Featured
Biden Tells Congressional Democrats He’s Not Going Anywhere. By Julianne McShane / Mother Jones
“I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”
President Biden has a message for the growing number of Democrats raising concerns about his ability to beat Donald Trump following his disastrous debate performance: Challenge me. “Run against me, go ahead,” Biden said during a phone interview with MSNBC on Monday. “Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”
The remarks, which also expressed frustration with what he claimed were “elites in the party” calling for him to step aside, came on the heels of a similarly defiant letter he drafted to congressional Democrats on Monday. The two-page letter sought to end speculation over whether he would remain the Democratic nominee, writing, “I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.” Read more
Related: Biden’s Refusal to Step Down Is a Dangerous Gamble. By Emilo Leanza / The Progressive
Related: Joe Biden Refuses to Budge. Will Democrats Push Harder? By Eric Lutz / Vanity Fair
Related: How Biden Is Leveraging His Defiance to Try to Stem Democratic Defections.
The Democratic Party Must Speak the Plain Truth to the President. The Editorial Board / NYT
For voters who held out hope that President Biden’s failure to communicate during last month’s debate was an aberration, the intervening days have offered little comfort.
The president, elected in 2020 as an antidote to Mr. Trump’s malfeasance and mendacity, is now trying to defy reality. For more than a year, voters have made it unquestionably clear in surveys and interviews that they harbor significant doubts about Mr. Biden’s physical and mental fitness for office. Mr. Biden has disregarded the concerns of those voters — his fellow citizens — and put the country at significant risk by continuing to insist that he is the best Democrat to defeat Mr. Trump. Read more
Related: Please, Mr. President, Do the Right Thing. By Paul Krugman / NYT
Related: James Carville: Biden Won’t Win. Democrats Need a Plan. Here’s One. By James Carville / NYT
President Biden stops campaign bleeding – but more tough days could be ahead. By Joey Garrison / USA Today
President Joe Biden has largely stopped eroding support from congressional Democrats for now but he hasn’t calmed fears about a brutal presidential campaign ahead that will put his mental fitness under the microscope for months.
And some Democrats still aren’t convinced he can defeat former President Donald Trump. Despite the concerns, Biden and his allies have so far succeeded in fending off widespread calls from Democrats in Congress for him to withdraw from the race against Trump, the former president, following his disastrous debate performance last month. Read more
Related: Biden buys time but every day tests his capacity to keep his campaign alive. By
Related: ‘There’s no way out’: Democrats feel powerless as ‘elites’ fall in line behind Biden. By and
Political / Social
Can Kamala Harris beat Trump? New poll puts her ahead of Joe Biden. By Francesca Chambaers / USA Today
Vice President Kamala Harris could narrowly beat Donald Trump in November, according to a new national poll from a Democratic pollster.
Harris is ahead by 1 point in the poll by the firm Bendixen & Amandi Inc. She would edge out Trump 42%-41%. The survey showed 12% undecided and 3% support going to third-party candidates. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Other Democrats whose names have been floated as possible replacements for Biden in the 2024 race if he were to withdraw would fare worse against Trump. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would lose 40%-36%, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom would lose 40%-37%. Read more
Related: The Problem With Coronating Kamala Harris. By Jerusalem Demsas / The Atlantic
Related: Kamala Harris walks into the storm — and keeps her footing. By Karen Tumulty / Wash Post
Biden or Harris, the key is stopping Trump and Project 2025. By Rex Huppke / USA Today
Project 2025 is a governing blueprint designed by a collection of former Trump administration officials who seem to have looked at Hitler’s path to power in 1930s Germany and thought, ‘Cool!’
I pray the rest of us won’t be so easily distracted, because while the Democrats are chasing their tails and the chattering class is paying rapt attention to the tail-chasing, Trump is doing things like promoting calls for “televised military tribunals” for his political enemies while his allies announce a “second American revolution.” That last bit came from Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, whose organization wields immense power in the conservative movement and created Project 2025, a painstakingly detailed and hellishly authoritarian plan for a second Trump presidency. Read more
The death of the American Dream birthed Trumpism. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
“Though Trumpism is ten times more terrifying than Reaganism, they share the same DNA”
The United States is the richest country in the world. But that statistic camouflages the more complex truth that the United States has a relatively small number of rich people and a much larger number of poor and working poor people. In her new book “Poverty for Profit”, lawyer and public policy expert Anne Kim documents this system and how it disproportionately targets Black and Brown communities.
In this conversation, Kim shows how predatory capitalism is preying on under-resourced black and brown communities and documents its real human cost. At the end of this conversation Kim, warns that the country’s extreme income inequality and the death of the American Dream are directly tied to the rise of Trumpism and the country’s democracy crisis. Read more
Related: Trump is just a con man from New York. By David Marks / Aljazeera
The Case for Expanding the Supreme Court Has Never Been Stronger. By
Fascism and Fear.The Moment, The Media, The Election. By Timothy Snyder / Thinking About
One key factor drives White nationalism — and it’s probably not what you think: expert. By Daniel Hampton / Raw Story
Lonely, sexless straight men have become a larger force in the White nationalist movement. That’s according to Ellee Reeve, author of the book “Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics.”
Reeve talked with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday to discuss her findings, saying straight men who struggle to find a romantic partner can be drawn to alt-right communities. “That’s a big entryway into this,” she said. “A big entry point is, ‘Why won’t women be with me?'” The so-called “new white nationalist movement” is highly influenced by “incel” culture, she said, referring to men who are involuntarily celibate. Read more
Democrats Seek Criminal Investigation of Justice Thomas Over Travel and Gifts.
The senators said the Supreme Court justice’s failure to disclose lavish gifts and luxury travel showed a “willful pattern of disregard for ethics laws.”
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland last week asking that he appoint a special counsel to investigate Justice Thomas’s failure to disclose lavish gifts, luxury travel, a loan for a recreational vehicle and other perks given to him by wealthy friends. Read more
Many universities are abandoning race-conscious scholarships worth millions. By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel / Wash Post
In the year since the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions, colleges have walked away from scholarships with racial criteria.
Duke University recently discontinued a 45-year-old scholarship that covered tuition, currently about $66,000 a year, and housing costs of some Black undergraduate students. The University of Iowa has changed the selection criteria for its Advantage Iowa Award, which dispenses more than $9 million a year in financial help to first-year students from historically underrepresented groups. White students, who previously weren’t eligible, can now apply. Read more
World News
Voters across the globe are rejecting fascism. Trump should be worried. By Daily Kos Staff
Last week, the U.K.’s Conservative Party got its ass handed to it by the Labour Party (although, to be fair, Labour underperformed the polling aggregate by about 6 points). Labour’s victory ended 14 years of conservative rule. And then, of course, there’s the left’s shock victory in France. Recent preelection surveys expected the far-right party to win between 170 to 250 legislative seats, according to Bloomberg. It won 142. Read more
Biden Addresses NATO Summit – Possibly The Last Time A U.S. President Does So. By
Trump has long attacked the defense alliance and, when president, told top aides he would pull out if he won a second term.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday praised the NATO alliance at its 75th anniversary celebration as he potentially became the last U.S. president to address the group’s annual summit. Biden told the civilian and military leaders from 32 countries assembled in Washington that the alliance, founded after World War II to keep the peace in Europe and thwart Soviet expansionism, has a new mission in stopping Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more
Related: NATO is a bulwark against tyranny. By Nancy Pelosi and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya / Wash Post
Middle East Crisis: Netanyahu’s Resistance to a Deal Narrows Hopes for a Cease-Fire in Gaza. By NYT
Hopes of a cease-fire in Gaza ebbed on Monday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Hamas both issued statements that narrowed the chances of reaching a compromise about the territory’s future.
In a statement on Sunday night, Mr. Netanyahu said he would agree only to a deal that would “allow Israel to resume fighting until all of the objectives of the war have been achieved.” The comments reiterated his long-held position that the war must continue until Israel has destroyed Hamas’s military and governing abilities. Read more
Can This Doctor Tapped to Run Haiti Save the Country?
Josh Hawley makes it clear: ‘I’m advocating Christian nationalism.’ By David Badash / AlterNet
It opposes LGBTQ people and people of other faiths or of no faith, and their civil rights. It often has links to neo-Nazis, white supremacy, and dominionism, and many see Russia and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as its leader. “Some will say I’m calling America a Christian nation. And so I am. Some will say I’m advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do. My question is – is there any other kind worth having?” Senator Hawley said at “NatCon 4,” the National Conservatism conference being held in Washington, D.C., this week (video below), as reported by Semafor’s David Weigel. Read more
Now more than ever, Black Catholics must forge their own destiny. By Efran Menny / NCR
A possible blueprint for authentic renewal among African Americans in the church. Cantor Kim R. Harris sings during the New York Archdiocese’s annual Black History Month Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City Feb. 5, 2023.
After finding community with other Black Catholics, I saw that these small yet influential powerhouses of dissent made plenty of us feel unwelcomed with their hostile rhetoric toward Pope Francis and many aspects of Catholic social teachings that are central to the African American experience. Things seem to have been on a continual decline. There have been no major improvements in the atmosphere for Black Catholics. In fact, with a multitude of anti-intellectual campaigns and materials published against critical race theory, “wokeism,” and DEI efforts, the climate has become rife with vipers hellbent on maintaining the status quo. Read more
‘The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death’: Wisdom from Greek tragedies for Joe Biden. By Rachel Hadas / The Conversation
Biden has come to symbolize both the biological challenges and the existential poignancy of aging – of aging in power, certainly, but also just the unrelenting wear and tear of growing old. The pressure of all these factors makes Biden a tragic figure.
Age has been traditionally associated with wisdom, yet the wisdom old age can bestow seems out of reach for a figure still in the thick of politics. Lear’s “all-licensed” Fool rebukes the king: “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou had been wise.” Only withdrawing from the fray might bestow some tranquility. But the vision to make the difficult decision to withdraw requires a kind of detachment that seems to be very rare in history, and not common in literature either. Read more
DoorDash delivers 100 million charity meals, partnering with religious, other nonprofits. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS
DoorDash is known for its food deliveries to homes across America.
But it recently marked a milestone for a less visible aspect of its business: supporting faith-based groups and other nonprofits as they aid people who are facing hunger and poverty. In June, DoorDash announced it had delivered more than 100 million charity meals via its Project DASH, which often involves drivers delivering 20 pounds of free food in boxes and bags to families in need. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Woodland Plantation house, site of Louisiana slave revolt, under Black ownership. By Debbie Elliott / NPR
The site is historically significant because this is where one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history began. It’s also known as the German Coast Uprising because this region was settled by German immigrants. “The start of the 1811 revolt happened here, on this porch,” Banner says.
Banner and her twin sister Joy are co-founders of the Descendants Project, a non-profit in Louisiana’s heavily industrialized river parishes – just west of New Orleans. Early this year, the group bought the Woodland Plantation Home, putting it in Black ownership for the first time in more than two centuries. Read more
Tessie Prevost, who integrated New Orleans public schools, has died. By Debbie Elliott / NPR
Tessie Prevost, center, and 7-year-old Elan Jolie Hebert are escorted by U.S. Marshal Michael Atkins up the steps of McDonogh 19 Elementary School as Prevost was escorted in 1960, during a New Orleans 61st anniversary ceremony in 2021. Prevost was one of the first African-American women who integrated the all-white public schools in New Orleans.
She was one of the first young Black girls who integrated New Orleans public schools after federal courts forced the system to abide by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. Read more
Trump’s Lust for Expulsion Has Deep Roots.
Last week, millions of Americans celebrated our nation’s founding and with it our history of political and social inclusion. It is this history, of newcomers adding to the tapestry of the American experience, that is the foundation of our creedal nationalism, of the contested belief that “Americans are united by principles despite their ethnic, cultural and religious plurality.”
Needless to say, the politics of expulsion are still with us. And worse, the renewed vitality of illiberalism in American life has opened new space for broad efforts to remove those Americans who don’t fit the illiberal vision of the nation. At the largest scale is Donald Trump’s plan, should he win the White House a second time, to remove up to 20 million people suspected of unauthorized entry. Read more
How Lonnie G. Bunch III Is Renovating the “Nation’s Attic.” By Julian Lucas / The New Yorker
For most of its existence, the Smithsonian, a sprawling system of museums and research centers established by Congress in 1846, has enjoyed a staid reputation as the “nation’s attic.”
It’s traditionally been led by scientists. But in 2019 its Board of Regents tapped Bunch, a nineteenth-century historian with a flair for diplomacy, to leave his beloved N.M.A.A.H.C.—now helmed by The New Yorker’s poetry editor, Kevin Young—and shepherd the entire organization through our polarized “post-truth” era. Bunch has also embarked on the construction of two new museums, the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women’s History Museum; helped to negotiate the return of Chinese pandas to the National Zoo; and presided over an international investigation of the wrecks of slave ships. Read more
Frankie Beverly Takes His Final Bow At ESSENCE Festival Of Culture. By Rivea Ruff / Essence
After kicking off the ESSENCE Festival in 1995 and headlining Sunday night for decades, Frankie Beverly was given a fond farewell in a star-studded tribute
Frankie Beverly has been a staple of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture since we staged our first concert in 1995. The legendary crooner served as our Sunday night closer, with his all-white and his classic hits, for the first fifteen years of the festival, and has been a frequent Sunday headliner for the next fifteen years thereafter. As kismet would have it, Beverly’s farewell to stage performance landed the same year as our 30th anniversary, presenting the perfect opportunity for us to properly present the man who has meant so much more than linen suits and electric slides with the flowers he deserves. Read more
Gladiator 2 Trailer: Denzel Washington Steals the Show. By Jason P. Frank / New York Vulture
In the middle of a conversation with Paul Mescal, who claims he wants the heads of “the entire Roman army,” Washington goes up an octave, telling Mescal, “Too much!” with a wicked smirk and a voice crack. It’s a choice that runs exactly counter to the expected one, and it provides an auditory friction that this baritone movie wouldn’t otherwise have. Plus, it’s silly and whimsical!
If you’re excited to see more of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II (or even if you just want to see more Denzel Washington line readings), the film starring Mescal, Pascal, Washington, and Quinn alongside Connie Nielsen debuts in theaters on November 22. Read more and watch the trailer here
Sports
LeBron James signs deal to stay with Lakers, opening door to first father-son teammates in NBA history. By and
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James signed an extension to remain with the franchise, officials confirmed on X Sunday, leading to a potential NBA first of father-son teammates. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer last week opted out of a $51.4 million payday for the upcoming 2024-25 season, though most observers believed James had no real intention of leaving Southern California. Read more
Brett Favre seeks to re-ignite lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe. USA Today
Brett Favre‘s legal team was back in court on Tuesday, according to multiple media reports, trying to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans to reinstate the former NFL quarterback’s defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe. The case was dismissed by a federal judge in Jackson, Mississippi, in October.
The dispute involves comments Sharpe made on the Fox Sports show “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” in September 2022. At the time, Favre was at the center of an alleged corruption scandal involving the state of Mississippi’s welfare system. Read more
Kamala Harris drops in on Steph, Kerr and the rest of Team USA. By Jeff Zillgitt / USA Today
Vice President Kamala Harris made a visit Tuesday to the U.S. men’s basketball team’s final practice before an exhibition game against Canada.
She watched the conclusion of practice and spent time speaking to the team and posed for photos with players on the court while talking to players and coaches, including a brief one-on-one conversation with Steph Curry. Harris was in Las Vegas for a campaign event. Read more
WNBA rookie power rankings: Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese top list. By Cydney Henderson / USA Today
The 2024 WNBA draft class came into the league making history, drawing a record 2.45 million viewers to the draft in April, and the rookies haven’t stopped rewriting the history books as the halfway point of the regular season approaches.
The Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, the first overall pick, became the first rookie in league history to record a triple-double over the weekend. And the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese, the No. 7 overall pick, set a record for consecutive double-doubles. Clark and Reese were named to the 2024 All-Star team, earning their first selection in their first year in the league. Read more
Related: Angel Reese is too good to be the bad guy. By Candace Buckner / Wash Post
Wimbledon: Emma Navarro’s Shock Loss Puts Coco Gauff in the Line of Fire From Fans on a Disastrous Day For American Tennis. By Akshay Kapoor / Essentially Sports
Recently, Coco Gauff had to go through a tough time during her Wimbledon 2024 journey. The 20-year-old started on a fine note, gathering three massive wins without even dropping a set. However, during the pre-quarters, the tables turned and the US Open champion couldn’t be on top of her levels against Emma Navarro.
Soon after the results of Emma Navarro’s quarter-final showdown against Jasmine Paolini were revealed, social media was abuzz with doubtful comments about Coco Gauff’s potential. Paolini took down her American rival in straight sets and this filled up the fans with frustration regarding the US Open champion’s competitiveness. Read more
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