As the city of Hartford prepares to celebrate Pride this weekend, police are investigating an alleged act of vandalism targeting the LGBTQ+ community at a local church.
The Rev. Jay Terbush, the senior transitional minister at Immanuel Congregational Church, said an unknown vandal defaced the church’s large rainbow walkway with explicit graffiti containing a homophobic slur.
“It is always surprising, and yet it isn’t surprising to me in another way, that people who live in this state still harbor those kind of hostile reactions toward people that are different,” Terbush said. “Part of my sadness is that this active vandalism and really vile slur is happening in this week when the city is embracing all people by having Hartford Pride.”
Since 2000, Immanuel has identified as an “Open and Affirming” congregation, a designation from the United Church of Christ that reinforces a church’s commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion. Immanuel’s rainbow walk has served as a testament to these values for the last several years, leading parishioners from Farmington Avenue to the doors of the church’s sanctuary.
Everywhere it is not safe from violence and hate, we here in Connecticut are a lot better off than other states… but there is still hate here.
It has always been here but it was mostly covert, hidden away in the corners of the state but it has been green lighted by the current national and local political candidates.
Other Pride events in Connecticut have been no stranger to anti-LGBTQ+ hate.
Johanna Schubert, the co-chair of West Hartford Pride, said that in the lead-up to the organization’s fifth annual Pride celebration this June, West Hartford Pride and its organizers received “several threats” via social media channels.
“Two of them were specific enough that the Police Department opened an investigation and, in one case, consulted with the FBI,” Schubert said.
Now the haters have been embolden by the Republican party with all their anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric. The swamp creators feel that they have the courts behind them, with their claims of “religious freedom.” to discriminate.
In a statement to the Courant, Hartford Pride President Charlie Ortiz said that “in the last 15 years of Pride,” the annual celebration has “not had any incidents.”
Still, Ortiz said Hartford Pride organizers “do not let our guard down.”
“Based on conditions, we have increased security and police presence during our Pride event over the years,” Ortiz said. “We look forward to a peaceful and enjoyable event and also recruit our audience: ‘If you see something, say something.’”
Anne Stanback, an LGBTQ+ activist who served at the forefront of Connecticut’s fight for marriage equality, joined Immanuel 23 years ago.
When Stanback learned about the graffiti, she said she “got that sick feeling in my stomach” again.
“This isn’t the first time that I have seen incidences of vandalism and hate like this,” Stanback said. “I know this kind of thing still happens, but it is still so saddening and disappointing that it’s happening here in the city of Hartford.”
People say that there are no bias crimes, that we don’t need them. That there is no difference between an assault and a bias crime.
Well in murder we have;
Involuntary murder,
Second-degree murder,
First-degree murder.
So what is the difference between them. Intent. Involuntary murder, you didn’t mean to kill anyone, it just happened. You push a protester out of the way and he falls, hits his head and dies.
While murder in the second degree is, you get in to a fight and pick up a rock and bash his head in. you didn’t plan on killing him but in the anger of the moment you do.
First-degree murder is planned. You are in that bar room fight, you go out to the car get your gun and come back to kill him.
It all boils down to what was the reason you did it. For a bias crime it is because they are LGBTQ+ that is the motive for the crime. Also the crime affects the whole community, it creates fear.
How many times have you heard, “I’m afraid to go out.” after a gay man is attacked. It is not just an attack on a trans woman but an attack on all trans women. That is why there are bias crime laws.
The local ABC and CBS affiliates did not carry any stories about Hartford Pride, however CBS WFSB Ch 3 did carry a story about vandalism at the church.
You all know how that nursery rhyme ends but it is not true! Words do hurt, words do have consequences. Trump knows! Trump knows that bomb threats are being made to Springfield Ohio. Trump vows mass deportation of protected migrants in Springfield, dismisses threats to town
Former President Donald Trump on Friday said he would conduct a mass deportation of immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, and dismissed a question from ABC News about the bomb threats the town is experiencing in the wake of unsubstantiated claims about Haitian migrants.
"We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump said as he took reporter questions in Los Angeles, California. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora, [Colorado]."
The remark comes after Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, amplified unsubstantiated claims of Haitian migrants in Springfield eating pets. Trump did not repeat the baseless rumor when speaking in California, but called the Haitian migrants "illegal" despite the city explaining the Haitian population is in the U.S. legally under the Immigration Parole Program.
They know these rumors are false, they know that there are violent threats being made, but…
Two schools were evacuated and another was closed in Springfield on Friday after bomb threats were sent "to multiple agencies and media outlets" in the city, according to the city commission office. The mayor said he believes these threats are directly connected to the unfounded rumors spread online about Haitian migrants.
The unexpected and unwanted attention generated by Mr. Trump’s false stories led to real-life confusion and anxiety for some residents. Schools have been evacuated, children sheltered at home and parents forced to make other plans during the workday. Gethro Jean, a Haitian pastor, said that he had been fielding questions from congregants who were concerned about attending church on Sunday.
Words have consequences, Trump, Vance, other Republicans see what is happening but do not care… votes are more important than lives.
What does it say about the Republican party not condemning the violence? Local Republicans have spoken out against the threats… but national zip! Newsweek wrote,
When asked if he places any responsibility on Trump for the threat, Rue [The mayor.] said he was "not going to answer that," but reiterated that false rhetoric was playing a role in the safety of his community.
No one from Trump organization or the national Republican party has come out and condemned the bomb threats and Trump and Vance continues to spread the lies. ABC New wrote in another article on Friday,
The remark comes after Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, amplified unsubstantiated claims of Haitian migrants in Springfield eating pets. Trump did not repeat the baseless rumor when speaking in California, but called the Haitian migrants "illegal" despite the city explaining the Haitian population is in the U.S. legally under the Immigration Parole Program.
The threats are not just against schools and municipal buildings but also hospitals, in another New York Post article,
Another bomb threat in Springfield, Ohio, forced two hospitals into lockdown Saturday morning as the small city of about 60,000 continues to endure heightened national attention and threats over the influx of an estimated 20,000 Haitian residents.
The bomb threats made to Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center came after two elementary schools and government buildings were targeted on Friday, forcing evacuation and closure.
Mercy Health went into lockdown shortly after 6 a.m. while local authorities conducted a thorough search of the facility, in conjunction with the hospital’s onsite security team, a hospital spokesperson told News Center 7, adding that the threat was determined to be not credible.
What does it say about his MAGA followers? That they think that it is okay to make bomb threats… which are really acts of terrorism.
They want to stir up the anger to rile up the independent voters! It is doing that, but having opposite the desired effect… they are turning to the Democrats. Polling data been trickling out since the debate, the Guardian writes,
The latest Guardian polling trends tracker shows the US vice-president regaining a small lead over the Republican nominee since Tuesday’s encounter in Philadelphia, a shift from surveys at the start of the week when the pair were essentially tied.
The movement is supported by individual polls, some of which show Harris with a bigger lead than the 0.9% advantage displayed in the Guardian tracker.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll, the first to be conducted since the debate, had Harris ahead by five points, 47 to 42%, a 1-point rise on the lead recorded in the week after last month’s Democratic national convention.
Donald Trump wanted to spend this week attacking one of Democratic rival Kamala Harris’ biggest political vulnerabilities. Instead, he spent most of the week falsely claiming that migrants are eating pets in a small town in Ohio and defending his embrace of a far-right agitator whose presence is causing concern among his allies.
[...]
“The people of Ohio are scared,” he said. “It’s going to get worse. It’s going to get so bad. You know what we’re experiencing now is they’re just getting settled in.”
Trump reiterated the same themes later Friday at a rally in Las Vegas. “We are under invasion just like it was an army, except in many ways it’s more difficult because they don’t wear a uniform, you don’t know who the hell to go after,” he said.
Trump has no qualms about the violence he initiated.
Just before this was published (I wrote this yesterday morning) this meme was posted on Facebook.
I am not the only one who is thinking this and an article in the New York Post said that,
The viral picture of a man holding two geese on an Ohio street being used to fuel claims that migrants have been gobbling up pets was nothing more than a wild goose chase, according to a report.
The anonymous man who was snapped carrying the bodies of two birds earlier this week was removing them from the street after they were hit by a car, the Ohio Division of Wildlife confirmed to TMZ.
There is no evidence he was taking them home to eat or that he is a migrant, the agency said.
The incident happened in Columbus — more than 45 miles away from the city of Springfield where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed migrants were gobbling up wildlife and pets.
To the Republicans Black = Haitian! The other thing, what is wrong with cooking and eating them? Hunters do it, we do it at Christmas, and it also helps those who need more protein in their diets.
An article in the New York Times said that most of the Haitians are there legally under a government bipartisan program and settled around Springfield because they have relatives there and a growing economy. Look at the influx from Europe around the turn of the Twentieth Century... New York City has Little Italy, Boston the Irish community, Minnesota has a large population of Norwegian and Swedish (Every wonder why the their football team is called the Vikings?).
But now the MAGA Republicans are trying to make something sinister out of the Haitian community! But that is nothing unusual for conservative, after all they did the same to the Italians, the Irish, the Germans, the Poles and then when the Chinese came that is when they started passing laws to keep non-white out of the U.S..
So bigotry against the newcomers is not new but it is being taken to new lows with the internet.
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, COLLEEN LONG, MICHAEL BALSAMO and ZEKE MILLER
September 15, 2024
The man who authorities say pointed a rifle with a scope into former President Donald Trump’s golf club and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The officials identified the suspect to the AP but spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Secret Service agents shot at the suspect, who was taken into custody after fleeing the scene of what the FBI is calling an apparent attempted assassination of the Republican presidential nominee. Authorities are working to determine a motive.
[...]
Harris, in a statement said she was “glad” Trump was safe, adding that “violence has no place in America.”
1) It's easier to keep track of the minutes if your timepiece has a second hand. As you answer these questions, are you wearing a watch or can you see a clock that has a second hand? Nope. I got out of the habit when my battery ran down and I didn’t replace it. 2) In this song, Michael McDonald admits he knows his girl has lied to him. Do you suspect any one of your friends/family has fibbed to you recently? I hope not!
3) McDonald's big break came in 1973 when he joined Steely Dan's touring band. What do you consider your first professional success? When I got my first job out of college.
4) In 1975 he joined The Doobie Brothers. He was originally supposed to be a temporary replacement for Tom Johnston, but he ended up working with the band uninterrupted for seven years. Tell us about something that's happened to you that turned out better than you anticipated. Oh, I am lousy at these type of questions. It is not like I carry around a notepad… “Oh this turned out much better than I thought!”
5) In 1986 he guest starred on an episode of The Young and The Restless. Have you ever been hooked on a daytime drama? Nope. Not even when I had pneumonia in the late 70s and I was home for 2 month and most of all not even in almost 20 years of retirement. However (You all know my “Howevers” by now), back in mid-seventies where I worker one of the workers would disappear for a couple of days three or four times a month. I found out that he had a part in a daytime soap and when his character was on he was gone. Also I know about three or four people who in 2006 were on All My Children in a couple of episodes.
6) Michael and wife Amy raised their family near Nashville, where they had their own pond and a garden they lovingly tended. Do you enjoy yard work? HA! The question should be “Do you do yard work?” the answer would still be “Nope!”
7) In 1979, when "Minute by Minute" was popular, movie star John Wayne died. In 2004, the US Postal Service honored him with a stamp. What was in the last envelope you stamped and dropped in a mailbox? BILLS, and more bills and even more bills!
8) In 1979, the most popular new car was the Oldsmobile Cutlass. Ads promised drivers the Cutlass could make it easy to get in and out of tight parking spots. Are you good at parallel parking? True story! I was going to an open panel discussion at Yale to listen to a couple of people the I know on panel. So to set the stage, crowded New Haven streets, a bunch of college kids sitting on a wall in front of the lecture hall. The only open parking space in blocks and it is parallel parking!!!! My nemesis. I pull up to the spot and slowly work my way in to the space. AND MADE IT, parallel to curb. It was messy but I made it! When I got out of the car all the student stood up and clapped and I curtsied.
9) Random question: Did you know your great-grandparents? I think I did, we used to visit some old people when I was still crawling around on the rug. We used to go to a place called “Greenfield Hill” but I couldn’t understand why there were all houses and hills let alone green. I later learned that was where my grandmother family lived.
Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend! Update on the plumbing issue… the plumber found the leak. Those new fangled gadgets of plastic pipes and crimped connections, well there was a bad crimp that was dripping. But now trying to get the contractor to come in is the next challenge. I’m heading home for two weeks on Monday so I have to hope he’ll come in to take out the floor.
Linda Ronstadt has endorsed Kamala Harris while speaking out against Donald Trump‘s scheduled rally at Tucson, Arizona’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
In a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday night, the “Blue Bayou” singer wrote, “Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown, Tucson. I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something.”
“It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit,” she continued. Ronstadt explained that she doesn’t “just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance—although there’s that.”
Ms. Ronstadt is of Mexican-American heritage and see first hand what Trump’s and the Republican’s rhetoric is doing to her community.
“For me it comes down to this: In Nogales and across the southern border, the Trump Administration systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum,” Ronstadt wrote. “Family separation made orphans of thousands of little children and babies, and brutalized their desperate mothers and fathers. It remains a humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture. There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused.”
Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown, Tucson. I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something.
It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.
I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance — although there’s that.
For me it comes down to this: In Nogales and across the southern border, the Trump Administration systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum. Family separation made orphans of thousands of little children and babies, and brutalized their desperate mothers and fathers. It remains a humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture.
There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused.
Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.
Linda Ronstadt
P.S. to J.D. Vance:
I raised two adopted children in Tucson as a single mom. They are both grown and living in their own houses. I live with a cat. Am I half a childless cat lady because I’m unmarried and didn’t give birth to my kids? Call me what you want, but this cat lady will be voting proudly in November for @kamalaharris and @timwalz .
Topline Celebrity voices have entered the 2024 presidential race in a variety of ways in recent weeks, and some of the biggest names in politics and in Hollywood have lent their voices to a particular candidate in hopes of moving the needle this November.
Key Facts
Billionaire pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in an Instagram post Tuesday night, minutes after a debate between Harris and Donald Trump wrapped up.
Actors Matt Damon and Lin-Manuel Miranda will attend fundraiser in New York City later this month—for which tickets are listed at $25,000 per person—to support the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Trump thanked Brittany Mahomes, wife of NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes, for her "defending him" after she clapped back at eagle-eyed fans who criticized her for liking several pro-Trump posts on social media last month (Mahomes has not formally endorsed a candidate).
Over Labor Day weekend, a fundraiser for the Democratic ticket in Southampton, New York was hosted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and fashion designer Tory Burch, among others.
Nick Offerman, Jane Fonda, Ben Stiller, Kathy Griffin, John Stamos, Ed Helms, Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz were among those who appeared on a “Comics for Harris” virtual rally via Zoom last month, which reportedly raised close to half a million dollars for the Harris campaign.
I don’t hold much stock in celebrities endorsements but it sure does look nice to see all these people supporting the Democrats. Trump also has his endorsements but I ours are much better then people like Kid Rock who is a homophobe. There is also Hulk Hogan, Rosanne Barr, Steve Wynn, and of course Elon Musk.
A fake video! Yup the people who think that they are are on the high horse of righteousness bring you a fake video.
Heritage Foundation Spreads Deceptive Videos About Noncitizen Voters The right-wing think tank has been pushing misinformation about voting into social media feeds. The Georgia secretary of state’s office called one video “a stunt.” The New York Times By Ken Bensinger and Richard Fausset September 7, 2024
In July, two men went door to door at a sprawling apartment complex in Norcross, Ga., an Atlanta suburb that is a hub for the region’s fast-growing Latino population, asking residents if they were U.S. citizens and whether they were registered to vote.
Speaking in Spanish, often peeking from behind half-closed doors, seven people told the men that they were not citizens but that they were registered to vote.
Although the two men claimed to represent a company helping Latinos navigate the election system, they were actually working with the Heritage Foundation and carrying a hidden camera. Days later, the conservative think tank posted a video on the social media platform X containing some of the footage the men had captured, calling it “staggering” evidence that 14 percent of noncitizens in Georgia — which Heritage said extrapolated to more than 47,000 people — were registered to vote.
“Based on our findings,” the video concluded, “the integrity of the 2024 election is in great jeopardy.”
The video was reposted by Elon Musk, X’s owner, who called it “extremely disturbing.” It quickly went viral.
A new low! They must really fear losing the elections with a multi-million dollar company faking an election video! The Times article goes on…
But under scrutiny, those claims do not hold up. Three of the seven people Heritage filmed later said they had misspoken. State investigators found no evidence that any of the seven people on the tape had ever registered to vote. A spokesman for Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, called the video “a stunt.”
Lies, lies, and more lies the conservatives are pumping out!
The DC-based Heritage Foundation has long spread disinformation about elections, claiming there is widespread voter fraud despite ample evidence to the contrary. More recently, it has gained attention for its authoritarian and antidemocratic Project 2025 plan for a second Trump administration.
Ahead of this fall’s election, Heritage has been at the forefront of pushing the lie that noncitizens are registering and voting in significant numbers, laying the groundwork for election deniers to use in case the results don’t go their way.
Now its efforts to undermine trust in elections have taken a dangerous new turn — a boots-on-the-ground approach to fish for voter fraud where there is none. In July, men working with Heritage knocked on the doors of suspected noncitizens in an apartment complex outside Atlanta, asking about the residents’ citizenship status and whether they are registered to vote. The pair misrepresented themselves as being with a company that assists Latinos with navigating the election system and secretly videotaped their interactions.
You want to know where all the fake news is coming from, the fanatics from the conservatives, they will do anything for their guy to win!
But Heritage posted the videos to its website and claimed that based on a mere 7 people, 14 percent of noncitizens in Georgia were registered to vote — an estimated 47,000 people. It’s a ludicrous assertion. The office of Georgia’s Republican secretary of state dismissed the video as a “stunt.”
That are the “Family Values” of the Republicans… lying is okay if your side does it because we are on the side of truth, justice, and the American way! They are protecting us from the evil liberals so lying cheating, and mudslinging is okay.
They are pushing “The Big Lie” as Joseph Goebbels described it. But this was the only fake news the foundation has been pushing, the NYT writes…
It was one of several misleading videos that the Heritage Foundation has pumped into social media feeds this year. While the once-staid think tank has received attention recently for Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a future Trump administration that the group funded, it has also made its mark with an aggressive effort to shape public opinion, seeding falsehoods about the integrity of the 2024 election across social media and conservative news outlets.
At the center of that effort is the Oversight Project, an arm of Heritage that conducts what it describes as investigations into immigration policy, among other topics. Borrowing from covert tactics used by the group Project Veritas, the Oversight Project has published videos about the supposed threat of migrant voting in shelters on the Texas border, in New York City and in North Carolina.
Don’t you get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing the Heritage Foundation picked the Supreme Court judges for Trump. Knowing that these were the very same people that brought you Project 2025.
Vote Democrat to stop the guy who said on day one he would become a dictator, that try his political opponents, NBC News wrote earlier in the month…
But the experts also said the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision gives a president the power to order the attorney general to indict any individuals they wish without facing legal consequences themselves.
“Trump has enormous power if he really wants to do it,” said Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University Law School. “There would be almost no stopping him from obtaining an indictment.”
Former President Donald Trump is pledging on social media to prosecute political opponents if he wins reelection in November. His threats are related to false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and that some are now trying somehow to rig the 2024 election. Dave Weigel, politics reporter for Semafor, and Nancy Cook, senior national political correspondent for Bloomberg News, join to discuss.
This is what his friend Putin is doing right now in Russia!
But remember… 49% of the people like him doing this!
Character is important in this election now. One side lies, and lies, lies and they have become so complacent about lies that it seems normal to them, they think the they are so righteous that they have no qualms about doing it.
Vote Democrat not only for president but also the under-ticket. Because if they control either the House or the Senate president Harris will not be able to do anything to help the country. Just look at the bipartisan bill that the Democrats worked out with the Republicans in the Senate Trump squashed it because he wanted to use the border against the Democrats.
We need to bring back government to the people not to the party! We need to bring sanity.
Update" 7:00PM
Well not an endorsement, it is no way am I voting for my sister!
Pamela Carter, a right-wing abortion foe, claims to have her family’s “full support” for her candidacy. Not exactly.
Mother Jones
By Tim Murphy
September 13, 2024
Arizona’s fourth legislative district, located in the suburban heart of Maricopa County, might be the ultimate bellwether in the ultimate bellwether state. And this fall, the stakes are impossibly high, not just at the presidential level—where polls show Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in a dead heat—but all the way down the ballot. Republicans control both chambers of the legislature by just one vote. In Arizona, where each legislative district elects two representatives, control of the state house could come down to Democrats’ efforts to flip one seat and hold another in this district that includes parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale.
In their quest to hold onto the legislature, Republicans have turned to a member of a famous Arizona family—Pamela Carter, older sister of the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. On the campaign trail, the candidate Carter has talked up her work as a successful entrepreneur and a record of academic accomplishment, and boasts of having “my family’s full support” for her state house run. But a review of her record and past statements tells a much different story: In contrast to the fourth district’s moderate profile, Carter is a fervently anti-abortion minister who has been “blessed with end-time revelation” and who has made confusing claims about her past. And one notable member of her family is not on board—her famous sister, an advocate for reproductive rights.
“On her website, Pam claims to have her ‘family’s full support,'” Lynda Carter said in a statement to Mother Jones. “I have known Pam my entire life, which is why I sadly cannot endorse her for this or any public office.”
And like other Republicans lie...
Pamela Carter has offered an inconsistent accounting of her educational background. Her page at Ballotpedia states that she “earned a master’s degree in Communications and Biblical studies and attended Arizona State University,” which a spokesperson for the elections site confirmed was based on an informational survey that was “verified by the candidate.” “I was raised in Scottsdale, went right here to Arcadia High, ASU, and I just love our city,” she said on a podcast in 2022. This is technically true. Carter did attend ASU, and she does also have a master’s degree. But the reality of her resume is a bit more complicated.
She hasn't endorsed the Democrat but rather non-endorsed her sister.
One of the biggest in indicators of the support that the trans community receives can be found in the voters. We win! We win elections, we win ballot questions.
Voters in six states handed eight transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming candidates victories in state legislatures this week.
These candidates were on the ballot in at least 13 state House and Senate elections Tuesday. Three of the country’s four current transgender state legislators — Brianna Titone of Colorado and Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker of New Hampshire — all won re-election. The fourth, Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, who in 2017 became the first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature, is up for re-election next year.
At least five others, including an incumbent who was not previously out as gender-nonconforming, won Tuesday, bringing the total number to at least nine once they all take office.
This says so much! With all the anti-trans rhetoric the Republicans are pushing out, the voters are still not buying it, we have
Currently we are about to win a seat in the House! Danica Roberts won her election as NBC News wrote last year,
Virginia Del. Danica Roem has made political history once again after winning a seat in the state Senate on Tuesday. She is the first out transgender person elected to Virginia’s upper chamber and only the second trans person elected to any state Senate in the United States, following Delaware’s Sarah McBride in 2020.
Roem, a Democrat, defeated her Republican opponent, Bill Woolf, by more than 3 percentage points. Woolf, a former Fairfax County police officer, was endorsed by the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.
Stop and think, trans women have won seats over their conservative Republican opposition.
Delaware in November could elect the first openly transgender member of Congress and the state’s first Black U.S. senator.
On Tuesday, voters in the Blue Hen State were deciding their fall nominees in several political contests, including picking Matt Meyer, the chief executive of Delaware’s most populous county, in the Democratic primary for governor.
State Sen. Sarah McBride, meanwhile, won the Democratic primary for Delaware’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and now has the chance to make history as the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
“My heart is filled with hope and gratitude,” McBride told The Associated Press. “I’m grateful, I’m hopeful and I’m motivated.”
McBride said Tuesday’s results reflect the “goodness” of Delawareans who judge a candidate “based on ability, not identity.”
“I’m not running to make history,” McBride said. “I’m running to make historic progress for Delawareans.”
“The only identity I want to be known for is my identity as a proud Delawarean,” she said, adding that she wasn’t saying her identity doesn’t matter. “It’s just one part of who I am.”
We haven’t won all the races that trans people ran in but we won enough!
Back in 2011 I went to the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work Campaign School at the University of Connecticut’s School of Social Work and I would recommend it or others like it to any trans women who is think about running. I went to learn about running a political campaign. The workshop was taught in-part by Emily’s List an organization that is dedicated to helping progressive women get elected. They are very, very trans friendly, during the workshop they kept trying to talk mr into running.
There are also trans and LGBTQ+ organizations that will help us run for office like LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
This election we will have a very change of a trans legislator in the U.S. House!
Trans state senator Sarah McBride won the Democratic Primary for Delaware’s lone US House seat, putting her on course to become the first openly trans member of the United States Congress.
Pink News
By Sophie Perry
September 11, 2024
McBride, who made history in 2020 as the first ever trans state senator, easily beat out other Democrat candidates Earl Cooper and Elias Weir for the primary win with more than 80% of the votes.
McBride will face off against GOP nominee James Whalen in Delaware’s House of Representatives election in on November 5, 2024, a seat she is heavily favoured to win as the Democrats have held it since 2010.
“With a heart full of hope – and because of tens of thousands of Delawareans who turned out to the polls – tonight I’m proud to become the Democratic nominee for Delaware’s sole seat in the United States House of Representatives. Thank you, Delaware!”, McBride wrote on Instagram in a celebratory post.
[…]
“Hundreds of thousands of Delawareans will vote for Sarah in September and November, not because she’s trans, but because she’s been an effective, well-respected leader in the state for years.
And that is the thing voters vote their pocketbooks and they see her as the best person to protect their pocketbooks.
Vote Blue on the lower ballots candidates also! But we have to vote, this race is very tight and every vote will count.
Yesterday I wrote about how the Republican's are intimidating voters who signed the petition to put abortion rights on the ballot and I asked the question, "Is this legal?" well now the Florida Supreme Court has been asked that question.
The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to fast-track a case against Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials that alleges they improperly used their official power to advocate against a proposed abortion amendment.
The court on Wednesday ordered Jason Weida, the secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration, to respond to a complaint from a Palm Beach County attorney alleging that a website created by the agency last week about Amendment 4 violated state law.
The attorney, Adam Richardson, also included DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody in his petition, alleging that they have “waged a campaign to interfere with the election.” Richardson asked justices “to forbid them from misusing or abusing their offices and agencies to interfere with the election for Amendment 4.”
Justices could have dismissed Richardson’s complaint. Instead, they ordered the agency to respond to his allegations by 5 p.m. on Sept. 23.
Once again the Republicans just ignore the laws!
Supporters of the amendment immediately criticized the site and speculated it may violate a Florida law that prohibits state employees and officers from using their “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election.”
I don't know but that seem pretty clear to me, but the governor is trying to weasel out of it by saying...
DeSantis has defended the state website and an agency advertisement that links to it, saying it was a “public service announcement.”
”We have a responsibility to tell the truth about what the policies are in the State of Florida, and that is 100% accurate,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “It is not weighing in on a specific amendment.”
The question is will the justices buy that argument?
Tick, Tock, Tick Tock... Just weeks before the election the Republicans are going to shutdown the government! The Republicans are putting several poison pills in the bill that they know that the Democrats won’t swallow.
Donald Trump said congressional Republicans should pursue a government shutdown if they cannot attach a hardline voting bill to the temporary funding resolution that would keep the government open.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is currently trying to pass a six-month stopgap funding bill paired with the controversial SAVE Act, a legislative proposal that would require voters to show proof of citizenship at the ballot box, which Democrats said they would vote against.
Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to strike a funding deal before the government shuts down.
What they are doing is holding the country hostage, they’re playing chicken with the economy! They are demanding measures that are not need, they are claiming the “Big Lie!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is currently trying to pass a six-month stopgap funding bill paired with the controversial SAVE Act, a legislative proposal that would require individuals to show proof of citizenship at the ballot box.
They know that there was no voter fraud, the voters know that there was no voter fraud, but their cult leader said there was so that is what they say because they are afraid of the wrath of Trump!
Trump wades into shutdown fight Former President Trump on Tuesday appeared to call on his party to block government funding ahead of a looming shutdown deadline later this month if they aren’t able to secure what he called “assurances” on election security.
The BBC… “’Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’, is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels.”
If there is a government shutdown before the election Trump supports will rally behind their golden idol but I doubt that will overcome the anger the rest of the voters would feel. I think that the majority of the voters do not believe that there was election fraud. It is a Republican issue the polls show that over 70% of the people do not believe in election fraud.
But not all Republicans are in lockstep behind Trump… some are getting “backbone”? The Washington Post reports,
The House on Tuesday advanced Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to prevent a government shutdown by a slim margin, with two GOP defections, dealing a blow to Republicans’ negotiating position in government funding talks just weeks before a shutdown deadline.
The dissenting Republicans joined Democrats in a vote that almost took down what’s known as a rule, a procedural step that governs debate on the House floor. Without it, the underlying bill cannot proceed to a vote. Johnson (R-La.) is attempting to pair a six-month stopgap government funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 with unrelated legislation to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections.
Funding for the federal government expires Sept. 30, when the 2024 fiscal year ends. Without new legislation, the government would shut down, shuttering vital federal services just ahead of November’s election.
The far-right news outlet Breitbart (You might remember that the head of Breitbart, Steve Bannon is in jail now.) writes,
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced on Wednesday that the vote on the stop-gap spending bill will be delayed, as Republicans across the spectrum have opposed the measure.
Johnson said the stop-gap spending bill that would have funded the government through March 28 has been delayed, as Republican leadership needs to work through the weekend to “build consensus.”
The bill also included the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Republicans across the spectrum have announced their opposition to the bill.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) opposed the measure because it would allegedly have a negative impact on defense spending.
Conservatives have balked at a stop-gap spending bill, believing it would not do enough to alleviate America’s spending problem.
[...]
“I refuse to be a thespian in the Speaker’s failure theater,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said on Monday. “The 6 month continuing resolution [CR] with the SAVE Act attached is an insult to Americans’ intelligence. The CR doesn’t cut spending, and the shiny object attached to it will be dropped like a hot potato before passage.”
So it should be really interesting the next 20 days.
Update: 9/13 @ 8:30AM
Their Republican colleagues in the Senate know the truth...
Senate Republicans are letting the air out on House Republican efforts to pump up a partisan standoff over federal funding, which they fear could risk an embarrassing government shutdown a few weeks before Election Day.
With the prospect of a Senate Republican majority in 2025 tantalizingly close, GOP senators don’t want to let a proposal backed by former President Trump to require proof of citizenship for voter registration derail an end-of-month funding deal.
GOP senators acknowledge that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) won’t accept any short-term funding bill that would place new restrictions on voter registration and warn that Republicans would get the blame for any government shutdown caused by a fight over it.
They know it is wrong to shut down the government and that it is only a political stunt.
It’s all over once someone starts talking about earbuds. Slate By Luke Winkie September 11, 2024
Nothing about Tuesday night’s debate was particularly surprising. Donald Trump, in visible decline, became agitated, pedantic, and increasingly unserious as the broadcast wore on. He turned in yet another weirdly checked-out performance and continued a losing streak that was only briefly broken up when he faced off against an opponent who was slightly more advanced in his sundowning, three months earlier. Harris, meanwhile, is a career prosecutor, an effective performer of politics, and a 59-year-old woman—conditions that created an abject mismatch onstage. The VP proceeded to wipe the floor with the former president, by virtue of her ability to appear competent and normal in contrast to the dog eating and the rally-size grousing. There weren’t any curveballs dispensed from the moderation team, either, who teed up a pretty standard set of policy queries on immigration, abortion, the economy, and democracy. Harris did what she was supposed to do, and Trump did what he always does. That is the way things work.
And yet, for the embattled MAGA base who have internalized this idea that Harris is incapable of stringing words into sentences, her ability to answer basic questions about her policy positions could only be justified by conspiracy and collusion. We have been down this path before. Perhaps you remember the swirling rumors in 2020 that Joe Biden received his debate questions before the event—the same accusations were leveled Tuesday night, but this time around though, they were weirder, and much dumber.
Clue the Dragnet music! > And here is the really cuckoo part…
The prevailing theory in MAGAdom is that Kamala Harris was discreetly wearing a pair of earbuds embedded in the earrings she wore on stage. The tech itself is real—in 2023, the audio company Icebach unveiled a set of pearl jewelry called the “Nova H1 Audio Earrings” that were outfitted with the ability to transmit audio into the wearer’s cochleas. If you are way down the rabbit hole, you might be willing to believe that Harris had orchestrated some sort of elaborate walkie-talkie system so she could receive live coaching from, I don’t know, Pete Buttigieg, standing a few feet offstage. It’s a position that has been signal-boosted by some of the more prominent knuckleheads on the right—particularly Naomi Wolf, former feminist scholar, current anti-vax nut job, who frankly deserves some sort of lifetime achievement award for gullibility. Here’s Wolf, laying out her case:
Say WHAT?
She has cochleas implant????? So she can cheat at the debate? This is right out of la, la land. It has gotten so bad that USA Today had to do a “Fact Check!”
Our rating: False There is no credible evidence that Harris' earrings contained audio transmitters, which would have broken rules that ban in-debate interactions with people offstage. Photos of the debate show her earrings do not match the Nova model referenced in the post.
No evidence Harris’ earrings contained wireless earphones For more than 90 minutes on Sept. 10, Harris and former President Donald Trump traded barbs, claims and policy proposals during their first presidential debate of the election season.
But the claim in the Facebook post is baseless. There is no credible evidence to indicate Harris’ jewelry during the debate contained audio transmitters that could have allowed her to be “coached," as the post claims.
This, this beats the cake! The Cuckoo Award today is given to all those gullible MAGA people the crazier the theory the more they eat it up!
The biggest problem with the first presidential debate this year was obvious almost from the very start. Joe Biden was incoherent. He struggled to answer questions. It was clear that he was incapable of fulfilling another term as president—a conclusion Biden himself ultimately arrived at a month later, when he announced he would not seek a second term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was another problem, however, that was nearly as serious. In that debate, Donald Trump was also incoherent. More than that, he was deranged. He would rave about wild fantasies—undocumented immigrants committing violent crimes with impunity, babies being murdered minutes after being born—and often did so when asked about an entirely different topic. He looked old, diminished, beleaguered. But Biden, being older and more diminished, was incapable of making the case against him. In fact, Biden’s debate performance was such a disaster that it overshadowed what could have been the story of the night: Trump’s growing extremism and paranoia.
That’s not a problem anymore. Harris undoubtedly “won” her debate against Trump on Tuesday night, but it’s important to understand why. She accomplished what Biden simply could not: to make it obvious that Trump is not only unfit for office but severely unhinged—even more hinged than four years ago, when he tried to foment a coup. The contrast between the two candidates could not have been clearer during the debate. Harris made the case that she was confident and knowledgeable enough to be president, but more important, she baited Trump into reminding voters of just how crazy he is—and how exhausting a second Trump term would be.
Okay, it is the part that reads “she baited Trump” that is where my concern lies… Trump is so easy to bait, his narcissism is what makes him so easy to bait.
Putin baited him and Trump took the bait, Xi and Un baited him and he called them “Some really nice people.” By knowing which buttons push.
Right at the beginning Harris dominated him just by shaking his hand. You could see his brain spinning do I shake hands?
I asked Perplexity AI: “In the debate did Harris play on Trump's narcissism by baiting him?”
Answer Based on the search results, it appears that Kamala Harris did employ strategies that could be seen as playing on Donald Trump's narcissistic tendencies during their debate. Here are some key points:
Harris took an assertive approach from the start, marching across the stage to shake Trump's hand and introduce herself, setting a tone of control.
She baited Trump with jabs at various aspects of his presidency and personality, including:
His economic policies
His refusal to concede the 2020 election loss
His performance at rallies Harris mocked Trump's praise of dictators, saying they "would eat you for lunch".
She repeatedly challenged Trump's claims about the 2020 election, stating "You did in fact lose that election" and "Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people".
Harris particularly seemed to get under Trump's skin when she criticized his rally performances, noting that people often leave early. This visibly irritated Trump, who insisted his rallies were larger than hers.
She employed a strategy of redirecting the conversation to her advantage while gathering her thoughts, a tactic she has used in previous debates.
Harris aimed to combine humor with substantive details to contribute to a larger narrative, which could be seen as a way to challenge Trump's self-image.
While the search results don't explicitly state that Harris was targeting Trump's narcissism, her debate tactics - particularly her attempts to provoke him on personal points like his rallies and election loss - could be interpreted as efforts to exploit his narcissistic traits. By challenging his grandiose self-image and need for admiration, Harris may have been attempting to throw Trump off balance and provoke reactions that would be unfavorable to viewers.
If Trump is so easily manipulated in a debate can you imagine how leaders like Putin or Xi can twist him into make bad decisions for the country to protect his ego?
That is what makes this election so dangerous, people know what buttons to press.
Will there be a Debate II?
By pressing the right buttons I think VP Harris can play on his narcissism and get him to do another debate against the advise of his handlers.
Vote Blue! And save the country… and save the world.
Federal prosecutors in California unsealed an indictment Monday charging two people with leading an online group of white supremacists that maintained a list of high-profile targets to assassinate and urging group members to commit hate crimes.
A 37-page indictment filed on Sept. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California alleges that Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison led the group known as "Terrorgram," a network of channels, group chats and users on the app Telegram, that promote "white supremacist accelerationism." The ideology is described in court filings as "centered on the belief that the white race is superior," and that violence and terrorism are needed to spark a race war to speed up the collapse of government and the rise of the "white ethnostate."
Humber, 34, and Allison, 37, face 15 federal charges, including three counts of soliciting the murder of a federal official, four counts of soliciting hate crimes and one count of conspiring to provide material support for terrorists. Humber is from Elk Grove, California, and Allison is from Boise, Idaho. Both were arrested last Friday and officials said Allison is expected to make his initial appearance in court on Tuesday.
We, the LGBTQ+ community is on their hit list!
Prosecutors allege that Humber and Allison took over the group in 2022, after one of its leaders was arrested and charged with terrorism offenses. As the new leaders of the so-called Terrorgram Collective, the indictment claims that the defendants spread videos and publications called "The Hard Reset," "White Terror" and "The List," and solicited group members to carry out attacks against "racial enemies" and on crucial infrastructure.
"The List" is described in the indictment as a hit list of "high-value" targets for assassination that included their names, addresses and photographers. Among those included were a U.S. senator, a federal district judge and a former U.S. attorney, as well as state and local officials, and leaders of private companies and nongovernmental organizations, according to the indictment.
The two, both arrested Friday, each faces 15 counts. They are:
One count of conspiracy
Four counts of soliciting hate crimes
Three counts of soliciting the murder of federal officials
Three counts of doxing federal officials
One count of threatening communications
Two counts of distributing bombmaking instructions
One count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists
If convicted, the DOJ said each could face a maximum sentence of 220 years in prison. You can read the full indictment here.
They want to start a race war, that was their goal. The Hill says it went way beyond hate crimes,
Humber and Allison allegedly distributed a hit list of “high-value targets” for assassination to the group, which named and gave addresses for federal officials including a U.S. senator, federal judge and U.S. attorney whom they deemed an “enemy” of white supremacist accelerationism.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, leader of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement that the group targeted Black, immigrant, LGBT and Jewish people.
When disseminating the hit list, two leaders urged their followers to “Take Action Now” and “do your part,” prosecutors said. Users who committed an attack in the name of Terrorgram could become known as “Saints,” joining the ranks of other white supremacist mass murderers.
Don’t forget Trump said of the race riot in Charlottesville that there were some very nice people on both sides.
Tasteless Republican, but we already knew that with him.
Pink News reports that Musk said this about Taylor Swift endorsement of VP Harris,
One notable person was heavily criticised for their response, however, with X CEO Elon Musk promising to “give” Taylor Swift a child in comeback to her “childless cat lady” joke.
“Fine Taylor… you win… I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” Musk said on Twitter/X, endorsing Donald Trump for president in a later post.
[...]
Musk was slammed for his post to Taylor Swift, with one person claiming it was “perhaps one of the creepiest posts of all time.”
Talk about gross! But then again he's supporting Trump... So maybe that saying about birds of a feather?
That is what it looks like. You sign a petition and the next thing you know you got policed on your front door where all your neighbors can see the police cars. To me that sounds a lot like the governor is trying to prevent people from signing a petition for a ballot question.
Isaac Menasche remembers being at the Cape Coral farmer’s market last year when someone asked him if he’d sign a petition to get Florida’s abortion amendment on the ballot.
He said yes — and he told a law enforcement officer as much when one showed up at the door of his Lee County home earlier this week.
Menasche said he was surprised when the plainclothes officer twice asked if it was really Menasche who had signed the petition. The officer said he was looking into potential petition fraud.
Though the officer was professional and courteous, Menasche, who has had little interaction with police in his life, said the encounter left him shaken.
“I’m not a person who is going out there protesting for abortion,” Menasche said. “I just felt strongly and I took the opportunity when the person asked me, to say yeah, I’ll sign that petition.”
Voter intimidation! Pure and simple!
The officer’s visit appears to be part of a broad — and unusual — effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to inspect thousands of already verified and validated petitions for Amendment 4 in the final two months before Election Day. The amendment would overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban by proposing to protect abortion access in Florida until viability.
And that would be a slap in the face to DeSantis. How dare they vote against him!
Castellanos said she felt intimidated by having a law enforcement officer come to her door. And she said she was “surprised but not surprised” when she learned it was about Amendment 4. She said she thinks if Florida could do away with abortion entirely, it would.
Last year, DeSantis, a Republican, signed into a law a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. In response, pro-choice campaigners gathered and submitted nearly one million signatures to place on the ballot Amendment 4, a referendum that would overturn the ban and restore reproductive rights in the state.
Now Florida's Department of State is claiming it suspects fraud in the signature-gathering process. In an email to county election officials, the department's Brad McVay requested that they hand over their already-verified petitions so that the signatures can be reexamined, claiming without evidence that those who circulated the petitions "represent known or suspected fraudsters," Tampa Bay television station WTVT reported.
All the signatures have been verified already by the state’s Secretary of State as being valid! This is all about the Republican “Big Lie” about voter fraud. It is like Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister said that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth and that is what the Republicans are doing with election fraud. There hasn’t been found any election fraud but the Republicans use the lie to pass draconian election laws.
Florida Democrats are calling for investigations into two state agencies, alleging they are attempting to interfere with a ballot measure aimed at expanding abortion access that is set to appear on the November ballot.
Posted on the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s website, you’ll now find this lengthy information page, warning voters, “Amendment 4 threatens women’s safety.”
The page claims the amendment that seeks to expand abortion access in the state would lead to unregulated and unsafe abortions, and that it fails to define terms like “patient health,” “health care provider,” and “viability.”
Monday, the agency went a step further, posting this video on social media, defending Florida’s current abortion laws.
“We’re going to be looking at every legal and legislative means possible to make sure the people of this state have an opportunity to vote for Amendment 4 without intimidation and government intrusion,” Nikki Fried, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, said.
Wait A Minute! Is that legal for a state agency to make a lie that that?
“This should really shock everybody. That we are using government money, our taxpayer dollars, is not only illegal, but again this goes way above anything that we have even seen under a DeSantis administration,” Fried said.
Couple that with getting a knock on the door by the police and it all boils down to voter intimidation. Florida Politics reports,
Undermining the will of voters and stomping over their democratic freedoms.'
Is Gov. Ron DeSantis going too far in trying to defeat an amendment to restore abortion access?
That’s what one group says.
“Gov. DeSantis is using his election police to intimidate voters who dare to have beliefs that differ from his. This opens the door towards making voters and all Floridians feel unsafe for voicing their constitutionally protected opinions on important issues like abortion,” says All Voting is Local Action’s Florida State Director Brad Ashwell.
“It’s been clear from day one that the purpose of the election police was to harass voters who don’t have the same viewpoints as the governor. By going after a petition for Amendment 4, which is already on the ballot, Gov. DeSantis is undermining the will of voters and stomping over their democratic freedoms for his own political gain,” Ashwell adds.
That’s the Republican way… gerrymandering, closing of polling places in liberal enclave, stricter voter ID laws that make it hard for minorities to get their required IDs, making it hard to get mail-in ballot, and removing ballot drop boxes in minority districts. And now this!
Vote Blue for liberty! Vote Blue to stop the attacks on voter rights!
Did you watch the debate last night? So what did you think about the debate?
Aliens eating Cats
I watched about half of it and I couldn't stand Trump lies after lies... so I turned it off just after the "childless cat lady's cats were eaten by some really, really, bad Haitian undocumented immigrants.
Former president dealt further blow after combative ABC News encounter as Taylor Swift formally announces she is endorsing his rival Kamala Harris
The Independent
By Joe Sommerlad, Gustaf Kilander, and Mike Bedigan
September 11, 2024
Donald Trump appeared to fall apart in his first head-to-head debate with Kamala Harris in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, providing rambling answers on illegal immigration, abortion and the economy and taking the bait whenever he was goaded by his opponent.
The candidates shared an unexpected handshake as they took to the stage, with Harris introducing herself and catching the Republican off guard.
When the debate got underway, Trump went off on wild, yet familiar tangents about his rally crowd sizes, the whereabouts of Joe Biden and recently debunked claims accusing Haitian immigrants of stealing and eating domestic pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Harris, meanwhile, used her time to cycle through Trump’s legacy of racist attacks, professional falings and his culpability for the Capitol riot.
Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump met on Tuesday for their first and perhaps only debate, a square-off that could have a significant impact on the Nov. 5 election as polls show a tight race.
Here are takeaways from the debate:
RILING HER RIVAL
Harris made a point to get under Trump's skin, as her campaign had forecast - and it worked.
She urged viewers to attend a Trump rally, where she said Trump would say bizarre things such as windmills cause cancer (something he has, in fact, said) and where, she taunted, attendees would leave out of exhaustion and boredom (something they have, in fact, done.)
Trump, who prides himself on the crowds he draws, was clearly riled.
"My rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics," he said. He accused Harris of busing in attendees to her rallies.
Trump then falsely claimed that immigrants in the country illegally were killing and eating people's pets in the city of Springfield, Ohio, an unsubstantiated assertion that has circulated on social media and been amplified by Trump's vice presidential running mate JD Vance.
WEAPONIZED' JUSTICE
Trump and Harris accused each other of conspiring to "weaponize" the Justice Department in a bid to go after their enemies.
Trump said the indictments he faces for conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss and for his mishandling of classified documents - as well as his conviction for forging documents related to hush money payments to a porn star - are all the result of a conspiracy cooked up by Harris and Biden. There is no evidence for that assertion.
Harris shot back by pointing out that Trump has promised to prosecute his enemies if he wins a second term.
"Understand this is someone who has openly said he would terminate, I'm quoting, terminate the Constitution," Harris said.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump discuss they would break through the stalemate and reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Jerusalem Post
By HANNAH SARISOHN
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
Almost an hour into the presidential debate on Tuesday night, debate moderators David Muir and Lindsey Davis asked Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump how they would break through the stalemate and reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Harris answered first, saying, "let's understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1200 Israelis, many of them young people, who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped."
"And so absolutely I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would," she said. "How it does so matters, because it is also true, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed; children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately."
[…]
When it was Trump's turn to answer the question on Israel, he began by talking about Russia, saying President Putin would've never gone into Ukraine if he were president.
Trump then repeated a claim he said last week when addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition, that Israel would not exist under Harris.
"But when she mentions Israel, all of a sudden, she hates Israel. She wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers. She went to go to the sorority party," Trump said. "She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now, and I've been pretty good at predictions."
While Harris's microphone was off, she could be seen mouthing, "oh, come on," as Trump said this.
Now I have to add this “Oh, come on,” for those who don’t remember when Trump wanted to pull out of NATO.
The Democratic and Republican candidates traded plenty of accusations. Do they hold up to factual scrutiny?
Aljazeer
September 11, 2024
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump met face to face for the first time in Tuesday’s presidential debate in Philadelphia.
During the debate, they exchanged various accusations; here, we fact-check the candidates’ claims.
Harris ‘wouldn’t even meet’ Netanyahu
Trump: Harris “wouldn’t even meet with” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers.”
Half true.
This needs context. Harris did skip Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of the US Congress on July 24. She was busy making a previously scheduled keynote speech to the Zeta Phi Beta sorority.
However, Harris met Netanyahu face-to-face the following day. After that meeting, she doubled down on support for Israel, committing to its defence, but also referred to the growing death toll of the war in Gaza, in which more than 41,000 people have been killed, and said she would not stay silent.
[…]
Trump misleads about military equipment in Afghanistan
Trump: The US “left $85bn worth of brand new, beautiful military equipment behind” in Afghanistan.
False.
The figure is far lower than Trump stated. When the Taliban toppled Afghanistan’s civilian government in 2021, it inherited military hardware the US gave to the government.
However, an independent inspector general report told Congress that only about $7bn of US-funded equipment remained in the Taliban’s hands. According to the report, “The US military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by US troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021.”
[…]
Additional ‘Trump sales tax’ of $4,000
Harris: “Economists have said that the Trump sales tax would actually result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be the backs of middle-class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Half true.
Trump has repeatedly proposed wide-ranging tariffs on foreign goods, including an across-the-board tariff of 10 percent to 20 percent and a 60 percent levy on goods from China. Although tariffs are imposed separately from the tax system, consumers would feel their effect much the same way as taxes.
However, the specific dollar impact on consumers varies. Two estimates we found generally support Harris’s $4,000 figure; two show a smaller, though still significant, impact.
US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump have faced off in a high-stakes televised debate in Philadelphia.
Over the course of 90 minutes, the candidates sparred over key issues including immigration, foreign policy, and the US economy.
Harris said: "I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America... His plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations which will result in five trillion dollars to America's deficit."
Trump said: "Look, we've had a terrible economy because inflation has, which is really known as a country buster, breaks up countries. We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before... I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. I'll do it again, and even better."
Update: 9/12 @ 8AMIn the poll everyone but one agreed that VP Harris won the debate, one person thought it was a draw. A draw? What debate did you watch.
