October 17, 2024
"Obama is the last Democrat who won Wisconsin with more than 50 percent of the vote...."
"It’s Obama who has the potential to persuade Wisconsin voters.... Obama gets Wisconsin. He has always maintained a strategic sense about how to campaign in the state.... In 2008 and 2012, he did the usual outreach to urban voters in Milwaukee and Madison. But he also paid attention to smaller cities, such as Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, La Crosse, and Eau Claire, where he showed up and spoke, a lot, about renewing manufacturing and increasing support for rural regions of the state. He also talked about the cost of bloated military budgets and unnecessary wars.... [I]t would be wise for [Kamala Harris] to recognize that a stronger stance in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza—and for restrictions on US military aid to Israel—would attract far more support in Wisconsin than an appearance with a neoconservative militarist like Liz Cheney....."
Writes John Nichols, in "Recipe for a Harris Win: More Obama, Less Cheney/Embracing right-wing Republicans won’t excite undecided voters. Associating with a popular Democrat who understands battleground states like Wisconsin will" (The Nation).
Writes John Nichols, in "Recipe for a Harris Win: More Obama, Less Cheney/Embracing right-wing Republicans won’t excite undecided voters. Associating with a popular Democrat who understands battleground states like Wisconsin will" (The Nation).
ADDED: Here's something Obama put up 45 minutes ago, making his pitch for Kamala Harris:
ADDED: I have never understood the argument that Trump "only cares about himself." Democrats say it over and over, but I don't see it at all..@KamalaHarris has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a chance – and she's going to keep fighting for you. That's the kind of person I'm proud to vote for and that's the kind of president that we need. pic.twitter.com/IGbZfR5TJA
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 17, 2024
Somehow we don't have the definitive lip-reading on this yet.
ADDED: The NY Post got the lip-reader analysis I wanted. From "Biden tells Obama ‘she’s not as strong as me’ — and ex-prez agrees ‘that’s true’ at Ethel Kennedy service":🔥🚨DEVELOPING: President Obama was seen scolding Joe Biden at Ethel Kennedy Memorial Service according to viewers. Biden is seen looking confused or worried as Obama looks him directly in the eye while speaking. pic.twitter.com/aDiA2KlxGX
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) October 16, 2024
“She’s not as strong as me,” said Biden, 81, according to the translation....
“I know … that’s true,” [Obama] agreed, adding, “We have time.”
“Yeah, we’ll get it in time,” said Biden....
"I've answered this question directly a million times: NO. I think there were serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use. Okay?"
"So look... I really couldn't care less if you agree or disagree with me on this issue, and here's... the thing that I that I focus on — because what the media will do, they'll focus on the court cases, or they'll focus on some crazy conspiracy theory — what I know — what verifiably I know — happened is that in 2020 large technology companies censored Americans from talking about things like the Hunter Biden laptop story, and that had a major major consequence on the election. Now... take that as a baseline reality. Even the journalists who constantly fact check me admit that that's real. Well, okay, you could say, well, let's say your view is: That happened, and we still think Trump lost. Or: That happened, and we think that means Trump won. Who cares? It happened. Censorship is bad, and that's the substance of what we're focused on, and that's what we care the most about — and here's the final point that I'll make — is, you know, what I care a lot more about than what happened three and a half years ago is
what Kamala Harris has done over the last three and a half years and what she's going to do if the American people give her four years in office. It's a disaster."
That's J.D. Vance answer this question from a reporter: "What message do you think it sends to independent voters when you do not directly answer the question: Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?"
I agree with the reporter that Vance has been avoiding giving a direct answer, but he said he'd "answered this question directly a million times." This is the first clear "no" he's said.
Vance goes on to say what I've heard him say before, mostly, that it doesn't matter, but then also that censorship affected the election.
"Researchers argue that home solar panels are raising the price of electricity and reducing the need for cheaper large solar farms — making the entire transition to clean energy more expensive...."
"Researchers say that... many states and utilities provide very lucrative deals for users of rooftop solar — often compensating owners of home panels more than the value of their solar to the grid. In states like California and Arizona... in the middle of the day homeowners might get 20 cents back for each kilowatt-hour they send to the grid. But for a grid already flooded with solar, the value of that extra energy is close to zero. The result is that richer homeowners who can afford solar get cheap electricity bills — while poorer residents see higher bills to compensate. In California alone, researchers at UC Berkeley and the California Public Advocates Office estimated that rooftop solar will add between $4 billion and $6.5 billion to customers’ bills in 2024...."
From "Everyone loves rooftop solar panels. But there’s a problem. One of the most popular methods to cut your household’s carbon footprint may be a mixed bag" (WaPo).
From "Everyone loves rooftop solar panels. But there’s a problem. One of the most popular methods to cut your household’s carbon footprint may be a mixed bag" (WaPo).
Elon Musk presents a montage of himself in pro-Trump mode to the tune of "YMCA."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2024I note that "YMCA" is an appeal to young men — the words "young man" are repeated over and over.
One minute into the montage, we hear Musk: "President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. This is a must win situation. Must win.... Fight. Fight. Fight. Blood coming down the face. Now, America is the home of the brave. And there's no truer test than courage under fire. So who do you want representing America? Yeah. Absolutely."
When it ends we see that it's an ad from the Trump campaign, but I watched the whole thing seeing it as coming directly from Musk. Musk passed it along on X. As such, it is Musk's own speech.
I'm an old woman, but I can still easily see that this is a strong appeal to young men... especially after the achievement-packed week Musk has had with the rocket, the robots, the robovan. And: "Helene’s aftermath opens new chance — and controversy — for Musk’s Starlink/Elon Musk’s company got regulators’ green light to test out a groundbreaking satellite-based cell service as part of hurricane relief efforts" (WaPo)(free-access link).
Getting testy.
“Testy” is this week’s “sharp as a tack” https://t.co/DoQgTOxKRN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2024
Why "testy"? Of course, I don't believe these writers independently arrived at the same word. I presume they got the same message. But still, the message-writer chose that word, so the word is important, albeit not as important as it would have been if these characters had all determined on their own that "testy" was the mot juste.
"Testy" might make you think of testicle, but the etymology is a word for head — "teste." Think "headstrong." An obsolete meaning — I'm reading the OED — is "Of headstrong courage; impetuous; precipitate, rash." But the current meaning is: "Prone to be irritated by small checks and annoyances; impatient of being thwarted; resentful of contradiction or opposition; irascible, short-tempered, peevish, tetchy, 'crusty.'"
That's not very presidential!
Not everyone decided she was testy.
October 16, 2024
"Kamala Harris repeatedly pivots to Trump when grilled on immigration record in Fox News interview."
I'm linking to the Fox News report on the interview.
It was horrible to attempt to watch. I got about halfway through. I've been waiting for Harris to do a tough, challenging interview, and it was painful to watch the deflection and evasion. The main defense seemed to be to make Bret Baier look bad because he interrupted. Terrible.
Kamala Harris asserts that Donald Trump has said he will "Terminate the Constitution United States."
I'm trying to listen to Kamala Harris on Charlamagne Tha God, but — to use her phrase — come on. What is the basis for this fear mongering?
"You know what he says he'll do? Terminate the Constitution United States. Let me remind folks: You know what's in the Constitution of United States? The Fourth Amendment, which protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment. And he's going to terminate the Constitution of the United States? Which in most of those amendments, one thing or another, was about a movement spurred by black people to ensure that we would be equally protected under the law. Come on."
The closest I can come to a basis for making this broad claim is his use of "termination" and "Constitution" in a narrow context, back in 2020:
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote [on Truth Social]. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
"Ms. Marshack’s self-written obituary disclosed some previously unreported details about her association with [Nelson] Rockefeller but did not mention a romance..."
"... although it ended suggestively, quoting from the 1975 musical 'A Chorus Line.' Ms. Marshack wrote that she 'won’t forget, can’t regret what I did for love.' The initial account [was]... that Mr. Rockefeller had died instantly... while he was in his office, alone with a bodyguard, 'having a wonderful time' working on an art book he was writing. The next day, The Times began deconstructing the official story.... A drip-drip of revelations ensued.... The circumstances of Mr. Rockefeller’s death remain mysterious. One account said that he was found dead wearing a suit and tie and surrounded by working papers; another said that he was nude, amid containers of Chinese food...."
From "Megan Marshack Dies at 70; Was With Nelson Rockefeller at His Death/She was at the center of rumors about the former vice president’s last moments, but she remained silent about their association until she wrote her own obituary" (NYT)(noting that Marshack's brother said she'd signed a nondisclosure agreement).
From "Megan Marshack Dies at 70; Was With Nelson Rockefeller at His Death/She was at the center of rumors about the former vice president’s last moments, but she remained silent about their association until she wrote her own obituary" (NYT)(noting that Marshack's brother said she'd signed a nondisclosure agreement).
"In interviews [for a] book, Rockefeller associates said it was an open secret that Mr. Rockefeller and Ms. Marshack were having an affair. He was married at the time to Margaretta Rockefeller, who was known as Happy...."
Who cares about Vice Presidents? The only thing interesting at this point is the irony of the nickname of the wife he cheated on. And the odd detail of the Chinese food containers. And the resurrection of the "Chorus Line" lyric...
I don't even have a tag for Nelson Rockefeller. I only started this blog in 2004, but there was a time — and I guess it was more than 20 years ago — when "Rockefeller Republican" was shorthand for... oh, who cares anymore? Kiss that day goodbye.
October 15, 2024
"Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 86 days as the presumptive, and now, official Democratic nominee for president without holding an official press conference."
Says Fox News, just Fox News, but isn't it true?
It seems impossible. I'm reading about this and that podcast, and an occasional interview with a mainstream newsperson, such as Fox's Bret Baier coming up, but never a news conference. How is it possible to rise to the presidency without one attempt at handling a press conference?
"Nothing has come to fruition. Look at the schools, the playgrounds, the parks. Downtown is struggling. In our community, typically, we vote for Democrats."
"How has that panned out for us? You’re so bold and loud when you want to help transgender people, immigrants. [Harris] said she wouldn’t pass anything for just Black people, but you had no problem with the LGBT community. Give us some hope you’re listening to our concerns."
Said Ahmad Taylor, 47, of Pontiac, Michigan, quoted in "In a Michigan city, Harris has failed to catch fire with Black men/In December, Black men in Pontiac told The Post they were unenthused about Biden. Now, some feel the same about Harris" (WaPo)(free-access link).
Said Ahmad Taylor, 47, of Pontiac, Michigan, quoted in "In a Michigan city, Harris has failed to catch fire with Black men/In December, Black men in Pontiac told The Post they were unenthused about Biden. Now, some feel the same about Harris" (WaPo)(free-access link).
The internal link in that quote goes to this video, about reparations:
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