Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

She delayed but did not avoid justice.

The state put out a bid for leather-bound Bibles with U.S. founding documents. Few, if any, such Bibles are currently for sale besides a Bible endorsed by Trump.

The state of Oklahoma wants to buy 55,000 classroom Bibles, and the request for proposals includes some specific requirements: The books must include the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. They may not include commentary. They must be leather-bound, or at least use “leather-like” material.

The Bible is the best-selling book in the world, but very few — and maybe just one — will meet these requirements. It’s backed by former president Donald Trump and retails for $60.

In March, Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, endorsed the “God Bless the USA Bible,” and he earns money from sales through a licensing agreement.

Oklahoma stirred controversy this year when Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters announced that all of the state’s public schools would be required to teach the Bible. Walters has also pushed schools to post the Ten Commandments and fought for a state-funded Catholic charter school, a move found unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Walters has called the Bible a “necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country” and has mandated that every school in the state teach it starting this year. Some school districts have said they won’t go along, and the state Supreme Court ruled this summer that decisions about content — in that case, about library books — shall be made locally. But Walters has pressed ahead, this week publishing a request for proposals to supply the state with Bibles for every Oklahoma school.

Walters has asked the state legislature for $3 million to buy Bibles, though he also has said he has $3 million already in his agency’s coffers available for buying Bibles. Purchasing 55,000 Trump-endorsed Bibles at the retail rate of $60 would cost $3.3 million.

Dan Isett, a spokesman for the state education agency, did not address whether the specifications of the notice were written to favor the Trump-endorsed version.

“Superintendent Walters has committed the agency to an open and transparent RFP process, consistent with the norms for state procurement, that will be adequate to meet the needs of Oklahoma classrooms,” Isett said in an email. “There are hundreds of Bible publishers and we expect a robust competition for this proposal.”

The requirements for the Bibles, according to bid documents, include that they be the King James version and that they have the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They must not contain “study guides, publisher narration or additional commentary.” The requirement that the books be bound by leather (or a “leather-like” material), the posting says, is for “durability,” though few if any other school books are leather-bound.

Walters has at times said the Bible should be in every classroom — and at other times said it should only be used in meeting academic standards for history or literature. Oklahoma Watch, in a story published by the Oklahoman, noted that while he is ordering 55,000 copies of the Bible, there are only 43,000 classroom teachers in the state, and only a slice of them teach history or literature.

Critics who have said Walters is inappropriately pushing Christianity into public schools now say he’s trying to line Trump’s pockets, perhaps with an eye toward a job in Trump’s administration if he wins the election in November.

“Pretty clear it’s designed to buy Trump Bibles,” state Rep. John Waldron (D) said in an interview. He said it would be a crime if the proposal was proved to have been written for a specific bidder. Regardless, he said, there are political benefits for Walters helping Trump to make money. “That buys him access on the national stage.”

Wait till you see the arrest cop body cam footage.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBaJX9h-HIQ&t=11s&ab_channel=Next9NEWS[/youtube]

MAGA Republicans are now lying about the federal response to Hurricane Helene in much the same way they lied about Haitian migrants bringing chaos and disease to Springfield, Ohio. Both disinformation efforts are flat-out lies, and both are designed to demonize immigrants. Immigration was the issue Trump was so eager to run on that he demanded Republican lawmakers reject the strong border bill a bipartisan group of lawmakers had hammered out.

The federal response to Hurricane Helene has drawn bipartisan praise, with Republican governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina thanking Biden by name for what McMaster called a “superb” response.

But on Sunday, September 29, two days after the hurricane hit, the right-wing organization started by anti-immigrant Trump loyalist Stephen Miller posted: “Billions for Ukraine. Billions for illegal aliens. And what for the Americans? Reprogram every single dollar that FEMA has dedicated to support illegal aliens to go towards Americans who are facing unprecedented devastation!”

Yesterday, in Saginaw, Michigan, Trump echoed Miller, claiming that the Biden administration is botching the hurricane response because it has spent all the money appropriated for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on “illegal immigrants.” “They spent it all on illegal migrants.… They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them,” he said. Today, he claimed that “a billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants, many of whom are criminals, to come into our country.”

Early this morning, X owner Elon Musk posted to his more than 200 million followers: “Yes, they are literally using YOUR tax dollars to import voters and disenfranchise you! It is happening right in front of your eyes. And FEMA used up its budget ferrying illegals into the country instead of saving American lives. Treason.” On Wednesday, Dana Mattioli, Joe Palazzolo, and Khadeeja Safdar of the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Musk has been financing groups with ties to Miller since 2022.

But of course, it is NOT happening in front of anyone’s eyes.

On Wednesday, Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in which FEMA is housed, told reporters that FEMA’s disaster relief fund is adequately funded for current needs. But, he warned, “extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity,” and we are not yet out of hurricane season. If another emergency hits, FEMA’s disaster relief fund will be stretched thin.

Congress also appropriated money for a different fund, the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which is part of Customs and Border Protection but is administered by FEMA. Established under the Trump administration in 2019, SSP gives grants to states and local governments to provide shelter, food, and transportation to undocumented immigrants. After Trump’s accusation, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement: “These claims are completely false. As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post did not leave the story there. “Trump has a habit of assuming other politicians act in the same way as he would,” Kessler wrote. So he looked into why Trump would have accused Biden “of raiding the FEMA disaster fund to handle undocumented migrants. It turns out that’s because he did this.”

In the middle of hurricane season in 2019, Kessler explains, Trump took $155 million from the FEMA disaster fund and redirected it to pay for detention space and temporary hearing locations for immigrants seeking asylum. “No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants,” the article title reads, “but Trump did.”

As in Springfield, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are begging MAGAs to stop the disinformation, which is keeping people from accessing the help they need and gumming up relief efforts as workers and local and state governments, as well as FEMA, have to waste time combating lies. Scammers and political extremists are making things worse by spreading AI-generated images and claiming that the federal government is ignoring the people and emergencies the images depict.

MAGA Republicans launched another major disinformation campaign today when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released another blockbuster jobs report. It showed that the country added about 254,000 jobs in September, far higher than the 140,000 jobs economists expected. It also revised the job numbers for July and August upward. The unemployment rate dropped from 4.2% in August to 4.1%, and wages have outpaced inflation.

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, wrote that the jobs report “cements my view that the economy is about as good as it gets. The economy is creating lots of jobs across many industries, consistent with robust labor force growth, and thus low and stable unemployment. The economy is at full-employment, no more and no less. Wage growth is strong, and given big productivity gains, it is consistent with low and stable inflation. One couldn’t paint a prettier picture of the job market and broader economy.”

Yet MAGA Republicans deny that the economy is strong. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) openly called the jobs report fake. And when a reporter asked Trump, “Jobs are up, the stock market hit that all-time high. Do you acknowledge that the economy is improving?” he answered: “No it’s not.”

But, apparently stung, this afternoon Trump posted on his social media site what appeared to be an announcement. After an emoji of a flashing red light, a headline read, “New: Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has endorsed Trump for President.” A representative for Dimon instantly denied such an endorsement, saying it is false. According to a spokesperson for JP Morgan, Dimon has neither contributed money nor endorsed Trump, or anyone else, in the 2024 presidential race. But Trump has not taken the post down.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian notes that Trump has admired Dimon for a long time and likely craves his support. Trump has been unable to attract major endorsements, while celebrities throw their influence behind Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz almost daily. Yesterday, musician Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris. Today, businessman and former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. endorsed her.

The firehose of lies is designed to make it impossible for voters to figure out the truth. The technique is designed so that eventually voters give up trying to engage, conclude everyone is lying, throw up their hands, and stop voting. Holding on to facts combats the effects of the storm of lies.

Finally, tonight, the X account of Trump’s team and the Republican National Committee—now run by the Trump family and loyalists—showed a clip of Biden unexpectedly entering the White House briefing room today, joking with reporters, and saying, “Welcome to the swimming pool.” Referring to “Biden (or whatever’s left of him),” the post suggested his “swimming pool” reference was a sign of mental incapacity.

In fact, the briefing room was indeed originally a swimming pool. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt added the pool to the White House in 1933 after he found swimming helped to keep him in shape after his 1921 bout with polio. Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy (who had a mural by Bernard Lamotte installed around it), and Lyndon B. Johnson used the pool frequently. Richard Nixon did not. In 1970, Nixon had the pool covered and the space converted into the White House Press Room.

Nixon ordered the change made in such a way that it could be easily undone in case he got pushback for covering up FDR’s pool, but his successor, Gerald Ford, who was an avid swimmer, largely ended the conversation when he added a new outdoor pool to the White House complex in 1975.

Biden’s reference to the press room as a swimming pool was a historical joke rather than a sign of mental incapacity. This lie deserves the same scrutiny as the other whoppers from today, though, because as Glenn Kessler accurately observed, Trump’s common pattern is projection.

US President Joe Biden took an average of 133 days off per year in office—far more than Donald Trump

These people disgust me.