MORE HERBS, LESS SALT DAY
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, Tarragon, Chives, Dill - but Maybe Not Cilantro Because of That Soapy Taste Some Taste ...
-If you only read mainstream political media, tonight is a make-or-break moment for Kamala Harris, as for the first time after the whirlwind six weeks that placed her as the Democratic nominee (and now arguably the frontrunner to win in November) she and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz will sit down for a formal interview with a mainstream journalist: CNN's Dana Bash, fresh off of the now-momentous July debate featuring President Biden and Republican nominee Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist).
-MAGAGOPites and even some other mainstream pundits are tut-tutting the interview because of the presence of Walz (never mind similar interviews with Trump and his Vice President, the deeply-weird "JD Vance" shortly after "Vance" was designated as the running mate), attempting to create a picture of Harris avoiding confronting hard questions by the media. In reality, Harris regularly takes quick questions coming in and out of campaign appearances, and she and her campaign actively work with alternative media such as bloggers and podcasters and social media influencers, in part doubtlessly because of residual mistrust and anger from the Biden White House towards legacy media (GLARING AT NEW YORK TIMES) and in part because the courting of social media influencers seems to be working to maintain the positive momentum Harris seized within an hour of Biden leaving the race and endorsing her.
-(STEPS ON SOAPBOX) That relationship the Harris campaign has with those alternative media influencers may mark an innovative approach that, historically, is a hallmark of many winning Presidential campaigns since John Kennedy realized television may be really important in the 1960 race. Changes in media, technology, and outreach innovations can often be pinned to particular campaigns that often win and sometimes win unexpectedly or with larger margins. Examples range from the use of evangelicals and mailing lists (Reagan 1980) to cable television and embrace of youth culture (Clinton 1992), from mining base voters and using demographic maps to target them (W 2004) to the Internet to mobilize and raise money (Obama 2008) and using social media to subvert mainstream media messaging (Trump 2016), Harris finding an alternative to the previously-established digital social media to reach voters that don't follow CNN OR whatever Twitter is called now could, depending on the results, add to the chapters of how to win the Presidency heading forward. (And it could even quash an American apartheid movement to boot!) (STEPS DOWN FROM SOAPBOX)
-That Harris is doing the CNN interview is also interesting because CNN is still headquartered in Atlanta, GA, where Harris and Walz have been doing a bus tour of rural counties in what is clearly a battleground state. The strategy, which the Harris campaign openly admits will also be in use in Sunbelt states including AZ, NC and NV, is to even reach out to drive Harris votes up in red counties to reduce Trump's margins and help secure those states come November - all of which is coinciding with TV buys from Harris' currently $500 M campaign kitty. That Trump continues to lag dangerously in setting up field offices and TV/digital ads shows that, despite MSNBC labelling it "high risk, high reward," may show it is not such a risk for a campaign as resourced as Harris/Walz is.
-Besides, the Trump campaign continues to be one where it almost seems as if it is designed to create a landslide loss for him. Witness the controversy surrounding Trump's appearance at Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week. The purpose of the appearance was nakedly political: to mark the anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 American service members, which Trump drools is "the most emBARrazing thing that has ever happened in American HIStorY!" (Um ... no) and which of course Trump wants to now pin on Harris. The photo op that took place was done over the gravestone of a fallen soldier from Afghanistan, and with the family of the soldier surrounding Trump, he is seen in his teeth-gritted-simulacrum of a smile and, most grotesquely, his wee tiny thumbs-up sign above the grave, overall giving the vibe of a Trump adorer getting a photo of him in the omelet line at Mar-a-Lago.
-If you are thinking, "Is it allowed to stage campaign events at Arlington National Freaking Cemetery?" the answer is a resounding NO - and this is where this hideous story gets worse. Trump and his team obviously did not tell anyone at Arlington what his intent was, and Army soldiers - led by a female officer - approached the team to attempt to get them to stop. It is acknowledged that the female soldier was verbally abused and physically shoved away by Trump campaign team members, and further that the Trump campaign blamed the Army officer for the confrontation, claiming the soldier had "a mental health episode." The officer filed a complaint but has chosen not to press charges, reportedly out of fear that if she did so a potential-Commander in Chief Trump would remember her and take further action against her.
-Not wanting to be left out of the self-embarrassment, Vance went on to the stump to defend Dear Leader by pivoting to the Trump intent of making his Arlington desecration about Afghanistan and, in the socially-disturbed way only he apparently can, thunder-whined "13 brave, innocent Americans died ... because Kamala Harris refused to do her job," and that "she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up (for a photo op over the grave of a soldier)! SHE CAN GO TO HELL!"
-Two things, JD ... one, Harris was not the Commander-in-Chief of the Afghanistan withdrawal (and trust us, there is A TON we can talk about regarding your boss and Afghanistan) ... and two, Harris has not said ONE WORD about Trump's appearance at Arlington. So go take a flying fk at a donut if you can find a shop and figure out how to order one without making an arse of yourself.
-When kind of ignoring the Arlington fiasco, Trump has been spending his campaign posting and reposting dozens of posts in response to the revised indictments filed by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith on Tuesday regarding Trump's role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Smith had to find a way to keep the case alive in the wake of the Trump Six of the Supreme Court giving Trump special super-secret Prezidenchul Powerz that would allow Trump to commit crimes without fear of prosecution - and Smith did so simply by noting that the four previous charges still hold because, as he reframed the case on Page One of the new indictments, Trump was "a candidate for President" and NOT President when he took his actions, thereby making most of his evidence and the rest of the case intact. To further drive that point home, Smith took the extra step of empaneling a new Grand Jury to hear the new case - and got the indictments a second time.
-Needless to say, Trump (and his team) will insist being President means literally everything that is said or done or wet-farted is Presidential and therefore immune - but that didn't stop Trump from his onslaught of social media posts that did everything from depict Smith as America's Biggest Enemy while Trump was and is America's Greatest Hero, to memes and posts slurring Harris as being where she is because of sexual favors, and all sorts of other authoritarian/Fascist posts in support of Dear Leader.
-Trump was also busy hawking a new set of virtual trading cards depicting CGI images of Trump as a sculpted, thin-wasted wide-crotched superhero for sale to his followers (including swatches of the suit he allegedly wore during the June debate) and encouraging people to do so by using Bitcoin (look for Trump Cybercurrency to be sold soon - the newest scheme of failsons Don Jr. and Eric "Eric"), and 'campaigning' by doing an interview with that cutting-edge influencer Dr. Phil, in which Trump slur-stammered that he knew that "if God could count the votes," that he would win Harris' home state of California.
-In short, the same ol' same ol' schtick from Trump. He's SO 2015 ...
-OH, and there is ALSO a new report from The Bulwark that reports that the Trump campaign is spending ad dollars on pro-Trump ads in the Palm Beach media market that are designed to allow Trump to see the ads while he is golfing and posting and raging and not actually going out to meet voters to campaign or anything like that. That in part could be because Never Trump groups like The Lincoln Project and the Harris campaign itself is running Harris ads and TRUMP B NUTS ads in the same media market ... and to pacify Trump, because all alpha males need to be mollified and told what big boys they are and how everybody LOVES you!
-We'll close today with the biggest news for folks who came of age in the 1990s and probably had "Wonderwall" grating in their heads as a prom theme: the news that the Gallagher brothers will end their 15-year feud and reform their Britpop band Oasis for a series of reunion performances in 2025. Most of the shows will be in England, and while there may be some overseas shows, the band has said they will not be performing in any festivals. The shows will mostly be about nostalgia and waiting to see if the famously-feuding brothers will make it through the schedule without beating the living tar out of each other - but honestly, neither Gallagher is worthy of holding the guitar pick of Damon Albarn and the TRUE kings of that era, Blur (and Albarn's brilliant side project Gorillaz) - or, for that matter, Jarvis Cocker's equally worlds-better-than-Oasis band Pulp. (Hell, I'll even throw in Supergrass, I hate Oasis that damn much ...)
-Obviously there's plenty more to be reported - particularly on the post-convention bounce and actions by Trump and his minions to muck up the vote counts amid reports of spikes in voter registration - as well as Cooking for Kamala (a personal fave!), the latest from Ukraine, and Labor Day! - in up-and-coming Updates! BUT FIRST ...
-On this date in 1949, the Soviet Union became the second nation on Earth to create and explode (in a test, of course) a nuclear weapon. On this date in 1958, George Harrison joined The Quarrymen, soon to be renamed The Beatles - who played their last public concert on this date in 1966. On this date in 1967, a record television audience saw the finale of THE FUGITIVE. On this date in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. And on this date in 2008, Sarah Palin was named John McCain's running mate.
-Debuts on this date: the zipper (1893), Speedy Gonzalez (1953), DEFINITELY MAYBE (I guess) (1994), Netflix (1997).
-Happy Birthday to John Locke, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Preston Sturges, Barry Sullivan, Ingrid Bergman, Isabel Sanford, Charlie Parker, Iris Apfel, Mr. Blackwell, Sir Richard Attenborough, Dinah Washington, William Friedkin, John McCain, Elliot Gould, Joel Schumacher, James Brady, Robin Leach, Bob Beamon, Temple Grandin, Diamanda Galas, Michael Jackson, Rebecca DeMornay, Carl Banks, Will Perdue, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Roy Oswalt, Chris Simms, Brian Chesky, Lea Michele, and Zooey Zephyr.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to John the Baptist, Jean Hagen, Lowell Thomas, Ingrid Bergman, Simon Oakland, Archie Campbell, Lee Marvin, Michael Peters, Barry Cowsill, Richard Jewell, Gene Wilder, Ed Asner, Jacques Rogge, and Ernie Zampese.
-Feed the Worms: Radical Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch entered Earth on this date.