Saturday, August 31, 2024

Scum of the Earth of the week

First up, Paul Rudnick.


 

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.”


KNUE reports:


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:"


Friday August 30, 2024.  Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sit down with CNN, the Convicted Felon and Miss Sassy continues to struggle as fire fighters openly boo JD, Jill Stein in all her Unbearable Whiteness of Being signifies political death for the Green Party, and much more.



Last night, CNN aired their interview (conducted by Dana Bash) with the Democratic Party's presidential ticket of Kamala Harris (presidential nominee) and Tim Walz (vice presidential nominee).







     

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.     


Kathryn Watson (CBS NEWS) notes this section of the interview:

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."




Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, apparently believing Trump’s ticket needed even more misogyny, suggested in a social media post Thursday that Harris would be incapable of holding her own. It is as it has ever been since Trump has been on the political stage: We watch to see if anything Trump says isn’t a lie, and we watch to see if other politicians say anything that’s the least bit false. In an ideal world, nobody would have been sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if Harris would sound knowledgeable or prepared for an interview — if only because she could never sound less knowledgeable or less prepared than her opponent so often does.


Oh, Miss Sassy JD Vance has to inject himself always.  If he's not the belle of the ball, you know he's crying in the punch bowl.  And it was already a rough week for Miss Sassy.  Mike covered some of it in "Oh, Miss Sassy JD Vance, what's gotten into you?" noting that, while the International Association of Fire Fighters in Boston strongly welcomed Tim Walz's appearance this week, they booed JD.  Poor Miss Sassy.  Then there was JD's insistence that Kamala could "go to hell."

Actually, oddsmakers in Vegas will tell you JD's got a stronger chance of doing that.  Mike notes:

 
The same report tells you that Miss Sassy was boasting of how no teleprompter was needed and Miss Sassy doesn't make mistakes like Kamala Harris.  But then he spoke of Arlington Cemetery families who had died in Afghanistan's Abby Gate . . .  but Miss Sassy called it Abbey Road.  

ABBEY ROAD, for those who don't know, is a Beatles album.  (Also the favorite Beatles album of my wife Elaine.)

Oh, Miss Sassy.  You are the dumbest drag queen in all the land.

Miss Sassy may also be the bitchiest.  Miss Sassy declared Kamala Harris "can go to hell."

Why?

I have no idea.  Maybe she wore a dress that Miss Sassy was planning to debut?  Maybe Miss Sassy was feeling bloated and Kamala looked like Kamala (she's an attractive woman) and it was too much for Miss Sassy.

Who knows why Miss Sassy ever does what Miss Sassy does?


JD remains an enigma.  It's even a big question mark as to how he got on the ticket -- the sinking ticket.  As Ruth explains in "As a nation, we have reached our fill with the Convicted Felon," Donald's appearance at Arlington Cemetery involved his staff attacking a worker there as he used the setting for political purposes -- which are prohibited:

That is disgusting as is Mr. Trump.  Charges should have been filed over the assault -- that is what it was -- and he needs to take down the videos immediately.  

He will not because he has no respect for anyone who served in the military.  He continues to spit on those people.  He is corrupt and is rotting before our eyes.

It really is outrageous.  The Convicted Felon's running mate Miss Sassy insists that it is no big deal, it is "little."  I think Miss Sassy may have been looking in his Fruit of the Looms when he found something "little."  Or maybe he tapes it down when he gets into his wig and women's clothes?



On Thursday morning the panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" was stunned by Donald Trump's faltering presidential campaign which is finding itself spending precious time pushing back on gaffes and scandals as it slips behind in the polls.
With fill-in host Jonathan Lemire pointing to blowback from Trump's controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery for a photo-op which has resulted a furious backlash from veterans and their families, he also highlighted Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance telling Vice President Kamala Harris to "go to hell."

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."

"Instead, we have the Trump team doubling, tripling down, and defending that staffer and attacking the person at the cemetery," he added. "It does reiterate what the Harris team is saying and others in the political world are saying: the nation is exhausted by Donald Trump."


Yes, I do believe we have all reached our fill. 


Yes, Donald's campaign continues to sputter along -- this despite the glowing endorsements from the charisma free Tulsi Gabbard and Robert Kennedy Junior.  Someone thought those two could pull in voters.  The only thing anyone wants to hear from Junior is him answering how guilty he feels for cheating on Cheryl Hines.

Wednesday,  Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Jill FrankenStein" went up.

frankenstein


It's the gruesome Jill Stein, Green Party presidential nominee.  For the third time.  Some e-mails to the public account are asking me about the Green Party and the White remark.   Isaiah's did the cartoon, you could certainly ask him.  Ann has her own community site and she is and was raised a Green so you could ask her that (as well as why she's voting for Kamala Harris -- the first time she's ever voted for a Democratic presidential nominee). 

But sure, I'll take a crack at it.  The Green Party has never been able to build upon the 2000 momentum -- in part because after Ralph Nader pulled in voters, they wouldn't let him on their ticket again.  

Ralph's Arab-American.  We all realize, right, that the only other person of color in the party's history to be named their presidential nominee was Cynthia McKinney.

In retrospect, that bold move looks more craven with each day.  I'm not insulting Cynthia but I am pointing out that in 2008 the Democrats ran Barack Obama.  

So would Cynthia have gotten the nomination if it weren't for Barack?

The Green Party is awfully White for a new party that supposedly wants to lead this country into the future.  And who knew that like Donald Trump, they don't support diversity and inclusion?

Or do even Greens ignore their own party at this point?

This week, a press release from the Green Party opened:


The new co-chairs are Cassandra Lems (from New York), Justin Paglino (Connecticut), and Charles Ostdiek (Nebraska). Brief biographies of all three follow below.

How sweet.  Three spots open and our 'left' Green Party finds three White people to fill each spot.

National Green Party, your true colors are showing and they scream "Racist!"

They're the GOP, that's all they are now.  They committed political suicide by making Jill their nominee for the third time.  The party really needs to run one person three times?  There's no one else in the party that can run?

As the geriatric nature of our representatives becomes a bigger and bigger issue after the deaths of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Senator Dianne Feinstein, as people say Donald Trump's too old to be running and said the same of Joe Biden before he stepped aside in July, the Green Party wants to pretend to show us an 'alternative' with 74-year-old Jill Stein?  

The same Jill Stein who promised before she was officially the nominee that her running mate would be a Palestinian American and that this was important because of the genocide in Gaza.  But then that dropped down to an Arab-American.  And then, in the end, an African-American man who was Muslim.

You're not seeing the Whitness of that party?  They're never going to win a presidential election.  So they nominate a White person to get attention and no one pays attention to the running mate.

In 2020, Howie Hawkins had an interesting running mate, Angela Walker.  She actually had enough for several human interest features in the press.  But the press wasn't interested and the Green Party wasn't interested in selling her to the press or calling out the silence from the press because their v.p. slot is not important to them.  It's just a name and they don't promote the people in that slot -- they don't promote them in terms of to the media or, for that matter, in terms of the party itself.

Rosa Clemente, Angela Walker, Ajamu Baraka, Winona LaDuke -- do we want to go down the full list of people of color that the Green Party has repeatedly tokenized?

They're good enough to be v.p. nominees but apparently not to ever graduate above that.  No, they can run Jill Stein for president three times but they won't run Rosa even once.

You don't get the racist nature of leadership within the national Green Party?

In the Democratic Party?  Joe Biden was Barack Obama's vice president.  And Joe could work up to being the party's nominee.  Kamala was Joe's vice president and running mate and could rise to the party's nominee.

But over at the Green Party, where they tokenize the vice presidential nominee, they never let them move up the chain.  Instead, it's trot that elderly (and annoying) White woman Jill Stein for a third run while pretending that the Green Party finally has something to offer this presidential election cycle.

B-b-b-but Cornel West!!!!

The People's Party wanted Cornel as their nominee. 

Had Cornel run for the Green Party's nomination, there's a chance -- strong -- that he would have gotten it.  He is running as an independent candidate instead.

Why?  Because he would have been a puppet, because he was lied to, because he was tricked.

 




White Mama Jill Stein's attacks on Cornel started early on and they are about what she fears he will spill because, while Cornel's called out some of the nonsense Jill pulled, he hasn't called out all of it.  She knows it would destroy her. 

And the other liar?  If you've not noticed, he's not endorsed Jill.  He always endorses Jill.  But he's afraid endorsing Jill right now would tick Cornel off so much that Cornel would spill all the beans. 

So congratulations to Jill Stein for helping the Green Party commit assisted suicide.  In 2024, they're running the same White woman for the third time.   While pretending to be the voice of the future, the voice of Young America.  But in each step that they take, they make sure the country registers that it's eternally 1953 for them.  BROWN V BOARD OF EDUCATION comes along in 1954 and that's just change the Green Party can't support or get behind. 


Until that party gets its act together, people of color will always be rendered Tituba to Jill Stein's Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams.  


Turning to Gaza, Tom Bennett (BBC NEWS) reports, "Israel has agreed to a series of 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza to allow for the vaccination of children against polio, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The campaign will aim to vaccinate around 640,000 children across the Gaza strip and will begin on Sunday, senior WHO official Rik Peeperkorn said."

Polio is a risk in Gaza because the area has been reduced to rubble and public infrastructure is gone leading to desperate living conditions.  So isn't it interesting the wording used?  "Humanitarian pause."  In genocide?  They keep up this misreporting and War Criminal Netanyahu is going to end up with a Nobel Peace Prize. 


“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.”



Gaza remains under assault. Day 326 of  the assault in the wave that began in October.  Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion.  The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.  But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets:  How to justify it?  Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence."   CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund."  ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them."  NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza."  The slaughter continues.  It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service.  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,602, with 93,855 wounded."   Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."    Months ago, United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of of acute food insecurity or worse."   Months ago,  AP  noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing."  February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home."  February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

 


April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

  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.


The following sites updated:





  • Friday, August 30, 2024

    Oh, Miss Sassy JD Vance, what's gotten into you?

    Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS  "Miss Sassy Will Not Be Denied or Upstaged" was one of two comics he did Wednesday night.


    misssassytulsijunior



    Miss Sassy.  JD Vance aka Miss Sassy sure does amuse.  Kyle Osullivan (DAILY EXPRESS) reports:


    JD Vance has been mercilessly booed by a firefighters union in another embarrassing moment on the campaign trail.

    Donald Trump's running mate has endured multiple humiliating gaffes this week and was slammed for saying teachers that don't have biological kids 'disorient and disturb' him.

    On Thursday, Vance was speaking to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) in Boston, just a day after Democrat rival Tim Walz addressed the same group.



    The same report tells you that Miss Sassy was boasting of how no teleprompter was needed and Miss Sassy doesn't make mistakes like Kamala Harris.  But then he spoke of Arlington Cemetery families who had died in Afghanistan's Abby Gate . . .  but Miss Sassy called it Abbey Road.  

    ABBEY ROAD, for those who don't know, is a Beatles album.  (Also the favorite Beatles album of my wife Elaine.)

    Oh, Miss Sassy.  You are the dumbest drag queen in all the land.

    Miss Sassy may also be the bitchiest.  Miss Sassy declared Kamala Harris "can go to hell."

    Why?

    I have no idea.  Maybe she wore a dress that Miss Sassy was planning to debut?  Maybe Miss Sassy was feeling bloated and Kamala looked like Kamala (she's an attractive woman) and it was too much for Miss Sassy.


    Who knows why Miss Sassy ever does what Miss Sassy does?

    Symone Sanders-Townsend noted another of Miss Sassy's hissy fits on MSNBC's MORNING JOE:

    Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is making headlines yet again after another one of his rants about childless women resurfaced. This time, Donald Trump’s running mate turned his ire to educators — attacking Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, during a Center for Christian Virtue leadership forum in 2021:

    "Let me just say, as a person who has not birthed a child from my own womb, I take grave offense to these comments. I don’t know what children Vance himself has birthed — it’s my understanding that it was his wife who had the children — but it seems the senator just can’t help himself from opening his mouth and disparaging large swaths of the American public. Most Americans probably don’t agree with the idea that if you don’t have children, you don’t have a stake in this country’s future. "

    Obviously, this isn’t the first time Vance has attacked women without biological children and every time another one of these rants is unearthed, further damage is done to the Trump-Vance ticket.  

    This all goes back to the importance of vetting in a presidential campaign. I recently spoke to former Attorney General Eric Holder, who ran the vetting process for the Harris-Walz campaign. During that conversation, I asked him if he was sure his team got everything and that no stone was left unturned. Holder told me he combed through the internet and watched hours of videos of the top contenders.  

    So, I just have to wonder: What was the vetting process like for Vance? Because this is simply insane.

    Okay, now some news out of Texas.  Colin Allred is running for the US Senate.  I am a big fan of his.  He says the right things and walks the walk.  He clearly has integrity.  He's also a fighter.


    Sabina played the audio for us of Colin's new campaign ad.  Sorry, Thursday nights, we do a rountable for the gina & krista round-robin and Sabina played the audio during that.


    Colin's hitting his opponent Ted Cruz hard over Social Security and Medicare -- Ted wants to cut benefits and it's a strong ad but it's amazing at the end.


    I don't live in Texas but I think it was two -- maybe three -- winters ago when they were left without power in many places and the whole grid nearly collapsed.  While Texans suffered, their US senator Ted Cruz rushed off to Cancun.


    So while noting Ted's efforts to destroy the lives of seniors, the commercial winds down with: "Listen Ted, running to Cancun was bad, but you hurt us more when you're here."


    I love it!  I'm pulling for Colin Allred, he's a winner.


    Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


    Thursday, August 29, 2024.  New published interview with Kamala Harris that the media seems to be missing, if Gaza supporters need a recommendation they should start planning a January 20, 2025 action right now, James Carville shows up late as usual, DEMOCRAC NOW! covers Texas Governor Greg Asshole and Attorney General Ken Paxton's assault on democracy, and much more.


    Starting with the US presidential election, I believe the whine goes something like this: "Kamala hasn't done any interviews!"



    That's what the mail brought me yesterday.  Page 48 kicks off Caroline Wanga's six page interview with the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.  The two discuss a number of issues including the economy.  I'll note this from the interview 


    Kamala Harris:  I have been working on that issue for years -- with my colleagues from the CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] when I was in the Senate and now as Vice President.  Why? Because Black women in the United States of America are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women.  And we know that there are a variety of reasons for that.  But we also know that this is a health care crisis of the highest order, and it has received very little attention proportionate to the seriousness of the matter.  So, I worked with my colleagues when I was in the Senate.  We passed a number of ills.  When I came in as Vice President, I continue to work on it.  And one of the things I found is this: For women on Medicaid, which states can provide for postpartum care for two months up to 12 months -- and I realized when I came in as Vice President, only three states would extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from two months to 12 months.  I don't have a problem shaming people sometimes, so I challenged the states to extend it.  And now 46 states have extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum care.  There is a direct connection between this and Black maternal mortality.  But back to the other point about freedom of choice.  The majority of Black women in America live in the South You know that in the South, we have some of the highest rates of Black maternal mortality.  In the South, except for the state of Virginia, every state has an abortion ban.  And what I find hypocrisy upon hypocrisy, by some of these extremists, is that the same ones saying they're passing these abortion bans because they care about women and children have been completely silent on the issue of Black maternal mortality.  Don't come to us, gaslighting us about where you've been and where you haven't been, on important issues that relate to what we know every day affects our sisters, our mothers, our aunties, our grandmothers -- and could affect our daughters. 


    A few comments.  The interview is not online.  I have no idea if it will be posted or not.  Currently at ESSENCE,  Jasmine Browley has an article about Kamala and the opportunity economy that went up this week and Robyn Mowatt looks at political style.  Second, the cover notes "COLLECTOR'S EDITION."  If you're a subscriber like me, you may grimace.  But they used a real sticker that peels off -- not a paper label that's basically glued to the cover -- and it's very easy and doesn't tear the cover when you remove it.  After I removed it, I scanned for the image above (notice no tear in the lower corner) and took the cover off the magazine.  It's now framed and up in my home office. 

    At NEWSWEEK, Menachem Z. Rosensaft writes:


    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shares two important characteristics with former President Donald Trump: like Trump, Netanyahu is narcissistic, incapable of empathy for others who considers his personal interests and political survival to be of paramount importance, and, also like Trump, he desperately wants Trump to win the forthcoming presidential election in order for him to have a hope of staying out of jail.

    That is pretty much all we need to know to explain Netanyahu's behavior some two months before the said election.

    Trump's motivation is hardly breaking news. Most Americans—even hardcore MAGA activists who idolize Trump—understand that Trump's legal difficulties will either increase or decrease exponentially depending on who takes the oath of office next Jan. 21 as the 47th president of the United States. One scenario: he lives in the White House for another four years; the other involves at a minimum heavy fines and quite possibly an orange prison uniform.

    What many observers outside Israel don't realize, however, is that Trump's Mini-Me Netanyahu is in the exact same boat.

    Except that Netanyahu's situation is even more precarious than Trump's.

    Netanyahu's present political situation is exemplified by the banana peel syndrome: he has one foot in political oblivion and the other on a banana peel.

    [. . .]

    And so, Netanyahu can be expected to continue trying to manipulate the world as he has done with an unfortunate degree of success over the course of the past 11 months. Except that he knows that Vice President Kamala Harris has his number. She is a former prosecutor, after all, and just as she has dealt with the likes of Donald Trump, she has bested antagonists who were far more sophisticated and less transparent than Netanyahu.

    Harris made clear in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention that, "I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7th. Including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival."

    This is why Netanyahu must be panicking at this very moment. In many ways, Harris must be his worst nightmare. He realizes, I'm sure, that while she is very much a friend and supporter of Israel, she is neither in his pocket nor a pushover—which he probably considers Trump to be in light of their past history.

    And this is why Netanyahu is panicked at the prospect of a Harris presidency. She is certain not to allow him to continue running roughshod at the expense of the majority of Israelis who want him gone and the non-Hamas-supporting Palestinians who see no hope for any future while he is in control.


    Gaza? 

    Regarding yesterday's "Iraq snapshot," a number of e-mails complain that I provided you no answers.  I'm the critic and I'm focused on the election in the US.  It's not my job or responsibility to provide you with what you should be doing -- does no one know how to think for themselves? -- but if you're so lost and confused, January 20th.


    January 20, 2025 is inauguration day.  Whomever is elected -- I hope Kamala -- they will be sworn into office on January 20th.  Tons of press will be in DC to cover that and to cover the various parties taking place.  So I'd make January 20th a day for protest and demands so that whomever wins the election, they grasp, from day one, that voices for peace are out there and are demanding an end to the assault on Gaza.  

    And if by some miracle the assaults has stopped prior to January 20th?  Ending the assault is important, it's a genocide.  But if it stopped at noon today, the Palestinians would still not be living in an equal society.  So if, prior to January 20th, the genocide -- or this wave of it -- ends, you use the protest to shift to other needed demands. 


    January 20th will be here before we know it.  It's a key day where a message can be sent to whomever wins the election and DC will have much more journalists than it usually does.  That's what I'd be organizing and planning for right now.  Doesn't mean other actions can't be carried out between now and then but it does mean you don't wait until November or December to plan a massive mobilization with all that requires.


    I should also point out something that should be obvious especially all these years later.  I have little patience for stupid people who want to be stupid.  I enter any room expecting to be the least informed person in the world.  As I've noted here before many times, I lost my memory.  I had to relearn or learn for the first time -- who knows -- many things in history, many things in my own life.  And when I went to college, my degree plan was what I made it.  Meaning I took classes I was interested in and got way more credits than I needed.  There is so much that I still need to learn and it has been decades since college for me and I didn't stop learning in grad school.  


    I get that there's a lot out there but I also get that some people are just lazy and I'm not here to spoon feed or wet nurse for that matter.  

    That is my biggest bias in the world, people who are comfortable being uninformed.  


    I noted what was going on in Texas yesterday and that I hadn't wanted to write about it because I didn't know anything about it until Monday.  I didn't write that much yesterday.  But before I did, I read as much as I could on it and did a conference call with thirty Texas community members about what was going on so I would have some idea.


    I'm smart enough to know that I don't know everything.  And if I weigh in on something, I've done some level of research before weighing in.  



    AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

    We turn now to Texas, where the Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is raising concerns about voter suppression by targeting the country’s oldest Latino civil rights group, LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. LULAC was first founded to fight discrimination against citizens of Mexican descent in Texas. Now it’s responding to a series of raids of the homes of LULAC members, state lawmakers and other Latino leaders in the San Antonio area last week.

    Speaking to the media Monday, longtime LULAC volunteer, 87-year-old Lidia Martinez described how armed officers arrived at her home at 6 a.m. with a warrant to seize electronic devices, swab for DNA, as they collected evidence of alleged vote harvesting and identity fraud.

    LIDIA MARTINEZ: I was in my nightgown, and I thought it was my next-door neighbor. And I went to the door, and nine officers from the Attorney General’s Office walked in. And they had a search warrant, and they told me that they were there because I had filed a complaint that seniors were not getting their mail ballots. And I said, “Yes, I did.” And he says, “Do you have the names?” And I said, “I have a few of the names.” And they came in, and I said, “Can I get dressed?” They didn’t let me.

    They sat me down, and they started searching all my house — my storeroom, my garage, my kitchen, everything. And after two hours of questioning, they took me outside in front of all my neighbors and all the officers around me and — for half an hour while they searched the living room where I had been sitting. And after half an hour, they let me go back in the house, and they continued the questioning and asking me about LULAC members, in particular. And I told them, “Why are you all doing this?” And he said, “Because there was fraud.”

    AMY GOODMAN: LULAC is calling on the Justice Department to investigate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the raids. This comes as ProPublica and The Texas Tribune report Paxton has also used consumer protection law more than a dozen times to investigate a range mostly Latino-led organizations or groups who offer food and shelter to migrants and asylum seekers along the border. Paxton also tried to shut down the immigrant-led civil rights group FIEL in Houston, claiming it engaged in electioneering, but a judge recently shot down his effort.

    All of this comes as prosecutors agreed in March to drop securities fraud charges against Paxton himself, that allowed him to avoid going to trial if he performed a hundred hours of community service. This is separate from more recent corruption allegations Paxton faced that led to his impeachment trial last year, in which he was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Texas Senate.

    For more, we go to Houston, where we’re joined by Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL, which is the Spanish acronym for Families of Immigrants and Students in the Struggle. And in Miami, Florida, we’re joined by Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC, the largest and oldest Latino civil rights group in the United States.

    Juan, let’s begin with you. Explain what happened last week in Texas.

    JUAN PROAÑO: Well, good morning, Amy. Thank you for having me.

    As you said, you know, last Tuesday, to our knowledge, over 12 search warrants were actually presented to Latino leaders, LULAC members in San Antonio. In the case of Lidia, as you just described, eight armed officers came in. But in another case, Manuel Medina, almost 40 officers, armed with AK-47s, SWAT gear, came in — tactical gear, came into his home at 6 a.m. His daughter was sleeping on the couch downstairs, thought someone was breaking into the home. He was upstairs with his wife and his other daughters. They came downstairs. And they were held, interrogated for over seven hours.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Juan Proaño, what does this tell you about the efforts of officials in Texas to intimidate Latino voters?

    JUAN PROAÑO: Well, I mean, you know, it’s pervasive. You know, we’ve been, obviously, doing a lot of research here. And it didn’t start last week. You know, this investigation on election integrity started over two years ago, essentially, at this point, also referred by another Republican district attorney there with no evidence at all whatsoever.

    In June, we saw that they sued the archdiocese of Rio Grande Valley, Sister Norma Pimentel, which provides migrants with services that are in this country legally. Then we saw last month with Annunciation House, which provides refugee services, as well, obviously with FIEL, too, and we also saw 12 other nonprofits that effectively have gone through the same search and seizure process.

    At least what we’ve heard from the courts, that this is unconstitutional. Effectively, the tort law that he’s using to, essentially, sue nonprofit organizations because they’re providing — because they’re 501(c)(3) organizations and providing services to immigrants is really blatant discrimination.

    You know, our expectation was that he would, obviously, come after LULAC and sue LULAC, but, certainly, we were very surprised when he started to go after Latino leaders and actual LULAC members. Of those 12 that we know of, four of them are LULAC members, three of them are women in their eighties. And they were told not to talk to anyone post the search and seizure. They took their cellphones. They took their computers. They took documentations. In the case of Lidia, they took her calendar, which is essentially where she keeps all her doctor’s appointments, personal contacts, information about her prescription medicine. And she had just been to the doctor the day before and had to go back in order to get that. And so, she was left without any communication device at all to communicate with her family, and had to literally leave her home, go to another LULAC member’s house to get assistance.

    AMY GOODMAN: So, can you talk about the timing of this, Juan Proaño? For the first time in LULAC’s history, established in 1929, LULAC’s Adelante PAC, the political action committee, endorsed Harris and Walz, endorsed Kamala Harris to be president. Do you think that there is a direct link? And explain the different parts of your organization.

    JUAN PROAÑO: Sure. And thank you, Amy, for that question. So, LULAC, to your point, was founded in 1929 in Corpus Christi. It was actually founded as a 501(c)(4) organization. That is the entity that everyone effectively knows and commonly refers to, essentially, as LULAC. We have over 535 councils around the country. Every single one of those councils is incorporated. They actually carry the LULAC name and seal. We have over 240,000 members in all 50 states, and we have actually those 535 councils in 33 states and 207 cities. So we are the largest Latino membership organization in the country.

    In addition to that, we have a 501(c)(3), which is our LULAC National Institute. So, all of the programmatic work that we do to provide programs and services to the Latino community is actually done through our 501(c)(3). The 501(c)(3) is actually incorporated in the District of Columbia.

    And then, more recently, we actually established the LULAC Adelante PAC. And so, it’s actually a super PAC. And actually it’s incorporated in District of Columbia.

    You know, I don’t believe that it is actually connected specifically to the PAC, primarily because all of the lawsuits and, essentially, the pattern of lawsuits are primarily targeting nonprofit organizations, and specifically 501(c)(3) organizations. They also only have purview over corporations that are founded in the state of Texas. So, you know, Paxton cannot go after the LULAC National Institute, the 501(c)(3) or the LULAC Adelante PAC. But, you know, obviously, it was very close in time. I believe the date of the endorsement was August 9th or August 10th, so less than two weeks ago at this point.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Juan, I wanted to ask you about a separate matter also related to elections. On Monday, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, announced that the state has removed over 1 million names from the Texas voter rolls. Now, purges are common in many states, but that’s a big number, and it’s obviously coming so close to the election.

    JUAN PROAÑO: Yeah. I mean, look, we actually saw that. It came out about 5:00. You know, we started our advocacy campaign on Thursday night. It literally took us two days to get information about Lidia’s case and to begin to gather all the facts relevant to this case.

    Really, it is his form of deflection, right? It’s his effort to basically say, “Look, you know, we have a million people that are on our voter rolls that we effectively are removing.” I actually went through those numbers. Over 467,000 of them, essentially, are deceased, right? Another 400,000 or so are, effectively, what they call in the suspended mode, but only 6,500 of those are actually what are classified, effectively, as noncitizens. So you’re talking about .0065%. Less than 1% of those are actually noncitizens. And only 1,900, which is 1/1000th of a percent of that million, have actually any voting history at all whatsoever. But to say that there is systemic voter fraud and voter harvesting happening in the state of Texas is absolutely false.

    AMY GOODMAN: Juan Proaño, in a minute, we want to ask about LULAC’s study of Project 2025. But we want to bring in Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL, Families of Immigrants and Students in the Struggle. Cesar, can you start off by talking about what happened in your new office, your old destroyed by a hurricane, about the serving of a lawsuit against you by the attorney general, who himself is under investigation and went through an impeachment trial, now is serving community service, but he’s also doing this?

    CESAR ESPINOSA: Well, so, we, unfortunately, lost our office. FIEL has been here in Houston for the last 17 years. And in the 17 years, we helped out so many Houstonians, regardless of their immigration status, recover from natural disasters. So, just a few days after hurricane hit or a day after hurricane hit, Beryl hit — excuse me — I was talking to my family about the fact that I was ready to get back out there, ready to serve our community and serve people and help people get back on their feet.

    Unfortunately, though, this was not the case. We were hit by two storms: number one, the actual physical storm of Beryl, and then, second, the first day we moved into our new building, we were served with a lawsuit by the state of Texas, which really took us off guard.

    AMY GOODMAN: And what does this lawsuit say? What have you been sued for?

    CESAR ESPINOSA: This lawsuit was stating that we were electioneering by a series of social media posts who were interpreted by the attorney general of Texas as advocating for a certain party or certain issues. But at the end of the day, our institution and our work is based on educating the community, empowering the community, and getting community members from all walks of life to be integrated fully into U.S. society.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the lawsuit was — Harris County Judge R.K. Sandill denied Paxton’s efforts? Could you talk about what the judge said?

    CESAR ESPINOSA: Well, at the end of the day, the judge, Sandill, declared that the Attorney General Ken Paxton did not have standing in the case, that he was going too far. And at the end of the day, the case was dismissed. But this sends, really, alarms all over the state of Texas to many organizations who are trying to help our community and that they could be targeted, as well.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what kind of support have you received across Texas as a result of this attack by the attorney general?

    CESAR ESPINOSA: Well, we are really overwhelmed by the amount of community support that we’ve received, the amount of support online, a lot of people coming forward and saying that the attorney general has gone too far. You know, I always tell my wife never to read the comments in the articles or things like that, but I myself went in and read. And what I read and what I gathered from all the articles, all the — everything that was published, is the fact that people from all walks of life, from any side of the political spectrum, are feeling that this attorney general is going way too far.

    And then, on the heels of this, we hear about what LULAC is going through. And it’s just one thing after another after another. Then they challenged the parole-in-place program. So, there’s so many things that they’re doing trying to disenfranchise, trying to disillusion Latinos from participating, that it’s really like we are swimming up — swimming against the current here in the state of Texas.

    AMY GOODMAN: So, Juan Proaño, as we listen to what’s happened to Cesar Espinosa and you describe the raids on your members, including the home of an 87-year-old, 35-year volunteer of LULAC, can you talk about what you’re demanding of the Justice Department, a review of these Texas raids, and how Paxton’s actions fit into the changing politics and demographics of Texas?

    JUAN PROAÑO: So, you know, first and foremost, we stand in solidarity with Cesar and FIEL. They are doing absolutely incredible work. And in regards to Lidia, not only is she 87 years old, Amy, she is a grandmother, she is a great-grandmother. Her five brothers actually served in the military. One of her brothers was killed in the Vietnam War and received the Silver Star. These are American U.S. citizens, right? And so, you know, for us, it really kind of sort of goes beyond the pale, in regards to what these actions are.

    We have actually reached out to the Department of Justice. We have actually sent a letter requesting an investigation of these voter suppression tactics currently underway in Texas. We will continue to stand strong, and we are organizing our allies, both in the African American and the Latino community, as well. We’re going to stand, and we’re going to fight.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Juan Proaño, could you talk also about LULAC’s new report, “The Battle Ahead: Latino Civil Rights vs. Project 2025”?

    JUAN PROAÑO: Sure, Juan. And I apologize. There was one part there that I didn’t answer for Amy, a little bit about the demographics. So, in the last U.S. Census report put out by the Census Bureau, they reported that 12.1 million Latinos in the state of Texas. For the first time — right? — and really for some time now, Latinos actually outnumber non-Hispanic whites, which is at 12 million, OK? So, when you take into account not just the Latino population in the state of Texas, but the African American and Asian population, and even if you factored in two races or more, the minority community in Texas now stands at over 60%. Texas is and has been a majority-minority state. And so, that large demographic shift that you are seeing, you know, is prevalent. And so, we see these, effectively, as tactics for the Republicans to actually stay in control of the government in Texas. The demographics are shifting. They’re not going to be able to change that anytime soon. And they are going to have to deal with that sooner than later.

    In regards to Project 2025, LULAC actually published a couple weeks ago really the first and only report that I see that analyzed Project 2025 through a Latino lens. Obviously, it’s been very widely reported throughout. It was obviously very prevalent in the Democratic National Convention’s platform. In Chicago, we were there to listen to Vice President Harris and Walz actually speak to that.

    You know, I was very concerned, shocked, when I was watching the Republican National Convention on that Tuesday and they came out with “mass deportation” signs. You know, somebody thought about that. Somebody designed those signs. They ordered them. They printed them. They passed them out to thousands of people in that convention center.

    That’s only one part of what is in Project 2025. You know, they’re talking about, effectively, programs which effectively are for unserved communities, of gutting that, the Department of Education, as well, limiting different types of visas which allow for pathways for citizenship into this country. It is systemic all the way through. It would impact not only Latino communities but other immigrant and minority communities across the country. And not just minority communities, it would impact a significant number of non-Hispanic whites, because it really cuts across socioeconomic factors, as well.

    AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you both so much for being with us. Juan Proaño is CEO of LULAC. He was speaking to us from Miami, Florida. And Cesar Espinosa is executive director of FIEL in Houston, Families of Immigrants and Students in the Struggle. You can see all of our segments on the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and immigration and Project 2025 at democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, for another edition of Democracy Now!




    Author, actor, and political consultant James Carville warned his fellow Democrats that the polls may be over-projecting Kamala Harris‘s lead on Donald Trump.
    Knewz.com has learned that this is not the first time the sentiment has been expressed and that Carville, like Harris’s inner circle, believes that she may have to work harder at winning the Electoral College.

    One of the key reasons for his belief is that the former president has been historically under-represented by the polls—as seen in the lead-up to the 2016 election.


    First?  Cameos as yourself isn't really acting so let's lose the "actor" credit.

    Second, while we shouldn't take anything for granted, it wasn't Carville who spent months and months ahead of the 2016 election explaining the polling and how it could be wrong and probably was.  No, that was the work we did here.  Do they even do research and methodology courses anymore?

    We explained here that the polling was probably off.  And we explained why.

    Those reasons are gone in 2024.

    Trump supporters, as we noted, were less than forthcoming.  Why?  They had made supporting Trump -- the media -- a bad thing.  I did not invent my interpretation here.  Anyone who studied polling -- especially political polling should have known (maybe they didn't want to say) that when there are values imposed upon answers, you're not likely to get honest responses.

    Now I'm not in the mood to spend a great deal of time on this all these years later.  But I think we can all agree that the MAGA crowd is not a crowd who can be embarrassed anymore.  They're proud racists, proud bullies, proud lovers of Donald.  

    So I don't think we're going to see that issue -- Trump supporters being under-represented by their own statements -- this round.  

    Is the polling off on Kamala, it could be.  I am only looking at raw data from the DNC and advising on what groups I'm speaking to and what areas the DNC should be emphasizing.  And I haven't done that -- to this level -- in years.  

    But James Carville, as usual, has arrived eight years late.  


    Maybe all that time pursuing his 'acting' career has taken up too much time?


    Gaza remains under assault. Day 325 of  the assault in the wave that began in October.  Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion.  The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.  But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets:  How to justify it?  Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence."   CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund."  ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them."  NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza."  The slaughter continues.  It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service.  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,602 killed, with 93,855 wounded."   Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."    Months ago, United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of of acute food insecurity or worse."   Months ago,  AP  noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing."  February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home."  February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

     


    April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

      

    THE NATIONAL's Sunniva Rose reports this morning:


     The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday that Israeli cabinet members are spreading “unacceptable hate messages against Palestinians”.

    Mr Borrell described their actions as “incitation to commit war crimes”, as he arrived for arrived for an informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

    He did not give names of the Israeli cabinet ministers he was referring to, but has in the past criticised Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

    Mr Borrell said he would call for sanctions against the ministers but that it was up to the EU's 27 member states to decide whether they all supported such a measure – which is unlikely.

    Belgium’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib said that “Belgium supports more sanctions against leaders of terrorist organisations such as Hamas and violent settlers”.

    Her Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom, said there was a “growing problem” of extremist settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

     “We’d also like to talk about listing more extremist settlers,” he said.


    Last night,  Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Jill FrankenStein" and "Miss Sassy Will Not Be Denied or Upstaged" went up.   The following sites updated: