NATIONAL COFFEE DAY UPDATES
Support Your Local Coffee Roaster - Mine Are Metropolis in Chicago and Six Shooter in Cleveland!
-The Harris/Walz Presidential campaign continues to enjoy a steady and slowly-rising national polling lead - and if you believe in such things, The Guardian notes that the larger a national lead becomes, the broader that lead gets in states (which local state polling is also reflecting). This reporting is not meant to be sarcastic nor happy-clappy, though plenty of Democrats and progressives continue to have admittedly justifiable 2016 Electoral PTSD and keep saying people MUST vote and MUST not act like the election is in the bag. To which this Substack wholly agrees, though occasionally the doom-posting and "act like we're 20 points down" is a bit counterproductive as well (who outside of direct family works for a candidate who is likely known to be 20+ points behind, after all?). But we start with the positive because, well, positive is good!
-Now for the fight, as Harris lead election attorney Marc Elias reports that so far, 90 cases have been filed in various jurisdictions on behalf of MAGAGOP interests, most of which are variations on attempts to limit who gets access to the ballot or who counts the ballots. Elias reports that is triple the number of cases filed at this same time in 2020, and that he and the Harris/Democratic team are already litigating at least 1/3 of those cases - and winning most of them.
-This is clearly a central part, if not THE central part, of how Republican Presidential nominee Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) plans to regain power after November 5, but with Democrats well-resourced (the Harris campaign is now directly funding a number of swing state Senate races in addition to all 50 states as early voting rolls out), at least this part of the fight is also engaged (along with "voting" as described above).
-The comment about post-election skullduggery being the primary Trump strategy could arguably be born out by the continued lack of get out the vote efforts by the campaign (farming it out to a firm funded by billionaire weirdo and anti-American oddball Elon Musk), and by ... whatever Trump is doing when he speaks in public these days. Apparently the campaign calls it "campaigning," but for those of us who continued to burn over literally every President Biden verbal stumble leading to multi-day BIDEN B OLD stories by a mainstream news media hungry to keep the election a horse race, it should be noted by SOMEone that any single one of the following transcripts of Actual Things Trump Said This Weekend SHOULD, in a just world where the journalistic media actually did their jobs, lead to at least a few TRUMP B OLD (or maybe WTF TRUMP?) stories.
-A sampling of Trump quotes from just this past weekend ...
- In New York City on Friday: "What happened to the environment? They don't mention it. They don't mention that the ocean's going to rise a quarter of an inch over the next 500 years ... what they should start mentioning is nuclear warming" before adding on Saturday, "Global warming doesn't work anymore, because it's actually cooling."
-In MI on Friday, a voter at a town hall asked the candidate, "What actions will you take to ensure that our jobs stay in America?" Trump's answer: "I was honored as the Man of the Year, and the fake news heard about it and said it never happened ... you see the fakers back there? They said it never happened but I swear to you that it happened ... all I know is, they said they were taking your cars away from you - IT (Trump getting a 'Man of the Year' award) DID HAPPEN!" (Narrator's voice.) There is no evidence of any event that happened in Michigan involving any kind of Man of the Year award being given to ANYBODY, much less Donald Trump.
-A number of lulus at a speech in Waukesha, WI (which Trump could not pronounce) yesterday: "Joe Biden became mentally impaired - Kah-MAH-lah was born that way. And when you think about it only a mentally impaired person could have allowedthizz to happen to our country."
-"Thizz" refers to what Trump called migrants that have "occupied ... hundreds of little cities and little towns" while armed with "MK-47s" before slurring on with "And then I have to sit there and listen to her bullshit last night. And who puts it on? FOX NEWS. And they shouldn't be allowed to put it on."
-Especially since Trump insisted that "outside (the locale where the speech took place - which was not filled and which he also blamed on Harris), we have thousands and thousands of people. 40 to 50,000 people at least out there ... It looked like when (Charles) Lindberg landed in New York. Do you remember that?"
-On Trump's being thumped by Harris at what still appears to be the only debate Trump will dare appear in, Trump insisted he won by this bit of, ah, logik: "All the stupid people said I fell into her trap. They said I fell into her trap. She can't set a mental trap. I didn't fall into her trap. There is no trap. I didn't fall into her trap!"
-Doubling back to immigration and ... crime, I think? ... Trump, again: "Disgusting illegal alien who was let into the United States by KahMAHlah and her tax law - she, they, every one of my killer -we had the, she had the, he had the, he would've never been able to get in. She stopped every single one of them." Trump then wondered why we haven't heard from Harris' father because "nobody's heard from him" (he's 88 and is none of Trump's damn business).
-To wrap up Saturday, Trump made this discursion of vitally important political and military importance: "Oh, there's a fly. Oh, I wonder where the fly came from. See, two years ago, I wouldn't have had a fly up here. You're changing it rapidly. We can't take it any longer."
-From there, Trump went to apparently win more votes in ... Alabama? ... appearing at the (admittedly exciting) Alabama-Georgia football game, watching in a box with a Who's Who of Trump Celebrity Support, including Kid Rock, Herschel Walker, Hank Williams Jr., and Alabama Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville.
-And to end on the what-is-the-Trump-campaign-DOING?!, an ad was run during the game (which was also repeated on other NCAA and NFL games) that continued to (falsely) charge that Kamala Harris is in favor of allowing transgendered prisoners to get sex change operations in prison and to have the federal government pay for it. The ad features Harris with several transgendered people and ends with the familiar "I'm Donald Trump - and I approve this message!" right down to him showing off a bill signing in the leather steak house restaurant covers he loved using when he was in the White House.
-This afternoon, THIS JUST IN: another seat will need to be added to the Trump Celebrity Endorsement Party, as former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporter Zachary Levi (SHAZAM!) has announced his support of Trump.
-Levi may be able to express his support by making a contribution to the Trump campaign - I'm sorry, I meant "buy something Trump-branded." In addition to the previously-marketed Trump virtual trading cards and Trump sneakers, just this week Trump introduced three new items for sale to people who complain about inflation taking away their spending power: Trump Commemorative Coins (alleged to be made of gold, but HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!), Trump Watches (including a "Fight! Fight! Fight!" model and alleged gold watch being priced at $100,000 per watch - not kidding!), and Trump Cryptocurrency, a scheme that is being championed by failsons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric "Eric" Trump and reportedly underwritten in part by JD Vance patron Peter Thiel. The list made Political Wire writer Taegan Goddard quip that "It all has the air of a going-out-of-business sale."
-But not for at least a few more weeks, which is good because last night, Saturday Night Live opened its 50th season (geez ...) with Maya Rudolph reprising her Kamala Harris imitation. True to the anniversary, SNL alumna star power shone, with Andy Samberg appearing as Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey coming out as Joe Biden - while farming out Tim Walz to Jim Gaffigan and allowing current cast members James Austen Johnson as Trump and Bowen Yang as JD Vance. Reviews were all over the place, but the first five episodes will bring us to the election, so here's your chance, SNL ...
-In OTHER news - and there is OTHER news - states in the south, particularly Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, are working on rescue and (where possible) clean-up after Hurricane Helena unleashed massive flash floods that have killed at least 64, left roads washed out and at least one potential dam collapse possible if not imminent, and wary as the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore pointed to another Gulf weather system developing with a simple and ominous "uh oh." Good health to all in the area.
-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a bloody victory lap after taking out the head of Hezbollah and at least one other high-raking deputy that killed another 500 in Lebanon. While Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is responsible for deaths of Americans, Lebanese, and others, the Israeli military attacks left over 500 dead while maintaining Israel's presence in Gaza, and the rest of the world wondering how (and likely when) Iran - Hezbollah's sponsors - will retaliate themselves.
-Volodymyr Zelenskyy is back in Ukraine, with more military aid for his fight against Russia but reportedly without a green light from the White House to use longer-range weapons to attack sites deeper into Russia that launch missile strikes in Ukraine. There are conflicting reports about where the war stands, with some reports a critical transportation hub is under attack by Russia and other reports that Ukraine continues to hold a material advantage with one eye towards Crimea and what may happen there in the days to come, particularly given a meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump by all visual and reporting accounts did not go well, as it is known Trump and MAGA would love nothing more than to give Ukraine to Putin.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-Plenty coming this week, not the least of which is the JD Vance/Tim Walz debate on Tuesday that will face America's Favorite Dad against America's Skeeviest Weird Cousin You're Glad You Only See on Thanksgiving, so go grab another cup of coffee, finish today's Update, and have fun with the rest of your day, whichever day you finish reading!
-On this date in 1906, American forces occupied Cuba after a rebellion. On this date in 1923, the League of Nations approved a British mandate to establish a Jewish homeland in the area also known as Palestine. (Sigh.) On this date in 1941, the Babi Yar massacre began in Poland, with Nazis reportedly murdering over 33,000. On this date in 1982, the first three of seven people died after taking Tylenol laced with cyanide in the Chicago area. On this date in 1988, the space shuttle Discovery returned the United States into space after the Challenger disaster of 1986. On this date in 2008, the largest single-day drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average - nearly 778 points - took place. On this date in 2013, BREAKING BAD concluded. And on this date in 2021, Britney Spears regained control of her finances from her father, who seized them in 2008.
-Debuts on this date: Scotland Yard (1829), Lawrence Olivier's HAMLET (1948), the Judy Garland A STAR IS BORN (1954), MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on MTV (1991).
-Happy Birthday to Miguel de Cervantes, Caravaggio, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Enrico Fermi, Diana Vreeland, Greer Garson, Gene Autry, Michelangelo Antonioni, Trevor Howard, Bum Phillips, my mom!, Anita Ekberg, Robert Benton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Larry Linville, Tommy Boyce, Ian MacShane, Jean-Luc Ponty, Madeline Kahn, Steve Tesich, Lech Walesa, Vince Tobin, Mike Post, Bryant Gumbel, Steve Busby, Gabor Csupo, Warren Cromartie, Cindy Morgan, Gwen Ifill, Ken Weatherwax, Sebastian Coe, Suzzy Roche, John Paxson, Rob Deer, Roger Bart, Les Claypool, Trent Yawney, Hersey Hawkins, Jill Whelan, Erika Eleniak, Jake Westbrook, Chrissy Metz, Calvin Johnson, Kevin Durant, and Halsey.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Rudolf Diesel, Edward Everett Horton, W.H. Auden, Casey Stengel, Henry Ford II, Charles Addams, Gussie Busch, Madelyn Murray O'Hair, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Bradley, Nguyen Van Thieu, Lois Maxwell, Hayden Carruth, Greg Giraldo, Tony Curtis, Sylvia Robinson, Phil Woods, Helen Reddy, and Mac Davis.
-Feed the Worms: Corrupt-as-F Italian media magnate and Prime Minister Silvio "Bonga Bonga" Berlusconi and the aforementioned Zachary Levi entered Earth on this date.
-Andrew Dice Clay was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.
-The Number One Song In America On This Date ... in 2024, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozy ... in 2014, "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor ... in 2004, "Goodies" by Ciara featuring Petey Pablo ... in 1994, "I'll Make Love To You" by Boys II Men ... in 1984, "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution" ... and in 1974, "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim.