I guess he thinks those videos on Truth Social hawking his trading cards and commemorative coins make up for it? Maybe he’ll pick up the pave in October but I doubt it. His heart hasn’t been in it all year. I don’t think he’s having any fun. The campaign says he’s planning to do more rallies down the stretch but it’s highly unlikely he’ll do five a day as he sometimes did in 2016. You have to love this from Axios: Breaking it down: People in Trump’s camp give three primary reasons he’s hitting the road less this time, Axios’ Sophia Cai reports: He’s a known quantity. The campaign feels less need to define him or his candidacy for voters this time around. Rallies are expensive. Trump’s campaign managers this cycle are keeping a closer hold on the purse strings. He’s older, and more inclined to spend his time at Mar-a-Lago. Gosh, I’m so old I remember when such an observation would have caused the entire beltway establishment to rise up as one questioning whether he has the stamina to be president for four years. In fact, it might have been seen as totally disqualifying.
Reading
Count on one thing: armed conflict lasts for decades after battles end and its effects ripple thousands of miles beyond actual battlefields. This has been true of America’s post-9/11 forever wars that, in some minimalist fashion, continue in all too many countries around the world. Yet those wars, which we ignited in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, are hardly the first to offer such lessons. Prior wars left us plenty to learn from that could have led this country to respond differently after that September day when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Instead, we ignored history and, as a result, among... Read more
Source: War Forever, Everywhere appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
This has to mean something. Politico reports on the money game: Kamala Harris’ campaign spent nearly three times as much as Donald Trump’s did in August — but raised so much that she still grew her cash advantage. The massive spending disparity came even as the Trump campaign continued to scale up its expenses, which more than doubled from the month prior, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission late Friday. But the continued divergence highlights the Harris campaign’s significant money and infrastructure advantage as the election approaches: Harris has far more campaign cash available than Trump, and she has greater means to deploy it. Harris entered August with more money than Trump, and managed to raise more than she spent over the month. Trump’s campaign, by contrast, spent more than it raised despite far fewer expenses. Her campaign reported taking in $190 million; his, just shy of $45 million. The vice president’s campaign outspent Trump $174 million to $61 million in August.
Not bloody likely: This paternalistic “big daddy” view is something he does with any constituency he believes doesn’t appreciate him enough. “Look what I did for you!” “”I gave you everything and you should be grateful!” “I’ll make you so happy you won’t want any of the things you think you want!” He does it with Black people, Jews, women, Latinos — everyone who doesn’t worship him. It’s creepy.
Exploding pagers and two-way radios. What a brilliant act of ….. state sponsored terrorism. Or a classic destruction of an adversary’s command and control communications ability. Continue reading »
The death toll has risen to 12 from Israel’s terror attack in Lebanon on Tuesday which detonated explosive materials hidden in thousands of pagers. Another 20 people were then killed in another attack on Wednesday with a second wave of explosions, this time using walkie talkies and home solar energy systems. The total death toll Continue reading »
As the war in Ukraine heads into its third winter Western leaders appear to be sinking further every day into a delusional belief in the success of their hydra-headed attempts to first de-fenestrate Russia before moving on to do the same to China Continue reading »
The daily witness of horrors in Gaza has provoked moral dilemmas for us all. How do we face these monstrous events, and not turn our hearts to stone? An Australian historian showed us how in 1998. Continue reading »
We are witnessing a depraved, rogue nation which perhaps believes that every act of violence and horror it perpetuates is justified in the name of… what? What could possibly justify the horrific maiming of women and children and innocent men in a foreign country who were going about their daily lives? It is a sick Continue reading »
Over the last year Israel has weaponised AI in its genocide in Gaza, deploying AI-driven surveillance and automated targeting systems which has killed tens of thousands. Israel’s participation in the first global AI treaty raises serious questions. It is deeply troubling that Israel has been allowed to join the first global treaty on artificial intelligence (AI) Continue reading »
September 17 was Australian Citizenship day, but it went unnoticed by most. Yet alongside gender and Indigeneity, multiculturalism stands as the third dimension of our national identity. The date is the anniversary of the renaming, in 1973, of the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 to the Australian Citizenship Act 1948. Until then, everyone born in Australia Continue reading »
Restoring trust and integrity in the Australian Public Service requires tackling the corrosive effects of past politicisation (secretary contracts) and externalisation (professional consultants) that have undermined capacity and independence, as highlighted by the Royal Commission on Robodebt fiasco, and parliamentary committee revelations around the extensive engagement of major consulting firms. Former public service commissioner Andrew Continue reading »
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – September 22 2024
by Tony Wikrent
Strategic Political Economy
What is the deep state? (YouTube video)
(Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, YouTube, via Thomas Neuburger, God’s Spies, 06-20-2024]
This video segment is taken from a symposium at which Sach and Mearsheimer offered their views on U.S. foreign policy. The whole thing is worth a listen, but I’ve cued this to start at the point where the question, “What is the deep state?” is asked and answered.
Note: The answer relates to foreign policy only, not the broader question of “Does the Establishment State try to influence domestic politics?”
Gee, that’s terrible. But he’s holding package of 24 eggs. Also, check out the actual prices of a dozen eggs, right behind him: Yes, special organic and free range eggs can cost $4.00 or more a dozen. But that was true back in 2019 when American was great too. Is he an alien from another planet?
NBC: A double-digit increase in popularity, rising Democratic enthusiasm and an early edge for representing “change” have vaulted Vice President Kamala Harris forward and reshuffled the 2024 presidential contest, according to a new national NBC News poll. With just over six weeks until Election Day, the poll finds Harris with a 5-point lead over former President Donald Trump among registered voters, 49% to 44%. While that result is within the margin of error, it’s a clear shift from July’s poll, when Trump was ahead by 2 points before President Joe Biden’s exit. Kamala’s favorability has jumped 16 points since July, “the largest increase for any politician in NBC News polling since then-President George W. Bush’s standing surged after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” Harris also holds the advantage over Trump on being seen as competent and effective, as well as on having the mental and physical health to be president — a reversal from Trump’s leads on those qualities when he was matched up against Biden.
Born of a virgin It’s still true: The Reformation may have decentralized the faith and brought it closer to the people, but it also meant by the late 20th century that any American huckster with a flashy suit, an expensive coif, a sonorous voice, and a black, Morocco-bound, gilt-edged, King James red-letter edition could define Christianity pretty much any damned way he pleased. And did. Who was to say he was wrong? Certainly not Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Dana Milbank considers Johnson’s role in turning the House GOP caucus into a circus in an excerpt from “Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists and Dunces who Burned Down the House.” Johnson’s improbable rise was foretold by God, you know. God speaks to Johnson personally: “I’ll tell you a secret, since media is not here,” Johnson teased the group, unaware that his hosts were streaming video of the event.
Secret unlimited election spending is on the rise everywhere you look, and more from The Lever this week.
Battleground state doesn’t just refer to the election Marc Elias of Democracy Docket previews his newsletter today (sorry, no link). He’s focused on efforts in the courts to preserve voting rights vs. those who challenge them. Two graphics are particularly handy. First the trend in voting lawsuits since 2020: The second graphic displays the number of active voting rights lawsuits by state. Texas and California may be outliers because they are each so big, population-wise as well as Latino population-wise. The other 7+ states are six swing states in hot contention this fall. Republicans would convince their base that it is “Democrats and progressive groups are actively using the courts to bring last minute litigation to change the rules of voting.” The data says otherwise, Elias contends. He writes: The state of our democracy has revealed itself. Democrats will go into the election supporting free and fair elections while Republicans will continue to attack them. I wish it were otherwise. Perhaps if they suffer big enough losses, in two years it will be. But for now, election denialism remains firmly in control of the once grand old party.
