VP Debate.
Nah, didn’t watch. I am interested in neither individual. Saw a highlight or two. VP candidates need bowties at these debates. Extra points if they were wifi and we could make them spin via using a hashtag on Twitter.
PS Mag: An Obamacare Exit in Minnesota Will Raise Premiums by at Least 50 Percent
“Now, Democratic politicians are advocating for one of the most controversial of the proposed Obamacare remedies — the public option, in which the government would up competition by offering its own insurance plan. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton began voicing her support for the public option in February, the New York Times reports.” My underlined emphasis. As I said previously, better start inoculating now, Hillary.
Buzzfeed: Trump Suggests That Soldiers Who Suffer From PTSD Aren’t “Strong”.
Business Insider: Rep. Mike Coffman wants the feds to investigate SpaceX’s explosion.
He’s right, though. I’ve not read the letter, just the news article. All third party contractors need robust, independent oversight. Frankly, I’m surprised this doesn’t already exist. Richard Feynman must be spinning in his grave. “Science must match reality.”
naked cap: 7 Signs That China Is Serious About Combating Climate Change.
“If China continues to cut its emissions, or even just keeps them at current levels, the country will be way ahead of its goal of peaking emissions by around 2030, which it laid out in 2014 and recommitted to during the Paris climate talks last December.” Well, that’s the positive news of today.
In These Times: The United States Isn’t an “Idiocracy.” It’s an Oligarchy.
“Life under Trump will look more like Mad Max than Idiocracy, and the only way to stop him might be to grow some empathy for the so-called idiots across the aisle and, together, punch up—not down.” A problem is, TV, cable and movies have been portraying dystopias as inevitable, even as attractive. Look at Burning Man; dystopia with services - and the elites’ status is maintained. All myth. Mad Max is pretty damned painful, if you lived it in reality.
Vox: The mind-blowing scale of Trump’s billion-dollar loss, in one tweet.
Downstream of remarkable news disclosures, there’s always frantic search for framing, for context. This is sort of like snorting rubbing alcohol.
NBC: Hackers Target Election Systems in 20 States.
Dead tree ballots. Insist on a receipt, at least.
Naked Cap: Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf Tries to Brazen Out Fraud.
“If anything, the Republican members were more angry about this issue than the Democrats, with several Tea Party members upbraiding Stumpf for making the case for ‘the other side,’ meaning fans of regulation.” As I keep telling people, capitalism has no moral or ethical requirements. “Do the right thing” doesn’t exist.
NY Times: Why New Jersey’s Trains Aren’t Safer.
You could just have crush zones, like the long sand inclines you see on ski mountains for brakeless trucks. Tech fails. Analog (physical) fixes are more reliable. And CHEAP. NJ Transit’s skint.
Archaeology News Network: The fall and rise of Native North America.
“In a case against a Guantanamo Bay suspect, United States vs Al Bahlul, it was said that the trial and summary execution by General Andrew Jackson of two Scots in Spanish Florida in 1818, traders with the Seminole, was legal and correct and provided precedent for contemporary behaviour by the USA in the war against Al-Qaeda. The Scottish traders had been providing weapons to terrorists. In a non-ironic manner, the Seminole were themselves compared to Al-Qaeda.” Talk about pervasive prejudice and injustice. BLM is important, but the original inhabitants of America get killed [statistically] more often.
The New Yorker: How a Conservative Paper Ended Up Endorsing Hillary Clinton.
“We see him as a dangerous guy who would roll back press freedoms, who has sworn to do that. If he would crush freedoms in one area, we have no doubt he’d do so in others.” But will the rank-and-file listen? They’re off in Fox/Drudge/Breitbart la-la land. Just the places where you’d want to carry a makila, to defend yourself against sudden backstabbings because of the opinion-du-jour.
Slate: David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign manager, is confident Clinton will win.
“I think he [Trump] is a black swan event.”
I’m going to say it again. November 1 and November 8. Hillary, inoculate yourself.
The new ACA rates come out on November 1. Election is November 8. The new rates are going to sink you, Ms Clinton, unless you do something NOW. Your polling margins are terribly slim. Even three days of the 24/7 news cycle can sink you. Please listen, take my advice. DO SOMETHING. Don’t just shimmy.
I told everyone back when this started that the media would do their utmost to make this entire political season a 50/50 horserace. They have done so through simply terrible journalistic practice and false equivalence. When you’ve blogged through as many elections as I have, and had to suffer Bush/Gore, you know the territory. Sometimes I hate being right.
The Economist: Bill and Hillary Inc.
“An obvious question is what ancillary benefits donors thought they were getting, and here the Clintons’ sloppy approach to conflicts of interest is evident, with the three pillars of their activities—public, private and charitable—colliding. Donors to the foundation attempted to get, and on occasion may have got, favours from Mrs Clinton while she was secretary of state. Most of these requests appear to have been for meetings with her. There was a flow of communication between donors, aides and Mrs Clinton’s government office.” I’ll note that The Economist basically endorses Hillary as the only choice this election. But they’re keeping their eye on her, as evidenced by this article. Hillary supporters won’t like it, but they cannot call it misogynist (the overuse of which, I should mention, is not changing behaviors but quietly and productively driving male voters over to Trump). I don’t fault her for making speeches - I know the industry. Make hay while the sun shines. But that last sentence in the pullquote above bothers me, and I’ve made no bones about it. The Clintons are supposedly smart people. The only conclusion I can draw is, they never really seriously planned for Hillary to do a national run. They experimented all along the way, to see where the roadblocks would occur, and never changed their other long-range plans laid down after Bill left office. Now they have to do the fast-shuffle. “Nothing to see here, just move along!” isn’t going to work.
PS Mag: Getting Punished as a War Criminal for Destroying Ancient Monuments.
TG’s Political Wire: Trump Has the Bigger Transition Team.
“... the Trump transition team led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has assembled nearly 100 advisers who are weighing details on issues ranging from taxes and national security to decisions on which Obama administration policies should be quickly overturned ...” Don’t say we weren’t warned about the end of democracy in America. Jesus.
Guardian.UK: Donald Trump attacks Hillary Clinton over links with Denis O’Brien.
O’Brien sounds like Trump himself. So what’s the problem?
Naked Cap: Fade OPEC.
NY Mag: Republicans in Denial That Debate Exposed Trump As Unfit.
In a certain light, only the GOP may be able to stop this from happening. But they’ve lost control of their audience, by allowing easily-exploitable ignorance to blossom.
OilPrice.com: Oil And Gas Bankruptcies Set To Double This Year.
Busy, busy, busy.
I’ll get to you soon, I promise. Trump seems to have come off that debate performance as Bush did against Gore. Never doubt that the idiotic choice can win. Question is, what are the left-wingers of the Democratic Party willing to do? They’re the ones who organize on the ground. Better shelf your Sanders-bitterness and get moving, kids. The world’s about to friggin’ end.
“The Cyber” took the top of my head off.
I mean, really folks. Seriously? Oh wait ... the sigh bear. Listen to the sigh bear.
Debate?
This will reflect my lack of free time to blog:
There WAS no debate. One person was professional, the other was unqualified, underprepared and overcooked. Stewing in his own juice and boiling over to hiss on the stove.
Spin? Sorry, not playing. Trump was never a serious candidate in the first place. Past time for the media to stop giving him free publicity. He belongs in the ENTERTAINMENT section, not the POLITICS section.
America has only one choice. You know who she is. You may not like her, you may have longstanding biases (legitimate or not). But she’s the only one qualified to handle the job. Register, pull the lever, let’s move on with our lives. Enough of this circus.
naked cap: New Data Disproves US Corporations’ False Narrative on Taxes.
Jeez. Take the money and run, why don’t you?
