Looking both ways

         2021 has been a wild ride.   Personally, I had 2 major surgeries to my right shoulder and left knee.  I'm still recovering from both and it promises to be a slow process which will drag into the middle of the new year.   As I am finding out, old muscles, tendons and bones don't heal as fast at 69 as they did at 21!   The same could be said of our country after a year of relentless attacks on our democracy.

     Cheeto Benito and his merry band of nihilist enablers in Congress and many states did their best to overthrow the free and fair election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in November.  We will endure at least one more chance for an authoritarian takeover of the White House on January 6, when both houses of congress meet to certify the electoral vote.   While there is no chance of that happening, the effort will continue to weaken many American's faith in our system of government.   Cynical opportunists like Missouri senator Josh Hawley will cheerfully contribute to the chaos in an effort to emerge as the spiritual successor to tRump.

     Climate change continues apace with another withering year of wildfires on the west coast and major hurricanes and soaking rainstorms in the east.   Our denial of human induced changes will cause more weather related catastrophes in coming years.

      The pandemic that has ravaged the country and killed nearly 350.000 people since March has exposed the problems that can occur when you elect an ignorant narcissist to the most powerful office in the world.   It didn't have to be this bad, but tRump seems to have taken incompetence to a new level as Covid 19 claims more than 3000 people every day.

     I have been reminded by my beautiful daughters I am rapidly becoming a grumpy old man as i continue to rail against the political and climate situations.   I plead guilty on many occasions, but when I see my grandchildren I am usually moved to a more optimistic position.   Their cheerful interactions with the world give me hope the next generation will make more head way against the problems facing us than my generation was able to. 

      I wish everyone reading this a happy, healthy New Year and a renewed zest for life on this beautiful world.

America's Handicap

         It looks like another beautiful day for golfing in south Florida today.  You may be sure America's biggest handicap will be on one of his courses today, cheating his way around another 18 at our expense.

        Having played golf for over 30 years, I have met and played with literally hundreds of friends and strangers.  Rarely, if ever did I see overt cheating on the course.  Sure, there was an occasional whiff at a ball that was not counted as a stroke and a graciously conceded putt which extended beyond the "circle of friendship".  But the gross forms of cheating, such as sabotaging an opponent's ball or drastically improving your own lie were and continue to be nonexistent, much like voter fraud.

      tRump sees everything through the prism of his own behavior, therefore every opponent, whether on the golf course, the boardroom or the electoral process is out to cheat him.   So it has come to this, one more attempt to subvert a free and fair election.  Let us hope this is the last gasp on the 18th green of a failed human being who can't play a game which requires honesty without cheating.

The coming of consensus

        Now that beltway journalists have circulated the emerging consensus among Republicans and certain conservative Democrats that it is time to embrace deficit reduction, it is off to the races.

         Free trade, open borders and "entitlement reform" will be the GOP's weapons of choice as it faces the Biden administration's more people oriented policies.   The infamous Paygo policy of paying for every program by either raising taxes or reducing other spending will once again become the vogue among otherwise smart Democrats.    The fact Republicans spent the last 4 years ignoring deficit concerns while their party controlled the White House is barely mentioned by the mainstream media.  

        Even in the event of both Warnock and Ossoff  both winning the Georgia runoff elections and delivering us from Mitch McConnell's tender mercies, there is an appetite in Congress to continue policies which benefit the rich and by extension hurt the poor.   It is up to ordinary citizens to let our congresscritters know they will pay a price for boosting that agenda.

Tinpot bravado

        After the suffering among the unemployed had ramped up and it looked as if the Georgia runoffs were tilting Democratic, tRump finally signed the Covid relief bill yesterday.

        According to the media take, he was under intense pressure from Republicans to give Perdue and Loeffler something to tout on the campaign trail in Georgia.   I rather think someone whispered in his ear that whatever legacy he expected his presidency* to leave behind, vetoing relief for  Americans who were literally down t their last dollar would not burnish it.   So, like a petulant child who is threatened with no dinner unless the mess is picked up, Cheetolini buckled under pressure.

The mixed Christmas messages

        Once again, adherents of the many Christian sects around the world will welcome the commemoration of the birth of Jesus and celebrate his life and teachings.   Love one another, including the least among us is probably a good capsule summary of the gospels and yet most professed Christians fail even that test.

       Meanwhile, perhaps the most glaring example of how perverted Christ's message has become in the 21st century, Donald J. tRump, illustrated how not to honor the savior's legacy.   By pardoning murderers, crooks, thieves and liars, many of whom committed the crimes in service to tRump, he made fools of those who beleived in him.   It seems no crime, including the murders of innocent men, women and even children is beneath the pardon power.

      Those of us who have managed to survive the past 4 years will look back on this era as perhaps the blackest in our history.   However, for at least the next 24 hours I will wish for peace on earth among men of  good will.   Merry Christmas!

The tip of the iceberg

       Agent Orange struck again yesterday.  Amidst a blizzard of pardons granted to convicted murderers, congressional felons and Mueller investigation targets, tRump let us know exactly how far he is willing to go when it comes to use of the presidential pardon power.   

       I guess the next marker will be using the power for personal gain.   If you can pony up enough money, will Cheetolini spring you from the slammer?   I guess we will find out during the next 27 days.  It will probably be worse than anything I can imagine.

Welcome to the Endemic

       Health care officials are carefully parsing their responses to questions regarding the new variant of Covid 19 that was recently discovered in the UK.  Of course, in light of the rollout of vaccines for the original strain, reporters were dancing around the question instead of asking directly if a new vaccine will be necessary.

       The economic and psychic fallout from an admission we don't have control of the coronavirus would be so devastating I guess it is understandable everyone is tip toeing around the 500 pound gorilla in the room.   The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have given us hope of returning to a "normal" world where masks and social distancing will be a nasty memory of a world turned upside down.  Mutating viruses are not part of that world, or are they?

What's really important

        Something as simple as baked goods can let us know the holiday season is upon us.   My eldest daughter gave us a sample of her prodigious baking output and I was transported to an earlier Christmas season.  Then the middle child brought over some samples of her attempt to recreate my mother and grandmother's apricot bar cookies and I knew the holiday season was upon us.  

       Regardless of the political situation, the pandemic and the economy, it is time for all of us to link arms, figuratively, of course and celebrate another Christmas.   It will be a holiday unlike any other in my experience, but as always, we will make the best of it and conjure a joyous yuletide out of the wreckage of 2020.   As always, the children of the family will make it a memorable time for all of us.  God bless us every one!

Christmas is coming, isn't it?

      We are a week away from our celebration of the winter solstice.   As a matter of fact, the solstice occurs on the 21st this year and as always, Christmas is the 25th, but what is 4 days among friends.

       I've probably said this in other holiday seasons, but in this pandemic year, it really does feel as if Christmas is passing us by.   I know the celebration of the birth of a brown baby during a Roman census  over 2000 years ago has devolved into an imitation Saturnalia of excess despite Christianity's best efforts to keep our focus on its own brand of religion.   I have happily joined in the American version of the holiday ever since I received the Santa Claus indoctrination as a  toddler.   Somehow, the magic isn't there this year.  At least, so far.

35 days and counting

       Most of us who prize rationality and facts are counting down the days until the tRump administration is in the rear view mirror.   I'm sure we will continue to be inundated by stories of official perfidy such as the moles placed in the CDC who called for the government to cease trying to limit the spread of the coronavirus and allow as many people as possible to be infected.    The reason for this policy was the supposed development of "herd immunity" in the general population.  The casualty figure of up to a million deaths or more in such a scenario seemed not to bother these amoral a-holes.

     As more and more such stories surface, I hope we will have a "truth and reconciliation" commission to fully investigate the wrongdoing and crimes committed against America and its people during the last 4 years.   Cheetolini and his henchmen need to account for them all.

Christmas cards during a pandemic

       As usual, the Divine Mrs. M and I have put off the annual Christmas card extravaganza until last night when it all seemed to come together in a rush.   We started the tradition of sending photo cards of our daughters and a brief letter outlining our activities over the past year in the early years of our marriage.   Most of the cards went to older relatives on both sides of the family.  We thought it was a handy way to stay in touch with many people we rarely saw.   It proved to be a hit with the target audience.  Many people said they looked forward to our annual picture of the girls and the missive that accompanied it.

      Fast forward to 2020.   Most of our cards are going to contemporaries or younger relatives.   We now include pictures of ourselves, and the annual letter seems to take up more and more space.   Who knew the activities of a couple of grumpy seniors and their offspring could run to a page and a half.  More importantly, who cares.

      One of the problems with traditions is they take over your life at a certain point.   As with everything else in this life, there are pluses and minuses with every interaction.  On balance, I think this minor holiday card and photo show has given us far more than we supposed it would when we started.   I hope in my curmudgeonly way we will continue for at least a few more years.

A new beginning or SOS

     The media seemed hell bent on making the first vaccinations for the coronavirus a three day extravaganza.   From the FDA approval for emergency use to the breathless coverage of the trucks leaving the Pfizer plant to the jab into a nurse's arm, you would think there was no other news in the world.

      It was a milestone for sure.   It took less than a year to roll out the first vaccine and it should be celebrated.    However, we have a long dark winter ahead and premature celebrations will only push the ultimate death toll higher as even those who have been heeding public health messaging may relax their vigilance for the holidays.   

     The tRump administration bungled every aspect of fighting the pandemic except for pushing the vaccine development, although they had nothing to do with Pfizer and Moderna's efforts, Cheetolini is still trying to take credit for his laughable association with the scientists who actually developed the medicine.  Now, in a final show of incompetence, after the initial distribution there has been little or no planning for the full roll out of immunizing the general population.   Good luck to the Biden administration as they inherit yet another tRump disaster. 

Voting for the Right people

        The electoral system continues to grind on.  Today state electors will meet to certify Joe Biden did indeed win the presidency.  This follows the state certification of election results on Friday.  Meanwhile, on Earth 2, Republicans, including my own representative continue to deny the obvious in an attempt to subvert the results of a free and fair election.   It would seem in the eyes of members of the GOP, Democrats can never win the presidency because they do not represent the right people.

The beat goes on

       In a continuing saga, Republicans filed yet another lawsuit with the Supreme Court, asking the justices to set aside the voters wishes in 4 states.   This would have the effect of handing the presidency to Cheatolini.

      To be sure, this lawsuit is a joke, and even the 3 tRump appointees on the Court could not in good conscience support it.   But the very idea of such a suit being pursued after all 50 states have certified the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election is horrifying at best.   It seems Republicans can now not acknowledge an electoral win by any party but their own.   In the face of overwhelming evidence the election was free and fair, nearly 80% of self identified members of the GOP feel the election was stolen.

      Of course, once Biden is inaugurated, many of these naysayers will come to accept the Democrat's victory.   However, a hard core of tRump supporters will go to their graves saying the election was stolen.  The lasting damage the 45th president* has done to our democracy is the legacy he will drag to his final resting place.

A few good men and women

        Putting the last few weeks in perspective requires acknowledging the men and women throughout the country who put their nation above their party and made sure the national election was free and fair.  Unlike the spineless Republican weasels in Congress and many state legislatures, the officials in charge of the elections, Democrats and Republicans alike refused the threats and entreaties of the would be tyrant in the Oval Office.   Maybe it is because these offices are typically an end in themselves rather than a steppingstone to higher ambitions.  Maybe the sanctity of elections mean something to those in places of trust.   Whatever the reasons, we owe them a debt of gratitude for keeping the American experiment going for another election cycle.

Our Bonkers Polity

        The absolute Bizzaro quality of our political discourse was on display yesterday as the once and future presidents spoke to the nation yesterday regarding the roll out of Pfizer's version of a Covid 19 vaccine.   tRump took full credit for the proprietary vaccine developed with no input from the federal government and breezily predicted again we have "rounded the corner" regardless of 287,000 deaths we have endured and the hundreds of thousands more that are likely before a significant number of our fellows are vaccinated.

      Meanwhile, in Wilmington, Delaware, the president elect spoke to the difficulties we will experience in the coming winter months.  He asked everyone to mask up for the first 100 days of the administration to help bend the curve and pledged 100 million shots in the first 100 days.   Biden did not sugar coat the pandemic and requested  everyone's help while empathizing with those who have lost loved ones to the disease.

      This is the stark contrast we are seeing in real time.   

Republicans want you to suffer

      If you are poor, black, brown or otherwise non white, Republicans want you to suffer in the wake of Joe Biden's election.   Mitch MCConnell and his caucus have decided there will be little or no pandemic relief for America unless corporations are protected from liability for their failure to protect workers during the crisis.   

      This is the media narrative for the failure of the Senate to advance aid to the American people.  Of course, the real reason is to punish voters for pulling the lever for a Democrat in November.   Ever since Bill Clinton was elected, Republicans have looked on Democratic governments as illegitimate, despite the fact in most cases Dems had to clean up messes made by the GOP when it was in power.   Republicans have flat out forgotten how to govern and mainly function as a full time opposition party.  Hence, no relief for America.

It has come to this

        According to NYT columnist, Ross Douthat, upwards of 60% of registered Republicans believe the recent election of Joe Biden as president was neither free nor fair.  In fact it was a giant conspiracy to deny the president* a glorious 2nd term.

       Douthat is one of the Times designated conservatives.   As a card carrying intellectual, he is above the conspiracy theories presently being put forward by talk radio, Newsmax and other far right sources.  Even, or especially the demented rants routinely broadcast from the White House fail to move him.   However, even reasonably intelligent people of his acquaintance have confided to him their attraction to some of the stolen election rumors.

     He theorizes many intelligent conservatives (oxymoron) have been raised to dispute anything advocated for by the liberal intelligentsia.   Therefore, as insane as it seems they would prefer to believe tRump's baseless accusations rather than the media's debunking of cheating allegations.   Even the tossing of dozens of the tRump campaign's lawsuits, some with prejudice will not shake them in their beliefs.

    A second group of conspiracy theorists gravitate to the most outrageous internet sites to confirm their strongly held fantasies.  These are descendants of JFK conspiracies, 911 truthers  and Obama birth certificate conspiracies.   

    Finally there are the newly radicalized blue collar working class voters who feel the entire system is gamed against them and who have wrongly fixed on DJT as the one who can fix it all.

     These disparate parts of the Republican coalition will be with us in 2024 Douthat suggests unless we can come up with arguments tailored to each demographic's particular persuasion.  He suggest he will be making these arguments to anyone who will listen right up until tRump is nominated by the GOP in 2024.   I wish him luck.

5 

The Christmas conundrum

        Christmas and its traditions may not overshadow our multicultural society as much as Thanksgiving, but for many, if not a majority of us, the celebrations surrounding the holiday echo with even more urgency than turkey day.   How will we manage our expectations while in the clutches of the pandemic?

        I know at this point, my immediate family fully expects to gather and exchange gifts and savor a holiday meal together.   Is this wise, considering the warnings regarding Thanksgiving.   By the end of December, the health care infrastructure will surely be buckling under the wave of new hospitalizations associated with late November celebrations.  Even with the prospect of a vaccine tantalizingly close, should we risk our collective health on the 25th of December?    I know the answer, and so do most of us.  Let's hope common sense prevails.

When will it end

     More than 2700 people died of complications due to Covid 19 yesterday.   The commander in chief took to a lectern in the White House and spent 45 minutes in an unhinged rant about fraud in the last election.  He did not spare one minute to console the friends and relatives of those 2700 dead Americans.   How much longer can we put up with this?

Pardon Me

        According to some, the latest leak from DoJ regarding abuses of the president's pardoning power is merely a ploy from Bill Barr to reestablish his integrity before the lights go out in his office on January 20.    Between the release of a heavily redacted judicial brief from August ruling on lawyers' request to access information on laptops, i phones, etc. seized in a raid inspired by a bribery for pardon scheme.

     Personally, I think this is just a shiny object to keep the liberal media busy in a fruitless bid in the waning days of the tRump administration to find the one great crime which will bring the president* down.   Unfortunately, incontrovertible evidence of even the most heinous crime will barely cause a yawn among Cheetolini's supporters, so why release this information now?   Along with speculation about pardons for Jared, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, etc., all this does is muddy the water and probably allow other crimes to go forward with little or no publicity.

Treason, anyone

     In the death throes of his administration, it looks like tRump is descending into flirting with treason in an effort to overthrow the will of the people.   As most of the swing states which decided the election have certified Joe Biden's electoral college win, the current president has tried to suborn the republican governors of Georgia and Arizona to convince them to declare the election results in their states invalid.  

     In states controlled by Republican legislatures, Cheetolini appealed directly to party members to nullify the elections and put a slate of tRump electors into the Electoral College.   A DOJ not in thrall to the Executive would probably be investigating the president* for treason.  I guess we will have to wait for the new administration.

The new reality for agriculture

      Extreme drought followed by brief intervals of  heavy rain.   Hot summers followed by early frost.  Freezing winter weather and an early spring.   What is a gardener or farmer to do?

      This meditation on extremes was caused by a brief inspection of the garlic bed in my garden this past weekend.  Due to impending knee surgery in October, I  planted by 2021 garlic crop earlier than I ususally do and everything seemed to be fine.  We had a couple of good frosts in early October and the weather seemed to be settling down.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature, personified as climate change decided to go into a warm, dry November.   On the plus side, the late fall brassicas continued to thrive and will provide for the table into December.  The bad news is the garlic has poked green shoots above ground and now must withstand a North Country winter.

      

Thanksgivingness

      It was a slightly less crazy Thanksgiving than usual at Casa Monzeglio this year.   After cooking the traditional dinner and dividing into portions for some members of the family, the Divine Mrs. M and I sat down to a very quiet table.   The food was delicious as usual, but the cacophony of our usual celebration was missing.

      I have previously gone on at length about the hoary and false legends surrounding Americans' Thanksgiving.   I prefer the traditions most families have grown over the years.  It's about bringing us together under one roof to celebrate our familial bonds.   For a few brief hours, we are not Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals, but family members who care for each other.

       That is what made our tiny celebration so bittersweet.   Oh, and the 2 hours of cleanup with no assistance from said family!  Such are the pleasures and pains of a pandemic year.   I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Same as the old boss

      Despite the sprinkling of black and brown faces and several women as well, Joe Biden's initial cabinet and NSA picks are the wet dream of the centrist establishment.   An "enlightened" Shrub or his brother Jeb might have picked the same people if their administration started in A.D. 2020.   Instead of the crude battle cry of "America First", it will be America first among equals.  

     Of course, compared to what tRump probably would have offered, this is a dream team and most people exhaled with relief that there was a sense of normalcy in these choices.   I will agree most of these people will be approved by the Senate.   However, this is a pretty low bar, and I expect better of Biden when it comes to the powerful domestic posts he will soon roll out.  

Finally

         So, tRump's apparatchik in the GSA, Emily Murphy, grudgingly acknowledged Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election and released the funds and space that will allow the transition of power to begin.   Murphy's statement claimed she came to the conclusion that Biden won independently, but she soon found out what so many trumpanzees have discovered; that the president* will step all over his appointees whenever he can.  Within minutes of Murphy's  announcement, tRump released a statement taking credit for the decision to grant Biden the GSA's endorsement.

       The whole transition promises to be chaotic with  paper shredders in constant use and wrongdoing concealed until the previous team is out the door.   Biden's people will find a government in shambles and will have to rebuild virtually every department.   It's as if the Joker had been in charge of the government for the last four years...oh, wait!

Confessions of a Giants' fan

       I admit while not under duress that I have been a Giants fan since the mid 60s.   I was inspired by Andy Robustelli, Y.A. Tittle and the rest of a perennially competitive crew.   While they weren't the dynasty the Yankees were in baseball, they were scrappy, even when losing "the greatest game ever played" against the Baltimore Colts.

       I endured the many years of lousy football that followed and revived when the Parcells era began.   Another period of wandering in the football wilderness followed until Eli Manning captured lightning in a bottle twice against the mighty Patriots.  

      Now, long suffering fans are back in the doldrums once again.  I was resigned to competing with the Jets for the worst record in football, when lo and behold, the lowly Giants won 2 in a row and with a 3-7 record are competing for a division title.  I am reluctantly following Big Blue once again, although I am relatively sure they will find a way to disappoint me one more time.

On the line

        As Ben Franklin is supposed to have responded to a question about what kind of government the Founders had cobbled together; "A republic, if you can keep it", so it is time to ask what kind of government tRump supporters are looking for in the wake of Rudy Giuliani's bonkers press conference yesterday and subsequent actions by his boss.

       With absolutely no proof of voter fraud other than his fevered imagination, Giuliani as much as admitted there will be no more lawsuits filed in various states, because when asked by judges for proof, not a single lawyer was able to produce any.   The game now is to get republican controlled state legislatures to defy the will of their constituents and name tRump electors to compete with legally chosen Biden electors.   The strategy is to blow up the electoral college and get the  issue before the Supreme Court.  

     This is the last ditch strategy of a loser.  I hope republicans of good will repudiate it at every turn.  I'm holding my breath...

The Future belongs to...

        My granddaughter Hannah was extremely excited yesterday.   Her teacher told her mother that the little girl was scoring 100% in all the subjects covered in the first grade curriculum.  She even offered to send more complicated work home so Hannah could advance further during the school year.   On its face, this is a feel good story about the virtues of hard work.   However, the devil is in the details.

       Due to the pandemic and the risks going to in person schooling would pose to her various caregivers, primarily  her paternal grandparents, Hannah is being home schooled by Grandma Carol, a retired teacher herself.   Carol spends 3-4 hours a day in one on one instruction with Hannah who absorbs information like a sponge.   Her parents and other grandparents continue to encourage her when her orbit intersects ours.   I cannot imagine a more virtuous circle.  I also cannot imagine any but a small minority of her peers who are getting a better childhood education.   I am happy for Hannah, but a small part of me wonders what the other children in her class are doing during their days and nights away from school.

     Parents who don't have the ecosystem of my granddaughter or the ability to pay for the tutoring necessary to make a good pandemic education possible will have to settle for a lesser school experience for their children.  It's not fair and it's not right.   

Close to the Edge

      As November wears on, the media has inexorably latched on to the narrative that tRump obviously lost the election and has even lost the battle to frame the whole thing as stolen, but there seems to be little to do but wait for state certification of at least 270 electoral votes for Biden.   Instead of excoriating the Republican party for the anti-democratic force it has become, most media outlets report each illiberal action as if it existed with no connection to hundreds of other strikes against our democracy.

      Meanwhile, the inept wanna be autocrat remains in the White House, having abandoned any pretense at doing the job he was elected to do.   Instead of governing, he spends his time tweeting or golfing.   As long as Republicans allow this travesty to continue, they are just as complicit as tRump in this rending of the popular will.   

       Once again, we are trapped by the norms of a democracy which tRump cares not a fig.  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are powerless until January 20, unless there is goodwill emanating from the Oval Office.  So we must wait for Covid relief as well as a functional executive branch.   

Covid vs. Climate Change

Over at the NYT, Paul Krugman says based on our failure to cope with the Corona 19 pandemic, he is increasingly pessimistic about our ability to handle the challenges posed by global climate change.  Even something as simple as mask wearing to slow the spread of the disease has been opposed by a vocal minority who argue the pandemic is a hoax, right up until they are intubated or moved to the morgue.

     One can see the same automatic response to climate change.   For the most part it cannot be felt until the hurricane or tornado rips apart lives.   Even then, the same Covid deniers will say climate change is a hoax also.   

      The nascent Biden administration is facing economic, social and political challenges already.   Throwing climate change front and center is probably a recipe for losing in the mid term elections and kicking the climate can down the road for another 10 years.  I hope this is not the way things go, but as Krugman says, it is hard to be optimistic about our will to fight climate change when we can't even admit the presence of a communicable disease in our midst.

Uncharted territory

        Like most Americans, my family had to deal with what is rapidly becoming the new normal.  Do we celebrate that most mundane of milestones, a birthday, or do we observe Covid 19 precautions and forget about it for the balance of the year.   In this particular case, the birthday in question was mine and the attraction was my eldest daughter's offer to cook a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, my favorite repast.

         We probably did everything wrong, celebrating piecemeal with everyone during the day, except for the family bartender who was obviously too exposed to the coronavirus to interact with her 69 year old father.  Meanwhile, I am continuing physical therapy for my newly operated knee replacement in an office with minimal social distancing and hands on P/T.   What is to be done?   I think we are in uncharted waters, and are very likely to be learning very dangerous lessons as the pandemic ravages our country and the national leadership is more likely to be found on a golf course than in the situation room.

Blah, blah, blah

      As the Divine Mrs. M has intuited, we have reached the stage of non-stop blathering by the cable news networks regarding the recent elections.   In the absence of the traditional transfer of power from the outgoing administration to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the networks have descended to Kremlinology to try to discern what is happening at the White House. 

      Hirings and firings are dissected when as most of us know, there is little active malice emanating from tRump's lair.  The nation's chief executive for the next 70 days is probably planning his next grift.  There is also golf to be played.   Concessions are unlikely, but co-operation with the incoming administration will happen as more and more Republicans suggest any other reaction is beyond the pale.

     Meanwhile, both liberal and conservative networks have 24 hours to fill...

Losing whatever scruples they ever had

       It is hard to say anything nice about the republican party in A.D. 2020.   If it ever had a soul, most of it was in hock to Ronald Reagan and his "government is the enemy" message.  The little that remained has now been sold to Donald tRump, a mountebank who makes Reagan look like a statesman.

       The election has been over for a week.  The networks called it for Joe Biden on Saturday.  Yet many elected Republican officials and a large percentage of party members refuse to believe the results.   Instead, there is a barrage of claims of a stolen election and encouragement to doubt the most fundamental ritual in a democracy, a free and fair election.  The stupidity of Republican claims is self evident.   If democrats were fixing the elections in 50 states, how did they allow Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham to be elected, along with many others GOP candidates? 

       Voters rebuked tRump and his policies (what policies?) after 4 nightmarish years.  However, the same voters seem willing to believe the party which enabled tRump is not responsible for him and so re- elected many of the sycophantic bootlickers who got us into this mess.   Now, instead of being able to enact their programs and let the voters judge their efficacy, congressional Democrats will face a salted earth opposition by Republicans who will decry "gridlock".   This will lead to a GOP win in the House in 2022 and Biden's opportunity to govern will have come to naught.   This is the Republican agenda and despite their president's bungling of the pandemic and the needless loss of more than 100,000 lives and counting, it looks like the party of Lincoln will get away with killing what is left of our democracy.   There is no hell hot enough...

Down the rabbithole

        Rabbits everywhere are probably tired of the metaphor we use to explain a ridiculous situation.   Sorry guys, but blame Lewis Carroll for the problem.   In the meantime, it seems one of the two political parties in the country is bound and determined to drag us down an increasingly chaotic course for as long as possible in an attempt to delegitimize a  lawfully conducted election.

     Aside from appeasing the president*'s wounded fee fees, the other harm this strategy does is to allow some people to feel Moscow Mitch and the Republican senate have every right to block any legislation on the part of the Biden administration to deal with the nation's problems.  Meanwhile, they can keep the base riled up and ready to vote in 2022.   Cynical and destructive you say.   That's your present Republican party and that is what it will do if allowed to.

A new day dawns

      It took a while and it was messy, but that is one of the enduring traits of a democracy.   Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been elected the the presidency and vice presidency of the USA.   Propelled by a coalition of black, brown, yellow and whites, Biden overcame Trump and Republicans as well as an alarming number of white nationalists and cultists who cobbled together over 70 million  voters in opposition.

      While most Democrats and independents heaved a sigh of relief, the election was not as close as media made it appear.   This has encouraged Trump and some other dead enders to continue to challenge the results.    After a weekend of golf and twitter, Trump is threatening to go with more rallies in  disputed states.   

      Personally, I am more than ready to put this sordid chapter of American history behind me, but I think we all need to keep Trump and what he represents  in mind as the calendar rolls around to 2024.

More tired than Godot

        Still waiting for a definitive result from the last few states still counting every vote so Joe Biden can put bandage on the wounds inflicted on American democracy over the last 5 years.

        This election has proven that tribalism has superseded patriotism as the number one driver in our politics.   Political polling has taken another hit, perhaps more devastating than it did in 2016.   Pollsters are obviously not catching the political zeitgeist as we sort ourselves into 2 very different tribes; one, the Democrats who for the most part have embraced a multicultural democracy and two, a Republican party which longs for a return to a rose colored 1950s America where everyone knew their place and white men stood at the apex of the patriarchy.   What happens next is up to all of us.

Still waiting

       We continue to wait for results in the presidential election.   The consensus is Biden still has a 90% chance of winning.  That is the equivalent of having a 10% chance an asteroid destroying the earth, but a 90% chance it will miss.

       Win or lose, as many on the left have said, the Democrats need to do a thorough soul searching regarding the meaning of the election.   Republicans have settled on the strategy of becoming the party of white grievance, much as racist Democrats in the south controlled national politics during the Jim Crow era.  Since whites will remain the dominant race in America through the middle of the century, they can effectively kill progressive reforms through legislative or judicial means for the forseeable future. 

      Democrats have chosen or have had thrust upon them the mantle of the "big tent" party.  With a small percentage of  college educated whites making up about 20% of the party and people of color with various ideologies making up the balance, it seems the party continues to misread the mood of the country.  Much of that is attributable to the right wing media distribution of "alternative facts" which have contributed to an alternative universe for those who want reassurance that we truly live in a 1950's bubble where white supremacy is unquestioned and "those people" know their place.

      The Dems undoubtedly have the right strategy in the long term.  However, as Keynes' said, "In the long term, we will all be dead".  We need something in the short term that will prevent President Tom Cotton from taking us to the apocalypse in 2024.

Are we broken

        I know, virtually anyone reading this blog will agree with 95% of what I believe regarding politics.  Most of us are liberal democrats of a certain age.   We mostly believe in progressive programs including racial and economic justice.   We also believe, somewhat naively it would appear, a majority of our fellow citizens feel the same way.  That seems to have been disproven across wide swaths of the country last night.

       Bidding to become the first impeached president to be re elected, Donald tRump played to another inside straight.   He won most of the former confederacy by appealing to the many racists who still worship the stars and bars.  He also appealed to the prejudices of the vast swath of rural America which retains outsize political power in states like the Dakotas and Missouri.   It was a pure politics of grievance campaign and as we roll into the day after election day this racist, misogynistic, ignorant buffoon is within a few votes in Pennsylvania of another 4 years of misrule.

      I don't know what to say, but to me it feels like the instant between when a plate drops and hits the floor.   Can we catch it before it breaks?  I surely hope so.

Today and tomorrow

       No matter what happens today, the sun will come up tomorrow and the day after.   We may not know who our next president will be until later this week, but whoever it is, we must continue the fight for equal rights, economic justice and progress.   It will be harder under the present administration, but it must continue.   

       However, first things first.   If you are reading this blog, you have probably voted already.  If you haven't, please do.   Join the rest of us in exercising our most basic right.

Homestretch

      Sorry about the lack of blogging for the last 10 days.   Having your knee replaced with plastic and titanium is not the most pleasant way to spend a day.   Feeling much better 10 days out, so on to more important subjects.

       In a normal world. Joe Biden would be measuring the Oval Office for new drapes.  Unfortunately we don't live in a "normal" world and an increasingly desperate tRump campaign is pulling out all the stops with incidents of voter intimidation are multiplying by the hour.   Many voters tomorrow will be voting literally under the guns of so called militia members in states like Michigan.   I think most of these ploys will be unsuccessful.   I'm doubting many of the so-called Proud Boys will be showing up in Detroit to intimidate voters.   They will be sticking to areas where there is an overwhelming white electorate.  

      The far more insidious and out in the open strategy for tRump is to wait until tomorrow night and as soon as he has a lead in enough states, he will declare victory and try to shut down vote counting.  This is the real threat to our democracy.   We will need republicans to stand up and rebuke the president*.

Time to call in the Democrats

      As the economy slowly implodes during the "3rd wave" of the coronavirus, Congress in the person of Mitch McConnell has decided there will be no stimulus passed before the election.  Furthermore, McConnell has decided to blame Democrats for the inaction, posing himself as looking out for the little guy instead of "coastal elites".

      The epic hypocrisy of this stance would surely be the death knell of any other politician, but McConnell is bullet proof in Kentucky.  If Jesus Christ was running against him, Moscow Mitch would find a way to smear him, or as he did in a recent debate just chuckled as his opponent exposed him for the venal liar he is.

    It looks like the economy will have rolled into a ditch by election day.   Once again, Republicans will leave the smoking wreckage for Democrats to fix.  Meanwhile they will sabotage every attempt, having rediscovered their inner deficit hawks.   Falling back to a position of fixing democracy, Democrats will then be labeled as court packing power hungry monsters by astro-turf groups sponsored by Koch Industries and will probably lose their Senate majority in 2022.  I hope, but wouldn't bet against national amnesia in 2024.  We can then start the cycle over again, praying the Republicans barf up another tRump instead of a really competent demagogue...

Saved by the fair sex

       By the time the 60 Minutes interview featuring the president* and Lesley Stahl is aired this coming Sunday nearly half the electorate will have voted.  Of the remaining half, a vast majority have already made up their minds.  However, judging by the tenor of tRump's criticism of Ms. Stahl, there may be some cause for some voters to rethink the issues, particularly misogyny, before voting.

       As virtually every American knows by now, racism and misogyny are the two character traits on exhibit whenever Cheatolini addresses the public.   Objectification of women, veiled references to sexual assault and outright vilification of strong women is perhaps what defines tRumpism in the public's imagination.   His fans have revived the chant, "lock her up", to now refer to Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who had the audacity to call out the commander in chief for inciting the kind of woman hatred which resulted in a failed plot by a Michigan "militia" to kidnap, try and execute her for the crime of trying to keep her fellow citizens safe during the pandemic.

     As a result of this relentless vilification of women, the gender gap has now become a gender chasm, with Joe Biden now enjoying a 25% lead among women.  I can only imagine what the televised interview will show us this coming Sunday.   tRump's tweetstorm against Ms. Stahl will ensure a massive audience which will probably change at least a few minds.  Thank heavens for the fair sex.  They may indeed save us from ourselves.

North Country Gardening

     For my own sanity, I'm taking a break from politics today and will share the latest news from my garden.   This will be the last week for my mini CSA.  However, this has more to do with my impending knee surgery than a lack of produce.   I am still harvesting cilantro, dill, parsley, broccoli, kale and other greens.  I still have  50-60 cauliflower plants trying to head up.   The weather looks good for the balance of the week and no frost is predicted through the end of next week.   I even have lettuce under cover.

     To those who garden in more southerly climes, the above may  not seem like a big deal, but for those of you who deal with the vicissitudes posed by weather at Latitude 44 or higher, the bounty I am still harvesting is downright amazing.    Despite a couple of frosts which decimated the tomatoes, peppers and summer squash, I could imagine harvesting for another 2-3 weeks.   20 years ago this would not have happened because no one would have planted crops so late in the season.   Climate change, anyone?

Two more weeks

        At least 27 million of my fellow citizens got the memo about voting early.   This, compared to 2016 when only 5.9 million had cast their ballots at this point in the race.   As more states with early voting open, the tsunami will continue.  By election day, fully half the eligible population of voters may have exercised their right, relieving pressure on polling places.  It is estimated by a 2 to 1 margin the early voters are Democrats.

       Virtually every pundit is still claiming there is a path to victory for Republicans, including Cheatolini.  They tell us every poll is suspect and there are millions of secret tRump voters out there, just waiting for the opportunity to vote for a  racist, homophobic misogynist on November 3.   Undoubtedly there are more than a few men and even women who would vote for such a candidate, but fortunately they make up less than 45% of voters and many will not bother to vote anyway.  

      So, at some point, there will be overwhelming evidence of a Biden  victory.   What happens then is the biggest stress test of our democracy since the Civil War.  I hope we are up to it.

A tale of two town halls

       It's too bad we couldn't have had a true split-screen experience last night.  tRump and Joe Biden held dueling town hall meetings and from what I could see in the few minutes I was able to stomach the Cheetolini version it couldn't have been more different from Biden's.   Uncle Joe was respectful of his questioners and offered in at least one case to meet with the undecided voter after the telecast.  Meanwhile, a sweaty and seemingly annoyed president* spewed lies, conspiracy theories and under firm but fair questioning by Samantha Guthrie admitted owing over 400 million dollars to foreign interests, although he would not say who.   Instead he offered to get back to Guthrie and let her know.  Right after he releases his tax returns.

      If any undecided voters did not make up their minds after those performances, their pulses should be checked for signs of life.   Yes, my nephew Robbie will undoubtedly say both candidates are sellouts and our lives will be no different under either man.  Assuming that is his stance, I beg to differ.   While I don't believe for a minute every bit of Biden's plans will be enacted into law,  at least we will be living in a democracy.   Cheeto Jesus will shred the very foundations of our country as he converts the greatest experiment in self rule in history into a 3rd rate banana republic.   

The whole thing is bananas

      Dr. Johnny Bananas and numerous other distinguished physicians want you to know that herd immunity to the coronavirus is possible.   So are the deaths of several million of your fellow Americans.   Potato, potathoe.

      The tRump administration has seemingly gone all in for the recommendations contained in the Great Barrington Declaration, a document written under the sponsorship of a Koch brothers' organization.  The document advocates we protect the elderly from infection while letting everyone else go about life normally.  No masks, no social distancing and no effort to contain Covid 19.   As one pundit pointed out, the president* would love this because it requires him to do nothing.

      The result of letting the virus rampage through the population would be the deaths of up to several million people, plus the long term care of many "long haulers" who would continue to present symptoms of the disease for months and perhaps years after infection.  However, Dr. Bananas and the few actual doctors who put their names and reputations on this farce don't seem to care about the fates of their fellow Americans.   This is the state of our country in October 2020.  Cherish it.

Stressing in the shadows

        An avalanche of bad news for the tRump campaign continues on a daily basis.   The president* is bleeding support from nearly every demographic except evangelicals and old white men.   A Democratic senate now seems within reach.   And yet.   Most media outlets have at least one Cassandra blaring warnings of the coming Biden defeat.   Despite all the news of early voting, the MAGA hordes are coming for your democracy and if they fail, Republicans will use the levers of governmental power to install Cheetolini for at least  4 more years.

       Most of those who read this blog will make sure they vote and are probably contributing to and working for campaigns.   You are aware things can go sideways very easily.   As many people have pointed out, no matter how unpopular the Republican party has become under tRump, at least 37% of the voting age population would vote for GOP candidates no matter what.   The same is true of Democrats.  That leaves 20-25% of voters who can be persuaded.   They may self identify as Dems or Repubs, but their allegiance is fungible.   Witness Landslides for FDR, LBJ and Reagan.   There were many crossovers in each of those elections.   We need this to happen in 21 days.  There can be no doubt of the people's choice in 2020.   As one woman who waited 5 hours to vote in Atlanta said, "We are voting as if our lives depend on it".

Judging Amy

       I'm sure somewhere in America in the last few weeks someone has used the title of the improbable TV show, Judging Amy, when weighing in on the Supreme Court nomination of another Amy.   The TV Amy, played a family court judge who juggled family responsibilities with her judicial duties.  The show ran from 1999 to 2005 and I remember watching a few episodes.   The non-fictional Amy, who is now the subject of Senate confirmation hearings might want to catch a few glimpses of her namesake's struggle with her inner judge.

      Amy Coney Barrett, who I imagine will soon be known by the acronym ACB, is not nearly as introspective as Amy Gray.   Brought up in the hothouse of post Bill Clinton jurisprudence on the GOP side, ACB checked all the boxes in the employment application put out by the Federalist Society.  Add to that her involvement in the Catholic cult called  the "people of praise" and you have the Stepford Wife of the Seventh Circuit.   Introspection  would not be her strong suit.

     Republicans will hijack this nomination in order to expand their margin on the court to a 6-3 chokehold.  They are already crying foul to the suggestion the Democrats may expand the court to 13 judges in order to counteract the anti-majoritarian bent of the Robert's court.   The rank hypocrisy this requires is no  greater than what the GOP has enabled the president* to do in the last four years.  The party has prostituted itself to remake the judiciary in an attempt to legislate from the bench.  As I'm sure Amy Gray would agree, it would be ironic if the first act of a newly elected Democratic president and Congress was to nullify the McConnell strategy  and expand the Federal Court system with newly appointed liberal judges.

Celebrations

       I looked in vain this morning for  any mention of Columbus Day in the NYT.   Surely there would be a footnote somewhere, even if it was more vilification of the Italian mariner who "discovered" America more than 500 years ago.   I may have missed it,  but in America in 2020, there will be no parades honoring Columbus due to Covid 19 and virtually all stories followed by good liberals will venerate indigenous people.

       I wish I could say I am conflicted by Columbus' downfall in popular culture.  As a child of the 60's , I didn't need the Italian connection with him to validate my own standing.  Even then, the Knights of Columbus in my church parish seemed like a pointless organization which allowed a coterie of older Italian men to dress in silly uniforms a couple of times each year.

      Columbus was a monster, but no more so than most Europeans of his time.   Mass slaughter and enslavement of the natives of the New World would have happened whomever made the discovery of new lands to exploit.   Certainly the conquistadors needed no lessons on rapine from him.   Meanwhile, perhaps Italians should press for Congress to replace Columbus Day with a Da Vinci Day to celebrate another famous Italian.   At least until someone  publishes the real dirt on Leonardo.  And so it goes.

 

The Pivot

        I guess the election is over.   David Brooks at the NYT says Wednesday's debate is all the proof he needs.   Remember that scary black woman, Kamala Harris.   The most liberal senator in America, who makes Bernie Sanders look like a John Birch society reject.   Well, according to Brooks, possibly the most self serving twit in the mainstream media, Harris and the head of the ticket, Joe Biden have given up all their left wing dreams in an effort to satisfy his desire for the good ole days when you could barely tell the difference between the parties.

       Brooks lives in a hazy dream where it is easy to pretend one of the major parties in our two party system has given up any pretense of governing and is instead doing its utmost to retain power in the face of overwhelming opposition.   The GOP of tRump and Moscow Mitch don't care if Kamala Harris has  made an about face on income inequality, medicare for all and half a dozen other Republican shibboleths.   But, according to Brooks, now that she has shed her left wing dreams, Harris and the Democrats are now fit to once again bring America back from the brink.   If only it was that easy.

The real winner

        I have to say that as a good Democrat, I listened to the debate last night for a chance to see how Kamala Harris would handle the blizzard of lies Mike Pence was sure to spout with little or no conscience.   As the Q&A wore on, it became apparent Pence was going for a "mansplaining" moment as he interrupted Harris, talked over her and continued to revisit topics after the moderator adjured it was time to move on.  Still, on balance I thought he played a bad hand fairly well.

        However, neither the Divine Mrs. M, who sat next to me for most of the show, nor the women pundits on MSNBC were having none of that.   They were channeling every woman who was ever put down, talked over, mansplained or otherwise ignored by a man with some power over her.   No matter what else Pence was saying, and it was mostly a bunch of self serving lies, his casual assumption he knew more and better than a black woman with far better education and career bona fides was maddening to most women who bothered to listen.   Mea Culpa ladies, I stand corrected.

The Master's voice

        In a bout of probably steroid induced pique, the president* tweeted he was ending talks with Congress regarding Covid 19 relief legislation.   Within minutes, the stock market declined precipitously and within hours, Cheetolini started to walk back his message of intransigence.

       If there is one economic indicator tRump respects and reveres for some reason, it is the stock market.  Despite any president's marginal effect on stock prices, he feels a strong market is proof of his mastery of the economy.   In reality, the market has risen at the same rate during his presidency* as that of his predecessor, so there is little to brag about.  But, having hitched himself to this particular wagon, it would seem to be political suicide to say things which would bring the market down.   Shutting off the spigot of government spending at a time when the Federal Reserve Board Chairman is literally begging for another round of stimulus is a strange play,  to say the least.  

      tRump is down by as many as 16 points in polls released in the aftermath of the first and likely last presidential debate.  Most Americans blame him for his failure to stay coronavirus free.   To blow up his claim to be a master of the economy seems unbelievable on its face, especially 30 days from an election which is shaping up to be a Biden landslide.   Maybe someone should check the dose of steroids the old boy is on.   'Roid rage, indeed.

Gardening in a North Country Fall

       Having pulled out the old chestnut "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times", I'm still going to use it regarding my continuing struggle to garden in the north country during the fall.   

      By relentlessly planting during the driest summer in my experience, I set the table for a bountiful fall harvest.   As mid September approached, my last planting of beans was beginning to blossom.  Late summer squash plants were producing and fall spinach and lettuce looked good.  Then Mom Nature reminded me we live on borrowed time.  A mid month frost put paid the summer vegetables and severely set back the late brassicas like broccoli and cauliflower.   Adding 2 inches of rain which would have been a godsend in July just added salt to the wound.

      Flash forward 2 weeks and the late fall veg is trying to make a comeback in October.  Milder weather this week will help the last 3 plantings of lettuce, bok choy and nappa cabbage.  The late broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower may  or may not head, but they are trying.   Dickens must have known a gardener or three!

Lies and the lying liars who tell them

        Any chance that the president* would inspire any sympathy for his contraction of Covid 19 was firmly put down by his irresponsible behavior and endangerment of his secret service protection detail yesterday so he could soak up some adulation from his fans outside Walter Reade hospital.   Riding around in a hermetically sealed vehicle while still infectious seems like the height of bad judgement and a confirmation of a diagnosis of sociopathy in the case of the commander in chief.

       As many of the over 7 million Americans who have been infected by the virus have found, just surviving the disease is a scary journey.  However, being treated by a phalanx of doctors and nurses who employed every medication which has shown to be effective in treating Covid 19 is something virtually no one of his fellows has experienced.   In his drive to prove his Alpha male status, Cheetolini has put this team and anyone else involved in his care in danger.

      Also, he has once again corrupted the reputation of professionals by coopting  them to lie regarding his medications, course of treatment and prognosis.  November 3rd can't come soon enough.

The national nightmare continues

        Since it is already out there in liberal leaning blogs and the national media, I'm sure in the wake of Cheetolini and Melania testing positive for coronavirus speculation about presidential succession is also happening in wingnuttia.    Since Pence has been in close contact with POTUS, he may very well test positive also.   Should both of these elderly men show heavy duty symptoms and are hospitalized and possibly intubated, we all know who is next in line to assume the duties of the presidency.   

       While I hope the president* and the VP recover in time to be whipped in  the election, I also hope the Speaker is in isolation today and will remain so until there is definitive news regarding tRump.  The old boy is morbidly obese, which is one of the co-morbidities most likely to put you at risk of hospitalization.  However, considering how transparent the White House has been regarding the president's* health, I'm sure we will be getting up to the minute news.   In the meantime, thoughts and prayers...

The media can't quit him

           2 days after the presidential debate in Cleveland, the media still can't get its collective head around the worst performance in this format since it became a thing in the 1960 race between Kennedy and Nixon.   Most commentators have seized on tRump's refusal to denounce white supremacy in general and the Proud Boys in particular and are running with stories on the White House refusal to make a clear call for the far right to stand down or face legal consequences.

        I think the entirety of the debate should be covered, especially from the vantage point of our friends and adversaries around the world.  Most thinking people outside the country were genuinely horrified by Cheetolini's sociopathic performance.  

     What does it mean when one party in a two party system has given up all pretense of following democratic norms?   The only way to bring what is left of the Republican party back from the dark side is an electoral defeat of catastrophic proportions.   Virtually every GOPer who has enabled the sickness needs to be defeated.  I'm looking at you, Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham.   The racism and  misogyny need to be called out and the structural features which allowed minority rule must be changed.  It all starts with our votes on November 3 or sooner.

The games in Cleveland

         The Yankees had a good night in Cleveland.   They beat the Indians and Shawn Bieber 13-3.  A few blocks away, Democracy had a very bad night in Cleveland.   Although Joe Biden was the clear winner, it was an ugly night, driven wild by an addled demagogue who seems hell bent on taking America down with him when he is defeated in November.

        The moderator of the "debate", Chris Wallace tried to restrain tRump on numerous occasions when the president* shouted over Biden and Wallace.   He completely disregarded the rules agreed upon by both campaigns and showed a stunning disregard for decorum and norms that made his debates with Hillary Clinton look like a ladies' tea party.   If I was Wallace, I would have shut the mikes and the lights off midway through the proceedings and walked off the stage.   As it is, his reputation as a tough but fair moderator is toast.

      I think Biden made the best of a bad situation.   Several times during a nightmarish 90 minutes he looked into the camera and spoke directly to America, promising to be the president of all the people, not just those who support him.   I believe a small but significant cohort of tRump's supporters will look at last night with the disgust most of us felt and switch their allegiance.   I believe a tidal wave is coming.

The tRump voter

       As the "typical" tRump voter becomes more and more hesitant to declare his/her allegiance to the president*, some pundits have sought out an even rarer specimen, democrats who have switched loyalties even if Cheetolini has made his disdain for them evident.

      So it was that NYT columnist Bret Stephens was able to find a Manhattan lesbian who is voting for tRump.    A former Bernie Sanders fan, Chris, no last name please, is voting for tRump mostly because the stock market is filling her 401 K at a blistering pace.   I guess Stephens didn't point out the market does not reflect any genius on tRump's part.  The Federal Reserve has pumped over a trillion dollars into Wall Street to avoid a catastrophe caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  But I digress.

      Chris also approves a buffoonish foreign policy, the president's* serial sexual assaults and only hesitated at the Charlottesville incident.   This "interview" was conducted before the latest revelations about Cheetolini's taxes, so there is a little journalistic malpractice going on.  Shown the criminal tax evasion practiced by the president, it is possible Chris may have changed her mind. 

     I can only imagine Stephens' next scoop;  the surviving Koch brother  is a secret Biden voter! 

Another nail

        As if there were any reasons left for supporting the president* in the upcoming election, a new blockbuster piece in the NYT last night conclusively removed the "he's a successful businessman" meme from the list.

       tRump has refused to release his tax returns to the public, ostensibly because he is under audit by the IRS, and ha spent freely to keep them secret.  The Times reporters, who are incidentally the same who documented the Trump family's tax frauds in the 1980s and 90s.  These frauds were used to pass on Fred Trump's wealth without paying any inheritance taxes.  tRump's tax returns show a far more illegal use of the tax system.   When a supposed billionaire pays nothing to the IRS for 10 out of 15 years and a meager $750 the year he won the presidency, it seems to me prima facie evidence of crimes being committed.

    Of course, if the right wing media covers this story, it will put a gloss on the illegality, telling listeners that all wealthy people game the system and if we had access to high powered tax lawyers we could write off junior's tree house as a business expense.   This toxic fairy  tale impugns all the people who contribute to the defense of the country as well as the myriad expenses of the modern nation state.  

    This is not a case of "both sides do it".   Cheetolini failed to show his taxes to the American people because he has a lot of explaining to do.  What else do we not know about a president* who has as much as half a billion dollars of bills coming due in the next several years.   We need to find out before election day.

An irreversible split?

       In today's NYT, Jamaal Bouie makes  a compelling argument using the Missouri Compromise of 1821 as his jumping off point.   He says the nation was of course more factionalized in the early part of the 19th century by the issue of slavery.   Both sides believed they were playing a zero sum game and if one or the other established a preponderance of legislative power their adversary was doomed.   By allowing Missouri to enter the union as a slave state along with Maine as a free state, both sides kept a precarious equilibrium which allowed 40 more years of peace.

      Bouie compares that uneasy peace with the conflict between the newly emboldened authoritarian Republican party and the Democrats who oppose it.  The latest bare knuckled tactic; the evident approval of whomever the president* nominates to fill Ruth Bader Ginsberg's seat in seeming contradiction to the party's stance when Obama faced a similar situation.   

      In both era's, the party of reaction faced a similar demographic decline.   The slave owning south would eventually be numerically overwhelmed by the industrial north.  Similarly, the white nationalists who mostly represent the Republicans will sooner or later be rendered irrelevant by the coming majority of non-white and progressive Democrats.   The south did not go down without a fight, and whether Bouie says it or not, he believes today's Republicans will do the same.   So far, it is a legislative brawl.  Let's hope they don't adopt the other tactic of the Lost Cause.

Stolen election porn

       Now comes an article in The Atlantic magazine, detailing how the tRump campaign is going to steal the election in November.   Barton Gellman, the author, describes voter intimidation, ballot stealing and even colluding with state legislatures to vote in tRump electors instead of respecting the people's choice.  Obviously  these plans did not come from Cheetolini, whose powers of concentration rival those of a fruit fly.   These plans exhibit the fingerprints of Billy Barr and Moscow Mitch.

      I haven't read the 10,000 word article, but I am curious as to who Gellman thinks is the mastermind behind plans to deploy more than a thousand lawyers to challenge voters' signatures on mail in ballots.  The Biden campaign has its own army of litigators set to go as well.  My main worry is the perennial failure of Democrats to realize Republicans will always bring a gun to a knife fight.

     As one pundit put the challenge to Democratic voters, we must run up the score so even the most hardened partisan will realize the will of the people is to be done with Cheeto Jesus in the wake of the most disastrous 4 years in American history.

Outrage meter maxed out

      Following the latest outrages perpetrated by tRump and his merry band of nihilists is exhausting and ultimately futile.   It seems there  is no norm they will not violate, no agency of the government they will not compromise and no lie they will not tell in service to the dear leader.   The Divine Mrs. M has stopped watching the news in an effort to preserve her sanity.

      Now the media has given up on the horse race metaphor since Cheetolini is so far behind in most polls.   In an effort to keep eyeballs on the screen we are now treated to endless articles on how the president* will steal the election if he is within a certain margin on election day.  Of course tRump aids this effort on a daily basis, telling his followers the election is rigged unless he wins.  Most of these poor souls are so far into the right wing news bubble they swallow this garbage and prepare for armageddon.

     There seems to be little the average person can do except to keep informed, donate to democrats with a credible chance of being elected and be prepared for the blizzard of BS which will hit the proverbial fan on election day and the weeks following.  

Let's play hardball

      While the title of this post quotes the odious Chris Matthews, the spirit applies to Democrats as tRump and McConnell propose to enshrine a conservative majority in the Supreme court for a generation.  Appealing to cultural norms or even Republican pledges is a fool's errand.  It is time for Dems to play hardball if they win a majority in the Senate.

      Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico are surely on the table.   How about Guam?  Packing the Supreme Court would be next on the agenda.   Surely 4 new 30 something millenials would give Joe Biden and his agenda their stamp of approval.   Conservatives have been playing the long game on judicial appointments for 40 years, confirming men and women to whom the progressive agenda is anathema.  Democrats can erase this advantage immediately so small d democratic legislation can be passed and upheld by a court no longer beholden to Republican daddies.

      Of course all these suggestions assume Chuck Schumer and his caucus are not just as firmly in the pockets of American oligarchs as McConnell and tRump.   Here is their chance to prove it if the levers of power are delivered to them by voters in November.   If they fail to act, then my nephew will have been proved right to disdain the Democratic party as a frail imitation of the Republicans.

Last gasp gardening

     It shouldn't have happened so early, but it did.   The garden experienced it's first killing frost on Sunday morning.   Although my truck's outside thermometer showed 35 degrees, ice was forming on the leaves of most of the vegetables.   The hardier lettuces, brassicas and herbs are fine, but even some of the dread galinsoga was burned, albeit in a spotty fashion.    Say goodbye to basil, zucchini, beans and tomatoes.  Instead, focus on broccoli, kale, lettuce and winter squash.   As i have said before, this may be my last year of gardening on a semi-commercial scale, so this is a bittersweet farewell to the summer garden.

Rats, Ship, etc.

      Another day, another tRump administration functionary recording an anti-tRump ad because she couldn't take any more of the BS.   This time it was a highly placed member of the laughably named Coronavirus Task Force.   As Ms. Troye said, their task was for the most part keeping Cheetolini satisfied with a lot of happy talk about how he was handling the pandemic.

     As we approach the election I would assume more and more officials will be looking at the polling and deciding it would be better to jump ship with a juicy story to tell than remain and go down without a trace.   Ms. Troye's contribution is the tidbit concerning tRump's exclamation that maybe Covid 19 wasn't too bad since now he doesn't have to shake hands with those "disgusting people".   Troye joins another Homeland Security alumnus who decried the president's handling of the problems at the US southern border.  

     I'm pretty sure most of the "disgusting people" won't change their minds about their hero.  I doubt the second coming would shake the allegiance many feel for this horrifying imitation of a human being.  However, look for a steady trickle perhaps turning to a flood of people leaving the administration in the next few weeks.

Culling the Herd

       In a grotesque and horrifying performance the other night, the president* insisted the coronavirus would "eventually go away".   He followed up this assertion by saying if enough people get the disease and recover, there will be a "herd mentality" and the virus will be stopped.

      We know Cheeto Jesus got this theory from a radiologist whose familiarity with epidemiology is seemingly rudimentary at best.  It seems Dr, Scott Atlas' main claim to fame is his ability to appear on Faux News and spout his contrarian theories regarding Covid 19.  Let a large percentage of the population get sick and recover and we will achieve herd immunity says Dr. Atlas.   He advocates sheltering the most vulnerable from the disease, but is not very forthcoming about how to do that.  Especially since many of our "essential" workers are minorities with co-morbidities which make them unusually vulnerable to infection.   

     tRump has seemingly bought into this theory.  He brought Atlas into the White House to manage the pandemic response, meanwhile sidelining actual infectious disease experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx.  New exposed documents from Atlas' team are instructing states with high rates of transmission to cancel any plans for statewide mask mandates.   Even the CDC director has said masks are the single best way to combat the spread of the virus.  However, if your goal is efficient spread of the disease, by all means, cancel any mask mandates, hold packed rallies indoors and endorse indoor dining at bars and restaurants.

      The truly scary thing about this scenario is the possibility of millions of deaths among the most vulnerable populations, the elderly, the sick and those with pre-existing conditions.  It may well result in more than 2 million otherwise preventable deaths.   However, in tRump's mind that may be a feature, not a bug.

Inoculated against reality

       In a not too scientific poll of voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, a reporter for Time magazine estimated that approximately one in five of the potential voters she spoke with believed there is a system of tunnels under the US that are used by cannibalistic pedophiles to trap, torture and eat children!    She also said they were totally impervious to facts, as if being "inoculated against reality".

       When this abandonment of truth in favor of wild conspiracy theories began, sober people believed these latter day "truthers" were uneducated, unemployed lower middle class whites who had basically dropped out of the system and filled their days with social media.   As we all know, Facebook, instagram, etc. are notorious timesucks which can easily waste a couple of hours per day even among those who are employed.   Imagine someone with 24/7 availability.

       It turns out that plenty of Q anon adherents are also well educated and middle class.   What does this say about America in 2020?   I'm guessing many of these idiots are looking for an overarching narrative which blots out the reality of wealth inequality, climate change, racial strife and a hundred other realities they can't control.  Q and some even wilder conspiracies allows them to believe that there are horrible people out there doing horrible things, but our leader is secretly working to save us all.  As an old acquaintance of mine used to say, "What a world"!

The lengthening shadows

       As we count down the days to the presidential election, the freakouts on the left and the right continue to intensify, although in different ways.   Many on the right look at the polls and demand the president* take aggressive and even violent action to invalidate the vote.   Roger Stone called for federal officials to seize ballots in Clark County, Nevada which leans democratic.   The slightly deranged Michael Caputo is advising good republicans to buy ammunition now to deal with the antifa hordes coming to dispute the results of the election if tRump wins.   On the other side, there seem to be a lot of handwringing over the possibility of  Cheetolini refusing to accept the results if they favor Biden.   Hiring hundreds of lawyers to contest republican ratfucking in the courts seems to be about as aggressive as democrats can imagine being.

      I am optimistically predicting Biden will prevail and the margin will be so overwhelming that tRump will accept the results while decrying the whole process as he gets on his plane for the one way trip to Moscow to escape the judicial reckoning his crimes will inspire.   As Caputo so aptly put it, the shadows are getting longer.

Wishing and Hoping

       I think I have used this title before, but as we careen down the road to another "most significant election in history", it seems like we are wishing and hoping that somehow the nightmare of four more years of tRump will not come to pass.   But it will take more than than that to excise the orange boil on our democracy.

        First and foremost, make sure you and everyone in your family votes.  Sure, your crazy uncle will probably vote for Cheetolini, but the exercise of everyone's right to vote can survive a few minor aberrations.   Once you have the voting plan in place, donate to your favorite local candidates.  Down ballot races are the lifeblood of democracy.  Far too many democrats focus on the presidential election and ignore their local congressional races.   Finally, get involved.   I intend to make calls for my local candidate for Congress.   She may be a long shot against Elise Stefanik, a fervent tRump ass kisser, but at least she is in the arena.   Wishing and hoping won't get it done this time.

Tap Dancing around the obvious

     Is the president* of the US a criminal.  A very vocal minority certainly believes that if tax evasion, money laundering, sexual assault and accepting help from a foreign adversary are crimes, tRump certainly fits the definition.  In light of Bob Woodward's conversations with Cheeto Jesus on tape in which the latter admits to knowing how deadly the coronavirus was as early as January, we may want to add manslaughter to the docket of his crimes.

     Paul Krugman nearly calls for the manslaughter charge in his NYT column today.  He lays out the timeline and the number of deaths that may have been avoided if the president had displayed leadership instead of "downplaying" the threat numerous times before finally admitting how serious the situation had become.    Even now, Cheetolini is urging everyone to get back to bars, restaurants and schools even without any federal guidance on how to do so safely.  Pro tip;  in the absence of a safe and effective vaccine there is no safe way to open the previously mentioned establishments.   Krugman ends his column saying tRump may be responsible for many preventable deaths.

    In another corner of the Op-Ed pages, Michelle Goldberg cribs from Jerry Seinfeld, saying that "nothing matters" in the tRump administration.  The endless series of scandals has numbed us to any true accountability of any of the criminals involved.  Woodward's latest book is just one more door stop.  The only thing that will provide some relief is the election.  Then we can begin the herculean task of cleaning the Augean Stables of this administration, beginning with the trial and conviction of its leader.

Whiteness and the President*

       After the revelations preceding the release of Bob Woodward's latest book, there are no words to describe the hubris and stupidity of the man our nation entrusted with the nuclear codes.   As Rachel Maddow put it, " If this was a book, this is the chapter where he resigns".   After being outed on tape describing the coronavirus as "deadly" all the way back in February, but continuing to deny it in public until April, tRump basically admitted causing tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations.   Timely action by the government could have greatly diminished the effects of the pandemic, but Cheetolini stood in the way of his experts because of his fears of a falling stock market.

      While even Maddow knows there is little possibility of tRump resigning from office as long as his base is still behind him, many wonder if perhaps this is the last straw and his supporters will start to stampede to Biden.   Unfortunately, this is not a realistic possibility.   I personally know a pretty good cross section of tRump voters and short  of a nuclear war, nothing will change there minds regarding voting for the president*.   In most cases, these white men have invested far too much of their political capital in an authoritarian buffoon to switch at this point.  In the face of an avalanche of news concerning his serial crimes, the average tRump voter will either rationalize the behavior or cry "fake news".  Besides, owning the libs is the point.   After 8 years of a competent black man leading the country, any white man, even one as manifestly unfit as Cheeto Jesus is better than the alternative.    

Booking to the election

        It feels as if a new book full of revelations of bad behavior by the president*drops nearly every week.  Virtually anyone who is related to him or worked for him but had a falling out is willing to write a tell all.   From Omarosa to Mary Trump and now Michael Cohen we have been treated to a barrage of charges of grifting, bigotry, malignant narcissism and outright sexual assault.   The result seems to be a collective yawn.   His supporters are seemingly immune from disgust at the charges and the rest of us buy the books and shake our heads at the revelations.

      As we get closer to the election, both sides fear and expect tampering with the results.   Democrats fear voter suppression and tampering with the Post Office to slow ballots in the mail.  Republicans just fear a fair count, although as usual they project their own behavior and shout about vote fraud.    Meanwhile, the Russians hover in the background looking for a way to influence the election in tRump's favor.

      Some say this will be the highest turnout election ever and say it is all about persuasion.  Others say it is all about turning out the base.  Whichever is true, the best strategy for dems is to make the election a referendum on tRump and his character.   

Gardening

        Despite a few cool nights, the gardening season is still in full swing.  I celebrated Labor Day by setting out lettuce and brassica transplants and fertilizing previous plantings.   Despite some havoc created by the omnipresent Swede Midge, my later plantings of broccoli and cauliflower are looking good.  October should be a great month for these tasty fall vegetables.   The winter squash vines are starting to falter and the butternuts and delicata are maturing.   Tomatoes continue to ripen and the last plantings of cilantro and basil look good.   The final row of beans may or may not produce before frost, but I'm rooting for at least one picking.   All in all, it was a good week in the garden.

Labor Day

       Over the years I have been writing this blog, Labor Day has always presented a problem for me.   I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment behind the holiday, but have always had problems with the way the day is used by politicians.   In the Covid 19 emergency there will probably be few parades and hopefully gatherings will be kept to a minimum.   

       The future of work should be in our thoughts today.  While many jobs will still be performed by human beings 25 years from now, many, especially those in the "knowledge economy" will be taken over by AI or artificial intelligence.   From reading and interpreting X-Rays and MRIs in medicine to writing the latest news for media outlets to driving big rigs cross country, automation is coming for your job.  Those of us lucky enough to be able to work from home during the pandemic should take note.  My own job, vegetable sales will someday soon be easily replaced by a computer which will more easily match supply with demand.   The same will happen to many other occupations in the near future.

      What will we do with the millions of people whose reason for getting up each morning is to do an honest day's work for pay?   Just something to think about this Labor Day.

A last full measure

         "Suckers" and "losers" is how the president* described those who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country.   Despite a roar of denial from the White House, Jeffrey Goldberg's story in The Atlantic, quoting tRump as he declined to visit a gravesite in France in 2018 was confirmed by the AP and there is little doubt he said what he is reported to have said.

        I checked the NYT and WaPo this morning and both carried stories on page one.  However, if Obama had been found to have disrespected our fallen as well as disabled veterans, there would have been half a dozen stories and most GOP members of Congress would have been calling for impeachment.  I'm sure they will be asked for their reactions today, but of course will offer some BS excuse to dodge the question.

      Had any previous president exhibited such a complete lack of empathy for the fallen, his campaign would have ended as of last night.   I suppose even a recording of tRump disparaging all veterans in the same manner he once did to John McCain wouldn't move his core supporters.  However, I think that among the millions of presently serving soldiers, sailors and marines and veterans and their families, Goldberg's story and its confirmation may have real world consequences.    

Requiem for the Franchise

       The original Tom Terrific is gone.   Tom Seaver, the face of the "Miracle Mets" of 1969 and one of the greatest pitchers of all time died yesterday at his home in California.  He was suffering from dementia, but the cause of death was listed a Covid 19.  He was 75 years old.

       Being a Yankee fan to the bone, I didn't follow Seaver's career, but couldn't help but admire his mastery of the pitcher's craft.  The local L.I. tabloid, Newsday, probably featured Seaver and the Mets far more often than the woeful Yankee squads of the late 60s and early 70s.  You could count on Tom Terrific to notch 20 victories and 200 strikeouts virtually every season or so it seemed.   In a stunning series of stupid decisions, the Mets allowed "The Franchise" to get away, trading him to the Cincinnati Reds for a package of no names in 1977 and then after getting him back in the early 80s failed to protect him in draft for compensatory damage and the White Sox claimed him.   He finished his career in Boston, ironically part of the team which lost to the Mets in 1986.   

      Seaver was known as a standup guy who mentored younger pitchers and was a savvy broadcaster who was brought in to call numerous World Series games.   RIP Mr. Seaver.  You will be missed.

Alternate Reality

        I live in a universe where Rachel Maddow can spend an entire show reading excerpts from a tell all book by an ex-friend of Melania Trump.   In an alternate reality,  someone tuning in to Tucker Carlson's White Power hour on Faux News is treated to non-stop praise of a 17 year old who allegedly killed 2 protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin and wounded another.   How does one reconcile these drastically skewed visions of what constitutes reality?

      I guess you could wait for Trevor Noah to make sense of it on his comedy channel Daily Show.  Or wait even longer for This Week with John Oliver's profane take on both Maddow and Carlson.  It's a little scary that Comedy Central and HBO offer a more reality based take on the news than the supposed mainstream media.

      Meanwhile, in the WaPo, Dana Milbank declared the president's* plane took off for Kenosha yesterday, but somehow landed on "Planet Zog".   tRump's tour of the damage caused by looters and vandals in the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting and his subsequent roundtable praising the paramilitary policing were yet more jarring side trips to a different reality than the one most of us inhabit.  I think we need to agree on a shared experience or by November 4 our nation may experience a psychotic break.

Who could have predicted

          Among the avalanche of books about the tRump White House, there are two more additions today.  While many of the early releases were written at a second or third hand remove from the action, Melania and Me and Donald Trump v United States were written in the first and second person, respectively.

        Stephanie Wolkoff, who ran much of tRump's inauguration festivities is writing to clear her name and in the process take down the public perception that the First Lady is an unwilling participant in the tRump family's grift.   I'm sure there are juicy, gossipy bits throughout the book, but i won't be reading it.

      Michael Schmidt's book about Cheetolini's capture of the non partisan areas of American government, especially justice and intelligence is probably worth a read, although in this case, Schmidt's main sources are in it for self justification.   Don McGahn and John Kelly come off as tRumpian lickspittles who wish to be perceived as trying to rein in the Dear Leader's worst impulses.   Instead, they, along with Rod Rosenstein enable the corruption of the DoJ and FBI and pave the way for even more egregious hacks like William Barr to further democracy's downfall in service to a malignant narcissist.   Where were these paragons when the actual dirty work was being done, including the curtailment of the FBI's investigation into tRump's ties with Russia.   

     The very fact all these books are being written in the context of the 2020 election is a clarion call to bring this administration down before it brings down America.