The Weekly Sift

In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time — in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now — it will be said: When the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong. Our alliances were made stronger. And we saved democracy in our time as well. 

– President Joe Biden
at the Normandy American Cemetery
June 6, 2024

This week’s featured post is “To stop fascism, unite around the old guy“.

This week everybody was talking about Israel’s hostage rescue

The good news: Four of the approximately 250 Israelis taken hostage in Hamas’ October 7 attack were freed Saturday.

The bad news: It appears that the raid killed 274 Palestinians. Palestinian authorities don’t try to identify who was or wasn’t a Hamas fighter, so we don’t know how many civilians were killed. We do know that dozens of children were included in the 274 total.

But only three other hostages have been freed by military force since the start of the war. Another three were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces after they escaped on their own, and Hamas says others have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. … Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire last year, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and reaching a similar agreement is still widely seen as the only way of getting the rest of the hostages back.

Sunday, Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz followed through on his threat to withdraw from Israel’s war cabinet. He had given Netanyahu a three-week ultimatum to produce a plan to end the war, and that deadline ran out Saturday.

President Biden has put forward a peace plan that pairs a full hostage release with a complete ceasefire. But Prime Minister Netanyahu stands by his condition that Hamas be “completely defeated” before hostilities can end. Gantz’ protest is related to the idea that no one can define what “completely defeated” means, so Netanyahu’s plan seems to be to continue fighting indefinitely.

and more reaction to Trump’s felony conviction

Rick Perlstein hangs around in far-right social-media communities — and he claims that’s not why he’s depressed — reporting on “The Republican Id“. His article got me thinking about the weird dichotomy we’re seeing.

On the one hand, Trump (along with virtually all elected Republicans) are pouring out violence-promoting rhetoric. They’re not exactly saying “Go out and kill liberals”, but they’re definitely hinting in that direction. Trump predicts that seeing him sentenced to jail “would be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”

What are MAGA folks supposed to do when they “break”? He doesn’t say.

But he has similarly predicted violence if the Republican convention didn’t nominate him in 2016, if Pennsylvania counted all the mail-in ballots in 2020, after the search of Mar-a-Lago, if he was indicted, or went to trial, or was convicted. Other than the convention snub, those events came and went without so much as a major protest. During his Manhattan trial, Trump was so embarrassed by the lack of MAGA demonstrators that he made up an outrageous lie to cover it:

After The New York Times published a story that said Trump was unhappy with the meager crowd he saw when he arrived at the courthouse for opening statements on Monday, Trump posted on social media on Tuesday to deny the story, denigrate a Times reporter and make this claim: “Thousands of people were turned away from the Courthouse in Lower Manhattan by steel stanchions and police, literally blocks from the tiny side door from where I enter and leave. It is an armed camp to keep people away.”

Trump also wrote on social media on Monday that “Lower Manhattan surrounding the Courthouse, where I am heading now, is completely CLOSED DOWN.” And he told reporters inside the courthouse on Tuesday: “For blocks you can’t get near this courthouse.”

He succeeded in inciting a riot once: on January 6. Other than that day, and in spite of all the violent rhetoric on social media and all the death threats against anyone who speaks out against him, his supporters seem to have little appetite for mass action on his behalf.

and the border

President Biden announced a new border policy this week. It’s complicated, but the basic idea is to stop letting people apply for asylum when the number of daily border crossings gets too high. Vox elaborates.

The underlying problem at the border can’t be solved without congressional action, which Trump and his allies have blocked: The US is obligated by law and treaty to give asylum to refugees who meet certain standards of persecution, but the system that processes asylum claims was not designed to handle the current quantity and is hopelessly jammed. People wait years for a hearing, and what should we do with them in the meantime? As the new executive order puts it:

For the vast majority of people in immigration proceedings, the current laws make it impossible to quickly grant protection to those who require it and to quickly remove those who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States. This reality is compounded by the fact that the Congress has chronically underfunded our border security and immigration system and has failed to provide the resources or reforms it needs to be able to deliver timely consequences to most individuals who cross unlawfully and cannot establish a legal basis to remain in the United States.

Executive orders can’t create new courts, hire new judges, or ameliorate the conditions that cause people to leave their home countries. They can only change how the backlog is handled. And even then, the Supreme Court may decide that Biden has exceeded his authority. (In recent years, the Court has interpreted Biden’s authority far less generously than it did Trump’s.)

and the Supreme Court

Still no word on the immunity case that the Court is using to delay Trump’s D.C. trial until after the election. The court’s term is expected to end later this month.

Meanwhile, there were two new reasons to doubt the conservative majority’s honesty and impartiality: First, the neighbor at the heart of Justice Alito’s flag controversy has disputed his story, and seems to have a police report to back up her version of the timeline. Watch her CNN interview. (Almost as disturbing as the Alito lie is the neighbor’s account of how the Alito’s tried to intimidate her.)

And second, Fix the Court has published a tally of all the gifts accepted by the justices who served during the last 20 years. The $4.7 million total is stunning in itself, but the jaw-dropping fact is that more than $4 million went to Clarence Thomas, nearly matching his already-generous salary. Fix the Court says the total is “probably an undercount”.

and Hunter’s trial

It’s been observed many times that Trump and his followers practice projection: Whatever Trump is doing — trying to steal an election, corrupting the Justice Department, … — they claim that his opponents are doing it. Every accusation they make is actually a confession.

Because it has fallen so close to the trial that found Trump guilty of multiple felonies, the Hunter Biden trial is providing a grand opportunity for projection. Here, Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro discusses the “mob mentality” of the Biden family and their attempt to intimidate jurors. (To see how a family with a real mob-mentality operates, look at Pro Publica’s recent report: “Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company.” Take care of the Boss, and the Boss will take care of you.)

How are the Bidens carrying out this “intimidation”? First Lady Jill Biden, who has been Hunter’s step-mother since he was seven years old, has been showing up at his trial! Her presence, Pirro claims, tells jurors that “We know who you are. We’re in the courtroom and we’re watching you.” (Very scary lady, that Jill Biden.)

And then there’s Joe, who spent the entire previous weekend with his son! Another Fox host quotes a New York Post writer suggesting this is a “cynical power play” aimed at sending a “Mafia-like” message to potential jurors: “Screw with my son and you screw with me.”

Consider the parallels and contrasts with the Trump trial: Nobody from Trump’s family supported him in court until the media started to notice, and neither Melania nor Ivanka ever made an appearance. (“His family is nowhere to be seen. His wife, at least presently, is not to be seen at his side; his children have vanished; his loved ones have melted away.”) You know who did show up? Power players: the Speaker of the House, numerous senators and congressmen. (Matt Gaetz ominously tweeted that he was “standing back and standing by, Mr. President”. Standing by to do what to who?)

Can you picture Hakeem Jeffries or Chuck Schumer going to Delaware to attend Hunter’s trial? What would they do there? Is AOC standing back and standing by?

Trump jurors can only hope they stay anonymous, because Trump’s supporters post threats against them (and the judge and his daughter) daily. But if you’re a Biden supporter, you probably can’t name the judge in Hunter’s trial, or any of the judge’s family members. I know I can’t. I have no interest in finding out who Hunter’s jurors are, and I don’t know anybody who does. Those people are all safe from us, no matter how the trial comes out.

But yes, Fox News, tell me more about the Biden family’s “mob-like” approach to Hunter’s trial.

The Bidens have gone to great lengths to communicate to Hunter that no matter what mistakes he has made in life, he is still their son and they love him. How sinister of them! How unlike the Trump family.

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Meanwhile, the House committee that failed to find any evidence linking Joe Biden to whatever sketchy business deals brother James and son Hunter might have had going has taken its next step: The committee refers James and Hunter to the DoJ, claiming that they lied to the committee about Joe not having anything to do with their business deals.

See the logic? The complete lack of evidence is the clearest sign that the conspiracy is working.

and you also might be interested in …

Three Trump allies have been charged with forgery for their role in the Wisconsin fake elector plot.

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Steve Bannon is finally going to jail. He will start a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress on July 1. During that time he will probably go to trial for his role in conning contributors to his We Build the Wall fund.

Trump has pardoned Bannon for his role in stealing from Trump supporters, but New York state has decided to pursue charges. His accomplices are already in jail.

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AP examines videos that are deceptively edited to make Biden look mentally incompetent. If he’s so lost to dementia, why can’t his critics just use real videos?

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In a strong hint that the Sandy Hook parents he slandered may finally see some money, Alex Jones has changed his bankruptcy filing. Originally he filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization, but he has changed that to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

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I mentioned Trumpists’ projections above. Here’s more: The Federalist’s Erika Andersen thinks Dolly Parton isn’t really Christian and Newmax’ Greg Kelly worries that Taylor Swift fans are practicing “idolatry”, which “is a sin”.

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Just before the guilty verdict in Trump’s Manhattan trial was announced, Maryland Republican senate candidate Larry Hogan made a statement that would be uncontroversial in any other era of American life. He asked people to “respect the verdict and the legal process”.

That pro-civic stance has just about gotten him run out of the Republican Party, which appears to be ready to sacrifice the Maryland senate seat in order to enforce MAGA discipline.

Tuesday, Hogan’s campaign confirmed that he will not attend the Republican Convention in Milwaukee next month. That should avoid some nasty confrontations.

On a similar note, former Republican congressman Ken Buck told Jon Stewart:

I left because I couldn’t tell the lie. The 2020 election wasn’t stolen. The Jan. 6 defendants aren’t political prisoners…There’s a lot of life out there besides arguing about nothing and telling lies. I made a choice to go enjoy what I’ve got left.

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A book you might want to read: They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh. It’s the story of how the model suburb of Southlake, Texas began to recognize it had a racism problem and tried to deal with it, until a backlash led to a right-wing takeover of the school board.

You may have seen news stories about Southlake in the last few years. It was the testing ground for the conservative campaign against “critical race theory” and for the idea that teachers and librarians were trying to “groom” children to become gay or trans. I had been loosely following that story, but seeing everything laid out in one narrative is pretty amazing.

The big thing I glean from this story is that the conservative cultural project doesn’t work without lying. Parents need to be convinced that schools are teaching things nobody is actually teaching, and they need to believe that members of their community not just wrongheaded, but are engaged in unimaginable evil.

As I’ve said before, I don’t see how this happens without the flaws in Christianity. You have to believe in a Devil to make these kinds of conspiracy theories plausible.

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Justin Rosario tells the story of his wife’s two miscarriages in 2006. Her situation (both times) was very similar to that of women in red states who very nearly bleed to death, and sometimes suffer permanent consequences, because of abortion bans. But Justin’s wife got the medical care she needed and survived to have two children. (If you have the time, read the comments on this post. Many are by women telling their own miscarriage stories.)

Recently, friends told me a similar story about a miscarriage suffered by their daughter, a girl I watched grow up. Similarly, she was in a blue state and is fine now, probably planning her next attempt at motherhood. But what, they wondered, might have happened to her Texas or Missouri?

Rosario:

What if the next time, [my wife’s] miscarriage had stalled and become septic like [a woman in Texas]’s? Numerous women have had this happen to them throughout Republican-controlled states already. They’ve lost the ability to have children. Some of them have possibly died.

If you’re wondering why these stories have not been massive front-page headlines for weeks on end, you should know the answer by now. Doing so would require discussing why these women are suffering and dying and that would require pointing the finger, unerringly, at Republicans.

But we don’t do that in America’s press. We will run hundreds of above-the-fold articles about a “crisis” at the border to terrorize racist white people but talk about how Republicans are literally maiming and killing women? No, thank you. That would be biased.

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This strikes me as a revealing clip from Fox News: Interviewers ask Trump a question submitted by a viewer: “What’s your relationship with God like and how do you pray?” He never answers. Instead he talks about how well he does with Evangelical voters and how many people are praying for him. Eventually he goes off on a tangent about how people who don’t believe in God have no reason to be good.

I can’t decide: Is he dodging? Or does the question make no sense to him because he has no inner life to report on?

and let’s close with something natural

racooned.com collects photos of animal striking humanlike poses. Here, raccoons seem to be gossiping.