Altered realities

A cartoon message
 for Trump supporters. 
Click to enlarge.

The plus side of no Internet connection for a week?
Not tuning in to the Republican National Convention.

News blues…

California fire map and tracker 

California fires live updates 

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Interview with Mary Trump: 'Repulsed And Heartbroken' After Uncle's RNC Speech | MSNBC (7:20 mins)

New York Times opinion writer at large, Charline Warzel writes about Trump’s convention,

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned covering the daily information wars of the Trump era is that a meaningful percentage of Americans live in an alternate reality powered by a completely separate universe of news and information.
Some are armed with their own completely fabricated facts about the world while others, as the journalist Joshua Green wrote in this section in 2017, rearrange our shared facts “to compose an entirely different narrative.” There is little consensus on the top story of the day or the major threats facing the country. You will have noticed this if you’ve ever watched a congressional hearing and flipped between CNN or MSNBC and Fox News. The video feed is the same but the interpretation of events is radically different.
Personally, I’ve never seen a clearer demonstration of the Two Universes phenomenon than this week’s Republican National Convention.
For three nights, in a shameless display of loyalty to President Trump, the party has conjured up what my colleague Frank Bruni described as an “upside-down vision” of the world. Theirs is a universe in which the coronavirus pandemic is largely in the rear view (on Aug. 25, 1,136 Americans died from the virus) and where, according to Representative Matt Gaetz, radical Democrats threaten to “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite MS-13 to live next door.” A universe where the existential dangers of climate change pale in comparison to those of cancel culture — even as the West is ravaged by blackouts and wildfires and the Gulf Coast is slammed by a devastating hurricane.

Hear, hear, Charlie!

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Catching up on political ads
The Lincoln Project:
Decency  (0:55 mins)
Protect  (0:55 mins)
Concoctor  (3:15 mins)
Goodyear  (0:25 mins) 

Don Winslow Films: The Real Kellyanne Conway (All’s I can say is, WOW! Kellyanne Conway’s daughter speaks out.)   (1:25 mins)
Really American: Polluter in Chief  (1:37mins)
Longtime Republican and Trump Voter: Voting for a Democrat For The First Time  (5:55 mins) (Editorial comment: sharing this guy’s view despite not agreeing with his pick of all his presidential candidates. He, however, is showing common sense for this year’s election.)
Second Trump DHS Official Comes Out For Biden  (2:15 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

First full day re-connected to the Internet so, between forays into the garden to dissuade monkeys from further “exploration” of seedlings, and sharing time with my mother over cups of Rooibos tea, I plan to catch up on what’s happenin’ in the world….