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Patient readers, happy Friday the Thirteenth! I got caught up in a little administrativia, so what follows is a bit light. Stay tuned. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Gray Catbird, Carman Valley, Sierra, California, United States. A symphony! And 28 minutes long! The whirring percussion in the background is especially nice.
In Case You Might Miss…
- New polling averages (it’s a tie) and new Covid tables (some encouragement).
- Taibbi on debate coverage.
- Boeing strikes, could lead to ratings downgrade.
- Death in Hamburg, by Richard Evans.
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
2024
Less than sixty days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
A few polls post-debate, but as of this reading little change. To be fair, it might take some time for sentiment to settle; and the winning margins may at this point be so minute as to be undetectable. Still, the Democrats must be very puzzled to have virtual unanimity across the political spectrum that “Harris is the one” — it was a tidal wave, after the debate — and yet the election is a virtual tie. How can this be? Perhaps a few more Republicans, generals, or celebrities will turn the tide.
* * * Kamala (D): “Harris Campaign Takes Lobbyist Donations Despite Saying It Doesn’t” [Sludge]. “The Kamala Harris campaign says it does not take donations from registered federal lobbyists, but Sludge found that it received donations from at least 20 of them from the day it took over the Biden campaign account on July 21 through July 31, the last date for which campaign contributions data is currently available. The donations were not refunded as of the most current data from the Federal Election Commission. The Harris campaign declined to comment on its lobbyist donations or its policy for screening them out. The campaign’s report covering September will be filed on or before Oct. 20 and will show if they refunded the donations in September after Sludge inquired about them. Several of the Harris campaign’s lobbyist donors had previously given to the Biden campaign, which Harris took over. The Biden campaign also said it was not accepting donations from lobbyists, but none of these donations were refunded.” • Boeing, Walmart, Merck, and Google….
Kamala (D): “Harris’s Working-Class Problem” [Ruy Teixeira, The Liberal Patriot]. “But the race is still exceedingly tight….and seems likely to remain so. And there’s another part of her game plan—or what should be her game plan—that does not appear to be working out so well. I refer to the need to boost support among the working class, which remains a serious weak spot for the Democrats and Harris. The latest New York Times/Siena poll has Harris trailing Trump among working-class (noncollege) voters by 17 points. That’s identical to Biden’s working-class deficit in the last NYT poll before he dropped out and way worse than Biden’s deficit among these voters in 2020—a mere 4 points.” Could be the party, not the candidate. More: “There’s no sugarcoating it—this is a serious problem for the Democrats. College-educated America may be delighted with candidate Harris but working-class America clearly is not. And there are a lot more working-class than college-educated Americans. Remember that they will be the overwhelming majority of eligible voters (around two-thirds) and, even allowing for turnout patterns, only slightly less dominant among actual voters (around three-fifths). Moreover, in all seven key swing states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—the working-class share of the electorate, both as eligible voters and as projected 2024 voters, will be higher than the national average….. The Democratic Achilles’ heel remains and could still deliver a second term for Trump.” • Yep.
* * * Trump (R): “Trump says he would end all taxes on overtime pay at first post-debate rally” [NBC]. • When Trump proposed no longer taxing tips, Kamala adopted his proposal right away. I wonder how long it will take her this time? (Not that optimizing America for tipping culture and overtime is necessarily a good thing.)
Trump (R): “Trump says he won’t do another debate with Harris” [The Hill]. “‘When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’ Trump posted on Truth Social, asserting that he won Tuesday’s debate with Harris despite some polls showing otherwise.”
Trump (R): “Trump tells The Post why he won’t debate Harris again: ‘Just don’t think that there’s any need for it'” [New York Post]. “‘We just don’t think that there’s any need for it,’ the 45th president exclusively told The Post Thursday after announcing on Truth Social he would not take the stage against Vice President Kamala Harris again. ‘We’ve done two.'”
Trump (R): “Paycheck-to-paycheck voters will ‘believe their lying eyes’ and vote against Harris” [The Hill]. “After the debate, I conducted my own snap poll of friends and family members living paycheck-to-paycheck while getting battered daily by the harsh realities of life — harsh realities that everyone I spoke with believed have gotten worse under the Biden-Harris administration…. we come to some less conventional so-called polls. First, at a small bakery in blue Montgomery County in swing-state Pennsylvania, we have the ‘cookie poll.’ As reported by Fox News, 4,228 cookies were sold expressing support for Trump, whereas only 369 were sold expressing support for Harris. Is this remotely scientific? Of course not. Does it have some real meaning? Yes. In a blue suburban county, a vast majority of cookie buyers ‘voted’ for Trump with their cookie purchases. To be sure, one of the reasons they did so was because it was an anonymous vote. In some ways, that gives it more weight than an ‘official’ poll. Back in 2016, I came across a similar food ‘poll’ at a restaurant in blue Boca Raton, Florida. Customers could ‘vote’ by either ordering a ‘Hillary’ burger or a ‘Trump’ burger. Walking into that establishment in early October 2016, I was shocked to see the Trump vote dramatically ahead. To me, that silly, anonymous vote in a blue stronghold represented a ‘canary in the coal mine’ warning for the Clinton campaign. That warning was proven correct when Trump shocked the world by winning the presidency one month later.” • Anecdotes, but at this point… Commentary:
There’s something to this.
It feels like Harris clearly performed better, what are the undecideds really looking for?
If it was at all “which candidate cares about my concerns?” then all they got from Harris was “everything’s great” or “I’ll fix it” – but they know she hasn’t.
— Scott Pfister (@goneflyin) September 12, 2024
Trump (R): “Judge narrows election interference case against Trump in Georgia” [NBC News]. “The judge overseeing the election interference case against Donald Trump and several co-defendants in Georgia has thrown out three counts in the indictment — including two counts brought against the former president. The original 41-count indictment accused Trump and several of his allies of a broad scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, but the case has been stalled for months as an effort to disqualify the top prosecutor remains on appeal.” • There are still plenty of counts, however.
* * * Kennedy (I): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has Sabotaged Early Voting in a Critical Swing State” [Slate]. “Kennedy v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, Monday’s decision, is exactly what you’d expect from a court controlled by elected Republican justices. The facts are damning: After running for months as a third-party candidate, RFK Jr. “suspended” his campaign and endorsed Trump on Aug. 23. Kennedy then sought to selectively remove his name from the ballot, but only in swing states where it might help Trump. By the time Kennedy dropped out, the North Carolina State Board of Elections had informed candidates and parties that the deadline for replacing nominees would be Aug. 22. Kennedy did not file his request for removal until Aug. 27, five days after the deadline and four days after he withdrew. By that point, county election boards were already printing ballots. Under state law, the board of elections may refuse a “late” request to remove a candidate from the ballot when removal is no longer “practical.” Another state law compels election officials to mail ballots to service members and others living overseas by Sept. 6. North Carolina’s state elections director testified that redesigning the ballot would take 18 to 23 days. So removing Kennedy’s name from the ballot—then designing and printing substitutes—would require election officials to violate state law. Even if these officials had begun removing Kennedy’s name the moment that he suspended his campaign, they could not have met the legal deadline. Yet the North Carolina Supreme Court still sided with Kennedy. A bare majority ordered election officials to work around the clock to destroy 3 million ballots, redesign new ones for every locality, and mail them out as quickly as possible.”
* * * Stein (G):
🚨BREAKING: The Muslim American Public Affairs Council proudly announces its official endorsement of Dr. Jill Stein for President. pic.twitter.com/Z613TcoRiU
— 𝓙𝓲𝓶𝓶𝔂 𝓙 🫒🔑🇵🇸 (@JimmyJ4thewin) September 12, 2024
Stein (G): Hence, the Democrat loyalist hit job:
So now you have some fight in you? But with ethnic cleansing in Gaza, kids in cages at the border under Biden, and climate crisis, no so much?
Got it.
— Adam McKay (@ZombiePanther2) September 13, 2024
Our Famously Free Press
“DNC Talking Points Become Instant Post-Debate Headlines” [Matt Taibbi, Racket News (Thanks to alert readers WZAPanga, tennesseewaltzer, and sporble)]. As Taibbi shows, the headline is nothing more nor less than the truth. The deck: “In the Trump-Harris debate, reality proved easy to manufacture. Was it always like this?” I can answer that:
‘Twas ever thus. In the year of our Lord 2000, Bob Somerby (“The Daily Howler” was perhaps America’s first political blog) followed coverage of a Bush v. Gore debate, and showed how the press converted public perception of a Gore win to a Bush win in about two days, by focusing on Gore “sighing,” as opposed to the content of the debate. (Back then, the metric for candidates was “Would you want to have a beer with them?”, and the press famously did not want to have a beer with Gore. Gore was the brain genius who gave Joe Lieberman his spot on the national stage as VP; Lieberman then went on to get the DHS set up after 9/11, and did a lot of other damage, oh well.) Oh, and back then we in the blogosphere used to joke about the “blast fax” when suspiciously similar talking points spontaneously, yet simultaneously, appeared. And to Taibbi, who is in top form–
Last night, Vice President Harris commanded the stage,” began the DNC’s “Talkers’ Toplines” mailing list entry this morning.
“Kamala Harris commanded the debate,” analyst John Heileman said on Morning Joe. “Kamala Harris commanded the first debate against Donald J. Trump,” read the opening line of the New York Times top debate story. “Harris commanded the room from the moment she walked on stage,” California governor Gavin Newsom told the Los Angeles Times. The pattern continued:
Americans saw that Harris “will turn the page once and for all on the darkness and division of Donald Trump,” the DNC “Talkers” continued.
“Trump brought darkness; Harris brought light,” wrote Charles Blow at the New York Times. “Trump paints dark picture at debate,” read this morning’s Maggie Haberman, decrying a “dark portrait of an America ravaged by crime.” The Washington Post house editorial added, “No more wallowing in doubt and division.”
“Donald Trump was totally incoherent,” the DNC wrote, adding that he was “angry and rattled.” The Guardian pronounced: “Rambling, incoherent.” MSNBC declared: “Clashes, conspiracies, and a rattled Trump.” The Sacramento Bee summed up: “Old, angry, incoherent, and crazy.”
The “Talkers’ Toplines” mailers feature a section called CONTENT TO AMPLIFY.
And “AMPLIFY” they do! Taibbi writes:
But the DNC or RNC just backing up to the commentariat, dumping loads of phrases, and seeing them instantly converted to conventional wisdom, that’s new. Isn’t it? I feel reduced to writing these things down in an effort to keep from going crazy.
Yes, “I feel like I’m takin’ crazy pills!” Nevertheless, “‘Twas ever thus!” What is new, I think, is the rapidity and volume of the amplication has increased, as has the stupidity of the talking points, and the servility of the press (though to be fair, the press has been much damaged by the assault from Silicon Valley). Taibbi concludes:
We just lived through a remarkable succession of memory-holed events, from lockdowns to Nord Stream to the stunning developments surrounding the end of the Biden campaign, in which reality was briefly allowed to surface before quickly being wallpapered over with a new face. Earlier manipulations already taxed the brain, but memory-holing a presidency?… They surrounded Trump with rigid consensus framing and watched him flail against it, which did make him look frustrated, old, and at times like a candidate for the political glue factory. But crazy? Not sure about that. If conventional wisdom says you’re crazy, that doesn’t make it true. What if it’s the other way around?
Lambert here: I may have more to say about this later today. But I think Taibbi’s perception here is correct, and reinforces something I wrote yesterday: Trump may (in an act of political self-harm) focus too much on his grievances. But then Trump has a lot to be aggrieved about; almost getting whacked while the Biden Administration’s Secret Service failed in their duty to protect him, for example. Or RussiaGate (remember the Steele Dossier). More importantly, so do his voters (and the anodyne polling questions about the “direction of the country” are a proxy for grievance). The median income in Springfield, OH, for example, dropped 20% in ten years, and then there was Big Pharma’s Oxycontin democide. According to PMC social norms, that’s not a reason to show show anger. Or be aggrieved. Because that would be crazy. But memory-holing a pandemic? Genocide? Threatening nuclear war? Totally sane!
“Is the Entire World Conspiring to Make It Look Like Trump Lost the Debate? An intriguing theory by Matt Taibbi” [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine]. “Why did so many journalists who witnessed the same event describe it so similarly? To Matt Taibbi, a popular commentator who has migrated from liberal-hating leftist to liberal-hating Trump apologist, there could be only one explanation: The entire news media was taking orders from the Democratic Party.” No, not the “entire media”; just the natioal press that covers the horse race (which if course Chait would identify with “the entire media”). More: “Taibbi’s theory suffers from two serious flaws. The first lies in the linear nature of time. Taibbi seizes on a Democratic Party press release summarizing reactions to the debate and concludes that the reactions were implanted by the party into the media. But the news release came after the reactions. That is how it was able to quote them.” Taibbi — and the Democrat “Talkers’ Toplines” says “AMPLIFY” (caps in original). No timeline paradox there (although to be fair, I would have preferred a timeline-style presentation). That said, a Democrat house organ and the national political press using virtually identical wording in case after case after case isn’t problematic at all? Chait seems to think not, but I don’t think you need an “implanting” model of how political communication works to think agree with Taibbi and disagree with Chait. Class concsciousness and class interests will give perfectly reasonable accounts. More: “The second flaw with Taibbi’s analysis is that the belief Trump looked terrible was shared by many people who could not possibly be controlled by the Democratic message machine” (that machine being the entity Chait just described, but what of that). Chait is correct. It is also true that everybody quoted by Chait is one sort of political operative or another, and they might well be more attuned to each other than the voters. Turn Chait’s argument around: The entire political class thinks and says Trump “looks terrible.” Yet the race is still virtually tied, so clearly there are many, many people whose voices are not reaching Chait and the political class generally….
Syndemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Airborne Transmission
Elite Maleficence
For obvious reasons, I recently purchased Death in Hamburg, by Richard Evans (author of the magisterial Third Reich trilogy; see NC commenters here). Here is the first page of the book, from the Preface:
The man can write! I haven’t felt myself in such good hands with a historian since I read E. P. Thompsons The Making of the English Working Class, years and years ago. I guess I’m going to have to discipline myself to read it; he describes his methodology in the Preface, and it’s very exciting.
Lambert here: First time in a long time I’ve seen national trends downward for both positivity and hospitalization. Even if wastewater still looks pretty ugly, that’s very good news. I assume that what’s going on is the end of the Summer Vacation cycle of infection, and there will be a short lull until the beginning of the Back to School cycle. If not, that will be a very good sign.
| Wastewater | |
| ★ This week[1] CDC September 9 | Last Week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants★ [3] CDC August 31 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC September 7 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data September 12: | ★ National [6] CDC August 24: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens September 9: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic September 7: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC August 26: | ★ Variants[10] CDC August 26: |
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| Deaths | |
| ★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC September 7: | ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC September 9: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading. NOTE The date seems to be wrong, but the number of sites has changed so this is new.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XDV.1 flat.
[4] (ED) Down, but worth noting that Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Definitely down.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.
[7] (Walgreens) Big drop continues!
[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Down. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn’t even run back to 1/21/23, as it used to, but now starts 1/1/24. There’s also no way to adjust the time range. CDC really doesn’t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that’s why the shape of the curve has changed.
[10] (Travelers: Variants) What the heck is LB.1?
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
There are no official statistics of interest today.
Manufacturing: “Boeing workers overwhelmingly vote to strike, reject contract” [Channel News Asia]. “A strike will shutter two major plane assembly plants in the Puget Sound region and sideline some 33,000 workers. Thursday’s vote marks a decisive rejection of a deal that line workers said was far less generous than depicted by Boeing executives, marking the latest show of defiance by unions following earlier strikes in the auto, entertainment and other industries…. Workers had sought a 40 per cent wage hike and critics have said the 25 per cent figure is inflated because the new deal also eliminates an annual company bonus. Other points of contention include the deal’s failure to restore a pension, as well as a Boeing pledge to build its next plane in the Seattle region, which critics view as a ‘hollow’ commitment because it offers no promises beyond the four-year contract. ‘They’re talking about a 25 per cent increase and it’s not,” said Paul Janousek, an electrician in Everett who voted to strike after concluding Boeing’s spin was ‘misleading.’ Janousek, 55, who has worked at Boeing for 13 years, figures his raise is only about nine per cent after Boeing dropped the annual bonus. Some workers also expressed anger about Dennis Muilenburg and Dave Calhoun, two former CEOs who received multi-million dollar compensation even as the company faced turmoil upon their departure. ‘Striking isn’t ideal, but it’s for the best for your long-term well-being,’ said Joe Philbin, a structural mechanic who has been at Boeing for six months.'” • Workers thinking beyond the quarterly results. Crazy pants!
Manufacturing: “Ratings agencies warn of downgrade if Boeing strike prolongs” [Reuters]. “Fitch and Moody’s on Friday joined S&P Global Ratings in warning that a prolonged strike at Boeing’s (BA.N), opens new tab factories in U.S. West Coast may lead to a ratings downgrade, a headache for the planemaker that is saddled with massive debt. ‘If the current strike lasts a week or two, it is unlikely to pressure the rating. However, an extended strike could have a meaningful operational and financial impact, increasing the risk of a downgrade,’ Fitch Ratings said.” • So give the workers what they want.
Tech: “Meta fed its AI on almost everything you’ve posted publicly since 2007” [The Verge]. “Meta has acknowledged that all text and photos that adult Facebook and Instagram users have publicly published since 2007 have been fed into its artificial intelligence models.” • Thereby massively skewing them, no doubt.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 49 Neutral (previous close: 43 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 39 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 13 at 1:58:23 PM ET.
Gallery
Speaking of ducks:
The Poultry Yard https://t.co/RQ0qwLFXmd pic.twitter.com/aP0FjeJEPD
— Henri Rousseau (@artrousseau) September 13, 2024
“When will you need a REAL ID? It may be complicated” [The Hill]. “The low rollout, paired with concerns that another deadline delay may reduce the ‘urgency to obtain a REAL ID,’ prompted the proposed rule, which calls for a ‘phased enforcement’ of the special ID cards… The proposed plan offers a variety of phased enforcement approaches, including the model the DHS views as ‘best suited for most agencies’: the informed compliance model. Using this method, those trying to board a flight or enter a federal facility after the May 2025 deadline could be given a written and verbal notice if their ID is not REAL ID-compliant. That notice would advise them on their non-compliance, steps to get a REAL ID, the consequences they could face with a non-compliant ID, and when the agency will move to the next enforcement stage or full enforcement. The phased approach, the TSA explains, could vary based on the agency’s operations. Those without a REAL ID after May 5, 2025, could, for example, ‘face delays at airport security checkpoints.'”
“Why do we crumble under pressure? Science has the answer” [Nature]. “Have you ever been in a high-stakes situation in which you needed to perform but completely bombed? You’re not alone. Experiments in monkeys reveal that ‘choking’ under pressure is linked to a drop in activity in the neurons that prepare for movement…. The team set up a computer task in which rhesus monkeys received a reward after quickly and accurately moving a cursor over a target. Each trial gave the monkeys cues as to whether the reward would be small, medium-sized, large or ‘jackpot’. Jackpot rewards were rare and unusually big, creating a high-stakes, high-reward situation. Using a tiny, electrode-covered chip implanted into the monkeys’ brains, the team watched how neuronal activity changed between reward scenarios. The chip was situated on the motor cortex, an area of the frontal lobe that controls movement. The researchers found that, in jackpot scenarios, the activity of neurons associated with motor preparation decreased. Motor preparation is the brain’s way of making calculations about how to complete a movement — similar to lining up an arrow on a target before unleashing it. The drop in motor preparation meant that the monkey’s brains were underprepared, and so they underperformed.” • Jackpot, eh?
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From AG:
AG writes: “To escape the heat here in Grass Valley, CA, we sometimes go ‘up the hill’. At 6,000 ft elevation on the way to Lake Tahoe, we find the amazingly fragrant Washington lilies.”
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The election…
I toss Bloomberg and trafalgar group (r) as imo biased. This results in slight Harris leads in Mi and Wi, and slight trump leads in Az, Ga and Pa. If these are predictive Harris would need to win both Nv and Nc to prevail.
Looks possible. Playing around with the map shows how close it could be:
https://www.270towin.com/
The Taibbi/Howler/blogosphere take on campaign talking points being injected directly into post-debate discussion groups is a good analysis of a very high risk strategy. Trump may still do another debate. If so he needs to put serious effort into establishing a source to let him know pre-debate what that night’s talking points are. These are shared widely well in advance so that shouldn’t be difficult.
Then, in his closing remarks, Trump simply says, “by the way, tonight’s Democrat party talking points are X, Y and Z, so if you hear any pundits talking those words, well, yeah, you might want to wonder about that a little.”
Every well cued pundit then has literally only a few minutes in which to reorder their brains to not use those words after mentally rehearsing them all through the debate. It would be both hilarious and devastating. Imho, it would be a coup de grace for both Harris and the mainstream pundits.
Trump also needs to demand a live audience to heat check the moderators.
The Dem strategy seems to be to try to define Trump in the public mind even though he’s already perhaps the most talked about public figure of the 21st century. Surely all minds are made up on the Trump question and ninety minutes of TV are not going to change that.
But the Dems are obsessed with appearances so to them those ninety minutes must be important. As they see it keeping themselves in power is the only thing that matters and fifty percent plus one will be good enough.
PR campaigns do work against less well know opponents such as Dukakis but the strategy here seems as stale as the policies.
I know, I work in a news media environment in DC and I have just begun telling people when they rant about Trump for the millionth time to please stop, 9 years of the same outrages is just boring. People really got off on him. Yet how he acts surprises virtually no one on the planet at this point. The Democrats can’t keep running on petty outrage.
Team Blue is a lifestyle brand, not a political party. “Joy” nothing else.
I went to the UVA football game two weeks ago where I saw the votes registration tablets were greybeards.
There isn’t anything unifying beyond vagaries about women being people. Poor women need not apply because “access.”
> Then, in his closing remarks, Trump simply says, “by the way, tonight’s Democrat party talking points are X, Y and Z
brilliant!
But the point-talkers will say, “Trump admits our talking points are true. Score!”
This sounds like an interesting and worthwhile political perceptions-management disruption experiment. What if every candidate in a debate began doing this? Especially every “rebel” candidate?
Years later I’m still mad at HRC for blowing the greatest set-up of all time. When Trump started roaming the debate stage she should have paused, looked puzzled and said, “you know, I’m getting the oddest feeling that someone’s staring at my…” then turned and reacted to Trump being behind her on the stage.
If only she’d done that, the Ukraine war could have started years earlier!
The situation created its own punchlines. “If you can’t wait for the break, the men’s room is behind the curtain and to the left,” etc.
“Trump brought darkness; Harris brought light,”
ABC used different lighting setups on them.
Examine the split screen. Trump slightly out of focus, blue gels used to make skin appear sallow. Harris got bright white, slightly warm lighting, crisp focus. Harris made to appear slightly taller than Trump in split screen, that registers subconsciously. No images of them together except at handshake. Trump towers over her there.
Just some of the technical tricks used to sway the viewers. Timing of images in full vs split screen is another.
Look carefully at video. Trump’s eyes dart back and forth as lights to the side going off and on distract him, reflected in his eyes, and if properly timed, raising heart rate. Also, his microphone is too low and he has to lean over it.
None of that is an accident.
What he should have done was demand to switch podiums at the last minute. That would have messed up ABC’s sabotage of him.
Except Comma-lah’s podium would have barely reached up to his knees.
Bad advance work, his people should have caught the mic issue. Podium another missed opp. For whatever reason Trump should have found himself standing next to her podium before the debate began. The more comical the contrast the better. Didn’t she try to keep the handshake on his side of the stage? I missed the beginning but the stills seem to suggest that.
‘Twas always abut appearances-
https://www.history.com/news/the-first-kennedy-nixon-debate-politics-image
Well I don’t know where they come from
but they sure do come
I hope they’re not comin’ for me
And I don’t know how they do it
but they sure do it good
I hope they’re doin’ it voodoo free
They give me cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Well the first time that I heard it
JD Vance told me
They got some kitty next door
Well I went online and seen the X
and they gave me the score
I think they got some more
They give me cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Springfield got it bad snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
It’s nothin’ dangerous
I feel no pain
I got to cha-cha change
You know you lost it
when your’e goin’ insane
It makes a grown man cry, cry
Oh Donald, turns out it was my bad
Well I make a pussy galore story
with the stroke of my hand
They know they`re gettin’ it from me
And they know just where to go
when they need their rumor man
They know I’m doin’ it for free
I give ’em cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
They got it bad snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Cat snatch fever
Cat Scratch Fever, by Ted Nugent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47floRRAFs
Your reservation in Hell may have just been moved down a ring ; )
If memory serves this isn’t the first time Nugent has been reliterated in these comments. It seems strange that he would rank with The Beatles, The Doors and TV theme songs in that regard.
Mr. Nugent is a rather odious specimen….I feel fairly certain though that using his tune is not meant to be an endorsement by Wukkles….
Heck, i’d use Heartbeat, it’s a love beat by the DeFranco Family, or You light up my life by Debby Boone if there was something in it, but there isn’t.
You’re on a roll, Wuk. May I suggest a “B-side?”
(ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh 4x)
Black and orange stray cat, hangin’ from a hook
Ain’t got enough meat, but try your luck
I’m on the menu but the Mayor don’t care
I hang right there with my carcass in the air
Stray cat strut, I ain’t got no fat
I’m a feline casserole-uh, hey! Man, that’s sad
You won’t find me in the deli or a grocery stand
I’m better than eatin’ from a garbage can
(Meow, yeah don’t rule me out)
[Guitar break]
I don’t bother passin’ USDA regs around (oh no!)
I slide down your palate, dinner for tonight
Growlin’ in your stomach ’til I fill it up right
Makin’ the news while PETA cats decry
Wild stray cat you’re a dietary surprise!
If wild duck’s kosher then why aren’t I?
But I got caloric class and I got foodie style
[Musical interlude]
I don’t bother passin’ USDA regs around (oh no!)
I slide down your palate, dinner for tonight
Growlin’ in your stomach ’til I fill it up right
Makin’ the news while PETA cats decry
Wild stray cat you’re a dietary surprise!
If wild duck’s kosher then why aren’t I?
Cause I’m good with Foie de gras and I got foodie style
Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEtbfzMLVWU
Well, I remember when he was with the Amboy Dukes.
To the melody of Journey to the Center of the Mind.
I know it’s not just me It’s people in DC
Who want to share the pleasures of a world wide EMP
Poke the bear if you care
Poke the bear if you dare
Take a ride to the world without ISP
You’ll win the big jackpot without a world wide blog
Without a stream of bits & bytes where things are analog
Poke the bear if you care
Poke the bear if you dare
Take a ride to the land of mules and no smog
I hope that you’re not bored It’s all done before
For it’s the past well known to man
Where life is less not more
So if you can, please understand
You’ll win the big jackpot!
Poke the bear if you care
Poke the bear if you dare
Take a ride to the land of pride and you’ll see
How happy life could be if we go whole hog
And take the choice to make our world a land of analog
And take the choice to make our world a land of analog
land of analog (acoustic feedback)
Big applause!
Here is a neat little cats-and-dogs song which somebody has just invented for the occasion, using “auto-tune” and a little electronic lap-fitting keyboard, among other things.
The person offering this song-video on the nextfuckinglevel subreddit titled his posting: ” This belongs in the zeitgeist”. Here is the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1fg56ai/this_belongs_in_the_zeitgeist/
” This belongs in the zeitgeist” has already been removed from NextFuckingLevel by that subreddit’s moderator. Why did the moderator over there do that? I don’t know.
A sad and unlucky turn of events. I thought it was a funny little video. Now it will never be seen again.
I clicked on your link shortly after you posted, and it had been taken down. Too bad.
COVID data/anecdotes from NH. This week’s data likely won’t come out until Monday, but wastewater concentrations were headed into the stratosphere in our small liberal arts college town based on the 9/3 sample. It is truly impressive and not in a good way. And that was before the students returned to campus. Yee-ha!
At least half a dozen people I know have it or have had it recently, and several more have said “I know so many people who have it right now.”
CVS has finally made it possible to schedule a Novavax booster on line. Getting mine later this afternoon.
Be safe out there.
Covid is also on a rampage in upper-middle class Kansas City areas now. I’ve run across 3 people who currently have it or are just getting over it. Wastewater levels from KC to Topeka at 80%-100% of all-time highs in many locations. But we’re supposed to get back to work and treat it like anything else. Ugh.
I guess I was ahead of the game when I got it in late July. I think my R(0) is zero, but my wife’s R(0) is likley 2+, so she’s covering my deficit haha.
I managed to get my appt. by calling the pharmacy day before yesterday. I showed up yesterday at the appointed time and they were all out of Novavax. Apparently two families of 4 showed up and a couple of walk-ins wiped them out. They found a nearby CVS that still had some so I did get the vax. Today I’m feeling some mild reaction but, still out and about doing things.
My boss has been out all week with it-their whole family has it. Knocked them flat. I was sweating it for a few days but figure I’m in the clear. And they only tested positive after like 3 or 4 days of symptoms. So many people are sick, coughing, the works. People still are not masking, and have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention wastewater levels. I stopped taking the bus and started driving my car every day again. Risk mitigation.
Bloomberg:
https://archive.is/uzAzs
What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain
Scientists are worried that persisting cognitive issues may signal a coming surge of dementia and other mental conditions
Real ID: Is not a passport a real ID?
It is per the Department if Homeland Security –
“ Starting May 7, 2025, every state and territory resident will need to present a REAL ID compliant license/ID, or another acceptable form of identification, for accessing federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and boarding commercial aircraft. The card, itself, must be REAL ID compliant unless the resident is using an alternative acceptable document such as a passport. The Act does not require individuals to present identification where it is not currently required to access a federal facility (such as to enter the public areas of the Smithsonian) nor does it prohibit an agency from accepting other forms of identity documents (such as a U.S. passport or passport card).”
I was surprised how confident Harris was when she first appeared in front of a crowd after she was anointed the DP candidate for president.
The problem imo is she doesn’t have what it takes to do the job. She doesn’t have the depth, seriousness, gravitas, or of someone whose profound experiences has shaped their world view.
When she accepted the nomination she was happy but it was like she won an Oscar. I don’t think she is decisive and she lacks passion and clarity to take the nation in the direction it needs to go.
Basically, the job is much bigger than she is.
In other words, she’s the perfect president to serve as the beard for the real (and unelected) president(s).
When she accepted the nomination she was happy but it was like she won an Oscar.
Got the distinct Sally Field “vibe” from that speech. Per vanity fair:
Happy, happy, joy, joy…
thinking about it…capitalist alienation leads to an increased desire for and significance of being liked publicly and being subject of empathy.
So, obviously, the more show biz talks about emotions the less they are part of the real daily interaction outside the show. This is as old as the biz and the phenomenon. But to witness it today remains as shocking as 40 years ago with Field (which is why Field´s overly emotional appearances have often been mocked by intellectuals. Myself included sometimes.)
Latest disability data:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=17ENT
January 4, 2020
Labor Force men and women with a disability, * 2010-2024
* Age 16 to 64
(Indexed to 2010)
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1eaS9
January 4, 2020
Labor Force and Population with a disability, * 2010-2024
* Age 16 and over
(Indexed to 2010)
#TYVM
Patient readers, I added orts and scraps. I’m sorry it took so long, but I didn’t want to leave too much on the cutting room floor before the weekend.
JMH:
They are making it so you need a Real ID to fly domestically and you can’t use your passport domestically.
The whole thing is an outrage. I so feel I am being triangulated by the Gov.
Plus facial recognition at the gates? Why?
Basically, the entire reason for these “security measures” is control. Freedom of movement and assembly are feared by the Elites. They lead to demands for other ‘freedoms.’ These extra ‘freedoms’ will cut into the Elite’s profit margins. Pure class warfare in disguise.
Those elites want freedom of movement and assembly to be a privilege and not a right. One that can be suspended individually or en masse at whim. That is one of the reasons why the other day that the New York Times was saying that the Constitution is out of date. To them, the Constitution s lie any other contract. And contracts get rewritten all the time.
This is incorrect. You can use your US passport as identification on domestic flights.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC
Nobody needs talking points to know Jill Stein hasn’t won so much as a bingo game in the last decade and if you actually give a damn about people, you organize, build power and infrastructure, and win.
September 12, 2024
[ What Jill Stein has done is allow many anguished women and men to feel heard, even as Martin Niemöller allowed anguished Germans to feel heard in the 1930s and 1940s. A Black woman president of Harvard was removed in a matter of days for simply wishing to allow morally aggrieved students a voice. The falseness and cruelty of AOC is deep. ]
AOC was elected on hope and change and she has done zip with her power the past coupla years and continues to sell out her voters. She is now much a part of the Democrat establishment as Nancy Pelosi is. So if AOC was around in 1860, how would she have felt about the repeated failures of this person?
https://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/friend/lincoln-failures.html
It is from your failures that you really learn and not so much your successes.
It is from your failures that you really learn and not so much your successes.
Abraham Lincoln
[ Perfect, just perfect. ]
On AOC building infrastructure, there is a very telling detail in the Politico report about State Senator Jessica Ramos becoming the latest Democrat running to replace Adams as the democratic nominee for mayor.
Yup, she is all hat and no cattle.
AOC dissing Dr. Stein: Harris has not won any more primaries than Dr. Stein; and Marianne Williamson received more primary votes than Harris.
The reality is that AOC and congress isn’t only corrupt, these people are truly evil.
The world knows the USA is responsible for the GENOCIDE in Gaza. (Holocaust.)
War Criminals.
They take bribes and speak of democracy.
These people are despicable by any moral stand.
For profit wars and for profit “health” are care is truly evil.
It’s a casual evil. I think that’s worse than concerted because they don’t care.
AOC is seriously lowering her game.
They can’t be bothered to put effort into their hypocracies.
Following up on some discussion here yesterday about how 20,000 immigrants arrived in Springfield OH:
How Haitian immigrants fueled Springfield’s growth
It’s a sympathetic perspective on immigrants, so ymmv, but it has historical population and economic statistics for Springfield, OH.
Interesting note:
“In early July, days before he was tapped to be Trump’s running mate, Vance read aloud a letter from Springfield officials as he quizzed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at a congressional hearing on whether immigration added to inflation by increasing housing costs, and whether a rising supply of new workers hurt others by holding down wages.”
On the mechanics of it”
Solely Federal? Governors have no say?
Immigration status is a matter of federal law. A governor can’t override that. I don’t know if there’s any immigration status that may have travel restrictions. TX, AZ, and FL governors have transported people to other states as voluntary travel, by offering free transportation.
> Immigration status is a matter of federal law. A governor can’t override that.
Thanks. That’s what I thought. One of my correspondents thought differently, so thanks for the clarification that this is at least the default (good point on the travel restrictions though; many of the Haitians are in this country on some kinda special visa, so it would be good to rule that out (not to assign work)).
I already assigned it to myself! Temporary Protected Status is part of the Immigration Act of 1990. People from countries designated for TPS can apply for it. There’s a process for them to apply for authorization to travel outside the US and return, but domestically they “are not removable.” The Reuters article I linked to above refers to city commissioners “noting that the vast majority of Haitians are in the country legally and have a right to live where they choose.” I was thinking of immigrants required to wear an ankle monitor (asylum seekers who entered illegally and are awaiting a credible fear interview). I don’t know if those monitors have a geographic range that would functionally be a travel restriction, but didn’t look into that.
https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status
edit: “Not removable” from the US due to immigration status.
The situation seems analogous to the arguments against gentrification, except the situation is sort of reversed in Springfield, OH. Much the same sentiment existed against Koreans in black neighborhoods in LA circa 1990 (which somehow got memory holed). Without taking sides, there are serious social issues that emerge when “outsiders” enter into a community in large numbers, or, at least, in a very noticeable manner. Vicious rumors spread, some true, some others, and sooner or later, collective violence happens. If you start picking sides, especially at this point, all that you do is to add fuel to the fire–justice for us, and no justice for you…because they are incompatible the way each side perceives itself. To get mutually acceptable “justice,” you have to get people talking and “integrating,” and that takes time and effort, I think.
Yes, it takes time and effort by people of good will. Not having people of ill will stirring up conflict for their own benefit would also be helpful.
There seem to be rather few people of good will on either side. I can’t abide by people who seem to think the Deplorables deserve to be run down who seem to be numerous on the Team Blue.
Just sayin’.
“they know she hasn’t”
This is really the most damning thing about Harris. If she’s not “Joe Biden,” then who has she been last four years? As long as she’s addressed as “Vice President” Harris, she is at least part Joe Biden and she has to bear Biden’s sins.
An enigma wrapped in a malapropism.
Regarding Jonathan Chait, who is snapping at Matt Taibbi’s heels, this Russiagate gem will tell you all you need to know:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/04/im-a-peeliever-and-you-should-be-too
Couldn’t make that link work so I tried this:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/04/im-a-peeliever-and-you-should-be-too.html
Maybe missing the html at the end.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/04/im-a-peeliever-and-you-should-be-too.html
Here is a live video as-it-is-happening of a policeman showing how he does “policing in America”. I have no idea where this video and the aftermath will lead. But here is the video.
It is from the MindBlowingThings subreddit and is called ” Don’t miss the show, folks”.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MindBlowingThings/comments/1ffps6e/dont_miss_the_show_folks/
The incident occurred a couple of years ago and the officer was fired. Also the black man in the video sued the officer and won $20,000.
https://www.dreshare.com/virginia-trooper-fired-after-forcefully-arresting-black-man-during-traffic-stop/
I halfway-successfully restrain myself from re-offering too many reddit offerings here. But this reddit offering . . . about how to drain the batteries of a Tesla car down to zero without actually even touching the car in any way, was too hilarious ( if true and effective) to resist. And if it is really true and effective and would really work, it shows how a system may have weak points that rebel-normies can actually use to the disadvantage of that system. Here is the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/comments/1fg1hpa/cybertroll/
( hmm. . . after quickly reading the first few comments to that link ((which I should have done before posting it)) I found a few indicating that the wave-your-hands-at-a-parked-Tesla method would not really drain down enough electricity to matter. So I tried deleting that comment and thought I had succeeded. I am a little embarrassed to see it didn’t successfully self-delete. Oh well . . . Maybe other examples can be found to encourage people to find and exploit the hidden weaknesses in a system to disable or shut down or conquer that system).
New Big Serge
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-shot-and-sail
NY Times really insane. Calling this the Russian plan.
But it’s literally the state of affairs. Reality. Liberal Democrats really want to risk nuclear war with fantasies of defeating Russia.
Trump with rational foreign policy. Who knew?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/us/politics/vance-trump-ukraine-russia-war.html
“Liberal Democrats really want to risk nuclear war with fantasies of defeating Russia.
Trump with rational foreign policy. Who knew?”
Really, really important. The Biden-Harris foreign policy has been immoral and disastrous from the beginning and could well be most dangerous right now. This has been no accidental militarist foreign policy; simply look at who Biden-Harris have gathered about them. The championing of the Biden-Harris foreign-military policy by the Cheneys is perfectly revealing.
Good to see that AOC has zeroed in on the true enemy here: threats to the two-party system from the left. Pelosi would be proud.
I wonder if, with the Democrats and Republicans having flipped their sources of class appeal, Trump has now become seriously dependent on having a big turnout on election day. As used to be the case for the Democrats, when they needed the people excluded from and forgotten by the system to show up and register a class solidarity vote for the “party of FDR”. If many of the disheartened stay home on election day, Harris may be the beneficiary, because there’s very little likelihood those folks would be voting for Joy. Trump needs a ground game to get those people to the polls, but his party has been trying to keep them away for years, so this may not turn out too well for him.
It´s not part of the program but to “wrap it up”:
Here today´s Andrei Martyanov´s take on Putin´s statement:
30 min.
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/09/prince-alexandr-nevsky.html
See beginning and end.
The idea that “non-college educated” is a stand-in for “working class” is the most liberal, baby boomer brained idea that Americans will not drop. It’s up there with British people thinking class is a matter of what accent you have (though some Americans think that way too, disturbingly). It leads to absurd conclusions like the famously working class hero Bill Gates lmao.
Not to mention the MASSIVE numbers of working class millennials who did, indeed, go to college and yet somehow still earn much, much less than their non-college educated parents did while also working dead-end jobs and being saddled with debt they can never escape, even through bankruptcy. It just shows how out of touch the author is with reality (not surprising for someone calling themself the “liberal patriot” lol). The rendering of the term “working class” into a meaningless cultural signifier really is one of the most disgusting things that’s been foisted on us.
#Kamala
> … yet the election is a virtual tie. How can this be? Perhaps a few more Republicans, generals, or celebrities will turn the tide.
… but wait!
Ben & Jerry’s co-founders unveil Kamala Harris ice cream flavor (via X)
Folks … if anyone learns how to jump timelines … lemme know.
I scream
You scream
We all scream
As if its all a bad dream
Wish it were a dream within a dream. I’d give myself a “kick”! (via YouTube)
Harris’s Working-Class Problem
Well after several cycles worth of wooing suburban Republicans … bringing back this Chuck Schumer banger (via C-Span).
How’d that work out, Chuck?!
Not every one is buying it, though … was watching #MSNBC – purely to assess the level of liberalgasm, I assure you! There was a woman from The New Yorker on, who reminded the host that Hillary “beat Trump” in all three of their debates, and still lost.
Somewhere … a goldfish has remembered where it put its car keys.
“Why do we crumble under pressure? Science has the answer” [Nature]. “Have you ever been in a high-stakes situation in which you needed to perform but completely bombed?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I realized a few years ago that everything I like to do, nobody keeps score.
You don’t hear much about hikers & backpackers or skiers doing steroids or other enhancements, as is commonplace in activities where they keep score.
A lot of times that score keeping is a big reason people choke.
re: Adam McKay/Hollywood
So you could say he “endorses” Stein as President?
Interesting, very sad, development Hollywood has taken since the 1970s.
The max you could say today openly directly against DNC was expressed by another comedian (!), Zach Galifianakis.
It´s tiny but that´s what could reach the guilded spaces of VARIETY:
“(…) Soon after Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee when Joe Biden left the race, many A-list actors, athletes, directors, producers and writers quickly endorsed the vice presiden.
But funnyman Zach Galifianakis is warning the Harris campaign not to get too cozy with celebs.
“As a small-town guy from North Carolina … I do wish the DNC would step back from the celebrities a little bit,” the “Hangover” star told me Thursday at the “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 premiere in Hollywood.
The cast and creatives of the Hulu show walked the carpet at the premiere just as the final night of the DNC was taking place. As the screening began, Harris was delivering her nomination acceptance speech.
“It works to a point, but they have to win over rural America,” Galifianakis said of celebrity support of politicians, adding, “Hollywood thinks it’s so important and that’s a problem. Actors are people too, and they’re citizens too, but I’m more on the small-town side of that than I am on the Hollywood side of that. That’s just me.”
(…)”
That´s it. Nothing more.
https://variety.com/2024/politics/columns/zach-galifianakis-hollywood-endorsements-could-hurt-kamala-harris-1236116678/
I haven´t looked closely into McKay´s case. And I assume some things he might never say outside the walls of his home(s). Perhaps his environmental agenda shields him from attacks that he would help Trump.
Or, they are SO confident that they win they don´t care.
Well Nov. might have a surprise for them.
But on the other hand. Who the fuck cares what they think?!
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/health/bird-flu-missouri.html
Maybe we’ll get to skip this election
Honestly, what I most remember from the Trump presidency, not being a liberal Democrat, is that Trump and the Republicans hugely cut my taxes, and I’ve benefited in excess of the graduate student loan interest that liberal Democrats under Obama saddled me with by killing subsidized Stafford graduate loans after encouraging everyone to get more education. May they all rot in the deepest depths of h*ll. That was at least $4k on top of the $600 that Biden and the Democrats still owe me.
I may be repeating myself here, but I think this is a detail people should know.
From a Politico article about State Senator Jessica Ramos filing to run against Eric Adams in the next mayoral primary comes this bit about AOC:
Apparently building readily available constituent services is not infrastructure for AOC. I do have to wonder how easy it is to get an appointment.
As someone said above, they don’t even bother to hide their hypocrisies anymore.
As a European I have no vote in the US elections, but based on this sneering piece about how terrible Trump is and how wonderful Harris is, based on the debate, in the London Review of Books, I would vote for Trump out of spite for the author.
The article paints Trump as a complete clown while describing Harris as a tough prosecutor and warm human.
It then goes on to claim Vance was an appalling pick as VP, while, ‘in contrast, Harris made a brilliant selection: Tim Walz’.
The piece concludes by insulting half of US voters, namely: ‘At the time of writing, the polls indicate the race is in a dead heat. It seems incredible that almost half the country still supports Trump’, then goes on the present a laundry list of all Trump’s failings. Harris, of course, is described as ‘seeming sincere’ and ‘was calm and prosecutorial, and had anticipated all the questions’. [It now transpires she was given the questions in advance, among other thumb on the scales actions.]
Another example of what passes for groupthink among MSM figures on both sides of the Atlantic
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n18/eliot-weinberger/the-debate