme Court wasn’t politically possible at that time, nor has it been an option for President Biden even as the court has blocked, or refused to unblock, a dizzying array of his domestic policy programs.
Tell me that under Trump v US that scenario is impossible. No President has ever been impeached and removed from office. Considering how supine the GOP is now in the face of Trump’s outrageous conduct, do you really expect the Senate would finally buck history, even in that scenario?
If this scenario sounds far-fetched, consider a real case. In January, a 5-4 majority (with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett joining the three Democratic appointees in the majority) issued an unsigned, unexplained order clearing the way for the Biden administration to continue removing razor wire that Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas had ordered to be placed along the U.S.-Mexico border. The governor had done so ostensibly to deter unauthorized border crossings, but the razor wire also hindered the ability of the Border Patrol to do its job. Within hours of the ruling, Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, was on Fox News calling on Mr. Abbott to defy the Supreme Court. 
Mr. Roy’s comments received little national attention because they were entirely unnecessary. The Supreme Court’s ruling was so narrow — allowing the federal government to temporarily remove existing razor wire — that there wasn’t much for Mr. Abbott to defy. But the speed with which a leading House Republican took to the airwaves to encourage Republican political leaders to ignore a Supreme Court ruling ought to have sounded alarm bells — especially inside the Supreme Court. 
This point appears lost on the justices. For as much as some on the court and its public defenders may see calls for reform from people like us as a threat to the institution, continuing to act in a way that erodes whatever credibility the court has left is an even greater threat — not just to the court, but to the Republic. 
A court without legitimacy is a court unable to curb abuses of political power that its rulings may well have enabled. It is a court that will be powerless when the next Chip Roy calls for disobedience because it will have long since alienated those who would otherwise have defended it. It would become a court powerless to push back against the tyrannies of the majority that led the founders to create an independent judiciary in the first place.
Legitimacy is all the power a court really has. When they trade that away in the imagined grounds that, as the “supreme court,” they stand equal to Congress (which sets their numbers, their jurisdiction, even their ability to decide what appeals to hear) and the Administration (which enforces the court’s rulings, so long as they find them legitimate), because a majority of the nine sitting (unelected) justices say so…

…is the height of arrogance and hubris, backed up largely by two justices whose "relationships with right-wing megadonors” make them feel they have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Or, to put it more colloquially, that they are invisible and bulletproof.

They aren’t; nor are they supposed to be.
Consider recent reporting in The New York Times about how Chief Justice John Roberts approached the two major Trump cases the court decided last term, on immunity and disqualification. Offered repeated opportunities to rise above the partisan fray, the chief justice instead led the court straight into the muck. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s concurring opinions (as well as the other separate opinions) in both cases were clear: The majority went further than it needed to go to resolve the disputes. The Times’s reporting, based on leaked confidential memos (itself an extraordinary breach of court protocol), suggests that the majority did this knowing that the rulings would be seen as sweeping victories for Mr. Trump — if not with the specific intent to do just that.
That is precisely the recipe for reform. The history of the country is rife with it. Professor Vladeck’s book on the shadow docket begins with the creation of the modern court early in the 20th century, when legislation “reformed” the court and gave it many of the powers of review and acceptance/rejection of appeals that we think is the norm today (just as we think any change in the number of justices is illegitimate “court packing.” Congress has changed the size of the Court several times since the first Court sat). It can be argued, at the least, that the Roberts Court has abused the powers given the Court a century ago, and it’s time for another reform.

It would, in fact, be a very good argument.
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Follow The Light 💡

Ever hear the one about the drunk looking for his car keys under the streetlight? Is that where he lost them? No. Then why? “The light’s so much better here.”

If you want to find the most lunatic takes on any topic, that used to require seeking out obscure pamphlets and very small press, not to exclude mimeograph (ask yer Grandpa!) publications. It took effort. You had to seek it out. You had to go into the dark corners.

Now we have progress! Now we have the internet. But you still have to consider context. You still have to consider that the light is so much better over here.👈  You have to consider that bugs are attracted to the light. But that doesn’t mean the world now contains nothing but bugs.

The light may seem better here. That doesn’t mean “here” is where the truth is.
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It’s Actually Worse Than I Imagined

Not that guy. He’s just another liar; no surprise there. I’m talking about this:


Yes, that’s the cover of Trump’s “God Bless The USA” Bible.

“The Day God Intervened”? I think the idea of Bibles in the classroom is an obscenity, because it abuses both the power of the state (school attendance is compulsory) and the holiness of the Bible (it’s not a talisman). But to use one imprinted with such an overtly, and frankly blasphemous political statement, is beyond the pale.

And this clown says that’s not what he meant at all.
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Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Elmo Needn’t Worry

He's white. He is from Africa; but he’s white. And he’s rich. So Trump won’t decide he’s illegal. There might be some other white legal immigrants he decides are illegal, though.

A President’s gotta keep his options open.
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Counterpoint

Or commentators on Twitter are overestimating how many people in the country are as stupid as the “right” on the intertoobs.

It’s not like Turning Point USA’s GOTV efforts are actually catching fire among voters. Or Elmo is influencing anyone who wasn’t already in agreement with him. If you’re not already terminally on Twitter, you probably don’t realize what Elmo has done with it. Or what TPUSA is, for that matter. I guarantee more people know Diddy’s in jail, and why, than even know who Charlie Kirk is.)
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Konstitooshunal Skolarship

Would that be done under Section 3?
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Or under Sec 4?
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Because it only reaches “powers and duties,” It doesn’t amend Art. II, sec. 4, and actually remove the President from office.

The Presidential Succession Act governs who is “third in line.” BTW.
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PROOF!

And western North Carolina got hit really hard," she opined. "They need help. They need water. There are still people missing. 
"There are babies floating in the water. And we're on podcasts. That's what the Harris team is doing." 
MacCallum seemed unconvinced, making the lawyer pause to explain. 
"Where did you see that report of a baby floating in the water?" she asked. 
"We have absolutely heard there are children floating," Habba repeated. "There's missing bodies, dead bodies."
Bots on Twitter have more credibility. 🤖 

And, better late than never:
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“THEN WHY WON’T HE DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?”

"We have the technology! Twitter told me so!”

(More to the point, why won’t DeSantis take Biden’s call?)
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How You Know It’s True

But despite Woodward's reputation as a first-rate and deeply sourced reporter, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung suggested that he lied about every single piece of information in his new book. 
"None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," said Cheung, who provided no evidence to back up his claims. "Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously." 
Cheung went on to say Woodward had written a "trash book" that deserves to be "used as toilet tissue." He concluded by labeling Woodward "a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he's slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality."
Ad hominem is the tell. They got nuthin’.
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People Create Their Own Hell

The putrid stench of his soul is overshadowed only by his subhuman morals. 
More an inert mass than a man, his stupidity rivals his malevolence. 
His noxious demeanor matches the corruption festering between his ears. 
He is a bloated pustule of a being, orbited by sycophantic rodents whose sole purpose is to cater to his infantile whims. 
His intellect, barely surpassing that of a fifth-grader, is eclipsed by his boundless ignorance. 
Devoid of any real true friendships, he attracts only opportunists seeking to exploit him. 
Yet he remains bankrupt in every sense, offering nothing but vile utterances, racist credos, and misogynistic conduct. 
An embodiment of pure id, he lacks the capacity for intelligent speech or original thought, spewing only nonsensical gibberish. 
He is a loser of the highest order.
Someone is taking his picture among other people, so he must grin like a fool. It’s a reflex.
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AMERICA FIRST!!! 🇺🇸

Of course...
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🌀

Tired: the U.S. Government is broken and incompetent 
Wired: the U.S. Government has been secretly and expertly implementing weather control operations for political purposes without leaving a trace of proof beyond out-of-context snippets from public speeches or decades-old patents.
Makes me want to believe in Hell, so I can imagine these people consigned to it. Then again, I’ve known such people, and their personal existence is hell for them. So…
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🙀 🌀

8PM EDT: This is nothing short of astronomical. I am at a loss for words to meteorologically describe you the storms small eye and intensity. 897mb pressure with 180 MPH max sustained winds and gusts 200+ MPH. This is now the 4th strongest hurricane ever recorded by pressure on this side of the world. The eye is TINY at nearly 3.8 miles wide. This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth's atmosphere over this ocean water can produce.
The age old problem of representative government is that it is a representative government. And any idiot can get elected.

The problem with social media is that any idiot with access can bare their ignorance on an international stage.
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Monday, October 07, 2024

Government Of, By, And For The Person

No, you just need the government to validate your claims. It’s our election, not your election. I blame Democrats for all the violent rhetoric.
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Who Are They Talking To?

Aw, shucks...* Off his meds again. Certainly all the voices in his head agree. So he went to Laura Ingraham. And people who know who they’re talking to:
Q: Trump canceled his plan to be interviewed on 60 Minutes. What do you think of that? 
Vice President Harris: If he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a thoughtful conversation, then watch his rallies. What you're going to hear is his personal grievances. What you will not hear is anything about you or how he's going to make your life better. The American people are ready to turn the page
Q: You have accused Trump of using racist tropes when it comes to Haitian immigrants in Springfield, when it comes to birtherism, when it comes to Charlottesville… 
Vice President Harris: It's just wrong. I believe that the people of America want a leader who's not trying to divide us and demean. The true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it’s based on who you lift up
Pelley: Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump agreed to be interviewed on 60 Minutes. Then, a week ago, Trump backed out. The Trump campaign offered shifting explanations. First, it complained that we would fact check the interview. We fact check every story. Later, Trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. Trump had previously declined another debate with Harris
*Context: Nobody needs wimmen stuff in a natural disaster.
John Kennedy is stunningly stupid for a Vanderbilt- Oxford product. Or at least what one of those is imagined to be like.
Or he thinks his constituents are that stupid. It’s a toss up, really.
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Peter Doocy Serves His Purpose

To be owned in public by KJP. By explaining how ignorant he is.

Congress allocates federal funds, under Art. I. The funds Trump keeps railing about were allocated to the Border Patrol, for immigrant shelters. Congress directed those funds to FEMA for administration on behalf of BP. The funds are not FEMA funds reallocated by the President, as Trump did.

Trump does everything like a projector.📽️ 
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How It Started (Kinda)

How it’s going:
NBC News Exclusive: 
A group of imams have endorsed Vice President Harris in an open letter — a critical boost as she steps up her efforts to win back disaffected Muslim voters 
The 25 Islamic religious leaders argue that Muslim voters have a duty to think logically about their voting decisions and that backing Harris "far outweighs the harms of the other options."
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The Stupid, It’s Contagious

This close to a reference to the historical hurricane that happened under George W., and his disastrously incompetent response. I’d say Hannity just flubbed it live, but he put it in the graphic. Which can only mean he read it off the ‘prompter.

You’ve got to admit it’s worthy of Trump. And so is this:
In a written statement Sunday, Huckabee Sanders said, “I would never criticize a woman for not having children, the point I was making and that Kamala Harris confirmed by her own admission is that she doesn’t believe our leaders should be humble, which explains her arrogant claim that she alone can fix our nation’s problems after spending the last four years making them worse.”
First, I’ll reiterate: you really can’t brag about your humility. 🙄

Second, Trump is the one campaigning on “I alone can fix it.” His latest is a repeated declaration that either the economy will collapse if he loses, or the only reason the economy is doing well is in anticipation of his victory.

An economy which has only gotten better in the four years since Trump had four years in office.

It’s always projection with the GOP. It’s the only defense they’ve got. 📽️
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Or Just Walk To The Beach And Keep Going

We’ve got enough problems around here.

ICYMI (or don’t haunt Twitter the way I do):
The answer is, their brains were already broken. Social media and Trump just allowed them to leak out among the rest of us.
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Dancing With The One What Brung Ya…

...in the very edge of the abyss.
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Trump Knows

He knows to lie in a complicated way. He knows that what this country needs now is Joe McCarthy behind the Resolute Desk. He knows that all Jews in America have a dual loyalty, and so Israel is all Jewish voters in America. And they owe him.
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The Pattern

Pretty sure Trump was the fountainhead of the COVID conspiracy theories, too, from origins to contagion 😷 to vaccine 💉.

Pretty sure this is where I came in.

Everything new is old again.
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“Three Generations Of Imbeciles…”

Eugenics started in Europe, made its way to England, where it undergirded the “superiority” of whites over non-whites for the sake of the empire, then made its way to America where it was written into law, which gave the Nazis their blueprint for new German laws.

Which caused Europe and America to erase all memory of eugenics, and label what they had embraced, “pseudo-science.”

Don’t get me started….

Trump’s embrace of it is hardly surprising. I find that, as people age, they become more and more nakedly, who they are. Children play with identity, especially in play. Adolescents struggle with it, as they move to take on adulthood. Young adults argue with themselves, determined not to be their parents. In some ways it is inevitable that they do; in other ways, they make their own choices. But as disinhibition grows (Trump’s public profanity is an example), the cover erodes and the base material appears.

Trump has always been a white supremacist. Openly embracing eugenics is just part of his disinhibition. Time to remember the President is a diplomatic role, as well as servant of all Americans. Trump is not, and has never been, fit for either.

He’s not getting worse. His disqualifications are just getting more obvious.
It’s cute that he thinks Trump and Stephen Miller haven’t already done that.
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Oh, That’s Better! 🙄

In law, yes. In practice, Texas is the poster child for maternal deaths (spiked after the law was passed); women refused healthcare until they are nearly dead; women pursued by Paxton for leaving the state to seek healthcare where it is legal; and even a city that wants to ban women from traveling through it on the way to healthcare in New Mexico or Colorado.

Colin Allred is running an ad with three women denied healthcare in Texas. A PAC is running a third, about her experience when the instruments she needed after delivery were locked away because they were also used for abortions. She nearly bled to death before they could be recovered and used. 

But it’s okay, because Texas is not in conflict with federal law. Not on paper, anyway. Not according to the Supremes.
The administration also cited a Texas Supreme Court ruling that said doctors do not have to wait until a woman’s life is in immediate danger to provide an abortion legally. The administration said it brings Texas in line with federal law and means the lower court ruling is not necessary.
What the Texas Supreme Court actually said was, the Texas medical board needed to draw up guidelines on when the life of the mother was at risk sufficient to meet the law. The board has declined to do so, and doctors have declined to risk jail, preferring malpractice suits (which insurance will cover), instead. Same with hospitals, who control what services doctors can provide.

O, what a paradise it seems!
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I’ll Ask Again

Who is going to commit this violence?

The MAGAts walking out on Trump at his rallies? The small crowds in the small venues who are getting bored? 🥱 

Some of the 1200 who’ve been charged for their actions on J6? 

And where do they attack? And who do they attack? And who coordinates these attacks?

There were lots of spontaneous acts during Covid, probably the worst of which was the plot to kidnap Gretchen Witmer. And that was a farce. Small groups made public protests against Covid restrictions. The only people hurt were the people who refused to wear masks or get vaccinated. Well, and the people they infected.

But this is about violence; presumably J6 violence. How will that be replicated? Where will that be replicated? Who will replicate it? The remnants of the Proud Boys? Are the Oath Keepers even still around?

What’s the point of this kind of talk? I understand warning against what Trump wants to do in Trump 2: Electric Boogaloo. But this is a warning about voting against Trump; by people who want you to vote against Trump. Why? To make me worry that Trump will lose? To make me afraid of my neighbor’s lawn sign? To avoid the inauguration? (Spoiler alert: I wasn’t planning on going.)

To be afraid? Be very afraid? 😱 

Ir just to play Cassandra, because it’s so easy, and nobody remembers, or cares, if you were wrong? 😑 

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I’m Sure FEMA Will Have Plenty Of Money For This, Too

Eh, Speaker Johnson?
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It’s No Longer Just Malarkey

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Sunday, October 06, 2024

Boots On The Ground

A sign floodwaters are receding and it’s time for more boots on the muddy ground.
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Political Violence Is The Democrats Fault

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Can’t Imagine Why Congress Would Need…

...to come back into session to approve more disaster relief.

Might as well wait ‘til December. Disasters will all be over by then.
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In Which I Stand With My White Brothers

You know, I was fully supportive of Kamala. In my heart, gut, and mind, I believe she will be a president for all Americans. She is someone who leads from the front and will move our country forward, securing all our rights enshrined by the constitution, especially in the face of White Nationalism, Project 2025, and open corruption by Republicans and Donald Trump. 
But then Andrea Mitchell told me that as a white man, I should be concerned that Kamala didn't sit with Lester Holt for 15 minutes, and now I'm confused again.
Lester Holt would ask serious questions:
alexandracooper: Trump recently told women ‘I will be your protector.’ What do you make of that? 
Vice President Harris: He who hand-selected three members of the Supreme Court to undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did just as he intended? And there are now 20 states with Trump Abortion Bans including bans that make no exception for rape or incest? This is the same guy who said that women should be punished for having abortions
alexandracooper: What values did your mother instill in you? 
Vice President Harris: She taught us that we had agency. Things don't just happen to you. If I came home with a problem, the first thing she said was, ‘what did you do?’ I realized that was a really powerful thing she was teaching, which is to figure out how you can take charge of a moment
One wonders if Lester Holt would ever think to ask such questions.
Q: I saw the governor of Arkansas said ‘my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.’ How did that make you feel? 
Vice President Harris: I don't think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who are not aspiring to be humble. This is not the 1950s anymore. Families come in all kinds of shapes and forms
Never in all my days thought of Gov. Sanders as “humble.” I’m all for humility; but it’s not something to brag about.
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60 Minutes⏱️

Uh... Is Politico carrying water for the media narrative? Or pissed Harris hasn’t given them an interview? Or both?

I haven’t watched “60 Minutes” in probably 3 decades. I understand there’s a special broadcast Monday night, with the Harris interview, and something in place of the interview Trump ran away from. I’m going to have to remember that.
And he’ll make Mexico pay for it! The day the NYT article drops.

And a reminder, because apparently it’s needed: Starlink will not provide electricity; repair roads; bring food; or offer shelter. Communication is good; but it’s hardly everything.
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Wait A Minute…

Which is it? No government? Or handing out money? Trump is looking in a mirror, mired in the past. He was President 4 years ago. And the past isn’t what it was. Lord of the flies. 🪰 Wait…isn’t the economy in the crapper waiting to recover in November? 🦃 Tired of the flies. 🪰
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🎃🤔🎃👻

Former President Donald J. Trump vividly recounted how the audience at his climactic debate with Vice President Kamala Harris was on his side. Except that there was no audience. The debate was held in an empty hall. No one “went crazy,” as Mr. Trump put it, because no one was there. 
Anyone can misremember, of course. But the debate had been just a week earlier and a fairly memorable moment. And it was hardly the only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately. In fact, it happens so often these days that it no longer even generates much attention. 
Or it has finally generated attention…
He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own “beautiful” body. He relishes “a great day in Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses fear that North Korea is “trying to kill me” when he presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks after his withdrawal from the race.
And:
He has always been discursive and has often been untethered to truth, but with the passage of time his speeches have grown darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane and increasingly fixated on the past.
It is, of course, an “objective” analysis:
According to a computer analysis by The New York Times, Mr. Trump’s rally speeches now last an average of 82 minutes, compared with 45 minutes in 2016. Proportionately, he uses 13 percent more all-or-nothing terms like “always” and “never” than he did eight years ago, which some experts consider a sign of advancing age. 
Similarly, he uses 32 percent more negative words than positive words now, compared with 21 percent in 2016, which can be another indicator of cognitive change. And he uses swearwords 69 percent more often than he did when he first ran, a trend that could reflect what experts call disinhibition. (A study by Stat, a health care news outlet, produced similar findings.)
The surprising thing is that in all this time of silence, apparently the NYT has been paying attention. Silently. 

They even note Trump is mired in the 1990’s and 1890’s, citing his references to Hannibal Lecter and bringing back Johnny Carson, and:
He seems confused about modern technology, suggesting that “most people don’t have any idea what the hell a phone app is” in a country where 96 percent of people own a smartphone.
All the latest and greatest hits, IOW. And some good summaries:
He does not stick to a single train of thought for long. During one 10-minute stretch in Mosinee, Wis., last month, for instance, he ping-ponged from topic to topic: Ms. Harris’s record; the virtues of the merit system; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement; supposed corruption at the F.D.A., the C.D.C. and the W.H.O.; the Covid-19 pandemic; immigration; back to the W.H.O.; China; Mr. Biden’s age; Ms. Harris again; Mr. Biden again; chronic health problems and childhood diseases; back to Mr. Kennedy; the “Biden crime family”; the president’s State of the Union address; Franklin D. Roosevelt; the 25th Amendment; the “parasitic political class”; Election Day; back to immigration; Senator Tammy Baldwin; back to immigration; energy production; back to immigration; and Ms. Baldwin again.
And this “weave,” which I missed:
In Rome, Ga., he went on an extended riff about Mr. Biden in swim trunks on a beach. “Look, at 81 — do you remember Cary Grant? How good was Cary Grant, right? I don’t think Cary Grant, he was good. I don’t know what happened to movie stars today. We used to have Cary Grant and Clark Gable and all these people. Today we have — I won’t say names because I don’t need enemies. I don’t need enemies. I got enough enemies. But Cary Grant was like, Michael Jackson once told me, ‘The most handsome man, Trump, in the world.’ Who? ‘Cary Grant.’ Well, we don’t have that anymore. But Cary Grant at 81 or 82 — going on 100, this guy, he’s 81 going on 100 — Cary Grant wouldn’t look too good in a bathing suit either, and he was pretty good-looking, right?”
That’s when you make sure Grandpa isn’t left with anything he could hurt himself with, or swallow.

It’s a damning portrait of a man who shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office again. And it’s damned near too late.

But better that, than never.
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October Surprise 🎃

The surprise is that the NYT got around to publishing this.
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Trump Lies The Way Other People Draw Breath

CNN's resident fact checker, Daniel Dale, put together a timeline of Donald Trump's lies about FEMA and the federal response to Hurricane Helene: 
Monday: Trump falsely claims Biden hasn’t answered calls from Georgia’s governor 
Monday: Trump cites baseless ‘reports’ about anti-Republican bias in the North Carolina response 
Thursday: Trump falsely claims the Biden-Harris response had received ‘universally’ negative reviews 
Thursday: Trump falsely claims Harris spent ‘all her FEMA money’ on housing illegal migrants 
Friday: Trump falsely claims $1 billion was ‘stolen’ from FEMA for migrants and has gone ‘missing’ 
Saturday: Trump falsely claims the federal government is only giving $750 to people who lost their homes 
Saturday: Trump falsely claims there are ‘no helicopters, no rescue’ in North Carolina 
I'm so over that man's lies.
That much hasn’t changed.
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I Am Fully Sick Of These People

Bash: Trump is spreading disinformation about Hurricane Helene relief and echoing conspiracy theorists online. Why? 
Lara Trump: *lies* 
Bash: $750 is just a first step. It is for immediate needs like baby formula 
Lara Trump: *deflects* 
Bash: That is misinformation. If people are getting incorrect information, then they can’t get assistance 
Lara Trump: Well— 
Bash: Here is GOP senator Thom Tillis praising the federal response
Also because:
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Dear Google: How Do I Tell AI From Real?

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Speaker Johnson Says Congress Doesn’t Need To Allocate More Disaster Funding

Maybe when they come back in December? 🤷🏻‍♂️ 
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I’ve Never Had To Use FEMA

But I’ve been through more than a few natural disasters. And this woman is right.

Fuck the liars. I have yet to see one tweet even purportedly from someone in a disaster area. Oddly, too, it’s always about NC. Not Georgia, or Florida; just NC. Which points to the unprecedented nature of the disaster, and the need for help, not bullshit.

I’ve seen praise for Elmo on Twitter for “delivering Starlink satellites.”🛰️  (Which isn’t remotely the same thing as providing food or shelter.) The difference between bots and stupid is truly negligible.  OTOH, most of the public official complaints about the intertoobs are about fake/false FB posts. The only people paying attention to Twitter are…people on Twitter.

🤔
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Shutting Down Government Would Be Bad, But…

...refusing to authorize more disaster funding after unprecedented storm damage (for the first time in 130 years, the Biltmore Mansion suffered extensive flooding damage, so I’m guessing Asheville has never seen flooding like this. Not unlike the flooding brought to Houston by Hurricane Harvey. Global warming is real.) is good? 

Voters really aren’t fooled by who cut off the services, or failed to come up with the aid. They know the money comes from Congress, and they know who refuses to spend the money. Every. Time. Especially since hurricane season isn’t over, and hurricanes have struck the continental US in November as recently as four years ago.

Given conditions this summer, expecting more large hurricanes until Thanksgiving isn’t really unreasonable.Facing a large turnout, perhaps the best strategy for the minority party is not to tell the country YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY MORE HELP! Especially when MAGA is busy pushing hardcore nonsense:
I wonder if the GOP just wants to lose as much as possible this year.  🤔
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Saturday, October 05, 2024

Good night, Everybody!

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Shouting Into An Empty Room 🤖

Of which 99% will be bots. Just anecdotally based on replies I’ve read. But there’s also the fact the vast population of the US is NOT on Twitter. And I don’t think even MSNBC and CNN will pay much attention, much less TV news or WaPo/NYT, to a Twitter pseudo-meltdown.

I mean, who has even noticed Twitter has lost 78% of the value Elmo paid for it? I read that on Twitter.

Of course, doesn’t mean it was true….
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Illegal And…

Tell me you’ve never voted before without telling me you’ve never voted before.

First question: cui bono? Maybe in a very local race,  99 fraudulent votes would swing the race. But what would you get for that?  A government job? A lot to risk for such a reward.

You’d need 100 ID’s (in many states), and 100 addresses to register to vote at. That’s not the worst bit. How do you vote 10 times at one polling place? Get in line and go back through? Wear a disguise?🥸 Each time? Because the election workers won’t recognize you with glasses? Or a fake beard?

As I was saying, tell me you’ve never voted…

Besides finding 100 addresses with each ten in a different polling location.

I know it’s supposed to be a joke. But again: why would someone go to this much trouble? Because more people vote for Democrats than for Republicans? So they must be cheating? On a massive scale?

The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?
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