The New York Times is following the Nor'easter that has been battering the East Coast for two days. The link is a gift link. MB: All quiet on the western front. So far, where i live -- in inland New Hampshire --I've experienced only light to normal rain and wind,. Starting tonight, we're supposed to get heavy rain for the next three days.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Saturday he turned down Iran’s latest cease-fire proposal that offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks on the country’s nuclear program in exchange for U.S. concessions. 'They made a proposal, but I rejected it,' Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Saturday morning. Mr. Trump demurred when asked if he expected to restart military strikes after the November midterm elections, saying Iran wanted 'to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly.' Mr. Trump’s rebuff was the latest turn in what has been a cycle of bombings, peace proposals, grandiose threats and conflicting messages throughout the nearly seven-month U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Mr. Trump’s public rejection of Iran’s offer came after his aides held a three-hour meeting with Iranian officials at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week in New York.” The link is a gift link. Related Politico story linked earlier.
AP, published by MS NOW: “... Donald Trump has posted an image of the Strait of Hormuz labeled 'Trump Strait' shortly after Iran proposed a deal to open the waterway within a week if the U.S. meets certain conditions.”
Marie: I'm confused about what happened re: today's pool report on Trump's activities.
(1) Ben Johansen of Politico at 10:32 am ET: "CNN had been scheduled to travel with Trump to Knoxville, Tennessee, where the president is expected to attend a college football game, as part of the rotating television press pool that covers the president in settings where space is limited. The pool’s reporting and video are shared with other television networks. But CNN was left off White House guidance for Saturday’s trip, preventing the network from carrying out its scheduled pool duties aboard the president’s plane.... A Saturday pool report noted that there would be no TV pool for the Tennessee trip, 'meaning there won’t be widely available independent video of events.'” ~~~
(2) Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “After the White House indicated that CNN could provide the pool camera for a midday event [Friday], the TV networks resumed normal operations. Shortly before noon, a CNN crew was rolling as Mr. Trump guided Mr. Xi, along with their wives, around the National Archives.... By Saturday, tensions had resumed: The White House declined to let CNN travel aboard Air Force One with Mr. Trump, who planned to attend a college football game in Tennessee. Once again, the TV pool went dark.” The link is a gift link.
(3) And Yet. And Yet. Jim Vertuno & Teresa Walker of the AP, published by ABC News: "Trump landed at 11:28 a.m. ET ahead of the noon kickoff, according to the pool report." ~~~
(4) AND. Knox News: "... Trump left Neyland Stadium for the air base at 2:07 p.m., according to a pool report." So somebody did some pool reporting. Whether it was CNN reporters, who got to Tennessee by their own volition, or another outlet in the pool, I don't know. ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "One of the most frustrating things about the capitulation of elite institutions to Donald Trump — from law firms to universities to media companies — has been that the logic of the situation so clearly counseled the opposite.... If institutions facing Trumpian persecution had shelved short-term self-interest and banded together in resistance instead, it would have hobbled his authoritarian tactics at the outset. Helpfully, this has now been confirmed — belated but significantly — by none other than Donald Trump himself. Late Thursday, while erupting in a wild fury over media companies that have joined forces against his effort to ban select ones from the White House grounds, he accidentally revealed an Achilles' heel of sorts.... The immediate result of the pool suspension was that the participating networks didn't film Xi's [visit].... In angrily pretending the news organizations boycotted the event to deny him attention during a successful moment, all Trump really demonstrated is that he badly needs their attention." ~~~
~~~ SO, Right on Cue, The Networks Cave. Michael Grynbaum & Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “The major networks are set to resume their collective television coverage of ... [Donald] Trump on Sunday, even though the White House blocked CNN from participating in the TV pool over the weekend, according to four people briefed on the deliberations. Five networks — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — collaborate to provide footage of Mr. Trump’s daily events, covering the president on a rotating basis and sharing footage with one another and other global news outlets. Throughout the past week, the quintet had suspended the TV pool in an effort to force the administration to reinstate CNN, after Mr. Trump barred its journalists from the White House grounds.... But under a tentative plan that began taking shape late Friday, the other four networks would return to performing pool duties, the people said. Each time that CNN comes up in the pool rotation, the group of networks will decide whether to provide a substitute crew. Otherwise, CNN’s slot will be left unfilled, and Mr. Trump will not receive major network coverage.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is nuts. I don't know who all the female reporters are whom Trump regularly insults, but besides CNN's Kaitlan Collins & Kristen Holmes, he often attacks ABC News' Rachel Scott and also has insulted ABC News reporter Mary Bruce. He told NBC News "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker, "you're either crooked or stupid," as he ripped off his mike and walked off the set. The network suits who made the decision to kowtow to a president* who constantly abuses female journalists and (unconstitutionally) bans one network are, you know, either crooked or stupid.
Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: "Two veteran FBI counterterrorism supervisors have been removed from their jobs after a disagreement over an investigation involving alleged harassing phone calls made to [Katie Miller,] the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.... Both were involved in investigating the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... [Stephen?] Miller and [Kash] Patel were displeased after [the agents] questioned the legality and legitimacy of [a] request [to run a risk assessment].... Darren Cox, the head of the Washington field office, then ordered the removal of the two men from their jobs, the sources said. They have been demoted and transferred back to headquarters...."
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Marie: I have more to do, but that Nor'easter's a'comin' and I haven't been to a grocery store in weeks, so I'd better get me a few provisions before I hunker down. BTW, if I don't update for the next few days, it's probably because the wind knocked out my generator.
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has vowed to go all-out campaigning for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections, which he has said could decide the fate of the country. But first: it’s time for golf [at a tournament near Chicago] and college football [in Tennessee at a game between the University of Texas and University of Tennessee].” MB: The national coverage ma ynot be great, though. ~~~
~~~ Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “The White House on Friday night blocked CNN from accompanying ... [Donald] Trump on a Saturday trip to Tennessee, a network spokeswoman confirmed, in the latest twist in a weeklong standoff between Mr. Trump and the Washington press corps. The decision immediately raised the question of whether the television pool would cover the president’s trip. The TV pool, a rotating group of networks that share the work of filming the president’s daily activities, had boycotted those responsibilities this week after Mr. Trump first banned CNN from participating in the pool. In a Friday night email detailing logistics for the Saturday trip, the White House did not list a primary television pool representative.” The link is a gift link.
Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times characterizes the state dinner Donald Trump held for Xi Jinping and a gaggle of tech billionaires. The fact that A.I. is the topic du jour and none have more of an interest in it and those gathered at the White House, “There was not a single mention of A.I. in [Donald Trump's] speech. Mr. Trump doesn’t buy into the A.I. panic. He insists it’s mostly just a problem of branding. A.I. needs better P.R.” (Instead, he invited his guests in their fancy clothes for a tour of his nearest building site.) The link is a gift link. Now read the stories linked below about how A.I. is breaking into Trump administration Websites and writing prize-worthy fiction (okay, Trump wouldn't care about the writing). AND, to better understand why Trump seems so blasé about A.I., read Pranshu Verma's report, also linked below, about how Trump and Putin "diplomats" blew up an international effort to curb lethal A.I. weaponry. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I've been trying to avoid linking much news from the big party we threw for U.S. adversary and autocrat Xi Jinping, but this is more about Xi's ignorant host: ~~~
Phillips O'Brien on BlueSky: "Lord, President Xi just insulted Trump and the USA, right to Trump's face-in the White House. Xi referred, yet again, to the 'Thucydides trap'. This is an reference to the US being in decline and China replacing it. And Trump sits their making moo eyes like a lovestruck teenager" Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: As O'Brien indicates, this is not the first time Xi has insulted Trump with a reference to the Thucydides Trap. According to this Guardian story, published in May, Xi "for years" has referred to the Thucydides Trap -- coined by U.S. political scientist Graham Allison. It refers to the to the Peloponnesian Wars. Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general, observed that when a rising power (like Athens) threatens to displace an established one (like Sparta), the result is often war. Prof. Allison tested Thucydides' theory when he and his students identified 16 cases over the course of history in which a rising power surpassed the dominant power. Allison found that in 12 of those 16 cases, war broke out. Now, as we see Trump escalate the deterioration of U.S. power and we watch China's international influence rise, Xi is urging the old man not to fall into that Thucydides Trap. One might forgive Trump for not knowing what Xi was talking about when he first heard the term in May, but his failure to grasp what was being said and why it was an insult, his lack of curiosity, his inability to remember anything, and/or his treachery are not excusable. ~~~
~~~ Herb Scribner of Axios: "Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) criticized ... [Donald] Trump's warm reception for Chinese President Xi Jinping, questioning why Xi received a warmer welcome than some U.S. allies.... Tillis called Trump's red-carpet rollout for Xi a 'WTF moment' in an interview with CBS News. Tillis said he was 'worried about the trend of spending more time with despots and less time with democratic leaders of nations.' 'It's not that Xi Jinping is coming here to learn how to become a democratic, capitalist nation. Xi Jinping is trying to understand how his opposition will ultimately embrace their worldview,' Tillis said.... Tillis questioned what prompted the 'sea change' he sees in Trump's posture toward China after years of pledging to take a hard line against Beijing."
Trump Is Planning to Bomb Iran After the Midterms. Nette Nöstlinger of Politico: “Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Friday said his country is offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and resume talks on its nuclear program in exchange for concessions from Washington. Those would include lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales and a ceasefire that would include Lebanon, Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to an AP report. 'The seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan,' he said on Friday, adding that Iran had conveyed its offer to the U.S. through Qatar. Although ... Donald Trump has not formally responded to the proposal, he privately rejected the plan, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing U.S. officials. He is instead betting on renewed escalation including by raising the possibility of another bombing campaign on the country after the midterm elections in November, according to the same report.” This updates a related New York Times story linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I felt a little silly writing that headline. I'm skeptical that Trump is able to plan way ahead into November.
Jennifer Scholtes & Katherine Tully-McManus of Politico: “... Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion in federal funding without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal. In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called 'pocket rescission' to nix money Congress has already enacted. The funding the president declared canceled is for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.... Last year Trump used the maneuver to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wonder if Trump and his odious OMB Director Russ Vought made this announcement to give Susan Collins a boost. From the Politico report: “The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that 'any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.'”
Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “Former employees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts say that center officials canceled a plan to start overhauling its leaking infrastructure months ago, despite those officials now asserting the leaks posed an urgent safety risk requiring the building to close. On Thursday, a lawyer for the former employees sent internal documents and a letter that detailed their concerns to Congress amid mounting scrutiny of ... [Donald Trump's] reign over the Washington arts institution. The center’s main building remains closed because of what officials have characterized as escalating structural deterioration that was never properly addressed by former leadership. But in the letter to Congress sent via a lawyer, the former employees say it’s clear the problems have been exaggerated because, given the chance, the center deferred responding to them over the past year.” The link is a gift link.
Abbie Van Sickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can deploy an expansive online system that combines citizenship information, Social Security numbers and other sensitive data about millions of Americans, allowing states to use it to hunt for ineligible voters. Critics fear that states could use the system to purge large numbers of valid voters from their rolls ahead of the midterm elections. The decision is a win for ... [Donald] Trump, who has pressed his administration to find evidence of widespread noncitizen voting, even though such instances are exceedingly rare.* However, it remains to be seen how much enthusiasm there will be among local and state election officials to use the federal system, as it has mistakenly flagged U.S. citizens as noncitizens in past searches. The majority concluded that a lower-court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from rolling out the system was improper because it inhibited 'the federal government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.'
“The emergency ruling was unsigned and gave no vote count, but the court’s three liberal justices joined in dissent. In a 12-page dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson emphasized that the majority’s decision created the conditions for some states to cancel the voter registrations of at least some recently naturalized citizens or to force them to provide proof of citizenship before voting.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report, by Josh Gerstein, is here. ~~~
~~~ Rick Hasen on his Election Law Blog: “The Supreme Court, with at least the three liberal Justices dissenting, has allowed states to do queries to the federal 'SAVE' database that contains information on U.S. citizenship status. Plaintiff voting rights organizations had complained that the database was rife with errors, and that the queries violated other federal laws, including those protecting the privacy of social security numbers. The majority found that the queries likely do not violate these other federal laws, and so the government was likely to succe[e]d on the merits. It also found the government would suffer irreparable harm because the lower court injunction 'inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.' Completely absent from the majority opinion is any analysis of potential harm to voters who might be incorrectly flagged as noncitizens and removed from state voting rolls. That should have figured in the balance of the equities.” ~~~
~~~ * “From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle.” Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “... in early September..., the [Department of Homeland Security] reiterated its initial claims ... [that there were] nearly 16,000 noncitizens on [Nevada's voter] rolls and pressured state officials to review each case in a letter to Nevada officials in early September.... [D.H.S. also] sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote.... On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government:... 'As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens,' Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote.... 'You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise.' Mr. Ott also stated that D.H.S. officials had still not provided enough data for election officials to investigate their claims. Nor have they turned over the list of nearly 16,000 individuals they claim may be noncitizens.” The link is a gift link. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So to the collaborators, the Confederate Supremes, just thanks. Thank you very much, you useless dim bulbs. Oh, someone may ask, but what's the harm in making sure everyone who votes is a "real American"? ~~~
~~~ Alexandra Hutzler of Democracy Docket: “The U.S. Supreme Court revived a flawed citizenship database that states like Texas have used to erroneously kick eligible voters off the rolls. The Trump administration modified the existing Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) program to turn it into a massive database to root out allegations of noncitizens voting in elections. Texas said last year it had used SAVE to identify 2,724 potential noncitizens on its rolls. But it confirmed this week that at least 578 of those — more than one in five — were, in fact, citizens. Most appear to have been naturalized citizens whose status wasn’t updated. Texas instructed counties to reinstate registrations that were wrongly removed during the process. A federal lawsuit filed against Texas in March by voter advocates alleged that the state had used 'unvetted, outdated citizenship data' to remove voters from the rolls, discriminating against naturalized citizens. The court has yet to rule in the case.
“Despite the alarmingly high failure rate, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority held the federal government would suffer 'irreparable harm' if prevented from its efforts 'to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections,' even though a lower court finding the new system violated privacy laws and other federal statutes. More than half the country – 27 states – voluntarily uses the modified SAVE system.” MB: And there's the harm: people who had to work for their citizenship (unlike lazy Donald Trump and me) will lose the franchise. (At first I typed, "will lose their right to vote," but in the U.S., there is no right to vote.)
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: “One thing I want the Democratic Congress to put near the top of their to-do list is to drag Roberts and the other five in front of various committees and grill them about all the very considerable dirt under the fingernails, from luxury motor homes to 'baseball tickets' to lucrative consulting gigs for spouses to mysteriously leaked draft opinions. Make them hire lawyers; fire some shots across their bow; make it clear that jurisdiction-stripping is on the table, along with watering down their precious nine seats via addition[.]”
~~~ Nicholas Nehamas & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court’s order on Friday allowing the Trump administration to merge sensitive personal data stored across federal agencies gives the government a wide-ranging tool in its effort to identify noncitizens and ineligible voters. The decision moves ... [Donald] Trump closer to his longstanding goal of creating a national citizenship database, something he has said is essential to identifying people who are in the country without legal status. In advance of the upcoming midterm elections, his administration has also embarked on an intensive campaign to prove that noncitizens are voting illegally, despite evidence that it is very rare. To find such voters, the administration has harnessed a Homeland Security Department system that had been used in the past mainly to help determine whether immigrants were eligible for public benefits and licenses. For years, some state and local election offices also used the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements tool as part of their efforts to identify noncitizen voters, although it has been shown to have made mistakes based on faulty data.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have perhaps 750,000 ancestors who were born in the U.S. or in what is now the U.S. I was born here, too, on an Army Air Force base when my father was serving in the U.S. military. Donald Trump has one ancestor -- his father Fred -- who was born in the U.S. Trump was born here, too. We're both citizens under the law, and my hundreds of thousands of ancestors don't make me "more" of a citizen than Trump. But I can't stop Trump from voting, and he can stop me just by claiming I'm not on one of his "approved" citizenship rolls. Some are more equal than others. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You can check to see if your own voter registration is up-to-date at Vote.org. It is a non-profit that was recommended on MS NOW last night, so the site is probably legit. I checked to see how I am doing, and my registration is not up-to-date.
~~~ This is not the same as VoteSafe.org, which is a political operation run by Elon Musk's America PAC. According to Andrea Hailey, who runs Vote.org, writing in the Hill, VoteSafe rewrote its “privacy policy on Aug. 29, allowing it to share personal information such as name, age, address, email, phone number and IP address with advertisers, political organizations and other unaffiliated third parties. It can also sell 'inferences' it makes from the information it collects from users, including 'psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitude.'”
Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Kate Conger, et al., of the New York Times: “OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue and meddled with the websites for the Education Department, the Commerce Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission this summer without the A.I. lab’s knowledge, according to security researchers and a person familiar with the episodes. The incidents involving the Commerce Department and the S.E.C. were confirmed by OpenAI, which said it was continuing to investigate the situation with the Department of Education. The San Francisco company said it had notified the government agencies in recent weeks that its A.I. agents — which are bots that can act autonomously — interacted with their sites in unusual ways. With the Education Department, OpenAI’s technology tried to hack the website to gather data from the department’s civil rights office but failed, researchers from the A.I. research firm Transluce said. The A.I. also pulled data from the Census Bureau website, which is housed at the Commerce Department, using login credentials it found online. Separately, OpenAI’s agents shared public data from the S.E.C. website on an online forum. None of the incidents were breaches, OpenAI said, but were examples of its technology’s behaving in unexpected and concerning ways.” The link is a gift link.
Pranshu Verma of the Washington Post: “Early this month, hundreds of diplomats ... [gathered] in Switzerland, working toward a muscular treaty to regulate the use of lethal autonomous weapons — the first agreement governing the use of killer artificial intelligence arms. On the last day of negotiations..., U.S. and Russian diplomats ... remov[ed] a range of provisions designed to safeguard the use of artificial intelligence in weapons, according to three people familiar with the negotiations....They stripped language requiring the systems to operate in a 'predictable' and 'reliable' manner ... and removed a clause mandating that ethical considerations be taken into account when using AI weaponry. The U.S. and Russian teams also removed a provision requiring that humans review military targets developed by AI before a strike, they added.... The erosion of the agreement ... shows how the United States and Russia have worked to weaken global rules to regulate lethal AI weaponry, as the Pentagon moves to rapidly infuse the burgeoning technology into its battlefield strategy.” The link is a gift link.
Olivia George of the Washington Post: On June 10, an Ohio mother who had overheard her teenaged son talking on the phone and confront him about the suspicious nature of the call, contacted local police. “Her call launched a nationwide investigation. The authorities soon announced that they had uncovered a plot to attack the White House as it hosted an Ultimate Fighting Championship event celebrating President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and the nation’s 250th. It was planned for June 14, just four days after she raised the alarm.... [The boy] and his alleged co-conspirators already had amassed guns, bullets and body armor.... The alleged UFC Freedom 250 plot, coordinated almost entirely online across thousands of miles under the veil of aliases, took shape swiftly.... The alleged scheme illustrates what researchers call a shrinking time frame between extremist ideation and violent action. Social media has accelerated that trajectory in a country where political life increasingly unfolds against a backdrop of threats, harassment and gunfire.”
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RAS asks, "Is the third time the charm"? ~~~
~~~ Missouri House Elections. Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: “For the third time this month, the Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using a new congressional map that favors Republicans, ending a legal fight that created major confusion around November’s midterm elections in the state. The justices on Friday ruled Missouri must use a map that will give Democrats a good shot at holding on to two of the state’s eight House seats during the pivotal upcoming elections that will determine control of Congress. The convoluted case has bounced through state and federal court in recent weeks, resulting in a series of rulings that left election administrators and voters uncertain what boundaries would be in play even as Missouri began sending out mail-in ballots.... There were no noted dissents to the ruling.”
New Jersey. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: “Lt. Gov. Dale G. Caldwell of New Jersey resigned on Friday, a day after investigators concluded he had used sexually charged language and had exploited his position to try to secure a promotion for a girlfriend and dates for himself. Dr. Caldwell, a Democrat, had been in the role for only eight months. And he and his lawyer, Thomas Calcagni, had pushed back strenuously against the findings in a report commissioned by his boss, Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Investigators who interviewed 17 people concluded that Dr. Caldwell’s behavior constituted sexual harassment and violated workplace standards. 'I’m not resigning because of the report,' Dr. Caldwell, 66, said in an interview. 'It’s false. I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction to the administration.... I’m supportive of the Sherrill administration.... I want her to be as successful as possible.” The link is a gift link. Politico's report is here.
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France. Katherine Porter, et al., of the New York Times: “When the Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien arrived in France this month to promote his novel, it was in many ways his dream tour. Rave reviews have followed his new book, 'It Was Either That Or Die,' depicting a migrant’s harrowing journey out of Haiti and across a dozen countries to safety in Canada. So have television appearances and nods from prestigious literary prizes. That was until this week, when A.I. detection programs in the hands of social media users assessed that the novel was likely written with the help of artificial intelligence, leading the novel to be pulled from consideration for a prestigious literary award. Mr. Orélien denied using A.I., and his French publisher said he began writing the novel in 2017 and finished a draft in 2019, years before generative A.I. programs appeared commercially.” The link is a gift link.
Israel. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: “... [-- before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack --] Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported earlier this month that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, had given [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu a secret warning that Hamas was planning a major attack.... Mr. Netanyahu has denied the report. But a person who said they had spoken with Sheikh Mohammed and another person who said they had been briefed by someone on the call between the two leaders told The New York Times that the Emirati leader had secretly reported to Mr. Netanyahu that Hamas was considering a major attack. The warning from the Emirati leader, however, never reached the leaders of Israel’s security establishment.... Mr. Netanyahu gathered his security chiefs days later, on Oct. 1, 2023, for a meeting about the situation in the Gaza Strip, and never mentioned the warning, according to minutes of the meeting reviewed by The Times.” The link is a gift link.
10 comments:
This language appears to come from the decision itself: "...inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections." Can you imagine how proud they must have been, cackling and guffawing, when they put those words on paper? They know it's a bad faith statement, and unless it gets called out as such, they will go even farther.
Mini Me
Fishing Crisis In Alaska
State Dept To Let Outside Groups Access Passport Data
"The US State Department is moving to give state and local officials, as well as potentially some nonprofit organizations, access to passport records to verify voters’ citizenship.
The plan, laid out in a notice recently sent to key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, would add “voter eligibility” to the official list of “routine uses” for the State Department’s passport services records and provide access beyond government entities. Historically, uses of the data have primarily involved domestic and international government agencies and officials."
In addition to the reported effects of SCOTUS' greenlighting limited (i.e., by state request) use of the fed citizen registry for voter validation, the confusion generated by this action will both tend to suppress some votes on the margin, and provide additional specious grounds for recounts and audits after November 3. SCOTUS is a collaborator in degrading election integrity, and must know it. Lower court fed judges must be outraged that they will have to cope with the resulting legal brouhahas that will fester for the next six months or more.
Interesting weekend read, I thought:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/opinion/best-tv-shows-sopranos-breaking-bad-wire-mad-men.html
My comment, which says more about me, perhaps, than the shows Marche described.
I watched none of these shows. Now I have a better notion of why I didn't. Friends did and told me their writing was brilliant, and I guess it was, but that would not have compensated me for how unappealing their characters or story lines were. Didn't watch "The Apprentice" either. Or any "reality" television.
But there was no escape, really. I did and do read the news and the reports of events in much of the last twenty years are equally tawdry and sordid. And the real world doesn't even have good scripts.
Contempt
"A federal judge on Friday found the Trump administration in contempt for deporting an asylum-seeker to El Salvador in violation of three court orders.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered the government to return the man — identified in court documents as E.L.A. — to the U.S. and to “refrain” from executing any removal orders against him until his asylum case is fully processed."
JD on Trump's foreign policy
David Frum, for The Atlantic, writes that we should Blame Trump for rising borrowing costs.
"The U.S. national debt surpassed $40 trillion in August 2026. On the current trajectory, it will exceed $50 trillion by 2030, the year after Trump is constitutionally required to leave office. The United States now pays more to service its debt than it spends on national defense. By the end of the Trump presidency, interest costs will exceed Medicare funding too.
....In an unprecedented act that could threaten the global economy and destroy trust in the dollar, Trump has speculated about refusing to pay some or all of the country’s public debt.
....Trump’s multibillion-dollar self-enrichment schemes, perversion of presidential pardons, attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve, and costly vanity projects throughout Washington all make the United States look more like Pakistan, Nigeria, or the Philippines than a consolidated democracy.
Americans are now paying for these crooked extravagances on their mortgages, car loans, student debt, and credit-card interest statements. When it comes to borrowing rates, the United States now sits between Estonia and countries in deep financial trouble."
From the wonk who really knows his ACA fraud:
https://charlesgaba.substack.com/p/breaking-vanceoz-to-kick-760000-off
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