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May 15, 2024
Biden challenges Trump to two debates but won't participate in nonpartisan commission's debates
(AP) President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he will not participate in fall presidential debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organized them for more than three decades and instead proposed two debates with former President Donald Trump to be held earlier in the year. Biden’s campaign proposed that the first debate between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees be held in late June and the second in September before early voting begins.
Go to discussionCPI report shows inflation easing in April, with consumer prices still rising 3.4% from a year ago
(CNBC) Inflation eased slightly in April, providing at least a bit of relief for consumers while still holding above levels that would suggest a cut in interest rates is imminent. The consumer price index, a broad measure of how much goods and services cost at the cash register, increased 0.3% from March, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Services reported Wednesday. That was slightly below the Dow Jones estimate for 0.4%.
Go to discussionLiz Cheney (and others) drops the mic on Mike Johnson for attending Trump's hush-money trial
(Raw Story) Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) roasted her former colleague, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), for showing up to former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial in Manhattan on Tuesday. "Have to admit I’m surprised that Speaker Johnson wants to be in the 'I cheated on my wife with a porn star' club," wrote Cheney. "I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all."
Go to discussionThe New York Trump Case Is Kind of Perfect
(George Conway/The Atlantic) Not all that long ago, I thought that the trial currently being held in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump would be the last one I’d want to see as the first one tried against the former president. But I feel the need to admit error. The truth is, I’ve come around to the view that People v. Trump is, in at least some ways, the perfect case to put Trump in the dock for the first time, and—I hope, but we’ll see—perhaps prison.
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Joe Scarborough Blasts 'Garbage' NY Times Poll That 'Warps Reality'
(Mediaite) “The New York Times right now is actively shaping the election cycles where this poll comes out on a Sunday and on Monday people go, ‘Oh, and I heard it,’ and I’m sitting there going, oh, don’t be so stupid,” Scarborough said. There’s one poll that’s wildly skewed every time, and it does shape if it’s a New York Times poll versus the Morning Consult poll. And the New York Times then amplifies it 15, 16, 17 times. It warps reality,” he continued. “And everybody responds to that in the media and in the political world.” Heilemann argued that the “best bulwark” against unreliable or outlying polls is for informed people not to put too much stock in them. Scarborough pounced, not on his contributor and friend but on the NY Times editors.
Go to discussionTrump VP hopeful vows 'radical' divorce crackdown 'for the sake of families'
(Raw Story) A key shortlister for former President Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate thinks America should crack down on how many people are allowed to have divorces. Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate who served as Trump's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, outlined his plan in his book, "The Perilous Fight," released on Tuesday, for getting rid of "no-fault divorce" laws, according to NBC News.
Go to discussionPaul Manafort and the Metrics of Shamelessness
(David Corn/Mother Jones) Trump has shown his predecessors to be pikers in the shamelessness department. Though for decades he had demonstrated his imperviousness to shame, the Access Hollywood episode was a breakthrough moment for him and the nation. His ability to survive the emergence of the grab-’em-by-the-pussy video—and the GOP’s collective decision to stand by their misogynistic man—marked a new low for shamelessness. Ever since then, there’s been a race to a bottom that seems bottomless.
Go to discussionJudge Judy Adds To National Enquirer Woes Filing Defamation Suit As Publication Reels From Trump Trial
(Above The Law) The Donald Trump hush money trial has taught us a lot about the National Enquirer’s casual relationship with journalistic ethics. And while its former leadership spills everything, Judge Judy has decided to piss on their leg and tell them it’s not raining with a big fanfare defamation suit against Accelerate360 Media, the parent company of both the Enquirer and InTouch.
Go to discussionGOP Lawmakers Push Trump for Congressional Medal
(Political Wire) Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is leading a handful of GOP colleagues in a push to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Donald Trump, Politico reports. It comes as Trump sits in New York amid an ongoing criminal case concerning “hush money” payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels
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