Politics

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Vote. Need I say more.

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At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Donald Trump said he would be OK with someone trying to assassinate him by firing through a group of journalists. “To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much,” Trump said, when discussing the bulletproof glass protecting him.

The Trump campaign tried to clean up the Republican candidate’s comments…by suggesting people should not believe what they heard, and repeating baseless claims that Democratic rhetoric was to blame for the assassination attempts against him. Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, claimed in a statement that the ex-president “was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”

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The most concerning elements of Musk’s role in Trump’s campaign, and in Trump’s potential second administration, have arguably nothing to do with Musk tanking the American economy or causing what he calls “hardship” by gutting the federal government. They have instead to do with underremarked revelations from last week: As the Wall Street Journal reported, Musk is in “regular contact” with Russian despot Vladimir Putin, acting as a back-channel with Moscow.

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For years, he has increasingly regurgitated Kremlin talking points, especially regarding Ukraine. In late 2022, with Russian troops starting to be pushed out of much of eastern Ukraine, Musk began broadcasting Kremlin talking points to halt Ukrainian advances. He started peddling Russian propaganda claims that Ukrainian territories like Crimea are “absolutely seen as a core part of Russia by Russia”—and that Russia would resort to nuclear war if Crimea was threatened by Kyiv. He further peddled a supposed “peace plan” that would not only return Ukraine to neutrality—the same neutrality Ukraine enjoyed when Russia first invaded in 2014—but further force Ukraine to give up its claims to Crimea.

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For those familiar with the region and Russian politics, Musk’s additional calls to have Ukrainian water flow to the peninsula, while also dubbing Ukraine’s claims to Crimea as “Khruschev’s mistake,” were immediate red flags, directly parroting Kremlin rhetoric. “It’s very clear that Elon Musk is transmitting a message for Putin,” Russia expert Fiona Hill said at the time. Soon thereafter, we learned that Musk had specifically blocked a Ukrainian military mission from targeting the peninsula, with Musk waffling in the face of Russian nuclear threats—arguably the only time Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling has actually worked.

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This short bit just made it out of HBO and feels like a pretty good closing argument for things. Also has a bit of a hopeful message at the end.

It's election time, Beehaw. If you were able to rank the available choices for president, how would you vote?

poll will remain open for all of tomorrow, obviously.

In the final days of the presidential race, what started as a whisper campaign has become the subject of a controversial 30-second ad, been amplified by Michelle Obama and drawn furious backlash from the right.

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Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, every state-level campaign to limit abortion has failed. But that hasn’t stopped Catholic organizations from stepping into the fight again this election year.

Catholic organizations are bankrolling campaigns against abortion-rights measures, spending more than $1.9 million so far in five of the 10 states where such measures are on the ballot, according to a joint investigation by National Catholic Reporter and Mother Jones.

In Florida alone, dioceses and bishops have spent more than $1.1 million, and church entities in South Dakota have recently ramped up spending as the election nears. In other states, the church’s hierarchy may be sitting out financially, but wealthy individuals with well-established associations with the Catholic Church, or church-affiliated groups—like local parishes and Knights of Columbus chapters—have stepped into the fray.

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In all 10 states with abortion ballot measures, Catholic groups and dioceses are working to oppose abortion-rights amendments with mailings, bishops’ statements, videos, prayers and other resources in English and Spanish. Says Morris of Missouri: “It’s kind of an all-of-the-above approach.”

Yet, the effectiveness of church attempts at persuasion are questionable. A recent poll of Catholic voters in seven battleground states found that the hierarchy’s influence on voters in their flock is extremely limited. Only 32 percent said bishops were very or somewhat influential in voting decisions, and 37 percent said priests were, according to the poll, which was conducted by the National Catholic Reporter.

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Luke Radel, a student journalist at Syracuse University, asked Johnson (R-La.) about Trump's recent comments that the CHIPS and Science Act is "so bad."

"You voted against it," said Radel. "If you have a Republican majority in Congress and Trump in the White House, will you guys try to repeal that law?"

"I expect that we probably will, but we haven't developed that part of the agenda yet," said Johnson before attempting to pivot to talking about Rep. Brandon Williams, a Republican who represents New York's 22nd District, where a $100 billion Micron Technology chipmaking facility has benefited from the CHIPS and Science Act.

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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) echoed the congresswoman [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's] sentiment, saying Johnson's plan to repeal the CHIPS Act would impact "tens of thousands of IBEW jobs created by this administration."

"We are NOT going back," said the union.

Johnson's remark got the attention of other politicians whose states have benefited from the law, including [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)], Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

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An internal whistleblower complaint at Trump Media calls for CEO Devin Nunes to be fired, alleging he has “severely” mismanaged the company and opened it to “substantial risk of legal action” from regulators, according to a copy reviewed by ProPublica.

The letter also says that former President Donald Trump’s company is hiring “America Last” — alleging that Nunes imposed a directive to hire only foreign contractors at the expense of “American workers who are deeply committed to our mission.”

“This approach not only contradicts the America First principles we stand for but also raises concerns about the quality, dedication, and alignment of our workforce with our core values,” the letter says.

Trump’s promise to “stop outsourcing” and “punish” companies that send jobs abroad has been a centerpiece of his political career, including his current campaign for president.

The letter also accuses Nunes, a former Republican congressman, of hiring unqualified members of his inner circle and being dishonest with employees at the company, which runs the social media platform Truth Social.

Hi all,

Today it's the 2nd round of presidential elections in Moldova. The candidates are:

• Maia Sandu - the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), pro-EU
• Alexandr Stoianoglu - Socialists (PSRM), less pro-EU, rather pro-Russia, supported more or less by the Kremlin.

Get your Moldovan friends to the ballots if you have any. I'll try to keep you posted about any updates as much as I can (I'll be on a hike so I likely won't have that much cell service).

Here's the Election Commission's official website where you can see the presence in real time (as well as the results after the polls close): pv.cec.md/

Right now it's around 10:00 AM here in Romania, I guess it's the same in MD

Edit: if you know any Romanian/trust Google Translate enough, here's a live feed: hotnews.ro/live-alegeri-in-rep…

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22039007

Afraid of partisan rancor, nonprofits are biting their tongues, with divisive politics hindering public policy engagement by social service organizations. This is one of the findings in a new study conducted by researcher from several U.S. universities on behalf of Independent Sector – a coalition of nonprofits, foundations and corporate giving programs.

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As this growing divisiveness has permeated even the most local aspects of American life, many food pantries, homeless shelters and other social service nonprofits are hesitating to take policy positions that may appear partisan to members of their local communities or donors.

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When addressing a social media post about Israel and Palestine that had been misconstrued and sparked controversy, the leader of a legal services nonprofit remarked: “The more polarized we are as Americans, the harder it becomes for us to have an open conversation.”

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“Nonprofits sometimes are afraid to engage with government officials,” a food security nonprofit leader said, because that advocacy might lead to “some form of retaliation” by the authorities.

Another concern they expressed: Advocacy might alienate donors who disagree with the nonprofit leaders’ stances.

“It’s like there’s no middle ground anymore,” said the executive director of an emergency housing center. Others discussed how polarization has led to more divisions in board rooms and the loss of donors. That makes it harder for these organizations to decide to take a public stand on many issues.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/32178822

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21547846

A potential plan by Republican leaders to steal the 2024 presidential election. The plan involves delaying the certification of election results in key battleground states, potentially decreasing the overall number of electors appointed and allowing Donald Trump to win the presidency through a contingent election, whereby the House of Representatives, not the Electoral College, determines the president.

Voter fraud is a fact of life in any democracy, but it is usually the result of carelessness on the part of single voters or ballot-counters, and there are ample processes in place to identify and correct those mistakes when they occur. After the 2020 election, the Associated Press found 475 instances of possible voter fraud in six states where a combined 25 million ballots were cast. High-profile claims of voter fraud in Arizona, Georgia, and everywhere Rudy Giuliani looked evaporated upon closer inspection.

At a certain point, the lack of evidence for widespread voter fraud ought to make Americans more skeptical of these claims. Instead, it looks like the opposite might be happening.

Just 39 percent of respondents to a recent University of Massachusetts Amherst poll said they were "very confident" that their voters would be counted accurately in this year's election. That includes just 26 percent of Republicans and 16 percent of independents. Even when including those who say they are "somewhat confident" that votes will be tabulated correctly, only about two-thirds of the country have faith that the outcome of the election will reflect the votes cast.

A similar partisan divide emerged in a recent Pew Research Center survey that asked whether "it will be clear who won the election" after all the votes were counted. Just 58 percent of Trump voters are "very" or "somewhat" confident that those final counts will be clear, compared to 81 percent of Vice President Kamala Harris voters who are prepared to trust the process.

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” Trump said at an event with Tucker Carlson. “Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face.”

The subject of this violent comment was Liz Cheney, perhaps the most high-profile Republican to support Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, and Trump made this statement amid endless evidence of the dangers he poses should he return to the White House. In this instance, Trump was slamming Cheney for being a “radical war-hawk” and suggesting she should be subjected to a taste of combat. But this use of such visceral imagery comes as he continues to threaten to prosecute his perceived enemies. This summer he promoted a social media post calling for Cheney to be placed on trial for treason before a military tribunal.

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“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” Cheney responded on social media. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets are still chewing over whether President Joe Biden may or may not have called Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to a comedian at a recent Trump rally describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” This morning, there was more quibbling over a report that the White House may have altered a transcript of Biden’s “garbage” dig. Given that Trump has often dehumanized and demonized his political foes and their supporters, saying they’re “scum,” the attention paid to Biden’s remark—which he clarified after the fact—is misplaced.

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We’re all a bit desensitized. But the use of such violent rhetoric by hideous men within reach of the White House should still shock us. Anything less, well, is garbage.

The first hospital diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her sharp abdominal cramps. At the second, she screened positive for sepsis, a life-threatening and fast-moving reaction to an infection, medical records show. But doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat and that Crain was fine to leave.

Now on Crain’s third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to “confirm fetal demise,” a nurse wrote, before moving her to intensive care.

By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain’s blood pressure had plummeted and a nurse had noted that her lips were “blue and dusky.” Her organs began failing.

Hours later, she was dead.

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Texas’s abortion ban threatens prison time for interventions that end a fetal heartbeat, whether the pregnancy is wanted or not. It includes exceptions for life-threatening conditions, but still, doctors told ProPublica that confusion and fear about the potential legal repercussions are changing the way their colleagues treat pregnant patients with complications.

Just six days before the 2024 presidential election, Facebook is running hundreds of ads from pages that falsely claim that the upcoming election may be rigged or postponed. Facebook parent company Meta’s ad library shows that the pages behind the ads have paid the company more than $1 million to run them. They racked up a bill of more than $350,000 for ads run in just the past week.

One of the ads features a stylized image of Vice President Kamala Harris with devil horns and an American flag burning behind her. Other ads feature images of Harris and VP candidate Tim Walz interposed with post-apocalyptic scenes, and pictures of Walz and President Biden mashed up with images of prescription drugs spilling out of bottles. One features an apparently AI-generated image of a smiling Harris in a hospital room preparing to give a screaming child an injection. Another features images of anti-vaxxer and third-party candidate RFK Jr. Some of the ads question whether Harris will remain in the race and suggest that America is “headed for another civil war.”