There’s a lot to report today. In no particular order:
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army to release all of its records regarding Trump’s Arlington Cemetery Stunt to a group called American Oversight. American Oversight is an activist group organized in 2017 to keep tabs on corruption in the Trump Administration. It would be great to get some more details into the news before next Tuesday.
For the time being, Rudy Giuliani can keep his three New York Yankees World Series rings and his Florida condominium. Just about everything else he owns — including his New York City apartment, more than two dozen luxury watches, and a 1980 Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall — must be handed over to Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, within seven days. So says a federal judge. If Trump ever pays Giuliani the money owed him for “election” work, that goes to Freeman and Moss also. The Palm Springs property and the World Series rings are tied up in other litigation but could be awarded to Freeman and Moss eventually. Giuliani may have to downsize his lifestyle a tad.
North Korean troops are now fighting in Ukraine for Russia. This is seriously not good.
Yesterday there was much commentary on Jeffrey Goldberg’s piece at The Atlantic, “Trump: I Need the Kind of Generals that Hitler Had.” (No paywall.) You’ve probably heard the antidote about what happened when Trump offered to pay for the funeral of a britally murdered soldier.
According to attendees, and to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.
Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “Fucking people, trying to rip me off.”
Right-wing sites are now spreading the fiction that everyone involved in this and other stories has disavowed it. See also Nikki McCann Ramirez at Rolling Stone, Fox Host Says Maybe Trump Didn’t Realize Hitler’s Generals Were Nazis. And see Digby, The Wannabe Commander In Chief’s Hatred For The Military.
Another bit along the same lines — Michael S. Schmidt, As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator in the New York Times.
"North Korean troops are now fighting in Ukraine for Russia." If they were smart, they'd defect into Ukraine!
The psychics say: they are. People are starving in North Korea, Putin gave Rocketman grain in exchange for troops. They're weak from starvation and won't last in Ukraine's meat grinder. Rocketman gets data to see how well his troops can fight in a real war, and he reduces the number of mouths to feed. I imagine the families of the deserters get executed.
I'd like to see Kelly sit for a televised interview and say what he's quoted as saying in the book, short of that nobody who is thinking of voting for Stump is going to believe anything especially in the Atlantic. The GOP is full of fucking cowards even the ones who know Stump will destroy this country are too scared to come forward, the whole fucking party if full of Miss Lindseys! I doubt we'll see any of the Arlington stuff before the election. Besides playing our corporate media like a fiddle the other this Stump does well is hire lawyers that are good at delay, hell we can't even see most of the J6 indictment unsealed, I seriously doubt we'll see the Arlington stuff?
There's nothing to keep American Oversight from releasing it as soon as they get it. Whether they get it in time is the question.
They released the report, it's almost completely redacted so I'm sure Stumps attorneys didn't put up a fight, there is nothing new?
https://americanoversight.org/featureddocument/u-s-department-of-defense-and-army-records-regarding-incident-at-arlington-national-cemetery/
I'm guessing that "antidote" is autocorrect for "anecdote". Man, autocorrect is dumb.
Let's hope this information gets released, and soon.
Money, follow the money and the truth reveals itself in the sea of camo. On way to follow the money is by zip code. To some extent a zip code reflects population, the number of people in an area. The denser the population (no not that denser most of the time) the closer the zip codes. Big cities have multiple zip codes with small areas. Rural areas have larger areas in a single zip code.
Then color code political donations by zip code. Bluer for more Harris and redder for Trump. This is what the Washington Post did in a piece linked below.
Harris and a shade of blue dominate the whole country with the exception of a band in the deep south and very rural areas and of course most of Texas. So dense areas and less densely populated areas could both be a factor in Trump donor areas. The data speaks for itself but may. as usual, speak a bit differently to different people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/interactive/2024/trump-harris-donors-zip-code-map/
And, of course, Trump buried old ex Ivana on his golf course to avoid the cost of a cemetery plot. If there was a ceremony it was probably on the cheap too.
Greedy old geezer.
I voted today – I'm in FL. Governor Vodermot last week had the General Counsel for the State Dept. of Health declare the anti-abortion advertising a threat to heath and safety, demanding the TV stations stop broadcasting then. A federal judge slapped it down almost at once as a First Amendment violation, The General Counsel resigned a week after on principle. But DeSantos is the fascist waiting in the wings to take the throne when Trump fails. Of course, in that he's not alone but he and Abbot have shown the least regard for the rule of law as they grandstand.
One point of hope I read today is that it's a totally different world than 2020 when Covid was peaking and the efficacy of the vax was unknown. Turnout in early voting and vote-by-mail may take meaning after results are in. But it's not indicative of anything, good or bad because comparisons of behavior under Covid vs without Covid are guesswork.
Harris requested a permit for an event at the Elipse one week before the election. Usually, I'd say an rally that late won't affect things but this could be the exception. It won't depend on her speech as much as who she lines up. I wish I could be there but finances make it prohibitive. There is a lot Harris can't say about J6 without providing the Trump's defense with arguments, but there are others we've mentioned who could speak to it.
I think it's genius that Harris is holding her penultimate event at the Ellipse, just as TFG will try to fill Madison Square Garden (good luck with that). Thrilled that the generals are coming out about 45's threat to democracy and that the conversation is turning to this. Finally.
I am thinking that the "climate voters" are starting to coalesce in a voting block, and one of the ground zeroes for this is Florida. This will only get stronger in years to come.
Listening to JD Vance arrogantly dance around the question of whether the vote was stolen in 2020, gives me a taste of what you have been suffering with DeSantis. There are certain people I can't watch – MTG in her prime, and now Vance. I can't imagine having one of these arrogant jerks as governor.
Does Trump realize that a number of Hitler's generals tried to kill him? Look up the 20 July plot.
No, it is reported that Kelly attempted to explain that to him. Imagine attempting to explain a basic known fact of WWII history to a grown-ass man who occupies the most powerful office in US government, and he refuses to listen and learn. He is completely ignorant of history, science, economics, how government works, etc, etc, etc.
I can't believe how good Dems are doing toward the finish line. It is a good sign, and I need every good sign I can get.
The first finish line may be a fake one. It is a good idea to think and plan for a long haul.
No, you don't need to stock up on toilet paper. There are some strange signs in the markets, with gold prices rising while the dollar remains strong. The gold bugs are restless. a sure sign of mass anxiety. Do not forget the rest of the world is jumpy too. We know some of them are working for Trump as usual. Trump, of course wants everyone to worry about immigrants and not them. Best worry about them. They are in it for the long game. Some, like Turkey, play both sides.