September 27, 2024

The Stuttering Lede, Sept. 27th 2024

39 days until we know if we can stop fascism

“Speaking is also a form of action." Hannah Arendt

Election 2024

• Inside Mar-a-Lago: Trump phones R.F.K. Jr. to ask about Nuzzigate, Lewandowski gets (temporarily) deplaned, another debate is debated, Trump muses about suing David Muir and his pollster John McLaughlin predicts a split-ticket victory in North Carolina.

• Based on emails sent to by a source, allegedly Rasmussen is paid by non-profits for polls, then Ted Carroll previews the results directly with Susie Wiles, Dan Scavino and John MCLaughlin, which is a violation of law.

• If you have any illusion that they will accept the results of the elections:

• J.D. Vance is planning a town hall on Saturday, hosted by the Lance Wallnau. This is Vance's endorsement of one of the worst, most conspiratorial, Christian supremacist spectacles in the country. If you are not familiar with Wallnau and Courage Tour, see here for more info.

• An elderly Democratic voter at a pro-Kamala Harris rally in York, Pa., was violently assaulted and hospitalized after an attack by a stranger shouting slurs.

• Trump refuses to condemn or criticize self-proclaimed Nazi Mark Robinson.

• Trump refuses to reject idea of Ukraine giving up.

• Ken Klippenstein defends not redacting the JD Vance dossier before sharing a link to it on Twitter. Reading the dossier, one of the takeaways is that Trump campaign was obsessed with how Vance might alienate base, and almost completely uninterested with how he might alienate moderates.

• New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn says that hacked Trump documents didn't past the “newsworthy” test, leading to the paper not publishing them. But Hillary’s and Podesta hacks were??

• Trump has shared content from Laura Loomer 101 separate times on Truth Social.

• Kamala Harris tends to avoid specifics on her economic policy when she's on the stump, but her campaign has put out an agenda that will continue Biden-era industrial policy.

• To win Alabama’s newest congressional seat, the son of a civil rights hero faces a gerrymandered map, racial dog whistles and a wealthy descendant of slave-owning confederate Klansmen.

• In Georgia’s largest newspaper today: “You don’t have to burn your GOP card to vote for Harris.”

• Economists aren't telling the whole truth about tariffs. Oren wrote a whole 2,000-word piece defending Trump's **universal** tariffs while only talking about manufactured imports and not justifying how Americans somehow benefit from tariffs on Brazilian coffee, Canadian oil, Chilean Sea Bass, French Wine, etc. A key point: Every pro-tariff argument centers on China or U.S. manufacturing. No one has made a coherent case for:

  • 10-20% tariff on every country, including allies.

  • Tariffs on items that could not be produced in America due to different natural resources, climate, etc.

Politics

• Tuesday is 60th anniversary of an event that shaped our world: The Berkeley Free Speech movement, which set the stage for modern liberalism - and the right's backlash How bittersweet that a wave of campus repression is drowning their victories. Will Bunch’s column.

• Mike Lindell, the MyPillow dude says he did not intend Nazi symbolism by selling pillows for $14.88.

• Rep. Matt Gaetz says he will no longer voluntarily cooperate with House Ethics probe He says the committee is asking "uncomfortably nosey" questions about his sex life and potential drug usage.

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• Who would have thought?! Anti-trans laws increase suicide attempts.

• China’s newest nuclear submarine sank.

• Rep. Dan Crenshaw seems to think that college faculty became liberal in 2010s…

• When even Scientific American notices the terrible trajectory of the right-wing justices, that’s a sign.

• A group claiming to be the armed wing of Patriot Front is likely a false front for a cadre of accelerationist neo-Nazis seeking to attract and further radicalize disaffected Patriot Front members. A new ISD investigation examines the evidence.

• Newsmax, one of the many even-crazier alternatives to Fox, reached an undisclosed settlement with Smartmatic, the voting machine that Republicans falsely accused of stealing the 2020 election. We need these details, people!

• A task force has opened a hearing on the Trump assassination attempts, suggesting failure was with the Secret Service, not local police.

• Eric Adams selling out constituents for foreign bribes is just another example of a culture of corruption we have to take seriously. Like Trump, Adams and others are signs of an authoritarian trajectory that depends on corruption to come into being.

• WTF?! Cuomo ramps up mayoral plans after Adams' indictment. Elie Mystal is right, “Sometimes I honestly think this city should be abandoned and returned to nature.”

• Elie Mystal: “My read on the Adams indictment is that it's going to be hard for him to swagger his way out of these charges. Unless he has some Trump judges up his sleeve. My man really thought "deleting" texts meant they were gone forever.”

• All hail Lina Khan! Today is 110th birthday of FTC.

• “Should be fired for what? For doing your job?... I suspect that people who represent Invitation Homes may want her to be replaced by somebody who would not do their jobs” Clyburn on Lina Khan.

• Rudy Giuliani has been officially disbarred in Washington, D.C.

• In a pre-taped interview aired on Fox News Thursday morning, former first lady Melania Trump called for Democrats and members of the media to stop branding her husband as a threat to democracy. Just as absurd as Eva Braun wanting us to stop calling her husband an antisemite.

Russia/Ukraine

• US expected to charge two Russians accused of running billion-dollar money laundering schemes via crypto.

• Zelensky’s visit to the US notably darkened the mood in Russia.

• Putin’s barbarism in Ukraine could be a prologue to worse in Europe. There is no “could.” It already is and will only get worse.

Tech

• Labour government to announce £10bn AI project in Northumberland backed by pro-Trump billionaire.

• OpenAI as we knew it is dead. Surprised a lot of outlets led with "OpenAI makes itself a for-profit company" in stories yesterday when that has been out there for months, while senior leadership is heading out the door.

Climate Change

• How the fossil fuel industry helps spread anti-protest laws across the US.

• ExxonMobil is being sued for a decades-long campaign of deception that perpetuated the plastic waste and pollution crisis.

• Governments are urged to create ‘positive tipping points’ with climate mandates.

• Britain’s tropical rain and parched Amazon are new norms in a messed-up climate.

Middle East

• Ben Gvir threatens to withdraw his party from coalition if Netanyahu agrees to Lebanon ceasefire.

• Thoughts and prayers on Gaza.

• Israel continues to ban and kill journalists.

• Naftali Bennett with explicit anti-Shi'a incitement designed to justify the mass killing of Shi'a civilians in Lebanon.

Misc.

• Stumbled upon this gem on page 43 of The Hamilton Spectator of September 21, 1977.

• LAPD raid goes from bad to farce after gun allegedly sucked onto MRI machine.

Humor

Perhaps the most tone deaf and ironic statement ever made on the internet.