Israel carries out strikes on southern Lebanon | The Excerpt
On Friday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Israel unleashed strikes against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon late Thursday, adding to fears of an escalation in conflict along the border. Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Aysha Bagchi discusses the latest controversial measure being considered by Georgia's Election Board. A-list celebrities gave Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris a boost Thursday night during a livestreamed town hall in the battleground state of Michigan. Paste BN Chief Political Correspondent Phillip M. Bailey discusses how Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is going after Kamala Harris' racial identity. Shohei Ohtani makes baseball history, joining the 50-50 club.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Friday, September 20th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.
Today, the latest from Lebanon as cross-border tensions with Israel continue. Plus, we take a closer look at the latest controversial measure being considered by Georgia's election board, and we discuss how Donald Trump has gone after Kamala Harris's racial identity.
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Israel's military carried out an extensive wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon late yesterday, adding to fears of a serious escalation in months of conflict along the border. The strikes come after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to take revenge on Israel, who the group accuses of orchestrating a two-day attack in Lebanon that saw Hezbollah pagers and handheld radios explode. The incidents killed more than 30 people and seriously injured thousands. Israel has not commented on the blasts. Israel did say that as part of yesterday's late operation, its jets struck hundreds of multiple rocket launcher barrels in southern Lebanon that were set to be fired immediately toward Israel. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and an ally of Hamas, has been firing near-daily missiles into Israel's territory since October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel, and Israel responded by launching a war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israeli residents of Northern Israel have since evacuated south amid Hezbollah's assaults. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways has banned pagers and two-way radios from its flights out of Beirut after the blasts. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.
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The Georgia State Election Board is set to vote on a controversial measure today that would require local precincts to conduct hand counts. I spoke with Paste BN Justice Department correspondent Aysha Bagchi to learn more. Hello, Aysha.
Aysha Bagchi:
Hi, Taylor. Good to be here.
Taylor Wilson:
Good to have you as always. So starting here, Aysha, what is this controversial measure really that the Georgia State Election Board is voting on today?
Aysha Bagchi:
The board is voting on a proposed rule that would require precincts in Georgia to conduct hand counts of all the ballots that are cast in the November election, and then make sure that the hand counts match the results of machine counts that are already set to be in place. Proponents of the rule argue that it's a good thing because it helps ensure accuracy from the machine counts, but critics say that there are a couple of risks that this type of rule could raise. One is that local officials aren't able to conduct the hand counts in time, and as a result of that, they don't meet their deadline. They have a deadline of six days after the election to certify the results, and that could hamper both the ability of the state to properly certify its results and also just public confidence in knowing the outcome of the election.
And then the other concern they have is that hand counts can be inaccurate. Human beings just aren't as good as machines at counting ballots. At least that's what critics of the rule say. So they think it introduces last minute chaos into the process when election workers are already getting started.
Taylor Wilson:
Aysha, can you just remind us who's actually on this election board? Who are we talking about here that's making these decisions?
Aysha Bagchi:
Yes, there are five members on the election board. It's a volunteer board and we will find out how the vote goes during the meeting. But there are three members who've been pushing a lot of the recent changes that we've seen that have drawn some controversy to the board. And those three members, they're all Republican members and they were praised by name by former president Donald Trump at a rally in August that caught a lot of people's attention that he knew who these individual members were. And since then they've pushed through a flurry of changes. The actual hand count rule that is being considered now was delayed a little bit because one of those members, Janelle King, actually asked for a little change to the rule to give election workers more time to complete these hand counts. And as a result of that, they had to push this proposal to a new board meeting.
But those are the three members who have really been pushing a flurry of activity coming out of the board. There is another member who's a Democrat who's opposed a lot of the recent activity. And then there's a nonpartisan member who was appointed by the Republican governor of the state who has also voiced some concern, even saying that some of the recent election changes could be unlawful.
Taylor Wilson:
As you've written about, Democrats and county election officials in Georgia sued the board earlier this year over some of its decisions. Really, what's the latest from that suit, Aysha, and might more challenges be coming in the next few weeks?
Aysha Bagchi:
Yes, that suit is really speedily getting underway. Usually lawsuits take at least months and it's not uncommon for them to take years if they go to trial, but a judge in that case is really trying to make sure that there's some sort of resolution before the November election. And basically what it's about is there have been a couple rules that impose requirements on local officials before they certify the results from their local jurisdictions in the Georgia count of the election. One of those rules requires local officials to conduct a reasonable inquiry before certifying results, but the rule doesn't tell them what a reasonable inquiry means, and another one asks them to make sure there aren't discrepancies between the number of voters and the number of ballots cast. Critics fear that it's going to delay results. Proponents have said they really want these measures in place because they think it'll help ensure accuracy and confidence in the election.
I don't know if there are going to be more lawsuits coming, but you can see a lot of hasty activity of people trying to get election rules in order before the election and get some clarity from the courts. In that particular lawsuit, Democrats really want a judge to say that local don't have discretion over whether to certify results. That's the key issue that they want a court to say, "You don't have a choice about this. This isn't just up to you." And the big concern there is that if there isn't certification, what happens to the election and what happens in that vacuum? Maybe that leaves some space for claims of election fraud and just doubt to be stewed about what happens in the election. And for a country that is already dealing with a lot of controversy about its elections, especially sparked by some claims that many audits and recounts have proven were false about who won the 2020 election, it was won by Joe Biden, there's just a lot of concern about how the upcoming election is going to be run.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. A busy upcoming few weeks on the way. Aysha Bagchi covers the Justice Department for Paste BN. Thank you, Aysha.
Aysha Bagchi:
Thanks, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
Oprah Winfrey and a list of other A-list celebrities gave Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris a boost last night in the critical battleground state of Michigan, hosting a live-streamed town hall designed to fire up her base and appeal to undecided voters. Winfrey played her familiar role of television host, but instead of The Oprah Winfrey Show, it was basically a 90-minute campaign infomercial for Harris who joined Winfrey on stage for a conversation less than 50 days before the November election. Other celebrities joined via Zoom, including actor Brian Cranston, actress Meryl Streep, and singer Jennifer Lopez. Like past Democratic presidential nominees, Harris has enjoyed the star power of Hollywood during her two-month run for president, while former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has gotten support from celebrities like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Elon Musk.
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Former president Donald Trump is taking politics in new racially charged directions, critics say. I spoke with Paste BN Chief Political Correspondent Phillip M. Bailey about how Trump is trying to weaponize Vice President Kamala Harris's racial identity and more. Phillip, thanks for making some time on this.
Phillip M. Bailey:
Taylor, how's it going?
Taylor Wilson:
Good. Thanks for hopping on today, Phillip. So I want to just start here. If you would, Phillip, just refresh us on these comments by Donald Trump at the debate earlier this month about Kamala Harris's race, and what other comments on race has he made in recent weeks? Does all this represent a shift for him or is it more of the same?
Phillip M. Bailey:
Well, not necessarily a shift, but I definitely think a different emphasis and type of focus. Let's go back at the beginning. Former President Trump was speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists about a month or so ago where he had suggested or said that Vice President Harris, who is a Black and South Asian woman, had turned Black, and that certainly got everyone in an uproar. And at the debate this month in Philadelphia, he was asked about that and he said, "Well, all I can say is that I've read that she was Black and now that she's Black, I guess that's okay." That very alarming comment for a lot of Harris supporters really, I think, strikes at the heart of a broader strategy by the Trump campaign to sort of create a wedge between the vice president and her historic campaign with African-American voters, particularly Black working-class voters in urban centers, both from a sense of the issue of immigration with the influx of migrants in those major metropolitan areas, but also trying to stab at and attack her authenticity.
Very much a continuation and very similar to the debut that Donald Trump had in our politics, going after President Barack Obama's heritage by falsely suggesting and diving into these conspiracy theories that he wasn't an American citizen and asking for a copy of his birth certificate. That birtherism really is what launched Donald Trump's political career in a lot of ways. So we're seeing a sequel of that against Harris. These tropes and suggestions, whether it be attacks on her heritage, spreading false rumors about immigrants eating Americans' pets, or migrants taking "Black jobs" according to the former president, all this is an attempt, I think, to aim these tropes... Usually they're aimed at these white working class or suburban rural voters. I think in this year's cycle, Taylor, we're seeing the Trump campaign focus it to African-American Black working class voters in urban areas. So same tropes, but being delivered to a very different audience.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, as you say, Phillip, him creating this wedge. Is that what you're hearing from experts and advocates? How do they feel about comments like these?
Phillip M. Bailey:
We had a chance to speak to a wide array of voices for this story that I did with Deborah Berry here at Paste BN. Activists, experts, and political observers do say that, look, there is an attempt here, and it may be successful in a race this close where every vote is really going to count. It's going to be very tight race here. The margins are going to matter. This type of action and this type of direction by the Trump campaign could work. I spoke to Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Work and Families Party. He says the Trump campaign and the MAGA movement as a whole, they are looking for wedges between groups and also inside of groups. We had a chance to talk to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who famously spoke at the DNC back in 2004. He is now supporting Donald Trump, who commuted his sentence a few years ago. He says, look, there is a concern about the influx of migrants into urban areas, and that "sits right at the lap" of Vice President Harris.
So these attacks, I think, mean something larger than necessarily how people often take them. Even if they take them offensively, there's a deeper meaning and purpose behind these attacks. Kilpatrick admits that, look, this is a wedge issue, as he's campaigning and helping out Donald Trump. He said, look, in the barbershop talk among working class African-Americans, they stress how migrants are putting a strain on limited resources in cities like Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, et cetera. He says, it's not as much as important maybe to black people or Black voters in law offices or who work in physician offices or law firms, but he certainly is trying to help Trump aim this messaging. As we've seen in certain spending that the Trump campaign has done in urban radio stations and other places, Kilpatrick and others I think are certainly trying to help Trump sell this point to Black working class voters in urban areas.
Taylor Wilson:
Phillip M. Bailey is Paste BN's Chief Political Correspondent. Thank you, Phillip.
Phillip M. Bailey:
No problem, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
Japanese superstar Shohei Otani made baseball history last night. The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger went six for six with three home runs, two stolen bases, and 10 runs batted in a 20-to-four win over the Miami Marlins. It was the first time Otani has had six hits in one game, and the 10 RBI is the most any player has had in one game in Dodgers history. One of his homers got him to 50 on the season too, meaning he became the first MLB player ever to hit 50 homers and get 50 stolen bases in the same season. You can take a closer look at the numbers in graphics with a link in today's show notes.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Ray Green and Kaylee Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.