New Year's Resolutions for Other People, sort of.

Some years I post basically satiric resolutions for other people.

2024 was not a great year in a lot of ways, and 2025 promises not to be, thus making anything comedic seem rather inappropriate.

So this is a bit more serious.

The general election of 2024 was truly the worst one in the country's history.  Two ancient men were offered up by the nation's two major political parties, with those parties only agreeing on the lie that you must vote for one of the two of them.  The Democratic Party, which emerged for a while after World War Two as a center left party representing the working class, completed its post Vietnam War lurch to the far left and couldn't claw its way back from there.  The Republican Party, formerly the party of conservatism and business, was destroyed by Donald Trump and his populist minions, a process set in motion in the 1970s and Reagan's Southern Strategy, thereby becoming a new expression of the Dixiecrats.  The attack on education that began in the 1980s under Reagan seemed to bear weedy fruit as well, as middle class Americans, and some upper class Americans, grasped onto utter fictions offered up by Trump and company which promised to return the country to a fictional perfect past.  Many voters, of course, felt trapped and voted both for and against politicians based on social issues which the Democrats in particular had helped bring into the forefront resulting in their defeat.

So, some serious hopes, if not resolutions.

Americans need to quit believing in something because it sounds like something they wish to be true.

We can't be an island insulated from the world.  We've hoped to some degree to that since day one, but we've never been close to achieving that status.  George Washington may have urged us to avoid foreign entanglements but we were involved, on an undeclared basis, in what were essentially two world wars by the early part of the 19th Century, one against France, and another against the United Kingdom and her allies.  While many have long declared that "we aren't the world's policeman", if we aren't there's hardly any police at all.  And if new police arise, there's a really good chance we won't like it.  Our best hope, if we get to that point, is that its the combined countries of Europe, but what if, instead, its the People's Republic of China?

The internet and modern travel have shrunk the world so much that there's no escaping the impact of even minor disruptions around the globe.  A war in Ukraine increases the cost of pasta in Italy and groceries, thereafter, in the US, as the most minor of examples.

We can whine about "forever wars" but the truth of the matter is that we haven't fought a substantial war since we backed out of Vietnam in 1973.  Even at that, there were fewer men garrisoned in Vietnam at the height of the American involvement in the war than there were involved in the Battle of the Bulge, which of course was a single American World War Two battle.  All wars are serious and horrible, but the post Vietnam War conflicts we've been in have, in real terms, been minor in comparison to anything that came after 1975's fall of Saigon.

We can't ignore the globe.

Climate Change is real and needs to be addressed basically 30 years ago. There is still time to act, but that action needs to be massive and drastic.  Believing that this isn't the case is an example of willful denial of science and ultimately an act of theft, if not murder, of future generations.  Denying this because my income is based on oil, and I freely concede much of mine is, doesn't change the reality.

Science of all types needs to be taken seriously.  Sure, it isn't always right, but it's more often right than the ravings of somebody who bases their positions on the spouting of former Playboy centerfolds or quack celebrities.¹

On this, vaccinations work.  They do.  If you don't want to get vaccinated, don't, but don't pretend that's because Bill Gates is looking for a way to steal your lunch.

On science, we need to comport more to nature.  That includes our own natures.  Poisoning the womb and murdering infants in the womb isn't "health care", its poisoning yourself and murdering your offspring.  Its' deeply anti natural.

Along the same lines, there are only two genders in mammals. That's it.  You, smart primate, are a member of the most sexually dimorphic species on the planet and are either deeply male or female.  Those pretending otherwise as to their persons are mentally ill, either temporarily or perhaps more permanently.  Society doesn't need to accommodate, in any fashion, this illness.

Homosexuality is the same, some sort of disorder, but not one that presents a societal threat through its tolerance.  It does, however, due to excess accommodation.  One of the world's oldest institutions, marriage, has been so damaged.  But much damage had already been done to marriage due to the erosion of a serious understanding of what it is.

Of course, that was long in coming and gets to the next topic.  Many societal institutions exist for the preservation and protection of society itself, not to make you "happy" or "fulfilled".  Starting in 1953 we began the massive erosion of societal institutions and its been a complete disaster.  There needs to be a serious effort to claw back that which has been lost, including in this area.  There's no reason to tolerate extramarital procreation, whether its by some nameless drug addict or Elon Musk.  Societal norms need to be restored.² 

This gets necessarily to the topic of religion, which has been in the news constantly this year.  It's odd if you realize that we can now so easily access early Christian texts that we can determine what early Christians believed very easily, and it often doesn't look anything like what's coming from The New Apostolic Reformation, or for that matter the "reformed" branches of the 16th Century Reformation, none of which has kept people from imagining Donald Trump as a latter day Cyrus the Great.

In 2024, when the writings of 124 AD are easily available, "religious" Americans who feel that Christianity stops at their own front door and that what they do is okay as they do it, are often far off the mark.  Finding Donald Trump to be a "Godly man" with his serial polygamy and what not is absurd, but then people getting married again and again and pretending that comports with the faith also are out to lunch.  It's not just Christianity, we'd note, that suffers from this.

Nature cares little if you accept nature and its doctrines.  It simply gives the dope slap to those who don't.  Not immediately, but sooner or later.  The Populists who seized control of the country have a chance to recreate the county into what they imagine it should be, but only if they accept that.  Chances are, of course, that National Conservatives will rapidly eclipse them in a year or two with Donald Trump's inevitable passing or inescapable dementia, and like it or nor, they appear to have a firmer grasp on this.  People should ponder it and try to get a grasp themselves.  

Part of that would be that if you feel a politician or a super rich dude has your interest in mind, or that if you believe that economics serves your own economic interest because it must, or if you feel that God abhors your homosexual neighbor but is okay with your third marriage, you need to rethink things.

Footnotes

1.  Jenny McCarthy, who seems to have dropped off the public radar, was famous initially for being a brash Playboy centerfold was an early backer of the vaccines cause autism baloney. They do not.  Now we see Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., backing that absurd view.

2.  The other day I saw an item on Twitter in some dimwit on Twitter claiming some level of authority stated:

Taylor @taylor_vahey

waiting until marriage to have sex with someone is incredibly stupid due to the fact that sometimes two people are not sexually compatible

do not wait until you are locked in for life to find that out

That post is so moronic, on multiple levels, that it could lead to a long thread itself, but only a blistering rich and narcissistic society would even have a concept in some quarters of sexual compatibility.

Our species, homo sapiens sapiens, has gone from nearly being driven to extinction 900,000 years ago to dominating the globe.  We know for a fact that homo sapiens sapiens mated with homo sapiens neaderthalensis, and we're we're learning that we, and the Neanderthals, mated with the Denisovans.  Sexual compatibility doesn't seem to be a human problem.

Last edition:

Honesty and Authenticity. Resolutions.

Labels: Authenticity, Honesty, Introspection, New Year's Resolutions

Blog Mirror: Pres. Biden commutes most federal death sentences

 

Pres. Biden commutes most federal death sentences

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part I. What the heck happened?

And so the finger pointing, blaming, and name calling has begun.

The 2024 Presidential Election was supposed to be close.

It wasn't.  And that means something.  How did the nation elect a convicted felon who hung out with a procurer and who is a creepy serial polygamist, who also is likely sliding into dementia, as President of the United States?

Well, there are a lot of views out there.  We offer ours, including some things we noted early on.

1.  It turns out that we were correct that Biden shouldn't have run in the first place, and that Harris shouldn't have stepped into the breach.

Biden was supposed to be a caretaker President.  "Go with the Joe you know" only made sense as long as it was just one cup of coffee.  People didn't want a refill. Biden was supposed to carry on for four years while the nation got back on its feet from a traumatic Trump presidency and figured out where to go next.

Biden's diehard insistence on running again doomed that, and in some ways, the Democrats chances in 2024.

Biden, in his defense, was dealt a bad hand right from the onset.  Left with an economy impacted by COVID, he had to deal with it, and he did a good job.  The inflation that caused was not of his making, and he actually pulled off a soft landing.  In the future, he's likely to be regarded as having pulled an economic rabbit out the hat.

And his rallying to the cause of Ukraine is singularly responsible for the country not being overrun by the Russians.

But people are stupid about economics, and stupidly believe that once inflation slows, prices return to the pre inflation norm, which actually required deflation, which generally causes a depression.  That tar baby is now Trump's, as Trump won't be able to pull that off either.

More than that, however, Biden's advanced age was showing, whereas its seemingly not as noticeable with Trump.  It was real hubris of Biden to run for a second term, and he shouldn't have done it.  That set the Democrats behind.

When he finally stepped out, I noted that the time that Harris shouldn't step in.  She did.  She actually also ran a much better campaign than I initially thought she would.  Frankly, I don't know that I can blame her for running, or blame the Democrats for running her.  She proved to be too easy to tag with the issues that had hurt Biden, however, which did not make up the reasons that I thought she should not have run.

2.  It's actually the social issues, stupid.

El Paso Sheriff : What's it mean? What's it leadin' to? You know, if you'd have told me 20 years ago, that I'd see children walking the streets of our Texas towns with green hair and bones in their noses, I just flat-out wouldn't have believed you.

Ed Tom Bell : Signs and wonders. But I think once you quit hearing "sir" and "ma'am," the rest is soon to foller.

El Paso Sheriff : Oh, it's the tide. It's the dismal tide.

No Country For Old Men. 

We warned prior to 2016 that Justice Kennedy's opinion in Obergefell had awakened a latent sleeping giant.  It did.

People keep analyzing the race in terms of the economy, which I myself partially did above.  But the big issue, to put it bluntly, is that Obergefell shocked many people into confronting the moral decline of the nation, something that had been going on for a very long time.

Sexual immorality in the US really commenced its roll in the late 1940s, as we've discussed before, and started to accelerate in 1953 with the launch of Playboy, and then really took off in the 1960s with the pill and the Sexual Revolution.  The irony of all of this, however, is the public tolerated it, although not always very comfortably, as it fit into conventional immorality.  That is, the White Anglo Saxon Protestant community basically tolerated a boys will be boys attitude at first, and then accommodated itself to other trends later, as long as things roughly worked out the way they were supposed to in the end, although they have not been working out for quite some time.  Once Obergefell came along, however, the public was asked to accommodate something else, and it hasn't, and for a host of reasons.  Transgenderism, which really doesn't exist, came hard on the heels of homosexual marriage, and it was just too much for large sections of the country.

At one time, it might be noted, it was a common assertion that the Babylon Berlin atmosphere of 1920's Germany had brought about the Nazis, in part, as they seemed to stand against unconventional immorality.  In truth, homosexuality was present in the early Nazis, but the movement did a good job of plastering over it so it was ignored, if known, just like Trump's flagrant immoral conduct with women is at least somewhat known, if ignored.  It allowed people to believe that that the Nazis would foster a return to pre 1914 moral standards, while ignoring that they would inflict new horrors.*  A lot of that has gone on in the populist movement as well, which sort of imagines that the country will sort of return to an imagined 1950s, or an imagined 1970s.

The Democrats didn't even try to do anything about this, but rather embraced the matters that the Trump populists and their fellow travellers opposed.  That's a big part of what occured.  Americans proved to be willing to go pretty far with changes in Christian morality before they started regretting it, which they did, but to be kicked into a new room with a bunch of very unconventional behaviors was more than they could bear.  It not only spawned a massive counterreaction, but it spawned radical new theories about the nature of what was going on, much of them false, and sort of a modified variant of a Great Awakening, that we haven't seen the end of yet.**  This reaction, moreover, wasn't limited to the US, but has been scene all over the Western World, caused by similar events.

You have to know the times you live in.

3. What we repeatedly said about abortion being a hill to die on was correct.

Hell Courtesan by Kawanabe Kyōsai.

Part of the solid evidence of the Democrats being marooned in a post Vietnam War liberal past is the absolute adherence to swimming in a sea of blood.

I warned earlier that grasping tight to abortion was a critical mistake for Democrats, but they saw it as a great issue, one that would turn women out to vote in favor of infanticide.

Instead, what it did was to force truly adherent Christians to vote against them, even if not to vote for Harris. I was one of them.  I voted for the American Solidarity Party.  I would have anyhow, but in a state that was close, this cost the Democrats votes.  It may very well have cost them the election.

Ironically, and the Democrats failed to grasp it, Donald Trump's wishy washiness on this helped him.  Lots of Evangelicals and even Catholics could rationalize voting for him as he seemed to be against abortion, sort of.  Hadn't his court brought Dobbs around?  And Republican women who otherwise adhered to the American Civil Religion could rationalize voting for pro abortion ballot measures while voting for trump, essentially voting for the things they were comfortable with from the 1970s, like abortion and birth control, while voting against homosexuality and transgenderism.

Indeed, the entire religiosity of the Trumpites is much like this, although not of the National Conservatives. They're okay with cheating men, up to a limit, premarital sex, and divorce, as long as the plumbing matches. They aren't okay with homosexuality.  Truly religious voters were never supportive of abortion, which Harris leaned deeply into.

Democrats should have known that and figures out a way to deal with it.  Even simply taking the same position as Trump, let the states deal with it, would have leveled the choice for many.  Or they could have just remained completely silent in the election on abortion and transgenderism, which would have caused some votes to swing their way.

If the Democrats don't modify their position on abortion, they're not going to do better in 2028.

4.  What we noted as long ago as 2016 about ignoring rust belt issues is still true.

We noted a long time ago that Trump's 2016 victory was brought about in part due to a massive discontent over immigration issues and American jobs going overseas.  Both Democrats and Republicans were complicit in this for years.

The problem here is that this festering sore has become infected, and crossed from discontent into malevolence.  Basically, its much like small town Germans thinking that a local Jewish butcher was odd, to thinking he's in league with evil. This has been downright scary.

Democrats woke up to the problem of decades long mass illegal immigration, but too late.  Now, it appears, we're about to engage in a mass immorality.

This one was a hard one for the Democrats.  Biden screwed up early in his administration on this issue.  Harris was tarred with it.  It would have taken a different candidate to distance from it, perhaps, quite frankly, a Hispanic one.  There are solutions, but some of them are quite out of the box, very pre 1940, and a bit drastic.

Likewise, Trump introduced his absurd tariffs concept.  The idea is underdeveloped and economically flaccid.  But Rust Belt people don't care as in their minds if electric vehicles don't come in from China, 1965 Chevrolet Impalas will come back. This won't happen, and this will rapidly prove to be incorrect.

5.  Demographics change.

Roman Catholic Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe (Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe), Dallas Texas

Dedicated in 1902 as the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, this cathedral was renamed the Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in 1977, when another aging Dallas church dedicated to the Lady of Guadalupe was torn down. This cathedral has the second largest parish congregation in the United States.

Democrats in the 1960s abandoned white Southern racists in favor of the minorities of the time, much to their credit.  Up until that time, African Americans had been Republicans.  Democrats remembered that Italian American and Irish Americans had been, and were, theirs.

But they failed to notice that Roe v. Wade shattered the Catholic immigrant retained vote of earlier eras. For some reason, they didn't grasp that retaining abortion and embracing transgenderism and abortion would come to offend  large groups of American, and even immigrant, Hispanics, who had a similar Catholic morality.  And they didn't grasp that at the pew level, this was also true for the Black Church and many African Americans, who came to resent having their cause compared to ones based on sexual orientation or practice.

They also forgot that minority adherence to patronage only lasts as long as poverty does.  Once a demographic moves into the Middle Class, it begins to disappear within a generation or two.  Irish Americans and Italian Americans were once solidly Democratic.  This hasn't been the case for a long time.  Hispanics have been moving out of poverty, and so have African Americans.

And Hispanic Americans, which are a diverse group to start with.

This left the Democratic party a party of old Boomers, and the white upper middle class, and lower upper class, white, effete, elites.  They're aren't enough of them to win an election.

Footnotes

*The Nazis ended up sending homosexuals to the death camps.  They were highly resistant to women working, and only relented on it as the war began to go very badly.  They'd also encourage pregnancy, including out of wedlock, by German women, which was definitely contrary to traditional Christian morality.

This is of note, not because there will be death camps, but because Germans voting on morality issues didn't get what they bargained for at all.  Americans doing the same in the 2024 election are likely to find they may be surprised.

**As an example, while at the county courthouse to vote early, I encountered an elderly man wearing a MAGA hat who was informing people that transgenderism "wasn't invented here", whatever that would mean, and that this was a reason to vote for Trump.

The 2024 Election, Part XXVII. Heading for the Last Roundup

Only a few more days to go.

Still, with the constant influx of news, we thought it was time for a new edition and to retire the last one.

October 24, 2024

You have no idea what I did in the White House. I stopped wars with France.

Trump at a recent rally.

Eh? 

October 25, 2024

Russia spread disinformation about the recent hurricanes in the US in order to attempt to influence the upcoming U.S. election.

Guess we know for sure who Putin wants in office.

No surprise there.

Trump indicated he'd fire special prosecutor Jack Smith as soon as he was in office, if he returns to office.  

No surprise there.

Unfortunately, you got a lot of American leaders who like to beat their chest and say; this [Ukraine] is the good guy and this [Russia] is the bad guy.

J. D. Vance.

Well, J. D., that's because Ukraine is the good guy and Russia is the bad guy.

Tucker Carlson compared the United States to a "15 year old" girl, who needs a spanking.

Eh?

I have a daughter and I don't think I ever spanked her.  I sure didn't at 15, which is a downright creepy thing to say.

Trump's going to deliver the spanking of the nation, according to Carlson.

cont:

The Washington Post returns to its position of not endorsing Presidential candidates:

Opinion 

 On political endorsement

October 27, 2024

Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed Friday.

Associated Press.

Locally we have a school board race that the Freedom Caucus, in the form of Mom's For Liberty or people aligned with their thinking are in. The folks below are those who are not part of that group.

These seem to be the populist ones:

Frankly, while I probably ought to post it elsewhere, I think there's a crisis in American education, but its not the one that commonly comes up.  There's probably a series of crises actually.

Locally, we've always had excellent public schools.  One thing that we can really tank our community ancestors for is appreciating the value of education.  School boards for many years have had people who took the task on with a sense of public duty.  People like to complain about the schools nonetheless, but that's in no small part because education is a spectator sport, like agriculture.  I've heard so many things about how to raise sheep, for example, from people whose family have not had a connection with sheep since Roman times, it's not funny.

The problem that seems to have developed recently is that education has been impacted, like politics in general in Wyoming, by an influx of people who were raised and educated well outside of the region, and brought a lot of regional ideas with them.  This reflected itself at first with a notable homeschooling movement which included quite a few people who were convinced that schools were teaching children "left wing" ideas, which they weren't and never have been.  In some instances the concerns of those parents included a strongly anti scientific background.

Now its spilled into the schools in general.  While she didn't run for the school board, in a way this is reflected by the one term now defeated House member Jeanette Ward.  Looking into her background it seems that a big part of her problems with Illinois' politics, where she came from, had to do with schools.  She was upset, for instance, that a class noted that Muslims pray to the same God that Christians do.  And she was upset with school mask mandates, which ironically Wyoming also had.

This has spilled over into the war over library books, which actually doesn't have much to do with actual school libraries.  

At any rate, it's a sad fact of American life that a lot of primary education in the United States is really lacking.  This reflects itself in politics right now, which finds actual debates over topics that simply are decided on the basis of the evidence.  The ability of highly monied people to lead others around reflects it as well.  Education in the US has always been uneven.  There's a scary chance that the excellent education that the Upper Plains and Rocky Mountain regions have always had, may be impacted by the populist flood.

cont:

Trump continues to make statements that in any other era would be regarded as dumb:

There will be no hydrogen. They tend to blow up and once they blow up you are not recognizable anymore. No, they say that's the hottest new thing. Hydrogen does. Anybody in the, they say it's so hot. The problem is when it's not, when it's not hot, it's bad. It's bad. So, I don't want to do that. They say for the most part here is for the most part it's really wonderful. But when it goes bad it's over, you're not recognizable. They call the wife. Please come and inspect to see whether or not this is your husband. He's lying against a tree and the tree has a lot of red on it... Is that ok for everybody?

Indeed, one of the things that really scares me about Trump is his supporters claim he says things that they're thinking.  If that's the case, we've got a massive lack of intellect in this country.  Are we this dumb? 

October 28, 2024

Given the story on Russia above, this is of interest:

October 28, 2024

Russia

Possible Russian Gains in Georgia and Moldova

Apparently Trump's rally last night at Madison Square Garden was packed with racist comments and off color remarks by the various speakers.

On other matters, there appears to be a very strong chance that independent candidate Dan Osborn may beat Trump Senate lackey Deb Fisher in Nebraska.

October 30, 2024

It's becoming increasingly clear Trumpites are mobilizing and planning to steal the 2024 election if Trump does not win it.  They'll use lawsuits, ballot challenges and fake electors in a more planned effort this time.

cont:

October 31, 2024

Elon Musk, who supporters fellow billionaire Trump, has been chatting with Putin.

Trump proposes to put Robert Kennedy, whose health ideas are wackadoodle, in charge of some sort of health thing.

November 1, 2024

Real Clear Politics electoral map predictors show Trump winning the election decisively.

November 2, 2024

At a rally in Milwaukee Donald Trump simulated oral sex, albeit briefly, on stage.

Is this really whom Republicans want to be President?

And is this truly the man some Evangelicas see as a neo Cyrus the Great?

More locally:

America’s growing political divide reaches Wyoming school boards, city councils

November 3, 2024

It's now crystal clear that Trump is making plans to steal the election, should he lose it.

cont: 

Internal Trump polling must show that he's losing the election, as he's spending a lot of time attacking the results that haven't even occurred yet.

Related threads:

Blog Mirror: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke on Voting.

Some election predictions.

Blog Mirror: Class Matters: Many working-class voters feel forgotten by parties founded to represent them

Last edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XXVI. The Early Voting Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2024 Election, Automobile racing, Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, Kamala Harris, Mental Health, National Conservatism, Old Age, Politics, Predictions, Standards, Weird, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

Some election predictions.

If I were to predict who would win the election right now, I think it'll be Trump.

I dread the thought of a second Trump term, and I think he was an embarrassment to the nation in his first, but  that would be my guess.

Anyhow. . .

1.  If Trump wins J. D. Vance ends up President in 2026.

If Trump wins, J. D. Vance will end up President in 2026.

Indeed, I think National Conservatives are planning on it.

Trump already sounds really weird a fair amount of the time.  By 2026, he'll be issuing some unmistakably demented proclamations, and his cabinet will declare him unfit to serve.

And then we'll really be off in a new direction.

2.  If Harris wins, the Trumpites won't accept the results

First of all, they'll be violence for sure. Trump is already priming his most fanatic followers for the concept that the 2024 election will be stolen. The Big Lie No. 2.  

And there will be all sorts of challenges to the results.

Once that is all sorted out, Harris won't turn out to be the extreme leftist that's claimed.  She'll probably a about the same, perhaps a bit more effective, than Biden.

August 8, 1974. Nixon announces his resignation.

Good evening.

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.

In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.

In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.

But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.

I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interest of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations.

From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the Nation would require.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.

To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.

Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.

As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next 21/2 years. But in turning over direction of the Government to Vice President Ford, I know, as I told the Nation when I nominated him for that office 10 months ago, that the leadership of America will be in good hands.

In passing this office to the Vice President, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow and, therefore, of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all Americans.

As he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve the help and the support of all of us. As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this Nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us, and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people.

By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.

I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my Judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the Nation.

To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.

And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ.

So, let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new President succeed for the benefit of all Americans.

I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your President for the past 51/2 years. These years have been a momentous time in the history of our Nation and the world. They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the Administration, the Congress, and the people.

But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Congress and the people working in cooperation with the new Administration.

We have ended America's longest war, but in the work of securing a lasting peace in the world, the goals ahead are even more far-reaching and more difficult. We must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation of Americans, by the people of all nations, not only that we ended one war but that we prevented future wars.

We have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the People's Republic of China.

We must now ensure that the one quarter of the world's people who live in the People's Republic of China will be and remain not our enemies but our friends.

In the Middle East, 100 million people in the Arab countries, many of whom have considered us their enemy for nearly 20 years, now look on us as their friends. We must continue to build on that friendship so that peace can settle at last over the Middle East and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave.

Together with the Soviet Union we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of limiting nuclear arms. But we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons so that they cannot destroy civilization and so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world and the people.

We have opened the new relation with the Soviet Union. We must continue to develop and expand that new relationship so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation.

Around the world, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty, even starvation. We must keep as our goal turning away from production for war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent life.

Here in America, we are fortunate that most of our people have not only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and, by the world's standards, even abundant lives. We must press on, however, toward a goal of not only more and better jobs but of full opportunity for every American and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, prosperity without inflation.

For more than a quarter of a century in public life I have shared in the turbulent history of this era. I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue in that spirit. I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a Congressman, a Senator, a Vice President, and President, the cause of peace not just for America but among all nations, prosperity, justice, and opportunity for all of our people.

There is one cause above all to which I have been devoted and to which I shall always be devoted for as long as I live.

When I first took the oath of office as President 51/2 years ago, I made this sacred commitment, to "consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations."

I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge. As a result of these efforts, I am confident that the world is a safer place today, not only for the people of America but for the people of all nations, and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace rather than dying in war.

This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the Presidency. This, more than anything, is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the Presidency.

To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every American. In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.

It's interesting that this comes just as President Biden has announced that he's not confident that there shall be a peaceful transfer of power this year, due to the presence of Donald Trump, who will not do what Nixon did for the good of the country.

A Japanese/American climbing team found seven out of eight of the deceased members of an all female Soviet mountain climbing team that had perished on Lenin Peak.

The peak is now on the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border and is the highest peak in both countries. There have been proposals to rename it rather than have its name attach to the vile, as it currently does.

Last edition:

Monday, August 5, 1974. Inescapable conclusions.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Cartoons, Crime, Richard Nixon, Watergate

The 2024 Election, Part XXIII. It's a new race.

The old order changeth yielding place to new

Tennyson

Donald Trump was still insulting Joe Biden yesterday after Biden announced he was dropping out, probably smarting over the fact that whomever he faces next will be a more formidable candidate, and a habit of childish insults doesn't work well if you don't know who to insult.

Kamala Harris indicated that she will run for and earn the nomination, which means she acknowledges that she doesn't yet have it.

Joe Manchin, age 77, who recently registered as an independent, is thinking of registering again as a Democrat to compete for the nomination.

The Democratic Convention starts on August 19.

cont:

Machin has decided not to run.

cont:

Based on twitter, an early Trumpist tactic in regard to Biden is to attack her on her relationship with California Speaker of the House, Willie Brown, back when she was 29 years old. Brown was 60 at the time and had been separated from his wife for a decade.

Mind you, I'm Catholic and don't approve of divorce at all, but how ironic, given Trump's serial polygamy and current questions regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

July 23, 2024

Kamala Harris has lined up enough delegate support to secure the Democratic nomination.

A PAC supporting the Wyoming Freedom Caucus has sent out a mailer against certain politicians containing an absolute lie that the targets of the ad voted to keep Donald Trump off of the ballot.  They did no such thing, they voted to require lawsuits initiated by state political figures to be brought by the state if they used state funds.

July 24, 2024

Wyoming Early Primary Voting Starts Today, July 23, 2024.

Wyoming Democrats endorsed Harris.

Alaska Congressman Mary Sattler Peltola did not, saying that she wouldn't vote for Trump, would vote for somebody "pro choice", but couldn't ask Alaskans to vote for somebody who wasn't "pro energy", showing the difficulty of being a Democrat in a Republican state.

The Trump campaign, which is reeling from the Harris nomination, filed a FEC complaint over Biden campaign funds going to Harris.

Wyoming's Congressman Hageman stated:

Intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel...I think she was a DEI hire. And I think that that's what we're seeing, and I just don't think that they have anybody else.

This is already drawing attention as its a fairly shocking statement.

July 25, 2025

President Biden addressed the nation last night.

My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you tonight from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. In this sacred space, I’m surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents. Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt inspired us to reject fear.

I revere this office, but I love my country more. It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title. I draw strength and find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me, it’s about you. Your families, your futures.

It’s about we the people. And we can never forget that. And I never have. I’ve made it clear that I believe America is at an inflection point. On those rare moments in history, when the decisions we make now determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come, America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division.

We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy. In this moment, we can see those we disagree with not as enemies but as, I mean, fellow Americans — can we do that? Does character in public life still matter? I believe you know the answer to these questions because I know you the American people, and I know this:

We are a great nation because we are a good people. When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. And the truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us. Those of us who cherry that cause cherish it so much. The cause of American democracy itself. We must unite to protect it.

In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.

So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.

Over the next six months, I will be focused on doing my job as president. That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families, grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I will keep calling out hate and extremism, making it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, our planet from climate crisis as an existential threat.

I will keep fighting for my Cancer Moonshot, so we can end cancer as we know it because we can do it. I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy — Supreme Court reform. You know, I will keep working to ensure American remains strong, secure and the leader of the free world.

I’m the first president of this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world. We will keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin from taking over Ukraine and doing more damage. We’ll keep NATO stronger, and I will make it more powerful and more united than any time in all of our history. I will keep doing the same for our allies in the Pacific. You know, when I came to the office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably pass, surpass the United States.

That’s not the case anymore. And I’m going to keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war. We are also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.

You know, we’ve come so far since my inauguration. On that day, I told you as I stood in that winter — we are stood in a winter of peril and winter of possibilities. Peril and possibilities. We are in the group of, we were in the group of the worse pandemic in the century. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. We came together as Americans. We got through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous and more secure.

Today we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs — a record. Wages are up, inflation continues to come down, the racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. We are literally rebuilding our entire nation — urban, suburban and rural and tribal communities. Manufacturing has come back to America. We are leading the world again in chips and science and innovation. We finally beat Big Pharma after all these years to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.

And I’m going to keep fighting to make sure we lower the cost for everyone, not just seniors. More people have health care today in America than ever before. I signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials. You know, most significant climate law ever, ever in the history of the world. The first major gun safety law in 30 years.

And today, the violent crime rate is at a 50-year low. We are also securing our border. Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office. I’ve kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America and be a president for all Americans. That’s what I’ve done.

I ran for president four years ago because I believed and still do that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. That is still the case. America is an idea. An idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world. That idea is that we hold these truths to be self-evident.

We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.

In just a few months, the American people will choose the course of America’s future. I made my choice. I’ve made my views known. I would like to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris. She is experienced, she is tough, she is capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.

Now the choice is up to you, the American people. When you make that choice, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office, alongside the busts of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.

When Ben Franklin was asked, as he emerged from the convention going on, whether the founders have given America a monarchy or a republic, Franklin’s response was: “A republic, if you can keep it.” A republic, if you can keep it. Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands. My fellow Americans, it’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years.

Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pa., and in Claymont, Del., one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as the president of the United States, but here I am.

That’s what’s so special about America. We are a nation of promise and possibilities. Of dreamers and doers. Of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. I’ve given my heart and my soul to our nation, like so many others. And I’ve been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people. I hope you have some idea how grateful I am to all of you.

The great thing about America is, here kings and dictators do not rule — the people do. History is in your hands. The power’s in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. You just have to keep faith — keep the faith — and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there are simply nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. So let’s act together, preserve our democracy. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

Trump complained that Harris is a prosecutor and he's a convicted felon, which the Harris campaign immediately issued an "approved" reaction to, turning his words on their head. 

The Wyoming Democratic Party reacted to Congressman Hageman's statement regarding VP Harris being a "DEI hire" two days ago with the following:

Hageman also drew the ire of  Democratic Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who posted on Twitter: “What women who attack others like this don’t realize is whoever they think they’re appealing to calls them “DEI” too the moment they leave the room".  

Hageman was having none of it and demanded a "#" from Ocasio-Cortez next time she was referenced by her and went on to state:

If you don’t want people to say she was hired only because she’s a black woman, then maybe Biden shouldn’t have said he was only gonna hire a black woman.  She is objectively bad at her current job and is asking for a promotion, using a nomination that was simply handed to her.

This probably won't matter in current Wyoming, although it would have at one time.  At any rate, singling out Harris on the claim that she's in her position only due to her race revivies language that hasn't been on the surface in regional politics for decades, and is not a good development. 

In the local race, a flyer came here yesterday for a Populist who thinks he's a Republican and is running against an actual Republican.  It was a big shocking and edging up on reprehensible.  One of the things it stated is that the opponent is actually a Democrat, which is @#$#$3 absurd, and that the candidate supports Donald Trump, 100%, which I guess is absurd.  Anyone who supports any politician 100% isn't thinking.

Speaking of not thinking, Trump launched an anti Biden screed yesterday.  Biden isn't running.

July 26, 2024

Childless Cat Ladies, Debates, Brutus in the wings, fear and loathing. 

The Brat Summer.

Top front page headline on the CST:

Hageman calls Kamala Harris ‘DEI hire’

As shocking as that is, and it is shocking, a Twitter item regarding it is full of Wyomingites agreeing with it.

More on this will be addressed in a seperate post, maybe.

The Trump campaign appears to be on its heels, failing to really anticipate Harris and really not expecting Harris' "Brat Summer".  Harris is giving as good as she gets and then some, turning Trump slogans on their head.  Meanwhile, the vast number of things J. D. Vance has said on his rise to the top are now in widespread circulation outside of Christian Nationalist circles for the first time, including his statements about childless women being disgruntled and turning their unhappy lives into disgruntled politics. . . I wonder what Harriet Hageman thinks about those statements, given as she has no children?

That may seem like a petty thing to say, but Vance has really gone after political women and women without children in general, claiming that they're unhappy due to their childless status and visit their unhappiness of the rest of the country through politics.  Some of these women, such as AoC and Harris are extremely outspoken, and the suggestion is that they're miserably childless and that's why they are that way.  Well, Hageman is extremely outspoken to say the least, and she's childless.  Vance's statements would equally fully apply to her, if they are apply to Harris and AoC.

Two edged swords cut both ways.

There are a lot of rumors that Trump is unhappy with Vance, who was really designed to be a second fiddle in a race against Biden, and not a primary feature of his campaign which he is very rapidly becoming.  Newsweek reports that Trump is thinking of dumping Vance.

That would be extraordinary, but Trump  has always been unpredictable.  If Vance as seen as a liability, he may soon be saying, "Et tu, Donaldus?"

Meanwhile, Trump is bouncing around on the scheduled debate, at first insisting that it take place in friendly territory at Fox, and then cancelling in on this bizarre pretext

Barack Obama has since endorsed Harris.

The statement is an interesting glimpse into the state of things in the Trump/Vance ticket.  For one thing, it's still partially aimed at Joe Biden.  The old maxim that armies prepare for the last wear is really evident in this in that the Trump campaign continues to campaign against Joe Biden.  It was geared up only for that race and none other, and can't get off of it.

Additionally the statements reflects the odd attachment to improper grammar that the Trump campaign exhibits.  "[A] strong sense by many" would imply, in fact, "many", but the citation is to one, former President Obama (with the use of the middle name, of course, Hussein).  Like the campaign focus on Biden, Trump has had a fixation on Obama for many years, but the point here is that many isn't one.  It's grammatically incorrect.  Given Obama's endorsement of Harris, it's now factually incorrect as well.

Unlike the situation with Biden, Trump has real reason to fear a debate with Harris.  During the 2020 primary I didn't like Harris in part as she seemed to come across snarky.  Now, however, given that Trump lies without hesitation and sounds like a 7th grade asshole, Harris brash and quick speaking style has suddenly lost that appearance and instead Trump just sounds like a 7th grade asshole.

And the Wyoming Freedom Caucus PAC finds itself in court over lying:

Rock Springs Legislators Sue Over Mailers That Claim They Want Trump Off Ballot

July 28, 2024

In an example of Trump rhetorical oddness, he stated in a rally within the last couple of days:

Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.

I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote,

The Harris campaign is citing this as promise to end democracy.  It isn't, but it is an example of the bizarre way that Trump speaks. 

July 30, 2024

Thank goodness:

Gordon’s PAC Hits High Gear With Endorsements, Money For Freedom Caucus Opponents

The flyers that have come here the last couple of days from far right PACs have been repulsive.

cont:

What the heck?

cont:

Things on the GOP right are becoming unraveled.

Trump said in an interview on radio station WABC that Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people”.

He then went on to appear to agree with he host who called her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, “a crappy Jew.”

Uff.

Paul Dans of the Heritage Foundation quit the organization to"direct all my efforts to winning, bigly!" for Trump.

While it'll have to wait to an upcoming post, the Heritage Foundation basically has all its chips in J. D. Vance and very well knows that if it loses this election, it's shot its bolt.  Trump is just a vehicle, I suspect, for Vance, in their view, and they see its now in the process of losing.

July 31, 2024

Secretary Gray Announces Investigation into ActBlue

CHEYENNE, WY – In the wake of nationwide money laundering and identity theft allegations against Democratic fundraising organization ActBlue, Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced an investigation into ActBlue Wyoming, a political action committee registered with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. ActBlue has been accused of stealing peoples’ identities to conceal illegal donations, such as donations from foreign actors. As the chief election officer for the State of Wyoming, Secretary Gray is tasked with ensuring the integrity of Wyoming elections. ActBlue Wyoming is required to file statements of contributions and expenditures with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office under the penalty of perjury. Filing a false statement is a violation of the Wyoming Election Code. Secretary Gray is legally empowered to refer suspected violations of the Election Code to the appropriate prosecuting authority. 

“The widespread allegations against ActBlue are deeply troubling, and we must ensure that

political action committees are following the Wyoming Election Code,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “Claiming that a person donated to a PAC if that person never donated to that PAC would be a felony under Wyoming law. I am very concerned, and remain committed to a thorough review of contributions to ensure compliance with Wyoming law.” 

Any Wyoming citizen who has reason to believe a political action committee stole their identity or falsely reported a donation using their name is encouraged to report this to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office at elections@wyo.gov or 307-777-5860.

August 2, 2024

By all measures, the Presidential election has gone from one that was an almost sure win for Donald Trump, both in the electoral and popular vote, and potentially a landslide, to an even heat, or one that's now somewhat in favor of Harris, nearly overnight.  States that weren't in play, as they'd gone Trump, are back in play.

Moreover, as set out in a NPR analysis, Harris has more than one path to the White House.  Trump has exactly one.

Trump has now retreated to his behavior of a decade ago in desperation, questioning whether or not Kamala Harris is black, and thereby no doubt alienating both African Americans and Indian Americans to some degree.  And, moreover, it emphasizes what the new catch phrase the Democrats have for the GOP ticket, that being that it is "weird".  Trump babble on whether Harris is black or not is frankly, weird.

August 3, 2024

Kamala Harris has secured enough delegates to be nominated.

Donald Trump endorsed Darin Smith, who is seeking to replace retiring Anthony Bouchard, for a Wyoming Senate seat.

Very odd to think of the embattled Trump reaching this far down to endorse anyone.

The CST Op Ed page was full of articles by politicians.

One by Chuck Gray:

Gray asserted this was necessary due to Gov. Gordon's torpedoing, properly, the Sec. of State's proposed rules on elections.  

Gray has been singularly unsuccessful in regard to his efforts on elections this cycle.

A good article by Khale Lenhart:

Lenhart is addressing the effort by PACs sending out really bogus bs flyers directed against legislators who are not part of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  His point here is excellent.

Tom Walters penned this article on a similar, but not identical, issue.

August 4, 2024

Vice President Harris interviewed potential running mates yesterday.

A reeling Trump accused Harris of not being very smart.

Harris is clearly highly intelligent. Trump brings up intelligence so often, often in regard to himself, that it is at the point where it's fair to question if he feels insecure about his own.

August 6, 2024

From the Cowboy State Daily:

Driskill Files Complaint Over County Party’s $25K Donation To Freedom Caucus PAC

And this interesting item in that article:

Driskill also is asking the complaint be immediately forwarded to Attorney General Bridget Hill because he believes Secretary of State Chuck Gray has “an inherent conflict” of interest on the issue.

Driskill also is asking the complaint be immediately forwarded to Attorney General Bridget Hill because he believes Secretary of State Chuck Gray has “an inherent conflict” of interest on the issue.

This is reference to Gray’s chief general counsel Joe Rubino. Rubino is married to Jessie Rubino, Wyoming state director of the Freedom Caucus. As chief general counsel, Joe Rubino is in charge of reviewing all complaints made to the Secretary of State’s Office.

In his complaint, Driskill said when he brought the issue up with Gray in-person, Gray “shrugged it off” and said there was little he could likely do about it, suggesting Driskill contact his own county attorney.

“I think it is imperative that all complaints be followed up on (in) an unbiased manner,” Driskill writes in his complaint. “I am yet to see a referral to the authorities under the current secretary of state.”

Driskill told Cowboy State he has little hope that Gray will hand off the complaint.

“I doubt it,” he said. “They haven’t shown any signs of acknowledging conflict on anything they’ve done. It’s a clear conflict.”

Gray, however, told Cowboy State Daily he considers all complaints “very seriously” and said Driskill’s allegations to the contrary are “false and defamatory,” as he invited Driskill to file a complaint last Thursday and sent him the form to do so.

He plans to accept Driskill’s request to hand off the complaint to the Attorney General’s Office.

August 6, 2024

Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, about whom I know nothing, as her running mate.  The Trump campaign has already responded with the buzzwords, claiming, in essence, that he's a far left liberal who sought to remake Minnesota in the image of California.

And with this, we will know close out this edition.

Related threads:

Wyoming Early Primary Voting Starts Today, July 23, 2024.

Last edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XXII. The Populist Party v. The Democrats and the Co-opting of American Populism. The sic transit gloria mundi et reductio ad absurdum edition. Hawk tuah.

Labels: 2020s, 2024 Election, American Civil Religion, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Cultural Christianity, Donald Trump, Joseph Biden, Populism, Reductio ad absurdum, Republican Party, Sic transit Gloria Mundi