Monday September 23, 2024. While Donald Trump serves up dangerous lives, Kamala Harris addresses the issues that impact our lives.
There are 42 days until the US presidential election. Maybe before then Convicted Felon Donald Trump will come up with an economic plan? David Cohen (POLITICO) notes:
When asked specifically how he would reduce prices as promised, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded by claiming that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was incapable of answering such a question.
Speaking in an interview that aired Sunday on Sinclair’s syndicated “Full Measure With Sharyl Attkisson,” Trump vowed to quickly bring energy and food prices down, but chose to focus on Harris instead of providing the specifics about his plans that Attkisson sought from him.
“First of all, she can’t do an interview,” Trump said of Harris. “She could never do this interview because you ask questions like, Give me a specific answer. She talks about her lawn when she was growing up,” before shifting to speaking about Russian President Vladimir Putin and the impact of the ongoing Ukraine war on energy prices.
When asked again by Attkisson to offer practical details of his promise to reverse inflation, Trump responded: “They come down with energy and they come down with interest rates. We’re going to get, as I told you, we’re going to get energy down by 50% in 12 months. We’re gonna have it. It’s gonna be a major smash on energy. If you look at the energy for, and I’m not just talking about cars. I’m talking about air conditioning, heating, your basic energy, operating a bakery, operating any kind of a business — it’s all having to do with energy. That was where they started wrong.”
This interview was not the first time a lack of specifics has emerged as an issue for Trump this month. During his debate with Harris, Trump said, “I have the concepts of a plan” in explaining what he would do to transform or replace the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have tried and failed to repeal many times since it was enacted in 2010.
He's running to get back in the White House and he still can't come up with an economic plan. He's too busy, you understand, inventing crazy conspiracy theories. Such as? His latest, if he loses it's the fault of Jewish people.
Fritz Farrow and Oren Oppenheim (ABC NEWS) report:
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign and Jewish advocacy groups on Friday forcefully criticized what they called former President Donald Trump's "dangerous" and "antisemitic" comments saying Jewish voters would be to blame if he lost the presidential election.
"I'll put it to you very simply and as gently as I can: I wasn't treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish," Trump said at an event Thursday night in Washington that was meant to highlight antisemitism. "I don't know. Do they know what the hell is happening if I don't win this election? And the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because at 40% that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy."
The backlash was fierce.
"Donald Trump is resorting to the oldest antisemitic tropes in the book because he's weak and can't stand the fact that the majority of America is going to reject him in November. But we know that words like these can have dangerous consequences," Harris campaign national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement. "As Trump has proven, including over the past few weeks with his lies about Springfield, Ohio, he will cling to fearmongering and intimidation, no matter the cost."
His deranged comments on Haitians and Haitian Americans have left people threatened and at risk. He doesn't care, he never did. The lie started with his running mate Miss Sassy JD Vance. And before Miss Sassy started spewing the lie, he'd been told it wasn't true. Elizabeth Wolfe, Melissa Alonso, Jeff Winter and Chelsea Bailey (CNN) explain:
The Trump campaign continued to push false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, even after a top city leader told a campaign staffer for its vice presidential nominee ahead of this month’s presidential debate the rumors were “baseless,” the city’s mayor said, confirming a Wall Street Journal report.
A staffer of vice presidential candidate JD Vance called Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck on September 9 and asked if there was any truth in rumors that Haitian immigrants were taking and eating pets in Springfield, Heck told the Journal.
“He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” Heck told the outlet. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
“Yes, that call was made,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told CNN’s “Laura Coates Live” Thursday. “The answer was given, and what has happened since then has happened.”
They knew it was a lie, they always knew. The point was to scapegoat someone else and put a population at risk because Donald and JD had nothing to offer voters other than hate.
And their hate endangers people and puts people at risk. But they don't care. Emily Zemler (ROLLING STONE) notes John Oliver called the nonsense out:
On a new episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver played a clip of the debate, calling it an “exceptional moment in American oratory.” In the clip, Trump asserts, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
“Yeah, that was Donald Trump accusing Haitian immigrants of killing and eating people’s pets,” Oliver replied. “And can you even remember a time when something like that would have been disqualifying? Because I can’t anymore. Republicans have now nominated Trump three times. Democrats have so far lost to him half the time. And the election is still inexplicably close because unfortunately, some Americans watched that and thought, ‘I don’t like how Kamala laughed when he called immigrants dog eaters. That wasn’t very presidential.’”
Kimberly Nordyke (THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) adds:
Oliver continued to criticize Vance, who, when asked about the tweet, “has insisted he was just reflecting people’s concerns.” He played a clip of Vance saying: “The media has tried to say now for days that I’ve made up this story. I haven’t made up anything. I’ve just listened to people who are telling me these things.”
Quipped Oliver: “Wait — ‘if enough people say it, I repeat it’? It is not ideal when an aspiring vice president’s guiding philosophy is indistinguishable from a f[**]king parrot.”
Lee Moran (HUFFINGTON POST) reports that authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat is explaining what's going on:
In a separate interview on MSNBC’s “Ayman” show, Ben-Ghiat drew damning parallels between the “dehumanizing rhetoric” that Trump and his running mate JD Vance are using towards immigrants to that spewed by Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler.
On Hitler’s ascent to power in 1933, Ben-Ghiat noted that Germans had been hearing him slam and dehumanize Jews for more than a decade.
“One thing about propaganda is that you hear extreme things over and over again then they don’t seem so extreme anymore and they become familiar,” she explained. “Now Americans have been hearing Trump malign immigrants for almost a decade now and so what Trump’s method is, is to slowly introduce more and more extreme ideas.”
Trump and Vance are now “introducing this idea of remigration which is really scary because this is an idea that’s very popular with the most extreme far-right people in Europe and it holds that you should be deported and sent back to your country of origin regardless of your citizenship status because if you really want a racial state, a white-ethno state, then whether you’re legal or illegal doesn’t matter,” she said.
He was a nightmare on Saturday when, speaking in North Carolina, Donald insisted he wasn't weird: "JD and I are not weird. We've got a lot of problems but we're not weird." Looking sweaty and fatter than usual, Donald offered nothing of value making it just one more representative campaign stop for the convicted felon.
Savannah Kuchar (USA TODAY) reports Donald went on TV Sunday and acknowledged that, if he lost, he would not run again in 2024. Of course, he won't. Marcia's not a psychic but she's repeatedly explained that defeating Donald this year means being done with him.
Why? He's already too damn old to be president. He's 78 right now and that's already too old to be running for president.
Meanwhile Mark Murray (NBC NEWS) reports:
A double-digit increase in popularity, rising Democratic enthusiasm and an early edge for representing “change” have vaulted Vice President Kamala Harris forward and reshuffled the 2024 presidential contest, according to a new national NBC News poll.
With just over six weeks until Election Day, the poll finds Harris with a 5-point lead over former President Donald Trump among registered voters, 49% to 44%. While that result is within the margin of error, it’s a clear shift from July’s poll, when Trump was ahead by 2 points before President Joe Biden’s exit.
While Donald spent the weekend attempting to reassure voters that he wasn't "weird," Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris was addressing issues that effect the people. For example, Friday she spoke in Georgia.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughter.)
I just — I want to say about Dr. Reddick — you know, I — some of you may have seen I did a — an event last night with Oprah Winfrey and — (applause) — and that — it highlighted so many tragic stories, but it also highlighted so many important issues, which is why everyone has taken time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon. And it highlighted the importance of a Dr. Reddick.
AUDIENCE: Yes.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Because the courage, Dr. Reddick, that you are showing in the face of these arcane and immoral laws, to stand so publicly and talk about your commitment to your oath and to the health and well-being of people who need to be seen and treated with dignity is so extraordinary.
And I do believe, in moments of crisis, the world has a way of revealing the heroes among us. (Applause.) And I would say, Dr. Reddick, you are one of them. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And thank you to all of the elected and community leaders who have joined us today. (Applause.) Thank you, thank you, everybody — everybody who is here.
So, Georgia, the- — this election right here is a fight for the future. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom — for freedom.
And we know, in America, freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right. (Applause.) It is ours by right, and that includes the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do. (Applause.) Yes, we must trust women.
And we all know how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court — the court of Thurgood and RBG — with the intention that they would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as he intended, they did.
And now more than 20 states have Trump abortion bans — extremists that have passed laws that criminalize health care providers, doctors and nurses, and punish women. In two states of those states, they provide for prison for life — prison for life for health care providers for simply providing reproductive care, the care they so earnestly and rightly believe must be delivered. All Trump abortion bans.
And think about this: Many of these bans make no exception even for rape and incest.
Now, many of you know I started my career as a prosecutor specializing in crimes of violence against women and children. What many of you may not know is why.
So, when I was in high school, my best friend, I learned, was being molested by her stepfather. And I said to her, “Look, you’ve got to come and stay with us.” I called my mother. She said, “Of course she does.” And she came and she stayed with us.
And so, I made the decision early in my life that I wanted to do the work that was about protecting the most vulnerable among us and doing the work that was about giving them dignity in the process.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And so — well, thank everybody here for being here, standing in solidarity around the importance of that. (Applause.)
And so, I say to you, then, from that experience and from the work that I’ve done, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body — a violation of their body — would not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next, that’s immoral. That’s immoral.
And let us agree, and I know we do: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do. (Applause.)
If she chooses — if she chooses, she will talk with her pastor, her priest, her rabbi, her imam. But it should not be the government or Donald Trump telling her what to do with her body. (Applause.)
And think about it — the stories that Dr. Reddick shares with us, the stories we heard last night, the stories we’ve been hearing for two years.
One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the South except Virginia.
Think about that when you also combine that with what we know has been long-standing neglect around an issue like maternal mortality. Think about that when you compound that with what has been long-standing neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for health care — prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that.
And these hypocrites want to start talking about “this is in the best interest of women and children.” (Applause.) Well, where you been? Where you been — (applause) — when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America? Where you been?
How dare they? How dare they? Come on.
And — and we understand the impact of these bans and the horrific reality that women and families — their husbands, their partners, their parents, their children are facing as a consequence every single day.
Since Roe was overturned, I have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage — wanted to have a child, suffering a miscarriage. I met a woma- — a woman — I’ve actually met several who were turned away from the emergency room. One, at early stages after the Dobbs decision came down, told me with tears — she was with her husband — about how only when she developed ses- — sepsis did she receive emergency care. Only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care.
And now we know that at least two women — and those are only the stories we know — here in the state of Georgia died — died because of a Trump abortion ban.
One — and we heard about her story last night — a vibrant, 28-year-old young woman. She was ambitious. You know, we — I talked with her mother and her sisters about her, and they described such an extraordinary life of a person. She was excited. She was working hard. She was a medical assistant. She was going to nursing school, raising her six-year-old son.
She was really proud that she had finally worked so hard that she gained the independence. Her family was telling me that she was able to get an apartment in a gated community with a pool for her son to play in. She was so proud, and she was headed to nursing school.
And her name — and we will speak her name —
AUDIENCE: Yes.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Amber Nicole Thurman.
AUDIENCE: Amber Nicole Thurman.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Amber Nicole Thurman.
AUDIENCE: Amber Nicole Thurman.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
And she had her future all planned out, and it was her plan. You know, let’s understand — just take pause on that for a moment. She had her plan, what she wanted to do for her son, for herself, for their future. And so, when she discovered that she was pregnant, she decided she wanted to have an abortion, but because of the Trump abortion ban here in Georgia, she was forced to travel out of state to receive the health care that she needed.
But when she returned to Georgia, she needed additional care, so she went to a hospital. But, you see, under the Trump abortion ban, her doctors could have faced up to a decade in prison for providing Amber the care she needed.
Understand what a law like this means. Doctors have to wait until the patient is at death’s door before they take action.
You know, on the other side of my — you know, the — the other folks, th- — Trump and his running mate, and they’ll talk about, (deepens voice) “Oh, well, yeah, but I — you know, I — I do believe in the exception to save the mother’s life.” (Laughter.) Okay. All right. Let’s break that down. Shall we?
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let’s break that down. (Applause.) Let’s break that down.
So, we’re saying that we’re going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a health care provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they’re about to die? Think about what we are saying right now. You’re saying that good policy, logical policy, moral policy, humane policy, is about saying that a health care provider will only start providing that care when you’re about to die?
And so, Amber waited 20 hours — 20 hours, excruciating hours — until finally she was in enough physical distress that her doctors thought they would be okay to treat her. But it was too late. She died of sepsis. And her last words to her mother — which her mother, as you know, tears up and cries every time she speaks it — last words to her mother, “Promise me you’ll take care of my son.”
So, I met last night and I spent time with Amber’s mother and her sisters, and they spoke about Amber — a daughter, a sister, a mother — with the deep love that you can imagine and how terribly they miss her. And their pain is heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking.
Amber’s mother, Shanette, told me that the word “preventable” is over and over again in her head when she learned about how her child died — the word “preventable.” She cannot — she can’t stop thinking about the word that they spoke to her. It was “preventable.”
Because, you see, medical experts have now determined that Amber’s death was preventable. And through the pain and the grief of her mother, who courageously told her story, I promised her, as she has asked, that we will make sure Amber is not just remembered as a statistic — (applause) — that she will not just be remembered as a statistic, so that people will know she was a mother and a daughter and a sister and that she was loved and that she should be alive today — (applause) — and that she should be alive today.
And many of us remember — there’s so many leaders here — from two years ago when the Dobbs decision came down, we knew this could happen. There is a word “preventable,” and there is another word: predictable.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And the reality is for every story we hear of the suffering under Trump abortion bans, there are so many other stories we’re not hearing but where suffering is happening every day in our country, an untold number of people suffering.
Women who are also being made to feel as though they did something wrong. The judgment factor here is outrageous — being made as though to feel as though they are criminals, as though they are alone.
So, to those women, to those families, I say on behalf of what I believe we all say: We see you, and you are not alone, and we are all here standing with you. (Applause.) Standing with you. You are not alone. You are not alone. (Applause.)
So, Georgia —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We will not be silent.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We — and we will not be silent.
AUDIENCE: We will not be silent.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And we will not be silent. But this is a health care crisis.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis. He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. In his own words, quote, “I did it, and I’m proud to have done it,” he says. He is proud.
Proud that women are dying? Proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care? Proud that young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers?
How dare he? How dare he?
And in our debate last week — (laughter and applause). Well, that was fun. (Laughs.)
But — and I know everyone here paid attention to the words, though — the words, right?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) I’m trying to get another debate. We’ll see. (Laughter.)
But in our debate last week, remember when he said: Everyone wanted Roe v. Wade to be overturned.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I don’t know where “everyone” is.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, exactly. I don’t know where everyone is either, because — (laughter and applause) — women have been arrested and charged for miscarriages. They didn’t want that.
AUDIENCE: No!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I — I was speaking with a physician who is here, who has, in her professional experience, been administering care to girls. And what we know is that 12- and 13-year-old survivors of assault are being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. They didn’t want this.
AUDIENCE: No!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And couples just trying to grow their family being cut off in the middle of IVF treatments, they didn’t want this.
AUDIENCE: No!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And on that last point, you probably saw, this week, for the second time, Republicans in the United States Senate blocked a bill that would protect access to IVF treatment.
Now, consider among the multitude of ironies the fact that, on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don’t have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners they don’t have the freedom to start a family. Okay. And they want to restrict access to contraception as well.
And now Donald Trump says that he would personally cast his vote in Florida, which is where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban, just like the one that is here in Georgia. And —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Felons can’t vote! (Laughter and applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s a whole different policy discussion that we’ll have for another day. (Laughter.)
But let’s understand, if he is — if he is elected again as president, Donald Trump will go further. (Applause.) But we know what we’re up against, and we must — we must speak of the stakes. We must remind — everybody here knows, but we got to remind our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers: The stakes are so high.
Because, if he is elected again, I am certain he will sign a national abortion ban, which would outlaw abortion in every single state. And he would create a national anti-abortion coordinator — look at Project 2025 — and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. It’s right there.
I can’t believe they put that Project 2025 in writing. (Laughter.) I — I — they — they put it — they literally put it in writing. They bound it. (Laughter.) They handed it out. I mean, they are simply out of their minds. (Laughter and applause.)
And it’s clear that they just don’t trust women.
AUDIENCE: They don’t.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we trust women. We trust women. (Applause.)
And like Dr. Reddick said, when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will so proudly sign it back into law. (Applause.) I will so proudly sign it into law. Proudly sign it into law. (Applause.)
So, 46 days to go. And let us remember that momentum on this and so many issues — momentum is on our side. (Applause.)
Let’s remember, since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot — from Kansas to California to Kentucky; in Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Ohio — the people of America have voted for freedom. (Applause.) The people of America have voted for freedom — and not just by a little but by overwhelming margins, from so-called red states to so-called blue states, providing and making clear, also, this is not a partisan issue. This is not a partisan issue. And it is proving that the voice of the people has been heard and will be heard again — and will be heard again. (Applause.)
So, 46 days to go in probably the most consequential election of our lifetime.
And with that, then, today, I ask: Georgia, are you ready to make your voices heard? (Applause.)
Do we trust women? (Applause.)
Do we believe in reproductive freedom? (Applause.)
Do we believe in the promise of America? (Applause.)
And are we ready to fight for it? (Applause.)
And when we fight —
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — we win. (Applause.)
God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. (Applause.)
Stepping out of the line of fire when people are rude
Cheap stuff made in China, someone calls it a sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
Beat down in the market, stoned to death in the plaza
Raped on the hillside under the gun from LA to Gaza
A house made of cardboard living close to the rail
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned in the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
The noise of elections, the promise of change
A grabbing of power at the top, a day at the rifle range
Somebody's in danger, somebody's for sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
Thursday, Sarah Sanbar (Human Rights Watch) noted:
At 9 years old, a girl should be in primary school. She is not old enough to drive a car, vote or hold a job, but according to some Iraqi lawmakers, she is old enough to be in a wedding dress.
Despite widespread protest and condemnation in Iraq, some Iraqi parliament members continue to try to push forward an amendment that would upend the country's Personal Status Law. In effect, it could legalize child marriage for girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15, undermine the principle of equality before the law and remove protections for women regarding divorce and inheritance.
This amendment is the latest in a series of attacks by certain political leaders in Iraq against women's rights and gender equality issues. Already, they have succeeded in criminalizing homosexuality, banning use of the word "gender" and stalling passage of a draft domestic violence law. These attacks have forced Iraqi women's rights activists to defend the limited rights they already have, instead of pushing for more.
Iraq's Personal Status Law, which governs matters of marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance for Muslims in Iraq, was considered one of the most progressive in the region at the time of its adoption in 1959, and it still is today. It was the result of negotiations within the nascent Iraqi state between women's groups and anti-imperialist factions, mobilizing against the vestiges of British colonial rule, who wanted one unifying law for all citizens regardless of gender, sect or religion, and certain religious factions, who wanted each sect to govern its own personal status affairs.
The compromise was a civil law rooted in interpretations of Islamic law agreed upon by both Sunni and Shia Islamic scholars that would apply to all Iraqi Muslims regardless of their sect.
Just one page long, the draft amendment now moving forward in Iraq's parliament would overturn this equilibrium entirely by allowing couples signing a marriage contract to choose whether the provisions of the Personal Status Law or the provisions of specific Islamic schools of jurisprudence would apply. Sect, not citizenship, would dictate which rights Iraqis are afforded in their personal life, effectively establishing separate legal regimes for different sects and further entrenching sectarianism in Iraq.
Article 14 of the Iraqi constitution, as well as international human rights law, guarantee all Iraqis the right to legal equality. This amendment would not just undermine this right; it would erase it.
Kat's "Kat's Korner: Cher's FOREVER is only semi-out" went up today. The following sites updated:
