NATIONAL CHOCOLATE-COVERED NUT DAY UPDATES
Almonds ... Pecans with Caramel ... Peanuts if Ground Into Butter Like Buckeyes ... Am I Missing Any?
-Mainstream media is giving Ex-President Trump (R-apist) XCI kudos for his win in SC last night, beating former two-term governor Nikki Haley by a numerically decisive 20% margin (coughKristinWelkerToddcough). But political experts are looking at those numbers and seeing some deep problems for the Trump 2024 campaign. Despite the margin of victory, Trump did not quite hit 60% in a deeply red state where he was running as essentially a two-time incumbent (in comparison with the real incumbent, Joe Biden, who eked out a SC primary victory with only 96% of the vote). Worse, a CNN exit poll revealed that while Trump demolished Haley among evangelical voters 75%-25%, Haley actually edged out Trump with the rest of the GOP electorate by 51%-49%. Simply put, in an election where the margins will be narrow in several states, Trump - for the third straight primary in super-MAGA states - is not showing an ability to get voters beyond a base that also looks to be eroding (200,000 fewer donors vs. 2020, which was down from 2024).
-Perhaps that is because of appearances like the one Trump made Friday night at what was billed as a Black Republican gathering that was later revealed by showing who was in the audience to actually be a really Caucasian audience. There, Trump first raised eyebrows by "joking" that it was hard to see eyes in the crowd except for 'all' the Blacks in the crowd (har har), then asserted that he knows he will get more black voters in 2024 because of his arrest and mug shot and because of his new Trump sneaker line - because blacks are criminals that like crime and shoes, GET IT!?
-For good measure, Trump also misidentified the woman he is currently married to as "Mercedes" (her name is Melania) and, during last night's 'victory' rally, used index cards to read off "people up here on stage" which included his children that weren't there - and omitted Eric "Eric" Trump altogether. Biden, in contrast, has had several stories about using index cards at speeches himself - because Biden B OLD, don't'cha know?!
-All of this - and robust fund raising - has prompted Haley to stay in the race at least through the March 5 Super Tuesday primaries, continuing his attacks on Trump's lack of electability and Biden b'n OLD, so why not Nikki when the time comes?
-That answer may actually come from the still-around "No Labels" party, who has seen alleged Presidential target Joe Manchin (Total D, WV) reject the idea of running for President under their tiki-drink-sized umbrella, opening speculation that Haley may be willing to take that seat. She may have a partner in Dean Phillips, the MN "Democrat" whose campaign has featured being trounced by now-out-of-the-running Marianne Williamson, being trounced by a Biden write-in campaign when Biden was not even on the ballot in NH, and the revelation that someone on Phillips' 'campaign' paid a New Orleans street magician $150 for a Biden sound clip that found its way to an anti-Biden robocall in NH in the week before that state's primary. (The magician, Paul David Carpenter, denounced the call once he realized what it was used for, albeit helpfully showing several reporters how easy it is to create a deep-fake call.)
-The other reason Haley is sticking around, of course, are all the danged court proceedings stacking up on Trump. Yesterday, NY Attorney General Tish James trolled the self-believing social media pioneer Trump by posting the amount of daily interest that the recently-assessed fine on Trump and his Organization will be assessed until he pays up (it's around $133,000 per day on 9% interest, by the way). On top of that, late last night the judge administering the fine Trump has yet to pay on the E. Jean Carroll verdicts reminded him that he's got to cough that up, too. Both fines are due within 30 days, and James has already intimated that she will start foreclosing on Trump property should Putin or a Saudi Sheikh magically deposit cash in Trump coffers ... uh, I mean, Trump doesn't find the money to pay up, what with him being the billionairest billionaire that ever billionaired, at least according to him ...
-In far more serious news, negotiations on a cease-fire in Palestine continue amid multiple pressure points attempting to be exerted on Benjamin Netanyahu and (because of his prominence in trying to find a cease-fire and domestic political objections from sections of the American left), Joe Biden. As the humanitarian situation in Palestine deteriorates by the hour amid Israeli's war against HAMAS, the major stumbling block is Netanyahu's defiant rejection of a two-state solution in favor of what appears to be a long-term occupation and continued allegiances with far-right Israeli political parties (in an attempt to stay in power). Biden is reportedly personally frustrated to the point of lashing out in private at Netanyahu, but is stopping short of threatening to end Israeli military aid if a two-state solution is not on the table - which in turn promotes fury from the Muslim-American community that supported him in 2020 and is now threatening to abandon Biden in 2024.
-That conflict is playing out in the primary race in Michigan, where the largest Muslim-American population in the country is pushing for a vote of "Uncommitted" to protest Biden's refusal to (in their views) stop the fighting in Israel. It has gone so far as to see former TX Gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke campaign in MI for the "Uncommitted" vote - though Beto points out that he is STILL supporting Biden in November, given that the Republican candidate is threatening mass deportation and creating modern-day internment camps for anyone of color if he regains power. Another MI leader, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, has gone farther and has said she will not support Biden in November while also pushing for the "Uncommitted" vote - which, in a swing state likely to be critical for both Biden and Trump, will create one of the more interesting and tense side stories of the coming full campaign (because we haven't even begun to discuss the madness and decay and infighting among MI Republicans ... but we will ... oh, yes we will ...)
-Republicans are desperately trying to cover themselves and deflect attention from the AL Supreme Court ruling declaring frozen embryos children and the MAGA/Evangelical desire to criminalize in-vitro fertilization (and ultimately out-of-wedlock sex, sex for pleasure, sex outside of two genders except in certain sections of the south, and sex only between a man and a woman unless you are preacher or a White Christian male with a mistress or two). Trump awkwardly tried to read a statement during his the-blacks-love-me-cuz-I'ma-gangsta appearance on Friday saying NO NO NO NO we LOVE in-vitro fertilization and Republicans will protect it, dumbass military-hating AL Sen. Tommy Tuberville realizing in mid-answer to a question about IVF that to say "we" want to have "more babies" it means IVF should NOT be banned, and black MAGA Rep. Byron Donalds extolling the virtues of "breeding" that IVF promotes. The problem is that after the Dobbs decision, banning IVF is a natural step for anti-abortion zealots that they have advocated in favor of for decades, so backing off now is simply trying to keep female anger directed away from MAGAts and the Republican Party they control ...
-We close with one other court decision late last week that should make most non-insane people happy: A New York jury ruled former National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre swindled the organization and ordered him to pay back more than $4.4 million to the cash-strapped organization, which is not done with corruption lawsuits against it. Other court proceedings could still lead to the once-electorally-mighty group (who reportedly was used to help launder Russian money - because as Nancy Pelosi noted, Everything Goes Back To Putin) to disband, and while too many politicians still bow to their alleged electoral might and the MAGAGOP are still in total support of full freedom for guns and gun manufacturers and gun massacres, the erosion of some of the older bulwarks of Republicanism continues (though there are plenty of other bulwarks now in place to replace them, but progress is still occurring) ...
-On this date in 1948, Communists took control of Czechoslovakia. On this date in 1964, Muhammad Ali (fighting under the name Cassius Clay) knocked out Sonny Liston to win the Heavyweight Boxing Championship for the first time. On this date in 1986, Ferdinand Marcos, wife Imelda, and Imelda's shoes, fled the Philippines, ending their dictatorial rule and allowing Corazon Aquino to replace him.
-Debuts on this date: paper money (1862), Hiram Rhodes Revels (1870, the first African American Senator, from MS), the Federal Income Tax (1913, ratified under the Sixteenth Amendment), the drive-in movie theatre (1938, in Miami), YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS (1950), "Please Please Me" (1963 U.S. release), SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR (1985), THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004).
-Happy Birthday to Pierre Auguste Renoir, Enrico Caruso, John Foster Dulles, Dame Myra Hess, Meher Baba, Bert Bell, Zeppo Marx, Gert Frobe, Jim Backus, Anthony Burgess, Bobby Riggs, Andy Pafko, Larry Gelbart, Tommy Newsom, Bob Schieffer, Tom Courtneay, Billy Packer, Ron Santo, George Harrison, Anne Beatts, Ric Flair, Neil Jordan, Cesar Cedeno, James Brown (NFL TODAY), John Doe (X), Kurt Rambis, Mike Peters, Davey Allison, Paul O'Neill, Tea Leoni, Sean Astin, Julio Iglesias Jr., Chelsea Handler, Rashida Jones, and Joakim Noah.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Mark Rothko, Tennessee Williams, James Coco, Jersey Joe Walcott, Haing S. Ngor, Darren McGavin, C. Everett Koop, Bill Paxton, Mark Hollis, and Dick Versace.
-Feed the Worms: Cult leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon entered Earth on this date. Mobster Bugs Moran and Hosni Mubarak bought it on this date.
-Talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael and Carrot Top were born on this date. Elijah Muhammad died on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays/Rest in Power or if they Feed the Worms.
-The Number One Movie In America on this date ... in 2024, BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE ... in 2014, THE LEGO MOVIE ... in 2004, 50 FIRST DATES ... in 1994, ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE ... in 1984, FOOTLOOSE ... and in 1974, THE EXORCIST.