Category: Politics

Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves.

The vice presidential debate between candidates Kamala Harris (Democrat) and Mike Pence (Republican) took place in Salt Lake City, Utah tonight.

There was a fly that made itself comfortable in Mike Pence’s hair for a good 4 minutes, and screenshots made the rounds on Twitter  (naturally).

Only four weeks remain until The Election of a Lifetime on Tuesday, Nov 3.
Polling done after that disastrous debate, shows that candidate Joe Biden had widened his lead over Trump in the national polls. (Trump’s positive Covid test and the drama of the last few days have not been factored in).
Biden also holds sizable leads in most of the swing states, and is at a statistical draw in Florida (come on, Florida – don’t vote for Trump!).

It was a gray Sunday, with just a little bit of sunshine coming late in the day.
I walked down to the Pike/Pine corridor to check on the freshly repainted Black Lives Matter artwork on the street.

P.S. It’s impossible to know how seriously ill Trump is. One of the doctors ducked and sidestepped questions about the president’s condition. Trump said he’s doing well, but his chief of staff (Mark Meadows) said he was not. So far Trump has gotten oxygen and remdesivir and antibodies .. were all these necessary, or just given as a precaution? Trump even went for a jolly ride today in The Beast, around the hospital, to wave at his supporters gathered there. Did he care that the Secret Service or other staff might get infected by him? Of course not.

October surprise
noun
(United States) any political event orchestrated (or apparently orchestrated) in the month before an election, in the hopes of affecting the outcome.
“even the much-vaunted October surprise might fail to move the race in one direction or another”

It was still 1st of October here on the West Coast, when Trump tweeted that he and wife Melania had tested positive for Covid-19.  They may have gotten it from aide Hope Hicks, who came down with mild symptoms on Wednesday and then tested positive.

Trump has to cancel his campaign rallies for now, and the two remaining presidential debates will probably be cancelled as well.

And if Trump gets sick? Under the 25th Amendment, a medically incapacitated president has the option of temporarily transferring power to the vice president and can reclaim his authority whenever he deems himself fit for duty.

A little history from the New York Times:
Four presidents have died in office of natural causes: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt, while Wilson endured a debilitating stroke and Dwight D. Eisenhower had a heart attack in his first term and a stroke in his second.
Four others were assassinated while in office: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

I was spared from watching Trump and Biden ‘debate’ tonight (I play socially distanced tennis on Tuesday nights). Lucky me. The highlights (lowlights, really) were available, and discussed afterwards, of course.

Once again, Trump would not disavow white supremacist groups, specifically the Proud Boys: a far-right and neo-fascist organization.
‘Stand back and stand by‘, said Trump. The Proud Boys celebrated their mention at the debate afterwards.

Here is the New York Times’s six takeaways from the debate:
—Trump trampled over everything.
—Biden, at his strongest, pivoted to the camera — and away from Trump.
—Trump still wants to wear the outsider mantle.
—Trump would not condemn white supremacy, or urge his supporters to stay calm.
—Trump did little to address the gender gap (women support Biden far more than they do Trump).
—Biden rebuffed the leftist label that Trump tried to pin on him.

From the Washington Post Editorial Board:

IT WOULD have been unthinkable, not long ago, for a White House to have to issue such a clarification. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany averred Thursday that President Trump “will accept the results of a free and fair election.” Ms. McEnany was not rebutting some kind of fevered left-wing conspiracy theory but the president’s own words. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday when asked whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” he said.

Sadly, there’s a limit to how much reassurance Ms. McEnany can provide. Mr. Trump will reserve to himself the right to determine whether the election is “free and fair,” and he has already said the only way he could lose is through fraud. Mr. Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr have pre-spun the results by fanning conspiracy theories about mail-in ballots. “Get rid of the ballots” means curbing the mail-in voting that large numbers of Democrats say they will use this year.

There’s a touch, but only a touch, more reassurance to be had from the mild condemnations that Republicans issued following the president’s antidemocratic statement. There is some comfort in the fact that they said anything at all; such things are not guaranteed these days. But it is easy for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to say that “the winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.” It may take more gumption for them to do the right thing after their president has spun a narrative of massive electoral fraud.

The most distinct danger, in other words, is not that Mr. Trump will refuse to cede power after unambiguously losing. It is plausible he will lead in key states on the evening of Nov. 3, based on an advantage in in-person voting — and that his lead will then diminish or disappear as mailed ballots are counted. If he falsely portrays the shift or the delay as scandalous, will Republicans stand up for democracy and the truth? Or will they support him as he seeks to do what he has openly said he intends — to “get rid of the ballots”?

A president with a modicum of decency would seek to reduce national tensions and assure Americans that the government is working to ensure that every American has a fair opportunity to vote. During a pandemic, that would mean acknowledging that many more Americans will want to vote by mail, which was not controversial until Mr. Trump decided it might hurt his chances. It would mean explaining that the shift toward mail-in voting might make things feel different — full results will not be available on election night, for example — but assuring people that this is not evidence of fraud.

That is not the president we have. So it falls to others — Democrats and, we hope, Republicans — to explain and explain again. Mail-in and early voting are safe and appropriate. The winner may not be known on election night. It is more important that every vote be counted. Vote, be patient, and do not be swayed by the president’s lies.

It’s Labor Day weekend, and people are up to all kinds of crazy things .. like going onto a lake in relatively calm weather, and still managing to sink four boats.

There were no injuries. So it’s hard for me not to have a little schadenfreude over the mishap during the Lake Travis Trump Boat Parade.

From the New York Times:
Mr. Salinas (organizer of the boat parade) said he had seen boats of all sizes Saturday — from 60-foot yachts to eight-foot boats. Mixed with the number of boats headed in the same direction, their various sizes and the choppy water, Mr. Salinas said, accidents were bound to happen.
“You can have really great water one second, and it could get some pretty heavy swells in a matter of minutes,” he said. “Once boats get on a lake, mother nature has its own plans.”
Boaters were set to travel around the lake, which is about 15 miles northwest of Austin, at 10 miles per hour, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Other boat parades to display support for President Trump have taken place this summer.

There it was, on the radio today: the undecided voter. Some clueless person from Pennsylvania that told the interviewer that neither Trump nor Biden was an appealing option, and that she ‘had not made up her mind’.

So! I thought: you’re telling us that you cannot choose between the blue skies of a sunny day, or the pitch black of a moonless night; between candidates that are polar opposites — one good, and one a destroyer of decency and democracy.
We cannot help you. Don’t bother. Just stay home.

Here are some 1,500 people (very few masks, no social distancing in the seating), sitting through 71 minutes of Trump’s rambling acceptance speech for his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate, in front of the White House at the final night of the Republican National Convention.

All this violates the Hatch Act of 1939*. And now the White House is good enough as a prop for Trump .. did he not once call the White House a ‘dump’?

*The Hatch Act (1939), an ‘Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities’, prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while they are working in an official capacity (such as setting up & hosting a political convention at the White House!).

Here is Steve Schmidt on Twitter@SteveSchmidtSES, mincing no words:

The desecration of the White House for Trump’s perverse political use is an abomination. The question of whether voters care about the Hatch Act is beside the point. It is the law. Trump’s convention was a pageant of breathtaking dishonesty, racial incitement and demagoguery. 1/

It was an exposition of lawlessness where the powerful symbols of State that belong to all of us were profoundly abused in the name of Trump’s personal vanity and political narcissism. The playing of Hail to the Chief and the use of USMC sentries attired in dress uniforms for 2/

political purposes was grotesque. Make no mistake about what Trump declared over these last four days. In essence he said, I AM THE TRUTH, I AM THE LAW, I AM THE STATE. The Republican Party’s platform has but one demand. One requirement. Obedience and loyalty to Trump. 3/

It is the definition of a cult of personality. This cult of personality is sustained by a vast, disaggregated and pernicious propaganda network that includes misinformation incepted and distributed by Russian Intelligence Services and other state actors, Fox News, OAN, 4/

Breitbart, a rancid collection of pundits and talk radio hosts , Internet trolls, Q Anon, and a thousand Facebook sites that teem and boil with conspiracy theories, extremism, menace, racism, antisemitism and misogyny. All of it together represents a grave danger to our 5/

national unity and democracy. There is a war being waged on truth and it turns out truth like the concepts of duty and patriotism was surrounded by many faithless friends. The complicity through both deed and silence of Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and 6/

so many more in service to the maliced alternate reality of Trumpism seen this week isn’t just disgraceful, it’s tragic and deadly. The RNC began with the appearance of the contemptible McCloskeys. Their awfulness was experienced by the children of the Synagogue who have 7/

the misfortune of worshipping God next door to the McCloskeys. The children established bee hives to curate honey for the Jewish holidays. The hives were accidentally placed inches over the property line. McCloskey took an axe to them. The only reason they were on television 8/

this week was for pointing weapons at Black people who were peacefully marching for justice and equality on their street. Their message speaks for itself. Their words had meaning. Matt Gaetz’ words had meaning. Kimberly Guilfoyle’s messianic blatherings of devotion had meaning.9/

A 17 year old heard the message. He lived in Indiana. He sat in the front row of a Trump rally. He heard it all. He took it all in. He was poisoned by it. He was converted by it. He was radicalized by Trumpism the same way young men in the Middle East are radicalized by extremism 10/

He drove to Wisconsin with his AR-15 to join the fight. He became a killer there. We ignore this radicalization at our great peril. There is indisputable cause and effect. We do not have the luxury to pretend there is not. 11/

This was another week of needless suffering and death in America. Thousands are dead since the gavel was struck on Monday. More families are shattered and more businesses are shuttered. That is the reality. School openings are in chaos and there is no plan. This week was 12/

Another putrid chapter in this ghastly Trump era. America knows the truth and the truth is this. Trump is untrustworthy and dishonest. He is a liar. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone but himself. He doesn’t care about your family or mine. He doesn’t care for our troops 13/

And he doesn’t care for America. He lacks humanity and decency and processes none of the noble virtues that built our nation. It is all on the line in November. Vote. @ProjectLincoln

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, of his Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 general election, was well received.

Next week is the Republican Party’s Carnival of White Grievance (they call it a convention). Then there will be three debates —as if there is anything to debate— between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Sep. 29, Oct. 15 & Oct. 22.

It’s official: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden (age 77) has picked Senator Kamala Harris (55) as his running mate for vice president. Ms Harris’s father is Donald Harris, a renowned Stanford professor and an immigrant from Jamaica. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was an India born Tamil American cancer researcher and civil rights activist (she passed away in 2009).

The pundits say at least part of Biden’s choice of Harris was driven by demographics: he needs women, and African American voters to turn out in 2008 numbers (when they came out to vote for Obama).

In 1984 we had Walter Mondale that picked Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, only to lose big against Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. That was the last time a Republican presidential candidate won the state of Washington. (Good).

Then just in 2016, we had Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket with Senator Tim Kaine, narrowly losing to Trump. (Will we ever forget that in this lifetime? No).

P.S. On the Republican side there was John McCain in 2008 and his ‘maverick’ pick for VP, Sarah Palin.

Who will Joe Biden pick as 2020 Vice-Presidential running mate?
Well, we know it’s going to be a woman: Biden said it will be, some time ago.
Some political experts say that he has taken care of the ‘heavy lifting’ already, in terms of commiting to picking a woman. That would build on the success of female Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, and be a nod to  empowering women in politics (and a thorn in Trump’s side). So it does not matter too much which woman he chooses.