Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Calling All Republicans

Last night in a suburb of Phoenix something pretty amazing took place.  Glendale, where my parents lived for decades, and where my mother still resides, was home to a campaign event for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the Desert Diamond Arena.  Capacity at that venue is 20,000.  The campaign received 25,000 requests for tickets.

As video and photos streamed forth online, hours before the event was to begin, it became readily apparent that another massive gathering was happening.  Lines of people waited patiently in the 105 degree desert heat, shielded from the sun by cover provided by the campaign.  Once inside, patient crowds enjoyed concessions and upbeat music and camaraderie.

Again, what was missing?  Ridiculously large flags with the candidate's face on them, Nazis, and Grab My Pussy t-shirts.  You have to wonder, can you even call it a rally without some GMP shirts?  Seriously.

As people posted from inside, they relayed the "vibes", the energy, the smiles.  Again, such a stark contrast to a Trump rally where everyone is scared, talking shit, and waving their stupid arsenal of Trump gladiator porn.  Before the first speaker even hit the stage, the hashtag #KamalaBringsUsJoy was trending.

I will state again that joy and hope - those two very elusive feelings for so long - have been unleashed by this campaign.  In a complete inverse to Trump releasing all manner of bigotry, racism, and hate, Harris and Walz have broke open the floodgates of happy and people are pouring through.  For far too many years we have watched as this virulent strain of MAGAtry has co-opted the Republican party, stripped bare the carefully concealed hatred and humanity famine of friends and family members, and watched as the American flag turned into a symbol of hatriotism, not patriotism.  

That last part is so sad.  But tell me you haven't seen trucks and cars and boats with flags attached and recoiled because you just knew where the driver's allegiance was to be found.  We all have.  As for the lost friends and family members?  I still say good riddance.  Once upon a time, politics were something we could disagree about based on policy, fiscal views, true issues.  That's simply not the case anymore.  What Trump exposed is not just a difference in politics, it's a difference in humanity. 

And humanity was out in full force last night.  It was beautiful to watch, and I can only imagine the feeling to be inside, to be a part of what certainly can be described by the Hamilton line, "it's not a moment, it's the movement."

I watched them all speak, enjoyed the crowd responding and cheering, even admired how VP Harris again spoke back to protesters who interrupted her stump speech.  The subject was the same - Gaza/Israel.  And the subject is valid. We woke again to news that Israel bombed a school that was serving as a refuge for the displaced.  While Israel defends its actions by saying they, "precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Taba'een school" it does not magically erase the fact that 90 innocent people were killed.  Add that number to the already dead 39,720 and 92,002 injured and you can see the validity of the outcry.  Whether you agree with the timing and placement of the protest, the protest is not going away.

She spoke forcefully, acknowledging them, and stating clearly that now is the time for a ceasefire, promising that she and President Joe Biden are working around the clock to make it happen.  That last part bears repeating because we get frustrated by what we don't see, believing it means nothing is taking place.  And then suddenly, all that silence and nothing is replaced by something like Americans jailed in Russia being released and arriving back on American soil.  Diplomacy and all the machinations it takes to achieve anything in this world go largely unseen.  Until the result.  

But there needs to be a result soon in Gaza.  And yes, I realize it is all compounded and twisted by long standing US-Israel relations and decades old agreements, and the fact that Hamas has spent years and years digging tunnels and literally embedding itself in the citizenry, making any strike against them rife with the deaths of innocent men, women, and children.  BUT, those deaths cannot simply continue to be considered collateral damage, an inconvenience.  Their lives matter just as much as anyone across the dividing line, as much as yours, as much as mine.

OK, back from my tangent...

Everyone, from Congressman Ruben Gallego to Senator Mark Kelly to Gabby Giffords (her constant woohooing caught by the mic was so endearing) to Walz and Harris fired up the crowd, energized the crowd, spoke truth to Trump's impotence, and drove home the theme of "We're not going back."  It was all wonderful.  However, for me, the most salient words of the night came not from a Harris stalwart or long standing Dem.  They came from a lifetime Republican.

That's right.  In the midst of that beautiful sea of blue, of harmony, of hope, stood an unlikely ally.

John Giles, current mayor of Mesa, Arizona, and again, a lifetime Republican, took to the podium and clearly stated this:

""I do not recognize my party.  I have something to say to those of us who are in the middle: You don’t owe a damn thing to that party. You don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward. And by all means, you owe no loyalty to a candidate who is morally and ethically bankrupt ... in the spirit of the great Senator John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump.”

His full remarks here:

“You don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward…In the spirit of the great Senator John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump.” We need more people like Mayor Giles.pic.twitter.com/B7UdzFU17i

— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) August 10, 2024

That is a stunning rebuke in a climate where even hinting you are no longer on the Trump train earns you immediate death threats from the MAGAtry.  (Looking at you Kyle Rittenhouse, Joe Rogan, Tim Poole - all three found out how quickly the rubes turn against you, resulting in an about face to save face and the dollars they, too, bilk from the base.)

Again powerful words.  And a clear, brave call to any Republican who has gritted their teeth, clung to their partisanship, and had trouble looking in the mirror for almost ten years now.  Because there is no Republican party anymore.  It was cannibalized by Donald Trump and an insatiable horde of power seekers, bloodlusters, and white nationalists.  Holding your nose to vote for the "stupidest person who has ever won a nomination for president" (thank you, Lawrence O'Donnell); a man who personifies greed and narcissism and avarice; the easily manipulated dullard who promises to bring Project 2025 to life - you don't have to do it.

You can finally accept the realities of who he is, what your party has become, what they promise to unfurl on the public.  AND YOU CAN REJECT IT ALL.  Listen to what this side wants.  It's not scary.  It's not Marxism.  It's not Communism.  It's not <insert every other scary word your party uses but cannot define>. 

We want protections for everyone.  We want personal liberty, bodily autonomy.  We actually advocate the "small government' you profess to believe in but do not practice.  We don't want to be in your medical decision making.  We don't want to intrude on your parental rights when faced with a child who does not fall neatly on your acceptable narrow spectrum.  We want solutions to the border, not some Crusades level bloodletting of human beings who happen to be a different color and desperate.  We want healthy people.  We want college students not burdened for life by predatory loans.  We want to feed students.  We want to keep religion where it belongs - in the churches, mosques, temples, in your homes - which in turn does protect your chosen beliefs by not setting up a system in which your child MUST be subjected to another religion.  Ten Commandments?  Great!  But not on a classroom wall unless you want the teachings of Allah, passages from the Torah, and enlightenment from Buddha taught alongside.

You can choose country over party.  And yes, that will involve accepting and taking the "L" this time, and probably for the foreseeable future.  But in return, you get a future.  We get a future.  A future that actually hews to the documents you claim to hold dear, but do not understand at all.  We the people...  all of us.  Not we the people in charge and those we find acceptable.

Mayor Giles put out the call last night.  He knows he is not alone.  And now you know you are not alone.  Voting for Harris and Walz does not mean you become a Democrat or agree with everything.  It just means you agree on the most important, again, most salient point:  You don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward.

Calling all Republicans.  There is still time for you to do the right thing.  Even if it's the left thing.

 

Amazing What Joy and Hope Can Do

This is Arizona.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz do not arrive for another couple hours yet the place is already packed to the rafters.  People are tired of the doom and gloom and threats of Trump and his minions.  It's time to smile again. #WeAreNotGoingBack

Another view - have to remind myself isn’t a concert. It’s a political rally. So freaking amazing. pic.twitter.com/vETf0ozx0O

— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) August 9, 2024

Pressing The Press

It was the press conference seen round the world.  Laughed at round the world.  Laughter not directed solely at the star of the proceedings - a wrecked, decrepit, decomposing pumpkin standing in his equally sad, dark, desperately-in-need-of-updating-and-lots-of-Febreeze golf palace - but guffaws targeted at the assembled "journalists" who sat for it.

I couch that word in quotation marks because the media present had been hand selected by Trump's woefully inept team the day before.  Chosen for the certitude that they would not ask anything relevant, riveting, or important, and certainly not push for an actual substantive answer.

Which brings us to the sad state of what passes for journalism in this country.  If it were fabric, it would be the cheapest linen, with more wrinkles than a topographical map of Tibet, burn holes, underarm sweat stains, and buttons missing.  A shirt that can barely be called a shirt anymore.  Ill fitting, pulled from the closet floor where it has been balled up for months.

In short, our press needs pressing.  

Since Trump's announcement to run in 2015, media outlets have whored themselves out, taking a prostitutial knee, as it were, for access.  Maggie Haberman of the NYT is a prime example.  She has practically lived up his loose colon for almost 10 years now.  News channels gave up the word news in order to get viewers.  And they knew that given Trump's constant stream of verbal gaffes and outlandish outbursts, the more they kept the cameras on him, the more clicks and ratings they would garner.

Just as video killed the radio star, access journalism killed the news business.  The honest reporting of who, what, when, how, where was kicked to the curb in order to script a reality show for viewers.  Handpicked, chyron hyped, and completely partisan.  Walter Cronkite, who?  

Think about that.  At one time, Cronkite was called "the most trusted man in America" because he reported the news of the day to viewers.  The facts.  Not the spin.  That is what news once was.  Trusted bodies that worked to gather, interview, hold accountable, and report what was happening in our world.  But as dollars and drama became more important than Dan Rather and deep, insightful news gathering, we got clowns like Glenn Beck and his blackboard.  

One wrinkle in the fabric of journalism begat another wrinkle and so on and so on.  Like the Faberge' commercial from the 70s, it multiplied before our eyes.  We all chose our camps.  Conservatives who loved being frightened and fed conspiracy via batshit Beck flocked to FOX.  Liberals who longed for actual news and to see things called out headed for CNN and MSNBC.  

And then the biggest wrinkled came along and there is not an industrial steam presser big enough to get it out.  The billionaires bought the news.  Television and print and web.  Murdoch, Bezos, Redstone, Jobs, Adelson, Musk and on and on.  Once venerable institutions like the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, etc became nothing more than blatantly partisan outlets shilling for their favorite politicians.  News sharing sites like Twitter were bought, throttled, shadow banned and Nazified into a white supremacy wetdream called X where Elon Musk caters to the Andrew Tates and Catturds of the world.

And just as Trump brought eyes to channels he brought sales to print, both on the streets and online.  Cash is king, as the saying goes.  So the press anointed Trump, vilified all who got in his way (Hilary's emails, anyone?), looked past his obvious shortcomings, ignorance, avarice, and criminality and 2016 saw him installed in the Oval.

Their bootlicking only grew.  Access was everything.  (Again, see Haberman.)  Any organization who dared to call him out, report truthfully about him and his administration were blacklisted, called fake news, and the flow of access was immediately cut off.

Thinking that they would iron themselves out after he was ousted was folly.  Their cameras and microphones have stayed steadily trained on the human shitshow because he never fails to deliver.  And their thirst for ratings and the promise of more beyond 2024 is why we are where we found ourselves yesterday.

Screwed for actual coverage.  Honest reporting. 

One subpar debate performance by President Biden and the press went apeshit for weeks.  A constant flow of articles, headlines, pundits and political players filled every outlet questioning his health, his mental acuity, his age, his age, his age.  Nonstop, wall-to-wall coverage of every sneeze, step, oration.  It was as obvious as it was shameful.  A full court press designed to grab ratings while pushing one man out in favor of elevating a felon who guaranteed endless soundbites.

Age?  Fine.  Talk about it.  Mental sharpness?  Absolutely.  Must be considered.  OF BOTH CANDIDATES.  Yet despite Trump's advanced age, obvious mental decline, and abject stupidity on any subject, the spotlight never strayed from Biden.  Until the rally where shots were fired and we all learned Trump has an ear that regrows as fast as a Chia pet.

An assassination attempt.  HUGE news.  Or it should have been.  Yet where were the reporters, the investigative journalists finding out what, who, where, how?  Where was the push for medical records, hell, a press conference with the treating physician?  Where was the thirst to get the story, break some news?  There simply was none.  The press took the position of that balled up shirt at the back of the closet.  Content to lie there, be ignored, passed over.  

Shameful.  Once upon a time, a presidential candidate calling a media blackout over something this massive would have resulted in a free for all of reporters vying for information, scoops, FACTS.  Radio silence was not simply accepted back in the day.  But again, access.  Fear of not having it kept them all at bay.  Which is exactly how Trump wanted it so he could continue to script the narrative of manufactured bullshit.  

And manufacture it he did.  His entire RNC week consisted of him wearing a Kotex over his ear to better bring home the seriousness of his wound and his warrior-like resilience.  Pardon my incredulity here, but give me a fucking break.  Everything he and his team would have us believe about his injury is completely belied by what we can see with our own eyes.  But no matter.  Look!  All his cultists are wearing maxipads on their heads in solidarity.  Report on that!

JFC...

Even falling for his "new tone" bullshit.  I can't.  Same man as he ever was.  Filled with hubris, ego, and arrogance aplenty.

Then what happens?  RNC is over.  They are still harping on Biden's age and debate performance, secure in the knowledge they will once again nonreport Trump to the Oval and...

Biden announces he will not seek re-election, throwing his complete support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.  And the crowd goes wild!

But the press doesn't.  HUGE wrinkle for them.  Wait, wut?!?  But we had our entire script written!

Harris becomes a juggernaut.  Donations, endorsements, excitement.  The press scrambles for anything they can throw that may stick.  Where are the Obamas?  Oops, shit, there they are.  Is this even legal?  Well, crap it is, the delegates have not voted yet.  Snoop Dogg could get the nod and it would be legal.  Then the desperation, with on screen anchors suggesting Biden must surely be on his death bed.  Dammit.  Primetime from the Oval Office.

Even Trump's campaign, faced with this unexpected turn of events, does not know what to do besides whine foul!  Like the media, there entire angle was to continually beat the drum of Biden's age only to be left holding the saggy ballbag of the oldest candidate to ever run for the presidency.

As Harris continued to pick up steam, important endorsements, and campaign cash, the press stayed skeptical.  Trying in vain to find the chink in the armor of the grassroots excitement and momentum.  Ari Melber pulled all manner of rap out of his cringey ass to try to downplay the reality.  FOX heads disparaged Harris in every way.  Despite what has been happening, they still desperately need this to be a horse race for their ratings.  (And note, just because your cable news allows their anchors to drop words like shit and damn, it doesn’t mean that they are truth tellers, or edgy and going after the facts. It just means that they have more latitude to cuss because you pay for the channel.)

Then Tim Walz was chosen.  And the press autopsy of him began.  Good luck with that.  24 year veteran, teacher, father, GOOD GUY.  As he and Harris began their campaign travels, Trump literally fell off the face of the planet.  Yet no breathless headlines or chyrons.  A paucity of campaign field offices.  Nothing.  Biden had COVID and the press set their hair on fire with speculation for a week.  Trump disappears and nothing? (Rick Wilson did ask, Where's Weirdo?)

The actual pressure on Trump and his minions came not from the media, but from an onslaught of online criticism from larger voices and a lot of smaller ones.  And so, the announcement yesterday morning of a press conference set for 2pm at Mar-a-Lago.  A press conference decided upon on Thursday when his campaign handpicked the reporters to be invited and the questions to be asked.

Anyone knowing that part knew that what was to take place was not a true press conference where a candidate stands for actual questions, answers, pushback and clarification.  Rather it was set to be a coddle sesh in which Trump could stand in his safe space and expound on whatever synapsis misfired through his rotting cerebellum.

We all know he thinks himself to be the Grand Poobah of taste and elegance, but that place, that room just screamed "I'm as tired, worn out and, quite frankly, smelly as the guy standing in me!"  And he looked like as bad as the drapes and cushions.  Haggard, drawn, out of date, redolent with the ghosts of omelette bars past.

Aside about his appearance.  There has been much reporting, from outlets overseas, that he has been on the Ozempic train for some time.  His droopy face would ironically prop up that assertion.  Ozempic face is real.  And on an old man, even realer.  And his suit appeared to be wearing him.  He did seem less orange - that could have been the poor lighting or his ego's response to the endless criticism of him being Mango Mussolini, the Melon Felon, or as I called him yesterday, Canteloupe von Diaperload. His croquembouche of hair not as ornately spun. (That is truly the best description of his coif I have ever run across.)

He immediately embarked on a ramble about World War 3, the crash of 1929, all manner of fearmongering.  With him, of course, as the answer to all of the impending doom.  (They want so badly for the market to crater, but the reality is that while he was speaking, the markets were all up, in fact the S&P had its best day since 2022.)  He went into the weeds about Harris calling her weak and dangerously liberal.  He did not seem to even know her running mate's name, referring to him as "her new friend".  On and on he went, inevitably ending up at crowd size, his favorite focus.

Anyone with eyes has seen the incredible crowds showing up for Harris and Walz this past week.  Yet there he stood asserting he has had crowds of 100,000, and that his January 6th crowd outstripped that of MLK's I Have A Dream speech attendance.  Seriously.  Someone get Will Smith to keep MLK's name out his damned mouth.

Lie after festering lie.  Lie after easily refutable lie.  Lies that no one corrected, no news station pushed back on in real time.  And the questions.  Oy.  No microphones for the reporters so we were left to gather what was asked based on what he responded.  Responses that were often delayed by him needing things repeated.

Another aside.  His hearing.  He is old.  Hearing loss happens. It just does.  But it is more and more obvious his is in serious decline, which also contributes to an increase in dementia progression.  Yet where are the experts and stories about this?  Shit, Biden made it possible to get hearing aids over-the-counter.  But Mr. Ego cannot be seen with such frailty accessories in his ears.  Speaking of which - he claimed yesterday to have been hit in the lobe.  While touching the top of his ear.  Man doesn't even know his basic anatomy.  But hoo boy, that ear, that Chia Pet-fast-growing-regenerate-like-a-lizard-tail ear.

But I digress.

On and on he went.  His support is 75% of the country!  Doing great with white men!  Nobody was killed on January 6th!   (Paging MAGAt madonna Ashli Babbitt...)  Barrels of oil up to 7, 8, 9 dollars!  (We wish) Abortion is not a big issue anymore!  (Seriously.)  Responding to questions with irrelevant answers, no answers, diversion, and obfuscation.  Hand accordion playing at full speed.  Breathy, sniffly.  With zero pushback from the assembled wrinkled mess that is our media.  Trump is a super spreader of lies and disinformation and our media is the apotheosis of enabling.

No real-time fact checking by the networks carrying an old man shaking his fist at the clouds.  It’s not a matter of a normal person  speaking off the cuff and who might draw a date wrong from memory, or paraphrase a quote, not getting it exactly right. That’s not what Trump does.  He is a pathological liar, an incurious man who does not have a even a slim base of true information or history or intellectualism to draw upon. 

All cameras trained on a babbling, lying mess of a man, no cameras on Kamala Harris giving an incredible speech to the UAW.  Make it make sense.

Again, shameful.  Because correcting him when he is freewheeling like that is when it matters.  When people are watching.  Doing it after the fact is worthless.  Someone needs to be willing to risk access and fact check this blindingly stupid farce of a candidate to his rapidly decaying face.

Last night, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell did what no one with a big platform has done so far - he held the media accountable.  He called them out, including his own network.  It is worth your time to watch.

If you watch one thing today, please make it this from @Lawrence.
I implore you. Absolute fire. 🔥pic.twitter.com/cFTmNZZ0bf

— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) August 9, 2024

The press has an obligation to the public, or at least it did.  Back before it chose entertainment over hard hitting journalism, it set out to get the story, to research it, to fact check it thoroughly, and then only when it was dead certain, report it to the public.  What we have before us is reality TV "news" - created and curated for the specific audience, targeted to keep people tuning in, ignoring that which is inconvenient or risks a repercussion from the subject.  

And for the record - the only true and honest headline to emerge came from across the pond, not here within our borders.

O'Donnell heated up the iron last night.  With democracy on the line, and everything we can see with our own eyes, it is time to begin pressing the press to do their jobs, get off the closet floor, and work out the wrinkles in the sad state of affairs we call journalism.

    

 

In The Air Tonight

Back in 1981, an eerie set of chords and lyrics filled our radios.  Phil Collins, in his first solo release, beguiled us with words that gave birth to all manner of urban myths and a drum interlude that is forever iconic.  The reality was that he had written the song almost spontaneously, words and emotions simply bubbling up from the depths of his divorce.

And we all embraced it.  Music is like that.  It touches, inspires, reminds, and often provides catharsis.  It also lends itself to all manner of events that come along.  

In The Air Tonight has been looping through my inner tape deck since last night when I watched the campaign rally from Philadelphia.  

In the run up to Josh Shapiro taking the stage to hype the crowd, I had watched video of the blocks long lines wrapping around buildings as Harris-Walz constituents waited to enter the arena.  There were smiles, there was order, there was palpable excitement.  What there wasn't?  Insanely huge flags with Harris depicted as some Rambo-Gladiator.  There were no Fuck Your Feelings tshirts.  There was even a Nazi famine.  

And that's when those familiar drumbeats of Phil's began playing in my head.  

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh, Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight?
Oh Lord, oh Lord

For longer than any of us care to remember, there has been this pall hanging over the country.  A low hanging, stifling orange cloud of political pollution in the form of Donald Trump and his minions.  But in the past two weeks (has it really only been two weeks?!?) that cloud has been slowly lifting.  Along with the corners of our mouths.  Last night saw the sun finally break through and winds of exuberance blew the rest of that pollution away.

Well, if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand
I've seen your face before, my friend
But I don't know if you know who I am
Well, I was there and I saw what you did
I saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been
It's all been a pack of lies

I have long said of Trump that he would not cross the street to pee on you if you were on fire.  Fire-drowning, same thing.  MAGAts are a means to an end for him.  Gullible, easy to rile up and quick to anger, and afraid of whatever they are told to fear, if I can give Trump credit for anything it would be his ability to work his crowd.  Work meaning constantly grift.  He was also able to incite them to an insurrection.  And yes, MAGAts, that is exactly what it was.  It was not an FBI psyops.  We saw what you did.  We saw it with our own millions of eyes.  The videos will live forever.  And watching as one by one you participants have been identified, arrested, and sentenced?  Well, you can wipe off that grin, we know where you've been, and what Trump has been feeding you for years has all been a pack of lies.

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life
Oh Lord, oh Lord

Contrast all of that deception, artificially induced rage, and never ending hatred of so many groups of people with last night's event.  A rainbow of faces.  A coalition of hearts and minds and religions and no religions and men and women and every place on the spectrum of humanity and gender/sexuality.  All together in an arena packed to the rafters (estimates are now at 14,000), feeling good.  Feeling hope.  Finally.

Well, I remember, I remember, don't worry
How could I ever forget?
It's the first time
The last time we ever met
But I know the reason why you keep your silence up
No, you don't fool me
Well, the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows
It's no stranger to you and me

None of us will ever forget the first time we saw him slither down his escalator and ignite a firestorm of bigotry and racism.  How could we ever forget?  While it was not the first exposure to Trump for many of us, it was for wide swath of this nation, this world.  Decent people were repulsed.  Repulsive people were emboldened.  And when his rhetoric began literally taking life in the form of murders on his behalf?  He kept his silence up, never condemning those who responded to his constant stochastic terrorism.

That hurt still grows.  On this side of the aisle we fear for so many in our ranks.  It doesn't matter if we personally know someone who is transgender or non-binary or Hispanic or Jewish or Muslim or <insert any of the targets of his rhetoric>.  We care.  Deeply.  Of course I wake up each day fearful for transgender people.  My son is transgender.  And he is nothing like MAGAts would have you believe.  He is simply a human being navigating his life quietly, hoping to get from sunup to sundown without altercation or incident.  No monster, not a pedophile, not a freak.  And our side knows that.  We know he isn't asking for anything beyond what we cis people enjoy - equal rights, workplace protections, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

Watching the campaign rally last night?  I admit I loved knowing the pain growing inside the busted ego of a spray painted narcissist as he took in what he cannot comprehend.  A Black-Asian woman backed by a white man who looks like what Trump sees when he blathers from his podiums about sharks and batteries and Hannibal Lector, but could not be further from that.  Tim Walz is no MAGAt.  He is what Kamala Harris is - an existential threat to his lizard brain, his very id.  Two people who do not fear him, who see him for the pathetic, weak, blindingly stupid candidate he is, and who are not afraid to speak truth to his "power".

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight
Oh Lord, oh Lord

What filled that arena last night has become almost alien to so many of us that we are still feeling the best hangover ever this morning.  JOY.   Profound, hopeful, uplifting, and life changing.

All the things that have the MAGAverse spinning in circles and throwing all manner of their poo at the walls.  Or the Walz.  Because they are afraid.  

Tim Walz is the perfect choice from an embarrassment of riches that were laid out before Kamala Harris.  Josh? Pete? Mark?  Strong candidates all.  And they will continue to have their place championing this ticket and on into the future of the administration.  But Walz?  He ticks so many boxes that MAGAts are confounded as to how to attack.

He was a school teacher.  A football coach.  An LGBT group sponsor in his school.  A 24 year National Guard veteran.  (And stop now with the military questioning.  Every time he has run for office, the swift boating has been attempted.  He did not desert his fellow soldiers.  He left the Guard when he decided to run for office.  The swift boating has been attempted for years based on one ass knotted account.)  Happily married.  Two kids.  A dog and a cat.  Owns guns and understand the common sense protections that should govern them.  Governor of a state ranked #4 best state to live in.  A Governor who has reduced childhood hunger, protected abortion and voting rights, legalized marijuana, and boosted clean energy.  Contrast him with Trump's VP candidate who would have a 10 year old carry her rapist's child, who thinks people without children are "deranged" and "psychotic", scoffs at protecting the environment, and advocates for women staying in abusive marriages.

Last night, Walz highlighted all of those contrasts between him and the eyeliner wearing shape shifter, Vance.  And yes, he even went there.  He threw a couch joke. 

"I can't wait to debate the guy... that is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up."

And for the MAGAverse that was a throw pillow too far.  

For those who have been living under their ottomans for weeks and don't understand, all those couch memes making the rounds allude to a joke made about Vance, a rubber glove, and his affinity for having American Pied his Grammy's sofa cushions.  A joke that took on a life of its own.  A joke that is sticking.

Watching the endless stream of MAGAts crying into their own throw pillows about the joke last night has been, quite frankly, delicious.  So used to being able to disparage, abuse, and slander their Dem opponents with little to no push back, they are completely shook by having that rubber glove slapped across their hypocritical faces.

Advice to the MAGA crowd about the couch joke? Cry harder. After enduring years of your favorite felon's petulant name calling, blatant lies and gaslighting, and your crowd's go-to rebuttal to anyone trying to reason with you, that of PEDO, if a couch joke is all you've got to whine about? Fuck your feelings.

Last night marked a sea change in this campaign season.  From Josh Shapiro's firey and upbeat opening that included GSD - Getting shit done, to Harris taking direct aim at Trump and his felonious ways, to Walz suffering no fools and taking no bullshit - all three doing so with smiles that lit up the Liacouras Center at Temple University - the night was a triumph of optimism, determination to meet/beat the opponents at their own game, and fierce, defiant joy.  

We are strong.  We are resolute.  We are tired of his/their endless bullshit.  We understand the assignment.  We know exactly what is on the line and what the dangers are.  And we are going to prevail.  So to repeat, You can wipe off that grin, we know where you've been, it's all been a pack of lies.

Sing it Phil...

Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord
Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord
Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
Oh Lord, oh Lord

Can't you feel it in the air tonight?  I can.  #HarrisWalz2024

Take A Brief Walz Down Memory Lane

So it appears that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has gotten the VP nod!  24 years in the National Guard, a former school teacher and football coach, can carve a school bus out of butter.  A man who may look like a stereotypical MAGAt ... until he opens his mouth to speak.  The perfect way to confound the MAGAverse.

The video montage of Tim Walz is 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/y9lzl7l4uT

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) August 6, 2024

If you are unfamiliar, bring yourself up to speed with this brief video montage.  He suffers no bullshit.

#HarrisWalz2024

So Shines A Good Deed In A Weary World

Our world is a mess.  

Simple statement of fact.

In this country we have a compromised Supreme Court not even hiding the fact they are in the pocket of billionaire gift givers and the MAGAverse.  Nazis roam freely and proudly.  A party has a felon-rapist-bankrupt at the top of their ticket.  A couch diddling, shape shifting power whore as their second.  The stock market - here and abroad - is continuing its slide as panic sellers dominate in the wake of the fed not cutting rates last week.  Part of our country has too much fire, while another spot currently has too much water.

In Sudan a famine has officially been declared and much needed food and medication cannot make its way in.  Children suffer, parents suffer, all suffer, the pain of a dire hunger so familiar to them, so abstract to most of us.  Hamas and Israel continue to kill their way to no solution.  And Iran stands ready to say 'Hold my beer' and escalate things in dramatic and bloody fashion.

Gang violence and criminal activity in Haiti continue to undermine every effort to stabilize the country.  And in another example of how little we can relate, complaints of inconvenience are still to be found daily on cruise boards as ships cannot make dock at Labadee, Royal Caribbean's slice of beach paradise on the Haitian coast.

Far right violence is roiling England as attacks on Muslims and an asylum seeker hotel was stormed and attempted to be set alight, with ten police officers being injured in the rioting.

Ukraine continues on against Russian aggression and bloodshed.  Now they have F-16s to aid in their attacks/defense.

And on and on.  Close your eyes and place a pin anywhere on a global map and you are sure to find strife, suffering, and struggle nearby.

Humans have a long track record of being pure shit to other humans.  Whether through intentional aggression and power seeking or through simply shrugging and turning away.  So when something simple, innocent, and smile inducing happens, we are often taken by surprise.  

Today in Paris, as the Olympics continues on into a new week, gymnastic events were held to determine gold-silver-bronze in women's floor and balance beam.  It is not an overstatement to say we were all expecting certain results, especially on floor.  Simone Biles is a phenom.  Having already secured gold in the individual all around, team all around, and individual on vault, we all easily assumed she would take the rest of the top medals today as well.

Because she is rightly referred to as a GOAT - greatest of all time.  Like Leo Messi has been to soccer, Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky to swimming, Michael Jordan to basketball, Simone Biles is a force.  To watch her perform is akin to watching magic take place.  She makes the incredible seem effortless, tells gravity to get bent, and sticks the landing when the rest of us would simply fall into a pile of sticks as all our bones break beneath us.

There is power and grace, although not simply in her movements.  Three years ago she showed the world the true meaning of strength when she withdrew from the competition at the Tokyo Olympics from developing a case of the "twisties".  While that might sound like an easily shrugged off or even made up affliction, it most certainly is not.  In the case of a gymnast, performing all those high speed, high altitude jumps, twists, somersaults, and flips relies on the athlete knowing exactly where their body is at all times.  Throw that off even an inch and the results can be catastrophic. 

Think about we mere mortals.  For the majority of us simply spinning in circles a few times is enough to throw us off kilter.  We are not trained to spot as we go round and round, and heaven forbid we close our eyes in the process.  We lose complete touch with where our bodies are.  We stop, flail, stumble to the side, fall - and in some cases (raising my hand) land head first on the edge of the fireplace and require Frankenstein stitches in our ten year old eyebrow line.

In removing herself from that competition, she shone a bright light on mental health and self care.  She took a two year break from a sport described by former high level gymnasts as "corrosive".  “Whenever you get in a high-stress situation, you kind of freak out,” Biles told reporters at the time. “I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being.”

That is strength.  That is admirable.  That is a life lesson for everyone.

Well, not everyone.  Conservative voices (shock) came out condemning her, calling her weak, selfish, and far, far worse.  VP wannabe, Vance, whose personal gymnasties involve his living room furniture, was one of those voices with a big microphone.  He went on FOX deriding her decision to drop out, and the media's coverage of it.

“What I find so weird about this... is that we’ve tried to turn a very tragic moment, Simone Biles quitting the Olympic team, into this act of heroism,” Vance said at the time. “I think it reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments.”   

Sigh.  Someone take this guy to Rooms To Go, give him a rubber glove, and turn off the lights.

One of the best advances societally is that we have begun to understand, accept, and value the place therapy has in our lives..  Feeling a limit, a block, anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, post-partum, stress, panic attacks - whatever the individual's personal crisis may be - asking for help, seeking it out, those are absolute signs of strength.  And having to go through it publicly?  That is an act of heroism.  Having to stand against not only the inner turmoil she was experiencing, but the vile condemnations and judgements from people like Vance?  Seriously, bury that guy under the throw pillows and walk away.  The biggest thing he has ever had to dismount is his Grammy's davenport.

Fast forward to the Paris Olympics and Biles was back in fine form.  Million watt smile in place, kind words for all around her, and an exuberance that could easily be completely stifled by the pressure.  Not only that of our expectations of her, but the pressure of competing against such high level competitors from around the globe.  One of those, Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, has kept Biles on her toes this whole time.  Game truly recognizes game and after winning the all around just ahead of Andrade last week, Simone told the press, "I don't want to compete with Rebeca anymore!  I'm tired.  She's very close to me - I've never had an athlete so close. This definitely kept me alert and brought out the best athlete in me. So I’m excited and proud to compete with her, but — no."  

She added: "I’ve never been so stressed before. Thank you, Rebeca."

That is certainly high praise coming from the GOAT.  

But as in every sport, no matter how much you train, prep, practice, or believe, it all comes down to the moment.  The dive, the swing, the kick, the final yards, a stumble, a mental blip, a mistimed turn.  

It happened twice during the balance beam event today.  In a jawdropper, both Suni Lee and Simone Biles fell off the apparatus during their routines.  Heartbreaking, for sure, but I also view it through another lens.  I have long said that it helps younger athletes to see their heroes, those at the top of their respective games, struggle, and sometimes fail.  For a 12 year old soccer player, seeing Leo Messi miss a penalty kick?  It immediately humanizes the hero and reminds the up and comer that even the greats are not perfect.  I think of all the small gymnasts who watched today as not one, but two of their aspirational heros hit the mat, and then kept going.  It will make a difference in how they move forward the next time they stumble and fall.

In the beam event, neither medaled.  Not the expected result.

Then came the floor event, a place where Biles defies wicked gravity - nearly 12 feet in the air.  Even competing against Andrade, we all expected another gold medal to be placed around Simone's neck.  But in the end, a few steps out of bounds resulted in this:  Gold - Rebeca, Silver - Simone, and Bronze - USA's Jordan Chiles.

An upset?  I imagine if you ask Simone, she would say no.  No one knows better than a fellow athlete what they are seeing, who they are competing with, and how they are all performing.  The scores?  Rebeca: 14.166.  Simone: 14.133. Jordan: 13.766.

Sour grapes?  Pffft.  Yes, photographers have caught side eye, rolled eyes, and unhappy medal winners who missed out of the top prize, but not today.  Which brings us to that Shakespeare quote from The Merchant of Venice.  (I know, I know, you can be forgiven for thinking it was an original WIlly Wonkaism)  

The full line reads: “How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world”.

In our world full of strife, suffering, hatred, and war, this is what took place on the podium.  

First there was this...

And then there was this...

True joy, true sportsmanship, exuberance, and one of the best pictures to come from this Olympics.  Rebeca being bowed down to by two women at the top of the sport, two women who did their best, fell a bit short, but feel nothing but happiness for their fellow athlete.

Yes, winning feels amazing.  Anyone who has ever competed in anything and won knows this.  Losing sucks.  But these photos capture how possible it is to feel it all at once.  More importantly, how possible it is to be elated for someone else who managed to best you.

Yes, these women will take home their medals.  But this memory - what they have in their hearts and minds, and the gift of this small good deed - given to Andrade and the rest of us, will shine on forever. 

As the Clare Pooley quote goes, "In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Thank you for that reminder, ladies, and congratulations on winning the gold in the humanity all-around.