To balance all the contentious news, here is some beauty: a detail from an amazing marble sculpture by French sculptor Philippe Faraut (born 1963). It’s amazing what some artists can do with stone!
“Donald Trump and his allies have spent years amplifying a conspiracy theory that Democratic officials are intentionally letting people into the country illegally to ‘replace’ the voting population.
“But lately, the former president has been claiming that the ‘invasion’ is specifically coming after Black Americans.” In his typical fearmongering, evidence-lacking style.
“He now claims that ‘the Black population is going to die’ without his violent immigration agenda in place, pitching his anti-immigration platform as a way to attract Black voters.
“’The Black people are going to be decimated by the millions of people that are coming into the country,’ he told Bloomberg in an interview published on July 16.
“’There will never be a decimation like this, and they’re already feeling it,’ he added. ‘Their wages have gone way down. Their jobs are being taken by the migrants coming in illegally into the country.’
“His language then turned apocalyptic.
“’The Black population in this country is going to die because of what’s happened, what’s going to happen to their jobs — their jobs, their housing, everything,’ he said. ‘I want to stop that. … They’re taking everything.’
“He then suggested that he believes President Joe Biden wants people who live in the country illegally to take Black Americans’ jobs from them.”
Here is the complete transcript of his interview with Bloomberg, with fact-checking notes alongside:
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-trump-interview-transcript/?terminal=true
With some quotes taken from this article that focuses on the one aspect:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-floats-outrageous-claim-that-black-americans-are-going-to-die-because-immigrants-are-taking-their-jobs/ar-BB1q9Qgx
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who endorsed sending fake electors to Washington for Trump, who has consistently said that Trump won and the election was stolen, and has been broadly divisive throughout his tenure, said this week: “Let’s turn this moment into a moment that helps us down that path of healing and unity.”
And then on the floor of the Republican National Convention yesterday, said: “Today’s Democrat agenda, their policies, are a clear and present danger to America.”
“Clear and present danger” is a familiar LEGAL term that Merriam Webster defines as “a risk or threat to safety or other public interests that is serious and imminent. especially : one that justifies limitation of a right (as freedom of speech or press) by the legislative or executive branch of government.”
I wonder which policies represent that kind of immediate danger. The ones that created over 15 million jobs for the U.S. (more than any previous president’s job creation), or got our economy recovering after COVID, or got more people insured, or narrowed income inequality, or added IRS agents to start collecting on unpaid billionaire taxes, promoting equal treatment of all people regardless of any categories, or increasing spending for local and state law enforcement?
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-opinion-biden-accomplishment-data/
AP News reports: “President Joe Biden is seriously considering proposals to establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, and an ethics code that would be enforceable under law amid growing concerns that the justices are not held accountable.
“It would mark a major shift for Biden, the former head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court, though since taking office he has been increasingly vocal about his belief that the court is abandoning mainstream constitutional interpretation.
“Any changes would require congressional approval, which would be unlikely in a divided Congress. But with Republican nominee Donald Trump bragging about putting the three justices on the high court who are now part of the conservative majority, Biden’s call for major changes could help animate his voters.”
In other words, it would never pass right now, but if the elections this fall lead to a Democratic-majority Congress, then it probably would. And this could help motivate people to vote Democrat.
Full article here: https://apnews.com/article/election-supreme-court-biden-9c1a40b8f989bfa31a08eb3890abb1a7
The Cornetto Trilogy consists of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World’s End (2013). Three of my favorite movies! They are not thematically related, but they have many of the same cast and crew and they all reference Cornettos (sort of a British version of American drumsticks).
Simon Pegg has said that, while he ABHORS the idea of rebooting Shaun of the Dead, he and Edgar Wright have been discussing a fourth movie.
Summary of the three movies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Flavours_Cornetto
Interview with Simon Pegg:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/simon-pegg-the-boys-shaun-of-the-dead-20th-anniversary-1235937268/
Summary and Analysis:
https://movieweb.com/simon-pegg-teases-new-project-with-hot-fuzz-director-edgar-wright/
“The first night of the RNC was supposed to be about the economy, with the goal of uniting voters of all ideological persuasions who are frustrated by high prices. But some of the biggest applause lines came from harsh criticisms of transgender people.
“It’s a reminder that cultural issues motivate the GOP base as much as financial ones. A trio of speakers unabashedly went after Democrats who have sought greater acceptance for transgender people. Of particular outrage to Republicans this year was Biden marking Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened to overlap with Easter in 2024, a byproduct of the Christian holiday being based off the lunar calendar.
“To many in the LGBTQ+ community, it was a coincidence. But to many Republicans, it was an insult.
“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
(Transgender Visibility Day has been on March 31 since it began. Easter Sunday is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. This year, those two things happened on the same day.)
https://apnews.com/article/rnc-day-one-takeaways-38a19cbcff05d5422330fcc8ae6df7c3