Our last chance to save Democracy

Well, this is it - the last night before we know. It's possible that we won't know on Tuesday, but I suspect we will. 

Because I expect Kamala Harris to win in a landslide.

In any event, Trump will declare victory early, even if he's behind, thus starting the clock on Insurrection 2.0. The good news is that this time, the Democrats have the White House and the Senate and are ready. There's also additional legislation in place to protect the process.

Off the top of my head, here's what happens if Trump wins (admittedly hampered if Democrats take one or both chambers):

Women nationwide lose the right to control their own bodies
An economic crash, throwing us into a recession
Tax cuts for the richest made permanent
The experienced, neutral Federal bureaucracy fired
The Supreme Court stays under control of the radical right wing for the next forty years
We lose the Dept. of Education, the FDA, the EPA, and other federal agencies
Any progressive policies or legislation are lost
Vaccine mandates eliminated
Fluoridation outlawed
Obamacare repealed
The US drops out of the Paris Accords
The US drops out of NATO
Israel given permission to eliminate Gaza, with no pressure or guardrails
Ukraine given to Russia

More corruption in the White House
Retribution against Trump's enemies, regardless of the law
A weaponized Justice Dept.
Millions of people thrown into concentration camps to be deported
Families separated by the government
A new surveillance state
Loss of 1st Amendment freedoms

Trump declares himself dictator

Trump won't last four years and we have President JD Vance

It's exhausting isn't it? The good news is that it might all be over within 24 hours except for the MAGA raging, and I'm confident the government is prepared for that. But if Trump wins, we're screwed. 

So go out and vote.

VOTE BLUE, NO MATTER WHO

See you on the other side.

Capitulating to Fascism

While I'm handing them out, here's a big FUCK YOU to the LA Times and the Washington Post.

Last week, both newspapers, in acts of outstanding cowardice, declined to endorse a Presidential candidate in this year's election, after decades of doing so. In other words, they refused to take a stand to defend our democracy, one of the primary duties of an independent press.

Both are, of course, owned by conservative billionaires, so undoubtedly they don't want to endanger their Trump tax cuts. WaPo owner, Jeff Bezos, may have had a more direct quid pro quo in mind as right after the Post announced the no endorsement policy, Trump's people met with the Bezos-owned Blue Origin rocket company, which is competing for billions of dollars in federal contracts.

This is why billionaires should not be allowed to own media companies.

Because of this cowardice, both newspapers lost multiple editors who resigned in protest, as well as thousands of subscribers. I don't subscribe but immediately deleted the WaPo app from my phone and their bookmark from my browsers. I used to read WaPo every day but no longer. At least I might cost them some ad revenue.

Of course, if Trump is elected, none of this will protect the LA Times or WaPo because Trump has said again and again that he's coming for the media companies, including newspapers. That's what fascists do.

After Trump was elected in 2016, the Washington Post changed their motto to "Democracy dies in darkness".

Jeff Bezos just blew out the candle the Post was shining on democracy.

This is who they are

If you don't regularly read the news, please do so today. Specifically, read about Trump's rally yesterday at Madison Square Garden. If you're voting for Trump, the rally, what the speakers said and what they represent, reflects on who YOU are.

In February of 1939, the American Nazi Party (German American Bund) held a rally in Madison Square Garden with 22,000 attendees. 

Creator: Larry Froeber | Credit: NY Daily News Archive

Apparently the Nazi rally made Convicted Felon Trump jealous or nostalgic or something because he decided to recreate it. Here are just a few of the things said by his INVITED speakers.

“There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico” 

“Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country." 

“That’s cool, a Black guy with a thing on his head. What the hell is that? A lampshade? …I’m just kidding. That’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together.”

- "Comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe 

Of course he was applauded and people laughed. Because MAGA is RACIST AF. Remember, he was the INVITED "Comedian".

 “She’s [Vice-President Kamala Harris] never been accused of doing anything useful. She has precisely no achievements. She’s a nominee without getting a single vote.”

. . . it's going to be pretty tough for them.. say.. Kamala Harris, she got 85 million votes because she's so impressive. As the first is a Samoan Malaysian low I.Q. former California prosecutor ever to be elected president. 

- Tucker Carlson

She's not "Samoan Malaysian" but it's clear that Tucker can't tell the difference, because, you know, racist.

But he's right about Kamala Harris. She has no achievements other than District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, United States Senator, and Vice-President of the United States. Spoiler: That's a lifetime of dedicated public service. 

And what has their VP candidate, J.D. Vance done? I won't even get into Trump's multiple bankruptcies, failed marriages, criminal activity, multiple convictions and attempts at insurrection. Now those are some achievements. And of course, Trump himself reiterated his final message of full fascism, while simultaneously boring the shit out of his audience.

In short, the MAGA movement is Nazi-adjacent, if not pretty much full-on Nazi at this point.

DON'T VOTE FOR FUCKING NAZIS

The Dick Van Dyke Show

A couple of months ago, Carol started watching The Dick Van Dyke Show (TDVDS) on Peacock. As reruns of the show were staples for us as kids in the 70s, Carol decided to watch the entire series, and I watched some of the episodes with her.

If you're not familiar, TDVDS was an early sixties, black and white sitcom, clearly inspired, in part, by the election of John F. Kennedy. Dick Van Dyke had the same tall, youthful look as the President, and his beautiful dark-haired wife, played by Mary Tyler Moore, was inspired by Jackie Kennedy. The show was considered not only funny, but hip and sophisticated during a time when most sitcoms were about midwestern, all-American families.

For a show that aired 60 years ago, it holds up pretty well. There are some really classic episodes (It May Look Like a Walnut and That's My Boy??, for example) and the show had a comedy vibe that was modern (for the 1960s) and often demonstrated some clear vaudevillian roots.

TDVDS ended intentionally after five seasons, the decision being made to go out before it got stale. So as Carol approached the last episodes, I made sure to watch with her because I didn't remember how it ended. I was anticipating a thoughtful, possibly emotional exit.

Unfortunately, the show completely drops the ball. The last two episodes are a dream episode, where Rob dreams that the cast are in a western, and a clip show. Yes, the last episode, the series finale, is a clip show.

The Dick Van Dyke Show was indeed sophisticated, even progressive, and a great show overall. But for a TV classic, what a disappointing ending.

News and Opinion

In the last days of the latest most important election in American history, below are a few of the political opinion/news sources I read every day. While the mainstream media has utterly failed in their job to inform the public and protect democracy, these sites investigate, report and their opinions favor progressive policy. Their take is often comforting, when I think that no one else sees things the way I do.

You may disagree with some of them, like any source of news and opinions, but they are clearly on the right side of the issues and fighting for a more progressive America.

The Daily Kos

Wonkette

MeidasTouch News

JeffTiedrich.com

Huffpost

If you have any sources you like, please feel free to identify them in the comments. I'm always looking for more information and opinion.

Make Children Work Again

One of the policy prescriptions of Project 2025, the conservative playbook for a second Trump Administration (shudder), is to repeal Child Labor and Safety laws.

Some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs. Current rules forbid many young people, even if their family is running the business, from working in such jobs. This results in worker shortages in dangerous fields and often discourages otherwise interested young workers from trying the more dangerous job. With parental consent and proper training, certain young adults should be allowed to learn and work in more dangerous occupations. This would give a green light to training programs and build skills in teenagers who may want to work in these fields.

Because nothing says moving forward into the 21st century like reviving 19th century labor practices and putting children back into dangerous occupations!

These people are psychotic. Vote them all out on November 5th.

Here's a Halloween scare for you!

Damn, I'm sorry I know this exists. Now you know it exists. I guess it's like the cursed VHS tape in The Ring. Here's the Wikipedia link if you're a masochist.

Trump Tower is a work of fiction by Jeffrey Robinson, originally credited to Donald Trump, and billed as Trump's "debut novel" by the publisher. It was first published in 2011 by Vanguard Press. Trump had previously attempted to create a television series titled Trump Tower, modeled after Dallas, Dynasty, and Upstairs, Downstairs. He worked with MVP Entertainment, contracted a writer in Los Angeles, and successfully had Showtime Networks develop a television pilot. After receiving a payment for television rights to Trump Tower, he marketed the idea to Lifetime. The book by this title was developed in 2011 listing Trump, but when released in 2012 credited Robinson as sole author.

The plot of the book is set within a fictional version of Trump Tower, with Trump himself appearing as a character in the work. Detailed sex acts are depicted including BDSM and the rape of a woman. An employee of the building is described having sex on the set of The Celebrity Apprentice.The plot moves from erotica to murder mystery, and the building manager is initially a suspect before later being cleared. Bill Clinton and other celebrities appear in cameo appearances.

Sorry.

This Modern World - The Astonishing Magaverse

By Tom Tomorrow.

Guaranteed return of 1000%!

The Felon Donald Trump announced this week that he's selling limited edition gold watches with his name engraved for the low, low price of $100,000.

People have, of course, been mocking him for the obvious grift, but I think it's a canny strategy. 

After all:

One of Adolf Hitler’s watches has just fetched over a million dollars in a private auction.

The watch was sold by Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland for $1.1 million (€1.07 million) to an anonymous bidder, and is believed to be a gift, given to Hitler for his 44th birthday on 20 April 1933.

In a few years, these watches should be worth over a million dollars! And honestly, who doesn't want to wear a watch symbolizing a sexual assaulter, con artist, serial liar, racist, misogynistic piece of shit who has made this world much, much worse by his presence in it?

What a bargain!

Burdensome safety regs

WTF?  Seriously, what the fuck?

Convicted Felon Trump's VP pick, the delightful and wonderful J.D. Vance, said this in a March 2023, Senate Commerce Committee meeting.

One thing that I really worry about, and I think both Democrats and Republicans should worry about, is we have some real demographic problems in our country. American families aren’t having enough children. I think there’s evidence that some of the things that we’re doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having.

In particular, there’s evidence that the car seat rules that we’ve imposed—which of course, I want kids to drive in car seats—have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000.

So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that’s accommodating to American families and I encourage your organization to do that.

First, we don't have a demographic problem in our country. What he means is that we have too many icky minorities and white families should have more children to Keep America White. 

Then, there's the creepy fixation on women having babies. We don't need more and more Americans, and if we do, how about granting citizenship to the millions of people trying to find a safe and free place to live? We're not competing with other countries to "have the most babies," you weirdo.

Finally, there's the idea that protecting existing children is somehow preventing non-existent children from being born. As in, we weren't going to have a second child, but since our first was killed in car accident while not in a car seat, we've decided to have another? What "evidence" is there for that?

The fixation among Republicans to make sure that babies are born by preventing abortion, and IVF and contraception if the Felon is reelected, but totally ignoring the children that result by attacking programs and laws that protect and feed children, is all about controlling women. They don't give a damn about children. If they did, they wouldn't say shit like this.

These people are deeply stupid, creepy and weird.

The Press Won't Save Us

If you're counting on the press to save us from the encroaching fascism of Convicted Felon Trump, should he win back the White House, don't. (Spoiler: Almost all of the "liberal" mainstream media is owned by rich conservatives.)

Jeff Tiedrich posted an article on the various press failures covering Trump, just this weekend.

elderly golfer spent the weekend spewing dangerous lies. the press snoozed through it.

It's worth a read.  (Another spoiler: Jeff is ALWAYS worth a read.)

As another data point, here are screenshots of the AP News articles fact-checking the Republican and Democratic conventions. See if you can spot the bias.

Trump has "claims"  Harris has "false and misleading claims". Most people don't read the articles; they see the headline and move on. But the impression that one side is being "false and misleading" and the other side isn't, lingers.

Liberal media, my ass. Just another decades-long conservative lie to manipulate the media into being harsher on Democrats while giving Republicans a pass, and sowing distrust of the press to the American people.  

VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO

Good riddance to bad rubbish

Gonna make this a quick one.

RFK, Jr. is an asswipe. His anti-vaccine advocacy likely resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. He started out running for President as a Democrat, likely because he perceived weakness in Biden and was counting on his family name, but when that didn't pan out, he switched to Independent. Since it looks like he's pulling votes from Trump, he is stopping his campaign and endorsing Trump. He recently approached both Trump and Harris to ask for a cabinet spot, but when Harris wouldn't even talk to his stupid ass, he threw his support behind the convicted felon.

Below is John Oliver making mincemeat out of RFK, Jr.'s worm-ridden brain. If you don't have too much of an idea who RFK, Jr. is, it's definitely worth a watch.

No, these people are definitely not weird

Warning. The behavior in the article linked below is not exactly disturbing, but really, really weird. And, okay, a little disturbing.

Weird Maga

Perfectly normal.

Argle Bargle

Really, these just write themselves.

From Tom:

As always, if you find value in this work I do, please consider helping me keep it sustainable by joining my weekly newsletter, Sparky’s List! You can get it in your inbox or read it on Patreon, the content is the same. And don’t forget to visit the Tom Tomorrow Merchandise Mall!

If you say so

Come on people!  It says he "did not"!  Link

The die is cast

Joe Biden deserved better than what he got from "leading" Democrats and the clearly not liberal mainstream media. It took a LOT of courage and patriotism to do what he did today.

That said, I will support Kamala Harris all the way to the White House. She deserves the nomination.

I hope this doesn't blow up in our faces.

Fundamental rights at stake

Just one of the many things on the line this November.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren] said if Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2025, “the first vote Democrats will take in the Senate, the first substantive vote, will be to make Roe v. Wade law of the land again in America.”
...
“We can make Roe v. Wade law of the land if we have, and I have to be clear, we’ve got to have a majority in the House — skinny majority. We can take a really skinny majority in the Senate, I’ll take fifty. And a Democrat in the White House. We have those three things we will suspend the filibuster,” Warren said.

Link

Two morons walk into a bar . . .

Convicted Felon Trump called independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the other day to ask Kennedy to drop his candidacy and endorse him. The Felon probably thought that since someone had shot at him, Kennedy would be in a mind to do what he wanted. It didn't work.

At the start of the conversation, in an attempt to connect with Kennedy, Trump tried to bond over a shared vaccine skepticism. Below is what Trump said.

"When you feed a baby a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines and it looks like its meant for a horse, not a 10 pound or 20 pound baby ... Then you see the baby starting to change radically, I've seen it too many times. Then you hear that it doesn't have an impact, right? You and I talked about that a long time ago."

We know this happened because apparently someone in Kennedy's campaign leaked a video of the call. Probably because what Trump said was JUST. THAT. STUPID.

Sheesh.

Takeaways

I'm sure you know that some troubled young, REPUBLICAN, man tried to assassinate Convicted Felon Trump last weekend. An attempted Presidential assassination hasn't happened since 1981 and it's a horrifying, yet not surprising, development in America.

Here are my takeaways.

Some people are saying this gives Convicted Felon Trump the election. I don't think so. There are still months to go, Trump's vile personality and horrific ideas haven't changed, and abortion is on the ballot. Plus, there probably aren't a lot of people in the "I wasn't going to vote for Trump, but now that someone took a shot at him, I'm going to," demographic. Any bump from this will be temporary.

I've heard people say that if Trump had died, he'd be a martyr and a smarter and more competent MAGA person would be elected in his place. I disagree for the simple reason that there are no smarter and more competent MAGA folk who could actually take Trump's place. His VP pick, JD Vance, isn't especially respected within MAGA land, nor is he smart or competent. Who else is there? Matt Gaetz? Marjorie Taylor Greene? Don Trump, Jr? The attempted elevation of any one of these to replace the Convicted Felon would result in a MAGA civil war. Plus, establishment Republicans would try to regain control of the party. MAGA is a cult of personality. It doesn't survive Trump.

There have been calls for both sides to tone down the threats and violence. Such obvious both-sidesing is utter bullshit. Republicans were responsible for the Jan. 6th violence that killed nine, the attack on the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the plot to kidnap and murder Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Republican congresspeople wear AR-15 pins on their lapels. Republican Reps. and Senators frequently call for violence against Democrats.

Trump himself MADE FUN of the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. He has also frequently praised the Jan. 6th insurrectionists. He has called for the EXECUTION of people on his enemies list, including everyone involved in his various court cases and former Rep. Liz Cheney and The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. You may be able to find Democratic voters making violent remarks about Republicans, but you won't find elected Democratic officials or President Biden doing it. The two parties are NOT the same. Trump sowed what he reaped.

On Sunday night, President Biden said this:

Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump. There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.

Over the past 48 hours, Republicans blamed Democrats for the assassination attempt because Democrats have called Trump a threat to democracy. This is ridiculous because Trump's "policies" aka Project 2025, *are* a direct threat to democracy. That's a fact and Democrats shouldn't stop saying it. Democrats need to make clear, and they have, that violence isn't an option or a solution, but Republicans trying to gaslight them into ignoring Trump's fascist-leanings or his desire for a dictatorship would be political suicide if followed. If Republicans want Trump not to be seen as a wanna-be dictator, maybe he should stop being a wanna-be dictator.

I'm glad he's not dead, but he's responsible for over a million COVID deaths, the taking away of a Constitutional right, and taking America to the edge of a dictatorship, among other horrors. He gets no sympathy from me.

Don't discount this

We still have a chance to avoid this future.

Attribution: Ruben Bolling.

Classic Joke

This is one of my favorite jokes of all time. I still remember it some 40+ years after I saw it on The Muppet Show with guest star Christopher Reeve. It's queued up to 47 seconds.

I thought about the joke today and thought I'd share.

The Supreme Court just fundamentally changed our democracy

Do you want some explanation and context for this week's incomprehensible Supreme Court decision giving American Presidents absolute immunity for criminal conduct? (We all know this decision was directed at Convicted Felon Trump). 

This video puts the decision in context. It's worth ten minutes of your time.

Like a poor marksman, they keep missing the target

Some political pundits and newspaper editorial boards have called for President Biden to drop out of the race due to his bad performance at the debate. None of them ever called for Convicted Felon Trump to drop out because he's a wannabe dictator and convicted felon, who tried to overthrow the US Government and does nothing but lie and commit additional crimes. Seems to me that's more disqualifying than "needed a nap".

The Philadelphia Inquirer got it right.

To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race

Trump, 78, has been on the political stage for eight years marked by chaos, corruption, and incivility. Why go back to that?

To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just mourning in America. [...]

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths told during his four years as president. He dodged the CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

God Damn straight.

The Debate

I watched the entirety of the debate tonight between President Joe Biden and the Convicted Felon Trump. It was a terrible debate by Biden, as the media is really anxious to tell you. He lost his train of thought a couple of times, he seemed older than he has in the past, and he seriously turned some home run topics into singles (for example, abortion should have been an easy grand slam). I didn't like all his answers and he let himself get pulled off-topic way too often. 

The convicted felon still spoke from crazy town, took credit for a bunch of Biden's accomplishments, got increasingly unhinged and racist, and lied and lied and lied. (Good job with the NO FACT CHECKING, CNN).

But, on election day, the choice is still between a caring, knowledgeable, competent civil servant, who is obviously a bit past his prime, but who has thoughtfully served the American people for decades, and a compulsively lying, ignorant, narcissistic, racist, convicted felon who's only running because he's too psychotic to take a loss, and it's the only way he stays out of jail for the rest of his life.

I only hope enough of the American people see that. Because if the Convicted Felon wins again, we're screwed.

Compare this to the convicted felon

Link.