I completed a few more pages with stamps from Japan for my ‘world travels’ album.
Monday/ stamps from Japan 🇯🇵
I bought these sheets of stamps at the post office museum shop high up in Skytree tower in Tokyo in 2018.
These pages will go into my ‘World Travels’ stamp album.
Friday/ a book on railway stamps 🤗
Although stamps for railway parcels and newspapers have been in use in this country for over a century, they have received scant attention from philatelists.
— From the preface to the book ‘Railway Stamps of South Africa’, published by The Philatelic Federation of Southern Africa in 1985.
My spectacular* book about South Africa’s railway stamps arrived today (from South Africa, of course).
*Spectacular, because almost none of the information in it is available online, nor in any of the standard stamp catalogues.
The Central South African Railways (CSAR) was (from 1902 to 1910) the operator of public railways in the Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony.
At unification of the four colonies into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the unified rail network was named and operated as South African Railways.
The ‘Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatskappij’ (South African Railway Company) was established in 1887. The company was based in Amsterdam and Pretoria, and operated in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic) during the late 19th century.
Abbreviations on the stamps:
C.T.R.—Cape Town Railways;
N.G.R.—Natal Government Railways;
C.G.R.—Cape Government Railways;
S.A.R.—South African Railways;
Z.A.S.M.—Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatskappij.
The first bilingual stamp sheets were printed in 1929 with alternate Afrikaans stamps (S.A.S. for Suid-Afrikaanse Spoorweë) and English stamps (S.A.R.).
Middle of the page: the pair of bright turquoise stamps are “bantam” stamps: half-sized stamps printed during World War II, when paper supplies were limited.
Bottom row: In Feb. 1961, the South African rand was introduced as currency (one hundred cents to a rand). The denominations on the post-1961 stamps were no longer part of the main design of the stamp, but overprinted in black ink.
Sweet! No more blood, sweat and tears for me to figure out the station names for the abbreviations printed on the stamps.
Wednesday/ tennis in Marrakech 🎾
The clay court season (April to June) in men’s tennis has started with ATP 250 tournaments (smaller tournaments) this week in Houston, Texas, in Bucharest, Romania, and in Marrakech, Morocco.
Here is Nuno Borges (28, 🇵🇹) being interviewed after beating the Belgian Raphaël Collignon (23, 🇧🇪) in a closely fought match on the red clay in Marrakech. It ended in a third set tie-break in which Borges iced out Collignon 7-0, though.
Afterwards the announcer addressed the remaining spectators in French.
A bit of history [from Wikipedia]: The French conquest of Morocco began with the French Republic occupying the city of Oujda on 29 March 1907. The French launched campaigns against the Sultanate of Morocco which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Fes and establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco on 30 March 1912.
There is a 1977 song by Mike Batt, The Ride to Agadir, from the album Schizophonia, about the Rif War— an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber (Amazigh) tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.
I must have played The Ride to Agadir a hundred times or more, while driving in my car in the late 80s and early 90s.
Lyrics: The Ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
In the dry winds of summer
We were sharpening the blades
We were riding to act upon the promise we had made
With the fist and the dagger
With the rifle and the lance
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
Though they were waiting
And they were fifty to our ten
They were easily outnumbered by a smaller force of men
As the darkness was falling
They were soon to realize
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
Sunday/ more revenue stamps 🪙
Here are the three sets of South African revenue stamps that followed on to the two sets that I had posted about earlier in March.
The last of South Africa’s revenue stamps were issued in 2008.
The use of revenue stamps on contracts and other legal documents was discontinued in March of 2009.
Tuesday/ revenue stamps 💷
Revenue stamps are stamps used to designate collected taxes and fees. They are issued by governments, national and local, and by official bodies of various kinds. They take many forms and may be gummed and ungummed, perforated or imperforate, printed or embossed, and of any size.
[From Wikipedia]
A little background first:
South Africa was officially the Union of South Africa until May 31, 1961, when it gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of South Africa. The currency system for the Union of South Africa was changed a few months prior, on Feb. 14, 1961.
On this day, the South African pound was replaced by the rand at a rate of one £SA = two Rand.
My sets of revenue stamps from South Africa for the periods 1954-60 (when it was still the Union of South Africa) and 1961-68 (the Republic of South Africa) are almost complete.
(Several other sets of revenue stamps were issued, but South Africa stopped using revenue stamps altogether in 2009).
Revenue stamps are similar to the postage stamps issued in South Africa during this time: printed on watermarked and gummed paper sheets, perforated and with increasing denominations in the set.
A big difference:
the highest denomination for a postage stamp issued for the time was
10 shillings (1954-60) or
R1 (1961-68),
while the highest denomination of a revenue stamp issued for the same period was
£100 (1954-60)— 200 times more, or
R200 (1961-68)— also 200 times more !
A reminder: in the old British currency system (and in South Africa’s), there were 12 pennies to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound.
Then I realized they are conversions of the penny, shilling and SA pound denominations from the 1954-60 set of revenue stamps into Rand:
R 1.25 for 12 shillings 6 pence,
R 1.50 for 15 shillings,
R2 for 1 pound, and
R4 for 2 pounds.
At the bottom is the Latin phrase EX UNITATE VIRES, formerly used as the national motto of South Africa. It was originally translated as “Union is Strength” but was later revised in 1961 to mean “Unity is Strength”.
Finally, right below the UNITATE is a tiny 57 printed in green, the year of issue of this particular stamp (1957).
Monday/ perfins 📌
A perfin is a stamp that has a name or initials perforated into it.
The word “perfin” is short for “perforated initials” or “perforated insignia”.
Perfins are used to prevent theft and control how the stamp is used for mail.
How are perfins created?
Individuals, organizations, or government agencies add perfins to stamps after the production process.
The holes are punched into the stamp’s design to create a pattern.
Source: Google Search Labs/ AI Overview
The U.S. stamp bottom left is also pre-cancelled. Pre-cancelled stamps were used for mass-mailings, making it unnecessary for the post office to cancel them, and expediting their processing.
1961 First Definitive Issue (New Design), South Africa
Issued Jan. 20, 1969
Perf. 13½x14 |Phosphor frame |Wmk. RSA tête-bêche
SACC282 |1c |Rose-red & sepia |Coral Tree Flowers (Erythina lysistemon)
Perfin initials “D.C.”
1982 Fourth Definitive Issue (Architecture), South Africa
Issued Jul. 15, 1982
Perf. 14 |Design: A.H. Barrett |Engraving: Arthur Howard Barrett |Litho. |Phosphorized paper |No Wmk
SACC524 |10c |Carmine brown |Pietermaritzburg Town Hall
Perfin insignia “C C C” (or possibly “V V V”)
1923 United States of America (U.S. Presidents and prominent Americans)
Issued Jan. 15, 1923
Perf. 11×10½ |No Wmk
Scott 562 A165|10c |Orange |James Monroe (5th U.S. President)
Perfin insignia “WFH”
Pre-cancelled “Chicago IL”
[Sources: stampworld, South African Colour Catalogue 2023-25, Scott 2003 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]
Wednesday/ Danish stamps, the last 🇩🇰
Here is the final installment of the batch of Danish stamps on my envelope!
1983 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Poet N.F.S. Grundtvig
Issued Nov. 3, 1983
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No watermark
747 A232 2.5Kr Brown red | N.F.S. Grundtvig, Poet
1987 The 100th Anniversary of the Danish Cooperative Bacon Factories
Issued Jun. 18, 1987
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Bente Olesen Nystrom | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No watermark
841 A289 3.80Kr Multicolored | Domesticated pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus)
1992 EUROPA Stamps – The 500th Anniversary of the Discovery of America
Issued May 7, 1992
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Niels Winkel | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. | Engraving: Martin Mörch | No watermark
959 A342 3.50Kr Brown & green | Potato plant* (Solanum tuberosum)
*I’m not 100% sure why the potato is significant to this anniversary. The first permanent potato patches on US soil were established in 1719 near Londonderry, New Hampshire by Scotch-Irish immigrants.
1989 Nordic Cooperation Issue
Issued Apr. 20, 1989
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchhammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark
868 A312 3.20Kr Multicolored | Woman from Valby
1984 “Plant a Tree” Campaign
Issued Jan. 26, 1984
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Tage Stentoft | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr.|Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark
749 A234 2.70Kr Red & green | Shovel and sapling
1982 The 500th Anniversary of the University Library
Issued Nov. 4, 1982
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Lisbeth Gasparski | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark
731 A221 2.70Kr Multicolored | Library Seal
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
1986 The 400th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Sorø Academy
Issued Apr. 28, 1986
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
816 A269 2.80Kr Multicolored | Sorø Academy and Heraldry
1981 EUROPA Stamps – Folklore
Issued May 4, 1981
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Palle Pio | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
680 A208 1.60Kr Brown red | Tilting at a Barrel on Shrovetide
1985 The 300th Anniversary of the German and French Reform Church in Denmark
Issued Jan. 24, 1985
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Mads Stage | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
769 A249 2.80Kr Magenta | Reformed Church (Reformert Kirke) in Copenhagen
1982 EUROPA Stamps – Historic Events
Issued May 3, 1982
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
723 A215 2.00Kr Magenta | Abolition of Adcsription*
*Adscription means the state of being added, bound, or annexed.
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Tuesday/ more stamps from Denmark 🇩🇰
1983 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Painter C.W. Eckersberg
Issued Nov. 3, 1983
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchhammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark
748 A233 2.50Kr Brown red | Street scene by C.W. Eckersberg
1983 EUROPA Stamps – Inventions
Issued May 5, 1983
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Lars Klint | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
739 A227 3.50Kr Blue/ greenish blue | Proposal for Øresund Bridge, across Øresund strait to Sweden (the Sound)*
*Ideas for a fixed link across the Øresund strait were advanced as early as the first decade of the 20th century. Almost a century later, a cable-stayed bridge was finally constructed (from 1995-1999), opening in Jul. 2000.
1985 United Nations Decade for Women
Issued Jun. 27, 1985
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Hans Bendix | Issued in sheets of 50 | Lithography & Engraving |Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark
779 A257 3.80Kr Multicolored | Cyclist
1983 Nordic Cooperation Issue
Issued Mar. 24, 1983
Perf. 12¾ | Design: C. Achton Friis | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark
735 A225 2.50Kr Brown & red | Egeskov Castle (opened 1554), Kværndrup, Denmark
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Monday/ stamps from Denmark 🇩🇰
The Ebay seller in Denmark that mailed my latest acquisition of South African stamps, pasted a whole mini-collection of Danish stamps on the envelope.
Here are the first ones.
I will post more tomorrow.
1950 Wavy Lines Stamp (Redesigned)
Issued Sep. 21, 1950
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Johannes Britze & Julius Møller | Issued in sheets of 100 | Engraving: H. H. Thiele, Copenhagen | No Watermark
318 A32 10 Øre Green | Redesign of the original 1905 stamps*
*These “Wavy Lines” stamps are the oldest stamp series in Denmark still in production, and second oldest in the world after Norway’s “Post Horn” stamps.
History of the Wavy Lines stamp
A public competition was held in 1902 to find a new stamp design that was simple to understand and easy to print.
Architect Julius Therchilsen came up with the winning design.
Most of the elements in his design were derived from the Danish coat of arms: the lions, crown and hearts. Three broken wavy lines on the stamp represent the three main waterways in Denmark.
Printing of the new stamps began in 1905 by H.H Thieles bogtrykkeri in Copenhagen with the 2, 3 and 4 øre stamps. These were made using the letterpress method. The stamps were very popular and were reissued over the years in increasing values and varying colours, to keep up with inflation.
Source: stamps.mybalconyjungle.com
1982 EUROPA Stamps – Historic Events
Issued May 3, 1982
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No watermark
724 A215 2.7Kr Blue | Women’s Suffrage 1915*
*Women in Denmark gained the right to vote on 5 June 1915.
1989 Tourism Industry
Issued Feb. 16, 1989
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Ponsaing | Issued in sheets of 100 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No watermark
865 A309 3.20Kr Dark green | The Little Mermaid, sculpture by Edvard Eriksen
1988 Individual Speedway World Motorcycle Championship in Denmark
Issued Jun. 16, 1988
Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jørn Fabricius | Issued in sheets of 50 | Lithography | No watermark
856 A302 4.10Kr Multicolored | Motorcyclists at Vojens Speedway Center
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Thursday/ Oh Canada 🍁
These stamps from Canada were on an envelope that had arrived from an Ebay seller.
Issued Apr. 28, 1965
Perf. 12 | Recess printing | No watermark
981 441 5c Red-brown, deep bluish-green and mauve | Prairie Crocus and Arms of Manitoba
[Source: 1997 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, Part 1 British Commonwealth, stampworld.com]
Issued May 29, 1980
Perf. 12½ | Litho printing by Ashton Potter | No watermark
979 440 17c Gold and ultramarine | “Helping hand”
[Source: 1997 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, Part 1 British Commonwealth, stampworld.com]
Issued Jun. 6, 1980
Perf. 12½ | Litho printing by Ashton Potter | No watermark
981 441 17c Multicolored | Calixa Lavallee (Composer), Adolphe-Basile Routhier (Original Writer) and Robert Stanley Weir (writer of English Version)
[Source: 1997 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, Part 1 British Commonwealth, stampworld.com]
Perf. 13×12½ | Se-tenant pair, part of a strip of four | Raymond Bellemare Engraving: British American Bank Note Company, Ottawa | No watermark
1015 454 17c Multicolored | Canada in 1905
1015 454 17c Multicolored | Canada since 1949
[Source: 1997 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, Part 1 British Commonwealth, stampworld.com]
Issued Oct. 19, 2010
Perf. 13×13¼ | Issued in souvenir sheet of 5 |Keith Martin Engraving: Cie canadienne des billets de banque | No watermark
2623 7c Multicolored | Large Milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus)
2625 9c Multicolored | Dogbane Beetle (Chrysocus auratus)
[Source: stampworld.com]
Saturday/ on the Harvard campus 🎓
Here are a few pictures from in and around Harvard Square and Harvard’s campus.
Monday/ Veterans Day 🎖️
Happy Veterans Day to all military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
Issue Date: October 13, 1990
City: Abilene, KS
Quantity: 142,692,000
Printed By: American Bank Note Company
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 11
Color: Multicolored
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s official presidential portrait is featured on this stamp honoring the 100th anniversary of his birth.
The background pictures him overseeing his troops in his capacity as five-star general.
A circlet of five stars distinguishes that title.
[Source: mysticstamp.com]
Saturday/ unity makes strength 🪙
It was November of 1899 in colonial Africa— in what is called South Africa today.
The Second Boer War had already started, on October 11.
The British government had rejected an ultimatum issued by the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.
The republics had demanded the withdrawal of British troops from their borders, primarily due to growing tensions caused by the discovery of gold in the Transvaal (Johannesburg today) and the influx of British “Uitlander” (foreigner) miners who were denied political rights by the Boer government.
The mint, where the republics produced gold coins for 1899, soon learned that the Kruger Pound dies for the 1899 coins were intercepted by the British in then-Lourenzo Marques in Mozambique (Maputo, today).
On the 2nd day of November 1899 at 10.30am, a single figure 9 was stamped at the bottom of the President’s bust on an 1898 coin, slightly overlapping the design. The coin is known today as ‘the single nine counterstamp’ or simply the ‘Single 9’, and is South Africa’s only one-of-a-kind coin.
Republic gold “9” Pond 1898 MS63 Prooflike NGC, Pretoria mint, KM-Unl., Hern-ZP6.
The indisputable ‘unicorn coin’ in the entire South African series, the “Single 9 Overstamp” 1898 Pond remains unchallenged in its exclusive solitude. A distinct variant of the 130-piece “99” Pond issue, the “Single 9” Pond reportedly changed hands in a private sale in 2010, for a value documented as “multi-million Rand” by Hern. Other industry sources detail a more precise figure of ZAR 20,000,000, which was the equivalent of US$ 2,700,000 at the average 2010 exchange rate. Possibly selected as the candidate for the overstamping for its gleaming ‘Prooflike’ appearance, this rarified treasure has been the prime target of South African experts for over a century.
Translation: ‘Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek’ is ‘South African Republic’ (an area north of the Vaal River and south of the Limpopo River and not to be confused with ‘Republic of South Africa’, which is all of modern-day South Africa and which came about only in May 1961, after the Union of South Africa gained its independence from Great Britain).
The figure on the coin is President Paul Kruger, the leading figure in the movement to restore the South African Republic’s independence, culminating in the Boers’ victory in the First Boer War of 1880–1881. Kruger served until 1883 as a member of an executive triumvirate, then was elected President of the South African Republic.
*In absolute dollar terms. When adjusted for inflation, the early 1980s is still the peak for gold, at some $3,200 per ounce in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Translation: ‘Eendragt Maakt Mag’ means ‘Unity makes strength’.
Wednesday/ mail from Maryland 🇺🇸
There was mail from Maryland in my mailbox today.
The cancellation says that ‘As in past elections, the USPS is ready. If you choose to vote by mail, please mail early.’
(Early voting has started in some states, and here in Washington State we will get our mail-in ballots by Friday, or by early next week).
Let’s check out the stamps.
Issued Nov. 18, 1999
Perf. 11½| Offset, Intaglio printing | Wmk. None
No 3321| 33c| Multi-colored | 1970s Fashion
1984 Horace Moses
Issued Aug. 6, 1984
Perf. 11 |Engraved printing (combination press) |Wmk. None
No 1845| 20c| Orange & dark brown | Junior Achievement founder, Horace Moses
[Sources: stampworld.com, mysticstamp.com]
Wednesday/ US stamps 🇺🇸
These stamps from the USA landed in my mailbox (on an envelope from an Ebay seller that I had bought stamps from).
Issued Aug. 28, 1987
Perf. 10 hor. on 1 or 2 sides Photogravure
Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120
2355 A1720 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1721 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1722 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1723 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
[Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]
Issued Oct. 23, 1993
Perf. 11 Litho. & Engr.
Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120
2787 A2126 29c |Multi-colored |The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*
2785 A2124 29c |Multi-colored |Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm**
[Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. [From Wikipedia]
**Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. {From Wikipedia]
Wednesday 🖤
The years are rolling by, and it has now been 23 years since the terrorist attacks that had claimed the lives of some 3,000 people in New York City, Shanksville (in Pennsylvania), and at the Pentagon.
Thursday/ free at last 😘
This is wonderful news.
That is Evan Gershkovich to the left of President Biden, hugging his mother Ella Milman. The prisoner swap with Russia ultimately involved 24 detainees and 7 countries.
From CNN online:
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva have landed in the United States, following a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West. The returnees were greeted with tears and embraces by their joyous families at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were also on the tarmac to welcome them after their plane touched down about 20 minutes before midnight on Thursday.
Monday/ it’s hard to stop 🛑
.. being President of the United States*— or to collect stamps.
*President Biden sent a cease-and-desist letter of sorts to House Democrats today, telling them to support him in the election.
In the mean time it’s Christmas in July for me, because my latest two purchases from the UK landed on my porch today.
(Obsolete: printed barcodes without the sending city or town’s name on the label, are used nowadays).
I am still deciding if some of them will make it into one of my stamp albums.
Look for the label VERWOERD- BURG 1 at the bottom of the picture.
Verwoerdburg in Gauteng Province, now goes by Centurion. It was named for H.F. Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa widely seen as the architect of apartheid. Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966.
Then there is TECOMA— not to be confused with Tacoma, Washington State 😁— a post office in East London, Eastern Cape Province, that has been permanently shuttered.
I have almost all of these already, but some in my album are used stamps with heavy cancellation marks, and I can add a few control blocks to my collection (four stamps with the margins from the original printed sheet).
Saturday/ 9 days, and still a crisis 🚨
I watched the much-anticipated George Stephanopoulos interview with President Biden, and thought: no, that won’t do it.
To the question “Did you ever watch the debate afterwards?” Biden’s answer was, “I don’t think I did, no.”
About getting out of the race, Biden offered “If the Lord Almighty came down and said: ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race”. That does not do it for me, either.
This piece ends with the following:
The House returns to Washington on Monday, and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) is looking to rally fellow senators to call for a change. Multiple people publicly vouching for Biden, at the behest of the White House and campaign, privately say there’s no path.
His family is still with him. The race is still single digits. And Biden remains hopeful. As he likes to say, America can do anything if its people work together — “There’s not a single thing we can’t do.”
But in private, people around him have detected some shift. He admits the danger now, can sound more somber at times.
One person who spoke to him over the Fourth of July holiday said, “I think he is focused on recovering, but I personally think he’s still in the denial phase of grief.”