Joe Biden, during his long political career, has had a mixed legacy. The hearings on Clarence Thomas were certainly a low point. We would hope, like any of us and unlike Donald Trump, that he has learned from past mistakes and has evolved in his thinking and behavior. Public opinion and social mores do change over time, a lesson that Trump has never learned, though to his base, he is like Teflon and no scandal, however severe and proven, sticks to him in the eyes of true believers. They’re stuck in a time warp from decades ago.
In
my own life, I can look back at my workplace when I was only 21, to an era when
we female employ accepted, only slightly envious, that fellow males had been singled
out for a raise and a brand new opportunity explicitly limited only to men. I
was then a social worker at the Alameda County Welfare Dept. in Oakland,
California, and sincerely congratulated the men among us being upgraded for
training in data analysis and collection, foreshadowing developments in computer
programming. It was just the way things were and any complaints of
discrimination would have cost us our jobs. That’s a long aside, admitting that
my own practices and opinions have changed over the years. So it would be
expected that Joe Biden’s would have changed as well. Only Donald Trump remains
stuck in the same old behavior and opinions for his entire life. It was good to
hear Barack Obama finally tell it
like it is. Joe Biden, only a few years younger than I am, is still a work in
progress and we should expect him to continue evolving and learning as
president.
So
Trump predicts that under a Biden presidency, we’ll have civic disorder? Isn’t
that what we are having right now under Trump? Did we experience “socialism”
under 8 years of Obama/Boden? Trump calls Biden “a low=IQ individual.” Look
who’s talking! At a routine physical, I too “aced” the same cognitive test that Trump did,
identifying pictures of animals, drawing a clock. and counting backwards. It
merely shows that we don’t have outright dementia.
And
while we are at it, the Republican convention tried to depict Trump as Mr Nice Guy, a warm family
man and generous humanitarian, which we all know he is not. His deeds speak
louder than words.
Whatever
his strengths and weaknesses, Joe Biden is all we’ve got
right now to get rid of Trump. Our country and the whole world are in an
emergency with Trump at the helm, so we have to stop the bleeding first, then
worry about further treatment. Mr. Trump and his associates are trying hard to
discourage Biden voters, by making mail-in voting difficult and uncertain and also,
paradoxically, by making them believe that Biden has it in the bag and so they
don’t need to bother to actually vote at all.
It
was good to see supporters of racial justice out in force, despite the
pandemic, to commemorate MLKing’s
1963 speech and
gathering, where I was fortunate to have been present, not knowing it would
become such an iconic event..
An
avid Trump supporter of my acquaintance sent out a list of Democratic lawmakers
whom he accuses of communist sympathies, including Speaker Nany Pelosi! There can be no common ground with people like
him.
Trump
accuses Biden of being a Trojan Horse for socialism
(heaven forbid if we had a little more socialism!), which will bring chaos
and misery. Actually, for 8 years, there was no chaos or misery under
Obama/Biden, but now we have both under Trump. And a Covid second
wave is looming. The disease is hardly in the rearview mirror, as Trump contends.
Still,
is Donald Trump on a sinking ship and are the rats scrambling to get off? Or is
that just my wishful thinking? It does seem that some of his most ardent and outspoken
defenders before their primary are now trying to distance themselves as
the general election approaches. But I do take issue with friends and family
members who may feel lukewarm toward Biden and inclined to sit out the vote,
especially now in the Covid age. Remember when Trump unexpectedly carried the
day and we were all in a state of shock, after what we knew would never
happen was what actually did? We now know, thanks to the anomaly of the
Electoral College, that the guy does not need to win the popular vote and that even
a thin margin in a few battleground states can make all the difference. And now
we realize after 4 years, as Obama has pointed out, that Trump is incapable of
learning on the job. So it is definitely not a time to be complacent and to
trust other voters to do the right thing, when Trump is actively working,
through cuts at the Post Office and furiously campaigning and tweeting during
the Democratic convention (contrary to protocol), trying to interrupt to shift
votes and voter attention?
The
Republican
convention
tried to imitate the Democratic by painting an image of a kind and
compassionate Donald Trump. The effort also depicted Biden as a radical
communist, something hard to square with the real Biden. Trump’s true believers
may buy it, but most voters know that Biden has been a moderate throughout his
long political career. Trump is trying to win reelection by any means fair and
foul, not only for the glory and his own self-affirmation, but to avoid or
postpone criminal prosecution.
Having
a gun at the ready seems to make police trigger happy. If they feel they need a
gun to protect themselves or others, they should shoot for the tires of a fleeing
car or target a leg if they have to shoot at all, but only if another life is
threatened, not just when someme is trying to flee..
I’m
crying crocodile tears now over this plea
from Don Jr. “Unfortunately, I just got the bad news that Senate Republicans
MISSED their goal and Democrats are leading us in fundraising.”
Tell-all books
about Donald Trump and family need to come out
soon, because after the election, whether he wins or loses, they will no longer
be best-sellers.
I recently had an exchange with
a friend who feels that a vote for Joe Biden would be a cop-out because Biden
is insufficiently liberal. I said, “OK don't vote, vote for a write-in
candidate, or vote for Trump if you think it makes no difference. We have an
emergency now with Trump, so we have to stop the bleeding, then we can worry
about further treatment. Maybe Biden will be a one-term president or will die
in office and Harris will take over. Maybe a Republican (not Trump) will win
after that, but I do hope we can jettison the Electoral College meanwhile.
Neither of us in our lifetime is going to get to vote for a candidate for any
office who represents our views 100% or maybe not even 75 %. Trump for me is 0%.”
Spokespersons for oil and gas
interests argue that exploiting the Alaskan Wildlife Reserves is needed while
cleaner energy sources are being developed, but are not on-line yet. However, other
sources will be developed sooner if oil and gas are not so readily
available. It’s a chicken-and-egg question.
(AP) Prominent Lawyer in Haiti Shot and
Killed https://www.yahoo.com/news/prominent-lawyer-haiti-shot-killed-174554455.html
Cuba. which was doing well controlling Covid, an advantage which China also has enjoyed by being able to impose fairly stringent controls. But now Cuba’s cases are rising in a second wave. Cuba is about to start testing its own COVID-19 vaccine, authorities say https://news.yahoo.com/cuba-start-testing-own-covid-185422826.html
My 12-year-old great-grandson, living with his mother in Florida, was eager to attend in-school classes in 7th grade. Only about a third of his classmates are returning in-person, with the rest joining remotely, leaving plenty of room for social distancing. Here he is on the first day of school.
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