#Shannon Bream

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Edwards at Raw Story:

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rebuffed Fox News host Shannon Bream on Sunday after she suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris was unqualified to lead the country. During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Bream noted that one conservative New York Times columnist had called Harris's candidacy "anti-democratic."

"That's the playbook of ruling parties in autocratic states," the Times column charged. [...] Bream argued that Harris had not received any Democratic delegates during primary voting. "The idea that somebody hasn't been tested or vetted when they have been the vice president of the United States for nearly four years just doesn't make any sense," Buttigieg disagreed. "She is in obviously one of the most visible leadership roles in the country." "And she's demonstrated both her effectiveness in that job and a vision for the country that Americans agree with," he continued. "And that's a real reason I think she's going to win, is that most Americans already agree with her on the issues that they care about the most, that affect them the most, whether we're talking about choice and her stance on defending a woman's right to choose versus Donald Trump, who eliminated a right to choose in this country."

Potential VP candidate Pete Buttigieg went on Fox News Sunday yesterday, and he masterfully pushed back on host Shannon Bream���s assertions that Kamala Harris is “unprepared” for the job.

See Also:

The Guardian: Buttigieg: Republicans calling Kamala Harris a diversity hire is ‘a bad look’

From the 07.28.2024 edition of Fox's Fox News Sunday:

[lasseling]

Fox News Host Shannon Bream: Americans Have Died Because of Biden-Harris Open Border Polices

Fox News host Shannon Bream has hammered President Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over Democrats’ open border policies.

[cherryblossomshadow]

The implied Fox narrative is that Dr. Ehrensaft is creating silly genders and then labeling kids as minotaurs or smoothies. In reality, she is describing all of the creative ways young kids and teens use to explain how they feel about their gender

First, the pervasiveness of this litter box thing is ridiculous. I think it has been debunked like a thousand times.

And the *actual* reason schools have cat litter has nothing to do with students identifying as cats.

"Columbine High School has been stocking classrooms with small amounts of cat litter since 2017, but as part of ‘go buckets’ that contain emergency supplies in case students are locked in a classroom during a shooting."

But I actually want to talk about the Tootsie Roll Pop gender thing.

They are trying to criticize a child psychologist, Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, who works at a gender clinic.

I'm sure a lot of their audience who see "gender minotaur" or "gender Tootsie Roll Pops" will completely write off this woman and claim she is a nutcase.

But conservatives and Fox News love to omit context and nuance.

Here is the document all of this stemmed from...

The implied Fox narrative is that Dr. Ehrensaft is creating silly genders and then labeling kids as minotaurs or smoothies.

In reality, she is describing all of the creative ways young kids and teens use to explain how they feel about their gender.

These kids probably don't have a lot of information or the vocabulary to express themselves in more traditional terms, so they've come up with analogies to help adults understand what they are feeling.

That doesn't seem ridiculous at all.

And I actually think these kids are quite clever.

So these conservatives are basically making fun of kids who are confused and seeking help to understand themselves.

Real classy.

And if these kids learn adults are making fun of them, they may feel embarrassed to use these communicative tools—making it that much harder for their therapists and doctors to help them.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Every editorial board must do the same. Bravo, Charlotte Observer. This is how it’s done.

+

THE PARTY TOLD YOU TO REJECT THE EVIDENCE OF YOUR EYES AND EARS. IT WAS THEIR FINAL, MOST ESSENTIAL COMMAND.

TCinLA

Oct 07, 2024

Brian Beutler described this perfectly this morning:

When Donald Trump started telling conspicuous lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, all of MAGA understood the assignment.

His supporters understood they should spread rumors or fabricate anecdotes consistent with Trump’s claims. They should portray their own confusion as government malice or incompetence. They should claim to have witnessed FEMA abandoning Republican-heavy regions and illegal immigrants walking away with relief money first hand. They should even use artificial intelligence technology to fabricate images that reinforce these lies.

Elon Musk and Trump’s other ultra-wealthy supporters understood it as their solemn duty to draw as much attention to these lies as possible.

Its also a trial run for the chaos they intend to sow through the election.

David Simon expressed disgust on behalf of many: “For the chance to gain some political advantage, the Republican nominee for U.S. president is willing to lie, and in doing so, actually impair the ongoing efforts to help the Americans made vulnerable by this hurricane. That level of sociopathy simply astonishes.”

(The old astonishing has been astonishingly surpassed by the new astonishing.)

From The Hill today:

SPEAKER JOHNSON CALLS FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HELENE ‘A MASSIVE FAILURE’

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the federal response to Hurricane Helene a “massive failure” and pointed to the hundreds of people still missing.

“At the federal level, this has been a massive failure. And you can just ask the people there on the ground. I have been there. I was in Georgia. I was in Florida, where Hurricane Helene made landfall, there on the coast. And then we’ll be going to the hardest hit parts of North Carolina on Wednesday of this week,” Johnson told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

Johnson said the federal government had advance notice of the hurricane and should have been better equipped to respond.

“When you talk to the people who are directly affected, they will tell you this has been an abject failure. FEMA has lost sight of its core mission, I think, in so many cases, and the administration has not shown that they were prepared for this, this eventuality, and this terrible disaster.

“They had more than a week’s notice of this, and yet we still have people who have not been served and even rescued,” Johnson added. “In North Carolina, it is a heartbreaking, tragic and infuriating situation to have the federal government fail, as they have well.”

The remarks come as Republicans have sharpened their attacks on the federal response to Hurricane Helene, just one month ahead of Election Day.

The federal government and other local and federal officials have fought back against claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is inept.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said recently that he was impressed with the federal response, noting North Carolina’s impact was not expected to be as severe as it was.

“For anybody who thinks that any level of government, anybody here, could have been prepared precisely for what we’re dealing with here, clearly are clueless,” Tillis said. “But right now, I’m out here to say that we’re doing a good job.”

The federal government has also sought to dispel rumors about the lack of federal funding available to residents affected by the national disaster.

FEMA has set up a designated “rumor response page” to fight misinformation and inform residents of available funding.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded to Johnson’s criticism by pointing to “a wide range of leaders in both parties and from every affected state” who “have praised the bipartisan response to Hurricane Helene.”

Bates pointed to Tillis’s remarks, as well as to comments made by other GOP officials, including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who called the federal response “superb,” and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who said he “appreciated” Biden’s offer to “call him directly” if the governor needed further assistance.

Bates also quoted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said, “This is an incredible experience for me. So, to President Biden, thank you for coming. Thank you for paying attention to our needs. We have had a good working relationship between the federal government.”

[bighermie]

MUST-SEE! Tim Walz Holds Interview on FOX News - Lies About Abortion - Shannon Bream Delivers Much Deserved Smackdown! (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

[mariacallous]

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Sunday that he does not intend to call Congress out of recess to vote on emergency funding for federal agencies assisting in Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Johnson told Fox News Sunday's Shannon Bream that lawmakers will be "back in session immediately after the election" to provide any funding needs for states hit hardest by the Category 4 storm that made its way through the southeastern United States late last month.

"That's 30 days from now," the Republican leader said. "The thing about these hurricanes and disasters at this magnitude is it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and the states are going to need some time to do that."

A handful of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have asked Congress to return to Washington, D.C., before November 5 to vote on additional aid packages for Helene victims. Florida Senator Rick Scott, a Republican, said in a statement last Monday that his state is "resilient, but the response and recovery from this storm demands the full and immediate support of government at every level to get families and businesses back to normal."

Democratic Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz has also said he would support ending recess early to pass emergency funding.

"Congress must show that it can still deliver for the American people in their hour of greatest need," the lawmaker wrote in a statement on September 30.

The White House has asked lawmakers to pass additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies tasked with assisting communities devastated by Helene. In a letter to congressional leadership on Friday, President Joe Biden specifically requested funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA), which he said will run out of money before lawmakers return to session as it supports small business owners recovering from the storm.

Biden did not explicitly call for lawmakers to return from recess early in order to meet the emergency funding needs.

Johnson said on Sunday that "Congress will provide" and called it "an appropriate role for the federal government" to assist in disaster relief efforts.

"You'll have bipartisan support for that, and it will all happen in due time, and we'll get that job done," he added.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that FEMA can meet the immediate needs of Helene relief but that the agency is being stretched thin, noting that another hurricane is expected to hit western Florida sometime next week. Biden wrote in his letter on Friday to Congress that while FEMA's "Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year."

"Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs," the president wrote. "The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term."

Some Republicans have blamed the Biden-Harris administration for FEMA's shortfalls, claiming that the agency has diverted millions of dollars for services for migrants in the U.S. Federal officials have adamantly denied such claims, noting that the funding distributed by FEMA for migrant services does not come from the agency's budget for disaster relief.

Johnson said on Sunday that while the "streams of funding are different" under FEMA, he accused the agency of losing "sight of its core mission."

"What the American people see, and what they're frustrated by, is that FEMA should be involved," the House speaker said. "Their mission is to help people in times like this of natural disaster, not to be engaged in using any pool of funding from any account for resettling illegal aliens who have come across the border."

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Newsweek via email on Sunday that "a wide range of leaders in both parties and from every affected state have praised the bipartisan response to Hurricane Helene." Republican governors from several hard-hit states have thanked the federal government's response to Helene, including South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who said at a press conference last Tuesday that federal assistance had "been superb."

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also said at a press conference last week that he is "incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and the cooperation from the federal team at FEMA." He also thanked Biden and Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine "for their support and continued coordination to provide assistance to Virginians in need" in a statement last Sunday.

Prior to heading to recess, Congress passed $20 billion for FEMA's disaster relief funding as part of a stopgap measure intended to fund the federal government until December. The agency, however, had requested a need for $33.1 billion in the new fiscal year, which began on October 1.

The stopgap measure was passed in the House with a 341-82 vote and in the Senate with a 78-18 vote. All no votes came from Republican members in both chambers.

Debates over hurricane relief efforts come just weeks before voters will cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election on November 5. As Republican strategist John Feehery told The New York Times in a report published Friday, the issue of disaster relief funding has often become a political debate, especially so close to a tight election.

"It's simply too risky for Republicans to bring back members to vote on a package of spending that they haven't even seen yet, right before the election," Feehery said. "A partisan fight would be a disaster, but a bipartisan spendathon could deflate the base."

According to the Associated Press, the death toll from Helene has reached 227 as of Saturday across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas. It is the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katria in 2005.

[darkmaga-returns]

In an interview with Fox News Sunday’s Shannon Bream, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz found himself in the hot seat over his stance on free speech, particularly regarding so-called “misinformation” and “hate speech.” Walz, who has previously expressed a desire to limit certain forms of expression, gave an evasive and meandering response when asked to clarify his position.

Walz’s comments have been the subject of concern, especially following his assertion that “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech” if he and Kamala Harris win the upcoming election.

[futileexercise]

👏 to Fox News, surprisingly.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sanjana Karanth at HuffPost:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz skillfully combated right-wing talking points about reproductive rights on Sunday, calling them “a distraction” from the reality of women’s health care declining as a result of restrictive anti-abortion policies.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate spoke with host Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” as part of the ticket’s broader media blitz one month before the election. In addition to issues like the Middle East conflict, the economy and his surface-level misstatements, Bream grilled Walz on his stance regarding abortion rights. The governor stood his ground in defense of a Minnesota law he signed that codifies abortion protections ― a law that Bream argued is more lenient than what Roe v. Wade concluded. Walz said the law is in alignment with all care that physicians provide “in any circumstance for any medical case.” “This is a distraction from the real issue here, is women being forced into miscarriages, women being forced to go back home, get sepsis, potentially die like we saw in cases in Texas, and maternal mortality rates in Texas have skyrocketed off the charts because of this,” he continued. “This is bad policy.”

Appearing on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream yesterday, Kamala VP choice and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) masterfully pushed back on the right’s inane talking points on abortion.

From the 10.06.2024 edition of Fox's Fox News Sunday:

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

After The White House and Republicans in Congress reached a tentative agreement on the debt ceiling, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy went on Fox News Sunday to boast about making struggling Americans work in order to continue receiving food aid.

Although precise details have not been released, the deal will increase the maximum age at which adults must work in order to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps from age 50 to 54. There are exceptions, however, for veterans, unhoused individuals, and those with dependents. The deal also includes changes to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) but those details have not been made public.

“We finally were able to cut spending. We’re the first Congress to vote for cutting spending year over year,” McCarthy boasted Sunday on Fox. “So, you cut that back. You fully fund the veterans. You fully fund defense. But you take that non-defense spending all the way back to 2022 levels. Now you get work requirements for TANF and SNAP. The Democrats said that was a red line.”

At another point in the interview, McCarthy claimed that “We’re going to get America working again,” and that the deal includes “work requirements to help people out of poverty into jobs.” At this, host Shannon Bream pushed back on McCarthy, arguing that the work requirements are not tough enough for the most extreme members of the GOP caucus.

"We're gonna get America working again … When Republicans had the Presidency, the Senate and the House, did they ever cut spending? No, they increased it."

“The White House, that’s an area where they’re celebrating,” Bream said of the work requirements. “They say there are no changes to Medicaid. You referenced SNAP and TANF. So basically, SNAP includes an expansion for veterans and people who are homeless. So there’s an expansion there to some extent… and the changes that you did get will lift the age and the requirements and those kinds of things, but they sunset. So they don’t last for very long.”

It should be noted, though, that the vast majority of Americans are working. Unemployment remains extremely low at 3.4% as of this April.

McCarthy also bragged about cutting funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “This is the largest recision in American history,” McCarthy said. “You can add up all the recisions from all the other Congresses. This is greater. And what are we pulling back? CDC’s Global Health Fund. So no longer are we sending $400 million of American taxpayers’ money to China.”

According to the CDC, the Global Health Fund supports HIV/AIDS prevention and care, immunizations, and global disease detection and emergency response. On the heels of a global pandemic, cutting this funding seems dangerous, but after seeing their response to COVID, it’s not surprising that Republicans in Congress don’t take global health seriously.

Returning to the topic of work requirements, McCarthy said, “At the end of the day, it saves more money, ’cause what does a work requirement do? It’s only on able-bodied people with no dependents. Instead of borrowing money from China to pay somebody to sit on the couch, we now give them the process to go get a job. Every study has shown when you do that, it puts people to work. And when they work, what happens? More people are paying into social security and Medicare.”

Sure, it may “save” some money in food aid, but at what cost?

[sjerzgirl]

Even Fox is saying Biden was strong in NC, that he was sick during the debate. Hang in there, people. We can fix things after Jan 20 if need be. But we HAVE to get there first.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Additional thoughts on Justice Alito’s display of Stop the Steal flag after January 6 insurrection

The righteous indignation over Justice Alito’s display of the Stop the Steal flag days after the January 6 insurrection is increasing. Two additional pieces of information that compounded Alito’s traitorous behavior emerged on Friday.

First, Alito contacted Shannon Bream of Fox News to offer a more detailed “defense” of the display of the Stop the Steal flag. That defense amounts to “a neighbor posted a “F*** Trump yardsign, so we posted a flag supporting insurrection after the bloody assault on the US Capitol.” The explanation is offensive and absurd. But even if it were not ludicrous, Justice Alito is bound by the Supreme Court Code of Ethics that prohibits any political display by justices—much less a call for insurrection.

Moreover, Alito’s expanded explanation did not attempt to disassociate himself from the message conveyed by the Stop the Steal flag. He did not condemn the Stop the Steal movement. He did not apologize to the American people.

Finally, Shannon Bream is a social friend of Mrs. Alito (see picture) and is a news host for a network that supported the overthrow of the US Constitution. See NPR (2/28/23) Under oath, Murdoch concedes Fox stars 'endorsed' lies about 2020 election. If Justice Alito was genuinely interested in clearing up the matter, he should not have given his exclusive interview to a co-conspirator in the insurrection.

More ominously, a 2021 interview with former Trump attorney Sidney Powell explains that the coup plotters planned to delay the count of the electoral ballots and then file an emergency motion for a stay with Justice Alito. See Ron Filipkowski on Twitter and embedded video.

If Alito was an active supporter of the “Stop the Steal movement” in January 2021—as his display of the Stop the Steal flag indicates—the coup plotters came within hours of having Justice Alito issue a temporary injunction against counting the electoral ballots. As Sidney Powell explained, the coup plotters’ plan was foiled only because Nancy Pelosi insisted that the House go back into session immediately upon the restoration of order in the Capitol.

The facts create a strong inference that Justice Alito was an integral part of the coup attempt—witting or unwitting. He must recuse himself from Trump-related matters. Failing that, Justice Roberts must refer Alito’s conduct to the Judicial Conference for investigation. Justice Roberts must issue a public statement calling on Justice Alito to recuse himself. And Congress should begin an impeachment inquiry.

Justice Alito could clear up this matter if wanted. He could offer to testify before Congress. He could sit for an interview with the FBI. But giving an exclusive interview to a family friend who reports for Fox news isn’t the way to restore the faith of the American people in a Court that appears to have been “in” on the plot to throw the election to Trump—at least with respect to Alito and Thomas.

Justice Alito created the appearance of impropriety; if neither he nor John Roberts will remove the stain from the Court, Congress should act.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[bighermie]

Trump Attorney General William Barr Reveals He Had Intimate Knowledge of Biden Ukraine FD-1023 Investigation in Summer 2020; Failed to Tell American People Joe Biden Was Credibly Accused of Taking $5 Million Foreign Bribe as Vice President | The Gateway Pundit | by Kristinn Taylor | 30

[pennsyltuckyheathen]

Graham lies about Democrats and others who support abortion rights saying they want to kill babies.  Such trash talk.  Expect all the Republicans to start trotting out all kinds of lies to deceive and divide Americans.