October 24, 2024

The Stuttering Lede, Oct. 24th, 2024

11 days until we find out if we can stop fascism

“My palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…” Barack Obama rapping Eminem’s Lose Yourself.

Election 2024

• Kamala Harris on whether she thinks Trump is a fascist: Yes. Yes I do.

• Trump in Aurora: "The enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia."

• Trump: "We had to go back to 1798. That's when we had laws that were effective."

• Trump: "You have no idea what I did in the White House. I stopped wars with France.”

• Newspaper front pages ignore Trump’s former chief-of-staff saying the former president is a fascist who praised Hitler.

• How the hell is this even close?

• Trump Homeland Security official Kevin Carroll: “He frequently said to senior staff, ‘Why don’t my generals support me the way that Hitler’s generals supported him?’...The man quotes Hitler…It’s not as if he’s accidentally quoting him.”

• Waukesha Republican Mayor Shawn Reilly: I am going to be voting for Vice President Harris to become our next president. I am terrified of Donald Trump becoming our next president for all the reasons I’ve indicated. He’s already been impeached twice. He’s been convicted of felonies. And this is not what the United States needs.

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• A former model who says she met Donald Trump through Jeffrey Epstein accuses Trump of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she believed was a “twisted game” between the two men.

• It's hard to imagine what could be worse than what is already out there about Trump. Here are just a few clips/stories that should be disqualifying.

• Georgia election official says battleground state fended off cyberattack likely from a foreign country.

• Did you know that there's a constitutional amendment on the Arizona ballot, placed there by the GOP, that would cancel judicial elections in the state, ****including nullifying the results of judicial elections happening on the same day****?

Politics

• Is it fascism?

• 13 cops raided a UPenn student residence in West Philly armed w assault rifles & donned in tactical gear. The reason for the raid? Suspicion of vandalism related to paint thrown on a statue a month ago as part of protests against the war on Gaza.

• Los Angeles Times editorials editor RESIGNS after pro-Trump owner blocks presidential endorsement.

• Bank account used for Trump's hush money payments got cash linked to Russian oligarch.

• Haverford College in the Philly suburbs, Quaker-rooted, has long been a bastion of progressive thought Beyond irony: the school's biggest donor is now point man for helping a Trump 47 fill the gov't with MAGA loyalists.

• “When we began reporting on Nicole Shanahan, she offered us $500,000 to be “whistleblowers” and share our sources. We declined — but kept reporting our profile.”

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• There's an open seat on the Michigan supreme court, and the Republican chief justice of the Michigan supreme court is endorsing the Democratic-nominated candidate Kimberly Ann Thomas rather than GOP lawmaker Andrew Fink.

Middle East

• Last night, the Israeli Security Forces (ISF) shot in the chest and killed an 11-year-old Palestinian boy throwing stones at armoured vehicles in Nablus despite posing no realistic threat. On 20 Oct, in Hebron, ISF shot in the head a 17-year-old boy, now in critical condition. Another 11-year-old boy was critically injured after ISF shot him in the head on 17 Oct in Al-Arroub camp. In the past year alone, ISF killed 165 Palestinian children in the West Bank, incl. EJ, 36 in airstrikes and 129 shot with live ammunition, most in the head or upper body.

• Nowhere to go’: Syrians fleeing Israeli strikes in Lebanon face perilous return”.

Women Rights

• At a women’s prison nicknamed “the Rape Club,” a former guard at the now-closed California institution was indicted on 15 counts of sexual abuse of female inmates. "...he was openly referred to by his moniker, ‘dirty dick Smith,’"

Climate Change

• Taking more than 2 flights a year? €50 frequent flyer tax could raise much-needed €64bn for climate.

• Climate “tipping points” found from last ice age.

• Climate scientists warn Nordic ministers of changing Atlantic Ocean current.

Tech

• The Justice Department has sent a letter to Elon Musk's super PAC, warning that his daily $1m giveaway to registered voters in swing states might violate federal laws, sources tell CNN. It's illegal to incentivize registration with cash/prizes.

• We're talking about the largest tax break in American history - for one single person: Elon Musk.

• I hope, by now, that everyone has heard: he does this because he thinks it makes an "X" in the air, and he fashions that his personal brand. Just try to wrap your head around how sad & pathetic that is. You can't.

Russia/Ukraine

• Russian MFA: Small as what? The USSR? The Russian Empire? Oh, I got it! As the Kievan Rus. For that we need Kiev. You said it yourself, bloody jerk.

• Leaving russians without vodka is terrifying.

  

• Some libraries and rec centers in Russia are joining a handful of grade schools in staging "preventative talks" to warn against quadrobing — the subculture where youths meow, bark, and crawl around, believing they're animals.

• The troops being sent to Russia are from North Korea’s Eleventh Army, an elite unit known as the “Storm Corps”, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.'

• BBC Verify has extensively reported on an AI-powered influence operation run by Moscow-based former Florida cop John Mark Dougan. Now WaPo says it's seen documents that show Dougan has been directly working with Russian military intelligence.

Misc.

• This is how fascism works: they don’t debate ideas, they silence them. Naval Academy disinvites historian Ruth Ben Ghiat from a history department lecture under pressure from the Heritage Foundation. Intended lecture was what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule through history.

• Listen up Jimi Hendrix fans! Four unreleased demo tracks are heading to the auction block—along with some of the American rockstar’s dry-cleaning receipts, paperwork and tour itineraries.

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• Around the world by luxury train: This 59-day adventure passes through 12 countries.

• Local Café Named 1 Of Nation's Best: South Jersey Business News.