Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Iraq snapshot

Wednesday, September 18, 2024.  Gaslighting, lies, it's all that Donald Trump and JD Vance have to offer.



Let's start with an endorsement.  Myriam Page (INDEPENDENT) reports:


A top science magazine has waded into the political sphere after making a presidential endorsement, only the second in its 179-year history.

“Vote for Kamala Harris to Support Science, Health and the Environment,” read the headline in Scientific American on Monday, announcing the publication’s official support for the Democratic presidential candidate.

Harris is Scientific American’s second presidential endorsement in its history, after the magazine backed President Joe Biden during the 2020 election.

“The US faces two futures,” the editors wrote, pushing one candidate who “offers the country better prospects, relying on science, solid evidence and the willingness to learn from experience.”

They continued: “In the other future, the new president endangers public health and safety and rejects evidence, preferring instead nonsensical conspiracy fantasies.”

Scientific American, which has a global readership of six million, cited Harris’s record as vice president, senator and presidential candidate as reasons for endorsing her.

They acknowledged that Trump, “also has a record - a disastrous one,” during his time in the White House. 


It's about the future of the country and the future of the planet.  You can not have a plan to dismantle the checks and balances and also address climate change.  It kills the MAGA crowd that it's not the pre-Civil Rights Movement era.  They want the country to join them in embracing racism and sexism and homphobia and ignorance because that's what you have to be -- ignorant -- in order to buy into the death-pact that Donald Trump and JD Vance are offering.

They pretend it's a future but it's just a death pact.  They want to take us all down with them.  Fortunately, the country has an alternative in Kamala Harris.

Yesterday, Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke with the National Association of Black Journalists. 
 



Harris was also asked about the false and racist tropes that Donald Trump and JD Vance have espoused about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, which has resulted in bomb threats and lockdowns in the city.

“It’s a crying shame. I mean, my heart breaks for this community,” Harris said. “There were children, elementary school children, [for whom] it was school photo day. Do you remember what that’s like, going to school on picture day? Dressed up in their best, got all ready, knew what they were going to wear the night before. And had to be evacuated. Children. Children.”

Harris described “a whole community put in fear”, and harkened back to her career as a prosecutor, during which she said she learned the importance of power.

“When you have these positions, when you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to learn how much your words have meaning,” she said. “I learned at a very young stage in my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether someone was free or in prison … When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that.”

Harris said elected officials, particularly the president, have been bestowed with public trust.

“I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio, and it’s gotta stop,” she said. “We’ve gotta say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United States of America engaging in that hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country.”




Harris’ meeting with Black journalists at the Center City offices of WHYY was a sharp contrast to the craziness that happened when Donald Trump met with the group in Chicago six weeks earlier.

During Harris’ interview, no one’s racial identity was questioned. There was no huge headline-making moment, and I didn’t see anyone in attendance nudge the person next to them as if to say, “Did you hear that?” It was just another interview. And I found that totally refreshing. I’m ready for a return to normalcy.

I’m tired of Donald Trump and his antics, including his ridiculous claim last week that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are kidnapping and eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs. It’s always something with him. It never seems to stop.

[. . .]

There’s a quiet dignity about Harris that’s reassuring, not to mention comforting. I can picture her answering a 3 a.m. call to the White House about trouble brewing somewhere in the world and calmly knowing the right thing to do. Harris is a decent human being. She’s steady, not erratic.

During her interview Tuesday in Philadelphia, she didn’t mock anyone the way that Trump did when he met with NABJ and accused Harris, who is both Black and of Indian heritage, of changing her racial identity.

She didn’t sit in a room full of African Americans, the way that Trump did, and chest-thump about being the best thing for Black people since Abraham Lincoln.

Nor did she insult working journalists, the way that Trump did when he accused ABC’s Rachel Scott, one of the moderators at the event in July, of working for a “fake news network.” In contrast, Harris treated the journalists who interviewed her with respect and referred to them as “esteemed journalists.”


We don't need Donald's drama and we don't need to go backwards.  But backwards is all Donald and MAGA have to offer.  Corruption and more corruption.  Read Betty's "John Roberts is just as crooked as Clarence and Alito" and Ann's "Thanks to the Crooked Supreme Court, a woman is dead" and Rebecca's "a crooked court sold us out to a global cabal" and grasp just how dangerous the Supreme Court has become.  Americans were right to lose faith in that institution.  Donald helped corrupt it, he was not alone on that.  And he will further destroy it.  He's destroyed healthcare for women and continues to work destroy it.  It's not just abortion, it's also birth control, it's also IVF.  Of Kamala's conversation with journalists yesterday,  Theo Burman (NEWSWEEK) notes:

Abortion has been the Democrats' strongest motivator for their core vote since the abolition of Roe vs. Wade, and it has been central to the Harris campaign's political ads this cycle.

At the NABJ talk, Harris tripled down on her commitment to restoring the protections of Roe vs. Wade, drawing yet another line between her and the Trump-JD Vance ticket.

When asked about what her administration would do to restore abortion rights across the U.S., Harris said: "We need to put back in place the protections of Roe vs. Wade and let an individual in consultation with her doctor make the decision based on what she can determine, 'cause she's smart enough to know what's in her best interest, instead of having her government tell her what to do."


On women's health, let's note that JD and others voted against IVF yesterday.  Here's Senator Patty Murray on the floor of the Senate.



Senator Patty Murray has long fought on behalf of  healthcare including IVF.  We attended Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing after hearing where Patty -- as member or chair of the Committee -- repeatedly addressed the need for IVF. 

At random, I'm picking February of 2020 for this:


Senator Patty Murray: It is really critical that after these veterans have sacrificed so much in their service they are fully supported. Fertility challenges are difficult enough without having to fight a bureaucracy to access care that they have earned and that they are entitled to, and as we all know delays in this means sometimes they can't access care and have kids. So I don't want to hear about this anymore, and I want to know what VA is doing to address those barriers to make sure veterans get the care when they need it.


Yesterday, the senator's office issued the following:

**VIDEO of Murray’s floor speech HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), objected on the Senate floor to Senator Cruz’s attempt to pass through unanimous consent a Republican bill that would “require, as a condition of receiving federal Medicaid funding, that states not prohibit in vitro fertilization (IVF) services.” Senator Murray outlined how this woefully inadequate legislation explicitly allows states to restrict IVF by enacting burdensome and unnecessary requirements that could create the kind of legal uncertainty and risk we saw in Alabama that forced clinics to close their doors.

Murray also pointed out how the bill defines IVF in an intentionally incomplete way to sidestep the matter of what happens to frozen embryos and appease Republicans’ extreme anti-abortion allies who vehemently oppose IVF. Senator Murray made clear that Republicans cannot have it both ways, claiming to support IVF while at the same time supporting fetal personhood—an extremist ideology that says an embryo should have the exact same rights as a living, breathing human being and is fundamentally incompatible with IVF.

“I have been perfectly clear about the glaring issue with this Republican bill,” said Senator Murray on the Senate floor. “The cold hard reality is that this Republican bill does nothing to meaningfully protect IVF from the biggest threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists all over this country. It would still allow states to regulate IVF out of existence!”

“And this bill is silent on fetal personhood, which is the biggest threat to IVF,” emphasized Senator Murray on the floor of the Senate. “It is silent on whether states can demand that an embryo be treated the same as a living breathing person, or whether parents should be allowed to have clinics dispose of unused embryos—something that is a common, necessary part of the IVF process. Talk to the experts who provide this care—talk to the families who are seeking it—and that question looms large in their minds. ‘What are we supposed to do if our state says these embryos are living breathing people? Do we have to do this process in another state? What is our legal risk here?’”

“The last time Republicans offered this hollow gesture of a bill, I asked the junior Senator from Texas point blank: do you support letting parents have unused embryos disposed of?” noted Senator Murray in reference to the last effort by Senator Cruz to pass the same bill back in June. “And a funny thing actually happened—he said on the floor he would answer that question, but he never did. He spoke about what the laws in some of our states are—but he never actually said what he supported, he never said what he believes should be federal law, he never mentioned that he once pledged to support a constitutional amendment to establish fetal personhood as the law of the land.”

“And so, I ask all my Republican colleagues once again—as a matter of national policy, should parents be allowed to dispose of unused embryos?” asked Senator Murray in closing. “If so—why is that key provision missing from your bill? Well, we all know why. And if not—how can you look the American people in the eye, and say you support IVF? It doesn’t compute.”

In a statement following Senator Cruz’s speech, Senator Murray said, “Unfortunately, once again, Senator Ted Cruz, refused to answer my very basic question.”

ICYMI, here’s what Barbara Collura, President and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association said back in May about the Republican IVF Bill: “The bill allows for states to push for regulations that could severely reduce the standard of care for IVF treatment, such as restrictions on how many embryos are created and what individuals can do with these embryos — decisions that should only be made between patients and their doctors, based on science and clinical guidelines. The solution is federal legislation that enshrines access to IVF for all.”

Senator Murray leads the Right to IVF Act with Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), which would establish a nationwide right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology, expand insurance coverage of IVF services to lower the cost of IVF treatment for families, and expand access to IVF and other fertility services for our nation’s veterans and servicemembers.

In June, Senators Murray and Duckworth released a new FACT SHEET on how Republican attacks on IVF are serious, real, and on the rise across America. The fact sheet explains how fetal personhood is a full-frontal attack on reproductive freedom and could put an end to IVF care and other assisted reproductive technology, and outlines personhood measures and other state proposals that would negatively impact access to IVF that Republicans are actively pushing in state legislatures and at the federal level.

IVF is overwhelmingly popular with Americans—recent polling found that 85 percent of Americans support increasing access to fertility-related procedures and services. A survey from Pew Research Center last September found that 42 percent of adults say they have used fertility treatments or personally know someone who had—up from 33 percent five years ago.

###



They don't just attack women's rights, Donald and JD lie about attacking women's rights while they attack our rights.


They will dismantle everyone's rights.  Their dream is an America that doesn't include the majority of Americans and that doesn't include the right to self-determination.  They embrace lies and they traffic in deceit.  Alice Herman (GUARDIAN) reports:


JD Vance defended his comments about Haitian immigrants eating pets during a Tuesday rally, saying that “the media has a responsibility to fact-check” stories – not him.

The rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, came two days after the Ohio senator told CNN host Dana Bash it was OK “to create stories” to draw attention to issues his constituents care about, regarding inflammatory and unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had eaten residents’ pets.

The comments, in which he appeared to say that politicians can brazenly lie, drew immediate rebuke.



They lie and then they lie again and then they lie about lying (see Elaine's "Marjorie Taylor Greene lies even when admitting she lies").  Miss Sassy doesn't believe "the media has a responsibility to fact-check stories."  No, he calls it an assault, an attack when he or his running mate are held accountable and fact checked.  




Gaslighting is all those two men have to offer.  That's it, nothing more. 



Lots of topics but let's stay with The Little Weirdo himself, Miss Sassy JD Vance.  Paul Rudnick notes:


Kyle addresses the topic in the video below.



In her racist attack on Kamala Harris, Laura Loomer made comments that should have brought a response from JD Vance.  He hates his mother-in-law -- remember, he feels that instead of helping with the newborn, she should have sent money -- but people wrongly think he cares about his wife and their children.  He doesn't. 

That's why he didn't defend them from Laura Loomer's racist attacks and why he refuses to call out Loomer or even say that she was wrong.  

His children do not matter to him and his wife does not matter to him.

If you were paying attention, Trina covered all of this at the start of the month.  Ava and I had planned to build around it with a piece right before Miss Sassy took the debate stage with Tim Walz but since JD's making it clear right now, let's point out how right Trina was when she wrote "JD Vance is living in sin with bastard children (plus Vegan Tacos)."

JD Vance does not care about his family.  He postures and preens but he doesn't care.  

You don't convert to another faith without your wife and your children.  

The marriage itself is not recognized in JD's religion because it did not take place in a Catholic Church.  That's reality.  Trina's not trying to damn any child with the post she wrote.  Like myself, she doesn't believe that children are illegitimate.  But JD became a Catholic in August of 2019 with no regard or concern for his family.  In the eyes of the religion he chose to convert to five years ago, his marriage is not recognized which makes, in the eyes of the Church, his children illegitimate.  What kind of a creep does that?  What kind of weirdo?

You have to wonder what exactly -- if anything -- JD understands about Catholicism?  He had an uncle who was Catholic, for example.  An uncle "by marriage."  Sounds a lot like the uncle was in the same spot JD is in.

So what JD tells the world is that women need to do what they're told.  But he can't tell Usha, "You're converting?"  He's the supposed head of his household but doesn't love his kids enough to see that they have an afterlife?

Being Catholic is not being Presbyterian.  There are codes and edicts and all this other stuff that is not in most other Christian faiths.  JD, as a married adult, as a father, elected to become Catholic (again, five years ago) but he didn't care enough about his supposed loved ones to bring them on the spiritual journey?

Again, he presents as this tough guy who is so manly -- and what doesn't say manly like a 50-something conservative man who cakes  on eyeliner? -- and whose example must be followed, must be imposed.  But the reality, he's not running s**t in his own household.  He's a fake in every way.  

Probably even in his faith.  I can't image a parent deciding to take up a faith or to change faiths and not taking their own young children into the faith with them.

People are aware, right, of the huge gulf between what Catholicism believes regarding an afterlife and what the Hindu religion believes, right?

And to be clear, this is not to say that one is better or one is right.  This is to say that an adult male, already a father and husband, elected to switch religions and chose one in conflict with that of his wife and children and it doesn't appear to have bothered him in the least that the salvation his new religion preaches does not recognize what his children are being raised in.

It goes to how fake and false he is.  Let's quote Trina:


He's not a Catholic.  I get that he says he is one.  And I know many Catholics who would argue that you're a cradle Catholic or you're not a Catholic.  (Meaning you were christened as an infant.)  That's not my point.  My point is that he converted to a religion he does not understand.  Does not understand?  He is arguing that childless women are destroying our society and that they should not be allowed to vote or this or that.  Most nuns?  They are childless.  You do have a few who leave the order to have a secular life and come back later and while they were gone they became a mother.  And you have those who join an order late in life.  But the norm is a nun who does not give birth to a child.  So if he were truly Catholic, he would understand that.

 
In addition, his statements make clear that the Pope is not the head of his church.  That's fine.  However, the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and, as a Catholic, I don't understand why you convert to Catholicism and refuse to follow the Pope?  Seems to me, it's not the religion for you.

You could call him a lapsed Catholic, I suppose.  But I'd still argue that's something he didn't earn.  I would prefer it if Miss Sassy would stop trying to pretend he's part of my Church when he so clearly is not.


AP does call out his weird ideas and the fringe movement he belongs to; however, to be clear, Miss Sassy is not a Catholic.  He was not born into the religion and he's never truly accepted it as evidenced by his refusal to see the Pope as the head of the Church.  He can go back to southern Baptism or whatever he was raised in before he became an atheist but, no, he's not Catholic.

Need more proof?  He's living in sin and he has bastard children.  In fact, that's going to be the title of this post.  A marriage between two Catholics is only recognized if it takes place in the Church.  Usha's not Catholic.  She's Hindu.  So they didn't get married in the Catholic Church.  In 2014, they had an interfaith marriage and Vance wasn't even Catholic then.  He starts pretending he's Catholic in 2019.  And the first two children were born before that.  So by Church teachings, JD's failure to marry Usha in a Catholic Church and her failure to convert means they're living in sin and, again, Church teachings, their children aren't Catholic and they are the bastard children of  their parents.  Did he get a dispensation from the Church?  No, he did not.


But he stands on stage pretending to be something he's not -- and never will be -- and selling a lie to those who come to hear him.  

So he didn't care enough about his wife and children to get them the salvation he wants for himself and we're now supposed to be surprised that he won't defend them from racist attacks?

He's a weirdo.  And so is the US media.  How many people have interviewed him and everyone wants to play THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES ON.  No one, apparently, is ever going to ask him about the eyeliner.

This is man who attacks the LGBTQ+ community and attacks drag queens but he can't show up in public without having put on his eyeliner.





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