Wednesday, September 25, 2024

'Artless Dodger Kamala Harris?' - How About Artless Dodger Of The Facts Peggy Noonan?


                                                                             
                                 The slimeball Noonan would rather have in WH
                                                                           

WSJ's delirious columnist Peggy Noonan - who barely a week ago dinged Kamala ('A Small But Decisive Win', p. A13, Sept. 14-15) as being "often evasive, and full of clever and not so clever dodges."-  has now doubled down with even more stark malarkey ('Kamala Harris Is An Artful Dodger'', WSJ p. A 13).  What is her pet peeve? Or rather her main gripe? In her words:

"Joe Biden stepped aside and Ms. Harris was elevated two months ago. That is enough time to at least make clear what she believes, wants and means to do. She hasn't."

Then you've been asleep at the computer Pegs, or maybe on too many magic mushrooms. She's made it abundantly clear what she believes, means and wants to do - both in her debate, her CNN interview with Tim Walz:


At numerous rallies and at her Town Hall event with Oprah Winfrey last week.  What she believes, first and foremost, is in respect for Constitutional norms, the preservation of a strong international order and the value of alliances, and in preserving personal freedoms - such as a woman's right to keep the government out of her procreative life and what she can and can't do with her body. 

What she wants in the domestic economic arena is an opportunity economy for the middle and working classes, starting with assistance ($25k) for first time home buyers, as well as expansion of the child tax credit, and oh yeah, preventing predatory businesses from jacking up prices at their whim e.g.


Maybe the anti-Kamala WSJ spin gurus like Noonan forgot that in 2023 PepsiCo had become a prime example of how large corporations cynically used the pandemic-supply crisis to increase costs, and then some. Hugh Johnston, the company’s chief financial officer, actually went on record in February, '23 saying that PepsiCo had raised its prices by enough to buffer further cost pressures in 2023. At the end of April, the company reported that it had raised the average price across its snacks (e.g. Doritos) and beverages (Gatorade) by 16 percent in the first three months of the year. According to Albert Edwards, a global strategist at Société Générale, referring to profit margins, quoted in a WSJ piece in April, 2023 (check it out):

Companies are not just maintaining margins, not just passing on cost increasesthey have used it as a cover to expand margins."

So bollocks on Peg's claim in her piece that "she wouldn't answer a single question straight (in an ABC interview about how to keep prices down) "so is an artless dodger."

No, Peggy, you are an artless scribe and troll.  Are there some questions she still hasn't answered? Of course! Is Kamala a 'perfect candidate'? No. But her values and character trump (no pun intended) those of Trump every day of the week and 2x on Sundays.  Those like you (and Bret Stephens) are holding her to an unreasonable standard of perfection. As Stephanie Ruhle put it to Stephens on the last Real Time

"And let's say you don't like the answers she gives, are you going to vote for Trump? Kamala Harris is not running against perfect she is running against Trump!"

Adding: "When you move to Nirvana, give me the number of your real estate agent and I'll move there too!"

Basically echoing Ken Burns take yesterday on Morning Joe that there is no choice in this election, only Kamala.

But, as Charlie Sykes noted, those like Noonan and Stephens seem to be rattled lately that Kamala is "consolidating support outside of the standard party constellations."  Thus, we see Liz and Dick Cheney casting their support for Kamala as well as the Lt. Republican Governor of GA.  So this has distressed the likes of Noonan and Stephens, alarmed by the possibility of a more liberal president. Hence they either take no side in the debate, or do a lukewarm nod to Trump as Noonan does. Letting him skate with any demented, incoherent answer he can pop out, while giving little credence to Harris's coherent, values and character- based responses.

But by playing this stupid and irresponsible game these nattering nabobs of negativity are failing the real choice test, i.e. Which candidate has the nation's interest and welfare at heart?

Instead, the delirious  Noonan at the end of her sorry screed actually suggests Trump might be a better choice, i.e.

"He was president for four years, we didn't all explode, institutions held, the threatened Constitution maintained."

Didn't all explode? Well, fortunately no, as Generals Kelly and Mark Milley fortunately pulled the plugs on two major crises (with N. Korea, China) before he could hit the nuclear codes. Gen. Kelly, for his part, noted at the time that Trump "is the most damaged person I've ever known in my life."

Constitution maintained? By a freaking hair, and only because honorable people were in key positions like Secretaries of State - many of whom have now been replaced by MAGA-ites. Further, as reported in the NY Times, plans are already in place by Trump's cult. Noting:

"Unlike the chaotic and improvised challenge four years ago, the new drive includes a systematic search for any vulnerability in the nation’s patchwork election system.

Mr. Trump’s allies have followed a two-pronged approach: restricting voting for partisan advantage ahead of Election Day and short-circuiting the process of ratifying the winner afterward, if Mr. Trump loses."

See e.g.

How News Outlets Like Fox and CNN Are Preparing for Election Day - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The orange maggot was also responsible for nearly a quarter million more U.S. Covid deaths thanks to his slack approach to the vaccines and masking, and even once suggesting "injecting bleach."  


Oh, and lest Pegs forget, this depraved traitor incited an attempted coup to overthrow an election while rousing his minions in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. There they wrought all kinds of havoc, injuring many Capitol police when they weren't defecating in the halls.  And she wants this loser Turd back in office rather than Kamala? Maybe she needs to take note of the recent endorsement of Kamala Harris by more than 700 National Security officers and specialists.  As they wrote in their spot-on letter:

"This election is a choice between serious leadership and a vengeful impulsiveness. A choice between democracy and authoritarianism. Vie President Harris defends America's ideals while former President Donald Trump endangers them. 

We do not make such assessment lightly. We are trained to make sober, rational choices. That's how we know Vice President Harris would make an excellent Commander-in-Chief while former president Trump has proven he is not up to the job."

I suggest Peggy Noonan read that over several times before she next scratches her noggin about the false equivalent fantasy of "Awful" vs. "Empty."  For it is Trump who is both, awful and empty.  He's an empty vessel and senile crackpot that even The Wall Street Journal held to opprobrium after his "pets getting eaten" barking in the Sept. 10 debate. ('False Claim That Immigrants Are Eating Pets Stirs Chaos', WSJ, p. A3, Sept. 14-15)

Further, Noonan might wish to process that the 700+ security and military officials wrote that Harris grasps the reality of American military deterrence, promising to preserve the American military’s status as the most ‘lethal’ force in the world”.  Adding:

The contrast with Mr Trump is clear: where Vice President Harris is prepared and strategic, he is impulsive and ill-informed,” the letter reads.   

And further:

"Mr. Trump denigrates our great country and does not believe in the American ideal that our leaders should reflect the will of the people. Mr. Trump is the first president in American history to actively undermine the peaceful transfer of power, the bedrock of American democracy.”

Let us further note that this endorsement letter  also comes on the heels of another endorsement earlier this month by a group of 10 retired top US military officials, including retired Gen Larry Ellis, condemning Trump’s comments disparaging members of the military. Recall the orange maggot opted not to honor those who died at the Battle of Belleau Wood in WWI, calling them suckers and losers. See:

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers ... - The Atlantic

Is Pegs ok with a swine like that? A Captain Bonespurs who got his daddy Fred to get him a Selective Service waiver without even having to take a draft physical (like I did).

Or maybe she's fine with Trump being a 34 -times -convicted felon. Maybe she somehow  missed the horrendous plans in Project 2025:

Project 2025, Explained | American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org)

Including the part of the plan that will allow a new Trump authoritarian dictatorship to monitor women's menstrual cycles to find a 'tell' giving them the basis to prosecute them for any attempt to get out of state abortions   e.g.

by Maya Boddie | September 27, 2024 - 6:40am | permalink

— from Alternet

Donald Trump's senior adviser Jason Miller says that under a second Trump presidency, "it's 'going to be up to the states' whether or not they set up regimes to monitor women’s pregnancies so they can prosecute them for getting out of state abortions."

During a Wednesday Newsmax interview, the conservative interviewer asked, "[Trump] wouldn't support monitoring pregnancies even if a state decided to do that?"

Miller replied, "Well, he's made it very clear that he's not gonna go and weigh in and try to push various states in how they want to go and set up their particular rules and restrictions. That's gonna be up to the states."

Conservative and Bulwark founder Charlie Sykes replied: "Oh."

» article continues...

Still time to restore some measure of journalistic honor, Peggy, but I only give you one more week to do so. That is, by writing a new column praising the 700-plus national security specialists for their endorsement, and now YOU also praising Kamala Harris as the only rational (and patriotic choice) to Donald Traitor Trump.

That will at least prove to me you have an IQ over 100 and also still believe this nation should not be the stomping ground of scoundrels, traitors, chronic liars and demagogues.  I want you especially to take back in full the blarney you wrote: "Failing to speak plainly about illegal immigration is political malpractice" - when the rat-faced fungus Trump blew out wackadoodle tales of immigrants eating pets in Springfield, OH.  Which even the purveyors (excepting JD Vance) have come clean and admitted were errors or lies. Such as the owner of the cat, Miss Sassy, who blamed neighbor immigrants for eating her pet, then found it later hiding in her basement. All of this B.S. setting off lockdowns, bomb threats and chaos. Because of two Repuke fucktards, Trump and Vance.

You owe it to yourself as a putatively honest scribe to come clean and ignore those who might attack you in the WSJ Letters section. As they did after your first  (Sept. 14-15 column) which led the way to the absurd, fact- free later one giving a nod to Trump despite his monumental defects.

See Also:

Sam Elliott - Time to be a man and vote for  a woman:

Choose Change (youtube.com)


And:

Don’t scoff at the Hitler comparisons. Trump’s rhetoric is that bad.

And:

by Tom Engelhardt | September 28, 2024 - 5:43am | permalink

— from TomDispatch

Imagine yourself in space, looking down on our world and yet unable to return any time soon.

Consider it our bad luck, in fact, that Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were the two Americans sent to the International Space Station, 250 miles above this planet, for a few days in June and now find themselves stuck there until perhaps next February. If only it had been former U.S. President Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).

If only indeed.

Of course, in some sense, both of them are already in deep space, far beyond where Wilmore and Williams find themselves. And if you don’t believe me, just ask any dog or cat from Springfield, Ohio.

» article continues...

And:

by Thom Hartmann | October 1, 2024 - 5:57am | permalink

— from The Hartmann Report

“Menstrual police?” you may be thinking. That’s not possible! Not in America!

Read on.

The Comstock Act is an 1873 law that, if enforced, would outlaw all abortions in America by banning the shipping via mail, UPS, FedEx, etc., of any device, drug, or instrument that can be used to produce an abortion. It would even shut down hospital abortions.

It could also be used to empower new state or even federal police agencies specifically overseeing women violating its provisions. Like the menstrual police, which a Trump senior advisor just said was a very real possibility.

And:

by David Badash | September 24, 2024 - 6:27am | permalink

— from Alternet

Donald Trump was asked twice to share specifics on his economic plans, but offered none. Instead, the Republican presidential nominee who recently helped launch his family’s new cryptocurrency venture attacked his Democratic opponent and rambled about the Presidents of Russia and China, while vowing to cut the cost of energy without stating how that would happen.

In an interview that aired Sunday on the Sinclair network, which broadcasts under local affiliates of Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC, “Full Measure” host Sharyl Attkisson asked Trump: “What are the specific mechanics of how prices come down? You know, the steps that would be taken in a second term for you?”

Trump began his response by attacking Vice President Harris, saying, “first of all, she can’t do an interview. She could never do this interview because you ask questions like give me a specific answer. She talks about her lawn when she was growing up.”

He continued his attacks before going after President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, then moving on to oil and geopolitics.

» article continues...

And:

The big lie of 2024: Illegal immigrant voting

And:

‘Get them the hell out’: Trump continues attacks on legal immigrants in Ohio town

And:

by David Badash | September 25, 2024 - 6:04am | permalink

— from Alternet

Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees Donald Trump and JD Vance are facing criminal charges and an arrest request related to their weeks-long false claims that Haitian immigrants are stealing the pets of Springfield, Ohio residents and eating them.

The nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance is utilizing an Ohio state law that allows private individuals to file criminal charges, Cleveland ABC affiliate News5 reports. Through its attorney, the group is asking a judge to validate the charges and issue arrest warrants.

“The Haitian community is suffering in fear because of Trump and Vance’s relentless, irresponsible, false alarms, and public services have been disrupted,” according to The Chandra Law Firm‘s lead counsel Subodh Chandra, a former federal prosecutor. “Trump and Vance must be held accountable to the rule of law. Anyone else who wreaked havoc the way they did would have been arrested by now.”

“There’s nothing special about Trump and Vance that entitles them to get away with what they’ve done and are doing. They think they’re above the law. They’re not.”

» article continues...

And:

by Harvey Wasserman | September 24, 2024 - 5:30am | permalink

— from Down With Tyranny!

Donald Trump’s “Vigilante” campaign to steal your vote could soon put him in the White House… and land you and Taylor Swift in prison.

Mainstream polls now show Kamala Harris slightly ahead in key states. Most indicate that if the election were held today, Harris/Walz would narrowly win.

But they miss a deadly reality:

Nationwide, Trump has deployed thousands of MAGA vigilantes to strip likely Harris voters from the registration rolls. Thus anti-Trump citizens whose poll numbers bolster Democratic hopes may never get the ballots they need to actually decide the election.

In Georgia, MAGA activists have already submitted mega-lists challenging voting rights of hundreds of thousands of suspected (mostly young and of color) Democrats. The challenges require citizens to appear in person at their local election boards to confirm their identity. There’s no legal requirement they be notified of their disenfranchisement. Those who do go to the election boards can be rejected at will by Pro-Trump plants.

» article continues...

And:

by Omar Ocampo | September 25, 2024 - 5:38am | permalink

In its most recent year-end letter, the private equity firm Blackstone gave its stockholders a seemingly counterintuitive assurance: the lack of new housing stock was reason for optimism.

Why does a stagnant growth in new living spaces benefit Blackstone? Because it is the nation’s largest corporate landlord. For the firm and its investors, chronic housing shortages mean more power to set prices and more leverage to extract wealth from vulnerable working-class tenants.

Blackstone’s letter reveals the malevolent and distortionary role private equity plays in our residential real estate market and underscores the fundamental problem with housing commodification writ large.

Our market-based system simply does not give the private sector incentives to meet the public’s demand for high-quality, permanently affordable housing. Providing it would be against the sector’s economic interests since new supply would bring down prices and negatively impact profitability.

» article continues...

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