Harris on 60 Minutes – Scroll down to read about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ interview with Bill Whitaker. Use the trackbar on the near right to scroll down this center column.
TUESDAY 10/8/24
October Surprise Book Club – In 2020, President Trump “secretly sent coveted” coronavirus tests to Russian dictator/President Vladmir Putin for his personal use, The Washington Post reports in a preview of Bob Woodward’s new book, War due in bookstores October 15. Counter to many Trump supporters’ reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, Putin was “petrified of the virus” Woodward writes, and cautioned Trump not to reveal he had sent the medical equipment to Moscow.
Woodward also writes that early this year Trump ordered an aide away from his Mar-a-Lago office so he could take a call with Putin. The book offers no account of the Trump-Putin conversation.
A reminder … Meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy a week ago Friday following the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said of the Ukrainian president; “We have a very good relationship. I also have a very good relationship with President Putin, and you know I think we’re going to get (the war) resolved very quickly.”
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The Harris Interview – Would a Harris administration take a harder line on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues to resist any serious move to a ceasefire in Gaza?
Well, maybe. In her 60 Minutes interview with Bill Whitaker Monday night, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said this; “With all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And that answer is ‘yes.’”
Assuming that means a President Kamala Harris would rely on the political will of a more moderate Israeli electorate, it does not bode well for a shift in US policy to potentially withhold arms to press for a ceasefire.
When Whitaker pressed Vice President Harris on how her administration would pay for expansion of the child tax credit and tax breaks for first-time home buyers, key points in an economic plan that the nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Budget says will add $3 trillion to the federal debt, Harris reiterated the Biden administration argument that the richest, “who can afford it,” should pay their fair share and that good old fashioned bipartisan compromise would get Congress to pass such a plan.
“There are plenty of leaders of Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up the federal deficit,” she said.
About the border … Whitaker also pressed Harris on the “historic flood” of illegal immigrants crossing the border in the first three years of the Biden administration, four times the number who crossed in Donald J. Trump’s final year in office (the COVID-19 pandemic year). Harris argued that illegal immigration has been a long-time problem and that under the Biden administration the “flow” of illegal immigration and flow of fentanyl both have been cut in half.
Where’s Donald? … Whitaker explained that CBS News had an agreement with the Trump campaign to interview the Republican nominee for president – as 60 Minutes has managed since the 1968 presidential election, when the show interviewed both Richard M. Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Ultimately, Donald J. Trump declined to appear and was interviewed on Fox News Monday night, instead.
--TL
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One Year of War in Gaza
MONDAY 10/7/24
No End in Sight – On Monday, one year after Hamas’ cross-border terrorist attack on Israel, Hamas is claiming responsibility for rocket fire from Gaza to the Tel Aviv area, wounding two, according to Haaretz, which reports about 35 rockets have been fired into Israel in recent days. The Israeli Defense Force has directed northern Gaza residents to evacuate southward, while Iran has warned the IDF against retaliation for the missile attacks.
Hamas still holds 101 hostages taken during the attacks a year ago, according to the BBC.
The region is as far away from forming a Palestinian state as it has been since the state of Israel was formed in 1948.
Meanwhile … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu appears to be gaining support from his constituency after facing severe criticism over being surprised by the attack one year ago.
In President Biden’s first briefing room appearance, last Friday, he was asked whether he thought Netanyahu was trying to influence the US election. [It’s a question we asked in a Substack post last April.] Biden responded that no presidential administration has been a stronger ally of Israel than his own. But that says nothing of Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu, with whom he has been working to reach a ceasefire in Gaza for much of the last year.
“And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know,” Biden said, according to The Hill, “but I’m not counting on that.”
Clearly, he has not had any reason to count on Netanyahu, who is pressing forward in his efforts for judicial reform, even during the war.
The Bibi Files … “Bibi” Netanyahu has been pushing these judicial reforms while under yearslong investigation, along with his wife and son, for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His own immunity against these charges appear to rely on remaining in office.
Netanyahu is scheduled to testify in December, according to WNYC radio’s On the Media, which last weekend reported on a documentary by Alexii Bloom, The Bibi Files, which relies on leaked footage of police interrogations with the Israeli PM.
“We all started with the fact that the prime minister does not respect the law,” says Israeli journalist Raviv Drucker in the doc. “Anyone that has dared to touch Mr. Netanyahu is doomed.”
What about Harris? … Would a Harris administration handle negotiations with Netanyahu over a cease fire agreement with Hamas any differently? It’s a crucial question, and one that may be answered too late to help Kamala Harris win the crucial swing state of Michigan, which has a large Palestinian and Middle-Eastern diaspora.
Would a President Harris take a harder line than Biden on shipping arms to Israel if Netanyahu continues to resist ceasefire in Gaza?
Do we have a “real close ally” in Netanyahu? CBS News reporter Bill Whitaker asks Harris in an interview that airs on 60 MinutesMonday night.
“I think with all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people. And the answer is ‘yes.’”
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The Last US Election? – World’s richest man/Bond villain/Tesla and SpaceX CEO/X-Twitter owner and “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk made his first appearance at a Trump rally last Saturday, and it probably is not his last. It was Trump’s return to Butler, Pennsylvania, site of an assassination attempt July 13, where Musk wore a black MAGA hat and a black “Occupy Mars” t-shirt, Fox News reports.
“Just to be a pest to everyone. You know, people on the street, everywhere: Vote, vote, vote!. Fight, fight, fight. Vote, vote, vote,” Musk said, and then he began jumping up and down, according to the foxnews.com account.
What Fox News did not report (perhaps you have to watch its video) is that Musk asserted, according to The New York Times; “President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”
Maybe we won’t have to vote again whether Donald J. Trump or Kamala Harris wins the November 5 election?
Remember that at The Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida later in July, hosted by Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action, Trump “called on Christians to flood the polls in November,” according to The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact, and promised if they vote for Trump, they “won’t have to vote again” in four years.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa