Sunrise — with autumn colors — 7:27, 7:29.

Bill Maher has to — tries to — explain freedom of speech to Mark Cuban and Joe Scarborough.

Bill Maher warns Democrats like Mark Cuban and Joe Scarborough that their unfair treatment of Elon Musk is proving Republicans' point that Democrats do not care about free speech:
Bill Maher: "He launches his rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base, used to call the Air Force… pic.twitter.com/ATx5At09XG

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) October 19, 2024

"Liam Payne was just 14 when he took his first shot at the big time, trying out for the hit star-making show, 'The X Factor.'"

"He was 17 when the show’s judges teamed him up with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson — all young, handsome, telegenic-but-relatable singer/dancers — and created One Direction, one of the biggest boy bands in history. They released five studio albums and 17 hit singles and went on four world tours, traveling with a portable recording studio so they could put together one album while promoting another.... Mr. Payne was 31 years old when, on Wednesday, he died after a three-story fall from the balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel. Fans reacted with an outpouring of grief, along with... revulsion for the fame factory that had shaped him to its dictates, just as it had done to former child stars like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, who struggled in adulthood, and Amy Winehouse and the K-pop megastar Moonbin, both of whom died in their 20s... As long as there are fans to be monetized and young people willing to feed themselves, body and soul, to the pop music machine, there will be producer-built girl groups and boy bands, their members thrown into the stratosphere as teenagers, old news by 25, gone before they’ve had a chance to grow up."

Writes Jennifer Weiner, in "There Is No Safe Way to Turn Teenagers Into Megastars" (NYT).

Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde — the U.S. Senate candidates for Wisconsin — had their one and only debate last night.

"I was so amazed that Harvey Weinstein got schlonged. He got hit as hard as you can get hit because he was sort of the king of the woke, and yet he got hit."

Said Donald Trump, quoted in "Donald Trump 'Amazed' That Harvey Weinstein, Serial Sexual Abuser, 'Got Schlonged'/Trump was surprised Weinstein was held accountable because the former president thought the liberal media would protect the former Hollywood producer" (HuffPo).

Donald Trump just now:

"I was so amazed that Harvey Weinstein got schlongged, he got hit as hard as you can get hit. Because he was sort of king of the woke, right? And yet he got hit."

What? pic.twitter.com/GNb5m0dOcf

— Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) October 18, 2024

This blog has a theme today.

So far anyway. Unlikely to last, but I wanted to use my "blog has a theme today" tag while I could. Hadn't used it in almost a year.

Musk: "Yeah, I saw an interview with Mark Cuban and, what's her name again, Rachel Maddow, but I couldn't tell which was which."

JUST IN: Elon Musk says he saw an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Mark Cuban but he "couldn't tell which one was which."

Brutal.

Musk: "Yeah, I saw an interview with Mark Cuban and, what's her name again, Rachel Maddow, but I couldn't tell which was which."

Crowd:… pic.twitter.com/0rSHazWqWV

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 19, 2024

Is this the sort of humor you'd advise Musk to use?

Yes, when it's this funny and accurate

Yes, these awful people deserve it

No, Musk is abasing himself to go there

No, he's pushing away some people who might support him

Musk should feel free, go with his instinct, and take risks

This is so inconsequential I can barely make the effort to click this box

 

pollcode.com free polls

"Last week, the Democratic National Committee and Kamala Harris’s campaign did something never done before by a Democratic presidential campaign."

"They released a 30-second TV ad attacking a third-party candidate, specifically the Green Party nominee.... The ad mentions the Green Party nominee by name. I’m not—because she should be ignored, not paid attention with an ad buy or a Washington Monthly bounce in Google algorithms...."

Writes Bill Scher, in "Hey, Democrats: Ignore Green Party Presidential Candidate J**l St**n/The perennial third-party presidential aspirant can’t be a spoiler if voters don’t know she exists and they barely do" (Washington Monthly).

"... Democrats have evidence that confronting third-party candidates works after throttling the independent presidential bid of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.... But Kennedy, coasting on his famous name, began his independent bid with unusually high poll numbers and outsized media attention, warranting a muscular effort to drive him out of the race....  I hear you screaming, But! But! But! The battleground states are dead even!... Sure, but when a third-party candidate is polling between zero and one, you can’t assume many of those voters are even available to either major party candidate.... Despite what the new Democratic Party ad asserts, the evidence does not support the claim that the Greens played a spoiler role in 2016.... The case is much stronger that Nader did play a spoiler role in 2000.... Of course, infinitesimal margins could always happen again—especially when polls are so tight.... But the current Green candidate has been suffocating from a lack of media oxygen—unlike Nader, who was a household name—until the Democrats ran an ad about her!..."

Today the DNC is releasing its first-ever ad focused on third-party candidates.

Trump “likes” that Jill Stein is in this race—because Jill Stein can’t win, but she can help Trump win. pic.twitter.com/93FK6pGIkz

— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) October 11, 2024

Sunrise — 7:13. 7:20, 7:26, 7:32.

Note: The times in the post title are all correct, but Photo #4 was, unlike the rest, taken on the 16th. And, of course, Photo #3 shows not the sunrise, but the moonset.

Talk about anything you want in the comments.

"Hamas has seemed at a loss over how to respond to the death of Yahya Sinwar, the latest in a long line of its leaders killed by Israel."

"For the past day, the group’s Telegram and WhatsApp channels have been silent on the matter, and officials declined or did not respond to requests for comment. On Friday afternoon, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official living in exile, finally circulated a statement appearing to confirm Sinwar’s death. 'It’s very painful and distressing to lose beloved people, especially an extraordinary leader like Yahya Sinwar,' it read. 'But what we are sure of is that we are eventually victorious.' Moments later, Naim deleted the statement and then resent it — without Sinwar’s name."

The NYT reports.

"Walking with breaks might use more energy, but dogs can’t stand it."

The Guardian explains.

I thought it was the dog that took breaks, and the human that couldn't stand it.

"The signs of possible Trump strength among young men are obvious online."

"Many of the major online young male subcultures, from gaming and gambling to cryptocurrency and weight lifting, are increasingly tinged with an anti-establishment ethos and a kind of conservative politics. Whether it’s TikTok or X, a new social media ecosystem has immersed younger and disengaged voters in more pro-Trump content than ever before...."

Writes Nate Cohn, in "The Evidence for a Big Youth Gender Gap and a Right Turn for Young Men/Young men are much more Republican than young women, the best data suggests, and may wind up backing Donald Trump" (NYT).

The article begins with some focus on Joe Rogan. We're told the "No. 2 predictor" of whether someone who'd voted for Biden in 2020 was going for Trump in 2024 was having a "very favorable" view of Joe Rogan. That was determined before Biden got replaced, but "Mr. Trump leads Ms. Harris among young men, 58 percent to 37 percent, across the last three Times/Siena national polls. Ms. Harris holds an even larger lead among young women, 67-28. Surprisingly, Ms. Harris is faring no better than Mr. Biden did among young men in the Times/Siena data, even as she’s made significant gains among young women."

I thought the "Surprisingly" was funny. It doesn't surprise me at all. 

"See I'm obviously here in person. This is me not not a clone of me" — Elon Musk does a solo pro-Trump town hall.

That was yesterday, in Folsom, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia).

"I think the things we we we all want are simple... sensible. I mean common sense things um you know we we obviously want we want secure borders we want safe cities uh you know sensible spending and you know you know what I'm I'm being told at times that these are like right-wing values. I'm like, you are insane. They're literally the fundamental values that made America what it is today and anyone who's against those things is fundamentally anti-American and the hell with them. Yeah.... Like you should be able to feel safe walking around American cities um and it's not just you know Philadelphia has a challenge um New York has got has a challenge uh every major city in the US. Like, my you know my mom lives in New York for example three of our friends have been assaulted on the street this year. You know it's it's like and it's getting worse and and now if when she takes her dog for a walk she has to stay you know inside of the building so that so she can call for help if need be this is not the future we want um and and if we get if we get four more years of this I mean we're going to be fully Mad Max. You know and it's like oh it's it's nice to watch a Madmax movie but we don't want to be in the Madmax movie...."

"Well, it happened. It was almost inevitably going to happen at some point, given how close the forecast has been to 50/50.... But for the fourth time... the streams have crossed..."

"... and the nominal favorite in the race has changed. Thanks in part to one of the first high-quality national polls in weeks to show him ahead — yes, it’s from Fox News, but Fox News polling has no history of GOP bias — Donald Trump now has a 50.2 percent chance of winning the Electoral College. That’s not much different from Trump’s 49.4 percent chances yesterday: the difference is that he wins the Electoral College an additional 1 time out of 125. But Trump is past the 50-yard line — and above Harris’s chances, which are 49.5 percent — for the first time since Sept. 19. (Harris remains a clear but not overwhelming favorite in the popular vote, but that’s not how American elections are decided.)"

Wrote Nate Silver yesterday (at Silver Bulletin).

At the Al Smith charity dinner — Trump was there, and Kamala Harris was not.

There were far more Democrats than Trump fans there, but Harris stayed away, though they let her appear as a pre-recorded video (in which she off-loaded the comedy to Molly Shannon, who deployed her old SNL Catholic schoolgirl character, and I couldn't hear any laughter in the room). 

Trump sat there — between Melania and the Cardinal — and laughed at gibes from Jim Gaffigan, who plays Tim Walz on SNL. Gaffigan is funny — and Catholic — and he handled his task well. Scroll to 2:25 to see him step up to speak as the camera pans to Donald Trump, who knows he's going to get kicked around and is sitting facing the audience, with only the Cardinal and Chuck Schumer between him and Gaffigan. But he knows he's not the one who chickened out and he knows he's going to get the last word.

Here is my selection and ranking of Jim Gaffigan's Top 7 jokes:

7.  "This room is is undeniably impressive... the prestige, the wealth, the allegations. I mean, wow, and don't feel bad if you don't have any allegations yet, okay, which reminds me Letitia James is here. She had a great year. She's just back there watching all of you. She's watching."

6. "This event has been referred to as the Catholic Met Gala. 22% of Americans identify as Catholic. Catholics will be a key demographic in every battleground state. I'm sorry: Why is Vice President Harris not here?... This is a layup for the Democratic nominee. I mean, in her defense I mean she did find time to appear on 'The View,' Howard Stern, and the long-time staple of campaigning the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast."

5. "You have to admit the Democrats have done an amazing job rebranding Vice President Harris.... The term 'Joyful Warrior' was used so many times at the Democratic Convention. I felt like I was at a yoga retreat. Let's start off in a Joyful Warrior pose and then go straight into Downward-Facing Doug."

4. "I watch that [video appearance of Kamala Harris]... I couldn't help but think of: Now I know how my kids felt when... I FaceTimed into a piano recital."

3. "I don't know if you've heard about these people who publicly say they would never vote for Trump, but then when they go in the voting booth, they do. It's a small group. They're called the Biden family."

2. "Joe Biden was our second Catholic President, right after JFK. President Biden couldn't be here tonight. The DNC made sure of that."

1. "The Democrats have been telling us Trump's reelection is a threat to democracy. In fact, they were so concerned of this threat, they staged a coup, outed their democratically elected incumbent and installed Kamala Harris."

AND NOW: Here is my selection and ranking of Donald Trump's Top 7 jokes comedic riffs:

7. "A major issue in this race is child care, and Kamala has put forward a concept of a plan.... The only piece of advice I would have for her in the event that she wins would be not to let her husband Doug anywhere near the nannies. Just keep them away. That's a nasty one. That's nasty. I told these idiots that gave me this stuff, that's too tough."

6. "When I heard that Kamala was skipping the Al Smith Dinner, I'd really hoped that she would come because we can't get enough of hearing her beautiful laugh. She laughs like crazy. We would recognize it anyplace — in this room."

5. "You can't do what I just saw on that screen, but my opponent feels like she does not have to be here, which is deeply disrespectful to the event and in particular to our great Catholic Community.... The last Democrat not to attend this important event was Walter Mondale, and it did not go very well for him.... Shows you there is a God.... I understand the real reason that she's not here is she's hunting with her running mate — spending a lot of time hunting...."

4. "It's a true pleasure to be with you this evening — amazing pleasure... really a pleasure to be anywhere in New York without a subpoena.... Anytime I don't get a subpoena, I'm very happy. They've gone after me. Mr. Mayor, you're peanuts compared to what they've done to me. And you're going to be okay."

3. "All polls are indicating I'm leading big with a Catholic vote. As I should be. But I don't think Kamala has given up yet.... Instead of attending tonight she's in Michigan receiving communion from Gretchen Whitmer."

2. "If Democrats really wanted to have someone not be with us this evening they would have just sent Joe Biden."

1. "A good job tradition holds that I'm supposed to tell a few self-deprecating jokes this evening, so here it goes. Nope, I've got nothing I've got nothing. There's nothing to say. I guess I just don't see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me for a hell of a long time. They shoot, right? You know, they say about presidents, they say that Andrew Jackson was the President that was the most meanly treated. His wife died, she died of heartache. She was heartbroken at the way they treated him. And they say that second was Abraham Lincoln, but he was in charge of the Civil War, you know, so but those were the two... up until me. Now, they say it's not even close. There's never been a president that's been treated so badly as me. And now, people aren't happy about it, but I was treated a little bit rough, but I don't mind it somehow, and I think it's just part of the game."

Sunrise — 7:18/Moonrise — 6:43.

"'Pennsylvania is such a mess': Inside Team Harris’ unusual levels of finger-pointing/Many of the state’s most well-connected Democrats have been worried about the operation for months."

Insiders are complaining to Politico.

And in the same vein: "Latino leaders warn Harris camp: You need to do more to bring Latino men on board/Harris’ performance with Latino voters in Pennsylvania, home to about 580,000 registered Latino voters, could tip the entire election" (Politico).

"HAMAS LEADER IS DEAD."

A barrage of headlines in The New York Times:

 

From the obituary:

"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).

ADDED: Here's something Obama put up 45 minutes ago, making his pitch for Kamala Harris:

.@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

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. 

Somehow we don't have the definitive lip-reading on this yet.

🔥🚨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

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":

“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).

Elon Musk presents a montage of himself in pro-Trump mode to the tune of "YMCA."

pic.twitter.com/e9AloDc5y9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2024

I 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.

Sunrise — 7:15.

"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).

"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.

Sunrise — 7:12, 7:16, 7:18.

"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).

The internal link in that quote goes to this video, about reparations:

"In a July interview... Rogan called Harris 'the worst'... said he was bothered to see her suddenly viewed as a 'hero' and 'solution,' wondered if she was medicated..."

"... with anti-anxiety medications because of 'disconnected ramblings,' but still said he thinks she will win the presidency because people think she’s a stronger alternative than Trump. In a September interview... Rogan said, 'whoever’s coaching her, whoever’s the puppet master running the strings' is doing a 'f****** amazing job.'..."

From "Trump And Harris May Appear On Joe Rogan’s Podcast—Despite His Harsh Comments About Both" (Forbes).

I'm seeing that Trump is going on Rogan's show and that Harris is "in talks" to go on the show. If the "talks" don't result in an actual appearance on the show, I would expect Rogan to tell us what the Harris people wanted that he refused to give. I trust him to maintain his usual standards, which I believe give him freedom to ask what he wants and deny the guest any power to edit. It's hard to believe Harris's people would submit to that. Even the "talks" feel like desperation. It's risky for her to go on the show, and I believe she is risking having him release his own rant describing the failed talks and crediting Trump for simply going on the show like anyone else. 

We were watching Trump's Oaks, Pennsylvania town hall live, so we experienced the shift from talk to pure music....

... and if you didn't watch live, you can still watch the video and thereby have your own opinion of what happened... and of the way the mainstream media are reporting it. You're unlikely to sit through the whole thing, as we did. We were there in real time, like the people in the auditorium, to hear Trump answer some questions.

Trump comes out at 1:05:00. He speaks for 15 minutes before any question is asked. Then he takes the first question and then the second and third, but at 1:38:00, there's a medical emergency that goes on for quite a while. 

Four minutes into the incident, Trump says "This is a little bit of a tough one, I think." After the crowd begins singing "God Bless America," Trump asks his music person to play the recording of "Ave Maria"... which makes me think the person in the audience is dying. Trump seems to have determined not to restart the town hall until it can be known that the person has been helped. It's a silent demonstration of caring, so perhaps he's calculating that this is as good a statement as anything he might say and that speaking would be an implicit statement of not caring.

At 1:45:00, there's an attempt to return to the town hall format, but 3 minutes later, there's another medical emergency.

"It makes a weird kind of sense that 'The Apprentice' is arriving in theaters Friday, a week after 'Joker: Folie à Deux.'"

"Both movies are set in New York in the 1970s and/or ’80s. Both are about larger-than-life antiheroes perceived as monsters by many and lionized by others. And both seem perversely designed to disappoint audiences on either side of the aisle...."

Wrote Ty Burr, in "Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice’ avoids taking sides. Good luck with that. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong star as the young Don and his soulless mentor, Roy Cohn" (WaPo)(published last Tuesday).

Sunrise — 7:14.

"And thus, on this tooth and claw planet, you need a very strong military - so I’m going to stick with the idea that ['Full Metal Jacket'] footage was used primarily because of its powerful, realistic portrayal of boot camp..."

"... juxtaposed with the entirely demoralizing and inappropriate injection of WOKE ideology into the USA military. Which I agree with myself and which I’m certain my father would have agreed with. Truthfully, I believe my father (who supported Reagan), would very much approve of saving America, indeed the world, from the highly destructive Globalist forces threatening to take over this planet...."

TO THOSE WHO THINK MY FATHER WOULDN’T HAVE WANTED #TRUMP TO USE FMJ FOOTAGE

Here are my thoughts: I agree in principle that an anti-war movie is incongruous with promoting the idea of a tough non-woke US military and thus war itself - however - these are very dangerous and… https://t.co/0bSXz8nL3V

— Vivian Kubrick (@ViKu1111) October 13, 2024

Reading the rabbit's mind.

I'm reading "We take our dogs everywhere. Maybe we shouldn’t," by the Portland, Oregon writer Tove Danovich:

After pausing to take a photo of a flower along the trail, I looked up to see a doe standing directly in the path in front of me.... Later on, while sitting to take in a quiet moment, I watched as a rabbit popped out of the bush onto the trail, ears twitching. The two of us stayed there together for a minute, maybe two. Then she ran off a second before I heard the dog coming toward us. It wasn’t safe for a rabbit with a potential predator close by....

I see rabbits all the time, in our yard and along the nearby woodland trails, and the rabbits are always the same. They freeze at first, and then they suddenly bolt. It doesn't take a dog to trigger the shift from frozen to hopping the hell out of there. The rabbit has 2 modes. The column writer interprets it her way, flattering herself by imagining the rabbit is communing with her, followed by fear of the dog. But I think I've seen far more rabbits than the author. That doesn't make my reading of the rabbit's mind perfect. But I'm thinking that the rabbit isn't thinking anything at all, but is programmed by evolution to alternate between 2 strategies: 1. Look invisible, 2. Become invisible. That is: 1. Freeze, 2. Run. The rabbit does the same thing every time.

And, by the way, no matter how gently you may move through the woods and how fondly you may regard bunnies, when you, the human being, are around, for the rabbit, there is "a potential predator close by."

I don't like this random worker being embarrassed. She didn't ask to be exploited as scenery.

Just a pro-tip for Kamala campaign staffers...

When you film Bill Clinton going to a McDonalds for a campaign stop... you might want to edit out the part where the cashier thinks he's Joe Biden.

What a complete mess. pic.twitter.com/NEKdBVWjs9

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 14, 2024

ADDED: "Oh, my God! It's Bill Clinton!"

"The relationship between Kamala Harris' team and Joe Biden's White House has been increasingly fraught in the final weeks before Election Day..."

"... 10 people familiar with the situation tell Axios," Axios reports.

[M]any senior Biden aides remain wounded by the president being pushed out of his re-election bid and are still adjusting to being in a supporting role on the campaign trail.

"They're too much in their feelings," one close Harris ally said of the president's team — a sentiment shared even by some White House aides....

Go to the link for a list a specific clashes.

Do you think the Democrats would have been better off sticking with Biden? They knew Harris's weaknesses, and they knew the switcheroo would be difficult to pull off and to sell to the people, and they knew Biden was still alive, still in power, and would be powerfully emotional. When I see Biden on camera, speaking, these days, I think he comes across better than Harris... and I feel his pain:

"She's my boss here," he says, gripping Jennifer Granholm's arm. How tightly?

ADDED: Think they could pull off a reverse switcheroo in the last 3 weeks?

"When Joe Biden called Kamala Harris on the morning of Sunday, July 21st, she was... wearing sweatpants and a hoodie..."

"By the time Biden announced his withdrawal, that Sunday afternoon, a scramble was already under way, largely out of public view. Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina state representative who helped Harris secure the nomination, told me... 'We weren’t going to do this bullshit that other people were asking for,' he said. In his view, an open convention was a way to 'skip over Kamala.' After Biden’s call, Harris had summoned aides to her house, and a dozen or so people gathered around a table.... In the hours that followed, her team undertook an operation that was less an improvisation than a culmination of years spent cultivating allies.... Harris never had time to change out of her sweats. By the following morning... she had endorsements from a majority of Democrats in Congress, two large unions, and a growing number of state delegations.... David Axelrod, who was the chief strategist for both of Obama’s Presidential campaigns, told me, 'There was an argument that she would be strengthened by a competition, but she showed a mastery of the internal politics, which is one test of a potential candidate. People respond to competence, and that was a very competent operation.' He compared it to a rapid military strike. 'She didn’t get handed this nomination,' he said. 'She took it.'... By gaining the nomination so late, Harris spared herself the obligation of courting the orthodox wing of her party in primaries. But a short run has risks; it left her little time to explain what she believes and what she would do in office... "

Writes Evan Osnos, in "Kamala Harris’s Hundred-Day Campaign/Three months ago, the Vice-President was fighting for respect in Washington. Can she defy her doubters—and end the Trump era?" (The New Yorker).

Little time to explain what she believes? Little time to arrive at beliefs.

ADDED: I chose this article to blog first this morning, but it was one of the many headlines I saw that made me want to create a new tag, something like "pre-postmortem." Real Clear Politics cues up these headlines:

Sunrise — 7:09.

This morning's heavy fog was hard to capture:

I returned to the same vantage point at 3 p.m. and took a non-sunrise photograph:

"Maybe Musk’s time would be better spent doing concentrating on SpaceX and his other corporate interests instead of engaging in fascist politics and peddling trash through his social media platform at X!"

That's the top-rated comment at "SpaceX successfully catches returning Starship rocket/The uncrewed mission on Sunday was the company’s first successful attempt to 'catch' its Starship rocket as it lowered itself down to the launch pad" (WaPo)('A SpaceX Starship rocket successfully landed upright alongside a massive metal landing tower on Sunday as it was caught by two converging 'chopstick' arms — marking another historic engineering breakthrough for the company’s largest rocket").

Meanwhile, "peddling trash through his social media platform at X," Musks posts this:

Starship rocket booster caught by tower pic.twitter.com/aOQmSkt6YE

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2024

And this:

"NYT reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits in silence as JD Vance educates her on the labor force participation rate relating to illegal immigration."

"Garcia-Navarro tried arguing that illegal immigrants can't be deported because America needs them for jobs," writes Collin Rugg, with this clip:

NYT reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits in silence as JD Vance educates her on the labor force participation rate relating to illegal immigration.

Garcia-Navarro tried arguing that illegal immigrants can't be deported because America needs them for jobs.

She pointed to the… pic.twitter.com/SiNwyldSwR

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 12, 2024

ADDED: I don't agree that Garcia-Navarro is silenced by Vance. She lets him have his say, but she also breaks in. She's challenging him with a practical point that I don't think Harris supporters like to be explicit about. From the NYT transcript (with Garcia-Navarro in boldface, interrupting Vance 5 times):

"Although Mr. Trump is not expected to be competitive in California, the rally showed that he could turn out a crowd."

"Throngs of people at Calhoun Ranch, where it was held, braved the desert sun and temperatures that hovered near 100 degrees.... It was Mr. Trump’s second foray into a blue state in two days. On Friday, he visited Aurora, Colo., where he made a series of nativist attacks and promoted falsehoods about crimes committed by migrants in a state where Ms. Harris is safely ahead in polls. And word surfaced this week that Mr. Trump was planning to hold a rally at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, on Oct. 27. That would be his third major campaign event in New York, a state that was once his home but is also solidly blue.... At his California rally, several speakers taunted Ms. Harris, who represented California in the Senate and served as its attorney general, for problems the state has faced. Mr. Trump called California a 'paradise lost.'"

Writes Neil Vigdor, in "Trump Hits Coachella, Campaigning Once Again in a Blue State/The former president took a detour from the battleground states to hold a rally in the California desert, where temperatures hovered near 100 degrees" (NYT).

Why is Trump rallying in blue states? Lots of experts are weighing in. The dominant mainstream view seems to be that Trump wants to use these places as a backdrop for arguing that Democrats govern badly. Also there's the idea of helping down ballot Republicans.

I think it makes him look as though he's confident that he will win, and maybe people like to vote for the winner or feel de-motivated to vote for someone who looks like the loser. That could help him in all of the states. I think that a lot of people pre-adjust to what they think is inevitable and that Trump may be looking ahead and thinking about smoothing the transition of power — mellowing the people who might otherwise be screaming at the sky.

Trump recently expressed concern for that iconic screaming woman:

"Super Dave was puffed up with misplaced confidence as he plunged himself into one death-defying stunt after another."

"Although modeled on the real-life daredevil Evel Knievel, Super Dave was more like the ill-fated Wile E. Coyote, who would snap back from being crushed by a boulder or falling off a cliff in the Road Runner cartoons. 'People loved the character getting mauled,' Mr. Blye told the Television Academy."

From "Allan Blye, 87, Dies; ‘Smothers Brothers’ Writer and ‘Super Dave’ Creator/In his wide-ranging career, he also helped write Elvis Presley’s comeback special and appeared on an early version of 'Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood'" (NYT).

And, re the Smothers Brothers show:  "Mr. Blye and his writing partner, Mason Williams — best known for writing and performing the hit guitar instrumental 'Classical Gas'— worked on the deadpan editorials delivered regularly by Pat Paulsen, a mournful-looking cast member who used the show as a platform to run for president in 1968 as the candidate of the S.T.A.G. (Straight Talking American Government) Party."

"In a few days, the voters will go to the polls and elect a man to ruin the country. I mean run the country. All the other candidates are making 11th hour appeals seeking a convincing mandate from the people and the people are making 11th hour appeals for a convincing candidate. Polls show Nixon leading both Humphrey and Wallace with 14 undecided and 36 percent disgusted."

James Carville watched a few minutes of the Biden/Trump debate, then turned it off, "ate two pot gummies and started listening to some Hank Williams."

"He said he realized at that moment that Mr. Biden would have to drop out. By every account, Mr. Carville’s decision to act against Mr. Biden came after extensive consultation with a network of friends he has been talking to daily for 30 years. 'I went into this with what you would call in the law malice and forethought,' he said.... 'I could have been embarrassed,' Mr. Carville said. 'He could have run and won. But it never occurred to me that I was wrong.' At this stage in Mr. Carville’s life, there was not much to lose and it is hard to imagine him remaining quiet. 'He can’t help it,' said Paul Begala, Mr. Carville’s partner on that 1992 campaign and one of his closest friends. 'It is who he is. His income does not depend on being hired by politicians. Nor has it been for 30 years. He can say whatever he wants.'"

Writes Adam Nagourney, in "James Carville on Aging, Edibles and His Anxieties About Harris/At 79, the Democratic commentator is the subject of a documentary that captures his musings — and his warning to President Biden — about the toils of age" (NYT).

What Hank Williams song did James Carville cue up?

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (because JC was sad)

Jambalaya (because JC is Cajun and the song begins "Goodbye, Joe")

Hey Good Lookin' (because no one ever said that to him)

Other (make your argument in the comments)

 

pollcode.com free polls

Does this NYT illustration intentionally evoke the classical image of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian?

I wouldn't think, in the aftermath of 2 assassination attempts on Donald Trump, that the NYT would want us to make the association, but here is the image:

And here is the Renaissance painting by Andrea Mantegna:

Like Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Sebastian did not die from this shooting (though he was soon killed):

"I want to flag one case that’s really funny to me, Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas. It’s sort of like the chickens coming home to roost..."

"... for the Supreme Court. A few years ago, the court made up the 'major questions doctrine,' the principle that when an agency makes a decision that involves a 'major question,' courts have a free-floating veto to block it. Well, the 5th Circuit used this doctrine to blow up the entire system of nuclear waste storage in this country, possibly forever.... The 5th Circuit sided with Texas in this case, declaring that the commission is actually powerless to grant licenses for the temporary storage of nuclear waste offsite from the plant... not because federal law says the commission can’t do that... [but because] temporary storage is a 'major question' because it involves nuclear material. And... Congress has to come in and authorize it even more clearly....Because the question 'has been hotly politically contested for over a half century.'"

Says Mark Joseph Stern, in "The Supreme Court Takes a Nuclear Waste Case Almost Too Wild to Believe" (Slate).

Another "SNL" cold open with Dana Carvey as Joe Biden...

... and lots of other worthy impersonations... in a "Family Feud" format:

The YouTube transcript generation has humor ideas of its own: