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Once again

Oh Elmo

I Wonder how many times a journalist has eagerly referred to him as a "free speech champion" or similar.

A JUDGE ON Monday granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from X Corp. — the company formerly known as Twitter — against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an anti-extremism watchdog. The group had drawn the ire of the company’s owner, Elon Musk, by sharing research that revealed how racist and hateful content had exploded on the platform since his takeover in 2022. Musk’s suit, filed in July 2023, claimed that the CCDH was responsible for an advertiser exodus from the site.

“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff’s true purpose,” Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote in the 52-page decision. “Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech.”

The Welfare State

Depending on how you look at it: the system is unequipped to deal with guys like Trump or the system deals with guys like Trump in precisely the way it is supposed to.  

Senator Kim

Applaud (almost) anyone who beats the nepo candidate.

New Jersey's first lady Tammy Murphy is ending her Senate campaign, cutting short what was shaping up to be a protracted Democratic primary against Rep. Andy Kim.

Not sure how much this is "internal polling said we were fucked" and how much it is "the NJ Supreme Court is about to overrule NJ's corrupt ballot practices and then the machine might have me killed" (don't think this invalidates the lawsuit, tho). 

There was probably an element of “lose the battle, win the war” here. Lurking in the background of this race was a lawsuit to end the county line, which gives party bosses their power. Kim, while trying to win the Senate race despite the built-in disadvantages, had launched the lawsuit and sought an injunction against the county line, arguing that the ballot system is “fundamentally unjust and undemocratic.” The party bosses might have figured that, if Murphy were to drop out and they all endorsed Kim (which is what appears to have happened), Kim would drop the lawsuit, and they would retain the ballot weapon for future use.

They were wrong. Kim’s adviser Anthony DeAngelo immediately told the New Jersey Globe that the congressman still supported abolishing the county line; his case received a hearing from federal district court judge Zahid Quraishi last week. “The status of our injunction remains in the hands of the judge and we remain ready to strongly advocate for the changes the Congressman and so many others have called for,” DeAngelo said.

Lunch

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

Ah, Well, Nevertheless

...

Progress

The US didn't veto (abstained) the latest UN Security Countil resolution about Gaza.

The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 25, 2024

Have to applaud minor progress where it appears, but will anyone give an answer to the basic question of what is different now from two months ago that prompted the change? Was there some body count that was acceptable, and another that wasn't? Will anyone admit the dirty hippies were correct?

Oh no

#BREAKING: PM Netanyahu threatens: If the US does not veto the resolution for a ceasefire in the UN Security Council, Israel will cancel the Israeli delegation departure to Washington.

PM office claims: The US informed Minister Dermer that they intend to pass two separate…

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) March 25, 2024

Oh No Retirement

We quite possibly destroyed a critical US company, but on the other hand we got extremely rich, so who is to say if it was good or bad.

CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024 in part of a broad management shakeup for the embattled aerospace giant.

Chairman of the board Larry Kellner is also resigning and will leave the board at Boeing’s annual meeting in May. He has been replaced as chair by Steve Mollenkopf, who has been a Boeing director since 2020.

This Guy Must Be Hamas

Quite obviously.

Separately, human rights groups Oxfam and Human Rights Watch issued a joint report last week documenting alleged Israeli transgressions in impeding the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. They called on the Biden administration to adhere to U.S. law and suspend arms transfers on grounds that Israeli assurances that they are not contravening international law cannot be taken seriously.

“There are good reasons why U.S. law prohibits arms support for governments that block life-saving aid or violate international law with U.S. weapons,” Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting U.S. legal requirements are not credible.”

For now, though, Israel’s credibility problem is also that of the United States.

It isn't the important thing, of course, but months of Blinken and Jean-Pierre and Miller and McGurk just being openly full of shit and utterly contempuous of their critics has not been helpful! Iraq war era Bush administration were both less bold in their dishonesty and better at faking concern for human lives.

Morning

Monday

But They Threatened Sanctions

The Biden administration made a lot of noise about sanctioning violent West Bank settlers and I've got a few more names (and titles) for them.

Israel reported Friday the seizure of 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank, which activists called the largest action of its kind in decades. Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the area in the northern Jordan Valley was declared "state lands" as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for Gaza truce talks.

I've Been Working On This For 22 Years And He Just Tweeted It Out

Chuck Toddler (!!!):

Look, let me deal with the elephant in the room. I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don't know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract. She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it. So she has – she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who's paying her? Once at the RNC she did say that,"Hey, I'm speaking for the party." I get that. That's part of the job. So what about here? I will say this. I think your interview did a good job of exposing I think many of the contradictions. And, look, there's a reason why there's a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination. So it is – , you know, that's where you begin here.

And so when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News' credibility you've got to ask yourself, "What does she bring NBC News?" And when we make deals like this, and I've been at this company a long time, you're doing it for access, access to audience. Sometimes it's access to an individual. And we can have a journalistic ethics debate about that.

I – I – I’m willing to have that debate. And if you told me we were hiring her as a technical advisor to the Republican Convention I think that would be certainly defensible. If you told me, "We're – we’re talking to her, but let's see how she does in some interviews” and maybe vet her with actual journalists inside the network, see – see if it's a two-way, what she can bring the network. So I do think, unfortunately, this interview's always going to be looked through the prism of, "Who is she speaking for," right? I think you did everything you could do. You got put into an impossible situation, booking this interview, and then all of a sudden the rug's pulled out from under you. You find out she's being paid to show up. That’s – that’s unfortunate for this program, but I am glad you did the best that you could, and that's why the three of us are on here to try to bolster that editorial independence.

Don't See How...

Already getting ready for my "ah, well, nevertheless..." post.

Experts who spoke to CNN say Attorney General Letitia James and her staff should be poised to start the complicated legal maze of seizing Trump’s assets if the former president does not secure the bonds needed to cover Engoron’s ruling as he appeals.

Assets, such as buildings, houses, cars, helicopters and his plane, are in play. The main focus could be on his bank accounts, which experts say will be easier to take hold of, and properties, which would be more difficult.

Trump has asked a state appeals court to allow him to post a smaller bond – or none at all – claiming he would face irreparable harm if he were forced to sell properties at a fire sale that can’t be undone if he ultimately wins his appeal. The court has not yet ruled.

Messaging

Are some people who annoy you on social media who are upset about Gaza more responsible for the fortunes of Democrats, or is it James Carville running to Maureen Dowd to explain how the Democrats aren't racist enough anymore?
 
My general position is that people without prominent microphones are less influential than these dickheads who run to journalists every chance they get to say, essentially, "Ben Shapiro is right about us," but what do I know.

The people upset about Gaza at least have some policy changes in mind. The Carville view is, basically, "left leaning people who are an important part of our coalition but who hold no meaningful positions of power need to shut the fuck up," and even if this were true I don't think there's any way to make it happen.

What's It All About Then

I don't know why, in the year of our Gritty 2024, we still have to explain to The Democrats that all the talk about "The Border" is just a respectable way to express racism and you can't solve that by passing a "tough border law" because it won't cause all the brown people to magically disppear from the TV screens.

Also, too, crime.

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Whom He Barely Knew

Fucking hell. I did not know that.