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The Verge’s Election Coverage Is Top Notch

The Verge is rocking its political coverage.

Kudos to Nilay Patel and his team at The Verge. In an era when many businesses, including those in media and journalism, are working overtime to hedge their bets in the event of a victory by the decaying orange convicted felon/child rapist, who promises to exact retribution on his enemies, The Verge is producing some outstanding and unflinching political content.

You can check out each of the posts they’ve published in The Verge’s Guide to the 2024 Presidential Election. They are each well done. I’d like to highlight two of them:

A Vote For Donald Trump Is A Vote for School Shootings and Measles is Nilay Patel’s endorsement for democracy, solving problems, and Kamala Harris. Here’s a quote:

Donald Trump is a dangerous maniac who can barely complete a sentence, and it is lunacy to believe he can even recognize the existentially threatening collective action problems facing our nation, let alone actually solve them.

In an age when we’re seeing the former top dogs of the journalism profession tuck tail and retreat into their dog houses and not issue endorsements, this one is not only worth a read it is worth sharing.

Sarah Jeong lays out the stakes when it comes to our justice system in Trump’s Takeover Of The Entire Legal System Hinges On This Election. Here’s a quote:

Legal observers understood at the time the enormity and lasting impact of what was happening, but few clocked that the problem was about to become exacerbated by a recursive power grab.

Again, well done and well worth your time as are each of the posts on the blog.

I say posts, because The Verge has resumed a blogging format for its work. Don’t let that fool you. There’s real quality journalism happening on that blog. Much better, much more thorough than what we’re seeing in what used to be called the Main Stream Media.

Certainly we can’t say we weren’t warned.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Fears rise as the election nears in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading

Time for some Sunday Morning Reading, with more than a dash of politics, culture, and tech mixed together and served up for your pleasure.

Why Do Politicians Lie? My $.02 is because they can and not enough of us seem to care. Bill Adair takes a look at What I Didn’t Understand About Political Lying.

Michael Moore thinks Joe Biden should use the immunity and powers granted the office of the presidency by the Supreme Court in his final days to take care of some business. I may not agree with everything on Moore’s list, but check out what he thinks in Bucket List Joe. I do agree with the principle though.

The election is just around the corner and having served previously as an election judge I know first hand the anxiety election workers up and down the chain are feeling. The New York Times Editorial Board takes a good look at the stakes for those folks, paid and volunteer, in The Election Will Need More Heroes.

The Atlantic, famous for not endorsing a presidential candidate each and every election, has endorsed Kamala Harris. The endorsement is no surprise. Endorsements are choices and Trump has increased their pace of doing so. Check out The Case for Kamala Harris.

Life is a gamble and sometimes you need to go all in. Natasha MH pushes her chips forward with Into the Battlefield Armed with a Toothbrush.

A bit or two on tech and AI that I found interesting this week. Apparently we’re running out of data to train these AI engines on, and we’re also running out of space in data centers to do that environment crushing work. Check out Microsoft Azure CTO: US Data Centers Will Soon Hit Size Limits from Reed Albergotti.

And on a frightening note, apparently Silicon Valley Is Debating If AI Weapons Should Be Allowed To Decide To Kill. Margus MacColl explores this tricky issue, which really shouldn’t be a tricky issue.

There’s also apparently slippage in the great gold rush to Artificial Intelligence as everyone chases a less than Holy Grail of turning these data crunching engines to machines that can reason. Gary Marcus says that LLMs Don’t Do Formal Reasoning-And That Is A HUGE Problem. For the investors, shareholders, and suckers perhaps. I’m guessing the rest of us are just fine with that.

The two hurricanes that hit the U.S have caused so much damage and for those suffering that has been multiplied by the political BS that has followed. Who would have thought that on the ground Neo-Nazi’s showed up to “help” but. more to the point, use the disasters and their aftermath as recruiting tools? Tawnell D. Hobbs, Jennifer Levitz and Joe Barrett explore When The Hurricane-Relief Worker Turns Out To Be a Neo-Nazi. Who would have thought it? Anyone who has read a history book.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Sunday Morning Reading

Halloween is around the corner and the election is nearing. Sunday Morning Reading is full of scary politics and a tech ghost story.

There’s one month to go prior to the election that will decide the fate of the U.S. and possibly the world. After today that’s four more Sundays for Sunday Morning Reading. Fair warning those four Sundays will have more than a normal dose of politics in the mix. That said, enjoy this week’s edition of Sunday Morning Reading.

Politics has infected everything and in my opinion in the worst ways imaginable. Nothing points this up like the storm around the storm recovery from Hurricane Helene. Juliette Kayyem in The Atlantic tells us The Fog of Disaster Is Getting Worse, and she’s correct. Perhaps a better way for journalism to cover this beyond just complaining would be to do what Chantal Allam and Joe Marusak did in the Charlotte Observer and tackle each bit of disinformation, (which I prefer to call lies) head on in Helene Fact Check: Here Are The Rumors and the Reality in Western North Carolina.

The mythical swing voter has become larger than myth. Parker Malloy in Dame tells us The Real Swing Voters Aren’t Who You Think.

Phillip Bump usually nails it. He does so again in Trump and His Allies Are Not Planning To Concede Another Election Loss. Nothing is over on November 5th.

LZ Granderson in The Los Angeles Times also nails it in Trump Blames Immigrants As If That Were A Policy Position. It’s Just Racist. I’m losing hope we’ll ever recognize that we’ve recognized this and don’t seem to care.

Trump and his delusional followers couldn’t be this close to turning the clock back unless they had help from our transparently corrupt Supreme Court. Bill Blum takes a look at the awful immunity decision in John Roberts and the Second Coming of Dred Scott.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz take a look at why We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court’s Supermajority.

Joyce Vance is worried that even if Trump loses he won’t face any consequences in Trump Must Be Tried. She’s right to worry.

And the final link on the politics beat is and is not about politics, but it is about endings. Sunita Puri looks at how promises at the end of life, like Jimmy Carter’s to stay alive to vote one last time, can affect our last days in Death Has Two Timelines.

The WordPress saga continues and it seems to get muddier with each clarifying new chapter. Dave Winer says WordPress Has a Greater Destiny. I agree with his premise. I think those screwing things up do as well. In a competition between destinies unfortunately everyone loses.

I’m preparing some thoughts on the new iPhones and Apple releases for later this week. I won’t have to write much about the new Camera Control after reading José Adorno’s piece Apple’s Biggest Hardware Change On the iPhone 16 Is A Huge Disappointment. I feel much the same.

As if the political moment wasn’t harrowing enough, Halloween is also around the corner. Angela Watercutter tells an intriguing tale that weaves tech (TikToK), a haunted house, the cops and a rolled up rug in her backyard in She Asked TikTok If Her House Was Haunted. Then The Cops Came.

The New York Times Plays the ‘What If’ Game with Trump’s Desire for Revenge

The question isn’t ‘what if’? The question is how can it be stopped?

In one of its graphic layouts the New York Times has decided to play “What If” with Donald Trump’s desire for revenge and retribution should he be reelected in an article titled If Trump Wins, Could He Really Use the Justice Department to Jail His Rivals?

CleanShot 2024-10-03 at 11.05.41@2x.

The short answer is yes.

There’s really no “what if” about it. One of the most frightening discoveries many Americans came to over this past almost-decade is just how ill equipped our constitution and system of justice is when it comes to dealing with someone of Trump’s ilk. It’s always been that way but we’ve had (mostly) men of good character keeping us on the tracks. We’ve only had one instance in my lifetime (Nixon) that has tested the boundaries and limitations to the point of breaking. Things held then. They won’t this time around.

Dependent on the honor and integrity of those holding office those boundaries and limitations have been washed away like most of the top soil in Western North Carolina. When it comes to what used to be the Republican Party, the only honor that seems to exist in that crowd is the honor among thieves with no limitations on their lack of integrity.

To such a point that Trump feels completely free to talk about how he wants to leverage the Justice Department to set up his own reign of terror, and finds far too many cheering him on. You can almost smell the blood lust seeping out from under those red hats.

Now that we know Trump’s desires AND that he has a completely corrupted Supreme Court willing to grant him the leeway, this shouldn’t come as a surprise nor should it be a game of “What If?” We have a system that can’t stop it and individuals willing to gleefully take advantage of it to pursue harm.

As the Times points out, Trump could easily pull this off and “stay within the constitutional limits on presidential power.”

Regardless of who is elected, the only question is what are we going to do about it?

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Spread the Word: Today Is National Voter Registration Day

Today is a good day to check your voter registration or register if you haven’t.

Spread the word. Today, Tuesday September 17, is National Voter Registration Day. It’s a good day to reach out to your friends, family members, and neighbors and encourage them to register if they haven’t or to check their registration if they have.

Depending on where you live keeping up to date on your registration is as crucially important as registering. We all know that some states are working to purge voter rolls or make voting more difficult. Certainly you can take care of this on other days, but don’t let the clock run out on you.

You can go to this link to check your registration or register.

Bottom line it is up to you to make sure you’ve got things lined up or raise hell if others are working to keep you from voting.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

WSJ Seems Shocked That Nutballs are Looming on the Right

Looming Loomer Tunes

For some reason the Wall Street Journal Editorial Pooh-Bahs have just recently discovered that there is a “growing segment of the American Right” that’s gone off the deep end.

CleanShot 2024-09-14 at 10.42.37@2x.

Well, there is a reason. Apparently Trump is hanging out and flying around with right-wing nutball Laura Loomer who is apparently toxic enough to taint part of the great unwashed and possibly influence the thoughts of the decaying orange convicted felon/child rapist. The old guard of crackpot fascists are apparently just fine, but this is a racist crackpot too far.

In an editorial titled Donald Trump and Loomer Tunes the Editorial Board seems to have decided enough might just be enough to quit spinning its own conspiracies in favor of ditching a 9/11 truther like Loomer.

Another favorite quote from the editorial is “Ms. Loomer is usually described in the press as ‘far right,’ but that’s unfair to the fever swamps.”

For goodness sakes, let’s protect the fever swamps from any association with Trump’s rumored new squeeze. Fever swamp dwellers vote too, you know.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

The Real Kamala Harris Debate Story

The Kamala Harris debate victory puts all the rest of Trump’s previous opponents to shame.

Kamala Harris wiped the floor with Donald Trump’s comb-over in the debate last night. There’s no disputing her victory. As wonderful as it was watching it, it doesn’t mean there isn’t work to still be done in what continues to be a close election, and perhaps a closer post-election slew of legal fights. But the real story, from a 30,000 foot view is a bigger one.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) shakes hands with former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Kamala Harris is the first political candidate to take on Donald Trump in a debate and knock him off kilter, while winning walking away since he emerged as a candidate in 2015. Joe Biden, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Hilary Clinton, and others never bested the bully. They may have scored on points, may have technically been declared the winner, but not one of them knocked him off his stride.

From the moment she strode across the stage and forced the coward to shake her hand while introducing herself she had him in her grasp. It was a spectacle to behold in these typically less than spectacular events.

Yes, I posted previously that we didn’t need a debate. I won’t say I was wrong then. I will say instead that we needed this moment, whether it was in a debate or not.

Kamala Harris wants to turn the page on this terrible Trump tale. Perhaps she’s also turning the tide. But we still have a ways to go.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Things We Know

Some things we know, yet somehow pretend we discover anew now and then. It’s not rocket science.

Rocket science.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon.

Donald Trump is a racist.

Donald Trump is a child rapist.

Donald Trump is a dangerous psychopathic narcissist.

Donald Trump’s agenda is in writing. It’s called Project 2025 sometimes masked as Agenda 47. It’s evil.

J.D. Vance is a self-serving opportunist and a useful idiot.

Both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are bought and paid for looking to cash in further on you.

The party that used to be the GOP embraces and coddles criminals of all stripes instead of wanting to see them in stripes.

Those that support Trump/Vance/GOP will not be content until they can turn back the clock on the things that they irrationally fear.

If you think there’s a choice in this November’s election, or if you feel like debating what the choices are, you support all of the above. If you wonder why someone may vote for Trump, stop wondering. They support all of the above and either don’t care or think this is who we are or should be.

It’s that simple.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Birthday Wishes In This Insane Year

Wishin’ and hopin’ as another year passes.

Pick your metaphor. Pick your favorite song lyric from Hamilton. Pick your poison. The U.S. political and media world is nothing short of a mess as the GOP ~~Coronation~~, excuse me, Convention, continues in Milwaukee.

I’m not watching the event, but have seen enough highlights (lowlights?) to know that bending the knee has leapt beyond typical humiliating political expediency into something that absurdist playwrights, much less contemporary fiction authors, couldn’t possibly imagine. Public ass kissing may not be an Olympic sport, but if it was, America could field one helluva team based on the competition in Milwaukee.

It’s really not fair to blame the media for coverage of the event. They seem to know no better than a child sticking their hand in a fire and there’s nothing normal or predictable about this election cycle. There used to be journalists who would call things as they saw them. There also used to be dinosaurs.

Watching the watchers cover what looks like the closest thing we’ve seen to a Nazi rally in this country for several generations and not calling it what it is pisses me off. The media’s problem is that this is a playbook that’s been plagiarized from the 1930’s in ways that large language models must envy. But the media capitulated then and so here we are. Again. It may not be new, but it’s damn dangerous and they are trying to shoehorn that into an old world model that failed then and will fail again. Things may not be normal but they are too damn predictable. Guess what? That’s the damn story.

Set aside the clichés about not presenting both sides when one side says it’s raining and the other doesn’t. We’re witnessing a complete capitulation to something that’s beyond my understanding. If the red hat brigade takes power, most of those currently sucking up will be in line for internment camps once they’ve reported on how many migrant families have been separated. At least they will be credentialed.

Granted the media isn’t getting much help from the Democrats. That helpless bunch wants to play fair. Again. Thinking the high road will get them there, while the other side is tunneling out the ground underneath them is simply shrinking from the real challenge while grasping at straw men. The only fight they can seem to muster is one against themselves. Hell, they don’t even have the guts to really have that fight, much less finish it. But go ahead. Play nice.

So. Today is my birthday. Given family history I never thought I’d make it this far. But I have. I have two birthday wishes. Here’s the first: I’d love to see some Democratic politician when confronted with some MAGAt gish galloping their well rehearsed rhetoric say directly “take your white supremacist, fascist, misogynistic bullshit and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.” Hell. Don’t even wait to do it to their face, just do it in front of a camera. Often. Call them on their bullshit hourly. Make them defend against the comment.

For the uninitiated, that’s called politics.

The second wish is that I’d love to see a headline somewhere that says, “The GOP has nominated a convicted felon to run for president.” The lede should read: “The party once proud to wrap itself in the mantle of law and order has now disrobed and re-draped itself as the party that welcomes and supports criminality.” Tell me, what’s not factual about that?

I won’t get either of those wishes. I’m pissed about that. And I’m pissed that it looks like I’m going to be around to watch what this country stood for during the six plus decades of my life rapidly decline and disintegrate during what’s left of it.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

New York Times Calls Trump Unfit But Misses the Larger Story

Making a point while missing the larger one.

The New York Times is out with a highly produced (perhaps over produced) editorial denouncing Donald Trump a week before he’s coronated as the Republican nominee at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee. Titled Donald Trump Is Unfit To Lead, the editorial is unequivocal and unforgiving in its damning the candidate, pointing out most of the flaws most could recite as a catechism these days. CleanShot 2024-07-11 at 08.29.30@2x.

There’s one large exception to that list of flaws. Not once in the editorial does the editorial board mention that Trump is a convicted felon running for the office of the presidency while out on bail. Call me crazy, but that does seem somewhat important.

With the focus on the candidate, the Times also completely looks away from the only reason we’re even faced with Trump still dominating our lives: that the Republican Party has either completely and cowardly surrendered to the decaying orange child rapist’s wishes hoping he’s the sign of some rapture to come, or they’ve just decided to out themselves as what they’ve always been.

There is a discussion about what the party used to stand for, but the editorial choice focuses on the candidate’s character rather than party and platform issues such as Project 2025.

Character is indeed the root of the discussion, as it always has been in most places except the pages of the New York Times. If any publication had insight into Trump’s character it would be the Times, but that’s a story constantly and consistently on their doorstep they’ve largely ignored until now. So, it’s good to see it finally have focus here. Even so, granting a free pass to the character-less characters who’ve allowed us to reach this point after having multiple chances of preventing it the week before they convene in Milwaukee ignores the larger questions and dangers we face.

The omission is as damning as the belated slams against the candidate.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.