December 18, 2023

Monday, December 18,2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden campaign says Trump’s repeated anti-immigration comments ‘parroted Adolf Hitler.’

The Biden campaign slammed Trump for his repeated statements that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America, saying that his statements echo Adolf Hitler.

• Trump’s remarks come as Republican hard-liners in Congress refuse to pass a Ukraine-Israel aid package until Democrats agree to stricter immigration policies.

• Biden has previously pointed out that delaying Ukrainian aid serves Russia’s interests.

The Biden campaign slammed former President Donald Trumpfor echoing Nazi sentiments with his repeated statements on Saturday night that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the United States.

“Donald Trump channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy,” Biden-Harris 2024 campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement on Saturday.

The Republican frontrunner most recently repeated the anti-immigrant remarks at a New Hampshire rally and in a Truth Social post Saturday night. But Trump has used this language nearly verbatim at least as early as September.

“It’s poisoning the blood of our country. It’s so bad, people are coming in with disease,” he said in a September interview with far-right political propagandist Raheem Kassam.

In his “Mein Kampf” manifesto, Hitler used similar rhetoric about blood poisoning, declaring it an existential threat to the Aryan race.

“President Trump gave a great speech,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said about the former president’s remarks. “Contrast that with mainstream media and academia at-large who have given safe haven for dangerous anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas rhetoric.”

Trump’s inflammatory comments come as Republican hard-liners in Congress refuse to pass a Ukraine-Israel aid package until Democrats agree to stricter border policies. Republicans want to tighten asylum restrictions and have proposed policies like ankle bracelet monitors for people detained at the border.

Democrats have rebuked those policies, leading to an impasse that has held up an aid package with billions of dollars of support for Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars. With House members recessed for the holiday break, that funding will likely be postponed until 2024.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday was unfazed by Trump’s anti-immigrant remarks, doubling down on his commitment to more stringent border policy.

“If you’re talking about the language Trump uses rather than trying to fix it, that’s a losing strategy for the Biden administration,” Graham said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said Sunday that “echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists” is an attack on American democracy.

In recent weeks, Trump has made several statements that appear to foreshadow his presidential approach in a second term.

At the same New Hampshire rally on Saturday night, Trump quoted authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin as an apparent character testimony: “Vladimir Putin, of Russia says that Biden’s – and this is a quote – politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”

He has also said that he would rule as a dictator on “day one” of his presidency.

Biden has previously called out the fact that the deadlocked Ukrainian aid package serves Russian foreign policy interests. After Republicans voted to block Ukraine aid, Biden quoted a Kremlin propagandist saying, “Well done, Republicans! That’s good for us.” (CNBC).

One more thing.

Chris Christie thinks Donald Trump’s stance on immigration makes him unfit for office.

Christie continued to make his case against his rival for the Republican presidential candidacy during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, where he called out the former president for comments he made at a campaign event in New Hampshire the day prior.

Trump, the GOP’s current front-runner, was openly xenophobic during the speech, where he told crowds that immigrants are “pouring” into the U.S. and “poisoning the blood of our country.”

“You’re telling me that someone who says that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country,” Christie asked. “Someone who says Vladimir Putin is a character witness is fit to be president of the United States, was the right president at the right time?”(HuffPost).

Former Vice President Mike Pence to the Washington Post on why Trump is not fit to be President.

Watch. 👇 Here is the transcript.

“The president and I had a very good working relationship for four years … The President was not just my president, he was my friend. I’m very proud of the partnership that we forged …

In the days leading up to January 6, something changed. The president stopped listening to some of the authoritative legal voices around him and he stopped listening to me. And he started listening to a group of crackpot lawyers, who should’ve never been allowed on the White House grounds to begin with, who told him what I like to say his itching ears wanted to hear.

The tragedy of that day was … the fact that in the days leading up the president turned a deaf ear to those of us who were taking a strong stand for what the Constitution required of us in that moment … History will judge Donald Trump for that day." - Former Vice President Mike Pence to the Washington Post.

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Binder of classified material on Russia reportedly went missing in final Trump days | Donald Trump | The Guardian

A 10in-thick binder containing nearly 3,000 pages of highly classified material related to the investigation of Russian election interference as well as links between Moscow and Donald Trump went missing in the final days of his presidency, CNN and the New York Times reported.

CNN said the disappearance raised alarms in the American intelligence community because “some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed”.

The Times said national security officials were “vexed” by the disappearance of the “Crossfire Hurricane binder”, which was “the name given to the investigation by the FBI”.

The issue was so concerning, the Times added, the Senate intelligence committee was briefed.

Now the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump faces 91 criminal charges arising from his conduct since entering politics in 2015. Forty charges, brought by the special counsel Jack Smith, concern the retention of classified information after leaving office.

In August 2022, FBI agents searched Trump’s Florida home. They did not find material related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the Times said.

The investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election won by Trump ended in April 2019. At that time, a report by the special counsel Robert Mueller laid out evidence of Russian interference and links between Trump and Moscow and occasions on which Trump may have tried to obstruct justice.

But Mueller did not establish collusion between Trump and Russia. Aided by his second attorney general, William Barr, Trump claimed exoneration.

On Friday, reports about the missing binder – which the Times said ran to 2,700 pages – brought the Russia investigation back to the headlines.

According to the Times, the binder contained “a hodgepodge of materials related to the origins and early stages of the Russia investigation that were collected by Trump administration officials”.

That “hodgepodge”, the paper said, “included copies of botched FBI applications for national security surveillance warrants to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser as well as text messages between two FBI officials … expressing animus toward Mr Trump”.

The paper said the “substance” of the material was not particularly sensitive and was posted online, with redactions, by the FBI. Official concerns centered on what the binder could reveal about sources and methods, the Times said, while noting that the online version runs to 585 pages – more than 2,000 fewer than the missing binder.

“Among other murky details,” the paper said, “it is not known how many copies were made at the White House or how the government knows one set is missing.”

CNN said “multiple copies” of the binder were created in the last hours of the Trump administration, “with plans to distribute them … to Republicans in Congress and rightwing journalists”.

Trumped ordered declassification but that has not happened in full. Reportedly “deeply focused” on the binder, Trump offered to let the author of a book about him have a look inside.

“I would let you look at them if you wanted,” Trump said in April 2021, according to the Times. “It’s a treasure trove … it would be a sort of cool book for you to look at.”

Maggie Haberman, one of the reporters on Friday’s piece, wrote a book about Trump which was published last year.

Trump indicated that his last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had the binder. A lawyer for Meadows told the Times his client “never took any copy of that binder home at any time”.

Presented with the CNN report, one former Trump national security aide simply said, in a message viewed by the Guardian: “Holy cow.” (The Guardian).

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It is no secret that Giuliani was found guilty of defaming Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shay Moss but the article 👇 offers interesting details.

Giuliani ordered to pay $148M for spreading lies about Georgia election workers - POLITICO

After the verdict, Shaye Moss.

After the verdict, Ruby Freeman embraces her daughter.

A jury handed down the whopping judgment in favor of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who were besieged by harassment after Rudy Giuliani falsely accused them of ballot fraud.

Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers whose lives were upended after the former New York City mayor falsely accused them of manipulating ballots in 2020, a federal jury determined Friday.

The eight-member panel awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss about $16 million apiece for claims that Giuliani defamed them, as well as $20 million apiece for the emotional distress they experienced after Giuliani’s allegations were followed by a deluge of threats, harassment and professional consequences.

The jury of Washington, D.C., residents also determined that Giuliani must pay $75 million in “punitive” damages, a penalty intended to deter him and others from engaging in similar smear campaigns in the future.
The verdict was announced late Friday afternoon, after about 10 hours of deliberations following an unusual four-day trial in which the jury’s only task was to make damage awards, since U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell had already ruled Giuliani liable due to his failure to comply with her earlier orders to turn over evidence related to the case.

It’s unclear how much of the massive judgment — if any — Freeman and Moss will ever receive.

Giuliani, 79, is reportedly in dire financial straits, and he has at times turned to Donald Trump’s political action committee for help paying his legal bills. The judge found that he shielded evidence of his net worth, and lawyers for Freeman and Moss even alluded during their closing arguments to the prospect that Giuliani would not be able to pay any judgment.

Early in the trial, Giuliani’s lawyer said a damages award in the tens of millions of dollars would be the “civil equivalent of the death penalty.”

Giuliani, who was ordered by Howell to attend the trial, casually jotted notes with a stylus on an electronic tablet as the verdict was read by the jury foreperson.

A few minutes later, Giuliani stood outside the courthouse and declared, “I don’t regret a damn thing.”

The former mayor and federal prosecutor called the monetary award “absurd” and said he would appeal. He denied responsibility for the threats and harassment that Freeman and Moss received — including a bevy of unambiguously racist, violent messages — and said that he receives “comments like that every day.” (Politico).
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Do you know the Esquire’s Napkin Project?

You should.

The Napkin Project (Holiday Edition)

We asked five writers to submit short works of fiction about office holiday parties. The results—including holiday beatdowns, roasted lizards, and a napkin by an A-lister—might surprise you.

When we set out to publish this special holiday edition of The Napkin Project, we knew that we didn’t want to tell typical holiday stories. No treacle-y tales of family, forgiveness, and full hearts—that’s not our style.

And so, when we asked five tremendously talented writers to submit works of short fiction contained on cocktail napkins, we gave them this prompt: “Write a story set at an office holiday party.” Corporate parties aren’t the stuff of Hallmark movies or holiday literary lore, but they do make fertile ground for fiction. The proof is right here, scribbled in their own handwriting.

In one story, an employee awaits a fatal beatdown from his colleagues; in another, the holiday party’s hired bartender reflects on Christmases past and present. Elsewhere, soldiers roast lizards over a celebratory barrel fire, while in another story, typewriters stage a revolt. One of our five napkins, a tender meditation on aging in the workplace, is even penned by a Hollywood A-lister.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Esquire. We’re wishing you a festive season full of roasted lizards and plentiful reading time. —Adrienne Westenfeld, Books and Fiction Editor

[here is one story. 👇 it’s awesome as are the other stories accessible through this post.

Got any plans for the holidays?"

The bartender is in between drinks when the suit asks her this question, but she does not turn around to answer. Not yet. By now, she has shaken 41 cocktails, pulled 35 beers, and skinned 11 lemons, along with a part of her thumb. She has muddled 26 mint leaves, has speared 10 pieces of ginger. She has texted her MIA coworker 12 questions marks and received zero responses. She has reminded 15 folks that their company's open bar only includes well liquor and draft beer, not Grey Goose or Redbreast or Beefeater; she has repeatedly apologized for not having holiday specials or eggnog or peppermint schnapps, "But I can make you a hot toddy." Thanks to hte bar's digital jukebox, she has endured "Feliz Navidad" 3 times—2 times too many—and she has overheard 9 conversations about vacations to islands she will never visit, plus 4 debates over how much—if anything—one should gift their nannies, their cleaning ladies, their doormen. She has witnessed complaints about judgy in-laws and gripes about offending a child's "they-friend" with the wrong pronoun. She has taken one tequila shot with an abandoned plus-one, and another (fake) tequila shot with a recent divorcée she should probably cut off soon. She has sent 4 more question marks to her MIA coworker, who finally tells her he tested positive for Covid, so she will have to close alone for the 3rd time this week.

This office holiday party started 4 hours ago and her tip jar is half-empty. So...

-SHE NEEDS A MINUTE.-

The bartender sighs. She could pretend she hasn't heard the question. The party has grown rowdier. Messier. One group is screamsinging "All I Want For Christmas Is You," although "Feliz Navidad" is playing. AGAIN. Another is bravely (stupidly) comparing holiday bonuses. Most are spilling truths they will have to clean up tomorrow.

The bartender sighs again. Years ago, when she first moved to this city for a dream, her holiday plans would have been to go home. Town diner with old friends. Tree farm with family. Sticky-sweet Lifetime movies, even sweeter cookies. And SO MUCH DECORATING. String lights, tinsel. The homemade angel ornament she made from pipe cleaners and an empty toilet paper roll when she was 6.

Plans for the holidays.

She looks at her hands, worn and crinkly from years of cleaning and cutting and washing and drying. Only when she finally turns around does she realize the suit hasn't been speaking to her at all, but to a woman sitting next to him.

"Here," the bartender says to no one. "I'll be here."

ZAKIYA DALILA HARRIS

Zakiya Dalila Harris is a Brooklyn-based writer whose work has appeared in Guernica, The Rumpus, and Cosmopolitan; she is the author of The Other Black Girl.

Story #2

The Napkin Project (Holiday Edition): Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Story #3

The Napkin Project (Holiday Edition): Ottessa Moshfegh.

Story #4

The Napkin Project (Holiday Edition): Chris Pine

Story #5

The Napkin Project (Holiday Edition): Jeff VanderMeer.

Bonus. If you write a holiday story on a napkin and send it to me, with a computer text as well, I will post it on the Roundup sight unseen.

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