49 more days

49 more days left to the US presidential election. But Trump, if he loses the election, hangs around until January 20 – his window-of-opportunity to further punish Americans, this time for voting him out.

News blues…

Trump visited Sacramento, California and, with his usual wisdom, advised “forest management” is at root of California’s devastating fires, that dry trees become “like matchsticks” and must be “removed” from forests. (BTW: Most US forests are on land owned by the federal government – which makes “forest management” his bailiwick.) According to Trump, “raking forest floors” is correct forest management – the PM of Norway told him that.
Still in Sacramento, in the context of acknowledging California’s soaring temperatures but avoiding the topic of climate change, Trump tackled the weather, predicting: “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch.”
According to The New York Times, “Mr Trump and his senior officials have regularly mocked, denied or minimized … human-caused climate change … and has sought to zealously rollback [environmental] regulations.”

***

Scientific American breaks its own record and steps into the fray. After 175 years of Scientific American not endorsing a presidential candidate, the respected magazine – and scientists – endorses Joe Biden for president.  (3:30 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project:
Trump NO Nos Quiere YouTube  (1:17 mins)
Don Winslow Films: How we got here  (2:20 mins)
RVAT: President Trump couldn't care less about our military heroes (5:00 mins)
And, on the topic of political ads… Donald Trump et al blow it: 

MSNBC’s The ReidOut, “Campaign Ad Slammed As Overtly Racist”  (1:58 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I delivered my 87-yr-old-mother and her chosen dog, Jessica, to her chosen retirement center. This move has been month’s in the making – plans interrupted by the pandemic, my mom changing her mind, then changing it back again, repeating that…
Finally, after we paid the deposit and first month’s rent, the household got on board behind the decision. We retrenched (“laid off”) a long term employee but retained another to help prepare the house for sale.
Today has been a long time coming.
Tomorrow, we pivot: 1) ready the house for sale, 2) possibly purchase a unit in a lovely “estate” (akin to a “gated community”), 3) figure out when – and how – I can return to California without exposing myself to Covid-19 or climate change fire-related health hazards.
But first, tonight is a moment to breath deep, pat myself on my back (no one else in the extended family will do so) and feel grateful that my mom will adjust into a new, safe, people-and-animal-filled life for her remaining days.
Amen.

Crisis: Danger? Or opportunity?

The Chinese word for "crisis" is composed of two Chinese characters signifying "danger" and "opportunity" respectively.
The crisis facing our multicultural planet is, indeed, both danger and opportunity.
One danger is the lack of effective US leadership.
One opportunity is that We, the People actually demand leadership that is honest, direct, unequivocal, humane, generous, and firm.
Let’s assume you and I agree (as does much of the planet) that Donald J Trump fulfils none of the above leadership traits.
Who, then, could lead us out of the current crisis?
Joe Biden? Not likely.
Joe Biden is a follower, not a leader.
Joe Biden has his schtick down pat: the folksy manner sold as a man of the people; the “I’ve been in politics all my life so trust me”; the grin designed to communicate “I’m just a friendly, honest guy”, etc., etc.

We, the People are in the political, socio-cultural, and psychological fix we’re in because of, not in spite of, long-term politicians like Joe Biden (and Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, and, yes, Bill and Hilary Clinton, too).

I’ve shared in this blog the anti-Trump ads produced by The Lincoln Project and Republicans for the Rule of Law because it’s a first-time phenomenon. Four decades living in the US and I’ve never seen Republicans do anything like it.
But, remember, they’re still Republicans. Republicans concerned about the damage wrought by The Donald and his crew support Joe Biden because Joe’s manageable. Joe’s politics are Republican-Lite. Joe and Republicans can live with one another because they share the same values, politics, and, often, the same donor base.
Ol’ folksy Joe may bring Republicans and Democrats together “across the aisle” but that also brings business-as-usual politics.

I’m not just a crazy locked down lady running around her garden photographing bees and sharing crazy notions.
People “out there” share these crazy notions. Meet, for example, Nathan J. Robinson, and read his full article, “Democrats, You Really Do Not Want To Nominate Joe Biden”, excerpted here:

The reason many of us are so turned off by Joe Biden is that, over the course of a many-decade career in Washington, he has let us down on the key issues when it matters most. Joe Biden has shown himself to be fundamentally weak, unreliable, and dishonest. He gets taken advantage of by Republicans, and he seems more interested in making friends than advancing Democratic ideals. Biden, ultimately, is truly “just another politician”: a guy who will give you a warm smile and then sell you out behind closed doors, a person who will make terrible decisions and grubby deals and then cover them up with lies. He adopts a “middle class” image but sucks up to the rich and powerful, and has contempt for ordinary voters and their concerns. He’s a man with little integrity or moral character, whose choices in office have caused a lot of people a lot of harm.

So, what do “We the People” do?

How about dump Biden and...nominate Andrew Cuomo?

Right now, Cuomo is the proven, and now experienced, Coronavirus ‘fix it’ guy. He also happens to be the kind of control freak needed for this crisis (danger and opportunity).
Cuomo presents facts and figures in a way that a majority of people understand (including in whole thoughts and sentences - unlike the current White House incumbent).
Moreover, Cuomo delivers tough facts and figures in a lovely family-friendly style reminiscent of FDR’s Fireside Chats during the Great Depression.
Finally, Andrew Cuomo would likely either have Elizabeth Warren as his VP or ensure that her brain-power and know-how were put to work for the country.

Imagine! Competence. Efficiency. Brains. And delivery.
We, not just The People, but the whole damned planet at this time of great crisis, need a pair of qualified and humane leaders who could work well with other qualified and humane leaders.
Joe Biden? No!
Cuomo and Warren could do it… and would do it well.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Amid a global pandemic, my mother has decided, finally, to give up the excess baggage burdening her 87-year-old life. She’s agreed to forego seven dogs and their ongoing visits to vets and to forego the ongoing hunt for giblets. She's agreed to forego the too-large garden and too-numerous lawns with too-needy lawn care. She's agreed to end the long employment of two live-in domestic workers who happen, coincidentally, to have decided that Lockdown doesn’t apply to them so they can exit and enter the property at will, saying nothing to nobody.

After years of vehement denunciation of retirement facilities, my mother has decided that a move to a care-giving retirement facility might, after all, better suit her needs.
I’m thrilled with this decision.

Except…
Guess who will have to carry out all the tasks to fulfil the mission?
Guess who will have to search for new homes for utterly spoiled dogs during a time people are abandoning dogs they can no longer afford?
Guess who will have to find the retirement facility that meets her mother’s stringent conditions?
Guess who will have to sell excess personal property and prep the large seven-bedroom house for sale?
Guess who will have to work out legal and financial ramifications of laying off domestic workers with a 35-year work history?
Guess who will have to find and work with a local real estate agent to attempt to sell a house during a pandemic and Level 4 Lockdown?
Guess who will have to fend off the rest of the family who, suddenly, will become “concerned” with the new plan?

You got it.
Dutiful Daughter.

Ah, yes. Crisis: Danger? Or opportunity?

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