Comment on Happy Birthday, Jesse Owens

Trump told many lies at last week’s debate against Vice President Kamala Harris. One, it seems increasingly clear, is the stumbling claim—meant to shore up his support of in vitro fertilization, or IVF—that he is “a leader on fertilization.” On Tuesday, Senate Republicans provided even more evidence of Trump’s lie, by voting—again—to block a floor vote on a bill that would protect IVF access nationwide.

In the week following the presidential debate, Elon Musk, Bill Ackman, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene have all tweeted in support of a thinly-sourced rumor claiming that a “whistleblower” at ABC News came forward to reveal that the event was rigged in favor of Kamala Harris. The notion has taken on increasingly farcical dimensions, with some sources claiming that the whistleblower died in a car accident soon after revealing his secrets, and others, including Ackman and Musk, circulating a typo-riddled “affidavit” from said whistleblower that is obviously not real.

In a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris was faced with a series of questions about her position on Israel’s war on Gaza, and specifically, whether her administration would see a shift in US policy. But pressed for specifics at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, Harris repeatedly declined, opting largely to stick to familiar talking points that expressed support for a two-party solution and deals to secure the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire.

Over the weekend, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to elaborate on how he would “end the migrant invasion of America.” The candidate for president—who has repeatedly vowed to conduct the largest mass deportation campaign in US history—exhumed the usual laundry list: He would “stop all migrant flights,” do away with the Biden administration’s Customs and Border Protection mobile app, and halt refugee resettlement. None of these proposals are new or surprising coming from the Trump campaign. But one part of the GOP nominee’s weekend post stood out.

By WILL WEISSERT WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris struck a measured tone, even steering clear of mentioning Donald Trump by name Tuesday in an interview with Black journalists that starkly contrasted with the former president’s own, highly contentious, recent appearance before the same group. The session with the National Association of Black Journalists was one of the few extensive sit-down interviews Harris has done since replacing President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket in July.

When you look at the data and results, there’s no other explanation.