The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 13, 2024

Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 13, 2024. The week winds down with enthusiasm continuing to build for Kamala Harris.

52 days until the US presidential election and let's start off today with a good laugh.

Jill Stein is an idiot. That doesn't surprise me. That she is Dan Quayle level stupid? Okay, that surprised me.

Asked how many people are in the House of Representatives, she responds, "What is it? 600?"

No, it's 435. It's been that way every year of Jill's74-year-old life. (It goes back further than her but her whole life it's been 435.) She's ran for president three times now and she doesn't know 435?

What an idiot. Let's get her to try to spell potato next.

I especially enjoyed when Angela Rye pointing out how Jill is forever robbing women of color of their own agency. Angela put the ultimate Karen in check.

We can come back to Jill but we all needed a laugh to start the morning.

Let's move on over to another con artist, the shrinking Junior who wanted to be on the ballots and then he didn't. Mark Joseph Stern (SLATE) reports:

The North Carolina Supreme Court tossed a grenade into the state’s election on Monday, violating both state and federal law to grant Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cynical, last-minute removal from the ballot. Its 4–3 decision will compel election administrators to destroy nearly 3 million already-printed ballots that featured Kennedy’s name and redesign 2,348 different ballot styles across the state to accommodate the eleventh-hour change. This complex process will significantly delay the distribution of new ballots—which will, in turn, unlawfully abridge early voting for everyone while jeopardizing the voting rights of service members overseas in clear contradiction of federal statute. It’s a nightmare for local election officials, who must now disregard the laws they’re sworn to uphold. And it’s an affront to North Carolinians at large, whose right to a fair, orderly election has been sabotaged by a lawless court and the candidate it so obviously favors.

Some people are surprised by how brief Junior's presidential campaign was, how quickly it ended. Those people apparently never spoke to any woman Junior slept with -- he's long been known as "One Thrust Bobby" for a reason.

He had a hissy fit to get on the ballot and then, after Donald Trump agreed to give him a post in a future administration, Junior has a hissy fit to get off the ballot.

With either contradictory position, please note, he insisted he was about the rule of law.

He was never about anything but himself. He's a lying hypocrite.

Now he's out there campaigning for Convicted Felon Donald Trump. And joining him on the road, Trashy Garbage aka Tulsi Gabbard.

Now we've made rude remarks about Tulsi and we've called her out but we do need to give her some praise. Trina explained why we needed to thank Tulsi in "Siri Daly's Garbage Cookies in the Kitchen:"

How about that debate?

Kamala was amazing. And Donald Trump was an overweight, elderly embarrassment:

After the debate, Tim Miller of The Bulwark caught up with Graham, who offered his assessment.

“Just spoke with Lindsey Graham in the spin room,” Miller reported. “[H]e said the debate team should be fired and Trump was unprepared. ‘[D]isaster'”

Thank you, Trashy Garbage.

We all remember, right, Tulsi Gabbard rushing around bragging to the media that she was Donald's debate coach and bragging about herself and pretending that she had defeated Kamala in one of the few debates that Trashy Tulsi Garbage Gabbard participated in.

So, thank you, Trashy.

Your 'expertise' and 'advice' ensured that Trump lost the debate. Poor Trashy, she killed her own Congressional career, she never got out of the gate trying to be a presidential candidate, she's more and more of a joke each day. Grifting doesn't always pay and it certainly hasn't for Tulsi. Maybe Guru Chris can get the cult to kiss her boo-boo and make it better?

Remember garbage cookies -- good. Trashy Garbage -- evil grifter.

Tulsi Gabbard, the thing we all scrape off the bottom of our shoes. Tulsi Gabbard, the liar who claimed to have ended Kamala's career back in August of 2020. Since then? Tulsi's no longer in Congress. Kamala's Vice President. Since then? Tulsi can't even get a right-wing outlet to give her a program of her own. Kamala's running for president. Karma ran over Tulsi then threw it in reverse and backed over her as well.

She better watch out Saturday in Glendale campaigning with Junior. Remember, kids, he likes to toss roadkill in his car and dump it in Central Park.

Let's take a moment at week's end to celebrate the big news -- "Kamala destroys Donald (Ava and C.I.)" -- because Kamala didn't just win that debate, she overwhelmingly won that debate. She destroyed him. This was a debate that will be talked about for years.

And in case you're not getting how big her victory was, Robert Tait (GUARDIAN) reports:

Kamala Harris embarked on a drive to exploit her strong debate performance on Thursday, as the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign pledged to intensify efforts to persuade voters in battleground states deemed essential to winning the White House.

Meanwhile, her opponent, Donald Trump – whose debate performance has been criticized even by some of his supporters – said that he would refuse to debate Harris again. “There will be no third debate,” he said in an angrily worded post on his Truth Social social media platform.

Let's note Bernd Debusmann Jr (BBC NEWS) to make sure that point soaks in, "Donald Trump has ruled out another presidential debate against his rival Kamala Harris before November's election."

And he's lying and saying he won.

You know what's worse though?

If he's not lying.

If he truly believes he won when he so clearly lost. If he really isn't lying and thinks he won, how could you vote for someone that deluded and out of touch with reality?

As reported last week, Donald's having to cut back and close campaigning in some states; however, Ed O'Keefe (CBS NEWS) reports:

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to build out a national presidential campaign, but is also staffing up at the White House amid a crush of press inquiries in the wake of her unexpected presidential bid.

Her office is bringing on Nate Evans, a veteran of her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, as a senior communications adviser. He is on detail from his most recent post as principal senior adviser for strategy and communications for Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Before his time with the U.S. mission at the U.N., he was a deputy chief of staff for Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and served on Harris' 2020 campaign as head of rapid response and as New Hampshire communications director.

Kirsten Allen, Harris' communications director, and Ernie Apreza, her press secretary, will remain in their roles at the White House.

A growing press and communications team continues to build out at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, led by communications director Michael Tyler and Brian Fallon, a senior communications adviser to Harris who is most notably responsible for crafting her daily message and negotiating with television networks about presidential debates and interview requests.

And Natasha Korecki (NBC NEWS) reports:

Riding high on momentum two days after the presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris was greeted by a deafening crowd here Thursday, eager to see the Democratic nominee push to the next phase of her campaign.

Harris told supporters it was time to turn the page from Donald Trump while again challenging the former president to a second debate, which she did earlier in the day at her rally in Charlotte.

“We owe it to the voters. Because here’s the thing: In this election, what’s at stake could not be more important,” she said.

Kamala at the debate was incredible. Marcia notes:

Video.

My grandmother asked me to note that video. She is so excited about Kamala Harris becoming president, she makes me look like a sour puss.

And that just started this week. After the debate. She was supporting Kamala but didn't feel like she could breathe, as she told me tonight on the phone, until after the debate. Not even when it was obvious Kamala was winning. She had to wait until after the debate was over.

She's breathing now and allowing herself to hope and imagine Kamala as president.

She's fixed income but she signed up for weekly campaign donations on Wednesday.

I know the media is so disappointing -- especially our so-called 'left' media like Common Dreams -- but people are excited by Kamala. And our number is growing. And will continue to grow.

And I'm seeing that in the groups we're speaking to as well. People are excited by this campaign, they're excited by Kamala as US president. But somehow 'left' media struggles to convey reality. As Betty noted last night:

This is garbage. Their actions are going to re-elect Trump.

And isn't it interesting how a Black woman is targeted with all this crap from the left to begin with.

As a Black woman, I'm fully aware that my group is the group of voters that repeatedly save the Democratic Party's ass. And this is the thank you we get back?

I'm not asking them to kiss her ass, I'm just asking them to be fair. Trump's a threat to our very democracy and demonstrated that on January 6, 2021.

And yet, according to COMMON DREAMS, Kamala must jump through this hoop and that hoop before she can have our support.

That is so much bulls**t.

And Stan observed:

You have an election in 53 days and 'left' media online is attacking Kamala Harris. As though she was a Republican, they are attacking her.

The Black community has been a huge and dependable block of voters for the Democratic Party and that's even more true of Black women. So the Black community is getting very ticked off that we're seeing Democratic Party sites and left sites knocking Kamala.

Is she not good enough for you?

This is the party, remember, that put Joe Lieberman on the ticket in 2000.

So I'm not understanding why Kamala is a problem.

Except for the fact that the White left sites and writers and podcasters think they can s**t on a Black woman.

Is that your intent?

I have no idea. I only know that in my entire adult life, I've never seen anything like this.

The enthusiasm is there even if our 'left' sites can't be bothered to cover it. Need further proof? Rebecca Falconer (AXIOS) notes:

Vice President Kamala Harris raised $47 million in the 24 hours following her debate against former President Trump, her campaign announced on Thursday.

Why it matters: It's Harris' biggest 24-hour fundraising haul since she raised $81 million after she replaced President Biden as Democrats' presidential candidate in July, per the New York Times, which first reported the news.

The haul that included donations from 600,000 individuals is the latest boost for Harris, who's locked in a virtual dead heat with Trump in most swing states, according to multiple national polls.
The fundraising haul comes after her campaign raked in $361 million in August compared Trump's $130 million raised for that month.

What they're saying: "While our fundraising program continues to show historic strength, this momentum cannot be taken for granted," said Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon in a statement to media.

"We cannot underestimate the strength of Team Trump and their strong fundraising and organizing efforts intentionally designed to divide and sow doubt among Americans. We cannot let up until we defeat Trump once and for all this November."

It was an incredible debate. Ariel Edwards-Levy (CNN) explains:

Registered voters who watched Tuesday’s presidential debate broadly agree that Kamala Harris outperformed Donald Trump, according to a CNN poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS. The vice president also outpaced both debate watchers’ expectations for her and Joe Biden’s onstage performance against the former president earlier this year, the poll found.

Debate watchers said, 63% to 37%, that Harris turned in a better performance onstage in Philadelphia. Prior to the debate, the same voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform more strongly, with 50% saying Harris would do so and 50% that Trump would. And afterward, 96% of Harris supporters who tuned in said that their chosen candidate had done a better job, while a smaller 69% majority of Trump’s supporters credited him with having a better night.

There is a schism between what's happening before our own eyes and what's getting 'covered' at COMMON DREAMS, etc. Trina went historical last night to explain how sad but not surprising this is:

If you missed it, Trump is yet again insisting that he will go after political rivals if he gets back into the White House. Aysha Bagchi (USA Today) reports:

For instance, according to the Mueller report, Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, told federal prosecutors Trump asked him to reverse his decision to recuse himself from presidential campaign-related investigations and direct the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton around the summer of 2017.

In the spring of 2018, Trump also told White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute both Hillary Clinton and James Comey, the former FBI director whom Trump had already fired during an investigation into Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, according to the New York Times. McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo warning Trump that if he ordered law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could be impeached.

After the March, 2019 release of the Mueller report, which looked at Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump also called for federal officials to "investigate the investigators." Bill Barr, Trump's chosen attorney general after Sessions, later appointed special counsel John Durham to do just that.

"He made clear his position that as head of the executive branch, he has both the power and right to direct federal criminal justice enforcement at any targets he chooses; and does not respect the 'independence' of the Attorney General and of US Attorneys," Gordon told USA TODAY in an email.

Trump is a serious threat to democracy. That cannot be disputed.

Kamala Harris is who I will be voting for.

I'm an Irish-American (Catholic). A number of people in THE COMMON ILLS community are upset over the way COMMON DREAMS, ZNET and others are 'covering' Kamala -- with nothing but attacks. I want to speak to that with what I can offer. As noted many times before, I was a supporter of Rev. Jesse Jackson both times he ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. I believed in him (still do) and I believed in the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

But?

But I saw the Coalition ridiculed and I saw Rev. Jackson ridiculed. They would not let him be the nominee. They were fine with backing an embarrassment like Gary Hart. They were fine with anyone but the reverend. And despite this he had support. But they just ignored it.

From that perspective, I don't see any real difference from our 'left' media. I see the same pot shots from the 'left' aimed at her. I see the same belittling. I see the same attacks.

Once again, I am not talking about from the right.

There is a segment of the 'left' that is demented and just will not get on board. I had hoped that Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 winning campaigns had changed that. It appears, however, that the only change was for one specific person.

Do I think Kamala can win? I think she can and I pray she will. The thing that has changed is young people. They are not the idiots that previous generations were. They're not going to play at racism and pretend it's cute or 'post-ironic' or whatever nonsense some people use to justify it.

I think that's a huge percent of the under 25 voters -- they're too smart for racism. And I think they'll band with smaller groupings in other generations and that it will be enough to elect Kamala.

She deserves it. We deserve it.

Why some very sick people claiming to be left are doing their part to elect Donald Trump goes to their racism and I don't have time for them.

The world can't afford a second term of Donald Trump. In the debate, he lied over and over. And he lies all the time so it may be hard to be shocked or surprised. But we should not grow immune to recognizing the damage his lies do. David Badash reports:

Just days after the Republican nominees for president and vice president promoted and doubled-down on false, debunked and racist claims about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stealing pet cats and dogs and eating them, that town’s city hall and elementary school were forced to evacuate after a bomb threat targeting multiple locations was received Thursday.

“Due to a bomb threat that was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield today, City Hall is closed today,” the City of Springfield wrote in a Facebook post, saying it had “received a bomb threat that has prompted an immediate response from local and regional law enforcement. As a precautionary measure, the building has been evacuated, and authorities are currently conducting a thorough investigation. Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our employees and residents. We are working to address this situation as swiftly as possible.”

The statement adds the bomb threat came via an email at 8:24 AM that was “sent to multiple agencies and media outlets.”

Just one day ago, City Manager Bryan Heck in a video denounced the rhetoric used in the presidential race, while promoting the city’s growth, which has been improved local businesses say, by the influx of immigrants.

Here's Bryan Heck.