Developers are Crabgrass : 10/1/24

Worth reading. Consider, while losing subscribers, the coverage of WaPo declining to endorse, while the Harris piece had already been written, is more benefit to Harris than a vanilla endorsement would have been.

Bezos quells it, it grows in statute. Go figure.

And in cash terms, the subscriber loss is a minor hit to the empire. Bezos, beyond the paper, is shooting for the moon with Blue Origin.

So Harris gets more backhanded boost from a non-endorsement, Trump gets a non-endorsement, so what's the real world balance?

And, Trump/Vance could win. Scary. Many reasons Harris is a better choice, while constraining Trump is the main one. Trump wins, trade war impact on prices, etc.

I've voted, so let everybody else have their input, and chips fall as they shall.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Another voice besides Bernie, writes also more or less what Bernie wrote. Again, in Guardian.

Footer first identifying the author (know who you are reading): Wajahat Ali is editor of The Left Hook substack, co-host of The Democracy-ish Podcast, and author of the book Go Back to Where You Came From and Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

Link, then quote:

If you’re undecided about your vote, a reliable rule of thumb is to always side against the candidate who is a convicted criminal, admires “good things” done by Adolf Hitler, and is labeled a “fascist” by four-star generals who worked in their administration.
However, just days before the chaotic 2024 US election, many American voters are still loath to vote for Kamala Harris due to the Biden administration’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. It’s hard to blame them. “How can we vote for genocidaires?” ask many Democratic voters radicalized and infuriated by Israel’s daily war crimes. Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu’s fanatical government, populated by a rogue galley of Jewish supremacists, openly declared their desire to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and illegally occupy more land. Their desire for ultra-violence and carnage does not spare journalists, UN workers, doctors or even US citizens. More than 42,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed.
And yet Democrats couldn’t be bothered to even invite one Palestinian as a speaker at the Democratic national convention. Instead, they were replaced by hollow talking points about the need for a ceasefire, return of hostages, and Palestinian self-determination even as the Israeli prime minister’s policies make such goals an impossibility. However, Netanyahu’s humiliation and repudiation of the US, Israel’s greatest ally, is still rewarded with billions of aid and unconditional support.
Despite these tragic, deflating, and heartbreaking circumstances, progressive voters must still support the vice-president in the 2024 election. The reality is that only one of two candidates will be the next president and the most powerful person on Earth. It will be either Donald Trump, a twice-impeached vulgarian who incited a violent insurrection, or Harris. Whenever I say this to undecided friends, they accuse me of supporting genocide or believe “both sides” are the same evil.
I respectfully disagree.
Donald Trump will be genocidal and a fascist. On Gaza, Trump promised he would let Israel “finish the job”. That means fulfilling his mega-donor Miriam Adelson’s wish of annexing the West Bank and standing pat as Israel moves to occupy northern Gaza on the graveyard of Palestinians. There’s a reason why Israel’s extremist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wants Trump to win and says he will be better for Israel. Trump might be better for Israel, but he won’t be better for Jewish people, whom he said he would blame if he loses the 2024 election. This is an addition to his promotion of antisemitic “dual loyalty” tropes and support of the antisemitic “great replacement theory”.

That for a beginning, and the end:

With Harris and Democrats, there is an opening for Americans to organize, push, and pressure her administration to halt Israel’s genocide and pursue progressive healthcare and economic policies. Democratic allies include Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, labor organizations and communities of color who remain committed to social justice, equity and peace. With the Republicans and Trump, no such allies exist. There’s simply a fascist and a white Christian nationalist regime in waiting.
There’s no both sides. Please vote accordingly.

The man is telling it as it is. If you want Trump, we all might end up getting Trump, and there are those of us, sane, who deserve better - that being Harris.

________UPDATE________

Fighting the urge failed. I know I should leave this update out. The devil makes me say it. Bezos should read Guardian as he might learn what a real newspaper is.

There, I've said it. I feel better for permitting that one excess. Leave things there.

Former Presidential candidate more popular with progressive populists than others named Clinton says Gaza policy aside, vote Harris.

Bernie. An item he authored is carried by Guardian. It is longer, but here opening paragraphs are quoted, where readers wanting more can follow the link:

I understand that there are millions of Americans who disagree with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the terrible war in Gaza. I am one of them.
While Israel had a right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, it did not have the right to wage an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.
It did not have the right to kill 42,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were children, women and the elderly, or injure over 100,000 people in Gaza. It did not have the right to destroy Gaza’s infrastructure and housing and healthcare systems. It did not have the right to bomb every one of Gaza’s 12 universities. It did not have the right to block humanitarian aid, causing massive malnutrition in children and, in fact, starvation.
And that is why I am doing everything I can to block US military aid and offensive weapons sales to the rightwing extremist Netanyahu government in Israel. And I know that many of you share those feelings. And some of you are saying, “How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she is supporting this terrible war?” And that is a very fair question.
And let me give you my best answer. And that is that even on this issue, Donald Trump and his rightwing friends are worse. In the Senate and in Congress Republicans have worked overtime to block humanitarian aid to the starving children in Gaza. The president and vice-president both support getting as much humanitarian aid into Gaza as soon as possible.
Trump has said that Netanyahu is doing a good job and that Biden is holding him back. He has suggested that the Gaza Strip would make excellent beachfront property for development. It is no wonder Netanyahu prefers to have Donald Trump in office.

It hurts that both parties are whoring for the Jewish vote by supposing the best chance is to back genocidal indecency.

But, lesser evil.

It is not as if we've not had to take that path before in elections.

Former Republican CA governor, actor, and immigrant goes on record for Harris.

HuffPo posts of Arnlod Schwartzenegger endorsing Harris, reluctantly, because she is to him the only real option - one he is lukewarm about. Below, HuffPo quoting his X.com post.

................

“We should be pissed! But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
“It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful. We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger. That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you.”

.............

That quote stands by itself, HuffPo links to the original, and there is no need to say more. He was Governor of California, and he speaks in the capacity of one who had to govern a large economy as well as he could.

Garbage in, garbage out. Our "garbage" is the electoral college. Ripe for a "landfill" amendment. Dump it.

Biden says his remark was aimed at the Trump Garden rally people.

Accept it. Or don't.

If voting from here to election day hinges upon that situation, where Pueto Rico was called garbage by a "comedian," and Biden replied, with Trump/Vance in a phony snit, taking false umbrage and all, if that, then we are less as a people wanting to show sound judgment than we could be.

That a campaign bloated by money, both sides, could hinge on a Biden comment is a sign of something. What exactly, is unclear.

This seems a crazier election than others have been, Musk committing, Bezos deferring, Soros family still being hob goblins to the right while the right is having and ignoring their own caricatures.

A GOTV tool for Trump/Vance is what it is. They will stretch things as they can.

Going to criticize the level of hangers-on, vs voters, is one thing. It seems unlikely Biden would have called any presently deciding voters anything but citizens, so, his history shows, even when presiding over the Clarence Thomas nomination and not really being fair to Anita Hill, even that was a judgment among Senators, and not a reflection on voters.

But Biden said what he said. Things will sort out, possibly Trump winning, possibly Harris. Neither strongly moves me, but I regard Harris as less of a risk, less a loose cannon on deck, than Trump. It reaches a willingness to accept either for atop the nation over the next four years. Not that I have a choice. A vote is all I am allowed.

I support Harris and have already voted for her.

We shall see how the nation votes, and independent of that the electoral college needs to be reformed, however the votes fall. The reform will not likely happen in my lifetime. But it has to ultimately happen. Politics of 1789 are irrelevant to today, and the broom is needed.

Stream of consciousness reflections come down to what relevance can any honest American suggest as cause to have the electoral college now, beyond it's there, and some benefit unfairly and will fight to keep the unfairness. One person, one vote, the equality of each person's vote wherever in the US of A they reside seems to be a clear choice, if fairness is the measure. It is not the measure we endure.

Either election outcome, we will not somehow lose our nationhood or rule of law unless a majority of people feel rule of law has favored power and money and believe they have a roadmap to change that. They don't, Trump is no roadmap to anything better, we'll suffer if he wins, but we'll survive. It is not "existential," a word bandied about now, falsely. It's an emotion-charged election, worse so than others we have had. Which is bad enough.

However, after Trump and co-conspirators schemed in 2020 to game the electoral college, that alone is cause to turn post-election to it, and hopefully to end it.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Endorsements two things to say.

First, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_media_endorsements_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

Trump, in his campaign, has threatened vengeance on the media for negative coverage of him.^[3] Bezos' companies have contracts worth billions of dollars with the federal government, such as Blue Origin.^[16] Hours after Lewis' statement, Blue Origin executives meet with Donald Trump.^[28]^[20]^[12] Amazon, the company Bezos founded, is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for anticompetitive behavior.^[13] Soon-Shiong's pharmaceutical companies are developing drugs that require future approval from the Food and Drug Administration.^[13]

A factual paragraph putting facts in an arrangement to suggest cause and effect.

Second, Forbes, posts

Over 100 Ex-GOP Officials Endorse Harris—Here’s The Full List
Molly Bohannon
Forbes Staff

There is first explanatory text, then the letter text, then names. Too much to extract much except opening explanatory paragraphs, which matter most:

Key Facts

The letter—released by the group Reagan, Bush, McCain & Romney Alumni for Harris—is signed by 111 former officials from those administrations as well as ex-Trump staffers like Miles Taylor, along with some former Republican members of Congress like former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

In addition to criticizing Trump’s national security record and “demonstrated chaotic and unethical behavior,” the letter condemned Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

The letter comes after other notable members of George W. Bush’s administration—including former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez—endorsed Harris over Trump in recent weeks.

Forbes has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.

Either expect no reply, or pejorative things untrue as is much from that campaign.

Why? Go figure who wants MAGA, who wants MAGA in the rear view mirror. There is no need for further thought. They want their fucking little party back.

So, an open schism, with Bezos fearing Trump nastiness and Trump meeting Blue Origin folks. Suggesting a quid pro quo. Elon has been a cheerleader and may become jealous if Bezos gets a bigger launch share than success of his venture deserves. Musk's SpaceX has delivered. Jeff's has dithered. But has the potential to be a competitior where Boeing is not doing too well at this time.

BOTTOM LINE: Conventional Republicans don't like MAGA and want their property back. JD will meet these signatories once Trump loses - who knows what comes of it but JD is a MAGA designee of Trump where the Indians might have doubts of the change in Chiefs. Trump is a worn out old bag of hate, and JD has had to run as Trump's man, not his own.

search = jd vance catholic postliberal

Top returned item?

https://nymag.com › intelligencer › article › j-d-vance-and-the-rise-of-the-postliberal-catholics.html
J.D. Vance and the Rise of the 'Postliberal' Catholics
Sep 22, 2024J.D. Vance and the Rise of the 'Postliberal' Catholics. When J.D. Vance converted to Catholicism five years ago, he came into contact with what the Associated Press recently called "a ...
JD Vance Defends Hinchcliffe's Puerto Rico Joke at MSG Rally
J.D. Vance said "maybe" it wasn't racist for comedian Tony

Trump losing over such Inner Party opposition, here and now, end of October?

Learn the answer in a week. But, losing will have many fathers. Persona on top. Trump being who he has shown four past years, this campaign being main driver.

Quoting the first three paragraphs of the former GOP officials:

We believe that the President of the United States must be a principled, serious, and steady leader who can advance and defend American security and values, strengthen our alliances, and protect our democracy. We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as President and Donald Trump does not. We therefore support her election to be President.

We firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump. As President, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country’s founding documents. In our view, by inciting the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and defending those who committed it, he has violated his oath of office and brought danger to our country. As former Vice President Pence has said "anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States."

Donald Trump’s susceptibility to flattery and manipulation by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, unusual affinity for other authoritarian leaders, contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior, and chaotic national security decision-making are dangerous qualities – as many honorable Republican colleagues and military officers who served in senior national security positions in his administration have frequently testified. He is unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust.

Arguably, MAGA doesn't give a shit over any of that, being able to say "sour grapes."

But, presuming it more likely than not Trump loses, JD will show what he's got besides Theil's and Musk's money and numbers of MAGA people who will wait and watch; while being an unpredictable and unruly bunch, including those in the House.

JD has his family, his church, and his hillbilly law degree from Yale.

What else?

_____________UPDATE____________

And the dog that didn't bark. Because it has a reason? Is Bezos tuned into some complicated convoluted cautious but preemptive-imperial form of anticipatory compliance, or what? That and a newly lifestyle retool.

With a statement of reasoning and understanding where he knew he'd get it published? Read all about it. (I rewrote this update once I tracked down the editorial link. Readers can judge. First update version was too first-impression judgmental.)

Monday, October 28, 2024

"Sanewashing" What is it? Who gets it? Where's the need?

Nobody is saying the media "sanewashes" Harris. It does not fit.

Trump - https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_incoherent_media_sanewashing.php

And you can go from there. Actually, I tried a quite simple experiment:

search = Trump sanewashing

search = Harris sanewashing

There is a message in items returned. Yes, it may be me profiled one way, or the search engine being biased. But, come on -

Try it yourself, use any browser your want, any search engine you want. My bet is your results do not differ from mine. And think for a moment - what is sanewashing, who is doing it, and what if anything may be in it for them.

Keeping a contest front burner "interesting" among casual consumers, what does it mean for placing advertising? For continued reading?

A horse race over in the back stretch is no fun, is it?

The bottom line is nobody doubts Harris' sanity. Trump, different matter.

Here is another one: This item, does it surprise you?

There is a story beyond mere chance. Think very seriously about it.

These are not interchangeable human beings. One has a different web presence than the other. Either the whole web is biased, the search engines wrong, or the search engines correct and the phenomenon is as real as night following day.

For a reason.

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Two newspapers declined to endorse a candidate, and are being criticized. Let it be.

We vote. Newspapers endorse or not. If we need an endorsement, we are not thinking for ourselves. Yes, Crabgrass is in agreement with what Guardian wrote, per a below post. But the charm of it was Guardian said what was thought here, better than I might have said it, and reinventing the wheel is no great thing. Quote them. Move on.

Not liking Trump there is understanding how others might like and support things he says. To me, the man is selfish and cannot deliver, but is good at pushing the buttons that move some people who feel resentment toward how their lives are working out.

They may be correct in feeling they would be better with Trump elected rather than Harris, or they may be racially biased or feeling some Angst on gender grounds.

To say, I disagree, is to say I choose to support Harris and have already voted for her.

Should Trump win, the belief here is things would worsen, while clearly being quite different from perfect now. Harris impresses me less than Trump, but his impression is a negative one, and Harris is the better choice. Some believe, or convince themselves that Harris is not simply a better alternative, but a positive choice.

That is not needed here, better alternative is enough. I would choose another candidate if it were my choice, but the two party stranglehold exists, and pushing against it is Sisipuhus which is for younger more fit persons who think they can make a difference.

Thinking he can make a difference has pushed Stephen Miller to try, and it is not too great a thing he has gotten for his time. Ditto, Kevin Roberts at Heritage.

Harris will be okay. That is enough. Not a dumb boat anchor, but someone who will choose skilled people to steer the nation for a term or two. That's enough.

If okay and well enough do not seem ringing endorsements, take it as an honest view and form your own view. The Bush presidents were pretty awful, and Trump fits into that camp with having a four year record with nothing good to show. One of the Bush guys got two terms, so my opinion can be a minority one, but this time I hope I am right as I think my own life would be better, as well as most peoples' lives.

In effect, this may serve as a last Presidential politics post here unless something before election day strikes me as interesting. The choosing for me is done, I have voted, and soon enough I see results. All I can really do, and it's done.

Circling back to the start, two newspapers not endorsing, so what? Does any reader actually know anyone who makes voting decisions based on endorsements? I do not. Harris surely came to her candicacy in an abnormal back door way, but that alone is not a cause to move my vote one way or another. She is the Democratic Party candidate. Donald Trump is the choice of the Republican Party. To me it is very clear that Trump is an impaired highly faulty human being without any good grip on himself, one in whom I place no trust, so vote Harris and hope she gets the most electors, end of story.

____________UPDATE____________

Mid item, an NPR post about progressives being unimpressed, this excerpt reflects upon the above text - campaign with Liz Cheney and you are using the devil's child -and one with whom any sane progressive would say, "Christsakes, can't you do better?" Harris could but makes her choice not to. What's to love there?

Vice President Harris campaigns with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Oct. 21, 2024 in Royal Oak, Mich. Sarah Rice/Getty Images

They’re still voting for her, but they’re not feeling great about it

In the homestretch of the campaign, Harris has leaned hard into describing the former president as a threat to democracy, echoing Trump’s former chief of staff who described him as fascist.

Trump is a fascist, calling him one is simply stating a truth, and for that I am supposed to embrace Harris as a second coming, opposite gender, or what?

Lesser evil is enough, but for Inner Party types, they get enthused beyond reason.

FURTHER: Perhaps aiding understanding, I regard Clyburn as a counterproductive racist for what he did back in 2020 in "charging" Biden the VP selection as the cost of giving his endorsement to Biden back then, and having a hand in the "Joe's lost it we have to move to Kamala" ploy this time, when we get what Clyburn feels best for him and his race. Race should be but one characteristic at play, not a driving issue, but to Clyburn it was a manipulative driving need, or seemed so. Admitted, I may have misjudged the man but I can only weight what is reported, and have no way to look into his mind other than indirectly.

FURTHER: https://jacobin.com/2024/10/harris-trump-election-conservative-voters

One need not believe all one reads, but having that item online, its using an image, is saying the Democrats are who they are, Schumer is who he is, and Crabgrass has no great love of Schumer. The elevation of JD Vance from nobody to someone is to be studied in many ways after the election, however it turns out. At this point we can assume JD has no great love of Schumer either, but that is a data point, not a canvas of American diversity and public preferences vs what donors of each of the two parties feel best for the nation, and moreover, for themselves.

It has some relevance that Harris is married to a big-buck Hollywood lawyer and Hunter has a big-buck Hollywood lawyer as benefactor, and Joe has Hunter has his only remaining son, but exactly what to make of it would mean somebody has to know who runs Hollywood, how and why, and Mel Gibson has one view which has waned in popularity. Whatever the nuances, Hollywood has money, and hence is not like us, be it us voting Harris, or us voting Trump, either way, us are estranged from Inner Party types, either of the two. We need to know a lot more of where the nation may go than - Trump's an ass and Harris isn't.

Has AOC developed an incurable case of Potomac fever - caught from Nancy Pelosi, or would she again campaign with Bernie if believing there's a snowball in Hell chance it would go anywhere? Congress incumbency pays better than tending bar, she's not Angela Davis, and she's not running to take the Schumer seat as hers. Situations evolve, people reassess what works and does not, and globalization is with us, Trump wanting tariffs.

Corey Bush has been run by money onto the reefs, and whose money did it and why? Some have more answers than there are real questions, others always having a surplus of questions, Crabgrass only knowing what is read on the Internet and asking for a context allowing it all to hang together as "making sense." I.e., more questions than answers, and not all happenings are widely published.

AOC we know she is still alive. Is Angela Davis? Yes, most would need to look that up. And, back to the start, how does the Angela question relate to decisions by major news outlets owned by major people of wealth? They face problems one at at time and Angela Davis is no longer a newsworthy problem? Whose success or failure would that be? Questions, questions, questions.

JD and Angela Davis don't fit into the same box, but JD seems the one now to take us as a nation somewhere or not. Wherever we are headed, somebody, several actually, want the driver's seat. And can afford newspapers. And run Hollywood.

Let it be?

Saturday, October 26, 2024

"This election presents a critical choice. Do we embrace a hopeful future or retreat to a reactionary past? We’re backing Kamala Harris. She will unlock democracy’s potential, not give in to its flaws". Who are they to "interfere" in "American" politics?

Yes, Bezos at WaPo and the rich Korean at LATimes have papers that are not endorsing, for whatever reasons, or no reason at all -- while GUARDIAN is endorsing Harris.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2024/oct/23/the-guardian-view-on-the-us-presidential-election-2024-a-democratic-government-is-the-one-we-need

Does it bother you a foreign influence is being asserted? Only a Trumper would object to any paper endorsing anyone in any race, since the source is identified, there is a general history to the outlet, and they got it right instead of liking a throwback jerk.

The headline above is from the item, the link is given, so read it or not. But if RT.com were to endorse, it would be data to process, as in GUARDIAN believing Harris is the choice. For those not reading, an opening quote:

The mood may be one of despair.

But this election is critical to the country’s future?

The best hope lies with Kamala.

Only her government can shape the future we want to see

It is hard to imagine a worse candidate for the American presidency in 2024 than Donald J Trump. His history of dishonesty, hypocrisy and greed makes him wholly unfit for the office. A second Trump term would erode the rule of law, diminish America’s global standing and deepen racial and cultural divides. Even if he loses, Mr Trump has shown that he will undermine the election process, with allies spreading unfounded conspiracy theories to delegitimise the results.
There are prominent Republicans – such as the former vice-president Dick Cheney – who refused to support Mr Trump owing to the threat he poses. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Mr Trump, calls his former boss a “fascist”. America was founded in opposition to absolute monarchy. The Republican nominee models himself after the leader he most admires: Russia’s autocratic president, Vladimir Putin.
Mr Trump’s authoritarianism may finish US democracy. He has praised and promised to pardon those convicted in the January 6 insurrection. He has suggested bypassing legal norms to use potentially violent methods of repression, blurring the lines between vigilantism, law enforcement and military action, against groups – be they Democrats or undocumented immigrants – he views as enemies.
His team has tried to distance itself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and its extreme proposals – such as mass firings of civil servants and erasing women’s rights – that poll poorly. But it is likely that, in office, Mr Trump would adopt many of these intolerant, patriarchal and discriminatory plans. He aims to dismantle the government to enrich himself and evade the law. If Republicans gain control of the Senate, House and White House, he would interpret it as a mandate to silence his critics and entrench his power.
Mr Trump is a transactional and corrupting politician. His supporters see this as an advantage. Christian nationalists want an authoritarian regime to enforce religious edicts on Americans. Elon Musk wants to shape the future without regulatory oversight. Both put self-interest ahead of the American people. Democracy erodes slowly at first, then all at once. In office, Mr Trump appointed three supreme court justices, who this summer blocked efforts to hold him accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 election: their immunity ruling renders the president “a king above the law”, in the words of the liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Yes, all those words, and not mentioning Harris once. Concentration on what a shit Trump is, because he is excruciatingly awful, and it is him, not Vance that is at the top of that ticket, so whether you like JD or not, why do you not fear and loath Trump?

Leaving the JD diversion aside, that far into GUARDIAN's endorsement, they then get to Harris. Initial paragraphs there:

A historic president
Since Kamala Harris stepped into the spotlight following Joe Biden’s exit, her campaign has been a masterclass in political jujitsu, deftly flipping Mr Trump’s perceived strengths into glaring weaknesses. With a focus on joy, the vice-president sharply contrasted with Mr Trump’s grim narrative of US decline. In their sole televised debate, Ms Harris skillfully outmaneuvered Mr Trump, who fell into her traps, appearing angry and incoherent. She is confident and composed. He sounds unhinged.
The Trump agenda threatens to dismantle voting rights, women’s rights and minority rights – not just reversing decades of social progress but burying it. Mr Trump was behind the shredding of reproductive rights. The conservative forces rallying to him are now intent on imposing a national abortion ban, with – should he win – dire implications for IVF and birth control. Republicans have been hurt in the polls by being associated with such unpopular policies – a weak spot that Ms Harris should keep exploiting.
The vice-president has energised Democrats with savvy media appearances while appealing to swing voters. Progressives, determined to defeat Mr Trump, remain committed to freedom and equality. But Ms Harris has disappointed those who have urged her to take a stand on US complicity in Israel’s bombing of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. Downplaying war crimes, as arms flow to Israel, has already harmed Democratic chances in key swing states like Michigan.
In a political system where style often rivals substance, perception is crucial. While Ms Harris hasn’t made her race and gender central to her campaign, her victory would be historic: she would be the first woman, and the first woman of color, to be president. Symbolism matters to her base. Her candidacy rallied key constituencies – the young, women, African Americans and Hispanics – who were cooling on Mr Biden. This election is a leap of faith in Ms Harris, who offers a sense of possibility for the future, while Mr Trump clings to a reactionary past.

They like her. There's more to the endorsement if you go there. The editorial goes on from there. Check it out. There are no GUARDIAN resignations, as with LATimes for failure to endorse Harris despite the editors wanting to, with the owner putting on the kibosh. Tell the truth. The money there says, don't endorse. The people who had worked there but quit say - Harris.

Early votes are in. Late votes have a deadline. In a handful of days we learn the result. May the best side (Harris) win!

..........................................................

I want to note a Republican leaning post. Here: https://libertyprosperityblog.blogspot.com/2024/10/elon-musk-s-campaign-contributions.html

Word search is a helpful tool. Search = Trump -- you get mentions, nothing said positive about him, while the post touts Vance and Elon Musk. Go figure.

Yes, Musk has rang the cash register while innovating in ways that advanced electric auto adoption and safe space efforts years ahead of otherwise. That said, he's not running. Trump is. Trump has none of Elon Musk's virtues. In fact, he has no virtues. Try naming one. You can't.

Crypto opportunism - if you call that a virtue it is the last thing Trump (and family) has promoted, (not invested, promoted) and crypto burns energy without any merit, or if you don't think so, you are a Trump voter or an idiot, but I repeat myself.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Harris speaks about "German Generals" and has flat out said Trump is a "FASCIST" -- not said in a complementary way, which is not an October Surprise. Crabgrass reaction, Harris did not misspeak.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2KyM8j3nR0

Getting to the FASCIST characterization: Strib, Oct. 24, 2024, carrying an AP feed:

https://www.startribune.com/what-is-fascism-and-why-does-harris-say-trump-is-a-fascist/601168368

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied, ''Yes, I do.'' She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don't want ''a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.''
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
Here's a closer look:
What is fascism?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History's two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ''the duke,'' Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini's urging, in October 1922, thousands of ''Blackshirts,'' or ''squadristi,'' made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler's Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ''Brownshirts.'' Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.

Today, the term fascism has taken on a looser political definition and is often evoked as a catch-all for efforts to spread oppression and racism — as well as to decry dictators or leaders who embrace totalitarian tactics.

[...] Does military dictator Augusto Pinochet's 17-year, ironfisted rule in Chile qualify? What about Indonesian strongman Suharto or Spain's Francisco Franco? Were the regimes of Ferenc Szálasi in Hungary and Brazil's Plínio Salgado fascist? Where does American neo-Nazi leader David Duke fit?

Break here to editorialize, Trump wants generals like Pinochet, however else you read that last paragraph. Like him, but with Trump still atop, calling shots. Opinions may differ. Back to Strib:

Why is Harris calling Trump a fascist?
The vice president has long criticized Trump as being mentally unstable and not a true believer in, or defender of, the nation's founding democratic principles.
She notes that Trump suggested he'd deploy the military to target political opponents, including people he has decried as the ''enemy from within.'' The former president has long talked about attacking his enemies and declared to his supporters that he would be their ''retribution.''
''He's talking about the American people. He's talking about journalists, judges, nonpartisan election officials,'' Harris said Wednesday night at a CNN town hall.
Trump has threatened to take action against television networks and news organizations for coverage he deems unfavorable. And, when now-President Joe Biden challenged him during a 2020 debate to denounce the Proud Boys, Trump replied: ''Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.''
A mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to overturn Trump's loss to Biden after Trump gave a speech propagating falsehoods about the election and exhorting the crowd to ''fight like hell.'' Among the people imprisoned in connection with Jan. 6 was the leader of the Proud Boys, accused of orchestrating a failed plot to keep Trump in power.
Harris has been building toward the characterization.

AP tries not to choose sides. Crabgrass has already voted: HARRIS

Blogs can focus on news, but opinions are open game. Sites such as EmptyWheel are not blogs, but focused single topic posts, where commentators then editorialize and link. This site here - it is a blog. Opinion: Trump/Vance poses a danger.

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That thought will not be fleshed out here. Stateside Readers can think it over, and if not having voted already, be certain to have votes counted - while foreign readers can and should use the Internet as best source to trust if using it with diversity, and with globalization marching on the US of A is a big global power people everyone should monitor and study. Crabgrass is but one source, hopefully helpful.

UPDATE: Double negatives in a headline. You can do that in your own blog.

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Over 100 Ex-GOP Officials Endorse Harris—Here’s The Full List

Key Facts

JD Vance Defends Hinchcliffe's Puerto Rico Joke at MSG Rally

Monday, October 28, 2024

Sunday, October 27, 2024

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Saturday, October 26, 2024

The mood may be one of despair.

But this election is critical to the country’s future?

The best hope lies with Kamala.

Only her government can shape the future we want to see

A historic president

Friday, October 25, 2024