The Books of Bokonon

 

This article is a friendly reminder that to win a Presidential campaign in Georgia or similar swing states your campaign needs to reach out to rural voters as well, and more importantly that those efforts do make a difference. In Georgia in 2020, for example, Joe Biden was netting a noticeably higher level of support in rural counties than Hillary Clinton had against Trump in 2016. Senator Raphael Warnock's successful Senatorial bid for a full term can likewise be attributed in part to rural county outreach. The Harris/Walz team is building on that approach.  Voter outreach in rural areas is something analysts like Martin Longman (of Progress Pond) has advocated for years. I am sure he is far from alone. Yes, it is true that many of these rural counties will not flip Democratic, but by reaching out to those silent Democrats, the odds that they turn out to vote improve, thus improving the odds that a Democratic Presidential candidate will win a highly competitive state. And let...

 Maybe:   The contrast is stark. As we saw during the Democratic Convention last week, quite a few of the speakers were Republican Party members who endorsed Harris. It's clearly not because they see eye with Harris on the issues. Quite the opposite. But they do share a love of our nation in common with their Democratic counterparts and are willing to be part of what in different contexts would be called a popular front. We've seen since then other former staffers (not only Trump's) from previous GOP presidential campaigns and Presidencies endorse Harris. They've turned their backs on Trump, and with good reason. He was unfit for office in 2016 and he is even more unfit today. For many, the events of January 6th that resulted in a coup attempt turned out to be the last straw. Others might be looking carefully at the policies promoted in Project 2025, which is very much tied to Trump, and realized that those policies were simply weird: un-American and more befitting more...

If you've ever been part of a studio audience for any comedy series (whether sitcom or late night talk), it's fairly common for the cast members or host to warm up the audience, tell a few jokes, interact. What you get is something unscripted, unrehearsed, and very human and unpredictable. A few decades back, I might have been in one of those live audiences. Jon Stewart does that on nights when he is hosting The Daily Show . And these clips of Jon doing his thing are evergreen. Jon Stewart and I are very close to the same age and as products of the latter part of the 1970s and early 1980s, it's safe to say we probably have some overlapping life experiences. When asked to recommend some books worth reading, Jon Stewart recommended the work of Kurt Vonnegut. He has his reasons, which aren't all that different from my own reasons for recommending that author in particular. So it goes. Anyway, here is the video. Enjoy.

I'm sure Sarah Cooper would rather Trump vanish into thin air than do the Trump parody lip sync videos that made her famous in 2020, but I am glad she keeps giving us good reason to laugh at how loony Trump really is:  

I do. It's the same worn-out argument that's used by our supposed "betters" every time the topic or minimum wage increases is so much as mentioned. This past spring, the minimum wage for fast food workers in California went up from $15.50 an hour to $20 per hour. The usual suspects predicted a practically apocalyptic forecast, including a drastic reduction in available jobs and hours. Here's the problem with that forecast: the mass layoffs never happened . If anything, the opposite occurred. In other words, your favorite McDonald's franchise is not going to be devoid of workers any time soon. It feels good to see the wage suppression crowd proven wrong, and even better to know some fast food workers have just a bit more financial security than they had only a few months ago.

Earlier this month, Representative Jamie Raskin referred to the Venezuelan President Maduro and his regime as right-wing . That stirred up a hornet's nest on social media, especially among the MAGA true believers who argue that Maduro is a "communist" and therefore by definition cannot be right-wing. Admittedly, I do not follow Venezuelan politics especially closely, but as far as I am aware, Maduro has never self-identified as a communist. He is the heir to the movement that Hugo Chavez left behind when he died over a decade ago, and Chavez referred to the Bolivarian movement he led as "21st century socialism" (admittedly a very vague term). Maduro certainly has turned his back on any pretense of transparent democracy and has increasingly ruled with an iron fist much like the communist dictators of the Soviet era or the nominally communist dictators who rule roughly 1/5 of the people currently alive. Then again, there are plenty of legitimate right-wing dictato...

Stephen Colbert usually delivers. He did again after Kamala Harris' acceptance speech Thursday night:  

Jason Bateman has some fun with this bit on The Daily Show:   After so much chaos aren't you craving normal? Maybe that is what our "change election" this year will be about: the pursuit of normality that has eluded us since the Trump era.

I am glad to have Jon Stewart back. He's consistently funny, and he is not one to pull punches. Here is his recap of Day 4 of the DNC convention:   Jon Stewart's take on Fox News' coverage was brilliantly brutal. Jesse Watters comes across as the GOP's "Baghdad Bob". If you are too young to know who that is, Wikipedia is your friend. The absurdity of reporting on how miserable the convention-goers are while literally next to a screen showing the convention-goers having the time of their life is truly a sight to behold. He loves highlighting the internal contradictions of the Democratic coalition. Speaking as a Democratic Party member, I can tell you that we are truly a big tent party, and perhaps even more so this election season. We can be a bit like herding cats - always have been. Diversity is our strength, but the DNC programmers' choice to not focus on Palestinian Americans strikes both Stewart and me as something that may come back to haunt them lat...

As I have taken a few hours out of each evening this week to watch the DNC convention, it is not lost on me that several speakers have been Republicans who have chosen to endorse the Democratic nominee for President, Kamala Harris, over their own party's candidate, the failed former President Donald Trump. I am grateful that the audience of Democratic delegates, officials, and fellow travelers have given these folks a warm welcome. I hope we all give them a warm welcome. This evening I listened to the remarks of a Republican mayor from Arizona at the convention endorse Harris. What I saw was a man probably close to my age who has dedicated himself to a party for an entire adult life and found that it was no longer recognizable; that it had become a cult of personalty centered around Trump. To realize that party no longer exists, that the cause one had served had become corrupted by what amounted to a crime syndicate is difficult, to say the least. To have the moral clarity to say ...

About a month ago, President Joe Biden announced that he would not be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for a second term, even though he had more than enough delegates to accept the nomination. He was the candidate I had voted for during my state's primary this year just as I had done in 2020. Biden had been the man for the moment. His Presidential term was solid, and I would argue exceeded expectations. I might circle back to that another time. He had no serious opponents during this year's primary season and he had made it clear that he still believed he was the man for this moment. Unfortunately, the polls kept consistently telling a different story. And his performance at that first (and as it turned out, last) debate against Trump was nothing short of disastrous for both candidates. This was an election that very few were enthusiastic about. I was saddened at the news that Joe Biden had decided to step aside in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris, but also r...

  Another way of putting it: does a bear shit in the woods? The answer to both is yes. You can read Josh Marshall's post at TPM for a quick summary. Trump could probably hold a similar rally in Harrison, which is a town with a very similar reputation in what remains of rural northwest Arkansas. The one scheduled for Tuesday is in Howell, Michigan, which is a swing state. I'm sure some sort of audience will goose step their way to see Trump blabber incoherently. I doubt this will endear the ex-president with the sort of independent swing voters he would need in order to flip Michigan this election year. Trump is not just using racist dog whistles as Josh Marshall notes. He's gone far beyond that, and has truly doubled down on the fascist tone that Trump and his stans prefer. Obviously, this rally deserves to be mocked, and the various media outlets need to do their jobs and make it plain as day that Trump is a candidate who embraces fascism and is not fit to be anywhere nea...

The VFW released a statement in the aftermath of Trump's blabbering about how the Medal of Honor was somehow an inferior honor compared to civilian Medal of Freedom. VFW is right to do so. Yes, many Medals of Honor are awarded posthumously. Turns out that people in a war zone can commit extraordinary acts of bravery and die in the process. They deserve respect. Trump's words were far from respectful. This is not the first time, and will definitely not be the last time Trump says something disparaging about our own military personnel. This is not a man who is morally fit for the Presidency, as we learned from his (hopefully) one term in office. He is definitely untrustworthy as a commander in chief.

Let's see what the late night talk shows have posted already this evening. I'll start off with Seth Meyers: Desi Lydic of The Daily Show also has a few words about Trump's latest speech or rally, or whatever the heck that was:   I'm sure I'll have more for you later. Cheers!

The following strikes me as a decent enough primer on the Ukrainian offensive. It'll only take a few minute to view the video. Since there are a lot of folks (including - maybe especially - milbloggers) who have questioned what the Ukrainian military is up to and what would be gained by this mission should it succeed, hopefully some light is shed. Obviously only the civilian and military leadership of Ukraine know for sure what their objectives are, but getting an idea of the lay of the land and a map or two can give you an idea of what controlling railroad lines in Kursk could do to mess up Russian logistics. That in itself would be a good thing. To the extent Ukrainian troops treat residents in the occupied towns and villages well, that will undercut Russian propaganda claims about Ukrainians, which also strikes me as a good thing. Although not mentioned in this video, oblasts like Kursk and Belgorod have significant Ukrainian ethnic residents, and at one point, these oblasts - o...

The Guardian had recently mothballed its Ukraine War live blog . It had been a daily resource to one that appeared irregularly at best. Wars are not entertainment, and their coverage is an obligation that goes well beyond advertising dollars. In the absence of the live blog, I have increased my reliance on my Telegram channels. Turns out a lot happens, even when the world isn't paying attention. For the time being, The Guardian's live blog is back. I doubt it will last, once this latest offensive loses its ability to grab headlines.

That's the question keeping Jimmy Kimmel up at night : “I don’t know if there will be any late-night television shows on network TV in ten years. Maybe there’ll be one but there won’t be a lot of them,” he said on the Politickin’ podcast. “There’s a lot to watch and now people can watch anything at anytime, they’ve got all these streaming services. It used to be Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30pm and so everybody watched and then David Letterman was on after Johnny so people watched those two shows but now they’re so many options. Maybe more significantly, the fact that people are easily able to watch your monologue online the next day, it really cancels out the need to watch it when it’s on the air and once people stop watching it when it’s on the air, networks are going to stop paying for it to be made.”  I doubt Jimmy Kimmel will have much to worry about the Monday after his last late night broadcast, whenever that happens (hopefully not for a long time). But he is ...

It's another day that ends in y. So, today, I am giving you a mix of humor (Seth Meyers), news (Ari Melber) and will chase it with some dry sarcastic humor (CityNerd).  Seth Meyers, with an assist from Amber Ruffin, covers more of the craziness in the news. The first minutes are spent on Trump's disastrous interview by Elon Musk, which went about as bad as one would expect:   Ari Melber on the Trump campaign's continuing meltdown, including the campaign's attempt to run away from an issue the GOP pushed for decades: banning abortion. Turns out that bans and threats of jail time for the women seeking to terminate pregnancies are very unpopular across much of the political spectrum. Hmm. Who knew. Here's the segment: CityNerd eviscerates Project 2025 apologists for sport: It does appear that I have some visitors who return, so for all two of you, I will keep on posting as time permits. Cheers! Update: One for the road on Trump's disastrous Twitter/X interview:

Occasionally on Progress Pond, I use my space there to post videos of some of my favorite late night talk show hosts. I'll try to use this space here a bit more often now. Let's start tonight's roundup with Jon Stewart, who has recovered from COVID: Next let's hear from Seth Meyers who wants to cover the last three weeks in 15 minutes in his A Closer Look segment: Yes, a lot happened in three weeks, and there was, as the late Frank Zappa would say, some state of the art weirdness. And yes, Seth has been referring to Trump and his various sidekicks as weird for several years now. Hell, I've made plenty of off the cuff remarks about how strange, weird, goofy, wack, or batshit insane Trump and his minions have been for a while too. Kudos to Tim Walz for making it go viral, thus succeeding where the rest of us failed.  I will say this: if your retort to an insult is to defensively deny it or to use the old "I am rubber, you are glue" tactic to retort, you hav...

One of the things I am a stickler for is getting informed opinions that are more than just copium. It doesn't matter what issue, it's just a healthier way to face life. One Telegram channel I appreciate a great deal regarding the war in Ukraine is simply called Military & Strategic . The author of most of the posts simply refers to himself or herself as The Analyst. The person is at minimum very familiar with the far east of Europe, and seems knowledgeable about military strategy and tactics. This is not someone with a crystal ball, but rather someone who does offer an informed perspective and a willingness to communicate truths that are unpleasant when needed. The Analyst was initially very skeptical about the latest incursion into Kursk, and their concerns are understandable and within the mainstream. Ukraine has very limited resources, so pulling troops off the front where the Ukrainians really do have a serious fight on their hands to invade Russia does appear at first ...

This is my friendly reminder that rumors of Project 2025's demise are exaggerated. Project 2025 is alive and well, as a recently exposed cache of training videos makes perfectly clear. If you want to watch them, the link is here . As usual, ProPublica provides a helpful public service with its investigative journalism. As noted elsewhere, Project 2025 may not explicitly name Donald Trump as the beneficiary of Project 2025's proposals, it's very clear that this is a plan for the next GOP president, who would be Trump if he manages to win enough of the electoral vote count in November. It also is worth mentioning that the co-authors of the various chapters of that document are former and future Trump Cabinet members and potential leaders of various agencies in the eventuality of a Trump victory. This very partial list I found in Axios gives a bit of a teaser of what to expect if Project 2025 were implemented. Like your accurate weather forecasts? Too bad. NOAA is on the cho...

As much as I would have loved a fact check done in real time while The Former Guy was babbling for an hour or so during his press conference late last week, NPR did eventually enter the chat with a list of 162 of Trump's lies and damn lies . It goes without saying that Trump is constitutionally incapable of doing anything else but lie and it is apparent that the guy is less and less capable of distinguishing fact from fiction. And yet here we are. It looks like Trump and the GOP are going to rely on playing the old hits. Here's the good news: we can see what Trump is selling as the scam it is and vote accordingly. Absent our press doing its job - even belatedly - there is a good rule of thumb: if Trump is speaking, he is lying or has completely lost his mind. Either interpretation is reasonable.

This is the title track for the Walker Brothers' last LP, Nite Flights . If, back in the day, you were to hear this song on the radio, you might be forgiven for mistaking this track for a David Bowie recording. Fun fact: David Bowie would cover this song 15 years later. The first half of the Nite Flights LP is strictly Scott Walker-written songs, in which he also is the lead vocalist. This is the LP that marks Scott's explicit shift from fairly mainstream pop to increasingly experimental and challenging recordings.  Although the second half of the LP is a bit less intense than Scott's half, the LP makes for a very cohesive listen, and one bearing repeated listening. There are always bound to be recording artists and LPs that just don't quite catch on. This is one of those LPs, and the Walker Brothers had already had their moment in the spotlight a decade prior. Most of the tracks on this album could have charted, with the right promotion. I believe the record company t...

Yesterday, while taking a bit of a work break, I looked at my Telegram channels (I subscribe to several covering the Russo-Ukraine War, primarily from a Ukrainian perspective, along with a couple general military conflict channels that are arguably less sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause) and noticed that apparently Ukrainian troops had crossed the border into the Kursk and Belgorod oblasts in Russia. Russian border security and air defense got caught with their pants down. At the time, it was not clear if this was some sort of quick incursion by the Russian Volunteer Corps or some other anti-Putin militia operating within Ukraine or an incursion by the Ukrainian Armed Forces with some greater objective.  As of today, it appears that the invasion of Kursk and Belgorod oblasts is on-going . There have been some conflicting reports about which villages the Ukrainian military has occupied. Sudzsha, a border village in the Kursk oblast was either completely or partially occupied by Ukr...

It's late now, but earlier today I awoke to the news that Kamala Harris had picked Tim Walz as her running mate. Harris had plenty of good choices. Walz signals to me that she is building something akin to the Obama/Biden coalition of 2008 and 2012. Tim Walz, as Governor of Minnesota since 2019 presides over what is arguably a purple state. It's not really a swing state when it comes to Presidential elections. Minnesota also borders Wisconsin (which is a true swing state). Like the other "blue wall" states in the Midwest, it is both an industrial and agricultural state. Walz himself hails from rural Nebraska. He's made a career in the military and as a high school educator, and has worked in a relatively GOP-leaning area in Minnesota for most of his career. As a Congress member from 2007 until 2019, Walz earned a reputation as a moderate who worked with his GOP colleagues to pass legislation. As Governor of Minnesota, he's presided over an impressive number of...

A Russian revolution ending the Russo-Ukraine war? Oh, that would be so wonderful. As Zeihan explains in a short video, it's complicated. Any sort of palace coup is a non-starter, apparently. The people Putin has surrounded himself with generally view the world no differently from him, and they come from the same KGB/FSB background. So, don't expect the elites to necessarily change stripes and turn on Putin. A mass uprising that becomes a revolution? Zeihan doesn't see that as a prospect in the short term. I don't either. Yes, the sanctions are causing some discomfort, but not to the extent that a critical mass would very violently demand a change. Will the regime crumble? Eventually. In the meantime, Ukrainians must continue to fight for their existence, and anyone living in the nations that successfully declared their independence when the USSR crumbled at the start of the 1990s need to keep a watchful eye for what might be lurking on their borders. Regrettably, we li...

 Liz Dye: It's fine to laugh at JD Vance and his couch . At this juncture, the GOP is weird memes practically write themselves. You look at the policies that Vance, Trump, the right-wing think tanks (including the one that hatched Project 2025), and it becomes obvious that these folks are pushing policies and ideas that are really out of touch and just plain odd - definitely radically out of touch with what most of us as Americans want or value. That's worth mocking. Hell, we could all use a few good laughs after the events of these last few weeks, and definitely the last decade. As long as we remember to go to the polls and vote this November, let's continue to laugh. Note, image comes from link, which is credited to Getty. Also, most importantly, no couches were harmed in the composition of this post.

This blog cannot live up to its title if I don't occasionally offer some scripture from the fragments of The Books of Bokonon that appear in the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel, Cat's Cradle . So here is one that seems quite timely: Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.   That strikes me as a good warning for any of us exposed to politicians, the usual talking heads we see on cable (and YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, etc.), some of our academicians, clerics, celebrities and influencers, etc. So it goes. Someone kindly compiled all of the passages from the Books of Bokonon on a website . You should still read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a classic, and that's no foma.

Now that's not a title you'd normally expect to see for a song on an LP released by a very popular pop singer who had grown accustomed to hit singles and LPs in the UK throughout the course of the 1960s. Scott Walker was not your ordinary pop singer or songwriter. The Old Man's Back Again was the 7th song from 1969's Scott 4 LP. The subject matter itself was bleak. The year before this song was released, the Czechoslovakian government's efforts to offer some liberalized reforms for its citizens were crushed by the invasion of Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks, thus reinstalling the old Stalinist approach to communism with all of the repression that comes with it. This is a song about hope crushed. Try playing that at a wedding reception.  This was a song written by a bassist for a bassist. The prominent bass line (one very much of the late 1960s) drives this song. The orchestral arrangements almost remind me of Ennio Morricone's work around that time. If used in the ...

I'll tell you a story about an obscure song that grabbed my attention earlier this year, and would not let go. Late last November, I purchased a new (to me) 2021 Prius. When I realized it connected seamlessly with my current cell phone, I finally relented and got a Spotify subscription. In other words, I finally followed my kids' footsteps. Unlike my kids, I immediately added whole LPs to my library, rather than playlists. The stuff I listen to is old-school enough that there might be 30-40 minutes of time for any one LP. And once an album is finished on Spotify, you'll find yourself immediately subject to whatever algorithm Spotify uses. One day, as I was on a commute, an LP finished up. I was probably listening to Television's Marquee Moon or The Patti Smith Group's Radio Ethiopia (two LPs I enjoy), when the last song ended and the algorithm did its thing. One of the first songs offered to me by the algorithm gods was a song called 30 Century Man by Scott Walke...