-We start with a bit of an exhale, as Hurricane Milton has moved to the Atlantic Ocean having avoided the 'worst-case' scenario feared by forecasters. Not that it was good, as symbolized by Tropicana Field, the Tampa stadium which was housing recovery workers that saw its fabric roof torn to shreds during the peak of the storm. At least four are known to have died, primarily apparently due to over 150 tornadoes that were known to have touched down throughout the day yesterday. While FEMA is stretched thin thanks to both Milton and Hurricane Helene, workers are on the ground and officials from both parties who are on the ground and not running for political office are, by and large, supportive of their work and acknowledging that all that can be done is being done by government officials.
-One person who of course continues to drive horrendous lies about a mismanaged storm response - and doing so for political purposes - is the increasingly-deluded Republican Presidential nominee, Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist). Claims by Trump that FEMA funding is being diverted to "ill-ll-ll-uh-legal immigrants" are continually swatted down by the White House and Republicans alike, but many of the lies have taken root, particularly in Georgia and North Carolina, where Trump finds himself in pitched and reportedly close battles to win states he desperately needs to try to regain power.
-An anecdote to illustrate the situation: a caller phoned in SiriusXM host Dan Abrams and choked back tears telling a story of a father-in-law whose house was badly damaged in one of the worst hit cities, Asheville, NC. The caller told Abrams that the father-in-law has refused any help from FEMA or any other government officials because, in the caller's words, "Trump told him" that accepting help would mean having to give up the home to the government. The caller told Abrams that his wife was beside herself because her father simply will not hear reason. "(My father-in-law) is in a cult!" he finished, and if one caller is believing such a lie, it is not difficult to assume that lie is being spread throughout devastated communities - all to suppress or scare people to vote for Trump.
-The political question is being asked primarily because it is impacting recovery efforts, but given that voting is underway for the 2024 Presidential race, the ultimate question of how Helene and Milton will affect the race will be seen. But the rumors, and Trump's role in pushing them, are examples of what seems to be proof of the closest thing to a Trump "winning" strategy is, which is to flood the media zone with increasingly wild lies in hopes of driving angry voters to vote for him and/or discourage potential Kamala Harris voters from voting for her. It is a margin play, but it is a play.
-Part of that play is now involving increasingly personal attacks on Harris - while avoiding having to say the attacks to Harris face like an actual human with guts and integrity would do. Responding to the Harris wave of interviews over the last several days, Trump has first gone after the hosts of THE VIEW and CALL HER DADDY, calling them "dumb" and "unintelligent," then going after former media ally Howard Stern, calling Stern's satellite radio show "low-rated" before dusting off his ancient "I threw him out LIKE A DAAAWG!" insult (further reminding the class that Trump is the only modern President who never had a pet, exempting Lindsay Graham, and hating dogs and cats).
-Then he flipped to Harris and turned his slovenly slow reactions to her and her 60 MINUTES interview - an interview Trump refused to do because he's a wuss. Flat-out calling Harris "A MORON!" (both on social media and in appearances before barely-half-full arenas in PA), Trump insists with no evidence but likely tons of projection that CBS edited Harris' interview in an effort to "make her look SMAHARHT!" and threatening with his wee tiny hands clenched in wee tiny fisties to rescind CBS' broadcast license for "the BIGGEST Scandal in American HISTORY!"
-For the record, were CBS to lose a broadcast license, it could simply pivot to streaming and apps, which are private and thus needs no license.
-Mind you, Trump is not the only person BIG MAD! about Harris' interviews, as the legacy media continue to be red-assed about Harris ignoring their calls to be interviewed by them and instead going to what might be called alternative media outlets (and with some reason - combined, the audiences of THE VIEW, Stern, CALL HER DADDY and Stephen Colbert total around 22 million - a few more than Politico and even the New York Times). Covering the media blitz, said New York Jealous Times sneered in a headline that Harris "continues to bob and weave" about policies she has been laying out in detail in many of these appearances - most recently the proposal she discussed on THE VIEW and Stern to expand Medicare to include in-home care for the elderly, which speaking from a family that had to deal with this 20 years ago would have been deeply welcome and likely saved us tens of thousands of dollars.
-In contrast, the same New York Jealous Times took Trump's grotesquely racist and chillingly Nazi-esque blather (spewed on the Hugh Hewitt show) about immigrants bringing "bad genes" into the U.S. and thus creating more "MURderERS!" and reworked it to claim that all Trump was doing in that chat was "invok(ing) his long-held fascination with genes and genetics" ("fascination" being a brutally $3 word to use instead of "racist AF").
-Is it working? In the broad scheme, likely not. Voting is underway and early tells about who is returning and voting early seem to be favoring Harris, both by party identity and sheer numbers. Most broad national polls continue to show a consistent and stable 3% or so lead for Harris, with the occasional burp higher or lower. There seems to be a belief that Harris will win the national popular vote, and so individual state polls are likely to roil still-jittery-after-2016 Democrats since we all know how 2016 ended. Those of us who modestly point out that this is not 2016 and Harris is not Hillary Clinton will try to calm while emphasizing the get-out-the-vote efforts that will determine who gets the most votes before the MAGAGOP take to the courts (at least) and claim, as Trump has always done, that the vote is RIGGED!
-Other observers are warning that there is a strong likelihood that dozens - DOZENS - of MAGOP-tilting polling will be released in the next week or two specifically designed to make it appear as if Harris' momentum is dead, Trump's momentum is picking up steam, and Resistance is Futile, Liberalz - BOW DOWN TO YOUR DEAR LEADER! Just keep working and don't believe the hype.
-We all have lives to lead and we should lead them - and, getting back to the weather, it begins with the weather. If you're thinking "Oh, God, ANOTHER Hurricane?!" the answer seems to be "maybe," as deep in the Atlantic, Hurricane Leslie is sitting as another would-be hurricane, Nadine, appears to have faded. On top of that, there are reports of a solar flare geomagnetic storm from the sun that is about to hit that could affect satellites, the power grid and other communications in the next few days, though it will also generate some rather awesome aurora borealis-like light storms nationally.
-Hey - remember the story about Trump supposedly personally giving Vladimir Putin COVID-testing machines at the height of the COVID lockdown? Funny story - while Trump was trying to attack Bob Woodward for writing down what Trump said to him, the report was confirmed by representatives of Putin!
-OH, and we also forgot to report on a report also released on Tuesday from Sen. Sheldon Whitehead (D-RI) that confirmed reports from 2017 that over 4500 tips that were sent to the FBI and Department of Justice in connection with reports about now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct were quashed by the White House!
-Oh, well, we will have to content ourselves with THIS JUST IN: Vice President Harris has agreed to meet voters in Philadelphia for a town hall meeting on October 23 - the day the final Presidential debate had been scheduled. The same offer was made to Trump, but Trump has refused the invitation as he has refused to debate Harris once more, and while he is using his cap lock key to insist that he does not have to do either because he won the first debate against Harris and only fighters who lose fights insist on a rematch yadda yadda yadda, other utterly irresponsible and corroborated-by-nobody insane rumor-mongering on certain Substacks insist that the REAL reason Trump won't debate is because he is busy in preparation for his newest business venture: a chain of burnt orange rotisserie CHICKEN restaurants!
-BAAAWK! BAWK BAWK BAWK BAWK BAAAAAAAAWK!!!!
-On this date in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire was put out after three days. On this date in 1954, Communists took control of North Vietnam. On this date in 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President after a scandal involving an unreported $29,500 of income and corrupt payoffs which he accepted as Governor of Maryland. And on this date in 2007, Radiohead released IN RAINBOWS using an innovative pay-what-you-wish model.
-Debuts on this date: the U.S. Naval Academy (1845), PORGY AND BESS (1935), the Gibson Mandolin Company (1902), GIANT (1956), FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1969), Wayne Gretzky (1979), TRAGIC KINGDOM (1995).
-Happy Birthday to Giuseppe Verdi, Helen Hayes, Thelonious Monk, James Clavell, Ed Wood, Richard Jaeckel, Adlai Stevenson III, Harold Pinter, Jay Sebring, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Peter Coyote, Frederick Barthelme, Ben Vereen, Charles Dance, John Prine, Cyril Neville, Midge Ure, David Lee Roth, Tanya Tucker, Bradley Whitford, Kirsty MacColl, Martin Kemp, Daniel Pearl, Chris Penn, Gavin Newsom, Michael Giacchino, Ben Crump, Mario Lopez, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mya, and Rose McIver.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to William H. Seward, Adolphus Busch, Edith Piaf, Eddie Cantor, Ralph Metcalfe, Ralph Richardson, Orson Welles, Yul Brynner, Eddie Futch, Teresa Graves, Christopher Reeve, Ken Caminiti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Solomon Burke, Alex Karras, Scott Carpenter, Mark Goddard, and Brendan Malone.
-Feed the Worms: MAGAt leader Rep. Steve Scalise entered Earth on this date.
-Brett Favre was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.