"A Normal Guy"

 

Gov. Tim Walz

Attacked for being liberal, Gov. Walz responded, “What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health-care decisions.”

Yes, many of us white male liberal progressive types actually grew up in small rural towns. We hunted and fished like most of our neighbors. 

We are normal people. We're not authoritarian personalities. We may offer advice, but we don't tell other people what to do.  And  as long as it is none of our business, we respect them enough to let them make their own personal decisions. 

Speaking of decisions. Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate.

Today's rally was marked by unity, joy, hope, and conviction. Not a bit like a Trump rally with its whiny false victimization, anger, scorn, blame and hate. The contrast is like night and day and darkness and light.

Three new terms apply to this Democratic campaign. Enthusiasm, Excitement & Energy.

 By all appearances, the Harris/Walz team held a massive a pep rally.

The home team is rallying in the 4th quarter of this election year by adding a new coach. And winning defensive coordinator Tim Walz is equally capable of offense. 

Surprisingly, the following piece is from FOX (R) News. I went there so you don't have to.

This piece is by former Republican Representative Charles Djou:

I served with Tim Walz as a Republican in the House. He'll be a good vice president.

More than ever, America needs a normal guy like Tim Walz to help lead our nation and bring us together.

Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is a normal guy. I say this as a former Republican representative who served with Tim in Congress. In these times of bitter political division, America needs someone who can calmly and humbly serve the nation without all the unnecessary shouting and bluster that too often defines our politics today.

Tim and I represented different political parties – he as a Democrat, and I as a Republican – yet we found common ground and worked together on numerous issues for the betterment of our constituents and our nation. More than ever, America just needs a normal guy to help lead our nation and bring us together. I’m excited Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Tim as her running mate.

In Congress, Tim and I bonded over our shared experiences as soldiers and cultivated a mutual respect that transcended party lines. As both of us served in the U.S. Army. We understood that even if we might disagree on a specific policy issue of the day, we both shared a deep love of country and a willingness to defend America in military service. As fellow veterans, Tim and I understood there is no such thing as Republican military service or Democrat military service, only American service 

Before becoming governor of Minnesota, as a congressman, Tim championed issues that resonate with a broad spectrum of Americans. While serving in Congress, I observed Tim’s leadership of the House Veterans Affairs Committee where he advocated for veterans' rights, pushed for educational reforms, and addressed health care disparities.

Refreshingly, and sadly increasingly uncommon in D.C. today, Tim did not advocate issues to improve his partisan political standing or increase his social media presence. Instead, Tim demonstrated a simple commitment to policies that would improve people’s lives regardless of any political advantage.

When I deployed to Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, Tim was still serving in Congress. He visited me at my forward operating base in Kandahar. It was clear Tim was not looking to burnish his credentials on national security by obtaining pretty photographs with troops in the field. Rather, Tim had the confidence that comes from being a former Army Sergeant Major and an understanding of what it is like to lead troops in a combat environment. Tim’s visit to Afghanistan was not about him, but about making sure our soldiers had what we needed to effectively prosecute the fight our country had called us to. That’s exactly the type of leadership America needs right now.

More recently, Tim and I met at the observances marking the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in June. As soldiers, we both intrinsically understood the sacrifice made by those brave Americans in WWII fighting to overcome extremist right-wing fascism. Tim and I reconnected because he and I recognize we are both Americans, happily married husbands, proud dads of great kids and Army veterans. These characteristics are far more important to us and America than any partisan political identity.

Tim’s ability to listen, collaborate, and find pragmatic solutions earned him respect from not just Democrats but also Republicans like me. Even if we sharply disagreed on an issue, I do not recall a single time Tim did not have anything other than a friendly smile, warm handshake, and affable style that put everyone, regardless of political party, at ease. He understands that America’s strength lies in our ability to come together as fellow Americans, not in shouting at each other with petty name-calling.

America has more than enough showboat politicians who talk with bluster, self-aggrandizement and a toxic partisan tongue over endless social media posts. Instead, America needs a gracious and kind individual who talks as a friendly neighbor, understands your community like a local high school football coach, knows the commitment of military service as a veteran and advocates policies for all Americans -- not just for Republicans or Democrats.

This is exactly my friend Tim Walz.

~~~~~~

Charles K. Djou is Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. An Afghanistan war veteran, he represented Hawaii's 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from 2010 to 2011. He left the Republican Party in 2018 and endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020.

I'm With Her

 

President Biden has done something that Trump and his party could never do. He put the country over himself. 

Kamala will be the second woman to have more Americans voting for her over Trump.

I'm with her. 

Reichsmarschall Vance

Then:

Trump’s VP candidate J.D. Vance in 2016:

“But I’m not surprised by Trump’s rise, and I think the entire party has only itself to blame. We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower-income, lower-education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people SOMETHING (and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working-class black people in the process) or a demagogue would. We are now at that point. Trump is the fruit of the party’s collective neglect.”

I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler. How's that for discouraging?”

Now:

Born-again neo-Nazi Reichsmarschall Vance:

So, what’s the "central premise" behind Trump re-posting this, Herr Reichsmarschall?

What "Liberal Media"?

 

Our friend Dave Miller posed a question that we need to address. It is one of the most important questions in our country at this time.

“How does the left communicate with a section of the electorate that has decided to ignore all media outlets because, as one sailor said, "they all lie, so why bother?"

The left has very little power in corporate media. Mother Jones isn't the dominant newspaper and NPR isn't the primary source of broadcast news for Americans.

There are a few voices of reason in corpo-media, but the executives are more interested in profit than in informing the public. Thus the "horse race" becomes the game, instead of focusing on the clear and present danger to our democracy.

Combine this with the fact the right successfully pushed their first Big Lies that corporate media is "liberal media" and liberalism is next to communism. It was only a matter of time when "Rigged election" would be their ultimate Big Lie.

Bias is not inherently evil, unless the bias supports evil. As Stephen Colbert put it, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias".

Since Reagan allowed Murdoch, Limbaugh and other extremists to be given free rein over the fairness doctrine, far right partisan media have taken full advantage of their leverage over truth.

Their captive audience was immediately indoctrinated to believe their far-right partisan media was truly "fair and balanced". This was their Big Con. "Everybody is lying to you. We are your only source for truth".

“Goebbels 101” became the MO for them, while the rest of corporate media decided to move to the right instead of holding a bias for reality. This isn’t recent. In the frenzied war fever before Bush invaded Iraq, Phil Donohue’s highly rated show was canceled by MSNBC because he had too many guests who questioned the official lies about WMD’s and Saddam’s “connection to al-Qaeda”.

Look what they are doing to Biden now, while giving Trump and his agenda a pass. If Biden had spoken as LOUDLY as Trump in the debate, we wouldn't be hearing any of the unqualified pundits' "medical expertise" on Biden's mental acuity.

Corpo-Media is tolerating intolerance and promoting false equivalence.

And most of the country thinks THAT is "liberal bias" from the "liberal media".

When Christiane Amanpour delivered the commencement address at the Columbia University School of Journalism she said:

“Journalism is a public service, first and foremost. Journalism is about the truth, first and foremost. Be truthful, but not neutral. Both-siderism, (on the one hand, on the other hand,) is not always objectivity. It does not get you to the truth. Drawing false moral or factual equivalence is neither objective nor truthful. Objectivity is our golden rule. And it is in weighing all the sides and all the evidence. Hearing everyone, quoting everything, but not rushing to equate them when there is no equating. And look at the damage that has done.”

But here we are. The corporate media is rigged in favor of the right. The Electoral College is rigged in favor of the right. The Senate is rigged in favor of the right. And the Supreme Court has been stolen and stacked for the right. They obstructed justice by numerous delays and proceeded to elevate a convicted felon and insurrectionist to the ballot where he is likely to win an election. To top it off they have granted him immunity from further crimes. 

There can be no happy, just, or democratic outcome from this slow moving, decades long, authoritarian coup. 

Trump's "Enabling Act"

 

Justice Sotomayor's fear is grounded in her rational sense of justice and the rule of law, and her dissent is a clear warning. 

President Biden agreed when he said in response:

I concur with Justice Sotomayor's dissent today. Here's what she said..."In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law...With fear for our democracy, I dissent". End of quote. So should the American people dissent. I dissent.

And I dissent. 

The founders wanted a president, not a king. 

Sadly, they couldn’t have foreseen the disastrous consequences of their horrible decision to mandate lifetime judicial appointments, an anti-democratic Senate and electoral votes for the presidency.

A radical Right Christian nationalist majority on the Supreme Court has decided a president, and former president Trump in particular, is now above the law in his so-called “official acts”. This comes as no surprise to those of us who clearly saw the actions of this court were intended to shield Trump from accountability and to delay, obstruct, and DENY justice.

So why can't Biden now order his DOJ to arrest those justices for obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting Trump's crimes as his "official act"? He can certainly direct them to disrupt and deny state election counts by just saying, "The election was corrupt. Do it over". He can tell Kamala to deny election certification next January. Maybe he can declare Trump a domestic terrorist and by an "official act" have him taken out. Why not?

By protecting Trump from accountability, the corrupt partisan majority with three justices appointed by Trump, has shredded our Constitution and destroyed our republic by allowing the president the virtual immunity of a dictator. A president may now cite any of his crimes as “official acts”. And he has a Supreme Court majority in his pocket to assure every one of his crimes can be called an “official act”.

Among other authoritarian edicts, the Supreme Court has just decided it is an "official act" of the president to order his minions in the DOJ to INTERFERE with an election on his behalf.

We now have a US version of the Enabling Act, passed by the German Reichstag on March 23, 1933, which allowed Chancellor Adolf Hitler to assume dictatorial powers.

Remember the quaint notion of an independent Department of Justice?

Chief Justice Roberts killed it. He essentially implemented Project 2025’s stated goal to politicize and weaponize the DOJ:

Page 552

Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise

The Director of the FBI must remain politically accountable to the President in the same manner as the head of any other federal department or agency. To ensure prompt political accountability and to rein in perceived or actual abuses, the next conservative Administration should seek a legislative change to align the FBI Director’s position with those of the heads of all other major departments and agencies.

Or as exemplified by the Third Reich, the Director of the Gestapo must remain politically accountable to the Fuhrer.

The radical Right wants Trump to be a dictator. And that's exactly what we'll get, unless American voters overwhelmingly join Justice Sotomayor's and President Biden's dissent as well.

Chief Justice Roberts endorsed this travesty when he corruptly elevated a person, even a convicted felon, to being above the law to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".

The fascist decrees by these red hatted so-called Justices have desecrated the very word "justice". 

These authoritarian "In-Justices" have twisted the motto "Equal Justice Under Law" over the entrance to our highest court into an "official lie" that now echoes and establishes as law Orwell's dystopian, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

Is this the final Big Lie that terminates our republic? 

“This country is finished".  - George Carlin

Tonight's Debate

 

Trump's pattern of constant projection tells me HE will be medicated tonight. He whined that Biden will need a "shot in the ass" for tonight's debate.

This makes it likely that Trump will be the one getting the shot in the ass. And he makes it certain that I will be having a shot in the glass.

My Debate Predictions:

There will be no handshake.

Trump will LIE. (Duh!)

Trump will rant about "Marxist, radical left, Communist Democrats".

Trump will say, "fake news", "rigged" and "not fair".

Trump will attack the moderators.

Trump will leave the podium and aggressively approach Biden.

Trump will interrupt Biden.

Trump will yell while his mic is muted.

 

50/50: Trump will walk out.

Reason v Belief and Feelings

 

Our friend Shaw at Progressive Eruptions wondered, "Why is it that we can see beyond Trump's lies and con games but his cultists cannot, no matter the amount of evidence we put before them?"

There are a number of reasons I can cite off the top of my head that don’t support the necessary willful blindness of the Trump cult.

1. We are actively literate and value education.

2. We have a healthy sense of curiosity. Open minds work better than closed minds.

3. We are not gullible.

4.  We prefer verifiable fact-based reality instead of the "alternative facts" from Trumpists.

5. We are not authoritarian personalities.

6. We value compassion and decency in our personal lives and in public policies.

7. We are not frightened, xenophobic, white Christian nationalists.

8. We are not bigots and racists.

9. We recognize sociopathic liars when we see them.

10. If we live in isolated rural white communities we don't embrace the limited world views that most of them have.

11. We actually know the differences between socialism, fascism and communism.

12. We value critical thinking beyond bumper sticker slogans.

13. We support democracy, unobstructed voting rights, fair representation, and equal justice under law.

14. We value free speech, a free press, and ALL of the First Amendment including the freedom of religion and the implied freedom FROM religion. Their church is NOT our government.

15. We don't scapegoat marginalized minorities or define ourselves by the people we hate.

16. We prefer informed and rational understanding over beliefs determined by emotional reactions and hurt FEELINGS.

I'm sure this list is far from complete because nobody has ALL the answers, especially Trumpists.