Briefs

 

• I've watched every presidential debate since Nixon-Kennedy, and last night's performance was easily the most entertaining.  I also found it more useful than most, in that it provided a clear delineation  of the characters of the participants — Tr*mp as a bully, and Biden as far more impervious to bullying than many may have expected.  Those looking signs of senile dementia should have seen far more in Tr*mp's behavior than in Biden's — and for those just looking for signs of basic decency, Biden was the clear winner.

• Anticipating a loss of the presidency – and, perhaps, their Senate majority as well – Republicans are certain to confirm the Religiulous ACB to the Supreme Court in coming weeks.  If Democrats follow through on a threat to "pack" the Court with two new Justices, Chief Justice Roberts once again will become the swing vote – but well may be less inclined to support positions of the Democrats who "sullied" the institution he holds dear.

• If a District Attorney can "get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich," it's pretty clear that Kentucky's Attorney General could have won indictments of the cops who killed Breonna Taylor if he'd had any desire to do so.  Granted, a Kentucky jury most likely would have swiftly acquitted them — but the process would have looked at least a little more like "justice."

Reality Check

 

“Alternative facts” are facts indeed — in alternative realities.  As you’ve probably noticed, the USofA is suffering a bad case of multiple reality disorder at the moment.  Even a Democratic sweep in the upcoming election won’t change that. 

Not much of what a human being “knows” is based on personal experience.  The bulk of our “knowledge” comes from trusted authority figures — parents, teachers, scientists, priests, talking heads on TV, celebrities, social media influencers, etc. etc.  The only thing we ask of them is reasonable consistency with our other authority figures.  Human beings have always lived in bubbles where received knowledge included large dollops of misconception — but in the past, the bubbles didn’t bump up against each other nearly so often.

The QAnon cult is pretty firmly entrenched in Evangelical Christianity these days. The Boogaloo crazies will remain well-armed, and the racists will be even more paranoid.  Fox News won’t lose any viewership.  I’d like to know how a Biden Administration will handle that.  “Bringing the nation together” sounds good, but it won’t happen in Joe Biden’s lifetime.

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The death of RBG was a gut punch to progressives.  If a Democratic President and Senate decide to go ahead and "pack the Court," they won't hear any complaints from me.

The Real Story

With all the chatter going on about Tr*mp's "mini-strokes," I figure I ought to tell you what really was happening that day at Walter Reade.  I have absolutely no evidence, but hey, it's 2020 — and it sounds good!  What more could you want?

 Frankly, I was sure about what was going on the day the news broke about Tr*mp's surprise hospital visit.  News that Pence was put on-call "in case" Our President needed anesthesia has only confirmed what I thought then.  Anesthesia was planned: Tr*mp was scheduled for a colonoscopy.  Unless he chickened out, Pence actually got to be president for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Of course, a colonoscopy is pretty standard for a man in his seventies – so one might wonder why it was such a big secret.  The answer, of course, is Tr*mp's fragile ego and macho pretensions.  He just couldn't stand that anybody might envision him bare-ass with some guy probing between those enormous buttocks.  (I don't much like envisioning it myself.)

If you really need confirmation, you might want to check how much tweeting he did the night before.  He'd have spent quite a bit of time on the toilet.