EAT AN EXTRA DESSERT DAY UPDATES
Perhaps With Macadamia Nuts, As It's Also National Macadamia Nut Day
-With the late posting, we unfortunately need to start with news of another mass school shooting, this one at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA. Two students and two teachers were killed and nine others were wounded, an a 14-year-old student at the school surrendered and was charged with the killings. The Congressperson who represents the district, Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter, is a full-throated MAGA Representative who wholeheartedly supports Republican Presidential nominee Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) and is fully supported by the National Rifle (Makers) Association, who benefits enormously from mass shootings like the one today.
-Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris condemned the killing at a campaign appearance in New Hampshire, interrupting her previously scheduled event which was to promote small business incentives that she hopes to implement if she wins the election this November, simply stating "this does not have to be that way." The NRA has deemed Harris to be an "existential threat" to the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms as part of "a well-regulated militia," meaning Harris is in favor of sensible gun restrictions as opposed to the NRA's full support of mass shootings using weapons they promote and profit from.
-While Harris continued making campaign appearances and also preparing for the September 10 debate with Trump, Trump has spent the last several days making protected appearances with a number of sympathetic talk show hosts with the ability to edit errors (fairly easily detectable) and going on post-sharing binges on social media, most the same kind of racist and/or sexist and/or generic attacks on Harris that we've seen countless times before when Trump ran against various Republicans and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
-About the only relatively original posting he has made (which was also made by another weirdo ally, Elon Musk) attempts to milk his it-may-have-been-original-in-1986 "Comrade Kamala" name by depicting Harris in what apparently was supposed to be a Soviet General-style military costume ... only, between the garish red of the costume and an inexplicable Italian mustache pasted on Harris, the getup is less Vladimir Lenin and far more Donkey Kong Mario.
-It points to Trump's continued absence from the campaign trail en route to the aforementioned debate, where some reports claim Trump and his campaign strategy team, such as it is, are trying to "prepare" Trump for the debate. Reports indicate the Trump campaign leadership have stopped trying to get Trump to even try to discuss policy and will allow Trump to try to use the remaining 62 days of the general campaign to make Kamala "more unpopular than Trump," meaning the potential for some of the dirtiest, nuttiest, and most off-the-wall attacks against Harris will be made on Tuesday in what appears to be a desperate attempt to stop Harris' momentum and at least try to keep the election close enough to get it into courts and legislatures to tip the Electoral Congress as occurred in 2016.
-Certainly, Democrats who still suffer from PTSD of the 2016 election continue to pha-REEK-out over any kind of polling that seems to indicate a lack of a convention bounce or any indication of closeness of the election - aided by many around the Harris campaign who insist that she must run "like an underdog" in the belief terror will keep voters from staying home.
-STANDS ON SOAPBOX
-That seems a bit defeatist, especially given the subtheme of joy and a joyful warrior Harris depicts. It can be argued (as I am doing here) that bandwagons can often attract more votes than 'running behind,' as people want to be part of a winning team rather than on the side of losing teams, which underdogs kind of make themselves out to be. Expressing confidence and riding momentum does not depict arrogance - cockiness, sure, but haven't we figured out that cockiness, even when coming from Trump, can kind of work? The trends have gone towards Harris since she seized the campaign from Biden, and short of a full disaster or Harris pulling a live baby out from behind her podium and biting its head off, it is Trump who is operating from a state of blind fear because he desperately needs the debate more than Harris. If he fails, the potential for Trump's campaign cratering is far more possible than Harris, even with the already-telegraphed efforts Trump and the MAGAts will make to steal any potential Harris victory in Trump-friendly courtrooms. So show some CONFIDENCE, people!
-STEPS DOWN FROM SOAP BOX
-In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu continues to defy both Western countries and, increasingly, much if not the majority of his country's citizens, by continuing to prosecute the war in Palestine against HAMAS despite the loss of six hostages who appear to have been executed over this past weekend. Netanyahu is being increasingly blamed for those deaths and his refusal to come to some kind of peace terms or negotiated settlement that would bring hostages home and possibly a peace of some sort, but the support of the right and far right of Israel's government - not to mention continued rumors of Netanyahu working to stop any treaties as a sop to Trump to try to get him to win in November - and sadly, we must continue to monitor that situation.
-So to do we need to monitor the situation in Ukraine, where Russia continues to retaliate against Ukraine's seizure of over 500 miles of Russian territory in a surprise counteroffensive by intense missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and cities. A new wave of such attacks this week left 51 dead after an attack on a military training center in the city of Poltava, and similar attacks in the city of Lviv killed at least seven, including at least four children. Both Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and Russian leader Putin have heard from officials, with Zelenskyy creating a cabinet shaekup and a Russian military leader criticizing the war in Ukraine which is likely to make him vulnerable to tea and open windows.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-And to tie the Russian story with the 2024 election, today President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland - remember him?! - announced they knocked off 32 web sites they claim have been disseminating false electoral information in the United States. The move is one of the more aggressive since Trump first ran in 2015 and became the beneficiary of several Russian-based cyberattacks and virtual campaigning on his behalf.
-And in medical news, do you have your newest Covid vaccine apppointment set up yet? The newest updated booster shot is now available in most of the same drug stores and doctors’ offices you first started getting them in back in 2021. The booster will help bulk up your resistance to the newest variances - not prevent you from getting Covid, but keeping the worst affects from you and any potential bout of Covid to be relatively mild and/or short-lasting. With a summer Covid wave finally peaking, if you have had Covid in the summer you likely need to wait about three months to get the booster, which doctors say should be resilient to the latest strains - but if you haven't, set it up (along with any other boosters or vaccines - because #CovidIsNotOver and #ScienceRocks.
-Not bad for a late Update, I hope!
-On this date in 1886, Geronimo surrendered to U.S. Government troops. On this date in 1989, the last Titan III rocket was launched by NASA. On this date in 2002, Kelly Clarkson became the first winner of AMERICAN IDOL. And on this date in 2016, Mother Theresa became a Saint.
-Debuts on this day: the first King of England (King Athelstan, 925), Los Angeles (1781), a national Presidential television broadcast (1951), the Ford Edsel (1957), EASY RIDER (1969), Bob Barker as host of THE PRICE IS RIGHT (1972), Google (1998).
-Happy Birthday to Daniel Burnham, Antonin Artaud, Paul Osborn, Richard Wright, Henry Ford II, Paul Harvey, Howard Morris, Craig Claiborne, Dick York, Thomas Eagleton, Mitzi Gaynor, Vince Dooley, Richard Castellano, Dawn Fraser, Ken Harrelson, Jerry Jarrett, Ray Floyd, Tom Watson, Judith Ivey, Martin Chambers, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, George Hurley, Damon Wayans, Kim Thayll, Ione Skye, Mark Ronson, Beyonce, and Nyota Uhura.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Clyde Fitch, Alert Schweitzer, Hank Greenberg, Irene Dunne, Herve Villechaize, William Kunstler, Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, Steve Irwin, Lee Roy Selmon, Joan Rivers, Bill Daily, Tunch Ilkin, Willard Scott, Gary Wright, and Steve Harwell.
-Feed the Worms: Woulda-been autocrat Nicu Ceausescu and member-exposure Anthony Weiner entered Earth on this date.
-Steroid-enhanced baseballer Mike Piazza was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.