Vivek lies even more flamboyantly than he does Okaaay: HASAN: “You say [Trump] behaved in downright abhorrent behavior that makes him a danger to democracy. What was it that was downright … tell me what he did that was downright abhorrent.” RAMASWAMY: “Let’s actually be really fair to your audience. So on Jan. 10, 2021, thereabouts, days after that incident, I wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that censorship was the real cause of what happened on Jan. 6. …” HASAN: “Which isn’t true …” RAMASWAMY: “… Well, that’s what I wrote. I’m giving you the facts of what I said. That’s a hard fact. That was published in The Wall Street Journal.” CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checked said facts, and surprise! Ramaswamy’s claim is false. He never argued in The Wall Street Journal op-ed that censorship was the real cause of the January 6 riot. Rather, Ramaswamy and his co-author criticized social media companies for banning Trump and some of his supporters in the days after the riot.
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I don’t know if you have the stomach for it, but this appearance by Alex Jones on Russian TV is not only bizarre it’s shockingly pro-Russia, even beyond what we’ve come to expect from the American right. (If you watch it, turn off the sound and just read the closed captions.) Both of these people are clowns, of course, and it’s hard to imagine anyone taking them seriously. But I guess it shows that we aren’t the only culture that has such batshit crazy political media stars. Still, maybe I’m showing my age but it’s still stunning to me to see an American right wing figure kowtowing and pandering to a Russian audience, begging them to understand just how much America really supports them and their aims. I never thought I’d see the day.
The NY Times on rich GOPer hand wringing: On Labor Day, Eric Levine, a New York lawyer and Republican fund-raiser, sent an email to roughly 1,500 donors, politicians and friends. “I refuse to accept the proposition that Donald Trump is the ‘inevitable’ Republican nominee for President,” he wrote. “His nomination would be a disaster for our party and our country.” Many of the Republican Party’s wealthiest donors share that view, and the growing sense of urgency about the state of the G.O.P. presidential primary race. Mr. Trump’s grip on the party’s voters is as powerful as ever, with polls in Iowa and New Hampshire last month putting him at least 25 percentage points above his nearest rivals. That has left major Republican donors — whose desires have increasingly diverged from those of conservative voters — grappling with the reality that the tens of millions of dollars they have spent to try to stop the former president, fearing he poses a mortal threat to their party and the country, may already be a sunk cost.
They’re soon to be responsible for 20 million deaths Anti-abortion Republicans would have you believe that they are all about preserving life. We know that isn’t true by their blood-thirsty attitude about anyone they consider an enemy but this takes it to another level: The AIDS epidemic has killed more than 40 million people since the first recorded cases in 1981, tripling child mortality and carving decades off life expectancy in the hardest-hit areas of Africa, where the cost of treatment put it out of reach. Horrified, then-President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress two decades ago created what is described as the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease. The program, known as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, partners with nonprofit groups to provide HIV/AIDS medication to millions around the world. It strengthens local and national health care systems, cares for children orphaned by AIDS and provides job training for people at risk.
And a grifter gets his gig It’s football season and all the players and coaches are back on the field: But Joe Kennedy won’t be among them. The assistant coach of the Bremerton High School football team in Washington state quit his job after participating in just one game last week. Kennedy’s employment status is generally not worthy of national attention on its own terms. This particular coach, however, waged an eight-year legal battle to reclaim that job and got the Supreme Court to reshape the balance between church and state in public schools along the way. He won the case, he got his job back, and then he quit almost immediately. I have written before about the Supreme Court’s tendency in recent years to take what I have charitably described as “phantom docket” cases. But these might be more simply described as fake: They rest upon nebulous theories of standing, hypothetical injuries, and right-wing causes célèbre. Phantom-docket cases have allowed the court’s conservative majority to rewrite precedents while avoiding any immediate real-world consequences of their rulings.
You see, she’s forcing poor old Joe out into the public where people are making fun of him. She thinks RFK Jr would be the best candidate for the Democrats because the Democrats don’t like him. She’s pretty sharp for someone ancient old Biden’s age. She certainly knows how to elegantly stick the shiv in Biden’s back. Fox News has primed her well.
This is much more likely that we might want to think You’ve no doubt heard about the release of the Fulton County Georgia Special Grand Jury findings by now and learned that they recommended indictment of 39 people including Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Obviously, DA Fanni Willis decided to only indict half that number for what all the TV lawyers say are good reasons. But this is a red flag and I think we’ll need to prepare ourselves for the possibility: But perhaps the more practical lesson from the report, regarding the case ahead, is that it reinforces how difficult it might be to obtain convictions, including for Trump. Indeed, on the vast majority of charges recommended by the Georgia special grand jury, the vote was not unanimous. To win convictions, however, all jurors must vote in favor. Of the seven recommended charges against Trump, each featured precisely one grand juror who voted against, with between 17 and 21 grand jurors voting in favor. (Some grand jurors were absent for some votes.) Of about 90 votes on recommending charges, just 14 were unanimous.
Meerkat mob! Six fluffy bundles of joy have arrived at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, with the Zoo’s Meerkat mob welcoming its second litter of pups for 2023. Mum Midra gave birth to six pups on Wednesday 2nd August, and while the pups are yet to be sexed or named, keeper Rez Onay said they’re doing well. “Coming in each morning and seeing the pups, it’s the best part of the day,” Rez said. They’re very cute and our main job is watching the behaviour of the family, making sure everyone is happy and well and looking after the new arrivals. “The family is doing a great job of looking after the pups, who are putting on weight and getting more active each and every day.” These arrivals bring the total number of meerkats at the Zoo to 20, including 14 in the breeding group at The Waterhole. Parents Midra and Howell have their hands full, with 10 pups under six months of age. Meerkats can fall pregnant as soon as one week after giving birth, or once the pups are weaned at about eight weeks of age, so it’s not unusual for them to give birth again so soon,” Rez said.
What your votes will decide in 2024 What’s on the 2024 ballot appears every day in stark terms. Women’s rights Republicans also have a “Fugitive Slave Woman Acts” problem to add to the list above. Climate change CNN: At least 14 people have died and several remain missing across Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria as torrential rain and severe flooding batter southern Europe. Gun violence Another typical day in America: Albuquerque police say a road rage shooting left an 11-year-old boy dead Wednesday night after he and his family left Isotopes Park. As the boy and his family were driving away from the park, their vehicle pulled in front of another vehicle, according to APD Chief Harold Medina. That vehicle made a U-turn and confronted the family on Avenida Cesar Chavez, Medina said. Then, someone in the suspect vehicle fired 17 shots at the family’s vehicle before reportedly leaving the area. Ms Magazine: In 2023 the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School found that “40 percent of young Americans are concerned about being victims of gun violence or mass shootings.
I have just commenced a six-month research project at the Budapest Centre for Long-Term Sustainability (https://bc4ls.com/), and one of my allotted tasks is to write a 30,000 word book. With apologies to my good friend Blair Fix, my working title echoes that of his blog (https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/): “Rebuilding Economics from the Top Down”. I start with … Continue reading "Rebuilding Economics from the Top Down—a work in progress"