Dear Everybody:
This may not be the biggest news of the day, but it’s the story I’m going to start with:
–My husband and I voted today. Here in Colorado we have all mail-in voting, so everybody’s sent a ballot. After we did our research, with the help of Indivisible and the League of Women Voters and the Colorado Democratic Party’s suggestions, we filled out our very long ballots and then took them down to the Elections Center to hand them in personally.
–There are also 24-hour election drop boxes all over town (and I totally trust them), but for the last few elections we haven’t wanted to worry about our ballots getting there.
–I know this is a small thing (in fact, it definitely seems like not enough to do in the face of the stuff we’re facing), but as Heather Delaney Reese says, “A single vote may feel too small for a moment this big, but it remains the most powerful tool our founders gave us. And in 98 days, we are going to remind ourselves, and the world, exactly who we are.”
–I also want to tell everybody again–vote early if that’s an option. For one thing, there were no menacing figures at our election center this early in the game (just some people who were waiting at a different office to get new license plates who thought we might be trying to cut the line) and the earlier you get them in and counted, the less likely Trump will be to be able to mess with them. Also the banking of votes (which the news then reports) encourages our voters and discourages the other side. And ignore all that stuff about people getting complacent and not voting. Studies have proved that what discourages voters is seeing they’re behind and thinking that they can’t win, so why bother.
–Also, ignore all the horror stories on TikTok and Twitter, etc. Most of them are Russian bots trying to scare people out of voting. As Marc Elias says, Trump may try stuff, but if he does, we’ll deal with it. In the meantime, you need to get your vote in.
–Everybody in Colorado also gets an “I Voted” sticker. Wear it to remind other people to vote. (With me, stickers always fall off, so I’m sticking it on a piece of cardboard and putting that on with a safety pin so I can wear it multiple days. Another small thing, but every little bit counts. Do your bit.
The big news of the day was that the White House, Republicans, and the rest of the right wing spent all day yesterday trying to tell us that Trump didn’t actually say what he said about letting Iran take out Los Angeles and San Diego, “it’s a small price to pay:”
–They are saying that wasn’t what Trump actually said and that he was taken out of context and that you have to understand TrumpSpeak to understand what he was REALLY trying to say.
–George Conway: “You can reasonably dispute the meaning of a lot of what Trump says because he’s so incoherent and inarticulate. But what you can’t reasonably dispute is that he is a sadistic an delusional narcissistic sociopath, at once both psychopathic and psychotic who is lacking in morality, conscience, empathy, remorse, and impulse control, and whose only concern if a city (in any country, including ours) were to be wiped off the face of the Earth, would be how it affects him.)
–Jim Acosta: “Trump and his allies are going to try desperately to clean up his completely insane comments last night about Los Angeles and San Diego being blown up. Don’t listen to them. They’ve been trying to sanitize and normalize this dangerous rhetoric for a decade now.”
–Angry: “I’m loving the ‘well akshually he didn’t REALLY mean let Iran take out LA and San Diego excuses today. Cool. Explain the assholes in the crowd who thought it was fucking hilarious.”
–4fuxake: “I’m not concerned about Iran bombing California. I’m concerned about Trump bombing California and trying to act like Iran did it.”
–And some Republicans apparently didn’t get the message. Thom Tillis: “If it was said about Charlotte or Raleigh, I’d be really mad.”
–Steve: “But he’s not mad about other cities? This is the Republican Party for you. They don’t give a flying crap about anyone but themselves, even if it means Americans dying. Vote them all out.”
–(Note: This might be a good time to remind everybody that this is not the first time Trump has said stuff like this. Remember how jubilant he was the day of 9-11 that he now had the tallest skyscraper in New York City now that the Towers were down (and all those people were dead)? And remember when COVID was first getting started and, Trump thought it was only going to affect blue cities, so he didn’t want to do anything about it?)
In other Trump dementia/madness news:
–Trump’s comment about it being a “small price to pay” if Iran took out Los Angeles and San Diego overshadowed a lot of other really crazy stuff he said at that same rally:
–Trump bragged about making up the phrase “Make America Great Again.” He said, “Somebody said, no, that was Ronald Reagan. No, no, his was, uh, “let’s make America great. There’s a big difference. And he never used it, so he didn’t.” (Note: He’s lying. Reagan did use it. It was one of his 1980 presidential campaign slogans.)
–Heather Delaney Reese: “Trump took a slogan that had already been used by another Republican president, dropped the “let’s”, built the entire MAGA political movement around it, and now he is insisting that somehow he invented it…It’s a perfect example of how Donald Trump operates. History becomes whatever he says it is, and the truth becomes whatever he needs it to be. And he expects everyone around him to just go along with it.”
–He declared that people tell him he’s the greatest president in American history. “I said, what about Washington and Lincoln? And they say, ‘you’re better, sir, you’re better. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ll tell you, it got to be, cuz there has been no president that’s done more in the first two years than President Trump.”
–Trump: “I could’ve done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could’ve done very bad things to Joe Biden. I could’ve done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama…I can do whatever I want, if I want.”
In Cornell gang-rape news:
–They have released some of the taped interviews with the men accused in the Cornell gang-rape, and it’s obvious they were coached. They all say the same thing–that it was consensual. Even the police investigator says he finds it odd that they all use that same word.
–Coldwar 1.0 Survivor: “That’s the first thing a good investigator would spot. everyone would have a different story from their perspective.”
–One of the men was asked, “What do you mean, consensual?” and said, “Well, it means he had sex with her.”
–All of the men said “she was fully clothed,” which seems highly unlikely. She had talked about being naked and trying to hide under the covers from the men, and the men had sent photos of her naked to members on snapchat.
–The men all reported knowing who the victim was and a number of details about her, but none of them could remember who was in the room.
–They also said things like, “It was a consensual orgy,” and “There were multiple consenting adults in this room.”
–MelanieAK: “Yeah, seven consenting men and one non-consenting female victim.”
–Evelyn DR “Dell” Adams: “The consensus was among the men.”
–A witness told the police investigator the fraternity held a meeting to “get everyone on the same page.” When asked whether they had had such a meeting, the men said no, they hadn’t had a meeting, they had just had their regular weekly meeting and that they had “discussed a bunch of things.”
–The fraternity also sent out messages on Snapchat directing members what to say.
–And new facts keep emerging. One of the texts sent on Snapchat was “No worries. She’s on birth control.”
–The Cornell gang rape story has made national news across the world from Sweden to New Zealand.
–Jazzy: “Hey, so rape is always 100% the rapist’s fault. There is no level of shared responsibility and that’s a fact. Hope that helps.”
–Ashley Kuchelmav: “You know what’s more dangerous than a trans athlete? Frat boys at Cornell University.”
–They’re picketing at Cornell. There have been big demonstrations on the main campus plaza.
The main administration building has been splashed with graffiti and was damaged overnight.
–One of the accused rapists has fled to Dubai.
There’s been a lot of talk about the meme on social media back in 2024 in which they asked women if they had to choose between encountering a strange man and a bear in the woods, which would they choose, and then were appalled that most women chose the bear. That entire meme has surfaced again with the Cornell gang rape:
–The Mouthy Renegade Writer: “Women explained that if they encountered a wild bear, they felt they’d have a better chance of escape and not being physically harmed by a bear in a remote setting. They said that if they ran into the wrong man who could physically overpower them or had a gun and bad intentions, they’d likely be in big trouble. Chances are they’re right…One out of five women will have been raped or sexually abused during their lifetime. Most of these will have come at the hands of men. None will occur because of bears.”
–kimby7000: “Bear. I choose the bear.”
–CorrinaLeeB: “The bear was never really the point. The point is why so many women understood the answer immediately.”
–SnowsMom: “The bear. Always the bear.”
–Liz G: “Every day of the week and damn twice on Sunday–the bear.”
–ammiano: “And if you survive, everyone would believe you when you say, ‘The bear did it.’”
–But the best has to be, “The bear wouldn’t have texted 57 other bears.”
In They’re All Crooks news:
–Former convict and televangelist Jim Bakker died this week. He and his wife Tammy Faye were televangelists with a wide net including the PTL Club (Praise the Lord) and a Christian theme park called Heritage USA. until Tammy Faye divorced him over his paying hush money to church secretary Jessica Hahn to cover up an alleged rape.
–The investigation also uncovered fraud and conspiracy, which included scamming his own parishioners out of tens of dollars in a scheme in which he promised them “lifetime memberships” entitling them to annual stays in a hotel at Heritage USA, but then didn’t build the hotel and pocketed the money, and he was convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy.
–After he was sent to prison, Tammy Faye (who was famous for her heavily made-up eyes) continued what was left of the ministry on her own. She was an interesting person–she was outspokenly pro-LGBTQ+, based on the gays who worked on her show, and preached a much kinder brand of Christianity than her husband’s. A documentary called “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” was made about her which I highly recommend (if only because it reveals exactly how much of a snake Jerry Falwell was.)
–After Jim Bakker got out of prison, he went back to televangelism, pushing food supplements, apocalypse predictions, and more problems with the law involving his statements about COVID.
In What We’re Up Against news:
–Tina Peters and Cleta Mitchell are pushing the idea that Howard Lutnick can seize voting machines because they use foreign-made parts. (Note: Neither the Secretary of Commerce nor any other part of the administration has any right to do anything regarding elections. Elections are the province of states and local governments.)
–Kash Patel: “We have election crisis coordinators manned at all 56 field offices. Election integrity is primary importance. The FBI will not shy away from that effort.”
–Trump keeps hinting at “big surprises” that are going to happen regarding the election. Yesterday he said, talking about Russell Vought (the head of the OMB and the mastermind of Project 2025): “We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? He’s gonna be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion.”
–Paul Krugman says if Republicans lose the midterms, “Mad King Donald won’t feel that he has failed America, he will believe that America has failed him and try to punish the nation accordingly.”
In Cracks in the Dam news:
–Texas governor Greg Abbott is refusing to share a stage with Trump.
–GOP Rep Mike Lawler, who is running for re-election, said Trump is not campaigning in his district again.
–GOP candidate Mike Rogers is now running an ad that says prices are too high and Canada is our friend.
–Georgia governor Rich Jackson has scrubbed Trump from his website.
–Fox is no longer carrying Trump’s rallies on their network, but clearly this is not because they’ve had a change of heart about him and the other Republicans they’re promoting because they’ve benched Karl Rove from their network after he spoke out against bigotry and neo-Nazi influences in the Republican Party.
In promising news:
–Politico reports that the GOP “is in triage mode.” According to one GOP official, “there are fires everywhere.”
–GOP operatives are worried that their candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lose because of “industrial-strength MAGA racism,” which is killing their campaign. According to Zeteo, “GOP officials are very concerned that the racism and xenophobia they’ve nurtured and inflamed may come back to bite them in the ass.”
In scientific news:
–NASA’s Cassini project has taken new photos of Saturn’s rings which show tall, sharp ridges like mountains arc-ing along the outer rim of the rings. They are as high as 2.5 miles above the plane of the rings and are sharp peaks. You can see a photo of them here: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-tallest-peaks/
In other news:
–Another Russian has died in Russia of pneumonia. Pneumonia nearly always arises after exposure to a pathogen, but Russia is refusing to identify the pathogen in either case to either the World Health Organization or to the US, which formally requested the information.
–Trump once again tried to delay arguments in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on releasing Jack Smith’s Mar-a-lago classified documents case report, citing scheduling conflicts with the November second date and asking that the court wait till January 2027.
–Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has hired gamers as air traffic controllers to help fill in the shortage of traffic controllers.
— Meidas Touch: “America’s air safety is apparently now in the hands of gamers.”
In good news:
–The Nobel Prize in physics has been won by Francis Halzen, for research on cosmic neutrinos which used the vast Antarctic ice sheet to detect the nearly impossible-to-detect particles.
–The Nobel Prize in medicine has been won by Carl Deisseroth, Peter Hegeman, and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics (helping identity neural pathways responsible for behavior and disease and for making breakthroughs in how the brain is organized.)
In bad news:
The awarding of these Nobel Prizes has reminded Trump that he hasn’t gotten one, and has set him off again talking about how much he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
–Trump: “There’s never been anybody in the history of the Nobel Prize that deserves it more. I settled eight wars and I’ve stopped the total obliteration of the world.”
Best comment of the day, from Daily Kos: “The combination of everything we warned about has finally woken some people up. The Trump regime has turned out to be its own worst enemy, and some people that were fooled by the carnival barker act (including those in three previous elections) aren’t getting fooled again by him. It took ten years longer than it should have, but the MAGA coalition is fracturing.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
