Saturday, May 18, 2024
This Is Just How Journalism Works, You Fool, You Imbecile, You Moron
Any time journalists get caught trading access for PR, that is how the rest of them respond. Trump trial transcript with Michael Cohen (pdf):
Q. So, talking for a few minutes about Ms. Haberman, who does she work for?
A. She is with the New York Times.
Q. And over the years well, let me ask you this: When did you first meet Ms. Haberman ?
A. Over 20 years ago.
Q. So you met before so early 2000?A. Yes.
Q. Over the years, you have a very strong would you describe your relationship with her very strong?
A. I would .
Q. You asked her to write positive stories about you correct ?
A. Correct.
Q. As a matter of fact, when you started in your official role in 2017 as President Trump's Personal Attorney, you asked her to write a story and say what a great idea it was?
A. I asked her if she would write a story.
Q. That was my question saying how good it was that you had that role for President Trump; right?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And , in exchange for that, you would give tips to Ms. Haberman ; correct ?
A. Not in exchange, I would use Ms. Haberman if the story was something that I believed the New York Times would run, and if it wasn't the New York Times style story, I would go to a different newspaper.
Q. But there were a number of times when you gave Ms. Haberman a scoop, as you testified about, on Tuesday?
A. Yes, sir.
...
Q. My question is, the reason why one of the reasons why you want relationships with reporters is to give you an opportunity to respond before an article is written right?
A. Correct .
Q. To give you an opportunity to push information to the reporter if you think an article should be written ; correct?
A. Correct .
Q. Also to shape an article --so, maybe that's not the word you would use, you can pick the word , but to make the article come out in a way as favorable to you or at the time President Trump as possible; right?
A. That is correct .
Q. So the example I just went through with Ms. Haberman, you had several reporters where you had the same relationship?
A. Yes, sir.
Happy Birthday, Rudy
Rudy Giuliani’s 80th birthday bash in Palm Beach was stormed “like it was Normandy” as the former New York City mayor was served with notice of his Arizona indictment, sources told The Post.Noun, verb, 9/11, one last time...
In front of nearly 75 guests, two officials with Arizona’s attorney general’s office arrived at the shindig around 11 p.m. to hand Giuliani the papers in the case alleging he and 17 others were involved in a plot to overturn the 2020 election, the sources said.
Some partygoers started screaming and one woman even cried as Giuliani was served.
“It’s unfortunate that they chose to barge up and startle guests during a celebration of this man’s 80th birthday,” Goodman told The Post.I'm no smart law-talking dude, but I do not think that if you manage to hide for 90 days you win. Not how it worked in The Fugitive!
Rudy Giuliani’s bizarre 80th birthday Amazon gift registry includes Armani cologne, an electric razor and ceiling paint “They could’ve shown a little more respect for the man who comforted the nation following September 11th and who stands up for law enforcement and the men and women in blue.”
Friday, May 17, 2024
American Dreaming
Haven't checked in for awhile - maybe there's still some hope for the place!
The country’s largest international supermarket chain will open a food court at American Dream in the next few weeks, the mega mall announced Wednesday.Or not
H Mart will occupy 16,860-square-feet inside the shopping, dining and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands, making it the largest H Mart food hall in the Northeast.
Triple Five Group, the mall’s owner, borrowed about $1.1 billion in the municipal bond market to help finance the $5 billion project. About $300 million of the securities, backed by New Jersey economic development grants sold to investors to fund the development, didn’t make their February interest payment, according to a filing that same month, the fourth straight time that the semi-annual interest payment was missed.Absolutely amazing:
Gross sales for the mall’s retail, attractions, entertainment, dining and parking rose 27% to just under $148 million in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a municipal bond filing."Off the pace."
...
While sales are picking up, they remain off the pace of the nearly $2 billion that a 2017 study projected the mall would bring in during its first year of operations.
I Blame Bad Parenting
FLASH: Brent Bozell IV, seen here leaving court with Brent Bozell III, sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in federal prison for his role in the Capitol attack.
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) May 17, 2024
I asked him if he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen, he declined comment.
Reporting with @JulesJester. pic.twitter.com/TlC78aGqN8
Lifestyle Choices
This is not a fringe belief.
It is true that some people choose the streets rather than the options available to them, but that tells us about the options (sometimes) offered.
The Problem From Hell
Imagine making a career by giving yourself the most absurdly low bar brand in history - "I dislike genocide" - and presiding over one.
Inside USAID, career civil servants with extensive experience were horrified by the lack of urgency from their politically appointed leaders.
Internal USAID documents seen by The Independent showed that staff were passing their concerns about the lack of action up the chain to USAID administrator Samantha Power and other senior leaders in the form of letters and internal dissent memos, often to no avail.
“What was surprising to me, and deeply disappointing, was the fact that we were hearing nothing about imminent famine in Gaza,” said a USAID staffer, who asked to remain anonymous because they are still employed by the agency.
What Did We Think Was Going To Happen
Don't let anyone claim "the obvious consequences of our policies were a surprise."
Starving children and adults in Gaza are dying after being reduced to the "size of a skeleton", according to the World Food Programme boss.It is illegal to question the words of a McCain, according to the rules of DC.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN agency, said her staff describe it as "a complete disaster" and there are serious problems getting trucks in safely and in sufficient numbers.
Outside Agitators
I suspect this play was not limited to Columbia. The full story of the sources of presure on universities (including governors leaning on even private universities) will make a fascinating book.
A group of billionaires and business titans working to shape U.S. public opinion of the war in Gaza privately pressed New York City’s mayor last month to send police to disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, according to communications obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the group.Sure why not:
Business executives including Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik and real estate investor Joseph Sitt held a Zoom video call on April 26 with Mayor Eric Adams (D), about a week after the mayor first sent New York police to Columbia’s campus, a log of chat messages shows. During the call, some attendees discussed making political donations to Adams, as well as how the chat group’s members could pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus to handle protesters, according to chat messages summarizing the conversation.
Asked about the Zoom meeting with chat group members, the mayor’s office did not address it directly, instead sharing a statement from deputy mayor Fabien Levy noting that New York police entered Columbia’s campus twice in response to “specific written requests” from university leadership. “Any suggestion that other considerations were involved in the decision-making process is completely false,” Levy said. He added, “The insinuation that Jewish donors secretly plotted to influence government operations is an all too familiar antisemitic trope that the Washington Post should be ashamed to ask about, let alone normalize in print.”
Thursday, May 16, 2024
One Decision At A Time
It's been a long time since I thought there was any kind of good faith reasoning coming from the conservatives on the Supreme Court, but they did tend to maintain at least a little consistency. Enough to fool Nina, anyway.
I think it's all Calvinball now, so I barely pay attention to the reasoning, but occasionally they make the right call for whatever reason.
So you could, if you were so inclined, use the reasoning from one decision to predict how they would rule on a similar case.
I think it's all Calvinball now, so I barely pay attention to the reasoning, but occasionally they make the right call for whatever reason.
The Future Of The Democratic Party
This is the future that centrist dipshits want.
An NYPD officer who was guarding Mayor Eric Adams’ home in Brooklyn in 2022 unjustifiably shot a man who was entering his own apartment building, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.Yes this is a bit unfair, but there was a period of a few months when every major Dem leader and dipshit pundit thought sending Adams around the country on behalf of the Dems was Smart Politics.
...
A half-hour later, Shahid Woodstock was walking around the corner from where the shooting took place when he said he saw two men, one brandishing a gun, get out of an unmarked van and run toward him, the lawsuit says. One of the officers, David Barker, shot Woodstock, who was then 22, from behind, according to the suit.
Inconvenient Truths
The reason mainstream publications obscure the reality abortion issue, and not just with Trump, is because the people who run those outlets are generally anti-abortion, or at least they never met a "compromise" they didn't support.
Who remembers when an Ohio journalist reported on a 10-year-old rape victim who had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion? The Washington Post's fact chucker, Glenn Kessler, swung into action and published a long piece which was, essentially, 'NUH UH.' He was wrong, of course. And then the Post did a follow up barely mentioning Kessler's role!!!
Kessler doesn't run the paper, of course, but he's one of those guys given license to do "opinion" presented as "fact" (hilariously, for him it's "fact checking") and all those guys (usually guys) who are free to do that are basically expressing the institutional viewpoint, whether they know it or not. They tend to confuse fact and opinion (their opinions are fact) so they might not know!
Who remembers when an Ohio journalist reported on a 10-year-old rape victim who had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion? The Washington Post's fact chucker, Glenn Kessler, swung into action and published a long piece which was, essentially, 'NUH UH.' He was wrong, of course. And then the Post did a follow up barely mentioning Kessler's role!!!
Kessler doesn't run the paper, of course, but he's one of those guys given license to do "opinion" presented as "fact" (hilariously, for him it's "fact checking") and all those guys (usually guys) who are free to do that are basically expressing the institutional viewpoint, whether they know it or not. They tend to confuse fact and opinion (their opinions are fact) so they might not know!
It Was The Wife Wot Did It
Great stuff.
Originally scheduled to be tried with her husband, Nadine Menendez's trial is now expected to take place later this summer because of a "serious medical condition" that requires surgery and weeks of recovery.
The senator's lawyers have indicated in court filings that he could defend himself in part by claiming his wife "withheld information" from him about her dealings with three New Jersey businessmen and "led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place."
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