First up, Paul Rudnick.
I can't think of anyone who's become so universally hated as quickly as JD Vance - even after Kristi Noem shot her dog. It's across the boards: he's the creep every woman despises and every man dreads turning into. He's not just weird - he's animals howling at his name weird
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) August 31, 2024
Now normally I do "Idiot of the Week" as the week winds down.
Not tonight. Tonight, let's do Scum of the Earth because Miss Sassy JD Vance has more than earned that title. On Sunday, as Ava and C.I. noted in "Media: They don't know any better," he was given the chance to apologize for his repeated attacks on single women over the last few years but he refused to:
His best known moments? JD Vance repeatedly insulting single women as "childless cat ladies" over the years -- not one, not twice, not three times -- No, at least a dozen times he stated that these women were hurting the country.
But
there he was this morning on NBC's MEET THE PRESS refusing to apologize
for it. Refusing to take it back. Refusing to call it a mistake.
KRISTEN WELKER:
All right. Let's talk about women voters more broadly. The Census Bureau estimates there are 22 million women between the ages of 20 and 40 who, for whatever reason, do not have children. What do you say to those women who hear some of your comments, including "childless cat lady" comments, which you've been asked about, but who feel as though you won't represent them?
SEN. JD VANCE:
Well, I'd say, first of all, I will represent you. I want to be the vice president for the whole country, and I want to represent everybody. And yes, I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think that a lot of Democrats have willfully misinterpreted. But what I’ve simply said is that I think that it's really a profound change that's happened in our country, where we've become anti-family. And I would like to change that. And I think if you talk to young women, whether they have children or don't want to have children, what you consistently hear is that a lot of young women feel like they don't have options. I saw this with my own wife, who's a working mother, who's a very, very accomplished litigator. She has three beautiful kids and always felt like she was having to balance being a good mom with being the kind of litigator that she wanted to be. I just want women to have more choices. I've seen that very personally in my own family, and I think it's something that is broken about our country.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me zoom out a little bit then. You're calling it a sarcastic comment, and yet some women – and you got the feedback in real time – felt like it was a gut punch to them personally. Do you regret making that comment?
SEN. JD VANCE:
Look, I regret certainly that a lot of people took it the wrong way, and I certainly regret the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But do you regret what you said, Senator?
SEN. JD VANCE:
Look, Kristen, I'm going to say things from time to time that people disagree with. I'm a real person. I'm going to make jokes, I'm going to say things sarcastically. And I think that what's important is that we focus on the policy. There are certainly going to be things that I say if I'm elected vice president that people are going to say, "Well, I wish he had said that differently." I think it's most important to actually be the person I actually am, and to say those sarcastic comments were made in the service of a real substantive point. This country has become too anti-family. It's too expensive to afford a house. It's too expensive to afford groceries. Donald Trump and I want to change that. And unless we get better leadership, we're not going to.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But again, just very quickly, given that people have told you directly, have spoken out, have said that they were offended, they were hurt by those comments, do you wish you never made those "childless cat lady" comments?
SEN. JD VANCE:
I think that it's much more important for me to just be a normal human being who sometimes says things --
KRISTEN WELKER:
So no regrets?
SEN. JD VANCE:
– people disagree with. I have a lot of regrets, Kristen, but making a joke three years ago is not at the top ten of the list.
He lied and tried to pretend it was a one-time remark.
He lied and tried to blame Kamala Harris for his own words.
He lied and could only offer others -- Kamala, the people who took it the 'wrong' way and were offended.
The remarks came from his mouth and he won't own it or take accountability.
President Harry Truman didn't just say, "The buck stops here." He had it made it into a sign that sat on his desk in the Oval Office. Contrast that with JD who instead says, "The buck stops with everyone else."
Now he's attacking a woman for something that she said when she was a teenager. He wants to attack Kamala Harris but he's not smart enough. So he tried to make fun of Caitlin Upton from when she was in the 2007 Miss Teen USA contest. Greg Evans (DEADLINE) explains:
Last night, Vance posted a message on social media that resurrected the old Upton clip and captioned it, “I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.” In the 2007 clip of Upton’s appearance at the pageant, the contestant fumbles badly in answering the question, “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?”
“I personally believe,” a flustered Upton answered, “that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, um, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.”
CNN's John Berman informed Vance in an interview Friday morning that Upton said in a 2015 interview with New York Magazine that the humiliating video caused her to have suicidal thoughts.
"I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed. But I never let anybody see that stuff, except for people I could trust," Upton said in the interview. "I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide."
Vance said he was not aware of Upton's mental anguish when Berman asked about it.
"No
certainly not, and my heart goes out to her and I hope she’s doing
well," he said, adding that he was "not going to apologize for posting a
joke."
Upton responded on X calling it a "shame" that it is still being brought up.
Click here to see the CNN segment.
If you're keeping track, whenever he hurts someone with one of his insults, he was being sarcastic or he was telling a joke. Does this piece of human garbage not get that he's no stand up comic. He's running to be the vice president of the United States.
But he's relying on jokes -- and, be honest, bitchiness.
He's disgusting and an embarrassment, he is the scum of the earth.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Asked what she would do on Day 1, Harris said she would look for ways to “strengthen” the middle class and start trying to implement her “Opportunity Economy” plan she laid out last week to bring prices down and try to make homes more affordable.
Specifically, Harris talked in this interview about:
- Extending a $6,000 child tax credit to families for first year of a child’s life, and her
- A $25,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit
She has noted other proposals in the course of this truncated campaign, like wanting to try to pass the John Lewis voting rights bill, which Republicans have blocked, and wanting to revive the border-security bill Biden drafted with conservative Republicans that Trump opposed and the GOP-led House then killed.
In all, the joint interview in Savannah with her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz – their first since becoming the Democratic presidential ticket – provided one of the clearest looks into Harris’ positions and her plans for the presidency.
Asked to describe her day-one objectives should she win, Harris did not list any specific steps, like signing executive actions or orders.
Instead, she reiterated her focus on strengthening the economy: “First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class.”
In the post-convention phase of the race, Harris is seeking to address scrutiny of her record and add substance to her pitch to American voters on how she would govern if elected president.
Harris also said she would be open to appointing a Republican member of her Cabinet.
"I've got 68 days to go with this election, so I'm not putting the cart before the horse," Harris said. "But I would, I think. I think it's really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it's important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican."
That led one MSNBC political analyst to claim the Trump campaign is derailing itself.
Noting that a complaint was made about Trump aides engaging an altercation with a cemetery staffer that then allegedly led to Trump's spokesperson attacking that person afterward, Lemire remarked, "In a normal campaign, campaign of years past, if there had been an altercation between a staffer, a campaign staffer and someone who works the cemetery, it'd be the campaign staffer immediately fired or at least suspended."
“The way we discussed and agreed, the campaign will start on September 1, in central Gaza, for three days, and there will be a humanitarian pause during the vaccinations,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Palestinian territories.
That will be followed by another three-day pause in southern Gaza, then another in the north, but more days may be needed to complete the vaccination programmes, Mr Peeperkorn said.
Mr Peeperkorn said the aim is to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10 and that the campaign has been co-ordinated with Israeli authorities.
“I’m not going to say this is the ideal way forward but this is a workable way forward,” he said. “It will happen and should happen because we have an agreement.”
The pauses are not the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been seeking, including in talks that are taking place this week.
An Israeli official said a tactical pause is expected to allow for vaccinations. The Israeli army has previously announced pauses in limited areas to allow for international humanitarian operations.
Mr Peeperkorn said the campaigns are being planned in close collaboration with aid agencies, Gaza's Health Ministry and other agencies.
On the non-humanitarian actions of the government of Israel, Sharon Zang (TRUTHOUT) reports:
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it is suspending staff movement across Gaza after Israeli forces attacked WFP employees in a vehicle this week, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians starve under Israel’s famine campaign.
On Tuesday, an armored WFP vehicle was approaching an Israeli checkpoint in central Gaza when Israeli forces shot the vehicle 10 times, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. None of the staff members were hurt. The workers had been returning from escorting a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to central Gaza.
A picture of the vehicle shared by the group shows that it was clearly marked as a UN car, and WFP noted that the group had received “multiple clearances” from Israeli officials for its route.
The group said on Wednesday that its movement is paused “until further notice.” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain condemned the attack as “totally unacceptable.”
“As last night’s events show, the current deconfliction system is failing and this cannot go on any longer,” said McCain. “I call on the Israeli authorities and all parties to the conflict to act immediately to ensure the safety and security of all aid workers in Gaza.”
This morning, THE NATIONAL notes:
An Israeli missile hit a convoy bringing supplies to a UAE hospital in Gaza, killing several people from a local transport company, aid officials said on Friday.
Thursday's strike on Salah Al Din Road targeted vehicles bringing medical supplies and fuel to the Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, said the American Near East Refugee Aid non-governmental organisation.
Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s director for the Palestinian territories, said a number of people employed by a Gazan company were killed.
“The convoy, which was co-ordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed,” Ms Rasheed added.
She said the convoy was able to continue and deliver aid to the hospital.
An Israeli army spokesman claimed that troops opened fire after gunmen had seized the convoy. The military did not provide evidence of this.
Anera said it would release more information on Friday.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Biden administration is urging Israel's military to make major changes to its evacuation policies in Gaza. That's according to a U.S. Embassy memo obtained by NPR. It comes after the Israeli military has significantly increased evacuation orders for Palestinians in Gaza over the past month. Those orders are driving tens of thousands of civilians into smaller and smaller areas. The memo, dated yesterday, warned that that pace of evacuation orders could, quote, "debilitate remaining humanitarian operations in Gaza." We're joined now by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Hi, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: Kat, tell us more about this memo. Where did it come from, and what else does it say?
LONSDORF: Yeah. So it was a diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem addressed to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. It contained an assessment by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, on the effects of Israel's evacuation orders on the Palestinian population. And it had some very strong language in it. For example, it said the Israeli military, quote, "has issued evacuation orders under unsafe conditions and in quick succession and with little warning before operations begin," saying that this has led to civilian harm.
It also talked about the so-called humanitarian zones. These are small slices of land that the Israeli military says will be safe for Palestinians to shelter. The memo said they had, quote, "long been problematic." That echoes warnings from aid groups who say that it has become near-impossible to get to these areas, and Palestinians describe them as crowded, with squalid conditions, little access to clean water or bathrooms.
SUMMERS: I mean, given that in this moment evacuation orders are increasingly frequent, the timing of this memo feels really significant.
LONSDORF: Yeah. That's right. There have been at least 16 evacuation orders just this month, according to the U.N. It's a huge increase from what we've seen in the previous 10-plus months of war there. And one thing to note is that these evacuation orders don't get lifted by the Israeli military. So basically, if an evacuation order was issued back in October, when the war began, it's still in effect today. That means that areas deemed safe are steadily shrinking. The U.N. estimates more than 88% of Gaza is under evacuation orders right now.
SUMMERS: Kat, as I understand it, this memo also indicates that the U.S. government has urged the Israeli military to change the way it handles evacuations. Tell us how.
LONSDORF: Yeah. So the memo basically acknowledged that the likelihood of Israel stopping these evacuations was low. So instead, it focused on how the Israeli military could be doing them differently. It said the U.S. government has advocated for three main things - one, for Israel to rescind evacuation orders it no longer deemed necessary to allow for greater freedom of movement for people; two, to wait at least 48 hours to begin military operations after an evacuation order is issued to allow civilians more time to safely leave; and three, to protect humanitarian sites and allow for ongoing accessibility.
