Before the candidates hit the debate stage Wednesday, there was another debate between Kari Lake and pro-Ron DeSantis reporter Chris Nelson.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kari-lake-and-pro-desantis-reporter-chris-nelson-get-into-screaming-match-at-gop-debate



When an ardently pro-Ron DeSantis “journalist” caught up with Donald Trump surrogate Kari Lake at the Republican debate Wednesday, he had a specific question for the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate: “How are you going to run for Senate when you’re already the governor?”

The antagonistic question and subsequent two-minute heckling of Lake by conservative journalist Chris Nelson highlighted the fiery factions created in right-wing media by the Trump versus DeSantis GOP primary.

“Why do you lie about Ron DeSantis?” Nelson yelled in Lake’s direction at one point. “Why do you lie about Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake?” Lake eventually fired back while preparing for a television hit on media row ahead of the GOP debate.

“Why did Ron DeSantis close his state down?” Lake said, according to video footage taken by Nelson. “Children had to wear masks to school.” In one particularly pointed shot, Nelson asked Lake where she was going to live “when they repossess Mar-A-Lago.”

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https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/1707150816451137877
https://twitter.com/JoshPower80/status/1707175050472738835

The feminist goal is abolition of prostitution—not acceptance of it and mere defence of ‘sex workers’.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/prostitution-is-not-a-free-choice-for-women


Prostitution has steadily grown in Germany in the two decades since legalisation

Prostitution is not about choice but exploitation, need and trafficking. It is not a job like any other. Nor does its longevity render it ‘natural’. The ‘oldest trade’ is not sustained in formally egalitarian societies that pursue substantive equality; rather, it constitutes a school of inequality for all. That is why the European Parliament adopted this month, by a clear majority, a report (the socialist MEP Maria Noichl was rapporteur) calling on the European Commission and the Council of the EU to act on prostitution, as clearly contrary to the fundamental values of the European Union. The report opts for a ‘Nordic’ or equality model; amendments misusing that label to advocate the decriminalisation of those who engage in prostitution fell.


Intersecting inequalities

The report argues that prostitution, which feeds on the lucrative business of pimps and trafficking networks, is one of the most extreme manifestations of the inequalities which intersect in the exploitation of women’s bodies and lives—exploitation which continues to grow within Europe’s borders, where most countries regulate or tolerate prostitution. This though article 2 of the Treaty on European Union affirms that the union is founded on the values of human dignity, equality and respect for human rights (including the rights of persons belonging to minorities), non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men.

That article also talks about respect for freedom. But freedom can only be guaranteed if one has a choice—something that does not exist for most women driven into prostitution. Most are victims of trafficking from impoverished or chaotic states or come from milieux of exclusion; their supply increases in times of economic crisis. In 2022, the European Parliament gave its opinion on the link between women’s poverty and the rise in prostitution, in a non-legislative initiative on women’s poverty in Europe (for which I was rapporteur). ‘Freedom’ is the language of associations and individuals critical of the abolitionist stance of the report the parliament has just adopted. Their arguments appeal to women’s autonomy over their bodies and associated empowerment, equating prostitution with sexual and reproductive rights. This, however, mangles words and principles: what free choice, what autonomy, exists when one has no real options?

Power and exploitation

In most cases we are not even talking about the myth of ‘free choice’, albeit stemming from extreme need, at all—but coercion by families who sell girls into the international trafficking and extortion networks that feed the brothels of rich countries. In this context, to speak of autonomy is to legitimise relations of power and exploitation towards women. Beyond that, the myth of free choice works by implying that everyone has the same range of possibilities, among which to choose. But this requires minimal material preconditions, so that the ‘choice’ is not between prostitution and destitution.

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Mayor Eric Adams did not publicly discuss the coming storm until nearly 24 hours after weather officials first warned of potential flash flooding in New York.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/nyregion/mayor-adams-flooding-response.html

https://archive.ph/0nAt6


Mayor Eric Adams did not hold a news conference or address the public until almost noon on Friday after large swaths of the city were already under water and half the subway was suspended.Credit...Hans Pennink/Associated Press

Less than four months ago, Mayor Eric Adams was widely criticized for not giving New Yorkers adequate warning when the city’s air quality worsened rapidly. He shook off the critics, insisting that his administration could not have been expected to do more. On Thursday, as it became clear that a major storm was about to hit New York, the mayor had the opportunity to take a different approach.

Gov. Kathy Hochul acted first, telling residents to be prepared for flash floods, and warning in a radio interview Thursday evening of “havoc throughout the downstate region.” State transit officials also held a news conference on Thursday to discuss the coming storm.

Mr. Adams, however, did not hold a news conference or address the public until almost noon on Friday after large swaths of the city were already under water and service had been suspended on half the subway system. By contrast, Mr. Adams attended a campaign fund-raiser Thursday night at a scenic restaurant along the Hudson River in Manhattan to celebrate his 63rd birthday earlier this month. Suggested contributions were listed at $2,100.

https://twitter.com/JCColtin/status/1707605224200814887
His office released its first statement about the storm, a “travel advisory” warning of the heavy rains, via email at 11 p.m. Nearly 12 hours later, just before the mayor was scheduled to address reporters for the first time — and 23 hours after the National Weather Service warned of flash flooding in the city — the Adams administration asked New Yorkers to “stay home if you don’t need to travel.”

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Dutch media claim suspect’s neighbour had reported him for animal cruelty

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rotterdam-shooting-gunman-victims-fouad-b2420865.html



A medical student suspected of killing three people on a shooting rampage in Rotterdam previously tortured animals and had Nazi material on his phone, it has been claimed.

The 32-year-old suspect, named as Fouad L, opened fire on his neighbour’s home on Friday, killing a 14-year-old girl and her mother. He then stormed the Erasmus Medical Center, where he was a student, and shot dead a university lecturer. Dutch media claim Fouad L’s neighbour had reported him for animal cruelty and the university had dropped his diploma.

Prosecutors confirmed on Friday that they were previously concerned enough about his behaviour that they had sent a letter to his school, warning about his “psychotic behaviour” over his treatment of animals.

Police also discovered Nazi-related and right-wing material as well as images of people being stabbed on the phone of the suspect two years ago, according to local media.

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The feminist goal is abolition of prostitution—not acceptance of it and mere defence of ‘sex workers’.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/prostitution-is-not-a-free-choice-for-women


Prostitution has steadily grown in Germany in the two decades since legalisation

Prostitution is not about choice but exploitation, need and trafficking. It is not a job like any other. Nor does its longevity render it ‘natural’. The ‘oldest trade’ is not sustained in formally egalitarian societies that pursue substantive equality; rather, it constitutes a school of inequality for all. That is why the European Parliament adopted this month, by a clear majority, a report (the socialist MEP Maria Noichl was rapporteur) calling on the European Commission and the Council of the EU to act on prostitution, as clearly contrary to the fundamental values of the European Union. The report opts for a ‘Nordic’ or equality model; amendments misusing that label to advocate the decriminalisation of those who engage in prostitution fell.


Intersecting inequalities

The report argues that prostitution, which feeds on the lucrative business of pimps and trafficking networks, is one of the most extreme manifestations of the inequalities which intersect in the exploitation of women’s bodies and lives—exploitation which continues to grow within Europe’s borders, where most countries regulate or tolerate prostitution. This though article 2 of the Treaty on European Union affirms that the union is founded on the values of human dignity, equality and respect for human rights (including the rights of persons belonging to minorities), non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men.

That article also talks about respect for freedom. But freedom can only be guaranteed if one has a choice—something that does not exist for most women driven into prostitution. Most are victims of trafficking from impoverished or chaotic states or come from milieux of exclusion; their supply increases in times of economic crisis. In 2022, the European Parliament gave its opinion on the link between women’s poverty and the rise in prostitution, in a non-legislative initiative on women’s poverty in Europe (for which I was rapporteur). ‘Freedom’ is the language of associations and individuals critical of the abolitionist stance of the report the parliament has just adopted. Their arguments appeal to women’s autonomy over their bodies and associated empowerment, equating prostitution with sexual and reproductive rights. This, however, mangles words and principles: what free choice, what autonomy, exists when one has no real options?

Power and exploitation

In most cases we are not even talking about the myth of ‘free choice’, albeit stemming from extreme need, at all—but coercion by families who sell girls into the international trafficking and extortion networks that feed the brothels of rich countries. In this context, to speak of autonomy is to legitimise relations of power and exploitation towards women. Beyond that, the myth of free choice works by implying that everyone has the same range of possibilities, among which to choose. But this requires minimal material preconditions, so that the ‘choice’ is not between prostitution and destitution.

snip

"No large organization, least of all the federal government, is designed to just flip on and off like a light switch."

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/government-shutdown-travel-impact-secretary-buttigieg-explainer



Right now, an uncontrollable travel catastrophe is looming over all of our heads. Come October 1, the gears of the federal government could very possibly grind to a screeching halt. While the Senate has approved a spending deal, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is being pushed by a slew of hard-right House Republicans to reject proposals that would avoid a government shutdown. If Congress fails to pass some sort of funding legislation before the October 1 deadline, a large portion ( anything classified as "non-essential" ) of the federal government will stop operating and workers will be furloughed.

In a Wednesday interview, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Thrillist that the shutdown is "basically a hostage tactic in order for House Republicans to try to get through severe cuts that they have proposed." The last time there was a government shutdown was in December 2018. The shutdown lasted for 35 days—then-President Trump was demanding funding for a US-Mexico border wall, and Democratic lawmakers objected to that.

For the American people, one of the biggest impacts of the shutdown will be felt in the travel sector. Previous shutdowns caused major delays, cancellations, and long wait times at airports. After a year of making steady progress addressing the air travel industry's largest issues—including air traffic controller shortages, habitual delays, airline refunds, and outdated FAA technology—Secretary Buttigieg says a government shutdown will not only cause the same issues as previous shutdowns, but will also sabotage hard-won improvements to the industry.

"We saw an all-time record high in terms of the number of passengers screened by TSA this summer, which is one of many reasons why this is the exact wrong time for a government shutdown," Buttigieg explained. "To be clear, there's no good time for a government shutdown, but now, in particular, would be disruptive when we can least afford it." Here's what you need to know about the potential government shutdown and how it could affect your next trip.

TSA and air traffic controllers will have to stay on the job...............

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This November’s races in Virginia are shaping up to be the wildest—complete with a streaming sex scandal—and most consequential in ages, as Glenn Youngkin and his GOP allies might get the power to push further right on everything from abortion to education.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/could-virginia-become-florida-20-legislative-races

https://archive.ph/xX2kF



It is exceedingly rare—as in, it basically never happens—that a first-time candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates becomes internationally famous. Yet last week, Susanna Gibson—nurse practitioner, mother of two, and Democrat from suburban Richmond—made headlines around the world after The Washington Post revealed that Gibson and her husband had performed sex acts for a live online audience. In at least two of the videos, the Post reported, Gibson told viewers she was “raising money for a good cause.”

Whether that “cause” was her campaign is unclear. In Gibson’s only public statement since the news broke, she quickly and deftly spun the controversy, claiming that she was the victim of a political dirty trick and of revenge porn. Her Republican opponent, a housing developer named David Owen, said his campaign had nothing to do with the videos surfacing. “I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family,” Owen said, “and I’m remaining focused on my campaign.”

However the legalities of Gibson’s exposure may play out—her attorney has suggested that circulating the videos breaks the state’s revenge porn law—the episode is adding complexity to what was already a close and crucial race in an off-year election cycle with enormous stakes. All 140 of Virginia’s legislative seats are on the ballot; adding to the uncertainty is the fact that this will be the first election held with newly redistricted lines. “Without hyperbole, these are the most important, most unpredictable legislative races we’ve ever seen in Virginia, at a very strange time on the national calendar,” says David Mills, a former executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party. “Until we see the results in November, no one knows quite what to make of it.”

In-person early voting begins Friday. Roughly 20 contests are likely to determine whether Republicans gain control of both houses of Virginia’s legislature—and give Republican governor Glenn Youngkin the power to steer the state even further to the right on everything from abortion to school curriculum. “State Republicans were essentially one vote away from passing the abortion ban earlier this year,” says Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist who grew up in Virginia and has worked campaigns in the state. “Which makes it happening with a Republican majority more than a theoretical threat.” Youngkin also has plenty at stake personally: Victory in the state this November would set him up nicely to become a Republican presidential contender in 2028. The governor’s PAC has been setting records, taking in $8.5 million this year, with much of the case being funneled toward legislative races.

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A judge has ruled he engaged in years of massive fraud.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/trumps-lying-about-everything-may-cost-trump-tower

https://archive.ph/XElnl



Unless you were dropped on earth just 24 hours ago, you obviously know that Donald Trump is famous for lying about everything all the time, and that he has been telling lies for basically his entire life. He lies about dumb stuff, like that he invented the phrase “prime the pump” and that he was named “Michigan’s Man of the Year.” He lies about serious stuff, like that he saw “thousands” of supposed terrorist sympathizers “cheering” from New Jersey as the World Trade Center towers collapsed on 9/11. He told lies before he was president (sometimes by pretending to be his own spokesman, John Barron), he told lies when he was president (by The Washington Post’s count, a whopping 30,573 “false or misleading claims”), and he’s continued to tell lies since becoming an ex-president (see: the business about having won the 2020 election). At this point, his inability to open his mouth without 47 lies flying out should really be studied by a team of multidisciplinary scientists who can dedicate their life’s work to figuring out what is wrong with him.

Incredibly, the vast majority of Trump’s lies have never actually hurt him in the slightest. After all, he was elected president of the United States in 2016 and is currently the front-runner—by a landslide—for the GOP nomination. But on Tuesday, a specific set of falsehoods very much came back to bite him in the ass: the ones he told about his real estate holdings as owner of the Trump Organization. We speak, of course, of the explosive ruling issued by Judge Arthur Engoron, who declared—as part of a suit brought by the New York attorney general—that Trump, his two adults sons, and the Trump Organization committed years of fraud by hugely inflating the businesses’ assets (and Trump’s net worth), which led to better loan terms and lower insurance costs. Among the most absurd examples: Engoron found that Trump repeatedly overvalued Mar-a-Lago, and in one instance did so on a financial statement by as much as, wait for it, 2,300%. While an outside appraisal put the value of the Palm Beach club at approximately $28 million, due to restrictions on how the property can be used, the Trump Organization claimed it was worth as much as $612 million.

In another instance, Trump claimed his triplex at Trump Tower was 30,000 square feet—and valued it at $327 million based on that size—when it is actually only about 10,000. Which, y’know, is a pretty big difference. “A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron wrote, according to The New York Times. Elsewhere, the judge responded to Team Trump’s various defenses of its business practices by writing: “In defendants’ world, rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air…. That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”

As New York magazine notes, Engoron “ordered that the business certificates that allowed the family’s limited liability companies to operate in New York be rescinded and that independent receivers be put in place to manage them. This could mean that Trump will lose control over the iconic properties that bear his name such as Trump Tower, as well as make it more difficult for the former president to do business in his home state.” On top of all that, five defense lawyers were fined $7,500 a piece for making “frivolous” arguments that the judge had already rejected. As Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter David Cay Johnston notes, “A judge calling a lawyer’s argument ‘frivolous’ is the equivalent of saying it is no better than nonsense from a drunk in a bar.”

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The GOP front-runner’s “treason” talk makes clear, yet again, that he’s a danger to democracy.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/donald-trump-democracy-media-2024-election

https://archive.ph/KYusj



In late September 2016, Salena Zito wrote glowingly in The Atlantic about Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh and famously postulated that “the press takes him literally, but not seriously,” while “his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” Leaving aside Zito’s kid-glove treatment of Trump, she wasn’t wrong about the media, which even now—a chaotic presidency, a couple impeachments, an insurrection, and four criminal indictments later—isn’t taking the former guy returning to power “seriously” enough. With the 2024 cycle in full swing, he’s being largely covered like a normal candidate rather than someone who tried to end democracy. As Trump recently tossed out wild accusations of “treason” this past weekend, The Nation’s Jeet Heer noted how the Drudge Report “is more accurately conveying the gravity of Trump’s threat to USA democracy than the mainstream media.”

I can’t speak to what lurks in the hearts of political reporters and editors, but one has to wonder why there isn’t more coverage about Trump musing about sentencing the nation’s highest ranking general to death than, say, the age of the current president. “Mark Milley, who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, costing many lives, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, and handing over BILLIONS of dollars of the finest military equipment ever made, will be leaving the military next week. This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, a day after an Atlantic story about how Milley, the soon-to-be-retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had “protected the Constitution” from the former president.

“This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States,” Trump continued. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act. To be continued!!!” Oddly, Trump’s dangerous rant was not treated as the major news it absolutely should have been. “Only CNN and MSNBC covered Trump’s inflammatory Truth Social post about the general,” Media Matters noted Tuesday, “while broadcast news outlets and Fox News completely ignored it.”

Someone who surely didn’t ignore Trump’s post was Paul Gosar, the white nationalist adjacent congressman from Arizona. He wrote Sunday in his congressional newsletter how “in a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.” The notion of a Republican front-runner floating the idea of executing the chair of the joint chiefs of staff—a scenario echoed by a sitting member of Congress—is the kind of thing that should make your blood run cold. This is not what happens in a normal, healthy functioning democracy. We, in the media, need to be clear-eyed here.

https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1705975692482003366


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Given how the first one went, you can probably guess why that's a bad thing.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/donald-trump-second-term-plans

https://archive.ph/sRxYL



In a reasonable society, an ex-president who's been indicted a whopping four times on a total of 91 felony counts—with charges ranging from obstruction of justice to conspiracy to defraud the United States—would not have a snowball's chance in hell of ever being president again. It simply would not be a thing, full stop. You try to overturn the results of a free and fair election, or ask state officials things like “Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me,” and you don’t get to be president again!

Obviously, though, we very much do not live in a reasonable society; we live in one in which Donald Trump is beating the next closest contender for the GOP nomination by a logic-defying 43 points. And one in which a guy who allegedly stored classified government documents next to the toilet—right there, where experts say they were potentially getting sprayed with shit particles!—and allegedly tried to “delete” Mar-a-Lago security camera footage requested by the Justice Department, is edging out the guy who did neither of those things in a general election matchup.

All of this means that Donald Trump has significantly better than a snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected, and anyone who lived through his first term knows why that’s a legitimately terrifying prospect. But, of course, a second term for Trump wouldn’t be simply a repeat of the last time around when it comes to how many times a day you’d find yourself asking, “Oh, God what did he do now?" No, a second term for Trump would be so, so much worse. The following is just a small sampling of why:

Career civil servants are out, die-hard loyalists are in

Shortly before the 2020 election, Trump signed an executive order known as Schedule F, allowing his administration to gut employment protections for thousands of career federal employees whose jobs—which range from making sure the air is clean to ensuring food and drugs are safe—are not supposed to be subject to the whims of whomever is in the White House at the time. Stripped of such protections, the move would have given Trump the power to fire whoever he wanted, and replace them with individuals whose chief qualifications were unflagging loyalty. Trump, of course, was not able to stick around to see this plan out, and after Joe Biden was inaugurated, he canceled Trump’s executive order. But, with a possible second term on the horizon, Trump and his allies have made it clearer than ever that they would pick up exactly where they left off.

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