People need to understand why Trump’s massive fraud matters to them. Dan Pfeiffer has some ideas about how to talk about this in his substack today: Yesterday’s trial verdict was civil, not criminal. So technically, Trump has not been convicted of a crime, but that’s a distinction without a difference for most voters. He has been declared a fraud by the state of New York and can no longer conduct business there. We should also assume most voters won’t hear a single word about the fine, unless we tell them. Judge Engoron rendered his verdict the Friday before a holiday weekend. Back when I worked in political communications, this was the sort of timing I would suggest to dump bad news so the fewest people would notice. Therefore, the onus to spread the word is on us. I view this verdict as a way to do three things: Be Clear About What Trump Did: Ultimately, Trump was found guilty of lying to banks and insurance companies to line his own pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Just let Stephen Colbert sum it all up for you:
“They” say that your taste in music is imprinted in your high school years. Why do you suppose this is? Is it biological? Is it hormonal? Or Is it purely nostalgia? According to a 2021 study, it may have something to do with “arousal, valence, and depth”. Say what? Have you wondered why you love a particular song or genre of music? The answer may lie in your personality, although other factors also play a role, researchers say. Many people tend to form their musical identity in adolescence, around the same time that they explore their social identity. Preferences may change over time, but research shows that people tend to be especially fond of music from their adolescent years and recall music from a specific age period — 10 to 30 years with a peak at 14 — more easily. Musical taste is often identified by preferred genres, but a more accurate way of understanding preferences is by musical attributes, researchers say. One model outlines three dimensions of musical attributes: arousal, valence and depth. “Arousal is linked to the amount of energy and intensity in the music,” says David M.
Hypocrisy is a river in … somewhere One more: Post by @thedailyshow View on Threads ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.
More heart and grit When a Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) or a Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) stand up and call out Republican BS or CEO excess, it’s like a breath of fresh air to liberal politics. Not Jon Stewart brashness, exactly, but not the usual business-as-usual politics that is too easy for the press to ignore. Nerds. Maybe it’s because we’re nerds, rarely sure enough of ourselves to go straight at the opposition or stand up for ourselves. Democrats wanting to be liked are forever second-guessing themelves. Republicans will settle for being feared. Why else all the posing with guns? On one side of this Lord of the Flies narrative, Ralph and Piggy try to maintain order and improve living conditions on the island while Jack and his spear-armed tribe cohere around fear of the Beast (any real or imagined threat). The press preferences flash over substance and pays more attention to the former. Digby observed yesterday that the press under-reports Joe Biden’s economic accomplishments because he “hasn’t been entertaining enough for them.” Piggy wore spectacles. Jack’s “warriors” made spectacle.
I guess we all knew it was likely at some point. Vladimir Putin is a murderous dictator and it was clear that Navalny was being mistreated in prison. But it’s still shocking and depressing that it has happened. The death of Aleksei A. Navalny, reported by the authorities in Russia on Friday, would leave the country without its most prominent opposition voice at a time when President Vladimir V. Putin has amassed near-total power, invaded neighboring Ukraine and drawn the sharpest divisions with U.S.-led Western allies since the end of the Cold War. Mr. Navalny had been serving multiple prison sentences — on what supporters said were fabricated charges — that would likely have kept him locked up until at least 2031. The news of his death shocked world leaders, with Vice President Kamala Harris saying that while the United States was still trying to confirm the reports, it believed “Russia is responsible.” Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement that Mr. Navalny, 47, had lost consciousness and died after taking a walk on Friday in the Arctic prison where he was moved late last year.
The Biden Impeachment inquiry seems to attract witnesses who turn out to be con artists and criminals for some reason. The Republican inquisitors get a tip that somebody’s got the goods on “the Biden family” and they fan out to the right wing media to hail the news that they’ve finally nabbed the Big Guy. Then the truth inevitably comes out that they were played for fools. The alleged crime at the center of the impeachment probe is still that ridiculous claim that then Vice President Biden was working on behalf of his son’s business, Burisma, in Ukraine when he pushed the government to fire a prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, whom they claim was investigating the company. The problem is that he wasn’t investigating the company at all and was ousted because he failed to investigate corrupt politicians. (No wonder all these Republicans find him to be such a sympathetic figure.) In fact, the whole international community was agitating to have him fired because he was corrupt and the Ukrainian parliament finally did it.
Disparaging people’s personality and behavior even if they did nothing illegal is now DOJ policy, perfectly fine. The NY Times reports: The White House clashed with the Justice Department in the run-up to the release of a special counsel report last week about President Biden’s handling of classified information, previously undisclosed correspondence shows. The letters, obtained by The New York Times, show that a top Justice Department official rejected complaints from Mr. Biden’s lawyers about disparaging comments in the report regarding the president. The lawyers wrote to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland the day before he released the report by the special counsel, Robert K. Hur. They raised objections to passages in the report in which Mr. Hur suggested that Mr. Biden’s memory was failing and questioned some of his actions, even though the special counsel had found no basis to prosecute the president. The lawyers said Mr. Hur’s comments “openly, obviously and blatantly violate department policy and practice,” the letters show.
Huge Good luck with this Trumpie. I sure hope someone can persuade the media to hammer him with questions about this over and over again. There has never been a better wedge issue than this one: Former President Donald J. Trump has told advisers and allies that he likes the idea of a 16-week national abortion ban with three exceptions, in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump’s deliberations. Mr. Trump has studiously avoided taking a clear position on restrictions to abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the middle of 2022, galvanizing Democrats ahead of the midterm elections that year. He has said in private that he wants to wait until the Republican presidential primary contest is over to publicly discuss his views, because he doesn’t want to risk alienating social conservatives before he has secured the nomination, the two people said. Mr. Trump has approached abortion transactionally since becoming a candidate in 2015, and his current private discussions reflect that same approach. One thing Mr.