I feel a lot better after the debate last night. I was at my son's house when the Trump/Biden debate happened, and I watched about 10 minutes of it. I just couldn't bear to see any more of it. Biden should have won that, but he didn't, and no amount of excuses re: why he wasn't on game can explain why he lost to an undisciplined, dishonest man.
So, I went in to the debate last night feeling as if Harris should be able to hold her own, but...
I was much relieved to see that she did hold her own. Tim and I both watched it. I was pleased to see that he was fact checked. That whole bull about 'the baby is set aside after it's born while the parents decide whether to have it killed or not' has made me sick ever since the first time I heard him say such a thing. Linsey Davis pointed out at the close of his response that 'killing a baby after it is born is not legal in any of the 50 states'. When he talked about Haitian immigrants eating pets, Tim laughed in disbelief. I mean, that has been debunked. David Muir matter of factly pointed that out that this claim is not true according to the city manager who responded to their investigation.
He lied 33 times during the two hours. He refused to answer pretty basic questions: Do you support Russia or Ukraine winning the war? Do you wish that you'd done anything differently on January 6th? You have said multiple times in the past few weeks that you lost the 2020 election "by a whisker", "just didn't quite have the votes". Do you believe that you lost the election. ("I never said that. I was being sarcastic.")
At the end of it, I thought that Harris had done a good job.
But of course, at the end of it, Trump declared himself victorious, and refused a rematch. "Once you've won, what more is there to prove?" he asks, which reminds me of the 'never play chess with a pigeon' adage.
Oh, and my felting class was fun. I forget who asked, but it was dry felting that we did, and we made a silly little figurine, but it was fun and it is something that will be interesting to experiment with.
Today, 3 of 4 kittens came out front of the garage when I called, and for the first time, Possum approached me outdoors, meowing. They are getting there, which pleases me. They do love their laser dot time. It does tickle me that for all his professed dislike for cats, Tim is quite interested in their progress.
I spent the day cleaning the excess thin set between the tiles in the pantry in preparation for grout and then I cleaned and organized things, taking tools down stairs that we were finished. It was a joyful moment taking all the drywall tools down and putting them away.
We had a trash can of left over tongue and groove pine boards. Tim wanted to just throw them on the burn pile, but I kept thinking that someone who is crafting, or whatever, might want them. I posted them on a local 'helping hands site' and they were claimed in the matter of minutes. We met for pick up after the guy got off work, and that was that. More junk cleared out.
I chopped two gallons of green peppers today for the freezer. They joined the two gallons already in the freezer. My $14.00 purchase will keep us in green peppers (for cooking) for the winter. I have about 20 quarts of stewed tomatoes in the freezer as well. I am well satisfied with that.
So that is today. I need to take a shower and then unwind with my quota of post cards for the night. I have also got a book to read before the 19th. Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead.
We just featured Demon Copperhead at out last book club meeting. Some of our members are somewhat conservative when it comes to t violence and language, so I cautioned them ahead of time that foul words are only words and they are NOT being directed to the readers and the violence was an integral part of the plot, I was amazed at their comments after reading the book. One of our members was a social worker before she retired and dealt with fostering children, so her input was invaluable. And those conservative members were all captivated by the book and actively contributed to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting, Ana. I will let you know what I thought of it, when I finish it.
Delete33 lies is worse than I thought. #45 has no reason to be pleased with himself. Gallons of peppers? Isn't gallon a liquid measurement and so you would say pounds? It does sound like a lot of peppers.
ReplyDeleteI put them in gallon bags. So...I filled 4 of them. They started out as two pecks (or a half bushel) of peppers.
DeleteI tried that book on audio and quickly have up. Maybe it will be fine to actually read.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried an audio book. I always think that I should try one. It would be good for long drives.
DeleteShe mopped the floor with him. Good debate.
ReplyDeleteI thought she did well. I find it interesting that so many people (I live in a red county) complain that she did not talk about policy. I guess I don't see that. I thought she brought a lot more policy to the table than her opponent did. She was very clear about her aims. Trump still hasn't got a health care plan. How many years has he been promising that? But he assures us he's got concepts.
DeleteNumbers say the election is squeaker. With performances like last night, that's hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that we have an electoral college, Red. If that was abandoned, and we went to 1-vote/1 person, Harris would win handily. If we'd gotten rid of that years ago, Trump would have never been president in the first place.
DeleteOnly 33 times? I would have thought it was twice that. She did an excellent job, clearly was the adult in the room. He came across as exactly what he is, and angry yelling old man. I hope the polls are wrong, there is no way it should be this close. VOTE!
ReplyDeleteI have stopped looking at polls. You are right. Vote. Voting prevents unwanted presidencies.
DeleteI can't believe the polls are so close even after Trump proved what a self centered, dictator loving idiot he is.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what criteria these polls are using, because they seem to be all over the place.
DeleteShe pretty much mopped up the floor with him. Will it make a difference? We can only hope.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope. And vote.
DeleteI loved it when trump said he had a concept, not a plan, but a concept. That man is seriously delusional and if he was poor, would be incarcerated or sectioned. The lies poor out of him like maggots out of a rotting corpse. I couldn't sit through the debate, I had to walk around because his energy is awful for me to be around, even on the TV.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as his lips pursed, I thought, 'here we go...' I hate his voice. That whiney nasally 'Everyone says...'
DeleteWe didn't watch because no TV here, but I read analysis on both sides. I think it's clear she won, but havevto agree that she sidestepped questions on policy. Still, she's only been in the hot seat a few weeks, and is probably scrambling. I think her liberal history will hurt her though. We seriously need the young, women, and the "other" to vote.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your house progress. Cannot wait til you get to move in!
Sleeping on the couch tonight so poor sick man can rest more easy.
Her liberal history is helping her win a huge majority of young voters, women voters, Latino and Black voters and the LTGBQ population. I keep thinking that if she's picking up a majority of these voters, somewhere along the line, these minorities will add up to make a majority.
DeleteIf only elections were decided by debates it would be all over. Unfortunately it's decided by voters, some of who are uninformed, angry and alienated from the political classes. They may well not have watched the debate but will get the gist of it from what Trump has to say on social media - and we know how misleading that can be. We can only hope that common sense prevails.
ReplyDeleteI have read that the debates do not sway voters. That is to say, trumpers will see him favorably, and never-trumpers won't. What the debates do is sway undecided voters. One major network did a focus group using undecided voters in Erie, PA. There were 13 undecided voters. At the end of the debate, 7 were stated that they were swayed for Harris, 4 for trump. 2 remained undecided.
DeleteWe're all hoping the orange idiot is not voted in again, but the members of his cult will never be persuaded of his wickedness.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Janice (jabblog). You can never change the mindset of the ignorant.
ReplyDeleteFrom the analysis that I have seen and read it sounded like your outcome, however the few trump proponents that I have in my socials failed to see it that way. I hate how, world over, we seem to be getting more polar. Critical thinking is dying and I can only hope that people can stop the stupid.
ReplyDeleteOh, and one of my op shop finds was a Kingsolver book - The Lacuna - I remember when I read it all I could think was how well it portrayed through fiction (& time - published in 1983) the manipulation of the media by unseen figures.
DeleteApologies - 2009 (1983 was a quote above)
DeleteI just finished reading Demon Copperhead and found it so sad. I thought it was a very good book but I wanted to shake the main character and make him wise up. It's fiction but it really exposes the awful things that have been done by people in power to people that are powerless.
ReplyDeleteI only watched an hour of the debate as I couldn't keep listening to the former president's lies and rants. Go Kamala!
I thought that Demon Copperhead was amazing. Yes, it was hard to read at times but the truth is the truth and the problems it addresses are never going to magically disappear.
ReplyDeleteKamala was great but will his minions care? Not in the least.
She is likeable and definitely more trustworthy but I rarely see people talk about the costs of her (or Trumps) proposals and come up with a plan on how we are going to pay for it all. Some of her proposal costs of note:
ReplyDeleteAgenda to Lower Costs for American Families: 1.7 trillion
Expanded Child Tax Credit: 1.2 trillion
Expanded ACA Subsidies: 383 billion
Expanded Earned Income Tax Credit: 150 billion
First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit: 100 billion
Affordable Housing Plan: 100 billion
Where is this money going to come from? The only plan I see is to tax wealthy companies more which of course means they pass the buck onto consumers. During the last four years, the average family of four now pays $17,169 more for goods and services. Will adding a lot more burden to that improve our country?
Trumps proposals look even worse with an estimated 10+ trillion added to our deficit over the next decade.
P.S. All those numbers are from the non-partisan, highly respected Penn Wharton group that has a model for predicting government budgets.
While it's great to know the specifics, I would say, don't miss the forest for the trees. Trump is an existential threat. I trust in responsible leadership, and some of these Harris proposals will also benefit taxpayers. It's hard to know how it will all shake out. I think, as a voter, my job is to keep my eye on the big picture. Just my two cents!
DeleteEd, there are 572 billionaires in America. Taxing them at the same rate that I get taxed at will provide a great deal of money. She also has says that the goal is to make corporations pay taxes as well. It can't be done...and yet, Ed, it is done all over the world.
DeleteSteve - I get the fear and certainly understand why people are frightened. I felt the same thing during Trump's first four years which ended in total chaos. But when Biden finally took over, it was pleasing to see how fast things bounced back to being somewhat normal again. As a result, I guess I don't fear Trump and only see him more as an embarrassment. Thus I am more interested in voting based on policies than character.
DeleteDebbie - Billionaires are currently taxed at 32% while you probably pay closer to 22% or less in Federal taxes. So taxing their income at the same rate as you would result in significantly less money. You are of course referring to long term gains taxes which are capped at 15%. Most don't understand that all the money (from sold stocks) eligible for long term gains taxes have already been taxed once at the higher 32% before they bought the stock and the tax is just an additional tax on the gains of the stock meaning the overall tax rate for their investment is well north of 32%.
You can definitely argue that business don't pay their "fair share" of taxes if comparing their tax rates to yours. But rest assured, every dollar they spend more on taxes will come right back to you and I in increased costs for their goods and services. I am a big fan of this because I'm not a big consumer and it applies the taxes to those who are. But there are lots of studies showing that it would affect the poorest among us the most.
I missed typed, the federal top tax bracket for millionaires is 37% not 32%.
Delete"Demon Copperhead" is a GREAT book. At least, I thought so! I bet it's a huge relief to get that drywall stuff put away and YAY for finding a second home for the tongue-and-groove!
ReplyDeleteIt's a difficult read. I really am rooting for this kid, but I have the idea that things are going to go to hell for him. I'm half way through the book. But it is well written, and I think, like David Copperfield did in its day, it lays bare the ugliness of poverty and how it affects our children.
DeleteHmmm...my comments are going to spam. :(
ReplyDeleteI found ya! And isn't it odd that your comment telling me your comments were going to spam didn't go to spam. Blogger is a strange machine!!!
DeleteIt really is. I will never understand why Blogger persists in believing that I am a spammer.
Delete