NATIONAL PET BIRD DAY UPDATES
Parrots! Cockatoos! Cockatiels! Parakeets! Toucans! And (if you are a fan of 40s-50s movies) Pigeons! YAY PET BIRDS!
-One week out from the debate, and after a series of national and swing state polls that include NPR, Morning Consult, and Politico, it is clear that the victory that was witnessed by Kamala Harris over Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) is resulting in a clear and stable bump, with an emerging average lead of 4-5% nationally and leads-to-ties that tip in favor of Harris and Tim Walz. Harris and her campaign continue to fund raise, continue to host phone calls from interesting subsets of subcultures (including "Paisans for Harris" and "Nerds for Harris" - that one hosted by known Trekkie Stacy Abrams!), continue to rack up endorsements (Scientific American endorsed Harris - only their second such endorsement in its history - as well as (THIS JUST IN:) Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas), and even Republicans that feel icky accepting them (known waterboarding aficionado Alberto Gonzalez).
-As for Trump, observers note that he and his campaign - apparently now led by excretably creepy and weird Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance and ... whatever she is doing with Trump (EW) bigot MAGAt Laura Loomer ... face decaying fundraising, no swing state get-out-the-vote apparatus, and a two-prong strategy aimed at suppressing the vote through intimidation and openly virulent racism - a strategy several observers of the Right, including writers at the Never Trump web site The Bulwark - note is a common right-wing strategy when their internal polls and campaign knowledge indicate Republican candidates are losing.
-Witness the continued ... persecution, let's call it ... of Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, OH, all hinging on now-disproven rumors of the immigrants eating animals. While early reactions played the comedy of Trump's response to Harris mocking his dwindling rally attendance, multiple-day cancellations of school days and a festival in the city due to threats being received by the town and neo-Nazis showing up in the wake of Trump's and Vance's crack now display the true ugliness of their attacks. That Vance both acknowledged his role in originating the initial rumors despite knowing they were bunk and refusing to denounce the threats in the town furthers the Bulwark's argument that Trump campaign flailing will be leading to rhetoric like this and actions like the ones taking place in Springfield - if not worse.
-There is also, of course, the added layer of Trump paranoia after a second former Trump voter was arrested for at least plotting to kill Trump. The said would-be shooter, a 58-year-old with an apparent history of spousal abuse and sexual torment who is also all over the political field (he voted for Trump in 2016 but then supported Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, and had a claim of trying to enlist to fight in Ukraine roundly scoffed at by the International United Nations), Trump and a number of his toadies have moved to try to blame the two would-be assassins - again, two former TRUMP voters taking shots at Trump - on Kamala Harris and the Democrats (for their "rhetoric") (yeah, really!).
-No one has tried this stochaic terrorist threat more clearly than billionaire-for-now weird Elon Musk, who between seeing TwiX lose close to 80% of its valuation since Trump bought it, posted on his pet social media project "no one is even trying" to kill Harris or President Biden - a threat that Musk of course claimed was a "Joke!" but sure appeared to be a potential prompt instead (as the FBI is apparently treating it as). More responsible people are leaving TwiX as Musk continues to promote himself as the fair-minded Defender of Free Speech In His Own Private Sandbox, as well as crap like this.
-Trump's latest set of public campaign appearances appears to be designed less to get a break and more to salve his obese ego. Yes he keeps showing up in AZ and GA and NC to try to sway voters in those swing states, but he also made an appearance in Idaho (albeit part of a fundraiser) and will soon be heading to ruby-red Long Island where he may finally get a decent crowd (because as we all know from Kamala, Trump has a very difficult time dealing with small ... crowds). Finally, Trump appears to be ignoring pleas from alleged campaign professionals who are trying to get Trump to stay on point and cut off Loomer from his plane and wherever else she seems to be around Trump (EWWWW) - though most believe Trump is rather uncontrollable, especially at this stage of his campaign and mental health status.
-MEANwhile, back in the U.S. House, attempts by Trump/MAGA Puppet Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-zuz!, LA) to hammer out a bill to keep the government open is again struggling. At issue is a rider to the budget bill being insisted on by Dear Leader Trump and other MAGA leaders that would demand all voters produce an ID for this election. Besides being utterly impossible to implement and even less likely to ever pass or get signed by Biden - and the clear threat that a bill with a rider like that would die - the transparent voter suppression move could also lead to a shutdown, which sane-ish MAGAGOP members realize could be the death blow to any MAGAGOP majority in 2025 - and with it, perhaps ironically, any ability to try to gum up an Electoral College certification vote, which Trump and MAGA have been openly discussing (and which Biden and Democrats are already fighting on the state level).
-In the Middle East, members of Hezbollah and others in and around Lebanon are reeling from what appears to be a James-Bond-esque high-tech attack in which thousands of pagers and personal electronic devices exploded at the same time, apparently from a cyberattack on the devices. Hezbollah claims eight were killed and over 2,000 injured, and the suspected perpetrators of the attack - Israel and their intelligence agency, the Mossad - have stayed notoriously quiet when asked for reactions. But given recent statements that Israel wants to expand its war from the Gaza strip north, most observers are pretty comfortable about who initiated the pager attack ... and now await a response in kind, sadly ...
-We'll wrap today's Update with PURE GOSSIP from TrumpLandia! You may recall that lead Trump failson Donald "SCHNOOOORT!" (ALLEGEDLY) (eyeroll) Trump Jr. left his wife and mother of his children to be with the now reconstructed and oddly inflated former Fox News spokesbroad Kimberly Guilfoyle. WELL, according to several foreign press stories and local Mar-a-Lago gossip, Junior has instead been spending time with one Bettina Anderson, a 37-year-old "Palm Beach socialite" who reportedly has been seen with Junior on what multiple reports describe as "definitely a date!" Guilfoyle has been seen on the stump making poorly-received speeches for Donald Trump Sr., and while there seems to be no confirmed breakup, it does appear son is following daddy and, to coin a phrase, the best is NOT yet to come ... at least for Kimberly. (Stay tuned!)
-Or not. Honestly, it's just the schadenfreude of it that makes me post it ...
-On this date in 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed. On this date in 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from the plantation where she was held as a slave. On this date in 1862, Confederate forces were stopped advancing further into Maryland at the town of Antietam. On this date in 1939, Germany invaded Poland. And on this date in 1978, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty at Camp David under the direction of Jimmy Carter.
-Debuts on this date: 33-1/3 record (1931), Stan Musial (1941), Ernie Banks (1953), The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (1949), THE FUGITIVE (TV. 1963), M*A*S*H (TV, 1970), the Space Shuttle Enterprise (1976), TALKING HEADS: 77 (1977), "Rapper's Delight" (1979), HOUNDS OF LOVE (1985), Occupy Wall Street (2011).
-Happy Birthday to Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, William Carlos Williams, Warren Burger, Hank Williams Sr., Dorothy Loudon, George Blanda, Roddy McDowall, David Huddleston, Anne Bancroft, Maureen Connolly, Ken Kesey, Orlando Cepeda, Paul Benedict, David Souter, Bruce Spence, Phil Jackson, Jeff MacNelly, John Ritter, Fee Waybill, Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, Rita Rudner, John Franco, Baz Luhrmann, Bryan Singer, Guy Picciotto, Yuji Naka, Keith Flint, Mark Brunell, Rasheed Wallace, Jimmie Johnson, Flo Rida, Patrick Mahomes, and Jose Ramirez.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Dred Scott, Richard Basehart, Jay Stewart, Vitas Gerulaitis, Red Skelton, Charles Percy, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, and Cokie Roberts.
-Feed the Worms: dozing GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and oligarch-adjacent Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered Earth on this date. Spiro Agnew bought it on this date.
-Putin-loving mega-hockey superstar Alex Ovechkin was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.