September 13, 2024

The Stuttering Lede, Sept. 13th 2024

53 days until we know if we can stop fascism

“Less is always more. The best language is silence. We live in a time of a terrible inflation of words, and it is worse than the inflation of money.” Eduardo Galeano

Election 2024

• Ever tell someone about the awful policies in Project 2025, and they respond “that would be awful but Trump and the GOP could/would never actually DO it,” show them this Project 2025 is already a reality in many states.

• The only way they can win elections is by suppressing votes, lying, pushing racist propaganda, and cheating.

  • Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are keeping their children home and reporting damage to their property as anti-immigrant conspiracy theories spread, fanned by statements by Trump and Vance.

  • A bomb threat was sent to multiple city agencies and media offices in Springfield.

  • We deserve better.' A Haitian perspective from Springfield, Ohio.

  • Triple hearsay: original sources of the claim that Haitians eat pets in Ohio admit no first-hand knowledge.

  • RFK Jr. has thrown a grenade into the North Carolina election. He waited too long to remove his name from the ballot—then persuaded the far-right NC Supreme Court to do it anyway, an egregious violation of law that has canceled early voting indefinitely.

  • “Knock, knock. It's the Florida Election Police. Open up and show us your signature.”

  • On Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system, and the Alaska Native leaders who have emerged to defend it from attempts by the right to repeal it.

  • Antisemitic mailers in #NY04 re-use imagery that has regularly appeared in GOP messages for many years. Here’s a copy of the mailer by the campaign of Antony D’Esposito “Laura Gillen’s campaign is bankrolled by the Soros family, which has spent millions of dollars funding anti-Israel organizations.”

    

  • Judge disqualifies Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz from running for president in Georgia.

• Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club hosted a convicted Jan. 6 rioter and Nazi sympathizer twice this summer, where he was celebrated and gave speeches. It is worth noting the tone of the ADL statement about Trump hosting a neo-Nazi who said he would "kill all the Jews and eat them for breakfast," relative to the tone the ADL has taken about student protestors:“We hope that the Trump campaign will disavow this individual and his antisemitic views if in fact he was given a platform at a Jan. 6 defendants fundraising event.”

• “By just being a normal, competent, presidential candidate, Kamala destroyed Trump. Yet MOST white voters will STILL vote for the incompetent, racist liar.”

• Meet the MAGA zealots who are gunning to become their state’s top prosecutors.

• When is the vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz?

• Here’s another very good argument why Taylor Swift has every right to endorse and promote Kamala and why it actually matters.

• Numerous people are prepping for what might happen if Trump wins. They are bracing for years of legal harassment and the deep corruption of govt info into rank propaganda.

• If you think Biden bowed out gracefully then read this incredibly entitled and firmly detached from reality interview with Anita Dunn.

• Nebraska's Chadron State U. wanted to hold a "Tim Walz Day" to celebrate how their little regional college educated the man who could be VP. The MAGA Republicans who run their hometown wouldn't allow it.

• Donald Trump a de facto Russian asset, FBI official he fired suggests.

• Trump campaign privately concedes it was a bad night with missed opportunities and self-owns over immigrants eating pets.

• NPR correctly concludes: “The spotlight should now be on Trump’s incoherence and general lack of any serious grasp on policy.”

• Wearing a MAGA hat, regardless of context was a HUGE mistake by Biden.

• Still don’t know who Laura Loomer is? Good for you, but here’s her vatniksoup profile.

• Senator Wyden says trillions in taxes dodged by ultra-rich could fund Social Security until 2100.

• An actual Wharton professor responds to Trump: “Here are the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates:

  • Harris’ proposal increases the deficit by $1.2 trillion, with low- and middle income households benefiting disproportionately.

  • Trump’s proposal increases the deficit by $5.8 trillion.

  • Details: https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/harris-campaign-policy-proposals-2024… https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024

• An undecided swing state voter watched the debate. It moved the needle.

Politics

• Mussolini's granddaughter quits Meloni's party saying it's too right wing.

• Jacob Glick writes “about my experience working on the January 6th Select Committee, where I saw firsthand why the Capitol attack was only one outburst of an authoritarian movement that will continue to threaten our society -- in November and beyond.”

• Republicans fear Laura Loomer is influencing Donald Trump.

• Boeing workers vote to go on strike Friday after rejecting contract offer. Perhaps opportunity for Vice President Harris…

• Why does Venezuela produce refugees? Because an autocratic populist government first destroyed its democracy, then its economy.

• A growing number of asylum seekers from India are turning up at the U.S. border. They’re fleeing religious persecution and rising authoritarianism, and their stories are incredibly harrowing and distressing.'

• Indian migrants drive surge in northern U.S. border crossings.

• Ethiopia seizes key airports in Somalia to prevent arrival of Egyptian forces. This is very dangerous.

• Diplomats may be busy stopping other wars in Ukraine and Gaza from growing into monstrous regional conflicts. But if they’re too consumed to take this brief opportunity, they may end up with a third before too long, Tarek Megerisi writes.

• Germany arrests Syrian national over plot to kill soldiers.

• On Trump, Harris, and looming threats -- including the prospect of war with Iran.

• The meltdown on the right over Caitlin Clark’s liking Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala is a sight to behold.

• An interesting article about a pro-Putin Republican running for office in Washington state.

• Starmer can only reset Brexit if he takes baby steps.

• “The irony that the German state would actually classify who is a Jew, what's a legitimate Jewish position, and how Jews should react is just beneath contempt."

• "Leaders of white supremacist group charged for urging terrorism against Jews and other targets."

• Trump was forced to make a deposit of $145,222.70 upfront for his rally in Tucson "The required deposit came about because Trump failed to pay an $81,837 bill from a campaign event he held at the Tucson Convention Center in 2016."

• Why the MAGA movement can’t cut loose toxic freaks like Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer.

• Nearly 120 chicago cops found to have lied or made misleading statements are missing from the Cook county state’s attorney’s brady list, at least 15 were still on the job.

• The horse graveyard that became London's latest planning camel.

• A look at what's happened in Springfield over the last couple of years.

• Behind the Catholic right’s celebrity-conversion industrial complex.

• NYPD has been *throwing out* cases of police misconduct *without even looking at the evidence* Under the current commissioner--who just got his phone seized by the feds--they've been doing it even more 400+ cases just this year.

• Know thy enemy: The kind of diversity Harvard does not care about.

Gun Violence

• Town councilman in Mountain View, Colorado, pulled his gun on a 17-year-old boy who was on his property looking for a scenic spot to take homecoming photos. Brian Metz claims he unintentionally pulled the trigger and shot the boy in the face.

Ukraine/Russia

• Far too many Western editors, academics, and cultural commentators continue to view Ukraine through the distorting lens of Russian imperialism.

• Once again the experts say “Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested Moscow would regard Western missiles being fired into Russia as a serious escalation of the war.” Here’s video of Putin answer the question about long-range precision weapons. I want to call out two points:

  • Putin was very careful when speaking of Russian response. IMHO this is as close to admission that his red lines are all bullshit as we'll ever get.

  • More importantly, he turns the answer into a pulpit for Russian etho-nationalism. Putin spends most of 3 minutes trying to explain why long range precision strikes is a direct involvement of NATO - in his mind is because Ukrainians are not capable of using these systems on their own. This not a warning to the NATO, this is pure anti-UA racist propaganda for the domestic audience.

• Russia hits a Red Cross truck in Ukraine.

• Russian regions are spending hundreds of millions of rubles to equip schools with life-size mock weapons and 'combat wound simulators'. Children will be taught battlefield medicine and basic military drills, as part of a plan to create Russia's next generation of soldiers.

• Israeli pleads guilty to shipping US-made avionics to Russia, violating sanctions.

• Who is Leonid Nevzlin?

• A Ukrainian soldier in Sudzha, Kursk Oblast, is asking why no Russian opposition leaders go there to talk to the locals who are disillusioned with the government that abandoned them. “You wanted a Russia without Putin, here it is, why don’t you come visit?”

• TIFF has suspended the screening of the propaganda film "Russians at War." However, they issued a manipulative statement citing "security threats." The real threat is Russian propaganda.

Middle East

• The Haaretz editorial: Why is Israel afraid to allow foreign journalists in Gaza?

• Silenced Afghan women raise their voices in hope

• Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story.

• “Conservative religious scholars and militant groups have falsely asserted that the vaccination campaign is a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslims… A nother problem: militants who attack vaccinators.”

Climate Change

• No your eyes don't deceive you, The southern Sahara Desert has turned unusually green thanks to the extreme northward movement this year of the Inter Tropical Convergence zone which has brought rain to areas normally completely dry. Also the SW Arabian Peninsula.

• Rapid intensification of Hurricane Francine is a sign of a hotter world.

• “Atmospheric concentrations are now growing faster than at any other time since global record-keeping began about 40 years ago.”

• Global warming triggered a mountain top collapse heard around the world. 'We will probably see more of these funky events in the future.'

• Deployment of Interceptor 006 in the Rio Motagua, Guatemala, has prevented over 10,000,000 kg of trash (aka over 2,200 truckloads) from flowing to the Gulf of Honduras. Learn more.

Mental Health

• New study shows gut microbiome could play role in preventing cognitive decline.

• The large brains of humans come with a tragic cost.

• Key lifestyle factor linked to cognitive decline.

Tech

• France is reportedly putting pressure on Pavel Durov's older brother Nikolai and Telegram vice-president Ilya Perekopsky to come to Paris and testify.

• Sequoia sees bigger money in AI-linked software than models.

• The Sapiens author may be a superb narrative writer, but his apocalyptic pontificating about AI stretches credulity.

• Can AI change belief in conspiracy theories?

• Wikipedia is facing an existential crisis. Can gen Z save it?

Misc.

• I was today’s years old when I learned that William Gibson wrote a screenplay for Alien3.

• Warped Tour reportedly coming back In 2025 for 30th anniversary.

• A perfect example of how ridiculously fucked up US healthcare is. A regional network announces $3BILLION expansion. Guess who is ultimately going to pay for it?

• Air purifiers in Finnish daycare reduced children's illnesses by 18% in a carefully controlled study. This implies huge potential for better public health and cost savings from sick leaves, with a simple intervention against airborne infections.

• Members of the NH Guard say sexual harassment & assault have been allowed to flourish there, whistleblowers retaliated against & survivors neglected.

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• United CEO Scott Kirby pushes back against new credit card, frequent flyer regulation. What a shocker!

• Astronomy photographer of the year.

• "Thorin the Neanderthal was found with 14 other companions, including a specimen of Homo floresiensis."

• A deep look inside California's underground puppy market.

• A former model who was a finalist in the Miss Switzerland contest was allegedly murdered and "pureed" in a blender by her husband, officials in Switzerland are reported to have said.

• Good photo. Good hotel. Good police work. A famous Churchill portrait, stolen in Canada is found in Italy.

• South Jersey city named among safest, richest in the US.

Humor

Courtesy of Elie Mystal:

1. My wife waiting to see how I’m going to butcher essential details about our own children.

2. My mother hoping I don’t fuck up my solo in the recital.

3. I’ve walked through the door, 2hrs after curfew not already dead, which was my only way to stay alive.

4. My sister would like to know what the fuck I’m talking about.

5. My mother would like to know what I’m talking about.

6. My wife would like to know what I’m talking about.

7. They realize I’m actually talking about that thing I should never be talking about in public.

8. Something I said or did in the past is about to be read back to me like I’m a child and I’m about to be exposed for my hypocrisy. Documents will most likely be produced. I hate this fucking look so much. I KNOW WHAT I SAID IM NOT A CHILD.

9. I have said something my wife finds funny but not for the reason I think. I will fine out soon 10. We agreed earlier in the car that we’d leave after an hour, but now I’ve made the executive decision that we’re gonna stay longer and she’s gonna play along but this is not over.