Will it work? An interesting thought experiment from Brian Beutler in his newsletter today: President Biden has been buffeted by attacks on his Middle East policy for the past two weeks, but enjoyed a brief reprieve on Thursday in the form of welcome criticism from Ari Fleischer, an immense cynic and warmonger who gained infamy as chief spokesman for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “When [President Biden] said that Israelis should not be consumed by rage? Who the hell does he think he is?” Fleischer cried bitterly on Fox News. “I sat in on every summit meeting with foreign leaders when they came to the U.S. after 9/11 and met with President [George W.] Bush—not one said to Bush the Americans shouldn’t be consumed with rage.
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The man they want to lead the world Trump: I’m for us. You know how you spell us, right? U.S. I just picked that up. Has anyone ever thought of that before? I’m reading and said us. You know, when you think about it, us, equals U.S. If we think of something genius, they will never say it. pic.twitter.com/xzXTMRRge6 — Acyn (@Acyn) October 23, 2023 The vast majority of Republican voters will vote for that puerile imbecile next November. What the fuck has happened to this country? Update: Whoa… Wow. Trump says if he’s elected he’ll implement “strong ideological screening” of all immigrants to the U.S. One of his criteria: “if you don’t like our religion…then we don’t want you in our country.” pic.twitter.com/PJ8rbqglZ9 — Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) October 23, 2023
On October 10, 2022, I realised that there was no hope of ever reforming mainstream economics, since on that date, Ben Bernanke and two other Neoclassicals were awarded the “Nobel” Prize in economics for their work on banking. They assumed the validity of the “loanable funds” model of how banks operate—as Bernanke said in his … Continue reading "Why Credit Money Matters"
According to his lawyer, Trump has nothing to worry about: Prosecutors claimed the former lawyer wrote legal memos on behalf of the Trump campaign creating a false legal backing for the fake elector scheme. As part of the plea, the former lawyer agreed to testify in future cases if called upon. That would include the trial of former President Trump, scheduled for early next year. Grubman said Chesebro’s guilty plea doesn’t implicate any other defendants, and that Trump should “not be worried.” “He did not implicate anyone else. He implicated himself in that particular charge,” he said. “He is required to testify truthfully if he is called by the state, and Mr. Chesebro is a man of his word.” “At the same time I will say, if he is called by a defendant he will testify and testify truthfully,” Grubman added. This isn’t going to go over well, however: “First of all, Mr. Chesebro never believed in ‘the Big Lie,’” attorney Scott Grubman said Saturday in an interview on MSNBC. “If you ask Mr.
A very thought-provoking piece from Zack Beauchamp at Vox about the next steps for the Israel war. It’s complicated and well worth reading in its entirety, going into all the global, military and political implications, but this is a taste of the kind of thinking that’s gone into it and I think it’s impressive: The moral case for counterterrorism Bradley Strawser, a former US Air Force captain, has an unusual job: he is a moral philosopher working for the US Navy. His title is professor of philosophy in the defense analysis department at the Naval Postgraduate School; his actual job description is teaching America’s special operators how to fight wars as ethically as possible. When I asked Strawser how he would approach the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, he said that it was essential to hold two ideas in one’s head at the same time. First, that Israel had not only a right but a moral obligation to respond to Hamas’ vicious attack on its civilian population. This may not seem obvious, as a ceasefire would certainly lead to some immediate reduction in civilian suffering.
And they aren’t positive I never much cared for Mitt Romney over the years but I did admire his willingness to vote to impeach Trump and sign on to bipartisan legislation from time to time. That’s a pretty low bar but in GOP politics these days it makes him a unicorn. But in his new book he doesn’t hold back about his impressions of his fellow Republicans and I am here for it: Christie, Chris Mr. Romney’s advisers in 2012 suggested that he consider Chris Christie, then the governor of New Jersey, as a running mate, according to the book. But Mr. Romney had reservations about Mr. Christie’s “prima donna tendencies,” and worried that the governor was not “up to the physical demands” of being on the ticket and was plagued by “barely buried” scandals, Mr. Coppins writes. The two also came into conflict in 2016 after Mr. Christie became one of the first establishment Republicans to back Mr. Trump. “I believe your endorsement of him severely diminishes you morally,” Mr. Romney wrote in an email. He added: “You must withdraw that support to preserve your integrity and character.” Evaluating Mr.
We’ll give you crazy Rudy says Biden is an Iranian spy: “He’s on Iran’s side and he’s on Hamas’s side. He is not on our side. He’s got a bunch of spies in his Admin. This guy is working for Iran. Why? Maybe because they’ve infiltrated his Admin the way the communists infiltrated FDR’s Admin.” pic.twitter.com/pBudDVycaM — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 22, 2023 This is the man the putative GOP nominee for president hired to represent him. Meanwhile, in MAGA: THIS WEEK IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY Oct 14 – Oct 21, 2023 pic.twitter.com/9kR7YkCZmL — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 22, 2023
And no rules A law professor sent Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick a chilling note suggesting, she said, “if Jim Jordan won the speakership, he would simply never certify a Biden election win.” Erica Newland, formerly with the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, did research on the matter for Protect Democracy. She concurs. If the current iteration of the GOP controls the House in January of 2025, there is no way they will certify a Democratic victory. Ian Bassin, Protect Democracy’s co-founder and executive director, tells Lithwick that on the bright side a handful of Republicans thwarted Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid for House speaker: And I think if that holds, and that’s a big if, this is one of the most important developments in this country over the last seven-plus years. And here’s why. I’m going to invoke another recent story in the news that I think is really important to pay attention to, which is the elections this past week in Poland.
This latest moral panic is even dumber than usual Greg Sargent on the latest: Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s Republican governor, signed a law in May that, among other provisions,requires schools to remove books that depict a “sex act.” That statutory phrase has now helped unleash a frenzy of book-banning across the state, one that illustrates a core truth about these types of censorship directives. Their vagueness is the point. When GOP-controlled state legislatures escalated the passage of laws in 2022 and 2023 restricting school materials addressing sex, gender and race, critics warned that their hazy drafting would prod educators to err on the side of censorship. Uncertain whether books or classroom discussions might run afoul of their state’s law, education officials might decide nixing them would be the “safer” option. What’s happening in Iowa right now thoroughly vindicates those fears. This week, the Iowa City Community School District released a list of 68 books that it removed from schools to comply with the law.
This is the test Ron Brownstein with a typically astute analysis of Biden’s current challenges and whether his long experience will now be seen as an asset: The escalating confrontation between Israel and Hamas is offering President Joe Biden a crucial opportunity to begin flipping the script on one of his most glaring vulnerabilities in the 2024 presidential race. For months, polls have consistently shown that most Americans believe Biden’s advanced age has diminished his capacity to handle the responsibilities of the presidency. But many Democrats believe that Biden’s widely praised response to the Mideast crisis could provide him a pivot point to argue that his age is an asset because it has equipped him with the experience to navigate such a complex challenge. “As you project forward, we are going to be able to argue that Joe Biden’s age has been central to his success because in a time of Covid, insurrection, Russian invasion of Ukraine, now challenges in the Middle East, we have the most experienced man ever as president,” said Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg.