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Nothing new here

Saturday, September 28, 2024

This article in the New London Day brought back memories. The Day reports that Old Lyme Democrats are using tracking technology to find the folks that are stealing their signs. There’s no indication that Republican signs are being stolen.

Back in 1980 I was actually planning on voting for Barry Commoner, but with a few days to go before the election I felt the shift going on in the electorate and became scared to death that Ronald Reagan would become president. So I dumped Commoner and went to work with the local Democrats to try to get Carter re-elected. Part of what I did was put up signs in partnership with another campaign worker. Those signs disappeared as fast as we could put them up. We would drive past locations where we had just put them up and they’d be gone. The Republicans obviously had workers whose job it was to take down signs.

I doubt it had much to do with the Reagan victory, a victory that started this nation on the Road to Fascism, to sort of borrow (part of) a phrase from one of the right’s favorite authors. I have always been irritated by the propensity of many Democrats (Obama comes to mind) to speak favorably of the guy who ushered in the Republican Party of today.

Anyway, back to the sign issue. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Republicans are at it again, either as freelancers or as organized teams. Also, you are not supposed to put signs on the state’s or city’s rights of way along major roads, but they are often posted in such places, and 99% of them are for Republicans. The rules don’t apply to them, you see.

Speaking of signs, as treasurer of the Groton Democrats it is my lot to keep track of the donations coming in exchange for Kamala signs, which you can get at our headquarters, located at 768 Long Hill Road, if you so desire. The money is pouring in. People are enthusiastic about Kamala.

Also speaking of signs, I have done an unscientific survey, so to speak, as I ride by bike every day on various roads in the Groton/Ledyard/Stonington/North Stonington environs. Harris signs abound, usually accompanied by signs for other Democratic candidates. Trump signs are rare. Almost the only Republican signs you see are those for our incumbent State Senator, Heather Somers, she who speaks out of both sides of her mouth without actually saying anything, except when she takes credit for Democratic initiatives that she voted against. I have yet to see a Trump sign accompanying a Heather sign, and I’ve seen only one sign for Mike Franz, Joe Courtney’s opponent. It’s one of those signs that amounts to a confession that the person who put it up is a nutjob, and even that nutjob doesn’t have a Trump sign (yet).

Finally, and this has nothing to do with signs, if you’re a good Democrat, and care to watch Tim Walz trounce JD along with other Democrats, join us at the NY Deli, right next door to our headquarters. They are staying open late to host our debate watching. It’s not a fundraiser, except you have to buy food or drink from the very nice lady that runs the place.

Filed in Local issues, Republicans | | Comments (0)

A question answered

Saturday, September 21, 2024

A friend and fellow New London County attorney maintains an email list to whom he sends links of articles well worth reading, and in today’s email we get a link to an extremely interesting article in the Guardian entitled Is Donald Trump A Fascist?. Before answering that question I will digress for a moment.

It is interesting that it is unlikely such a question would be broached in an American newspaper of wide circulation. The term “fascism” is itself avoided, replaced by “Christian Nationalism”, which conveys a false impression to anyone not obsessed with politics. After all, Christians are supposed to be the good guys, and not all that many people understand that “nationalism” can be a pejorative. I’m not a Catholic anymore, but I retain my advanced degree in religion from Our Lady of Sorrows School. I’m fairly sure that were Jesus to return to this earth, the folks to whom this term is applied would, as Woody Guthrie sang “lay Jesus Christ in his grave”.

Now to answer the question. It doesn’t matter whether Donald Trump is a fascist. He has no fixed beliefs save one: that the only important thing in this world is Donald Trump. If he could have become president by running to the left, he would have done so, but he’s an accomplished grifter and he knows how the suckers in this country vote. He is primarily concerned with having his ego stroked, which is why he’s so sensitive about crowd sizes.

The fact is, however, that the people who will control him if he gets elected are, indeed, fascists. They even made the mistake of putting their plans in writing by way of Project 2025. Were he elected he will do what he is told so far as implementing those plans. Being totally uninterested in the details of the job, he will let others do it for him, and we know who those others will be. This was his modus operandi in his first term. Does anyone really believe, for example, that he gave a moments thought to the people he nominated to the Supreme Court or any other court. He was given names by his handlers and he signed off on them. So, it doesn’t matter whether he himself is a fascist, he is an enabler and a tool. If he wins, we will be subject to a government run by fascists, and with the help of the fascists on the Supreme Court that fascism will become permanent.

Filed in Creeping Totalitarianism, The Very Stable Genius | | Comments (0)

Strategy or senility? You decide

Sunday, September 15, 2024

So, it’s been a few days since I, along with every other Democrat, had the pleasure of watching Kamala destroy the stable genius in the debate. In my case it was doubly fun because I was with a bunch of other Groton Democrats who got together at the New York Deli (right next door to our headquarters in Groton, not in New York) to watch the debate.

Since then I’ve become aware of two schools of thought about Trump’s craziness since the debate, e.g., his continued embrace of the “They’re eating the dogs and cats” lie and his recent “Truth” Social post that he hates Taylor Swift, a move that on its face seems to accomplish nothing other than putting Swift’s life in danger. It seems unlikely to move anyone into his camp, while it would seem likely to energize even more Swifties to go to the polls.

On to the two schools of thought.

One is the obvious. Trump is out of control mentally. His narcissism and creeping senility are combining, the result of which is outbursts that simply can’t help his campaign.

The other school of thought has it that these outbursts are strategic, a way of distracting the political conversation away from Trumps plan to usher in a fascist state.

There are good arguments for both sides of this particular debate. The media is easily distractible and, for the most part, will be glad to write about social media posts and Haitians eating cats and dogs. The fact that JD Vance has amplified these claims lends some support to the distraction theory, though a counter argument is that he doesn’t have a whole lot of choice. He can’t very well admit that Trump is mentally unfit. To the extent the focus is on this sort of stuff, Project 2025 can be pushed into the background.

As a counter argument, if this is a strategic thing, the fact is that Trump is incapable of thinking strategically, so it would have to have been thought up by his handlers, and that seems doubtful. They would have had to come to the conclusion that Trump could win by amplifying his mental incapacity, or that in any event he’d lose fewer persuadable voters (how can anyone still be persuadable?) by proving beyond doubt that he’s mentally incompetent than he would lose by being exposed as a fascist.

Looking on the bright side, it seems to me that whichever side is correct, the net result is that Trump is pursuing a course more likely to lose him voters than it is likely to gain them for him. That doesn’t mean there’s no danger of his election. Thanks to the sainted Founders, we are stuck with a system in which a candidate can get millions fewer votes than his or her opponent and still win the election. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kamala will get more votes than the genius, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be sworn in as president.

As an aside, I think I’m right in asserting that every time the Electoral College has elected a candidate who received fewer votes than his or her opponent, the winner was the worse of the two. Maybe there’s something to be said for majority rule.

Filed in The Very Stable Genius | | Comments (0)

Trump calls on JD to do his duty

Monday, September 9, 2024

I got a kick out of this post at Hullabaloo. It seems that Trump has an idea about making sure that vice presidents always invoke the 25th Amendment in case the president is incapacitated:

Donald Trump on Saturday floated changing the 25th Amendment to allow Congress to impeach a vice president for covering up a president’s incapacity less than two months after President Joe Biden exited the 2024 contest amid concerns about his age and acuity.

In yet another example of projection you couldn’t make up, he’s implying that Joe Biden is senile, and that Kamala Harris should have, or should now, step in and have him removed. This, after accusing her of engaging in a coup by running for president after Biden stepped aside. I guess in the world of Trump you truly can have it both ways.

Were I Kamala I might bring this up in the debate, and suggest that Trump might think twice about encouraging JD to look carefully at Trump’s mental state if he were to be elected. After all, JD could argue that with such an amendment in place, he had no choice but to act in light of Trump’s obvious mental incapacity.

A few months ago I suggested that the lickspittles vying to be Trumps vice president might choose such a route to the presidency. It really does seem that Trump might not want to give JD any encouragement.

In any event, hopefully we needn’t worry about such a thing happening. I’m looking on the bright side and I do believe Kamala will win.

Filed in The Very Stable Genius | | Comments (0)

Both sideism actually seems to favor one side!

Friday, September 6, 2024

I haven’t posted much recently. One of the reasons is that it seems like everything going down is so obvious that anyone with an ounce of intelligence can figure it out for themselves. I could also argue that my duties as the treasurer of the Groton Democrats during this most important election since 1860 take up too much of my time, but that would be stretching the truth almost as much as a certain stable genius stretches it.

It has been particularly frustrating to watch as the media covers up for Trump’s senility, stupidity and incoherence. The latest example is reported here (not in the mainstream, of course, but at Hullabaloo). Trump was in front of a crowd of rich people (the only constituency he actually serves) and was asked a direct question about how he intends to help people pay for day care. There’s a video at the link. He makes no sense, but in true New York Times fashion the paper of record avoids calling it what it is. The New York Times:

After his speech, Donald Trump was asked how he might address rising child care costs. In a jumbled answer, he said he would prioritize legislation on the issue but offered no specifics and insisted that his other economic policies would “take care” of child care. “As much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in.”

Digby sums it up:

Does that accurately describe Trump’s incomprehensible babble? I don’t think so but it certainly was nice of the NY Times to “interpret” his comments to mean that he “insist[ed] that his other economic policies, including tariffs, would take care of child care.” It’s very generous of them to help him out that way otherwise people might think that Trump had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and clearly has no economic “policy” other than tariffs (which he doesn’t understand either) even after having spent four years in the White House. Why, they might even conclude that he doesn’t have the mental capacity to be president. I guess that would be rude.

He’s getting worse by the day. There’s a new term for what the media is doing when giving Trump’s mental impairments a pass: sanewashing. Even if he weren’t a fascist having him as president would be a clear and present danger. Nothing Biden ever did was this bad, but the Times couldn’t stop bringing up his cognitive functioning. But, in the interest of both sideism, it avoids doing that with Trump because both sideism consists of proving you are not the liberal media by attacking Democrats, and giving Republicans a pass.

So, nothing above is new, but I figure I have to post once in a while.

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Time to attack

Monday, August 26, 2024

It’s not often that I disagree with digby over at Hullabaloo, but this is one of those times. She has a post recounting the many times the New York Times has committed journalistic malpractice when it comes to Donald Trump. I don’t argue with the main thrust of the post, which is quite good, but I don’t agree with this closing paragraph:

I guess the Democrats have no choice but to simply accept the asymmetry of the press coverage which is made many times worse by the fact that the right already has an extremely effective partisan media dedicated to pushing Trump’s lies. We’ll just have to maintain a critical eye through the campaign and beyond.

I would suggest that the Democrats take a page from the Republican playbook of some years back, when the Republicans constantly attacked the “liberal media”, a media that wasn’t all that liberal but was more likely to call things what they were. I really don’t think, for instance, that the media of twenty years ago would have failed to point out that Trump’s mental health, never very good as he suffered from serious mental impairments such as narcissism, is now declining into senility, enhanced by his other mental impairments. The “liberal media” attacks worked, in that the media generally, with the possible exception of MSNBC, does its best to ignore or soft pedal Republican lies, corruption and hypocrisy.

It’s time the Democrats went on the attack, specifically calling out the media for failing to call Trump’s mental impairments what they are, particularly since they constantly questioned Biden’s mental competency, which far exceeds that of the very stable genius.

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RFJ Jr. drops out

Friday, August 23, 2024

This is a bit of a follow up to my post from a week ago, in which I made the not terribly difficult prediction that RFK Jr. would drop out and Trump would promise him a role in his administration.

It’s not good news for the Harris campaign, but I’m going to look on the bright side and suggest it’s not the great news that the Trumpers will make of it.

Let’s reflect a bit. Who were the RFK voters? At the very first, when he was really an unknown quantity, some of his backers may have been Democrats or Democrat leaning voters who wanted Biden to step aside. He is, after all, Bobby Kennedy’s son. Once those folks learned that he was in fact a total nutcase, most of them deserted him, and as the polls have shown, he has drawn from Trump.

So think about this. Why were those people ready to vote for someone other than Trump? There’s a host of possible reasons. They may think it’s not a good idea to put a criminal in the White House. They may think it’s not a good thing to try to overthrow the government. I’ll stop the list there as there are almost an infinite number of reasons why one would not want to vote for Trump, even if one were inclined to vote for a “conservative”.

So, now these folks have to make a decision. Do they vote for Trump just because the guy they were going to vote for because they didn’t want to vote for Trump tells them to vote for Trump? A guy for whom they never really felt much enthusiasm, but he wasn’t Trump or Biden. Or do they either not vote or vote for some third party candidate, assuming there are any left on the ballot.

Of course they won’t all do the same thing, but my guess is that a substantial number simply won’t vote, will write someone in, or vote for any available third party candidate. They were prepared to throw their vote away before he dropped out, so there’s no reason to think they won’t be willing to throw their votes away now.

Filed in Presidential Politics | | Comments (0)

For sale to the highest bidder

Friday, August 16, 2024

I’m not sure how much attention this story is getting, but it should be featured in the media rather prominently. It appears that RFK Jr., has concluded that he is not, after all, going to win the presidency, so he is up for selling his endorsement to the highest bidder, the consideration being a cabinet post in the new administration of whatever party happens to win.

The Harris people have told him to shove it, or as he put it “We’ve been told that they have no interest in talking with me.”

The Trump folks have, of course, not said no, but they have not yet gotten to yes. If the current polling trend continues, I’m guessing they will get to yes, promising him the “public health leadership” post (Just where he could do the most harm) he’s asking for in return for him delivering his supporters to Trump. Months ago the thinking was that he’d draw supporters from Biden, but it has become clear over the last few months that he’s drawing votes from Trump. Trump is showing signs of panic already, and it’s practically a sure bet that he’ll grasp at any straw to try to win. After all, just because he’d have to promise Kennedy a cabinet post, he wouldn’t actually have to give it to him. Sort of like stiffing your contractors, etc.

I’m sure the Harris folks would prefer that Kennedy remain on the ballot in some of the swing states. He’s already off the ballot in New York, as they have this weird rule against fraud there, but New York is a lock. We want him on the ballot in places like Wisconsin, where all he has to do is draw one or two percent of the whackjobs to hand the state to Harris.

Filed in Presidential Politics | | Comments (1)

Primary Day in Groton

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

As I wrote yesterday, I spent the entire day acting as a checker at my local polling place. As I did so, I documented the exciting events of the day. The reader can decide what conclusions to draw about the level of enthusiasm out there for whatever candidate wins this primary. Personally, I think Chris Murphy has very little to worry about. My notes follow. The numbers recited are absolutely authentic. As you will see it was an exciting day:

6:00 AM. The crush to get in is amazing. At least I think it is, though nobody has shown up yet. Sixteen people voted on an early basis iin the course of last week. That’s the entire town, so that’s a good predictor of what we have in store.

6:21 AM. I have finished my first Sudoku. We still await the entry of the first voter.

7:00 AM. The average hourly rate of enthusiastic Republican voters has now reached Zero!

7:25 AM. There is a crush in the other districts. So far FIVE people have voted in the town of Groton. Our district is obviously an outlier, as the others are so crowded.

7:40 AM. Our first voter! However, turns out she’s a Democrat who thought that there was a Democratic primary.

8:00 AM. First crossword completed and yet another Sudoku. We still await our first voter with eagerness. I’m sure there is some mysterious reason why the Republican enthusiasm for their candidates has not shown its face at this polling location. I’m willing to bet that town wide the number of voters has now swelled beyond 10!

8:30 AM. Our first voter arrives.

9:00 AM. The enthusiasm continue, in that we are enthusiastic about the possibility of getting another voter.

9:15 AM. The second voter arrives! Excitement abounds.

10:00 AM approaches. We are putting up a sign near the road so people driving by will know there’s an election today. Who knows, this may double the pace at which people come in to vote.

10:30 AM. The second Democrat arrives. She said that there was a sign that indicated there was a primary for both parties.

10:45 AM. Two voters, all at one time! Husband and wife.

11:30 AM. It is almost noon, and I last ate at 5:00 AM, so, as we said in German class, “Ich habe hunger”. Two more Democrats arrive and leave. The race is tied, 4 Republicans voted to 4 Democrats with nothing to vote for.

12:30 PM. I no longer habe hunger. While I took my brief lunch, we had no customers. The score is still tied.

1:30 PM. Score still tied. No one has voted since 10:45. Most Republicans appear to be fine with whichever non-entity ends up on the ballot. By the way, I haven’t mentioned their names. They are Gerry Smith and Matthew Corey. You’ve heard of them, haven’t you?

1:45 PM The Republicans pull ahead, 5-4.

2:00 PM Democrats tie the score yet again.

2:15 PM Republicans pull ahead 6-5.

2:25 PM Republicans expand their lead to 8-5. The Democrats are letting us down!

2:26 PM It’s a stampede! Yet another Republican.

3:00 PM We anxiously await another voter. However, we have reason to celebrate, as we are no longer the Groton district with the least number of voters. Also, we know that any minute hour we may ascend into double digits.

3:07 PM It was only minutes! 10 voters in a mere ..wait, here’s another! That makes 11. In a mere 9 hours and 10 minutes. More than one an hour. We are having trouble keeping up.

3:45 PM A Democrat and an Independent (who I’ll lump with the Dems), making the score 11-7.

3:55 PM 11-8.

5:05 PM 11-9

5:30 PM The commuters that usually start coming in after work have not yet arrived. It’s a mystery that will never be solved. How can the voters, Republicans though they be, fail to vote in this exciting election between…, oh, see above.

5:55 PM 11-10.

6:00 PM. We poll workers just figured out that so far we have had 1.95035460993% turnout in this district. One more voter, and we’re over 2%!

6:05 PM. The commuter rush has begun! Score is now 12-10. Over 2%!

6:15 PM. A discussion with the other poll workers. How do any of the folks who come in know how to vote, since chances are they’ve never heard of either candidate. Some are lured to the polling place by a sign on the street that says “Vote Here”. That’s why we’ve gotten so many Democrats. Theoretically you could sit here and google the candidates before you vote, but no one has done that. The only information available on the ballot is their names with an asterisk next to the name of the endorsed candidate.

6:20 PM. Another nut job Republican. There’s been a few of them spewing conspiracy garbage implying that the rules in place enable voter fraud. Score now 13-10.

6:40 PM 14-11.

6:50 PM The Republican who just voted is complaining that she wasn’t told about the primary and it’s someone’s fault.

7:40 PM The end approacheth. The score remains the same.

8:00 PM The day is over. There was 4/7th of a poll worker for each voter, meaning the cost to the town of each vote was about $100. (We do get paid) I stay until everything is wrapped up, but I don’t bother to look to see who got the most votes, because who really cares?

UPDATE OF SORTS: I guess I wasn’t thinking last night. (Not unusual) I meant to post this last night.

Filed in Ramblings | | Comments (0)

There’s a primary tomorrow

Monday, August 12, 2024

I haven’t posted for a while. I can explain. We spent last week in Vermont and my time was filled with family events. Well, not completely, but enough to keep me away from blogging. Also, it’s getting harder and harder to come up with anything that hasn’t already been beaten to death by the blogs I frequent. I mean, guess what? Trump is declining into senility and every time he opens his mouth or vents on Lie (Oops, I mean “Truth”) Social he lies and the mainstream media ignores or downplays it. Latest I’ve seen, lying about the crowds for Kamala at the Detroit airport. Follow the link. Even some of his right wing followers are getting tired of the lies, but unlike if a Democrat did it, the Times will mention it once and then forget it.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to announce that I will in fact post again tomorrow, though late in the evening with some Connecticut news.

Did you know there’s a primary in Connnecticut tomorrow? There are no local candidates on the ballot here in Groton. It’s a Republican primary only, and I haven’t the slightest idea who is running against who, though I think it’s two whackjobs running against each other for the privilege of getting wiped out by Chris Murphy. I’m sure if I DuckDuckGoed it (I don’t use the monopolist Google) I could find out who they are, but who really cares, and anyway I’ll see a sample ballot tomorrow, so I’ll let my readers know tomorrow.

For the past several years I’ve been a poll worker. On actual election days I’ve worked doing same day registration, but that isn’t available on primary days, so tomorrow I’ll be checking people in as they come to vote. So, it’s my guess that I’ll be spending most of the day reading, drinking tea, playing Sudoku, and doing crosswords, waiting for the very occasional voter to drop by. I will also be doing a play by play, so to speak, keeping track of the number of people who come in, and describing the day in a blog post. I wouldn’t mind posting on the hour, but I don’t think that would sit well with the registrars, so I’ll wait until I get home. It’s a long day. We report at 5:15 AM and leave around 9:00 PM, though we do get a break or two. My guess is that any given worker could take a four hour break tomorrow and no one would miss them. If the total number of voters in my district exceeds 100 I’ll be very surprised. My guess is that most of the folks coming in to vote will be members of the rapidly dwindling Republican Town Committee, since they’re probably the only people in town that know there’s a primary. Looking on the bright side, I do get paid for my time, and maybe I’ll donate my check to Kamala.

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