They can’t contain the fury of the people

A break in my schedule allows me to post today. My next post will likely be in another week. I finished the book The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune. This is the story of Nick. He’s 16, gay, has ADHD, lost his mother two years before, and has a cop for a father. He has a great group of friends – Seth, who has been his bestie since first grade, and lesbian couple Gibby and Jazz. He also has a crush on Shadow Star, an Extraordinary, also known as a superhero, battling his archnemesis Pyro Storm. The crush is strong enough that Nick wants to become an extraordinary, to better attract Shadow Star’s attention and to protect his father from bad guys. But his ADHD gets in the way of sense and logic. As the story moves to the ultimate battle (of course, there is one) and goes through a few twists, there are discussions about good and evil and whether the life of an extraordinary is something to be desired. There is also, of course, Nick generally being 16 with ADHD and gaining a bit of maturity. In addition to the fun there are moments that are quite touching. Klune is a very good writer. I enjoyed the book. Now the question is whether I enjoyed it enough to read the two sequels and the answer isn’t obvious. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reported that in response to the Missouri legislature gerrymandering their US House districts to squeeze out another Republican seat, the group People Not Politicians submitted over 300,000 signatures demanding a voter referendum on the new map. Those 300K signatures are almost three times the number required to force a vote. The new map cannot take effect while the referendum is pending, blocking it from being used in the 2026 election. So, of course, Republicans are looking for ways to nullify the signatures, or at least enough of them to get below the threshold. About 90K signatures were collected before the referendum paperwork was certified and will be the first to be challenged. Republicans are challenging the constitutionality of the referendum in court. They’ll also try to have the Secretary of State make that declaration without the court. They claim signatures were gathered by illegal aliens (no, not the starship kind, the border-crossing kind).

The GOP will do its damnedest to prevent Missouri voters from voting. But the campaigns will keep pushing, the people of Missouri will keep pushing, and while GOP elected officials might eventually kill this particular referendum, they can’t contain the fury people have over this.

A couple days ago Needham reported that while the nasty guy is killing people in boats in the Caribbean because he claims they are transporting drugs to the US he gave a pardon to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández who was convicted of taking bribes to move 400 tons of cocaine.

When confronted with this contradiction—lethal strikes on defenseless boaters versus mercy for well-heeled drug traffickers—White House press secretary Karolilne Leavitt responded with a typical word salad.

I’ll leave it there. Kos of Kos noted a few things about the pardon for Hernández: “That 400 tons amounted to 4.5 billion individual doses of cocaine.” In addition to attacking boats in the Caribbean the nasty guy has also used drug trafficking to justify tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China. When asked about the pardon the nasty guy said, “Well I don’t know him.” Then blamed Obama and Biden, as in Biden was president when Hernández was convicted so that must have been a setup.

It takes a certain kind of callous incompetence to hand out a pardon and then claim, “I don’t know him” and “I know very little about him.” Someone told him Hernández was “set up” by Obama and Biden? How about maybe you have your staff investigate the matter, talk to prosecutors, read the f’n Wikipedia entry—anything!

Kos included a photo of Honduran farmers protesting the pardon of Hernández. Last week Needham reported the nasty guy had gotten an MRI as part of a medical exam, but couldn’t remember what part of his body was scanned.

This, of course, raises not one, but two, health concerns: Which health condition is the president hiding that required a magnetic resonance imaging test, and which health condition is the president unwittingly revealing when he can’t seem to recall why he even had an MRI?

That hasn’t stopped him from bragging about how smart he is and from insulting female reporters who ask about the MRI. Needham listed other things the nasty guy has done recently that question his mental fitness. One of them is the frequency he falls asleep in meetings. Now that the process of releasing the Epstein files is supposedly underway, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has started a new campaign, “Release the MRI results.” Kos community member xaxnar posted a video of Robert Reich discussing the nasty guy’s health. He is also annoyed at the way the media is not covering it, especially compared to the way the media covered and gloated over Biden’s “every verbal slip, stumble, or momentary lapse.” Wrote xaxnar, emphasizing a point Reich made:

Granted he’s a monster, but he doesn’t have the energy, the focus, and the knowledge to perpetrate the cruelties in the detail now being carried out in his name. The press is willing to credit people around Trump — Miller, Vought, Vance et. al. — for instituting these policies, but they are reluctant to ask if Trump is just rubber stamping what gets put in front of him.

Reich’s six minute video documents some of those mental issues. That includes dementia increasing a person’s paranoia. He adds:

Stephen Miller, Russel Vought, JD Vance, and RFK Jr. seem to be feeding into Trump’s paranoid delusions to increase their own power and advance their own fanatical agendas. ... [People with dementia] can be manipulated and taken advantage of by unscrupulous relatives or caretakers. Is this what’s happening in the White House?

Reich encourages us to spread his video and its content because mainstream media isn’t. I’m doing my part. At the bottom of the post xaxnar includes a link to a more complete discussion of mental health issues created by Dan Rather. I’ll repeat the link here. It’s worth a read. Alex Samuels of Kos reported one of the nasty guy pardons went to Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar. At the end of the article Samuels discussed Cuellar’s crime. Now with pardon in hand Cuellar decided to run for reelection – as the Democrat he has always been. And the nasty guy accused him of a lack of loyalty. He assumed the gift of a pardon would prompt Cuellar to switch parties.

In short, Trump all but acknowledged that he viewed the pardon as a political transaction. And when the transaction failed, he reacted as if he’d been swindled. ... A pardon cannot force gratitude or obedience. And once issued, it cannot be revoked when the beneficiary declines to play along. Trump expected a Republican seat in exchange for his presidential largesse. Instead, he got a Democrat who thanked him politely and then went right back to being who he has always been. And Trump, as ever, took it personally.

Needham reported last Friday that the nasty guy has fired McCrery Architects, the ones to design the huge ballroom for which the White House East Wing was demolished. The new firm is Shalom Baranes. Good luck guys. Shalom Baranes might be better suited than the previous firm, but the nasty guy is very hands-on with is building projects and difficult to please. This leads to speculation (including by me) that the East Wing was torn down way before construction on its replacement was ready to begin. Also possible is that the ballroom never gets built even after a slew of architects, or if it is built it will be such a national disgrace a part of the 2029 inauguration ceremony will be its implosion.

He doesn’t have to see how small the crowd is

My Sunday movie was The Tuba Thieves. Yes, there is theft of tubas, but the movie isn’t about that. The backdrop of this documentary is the theft of tubas from Los Angeles high schools from 2011 to 2013. We see a re-enactment of one and the discovery of another. Every so often we are shown a list of the number of tubas stolen in a season. But that’s about all there is in 90 minutes of movie about tubas and their theft. The movie is really about listening. There is a group of deaf people we encounter several times through the movie. There are scenes of music while deaf people sign to each other. There is a discussion of airplanes flying overhead (with decibel levels shown) and sonic booms. There’s a recreation of the first performance of 4’ 33” by John Cage (look it up!). There are a lot of scenes of just listening to the sounds of the environment. Sometimes they were so quiet I wouldn’t have noticed them if the closed captioning didn’t clue me in. I enjoyed it, though will say it is one of the more bizarre documentaries I’ve seen. On the Metacritic page for this film the six professional reviewers gave it a 77 out of 100, with scores ranging from 100 to 42. The four user reviews gave it 2.8 out of 10. Professional critics liked it, ordinary people didn’t. A while back I wrote that there were calls for Biden to certify the Equal Rights Amendment, granting equal rights regardless of sex, to be part of the Constitution. I also explained the dubious state of the amendment and why people thought it was up to Biden and is something he could do. Morgan Stepehns of Daily Kos reported that Biden did call for the ERA to be made part of the Constitution. He declared that it is ratified.

The amendment would need to be formally signed and certified by National Archivist Colleen Shogan in order to become law. According to NPR, supporters of the ERA are expected to protest in front of the National Archives office, urging Shogan’s signature. She has previously stated that she will follow the opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel, which suggests that the courts or Congress must decide the amendment’s fate.

The big reason for Shogan’s reluctance is the text of the ERA had a 1982 expiration. It was renewed and that deadline also passed. The last ratification came after that later deadline. In the meantime a few states that ratified it withdrew their ratification. Some people are wondering why Biden waited until the last few days of his administration to make that declaration. There is no time left for him to take the case to a court or to Congress if the Archivist doesn’t agree with him. So thanks, Joe, for the declaration of support. But it doesn’t mean much and no action will be taken while Republicans are in charge. Alix Breeden of Kos reported that the nasty guy has shifted his inauguration from outside to the Capitol Rotunda. The reason is harsh weather. The Rotunda is a historic place, but it isn’t all that big. It might hold hundreds. It can’t hold millions. A lot of people who were going to watch it in person won’t fit. So they’re invited to the Capital One Arena to watch it on the jumbotron. Yeah, that’s quite a letdown. And the ticket supporters now see as useless, why that’s now “commemorative.” For those who donated $1 million to the inauguration fund to get a prime seat, that will translate to an Arena suite. Why did he make the change? Security is proposed. Bad weather is the stated reason. As for security, the Secret Service knows how to make inaugurations secure. They now have three days to rework those plans. As for the weather. The last time the inauguration was indoors was Reagan’s second in 1985 when the temps dropped to 7F. I’ve heard (alas, I don’t have a link) that while an Arctic blast will come through the next few days the forecast for noon on Monday in Washington is 22F – the same temperature as Obama’s second in 2013. In the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos by Greg Dworkin, there is a tweet by former VP candidate Tim Walz. He’s shown in his flannels and stocking cap with snow coating him and his microphones. He captioned it with a phrase I heard when visiting Alaska, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” In the body of the roundup Dworkin included a tweet by Judd Legum:

This, to me, seems less about “danger” and more about crowd size. A lot of people won’t want to come out in very cold temperatures and Trump doesn’t want to be photographed addressing a small crowd.

So the probability of a crowd on the National Mall smaller than in 2017 means shifting to the Rotunda where he doesn’t have to see how small the crowd is.

Erasing tools to recognize prejudice & prevent atrocity

I renewed my conversation with Comcast this morning, continuing what I posted yesterday. They had blocked allowing me pay my bill because I didn’t give them a non-Comcast email address, which I don’t have. Each round of today’s chat discussion took 20-30 minutes. Since they needed verification from me and then needed screenshots of the error message, this took over two hours. Eventually a person explained that they changed their policies and now need to be able to do two-factor authentication that needs two email addresses. They need the second in case I can’t access my Comcast email. I replied: Their two-factor authentication is more complicated than what my bank requires. Needing a second email in case I can’t access their email really doesn’t make sense. If I’m required to create a second email address I might as well take that as the first step in switching all my various online accounts to the new addy and leave Comcast behind. The response was they have changed their security steps and the support team has no way to avoid them. So. I can pay by phone app, which I rejected (and am puzzled why the account then doesn’t need the second email). I can pay at an Xfinity store, which I did, and waited a half hour once I got there. The support person said I can pay by check by printing out the bill I get online and cutting off the payment coupon. I have a big project of how to convert the files from my old music program to something readable by the new. It looks like I have another big project to establish a second email address, go through my dozens of online accounts to convert to that address, and choose a new internet provider. I didn’t need another big project. I have a few other big projects this will keep me from getting to. Emily Singer of Daily Kos reviewed various news sources to get an idea of what the nasty guy plans to do on election day. NBC News reported he’ll quickly declare himself the winner well before networks call it. Yeah, he did that last time. He’s spreading the same lie that voting machines are stealing his vote, the same lie that cost Fox News $787 million in a defamation suit. In several states Republicans have already files various suits trying to block various kinds of voters such as families of overseas military (as was filed and tossed in Michigan).

“We have known for some time that Donald Trump uses the legal system not to adjudicate things on the merits but rather to make a point,” Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias said in an interview on MSNBC. “In the election context, we know he has used it to try to further a false narrative, the big lie, that serves as a permission structure for him and his supporters to deny the reality that he lost in 2020 and that he will almost certainly lose the popular vote and probably the election in 2024,” Elias continued. “But we have to be clear, those lawsuits are not succeeding.

Oliver Willis of Kos reported it isn’t just the nasty guy spouting election disinformation. The Washington Post listed statements of Republicans running for office at various levels and found 230 of them have said they have doubts about the 2024 election. That is influencing Republican voters. WaPo said this disinformation will have a “pervasive effort within the GOP to undermine public trust in the vote ahead of Nov. 5.” According to the Brennan Center for Justice many candidates are pushing conspiracies of noncitizens voting, when that was 0.0001% of votes cast out of 23.5 million votes in the 2016 election (was that the number of votes in the swing states?). Many candidates are also claiming Biden dropping out and being replaced by Harris is somehow undemocratic, though Harris was on the ballot with him through the primaries. Election fraud is rare. Voter suppression and disinformation isn’t and is an ongoing tactic by Republicans. Singer wrote that the nasty guy is reportedly considering Judge Aileen Cannon to be his attorney general. It would certainly be payment for all the good she has done for him and gives a clear idea of what he intends for his Department of Justice. Cannon is the judge in his classified documents case who did all she could to slow down the case, then absurdly dismissed the case by saying special counsel Jack Smith wasn’t legally appointed. A couple other rumored appointments are just as bad. Sen. Lindsey Graham was on NBC’s Meet the Press and Kos of Kos discussed what he said. Graham complained that Republicans are endorsing Harris and that Democrats want to to “pack” the Supreme Court, eliminate the Electoral College, and make D.C. and Puerto Rico states. Wrote Kos:

None of it is crazy, other than it would dilute the institutional power that Republicans have built for themselves in direct contradiction to the nation’s electorate. Remember, Republicans have lost the popular vote for the last 20 years.

If we get rid of the Electoral College then conservative voters matter in California and South Carolina (where Graham is from), and not just is six or seven states. But Republicans well know they they don’t have a national majority, so they need the contrivance of the EC to win. Graham has various other lies he hoped would make Harris look bad. Kos debunked them.

Graham was clearly on air to make Trump happy. But despite all the angry bluster, his real fear is a Democratic majority that would undo the GOP’s ill-gotten institutional advantages. And that should sound pretty awesome to us.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos has several quotes from people born in October. One of them is worth sharing:

"There’s a reason white supremacy attacks history. Opposition to teaching bigotry’s history and where it leads—from the slave trade to the Holocaust—is about erasing society’s tools to recognize prejudice & prevent atrocity. Holocaust denial has no place in our society. None." —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY)

Another way to say that is they want to deny something because they want to be able to do it again. They deny racism because they want societal permission to be racist. In another Cheers and Jeers column Bill quoted late night commentary. One of them:

“In a new interview, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that former President Trump spoke positively about Adolf Hitler more than once, and added he wanted ‘the kind of generals Hitler had.’ You know what? I’m starting to think that Trump doesn’t watch the ends of documentaries.” —Seth Meyers

In the comments of a pundit roundup on Kos there are cartoons and memes that are variations of the image of a man and woman walking together. He turns and looks appreciatively at another woman while his partner is annoyed at what he is doing. In these cartoons each of the three characters are usually labeled. The first example is by Mike Luckovich and shows the nasty guy admiring Hitler while Lady Liberty looks annoyed. In one posted by Hugh Jim Bissell the passing woman is replaced by the nasty guy, the man is labeled “Conservative Christians” and the woman is labeled “Jesus.” Also featuring Jesus, exlrrp posted an image of Jesus driving the money lenders out of the temple (told in all four Gospels in the Bible) though in this image one of them is the nasty guy and others are labeled JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs. The caption says, “Dear Conservatives: This is what Jesus would have done.” Below it is an image of Jesus with a child in his lap talking to people. He says, “You think turning water into wine is cool? 2,000 years ago, I wasn’t even white!” An Associated Press article posted on Kos warns that though abortion protection provisions may win (they’re on the ballot in ten states) the legal battle over abortion won’t end right away. That’s because the laws or constitutional amendments don’t actually repeal the abortion bans. Passing the provisions only mean the courts will be very busy, though the pro-choice side will have the wind at their backs. The delay will also mean Republicans will have time to craft a proposal to ask voters to undo what they do this year (though I’m puzzled why they think they’ll get a different result – oh, yeah, they’re Republicans). Morgan Stephens of Kos included and discussed a two minute video of Walz explaining Project 2025 as a playbook for a football game. His description includes raising penalty flags on unchecked power and plays that rely on misdirection. He ends by saying, “This linebacker is you, getting to the polls, voting; you got a chance to stop this, let’s play defense, folks.”

Looking to Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao to understand Jesus

I had another problem with Comcast and encountered more customer disservice. In the last chapter I mentioned when I called the bot had me listen to a half-minute spiel about how the company needs certain information from me. I got that spiel every time I had to call, which for that issue was several calls. Today when I went to pay my bill online it inserted a page in the process saying they don’t have that information, my phone number and alternate email address. It was set up in such a way that I could not pay the bill without providing it. I could no longer bypass their request that has turned into a demand. So I entered my phone number – which they already have. I entered my email address. The system responded saying that is already associated with an account, we need a different one. I don’t have a different one. And I’m certainly not going to create one just to make Comcast happy, because I’ll never look at it. I think what Comcast is trying to do is have ways to contact me if their email system crashes. Well, OK, you have my phone number. So I called. The answer bot did its spiel again. Then after every answer I gave it would say I could sent you a link to our chat system; you’ll get faster service. I replied “no” each time. I didn’t want to do chat on my phone and needed to talk to a real person. It tried to direct me to chat about a half dozen times (I didn’t actually count). I didn’t get connected to a human. So on my computer I tried their virtual chat, the only kind they offer. It gave me choices for its questions. I quickly got to “none of these.” When I clicked on that it started its question tree over. No humans on the other end. I tried to call the local store, the place that actually worked to solve the previous problem. But the store’s number, while a different 800 number, connected me to the bot again. I signed up to the user forum and asked the question. It showed my predicament was posed two years ago. Notably, the person responding took the discussion to direct messaging, meaning the answer was not posted on the forum. So I posed it again. The available answers to some of the info it wanted made it sure the question was misclassified. People have seen the question but no one has given an answer. Five hours later I did get a response – they had reclassified my question. About a half hour after that Xfinity support found it. And they told me to use direct messaging with Xfinity support. So I did. That looks to be like chat, but with real people. They needed 20 minutes to respond. They asked for basic information and as of this writing have taken 15 minutes to respond to that. At this hour I can’t wait for many cycles of this chat. One of my tasks tomorrow may be to go to the Xfinity store to pay my bill. I saw a news article about people filing customer service complaints against companies with the Federal Trade Commission. Perhaps I should do that with Comcast. But I’d have to be more specific about the number of times it tried to direct me to chat. And I really don’t want to call again. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos reported that Obama, campaigning for Harris, had a few good lines.

Obama remarked that he often speaks to people about Trump, and they have remarked that the Republican presidential nominee is “kind of goofy” but that they remember better economic conditions during his presidency. “And I say, yeah it was good because it was my economy,” Obama said. “I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans left me.” ... Obama added, “All [Trump] did was give a tax cut to people who didn’t need one, drove up the deficit in the process, now he wants to do it again. Do not fall for that okey doke, don’t be bamboozled.”

Morgan Stephens of Kos has a response for Ezra Klein’s opinion piece in the New York Times. Klein had asked, “If Donald Trump is so dangerous, then how come the consequences of his presidency weren’t worse? ... If Donald Trump is so bad, why were things so good? Why were they at least OK?” Stephens says Klein’s privilege is showing. Many people weren’t OK. And still aren’t. 352K people died of COVID in 2020, many through the nasty guy’s misinformation and neglect. People of color, people in poverty, and women are still feeling it. Then there’s the abortion ban he made possible in the way he stacked the Supreme Court. Klein ignored the rise of white supremacy the nasty guy normalized. There’s also the police officers killed in the Capitol attack. I’m sure Stephens could have added several other ways America is worse because of his time in the Oval Office. Stephens added she is one of those still suffering from long COVID and encountered people who scorned her use of a mask. Kos of Kos wrote about what should be the October surprise to end the nasty guy’s presidential bid, but won’t. The story comes from the book The Divider: Trump in the White House by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. The nasty guy, in talking to John Kelly, his Chief of Staff, wanted American military generals to have the same loyalty as Hitler’s generals. Kelly’s response, recorded in the book:

Kelly admonished Trump: “I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.’”

That exchange was trumpeted in a big headline in The Atlantic: “TRUMP: ‘I NEED THE KIND OF GENERALS THAT HITLER HAD’” In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev had a couple good quotes. The first is from Heather Digby Parton of Salon who commented on high-ranking military leaders who are saying how unfit and how fascist the nasty guy is.

It's good that these former high-ranking military leaders are saying all this. But they really need to go on CBS News' "60 Minutes" or cut an ad so that people who aren't reading the Atlantic and the New York Times (or Salon, for that matter) will know about it. There's no reason for them not to do it at this point. If they fear retribution from Trump, I'm afraid that ship sailed. You can bet they are already on his list. If they simply don't want to be in the line of fire, it's a sad comment on the military ethos for which they claim to be speaking.

A while back I wrote about the term “sanewashing,” created by Parker Malloy. Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan of LitHub in an interview with The Family author Jeff Sharlet says that term doesn’t go far enough. Sharlet talked about the nasty guy and far right preachers talking about Christian Nationalism. And the press is ignoring this as an issue. They were stuck on the idea of how could such a profane man win the votes of the religious right?

I think Parker would agree with this; It’s fascist-washing. In the book, I call it “the F-word” because in an earlier book I wrote in 2008 called The Family, I wrote about a Christian Nationalist movement that explicitly looks to Hitler as a model for understanding Jesus. And they added in Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao for their common denominator: strength and power.

Looking to Hitler and Stalin to understand Jesus? That makes the head spin. Down in the comments is a meme posted by exlrrp with a quote by Pete Buttigieg:

It’s one thing for some leftist group to call you a fascist. Quite another when it’s a fellow Republican. And absolutely astonishing when it’s your own chief of staff.

Posted right below it is a meme with the words, “Strange, but my idea of ‘making America great again’ always seemed to involve seeing FEWER swastikas.” Further down in the comments is a discussion by Captain Frogbert. He starts with a video of monkeys where one is rewarded with cucumber and another is rewarded with much tastier grapes and the first shows its displeasure. The test has been done with other animals and had similar results. Frogbert wrote:

Trump voters have been deceived by Wall Street oligarchs and the media into thinking the problem is that “THOSE PEOPLE” are being unfairly rewarded by LIBERAL ELITES who give MY grapes to people who haven’t EARNED THEM the way I have. Of course this is absurd. What is happening is that the right-wing elites are KEEPING THE GRAPES for themselves and telling the right-wing masses that the grapes they should be getting are being unjustly given to people they don’t like who don’t deserve them, by people they don’t like who hate the GOOD PEOPLE LIKE YOU. Even though there is no evidence of this being true. It’s just that the Trump voters, knowing only that they don’t have what they think they are entitled to, think it ought to be true. The enemy is the oligarchy. Their racism drives the foolish right to act against their own interests because the oligarchs are also racists and the right-wingers think they will be exempt from oppression once all the people they hate have been summarily removed and punished. But that’s not how fascism works. Fascism runs on hate and enemies of the state. They can never “deal” with the enemies of the state without generating new enemies of the state to drive their campaigns of hate and social dominance (and stealing). As soon as the liberals, and the trans people, and the gays, and the people of color, and all the other targets of right-wing hate are dealt with, the fascist state will designate remaining members of the non-oligarch classes to replace them. No matter who you are, and how worshipfully you embrace Big Brother Donny Dum-Dum, you will EVENTUALLY be declared an enemy of the state. It is inevitable. The jaguars WILL always eat YOUR face. Fascism does NOT solve problems, it is a parasite on the body of the nation, stealing its wealth for itself until there is nothing left.

Frogbert included some of Martin Niemöller’s famous poem, then continued:

Everyone knows this quote, but few people actually understand it. Everyone empathizes with Niemöller because they want to believe they are the victim of uncontrollable and unaccountable forces arrayed against THEM PERSONALLY, and the want REVENGE for their oppression. So they cling to populist politicians who lie to them and promise that desired revenge, not understanding that it is the oligarchs who control the populist politicians who are their oppressors, not the liberals or the black/gay/trans/whatevers they have been taught to hate.

Frogbert ended with a quote from Winston Churchill: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.” Frogbert added, “First or last, the crocodile WILL eat you.” HealthCarewatcher of the Kos community discussed the way Tim Walz is redefining masculinity. The author quoted an article in The American Prospect:

Trump offers young men a fantasy of manhood as an unapologetic assertion of dominance. It’s a vision that celebrates fame and power, aggression, and sex without obligations—the fantasy behind Trump’s taped Access Hollywood line, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

The author encountered that version of masculinity in high school and college as a runner. The scene was extremely homophobic, driven by coaches who wanted to be seen as manly. That culture was so hurtful the author stopped running.

A key facet of Tim Walz' biography is that he was the football coach who walked into that culture and helped students form the straight-gay alliance. He preached tolerance and inclusion and actively tore down a homophobic and bigoted culture. There are LGBTQ running clubs, soccer teams and football teams in rec leagues around the country because guys like Tim Walz tore down a bigoted culture in the mid-2000s and 2010s. When I was watching Tim Walz' interview with Kate Mackz, I realized that he's selling a version of masculinity that is extremely dangerous to Trump. Instead of blaming transgender women for the problems of young men, the way Trump does, Walz is articulating an inclusive vision of masculinity. One where everyone has their place, and using his story to sell it. Struggling to pay for college? I did too, Walz says, I joined the National Guard. Having a hard time finding a job? Become a teacher, the way I did. Having a hard time staying in shape and feeling isolated? Yeah, I did too, I picked up running and met great people Walz says. Essentially he's showing men how they can lead normal lives without being a raving lunatic like Trump, and how that leads to happiness. ...Walz' quiet redefining of masculinity to be more inclusive exposed how Trump's hate and anger leads to the isolation and loneliness that many men are feeling and frustrated with, and how Trump wants to use this hate and anger to get elected but doesn't actually want to solve the underlying problems of income inequality and social isolation.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos included a remarkable video. The music was “Rey’s Theme” by John Williams (from one of the last three Star Wars movies?) arranged by Williams to feature astronaut Sarah Gillis playing her violin in a Dragon Crew Capsule in space while the orchestral accompaniment was played by orchestras, string ensembles, and brass ensembles in Boston, Brazil, Sweden, Uganda, and Haiti. I think the way it worked was that Gillis’ performance was beamed from (or recorded in) space and the rest of the groups played along with her image and then the recordings of the various groups were mixed together (the sound I heard with a string orchestra in view didn’t sound any different than when the brass ensemble was on screen). However they did it the images and the sound are pretty cool! Fall color is close to its peak in southeast Michigan right now. Since today was sunny, which adds extra brilliance to the leaves, I spent a chunk of my midday walking in a park and soaking in the color.

That's why Mike Pence isn't on the stage

My Sunday movie was Coming To You, a 2021 documentary of two Korean mothers, one who learns her child is transgender, the other learns son son is gay. Hankyeol is the transgender child who presents as male though is nonbinary. Their mother is Nabi, who is in the leadership at a fire station. Puberty was hard on Hankyeol as breasts grew and they eventually asked mom for a double mastectomy. Mom took a long time to agree as the child became more depressed. Hankyeol takes hormones both for the bodily changes and as a preventative to depression. A year later Hankyeol can’t get full time work because their ID shows them as female and they are clearly not that. So child and Mom start the process of applying for an Identity change. There is a lot of paperwork, including approval from Mom, even though the person applying is a legal adult. Approval should also come Dad, but he hasn’t been around for years. The court denied the request, saying Hankyeol didn’t have male genitalia. But they weren’t interested in that surgery, couldn’t afford it, and wouldn’t have gotten Dad’s permission. Child and mother tried again in Mom’s home city. This time they judge was favorable. A year later the requirements for identity change were loosened. Yejoon came out to his mother, Vivian, as gay in a letter, afraid of what his parents would think. They took time to come around. As soon as Yejoon could he moved from Korea to Toronto. He faced a choice between living out of the closet in a strange Western culture that didn’t really accept him because he was Asian or living closeted near friends and family. In one trip back in Korea he fell in love and soon moved home. Then there was the hazard of meeting his boyfriend’s parents. Both mothers realized they did not know their children. Both joined PFLAG, the organization of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Through the support they got through those meetings they were able to come to terms with who their child is. Soon, they were also involved in activism. Vivian visited her son and took part in Toronto Pride. But at a queer culture festival in Korea she experienced a lot of ugly protesting. She saw what her son had to go through. Yejoon and his boyfriend said they didn’t need to get married. Soon Vivian was involved in marriage rights efforts. As of 2021 marriage equality hadn’t come to Korea. I finished the book The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell. It was published in 1945 and the story is set in the 1920s. The title refers to a leaf, as it emerges from a bud, is folded. That story begins in 1923 when Lymon “Lymie” Peters Jr. meets Charles “Spud” Latham when both are high school sophomores in Chicago. Spud and his family had just moved from what sounds like small town Wisconsin. He is described as the perfect specimen of an adolescent male and great at sports. Lymie is definitely not that. He’s scrawny and no good at sports. Lymie lives with his father and is instructed that if dad isn’t home by 7:30 he’s to go to the restaurant and start his supper alone. So when Spud invites Lymie over for a home cooked meal with a real family Lymie is overwhelmed by what he experiences there. The two boys become nearly constant companions. Shift to 1927 and Spud and Lymie are in their sophomore year at university (somewhere in Indiana and never named). They are roommates at a rooming house just off campus. I was a bit surprised that the room they share is where they study and where they keep their clothes. But that’s not where they sleep. All dozen boys in the house have beds in the dormitory in the top floor of the house. Here Spud and Lymie sleep in the same bed (emphasis on sleep). At the start of that sophomore year Lymie becomes friends with Sally and Hope. They invite Lymie and Spud to a sorority dance, where Sally and Spud fall in love. And the friendship between Lymie and Spud begins to fray. Now to the important question: What got me interested in this book? I discovered it while perusing a Barnes & Noble list of historical LGBTQ fiction. This list wasn’t modern authors using a historical setting, but authors of the past writing about their time or shortly before their time. The description got me thinking it would portray two lads with an intense friendship that used a lot of coded language to hide what was really going on. But that’s not this story. Spud is definitely straight. Lymie might be gay – he does spend time admiring Spud’s body, especially when Spud is in the gym training in boxing, and Lymie is good friends with Sally and Hope without showing a lot of romantic interest in them. But Lymie never acts on his attraction to Spud beyond being a constant friend. So did I or someone else mischaracterize this as an LGBTQ novel? Even so, it was a good read. There was a debate last night between Walz and the guy wanting to be the vice nasty. I didn’t watch or listen. This morning on Daily Kos there were several short articles,, most with video, highlighting a good point one or the other said. I’ll only highlight a few of them. Oliver Willis included a clip of Vance being asked about his previous comments that he would have helped try to subvert the election results. Of course, he lied. He seemed to have done a lot of that during the debate. Walter Einenkel reported Walz had a good line about the nasty guy’s frequent dismissal of experts:

Economists can't be trusted. Scientists can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted. Look, if you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers—Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this: If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump.

Einenkel reported on Walz’ one comment that got a lot of pundits talking and cartoonists drawing came at the end. Walz, talking about the Capitol attack, then directly asking Vance:

This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump's inability to say. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. Did he lose the 2020 election?

Vance:

Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation—

Walz:

That is a damning, that is a damning non-answer.

Kos of Kos summarized the debate with a list of observations. In general:

It was a debate that changed zero minds, no home runs were hit, and no flubs were made. ... If this debate has any impact on the race, it won’t be because of those watching it to the end (political junkies), or an increasingly ridiculous punditry. It will be because of the meme war. And as such, I’m guessing the Zoomers will have a lot more material to mock Vance than Walz.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet from Kyle Griffin that appears to follow that last quote from Walz:

Gov. Walz: "He lost the election. This is not a debate. It's not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump's world. Because look, when Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election, that's why Mike Pence isn't on the stage."

William Kristol and Andrew Eggars of The Bulwark discussed why we should pay close and serious attention to Vance as the VP candidate. Given the age, health, and mental decline of the nasty guy there is a strong chance Vance could take the Oval Office, where he could be exceptionally powerful. At the top of the comments is a cartoon by Dave Whamond that must have been drawn and posted immediately after the debate. Is shows teacher Mr. Walz giving a final exam to a sweating student. He says:

This question is for 100 percent of your final mark... “Who won the 2020 election?” J.D.? Hello?

If the threat was real they wouldn't need to make up stories

Morgan Stephens of Daily Kos reported Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced a bill for some Supreme Court reforms. It’s got some good things and some things I think would make no difference. Some of the things in the bill: + Add six justices to the court for a total of 15. They would be added one at a time in the first and third years of a presidential term. + Laws passed by Congress would need a two-thirds majority, rather than a simply majority, to be overturned. + A method to keep senators from blocking a nominee by refusing to vote, which is what happened in 2016 when Obama nominated Merrick Garland and Moscow Mitch blocked it. + As Stephens wrote, “requiring justices to consider recusing themselves and make their written opinions public.” Asking justices to consider recusing themselves doesn’t seem to be strong enough to curb the conflicts of interest. What if a justice refuses to consider it? Other than that last one the proposals look good, though I would add a retirement age or a tenure limit, which Americans “overwhelmingly support” according to a 2023 Pew Research survey. Much of the article explains the various scandals that show why these reforms are necessary. Of course, as long as the House is in Republican hands and the Senate has a 60 vote filibuster this bill isn’t going anywhere. It will need to be reintroduced in January. An Associated Press article posted on Kos discussed the damage from Hurricane Helene. I can’t summarize it, so will quote a few things that caught my attention.

Helene’s devastation comes as climate change exacerbates conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful hurricanes and typhoons, sometimes in a matter of hours. ... More than 4 million homes and businesses were without power Friday morning in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That location was only about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity, causing widespread damage. Cities as far inland as Atlanta were drenched, with just car roofs poking out of the water in some neighborhoods. ... “Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the sheriff’s office in mostly rural Taylor County, Florida, warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post. The dire advice was similar to what other officials have dolled out during past hurricanes.

I’ve been refreshing the weather map all day, watching the rain patterns swirl (including rain over the Detroit area) as it appears the eye has been stalled over the Kentucky-Tennessee border northwest of Nashville. The storm prompted a meme in the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos. I don’t know who created the meme. exlrrp posted it. Above a photo of chairs, a fridge, and litter in a yard with Florida Gov. Ron DeathSantis on the phone. The caption says, “Hello, President Biden, it’s Ron! May I please have some socialism?” Yes, FEMA is prepared and in action. Up in the body of the roundup Greg Dworkin quoted Jonathan Weiler of Jonathan’s Quality Kvetching Newsletter. I added emphasis.

At a recent Trump rally, a friendly reporter asked an attendee how illegal immigration is affecting his life. The attendee said it wasn't, but that such people were getting something handed to them for free and that was wrong, so they should go back to where they came from. At least he was honest. If the problem of unauthorized immigrants were such a scourge in the United States, in terms of crime, adverse economic impact and so on, Trump, Vance and their ilk wouldn't need to make up stories to prove their point. But Vance, like Trump, isn't lying about Springfield to expose a larger truth about immigration. He's exposing a larger truth about himself, that he's willing to fabricate and falsify in service of the most sinister motives. Namely, to foment the kind of hatred necessary to make people comfortable with their government committing terrible acts against groups Vance is doing everything in his power to dehumanize, including children.

Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that Pete Buttigieg has been helping VP candidate Tim Walz prepare for his debate with JD Vance set for Tuesday evening. An excerpt of Einenkel’s post:

Buttigieg said Walz is “a very ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of person." And while that is a big part of his appeal, it’s Walz’s career choices and what they say about his values that impressed Buttigieg the most. "He's a teacher, an NCO in the military, a football coach, right?” Buttigieg said. “A coach is measured by how well your players do. A sergeant is measured by how well your soldiers do. A teacher is measured by how well your students do,” he continued. “So what all of that has in common is, it's not about you.” That is a “spirit” and “ethos” that isn’t common in elected officials, Buttigieg explained.

All that makes Buttigieg an even bigger fan of Walz. Stephens reported that Biden signed an executive order related to guns. Some of the things in it: + Assess threats from machine-gun conversion devices and of 3D-printed guns that don’t have serial numbers. + Come up with a plan to lessen the trauma of active shooter drills.

“Many parents, students, and educators have expressed concerns about the trauma caused by some approaches to these drills,” a White House statement said. “Federal agencies need to help schools improve drills so they can more effectively prepare for an active shooter situation while also preventing or minimizing any trauma.” ... Active shooter drills, which have become ingrained as a part of life for school-aged children in America, have lasting negative effects on their mental health. According to research by the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, a study found “insufficient conclusive research affirming the value of active shooter drills.” In fact, the opposite occurred. Instead of feeling calmer and more prepared, students, parents and teachers became increasingly depressed and anxious, with some exhibiting physiological health issues after the drills.

A week ago Stephens reported that at a livestream event hosted by Oprah Winfrey Harris talked about guns.

“I think for far too long on the issue of gun violence, some people have been pushing a really false choice,” said the Democratic presidential nominee. “To suggest you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away.” Throughout her campaign, Harris has pushed back on the cynical GOP stance that if lawmakers aren’t in favor of any and all guns circulating without regulations, that means they want to “take away all our guns.” This black-and-white framing leaves no room for common-sense gun reform at the national level. But reform is a winning policy stance: Research shows that six in 10 Americans favor stricter gun laws.

Those stricter gun laws include a ban on assault weapons, universal background check which includes at guns shows, and red flag laws. Oliver Willis of Kos reported:

A new study published in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review found that fact-checks of lies from Donald Trump are more likely to make his diehard supporters believe in his falsehoods.

Candidates and pundits watch for an October Surprise in an election year. It’s a bit of bad news that a candidate won’t have time to recover from. In 2016 James Comey reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails released eleven days before the election damaged her campaign and some people thought that doomed her chances. So how is this for a surprise (though maybe a bit early), discussed by jellis of the Kos community quoting an article from The Guardian:

A private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has been paid $157m in fees since 2021 without returning any profit to investors, according to a US Senate inquiry… The paper reported that Kushner was using contacts cultivated while working as a White House adviser during Trump’s presidency… “Affinity’s investors may not be motivated by commercial considerations, but rather the opportunity to funnel foreign government money to members of President Trump’s family, namely Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.” Wyden said the foreign investors’ fees included $87m from the government of Saudi Arabia…

It’s also not much of a surprise. Rep. Jamie Raskin started making noise last year about where the Pandemic Prince gets his money. It didn’t get far because Raskin was up against Rep. James Comer who is willing to indulge any thread of evidence that might be used to impeach Biden but mighty slow to investigate any Republican. But see the article just before this one on whether these revelations will make any difference in the nasty guy’s support.

Hurricane over Kentucky

Last evening I went to downtown Detroit for the Ruth Ellis Center 25th anniversary gala. The first part of the adventure was parking. The freeway exit I wanted to take – near the Fox Theater and entertainment district, baseball stadium (the Tigers are doing quite well now, but I don’t know if there was a game), hockey arena (has the Red Wings season started?), and football stadium (Lions are also doing well, but I’m sure they weren’t playing on a Thursday night) – was way backed up. I figured the nearby parking lots would be full. So I went around downtown and ended up at Grand Circus Park, not too far from my venue, and with a parking garage underneath. So I parked. Many of the pillars have signs on how to pay by phone, saying how easy it was – do something on their app and then just drive out. The exit stairwell had a sign about the penalties of not paying. But there was nothing about how to pay if one doesn’t have a phone – and I hadn’t brought mine. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to put their app on it even if I had brought it. There was no sign of payment machines in the stairwell, entranceways, or on the parking floor. At the end of the evening I got in my car and drove to the exit. There was no payment machine there, either. The exit opened and I drove out. Was parking free for the evening? Will I get a bill with a penalty? For that I’ll simply wait. And if there is a penalty I will strongly object. And my reasoning will be simple – they do not provide a way to pay for those without a smartphone. On to the fun part of the evening. In walking to the venue from Grand Circus and past the Fox Theater I could see downtown Detroit is a happening place now. That’s good to see. Though I hadn’t been to the Center since the start of the pandemic, four and a half years now, one of the women checking guests in recognized me. I had served supper on Wednesdays for 11 years and the youth had gotten to know me. This woman had been a youth at the time. Also, pretty cool, a staff person I knew well and the executive director also recognized and welcomed me. The cocktail hour was followed by a sitdown dinner. There were over 200 people in the hall, which was quite resonant and thus loud. I had the butternut squash ravioli with a butter herb sauce (a little too sweet) plus a salad, rolls, and dessert. The emcee for the evening was comedian Sandra Bernhard, a lesbian. She gave a passionate condemnation of the nasty guy and spirited support of Harris. Beyond that she stuck to her emcee role and did little comedy. Executive Director Mark Erwin spoke about the history of the Ruth Ellis Center. Memorial Day weekend in 1999 several elders in the Detroit LGBT community got together. By elder I don’t mean old, I mean they were well into adulthood. Some are still around. They had heard a youth had been thrown out of his home because he had told his family he was gay. The elders said this is not good, what are we going to do about it? They laid out immediate plans to get the boy a place to stay, some intermediate plans to create a safe space for LGBT teens, and long term plans for their most elaborate wishes for safe medical care and safe housing. They named the project for Ruth Ellis, caretaker and mentor for many of these elders and for many other LGBT people in Detroit through the 20th century. By the following year they had a place. And Ruth Ellis, at age 101, cut the ribbon. She died two months later. By 2007 a new drop in space was purchased, renovated, and opened. This is where I had done my volunteer work. A couple years before the pandemic a small medical clinic opened in the building. In 2022 the Clairmount Center for safe housing and support services opened. They’ve gone on to success in many areas of helping LGBT youth thrive and stay connected to families and they are a model for similar organizations around the country. Bernhard talked about the nonsense of requiring women to give birth and then throwing the child out because they are queer. If you’re so pro family to insist on one how can you do the other? A youth leadership award was given to a young woman who had needed the Center’s services and was now giving back. The name wasn’t familiar to me (though I knew few of their names). There was a Ruth Ellis Legacy Award given to a person who most exemplified the spirit and grace of Ruth Ellis. I was delighted with the winner – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer! She has done a lot for the LGBTQ citizens of the state, as was documented. Whitmer wasn’t there to receive the award in person, though did appear on video. I’m pretty sure a drawing of her lesbian daughter was on the table behind her. The award was accepted by the chairperson of the LGBTQ commission, which Whitmer created to guide the state government in how to better treat LGBTQ people. The evening ended with a few songs by Wyn Stark. I hadn’t heard of him before (as I don’t pay attention to popular singers). He is good. One of the songs was about coming to terms with being gay. This was their first gala in five years. In previous years I went as a volunteer of some sort, such as checking in the guests. This time I actually paid to attend. It was a great evening and I’m glad I went. Hurricane Helene has swamped the big bend of Florida, soaked Georgia, and as I write this is over Kentucky. Kentucky?! My niece, living north of the eye said they expected worse wind and the power to go out. Schools had closed. Now they’re waiting for the rain to end. My forecast for the next four days is rain. I don’t know if this will be Helene remnants reaching north or another storm system. In a pundit roundup for Daily Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a tweet by Craig Pittman who included a photo of a marina in which all the boats were on the beach and road. He included a quote from and a link to an article in the Florida Phoenix.

"Project 2025 calls for tying the hands of the National Weather Service, eliminating its role as a forecaster. It would relegate the agency to only collecting data. Then private companies could use that taxpayer-funded info."

Dworkin also quoted Alan Elrod of The UnPopulist

During a White Dudes for Harris fundraising Zoom call, Walz said, “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.” The point wasn’t to argue for the implementation of doctrinaire socialism, as his conservative critics alleged, but to emphasize that actions and policies that take our pluralism seriously often get unfairly dismissed as radical leftism. His aim was to redefine progressive politics not as a slow-moving statist takeover, as Republican portrayals suggested, but as a form of affirmative concern for your community and the people around you. Neighborliness is one of the main victims of this era of intense polarization and digitized communication. In recent decades social trust has eroded, and other social capital indicators reinforce the same conclusion. There is an anger and cynicism about one another that runs from small town squares to urban high-rises. However, neighborliness is not just about interpersonal decency. In Walz’s usage, it’s about social policy, which is far broader than most uses of the word; this is a neighborliness of scale. Walz is not dismissive of everyday neighborliness—on the contrary, for him it’s a microcosm of good governance. But his conception does go beyond mere interpersonal neighborliness and informs a full social vision predicated on the idea that what it means to be a good neighbor is the same as what it means to take seriously the demands of a multicultural democracy.

The nasty guy told women, “I’ll be your protector.” In the comments are several cartoons showing how creepy that comes across.

No one has to fail for others to succeed

Though a week has passed (computer upgrades can do that) I finally watched the 42 minutes of Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. One could skip the 3 minutes of applause at the start. Here’s a few things that caught my attention. She talked about her upbringing, that her parents taught her to be fearless and never do anything “half-assed.” After receiving some sort of racism her mother also taught, don’t complain about injustice, do something about it. She grew up in a working class neighborhood that provided her and her mother with a support network. She was inspired by civil rights era lawyers, which prompted her to be a prosecutor. In that job her guiding principle was a harm to one is a harm to all. All of us are in it together. She continues that focus on community. She said we can move beyond division, which is what most Americans want. She will uphold the rule of law. In what she proposes she will be realistic and practical. In her jobs as prosecutor, senator, vice president she stood up for the common people against corporations and big people. She described the nasty guy. Imagine him with no guardrails. He will not take actions to improve people, nor national security. He will be in the White House only to improve himself. We are not going back (one of her taglines) She is there for a new way forward (another tagline) with a strong middle class. She was told she needed to take advantage for every opportunity. So one of her goals is to create the conditions for opportunity, which she called the Opportunity Economy. She grabbed ahold of the word freedom: Freedom from gun violence, the freedom to love with pride, freedom to breathe clean air, and freedom from pollution and climate change, freedom to vote, the Freedom that comes from safety and security. She gave strong support for Israel as well as support for Palestinians. I appreciated one more of her lines: No one has to fail for others to succeed. That line is in contrast to the actions of Republicans, billionaires, and other people highly invested in the social hierarchy. They believe the size of their success is shown by how much others fail. Fiona Webster posted a cartoon by Mackay showing Harris lassoing the word “Freedom,” yanking it out of the hands of the nasty guy as he shouts “Stop! Thief!” Another good speech of the last day of the convention was the one given by Gabby Giffords, who has made an amazing recovery from an assassination attempt that put a bullet in her head. She is now a strong advocate for gun control. Her speech is under 3 minutes. The day before Obama talked about Tim Walz and his flannels. The flannels are now a cultural thing. Kaili Joy Gray of Daily Kos briefly discussed flannels and included a photo of Walz sewing a button on one of his flannel shirts. Joan McCarter of Kos wrote that one of the heartfelt moments in the convention was when Walz declared his love for his children and Gus Walz shouted, “That’s my dad!” in response. McCarter has evidence that the nasty guy and his partner don’t love their kids the same way. Harris, in her speech, included the line, “As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” A lot of progressives flinched at the phrase, “most lethal” and were angry with its use. Kos of Kos says we’re looking at it wrong. The nasty guy and many of his fans have abandoned America’s role as a global stabilizing force. He has been highly critical of our military personnel and of our military alliances. He wants to allow dictators to do as they please. Many progressives believe that a strong military leads to massive military budgets and to military adventurism. Yes, our national military budget is huge and much bigger than it needs to be, but that’s a political problem because Republicans throw money at defense to declare they are the party of security and to prevent spending in other domestic programs. But we do need a strong military (and I’m a guy who envisions a day when we don’t need one). There are a lot of hot spots around the world who want American protection. And that is the big reason: deterrence. China hasn’t (yet) invaded Taiwan because of America’s military. Wrote Kos:

The goal of a strong military isn’t to use it. The goal is deterrence. Supporting a strong military isn’t the same as supporting more war.

One more thing. Americans want a strong military and they are reassured that Harris agrees. Last night Harris, with Walz nearby, did an interview with Dana Bash of CNN. Kos reported Harris did just fine, even refusing to answer a question or two. It is Bash who had the problems. Bash may not have fumbled questions, but she did ask some silly ones and others that were supposed to be “gotcha” questions. Bash did have follow up questions that she would not have asked the nasty guy. Others in media haven’t asked them, either. Bash also left out a lot of context and assumed that she spoke for the voters. No, she spoke for herself and CNN. The whole thing was rather boring. No new and big revelations because Harris has already been reaching voters by stepping around big media. Big media has been clamoring for their interview. It’s been done now. No need for another. Sumner of Kos then discussed the Republican response to the interview. The summary: she didn’t give them anything they could use to attack her.

From impossible, to possible, to real, to ordinary in 25 years

While I didn’t watch the Democratic National Convention live I did watch some of the speeches posted online. Many are worth sharing. This sounds like fun (though I don’t have a video): During the roll call to ceremonially nominate Harris and Walz DJ Cassidy spun a tune appropriate for each state – Bruce Springsteen for New Jersey, Dolly Parton for Tennessee, and so on. Daily Kos staff gathered photos of the various buttons available for delegates to wear. I like: “Make Stupid Embarrassing Again.” Pete Buttigieg: I only have excerpts of the text and this is an excerpt of that:

I'm thinking of dinner time at our house in Michigan when the dog is barking and the air fryer is beeping and the mac and cheese is boiling over and it feels like all the political negotiating experience in the world is not enough for me to get our three year old son and our three year old daughter to just wash their hands and sit at the table. It's the part of our day when politics seems the most distant. And yet the makeup of our kitchen table, the existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago, when an anxious teenager growing up in Indiana wondered if he would ever find belonging in this world. This kind of life went from impossible to possible, from possible to real, from real to almost ordinary in less than half a lifetime.

Hillary Clinton’s speech, 17 minutes. The ovation when she came to the podium lasted close to two minutes. Dana Nessel, Attorney General of Michigan, spoke for four minutes. Her big line:

For the Republicans and the justices of the United States Supreme Court, you can pry this wedding band from my cold dead gay hands.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost parts of both legs in the Iraq War, does a great defense of IVF in five minutes. Cole Emhoff, stepson of Harris, narrates a two minute video to introduce his father Doug to the convention. It’s a sweet story. Even better, the video was produced by Kerstin Emhoff—Cole’s mother and Doug’s ex-wife. As Ben Wexler tweeted:

Kamala’s husband’s ex-wife is supporting her more enthusiastically than Trump’s current wife is supporting him.

To which Kerstin replied: “Damn right.” Doug Emhoff spoke for 8 minutes telling about how he and Harris met and what she has done for his family, what she has done for the country so far, and what she will do. He didn’t shake the rafters as other speakers did and will. It’s just a sweet story. Michelle Obama, 20 minutes, a tribute to her mother, who died just a few months ago. She talked about how most people she knows don’t get second (or third or fourth) chances.

See, his his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people—who happened to be black. I want to know. I want to know who's going to tell him. Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?

Barack Obama, 37 minutes. This post includes the transcript. He also talks about Michelle’s mother and his grandmother.

But they knew what was true. They knew what mattered: things like honesty and integrity, kindness, and hard work. They weren’t impressed with braggarts or bullies. They didn’t think putting other people down lifted you up or made you strong. They didn’t spend a lot of time obsessing about what they didn’t have. Instead, they appreciated what they did. They found pleasure in simple things: a card game with friends, a good meal and laughter around the kitchen table, helping others, and, most of all, seeing their children do things and go places that they would’ve never imagined for themselves.

I heard that part about braggarts and bullies and thought that means they ignored the social hierarchy as much as they could and were not impressed with people who thought the hierarchy was of critical importance. One more step: Every speaker I’m highlighting tonight only used language of the hierarchy and supremacy to describe Republicans. When talking about Democrats they talked about the opposite – building community. NHBred of the Kos community posted a story about Tim Walz’ son Gus being neurodivergent and how the family made sure he got the help he needed. They now call his condition his secret power. And the 17 minute acceptance speech by Coach Walz, the VP nominee. He may not have given big speeches before, but he did an excellent job with this one. Some of what he said: In a small town we learned how to take care for each other. Everybody belongs. Everybody contributes. There is a commitment to the common good. A single person can make a difference. While others were banning books, we were banning hunger. I loved his contrast between the way Republicans define freedom and the way Democrats do. Project 2025 is an agenda that nobody wants, an agenda only for the richest and most extreme. And nobody writes a playbook and not use it. In the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos exlrrp posted a cartoon of people on a plane with this caption, “Attention, passengers: there will be some moderate turbulence while we pass through the energy field pulsing up from the Democratic National Convention.” I bought a new computer. The current one, which I’m using now, is ten years old and running Windows 7. I’m now getting websites, such as the bank that issued me a credit card, that refuse to talk to it. Others say, please update! So it is time. I don’t know how long setting it up will take. It may go smoothly, it may not. This will also be a time to update all the software, so that will take a chunk of the time. I probably won’t post again until it is done.

What happens when a woman takes power

The Democrats are holding their convention! I’m not watching. The reports on liberal news, like Daily Kos, are a lot more fun to read than reports of the Republican convention. I even read through parts of the transcripts for some of the speeches. Here is line from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

And I, for one, am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed, trampling on our way of life.

An excerpt from Hillary Clinton’s speech:

I wish my mother and Kamala’s mother could see us. They would say, keep going. Shirley [Chisolm] and Gerry [Geraldine Ferraro] would say, keep going. Women fighting for reproductive health care are saying, keep going! Families building better lives, parents stretching to afford childcare, young people struggling to pay their rent, they are all asking us to keep going. So, with faith in each other, and joy in our hearts, let's send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House!

Kos posted a bunch of photos of the first day. These people look like they’re having fun. Bill Madden posted a video tagged with the convention, but I don’t know how it relates. It’s a 3 minute video of young women singing “What happens when a woman takes power.” Mark Sumner of Kos reported that Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic poster for Obama, has created one for Harris. Obama’s poster is in red and shades of blue and has just one word: “Hope.” It has been much imitated, including using a different face and the words, “Nope” and “Dope.” The poster for Harris is mostly shades of blue with red for her lips and logo. Her word is “Forward.” A beautiful job and message. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included tweets by Damion Schubert on why Walz (white rural dad) is so viscerally hated.

1. Theory 1: they know if they attack Harris, the MAGA base will go racist. (Don’t like this theory, it’s too smart). 2. Theory 2: They view Walz as a traitor. Straight white male, vet and football coach with a ‘keep govt out of our lives’ streak? 3. Theory 3: Walz pointing out they are weird is much more dangerous to them. If a black, gay trans person calls ‘em weird, they can shrug it off, but Walz is solidly a normie dad. When HE calls you weird, it just sticks more.

Way down in the comments is a tweet from Kid Phantasm:

OH NO, the GOP are accusing Kamala of being a communist. The only time in my lifetime this has happened was when Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Hillary and Biden ran for President. How will she handle this unexpected accusation?

exlrrp responded: “I’m older: add Truman, Stevenson, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey and McGovern to that list.” In the comments of another roundup are a few good memes and cartoons. An image by John Palmadessa shows the words:

Hope [with the Obama logo] History [with the Hillary logo] Healing [with the Biden logo] Harris

Republicans against Trump posted a photo of a sign, “Things I trust more than Donald Trump.” Some of them:

1) Flint, Michigan tap water. 2) Gas station sushi. 4) Taco Bell bathrooms. 5) Tom Brady putting air in my tires.

A cartoon posted by the Tennessee Holler shows a man standing on a big pile of cash with a “tax cuts” sign while beside the pile people hold signs saying, “Universal Health Care” “Affordable Housing” “Affordable College.” The man says, “You just want free stuff!!” David Folkenflik of NPR talked to Phillips O’Brien, strategic studies professor at the University St. Andrews in Scotland, about what might be the strategy of Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory. The audio is four minutes. I’m working from the transcript. The US and other allies said they didn’t want Ukraine to attack Russia. That meant Russia had a huge advantage because it didn’t have to defend its border. Ukraine said enough to that. Another reason is Russia has very few reserves and has put all it has into Donbas. Ukraine has also captured a lot of conscripts. That shows how weak the Russian military really is. It also hits Putin’s image of being strong and able to protect his people. Ukraine doesn’t see this as an overreach because trying to only defend Donbas and slowly take it back is a meat grinder. Better to play on Russia’s weaknesses than its strengths. Ukraine isn’t going to simply leave. They’ll only retreat if faced with a big Russian force. James Waterhouse, Ukraine correspondent for BBC also has reasons why Ukraine invaded. One reason is to create a buffer zone around Sumy. Russia had been heavily bombing the city and surrounding region. Ukraine now occupies several important towns and strategic positions. This occupation is prompting Russia to redeploy its limited troops away from Donbas. Troops are moving towards Kursk, but not away from Donbas. All those captured conscripts are now able to be used in exchange for prisoners of war. The incursion puts pressure on Putin. His citizens now feel the horror and anger of an assault. Ukraine’s hold on Russian territory can be swapped for Russian held Ukrainian territory – if Ukraine can keep it long enough. Michael Harriot has a thread on Threadreader about the GI Bill and racism. White soldiers in WWII used the bill to improve their lives. With that improvement of the white middle class all white people benefited from it. Black soldiers, because of various racist policies in the Bill and in existing laws, were mostly not able to benefit from it. Though they could not use it to improve their lives, they still had to pay taxes that funded it.

Black Americans paid for roads & schools in those whites only suburbs. They funded public colleges they couldn’t attend. ... It was a white-approved national policy intentionally created to build & maintain the white middle class’ economic stability.

Joan McCarter of Kos wrote that last week was the 89th birthday of Social Security. The picture at the top of the post shows Franklin Roosevelt signing it into law. There is one woman in the photo. That woman is Frances Perkins. She was the first woman to be a cabinet secretary, serving as Secretary of Labor for twelve years under Roosevelt. She was instrumental in the creation and passage of many of the New Deal programs, especially Social Security. The Social Security website has a biography of her and some quotes by her. Back to marking the policy’s birthday. Over 66 million Americans depend on Social Security, half rely on it for most of their income, a quarter for 90% or more. Without it the poverty rate for seniors would be 38%, with it the rate is only 9%. It is an extremely efficient program with admin costs less than a penny on the dollar. Nearly 70% of voters rank it as very important. Republicans have said they want to cut it. Democrats want to preserve it. Who are you voting for this fall?

An older white guy who could have gone MAGA, but didn't

Anna Spoerre, in an article for Missouri Independent posted on Daily Kos, reported that abortion rights will be on the ballot in Missouri in November. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom turned in 380,000 signatures. They needed 171,000. They did it in 90 days. They were limited to that because of Republican fights over ballot language and their own internal disagreements over whether to included a viability ban. As they were gathering signatures Republicans tried to raise the number of required signatures. That attempt failed because of a series of filibusters, one which broke records. If passed (and all similar measures in other states have) the constitutional amendment will legalize abortion up to fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks. This would return Missouri to the Roe decision. Kos of Kos discussed the pro-Palestinian protesters that are turning their attention to Harris and will protest during next week’s Democratic convention. Their frustration is understandable – Biden’s unwavering support for Israel prompted the “uncommitted” campaign in the primary. And Harris hasn’t yet defined a policy much different. Kos pointed out that failing to support Harris before the election will backfire. The way to be heard (the purpose of protest) is to make sure Harris is elected, then protest. Support her and she’s more likely to listen. Withholding support will backfire because the nasty guy will be much worse for their cause. This afternoon I heard one rebuttal to that. If the nasty guy wins the pro-Palestinian voters will blame Democrats for not meeting their demands. A while back I wrote about the new law in Florida that allows faith-based chaplains into public schools to offer counseling services. Jay Waagmeester in an article for Florida Phoenix posted on Kos reported the Council of Florida Churches will be telling school districts that implementing the law is a bad idea. The law is written to say schools may, but are not required to, allow chaplains to be counselors. Faith leaders will tell schools the reasons why the law is a bad idea. First, the only requirement for a faith leader to be a counselor is to pass a background check (which, in this scenario, is insufficient). There are no requirements on being an adequately trained counselor of children. A student receiving inadequate or inappropriate care could open the school district to be held liable for negligence. Second, the school could be sued for religious coercion and indoctrination. Third, there probably won’t be counselors from Muslim or Hindu (or Satanic Temple) faiths to care for students of those religions, means those students will be discriminated against, another possible source of lawsuits. Better just ignore this law. Mark Sumner of Kos wrote about the two hour “conversation” between the nasty guy and Elon Musk on Musk’s X platform. Kos had noted it had lots of tech problems (Musk had fired most of his tech workers) and demonstrated the nasty guy’s “inability to complete a sentence.” Fortunately, many news outlets also recognized the conversation as a disaster. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Anand Giridharadas of “The.Ink” on Substack:

It’s being discussed more and more, but I truly think one of the most powerful and still underrated forces in the election is going to be the joy and relief millions feel watching Coach Walz and imagining that their dads and uncles and neighbors could wake up from their hatred. An argument against hatred and extremism and misogyny and resentment is powerful. But a living embodiment of someone who could have gone that way but didn’t — this is a force all its own. It’s very hard to rebut and fact-check and out-argue and deprogram these men who fell prey to Rupert Murdoch’s profit lust. But when you see an older white guy who is just happy and can’t wait for the future — wow. It is going to burrow deep into many people with lost relatives.

In the comments is a meme posted by THEE Harmless Artist. It is pretty cool art work. Alas, the artist isn’t named. The caption says, “The Blue Wave is Coming and it is covered in cat hair.” I haven’t written about the Ukraine invasion in a long time. Part of that is because Kos staff hasn’t written about it. But annieli of the Kos community has been writing about the war nearly every day for the 900 days it has been going on (yes, it has been that long). I haven’t read this author before, but I wanted to learn more about the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region of Russia. Yes, the one invaded is doing some invading of its invader. I can’t easily summarize what is says, though if you want to know more, this is a place to start. Be aware this post is already two days old. Almost two weeks ago the movie War Game came out. It looked intriguing and important to see. Then I heard it described as a thriller and interest is dampened. I mention it because I still think it is important. Mary Louise Kelly of NPR talked to the movie’s directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss. Their conversation is eight minutes. There is also a transcript. The setup is to imagine the events of January 6, 2021 happen again. This time part of the military joins the coup. Most of what we see is a collection of government officials in the bunker gaming out how they could prevent that coup. One of the characters describes it as an exercise in “Coup Prevention 101.” Most of the actors are real former top level government officials and members of Congress, plus law enforcement and military officials. That makes me wonder how much of the movie was scripted and how much improvised. Working through this exercise is important because the transfer of power is a gentleman’s agreement that was violated last time. It’s a vulnerability. But, when it is actually happening how to respond isn’t always clear. What is propaganda and what is fact? Are leaders prepared and able to handle the crisis? Is their plan an overreaction? Underreaction? Once the Insurrection Act is invoked, some democratic norms are suspended and getting them back can be difficult. The movie is a good step in a conversation this country needs because few people read 100-page reports. They are planning a screening on Capitol Hill in the fall. I hope it also gets screened at the White House and Pentagon.

Bullying makes no sense. It doesn’t help anybody.

Caitlin Sievers, in an article for Arizona Mirror posted on Daily Kos, reported:

Voters in November will be able to decide whether to amend the Arizona Constitution to guarantee the right to abortion, state election officials said Monday. The Arizona Abortion Access Act collected around 578,000 valid signatures, significantly more than the nearly 384,000 it needed to qualify for the ballot.

Yeah, Republicans found a meaningless discrepancy and filed suit, then appealed to the state supremes. The more I hear about this guy the more I like him. Marcus Baram, in an article for Capital & Main posted on Kos, reported that Tim Walz, now the Democratic Vice President candidate is a mighty climate advocate. He signed a law to generate all of Minnesota’s electricity from renewables by 2040 – faster than what’s mandated by California. He has a climate change subcabinet in his administration. Two weeks ago he welcomed a $200 million grant from the EPA to reduce climate pollution. The state has a strong record of holding polluters accountable. And he’s pretty good at communicating his policies. Climate organizations, such as Sierra Club, are praising him. J. Patrick Coolican, in an article for Minnesota Reformer posted on Kos, covered much of Walz’ history. High school geography teacher and assistant football coach in Mankato. In the National Guard for 24 years (most are out by 20 years) with the highest rank possible. Representative to Congress for a dozen years. In his second term as governor. Republicans don’t like him (always a recommendation). His daughter and son were born with the help of IVF.

“Tim Walz is a great pick because in addition to his blue collar background and his cultural fit with the blue wall states, as governor his accomplishments are mostly about improving the lives of middle class and working families,” said Jeff Blodgett, who was chief strategist for Sens. Paul Wellstone and Al Franken. “This ticket can now powerfully argue that they are the team that is squarely on the side of America’s working families.”

Kos of Kos explained that military service. Kos was in the military and his son is serving now. So he is a good one to tackle those trying to stain Walz’ service. They claim that Walz dropped out after he heard his unit was being deployed to Iraq in 2005. Kos explained that a step in their timeline they are using as proof is intentionally vague. What actually happened is that Walz filed paperwork to run for congress before his unit was notified of potential deployment. And before then he had served for 24 years. Also, “Republicans pretend to honor military service, but it’s all an act.” An Associated Press article posted on Kos asked Walz’ teaching colleagues and students what they thought of him. It’s all positive, and this in particular: Student Jacob Reitan told Gwen Walz, also a teacher, that he is gay. He told her before he told his parents. He felt comfortable around her because she had said her classroom is a safe space for gay students. Reitan then approached Walz that he wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at the high school. Walz, the football coach and soldier – both bastions of masculinity that’s frequently toxic, volunteered to be the group’s faculty advisor. Reitan said that Walz could talk about bullying to the bullied and the bully, saying “bullying makes no sense. It doesn’t help anybody. And it made the school safer for me.” That story prompted Moms for Liberty to declare Walz “the most anti-parent candidate.” Which to me is another good sign. Thankfully, Mankato High School backed up Reitan and Walz. Also:

Adam Segar said Walz found a spot for him on the football team despite problems he had adding weight and muscle. Segar said that approach was commonplace with Walz—trying to make sure students and athletes who might not fit a traditional mold found a place.

I’ve accumulated a bunch of pundit roundups on Kos. One by Greg Dworkin quoted the blog mainly macro discussing British news:

An essential part of democracy is that voters should be able to receive information (news) that is not slanted to fit a particular political viewpoint. When this doesn’t happen then voters receive propaganda, and all the evidence suggests that propaganda can be very effective at influencing how people think and how they vote. When the propaganda involves right wing populism, it isn’t manufacturing consent but rather manufacturing discontent. Misinformation about immigration and asylum seekers is pervasive among right wing politicians and the media. Islamophobia has become endemic on the political right and its press, and feeds the racism so evident among the gangs creating havoc in our cities.

Media outlets promoted Brexit, though they knew the economic costs. Those costs have now occurred. “This shows us that impartiality is a very weak defence against propaganda.” Propaganda must be negated. A roundup by Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman of the New York Times discussing the politics of free school lunches. Krugman pointed out that students with adequate nutrition are more healthy and more productive as adults, which is helpful to all of society. Also, trying to find out which students can and can’t afford the free lunch is more expensive and cumbersome than feeding them all. In another roundup by Dworkin he quoted Jamelle Bouie of NYT talking about Walz deftly describing Republicans as “weird.”

Through all of this, Republicans still insist that they’re the party of normalcy. This is why they can’t quite deal with the charge that they’re weird. There’s a reason for this. For years, in the American political imagination, Republicans were the normal party and Democrats were the party of weirdness. This was one of the major themes of the 1972 presidential election, when the Republican Party of Richard Nixon framed itself as the party of normalcy and of faith in America as it is.

Way down in the comments is a cartoon my David Hayward, the naked pastor. It shows a psychiatrist saying to a patient: “Have you ever considered the possibility that they sold you the belief that you are a worthless sinner so you would open the door for them to abuse you the way they did?” Yet another roundup by Dworkin quotes Frank Bruni of NYT:

Poor Trump. Always forced to compete on an uneven playing field. Of all his feats of projection, which is psychology’s term for seeing your own methods and motivations in someone else, none fascinates me more than his incessant insistence that every one of his adversaries — that everyone, period — is the beneficiary of some scheme or scam that puts him at a disadvantage. If he triumphs nonetheless? It’s a testament to his peerless might. If he doesn’t? It was never a fair fight.

A last roundup, this one by Kev, quotes Sandra Haake of Salon. My summary: The nasty guy may be disavowing Project 2025, but the Supreme Court, in its recent decisions, has begun to implement some of its key objectives. “Project 2025’s deference to a strong (and crooked) chief executive” is given a boost in a redefinition of bribery. Declaring that “requiring web designers to serve same-sex couples was ‘coercing’ them to make ‘statements’ with which their Christian religion disagreed” advances Christian Nationalism.