Actually, that IS enough for me: Biden/Harris is not Trump/Pence.

Talking heads love jawboning about how Joe must offer something more than the fact that he isn't Trump. Well, they don't speak for me. Joe's whole ad campaign could be "I am not Donald Trump," and that would be enough to get me in a miles-long line to vote for Joe. Luckily we need only drop our ballots in the mail here in Oregon, but you get my point.

It isn't that I don't care about policies and issues, it's that there is not one policy or issue that we are so far apart on as to cause me to not vote for Biden/Harris.

Hell, I don't even know what's currently in our party's platform. Probably something about the environment and a strong middle class and workers' rights and immigration and human rights and other ideals consistent with the modern Democratic Party.

Sure, I look forward to sitting down with my party and discussing prison reform and rebuilding the Civil Rights Act and judicial reform and infrastructure and the ERA and affordable health care and affordable higher education and living wages and what needs to be done to hold every lying, thieving, traitorous republicans accountable . . . but today is not that day.

Today, is about voting for Biden/Harris.

Some folks may choose to exercise their right to voice their concerns and anger and disappointment about a Biden/Harris stand or lack of a stand on this policy or that issue, but my response is gonna be the same: I'm voting Biden/Harris. Everything else is just noise.

Trump's debate performance in 37 seconds.

For those of you who didn't want to watch the whole debate but want the gist of it, I have taken the time to put Trump's most salient moments in this short clip.

Leaked Messages Show Far-Right Group Planned Portland Violence and Posed as Antifa.

Until I read through today's email from the Portland Mercury, a local weekly, here: https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/09/23/28972504/good-afternoon-news-proud-boys-denied-park-permit-good-wildfire-news-and-no-justice-for-breonna-taylor , I had never heard of Bellingcat https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/09/23/patriot-coalition-far-right-chat-logs-violence/ , self-described as a "Global Investigative Journalism Network".

Anyway, as we've suspected all along, the keystone nazis - also known as the Patriot Coalition - have posed as Antifa to encourage violence at otherwise peaceful protest, and their lives are consumed with guns, hate, Trump and race. From the article:

"Bellingcat has acquired several months of chat logs from the Patriot Coalition of Oregon, a network of pro-Trump, pro-police activists. These chat logs were provided by an infiltrator affiliated with the antifascist collective Eugene Antifa. We were also given login information for the infiltrator’s account on GroupMe, a secure messaging app owned by Microsoft. This allowed us to directly observe the group’s communications, to verify the information provided to us and to export a log of those chats directly from the application. (Many posts contain spelling and grammatical errors, which we have not altered.)
(snip)
The leaked chat logs appear to reveal that some members of the Patriot Coalition have taken part in multiple violent rallies throughout the summer, and that they claim to have operated a series of vigilante patrols and checkpoints during the Oregon wildfires. While the chats appear to show they work and fight alongside members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, American Wolf and 1776 2.0, the Patriot Coalition seems to have no coherent ideology beyond a desire to violently confront leftists in the name of the police and President Trump. A user identified as Paige summed up the general feelings of the group in a post made ahead of a what turned out to be a bloody ‘Back the Blue’ rally on August 22nd in Portland when she wrote: “I’m waiting for the presidential go to start open firing.”
(snip)
Discussions of violence in the Patriot Coalition group chat are not hypothetical. While some individuals are likely grandstanding, the chat logs show members gearing up for a number of events where very real violence occurred."

More at the link: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/09/23/patriot-coalition-far-right-chat-logs-violence/

When the NYTimes tries to MAKE news.

I canceled my NYTimes subscription of 10+ years after its series of right-wing hit jobs on Hillary Clinton in 2016, but I signed up again for the COVID-19 coverage (and I really missed the crossword puzzles). This morning I awoke to this invitation (below) to watch them MAKE the news instead of just, you know, critical reporting:

(start)
Election 2020: The Evolving Electorate:
The Gen Z and Millennial Vote


Can young (or young-at-heart) voters get excited about the election if they aren’t excited about the candidates? Which issues really motivate this new generation?

Join deputy politics editor Rachel Dry as we explore strategies for combating voter apathy, with comedian Ilana Glazer; Vic Barrett, a young climate activist; and Tara McGowan, chief executive of ACRONYM, a progressive nonprofit.

Then we’ll sit down with Rhiana Gunn-Wright, the policy mind behind the Green New Deal, and Times climate reporter Lisa Friedman to discuss how climate change issues can become a powerful motivation to vote.
(End)


Y’all would tell me if I’m just being paranoid, right?

Creeped out? Yes. Disgusted? Yup. Shocked? Not even a little bit.

At this point there is nothing I could learn about Trump that would leave me shocked. Nothing. The news might be video of Trump, three Russian hookers (all eunuchs) and a billy goat sitting traumatized in a corner while wearing a strap-on stamped "TRUMP TOWER", and it would NOT shock me. Trump is and always has been a depraved, entitled, soul-less, self-centered human being who has never experienced a moment of empathy or compassion for another person.

There was a time when I was shocked by evangelical's continued, unwavering support of Trump, but I've even made peace with and accepted that reality.

In short, accept the McConnells and Grahams and Huckabees of the world as they have shown themselves to be over and over and over again, and life will soon be a lot less . . . shocking.

Were Trump and Manson separated at birth?

Red State MAGA complains about Portland.

I'm in Portland, Oregon. I got a call from a guy in a red state looking to buy something I offered online. I answered a few questions he had about the product, then out of the blue he says "How can you stay up there with all the rioting going on?" I assumed he was kidding and grinned, but before I could respond he started rambling about random vagrants and drunks joining in the riots and something about it all being organized by Democrats to win the election. When he finally took a breath I told him the protests against police abuse were mainly in downtown Portland and that some folks outside of Portland like to make it look worse than it is because it's easier to manipulate people who are either angry or afraid. He said he heard people were being killed and I told him it was true that someone from the pro-Trump caravan from outside of Portland had been killed, then he said didn't I think Trump should send "the feds" back into Portland to get control of things. I said if Portland wanted help from "the feds" our Governor would ask for it. I then asked him how he'd have felt if Obama had sent hired troops into his state and that seemed to chill him a bit.

It wasn't a hostile call (though I was growing angry), and the guy said he wasn't trying to be rude (I believe him), but I think his comments show how right-wing media has successfully hyped up their listeners and viewers to believe Trump is trying to save the country from rioters and looters. I wouldn't be shocked if the guy has NEVER heard of the name "George Floyd," and if he has, it would be in the context of Floyd being a terrorist rapist murdering animal torturer who deserved to be killed.