Democracy Has Prevailed.

July 25, 2024

The Prosecutor and The Felon

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July 22, 2024

This.

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And some Pennsylvania endorsements:

Governor Josh Shapiro:

Senator Bob Casey:

“With women’s rights, workers’ rights, and voting rights on the line, the stakes of this election for Pennsylvania and the Nation couldn’t be higher,” said Casey. “Vice President Harris has been leading on those fights and as a former prosecutor, she will draw a clear contrast between herself and former President Trump. She is prepared to be Commander-in-Chief and is the best person to meet this moment. I’m proud to endorse her candidacy for President.

Representative Summer Lee:

Mayor Ed Gainey:

I know the list is incomplete. I know the list will grow over time.

Some things for all of us to remember:

  • 34 Felony convictions
  • Half a billion in fines for real estate fraud and for defaming a woman he sexually abused
  • Bragged about overturning Roe v Wade

Rinse, later and repeat.



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July 19, 2024

Fact-checking Trump's Convention Speech

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The Washington Post:

Former president Donald Trump’s 92-minute speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination on the final night of his party’s national convention rambled, often incoherently, through a hit parade of his favorite falsehoods, many of them ad-libbed instead of drawn from his prepared remarks.  

CNN:

Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday with the most dishonest speech of the four-day Republican National Convention, making more than 20 false claims by CNN’s count. 

ABC News

TRUMP CLAIM: Trump argued there was "a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities all across our land."

FACT CHECK: This is false. There is no evidence of a major surge in crime caused by recent arrivals, and Trump's claims ignore the fact that crime is down across the country overall.

 NBC News:

Did Democrats ‘use Covid to cheat’ in the 2020 election?

“The election result, we’re never going to let it happen again. They used Covid to cheat," Trump said.

This is false.

Trump is referring to changes made during the Covid pandemic, largely to make it easier to vote by mail or absentee, as congregating at the polls posed a health risk. Democrats embraced the changes and turned out many voters by mail, while Trump slammed mail voting. There is no evidence the changes led to fraud, even though Trump and his allies filed more than 50 lawsuits challenging some facet of the 2020 election. All were denied, dismissed, settled or withdrawn, including multiple that made it to the Supreme Court.

CBS News:

Former President Donald Trump says he oversaw the "best economy in the history of our country, in the history of the world:" False

What we know: It is not true that Trump oversaw the best economy in the history of the U.S. by many of the metrics used to judge economic performance.

GDP

The claim struggles when looking at GDP. If the 2020 pandemic is excluded, growth after inflation under Trump averaged just over 2.5%, according to figures from the World Bank. Including the time period after COVID spread, that average drops by almost a percentage point. By comparison, Growth between 1962 to 1966 ranged from 4.4% to 6.6%. In 1950 and 1951, GDP ranged between 8.7% and 8%.

Under Mr. Biden, annual GDP growth is averaging 3.4%, according to the World Bank.

AP:

TRUMP: “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world.”

THE FACTS: That’s far from accurate. The pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy and Trump left the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.

But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years, which is pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.

Trump did have the unemployment rate get as low as 3.5% before the pandemic, but the labor force participation rate for people 25 to 54 — the core of the U.S. working population — was higher under Clinton. The participation rate has also been higher under Biden than Trump.

There you go. One stop shopping for the fact-checking.

 

 


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July 18, 2024

Meanwhile, Outside

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Science from the scientists who study the climate over at NOAA:

June 2024 was the warmest June on record for the globe in NOAA's 175-year record. The June global surface temperature was 1.22°C (2.20°F) above the 20th-century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). This is 0.15°C (0.27°F) warmer than the previous June record set last year, and the 13th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures. This ties with May 2015-May 2016 for the longest record warm global temperature streak in the modern record (since 1980). June 2024 marked the 48th consecutive June with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.

There it is. 

And then there's this:

The January–June global surface temperature ranked warmest in the 175-year record at 1.29°C (2.32°F) above the 1901-2000 average of 13.5°C (56.2°F). According to NCEI's statistical analysis, there is a 59% chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 100% chance that it will rank in the top five.

Science. 

And yet, our friends at the Heritage Foundation see things differently:

Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. 

OAR provides theoretical science, as opposed to the applied science of the National Hurricane Center. OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. OAR is a large network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities. These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat. 

Why would they want to do that?

This is why:

Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.

Whereas some men just want to see the world burn, others would let it for the sake of profit.





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July 15, 2024

Text of President Biden's Address

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From The The Whitehouse:

My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies.  We’re neighbors.  We’re friends, coworkers, citizens.  And, most importantly, we are fellow Americans.  And we must stand together. 

Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here. 

Thankfully, former [President] Trump is not seriously injured.  I spoke with him last night.  I’m grateful he’s doing well.  And Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers. 

We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed.  Corey was a husband, a father, a volunteer firefighter, a hero, sheltering his family from those bullets.  We should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers.

Earlier today, I spoke about an ongoing investigation.  We do not know the motive of the shooter yet.  We don’t know his opinions or affiliations.  We don’t know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else.  Law enforcement professionals, as I speak, are investigating those questions. 

Tonight, I want to speak to what we do know: A former president was shot.  An American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. 

We cannot — we must not go down this road in America.  We’ve traveled it before throughout our history.  Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on January 6th, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump.

There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever.  Period.  No exceptions.  We can’t allow this violence to be normalized. 

You know, the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated.  It’s time to cool it down.  And we all have a responsibility to do that. 

Yes, we have deeply felt, strong disagreements.  The stakes in this election are enormously high. 

I’ve said it many times that the choice in this elect- — that we make in this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come.  I believe that with all my soul.  I know that millions of my fellow Americans believe it as well.

And some have a different view as to the direction our country should take.  Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy.  It’s part of human nature.  But politics must never be a literal battlefield and, God forbid, a killing field.

I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.  We stand for an America not of extremism and fury but of decency and grace. 

All of us now face a time of testing as the election approaches.  And the higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become.  This places an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence. 

The Republican convention will start tomorrow.  I have no doubt they’ll criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country.  I’ll be traveling this week, making the case for our record and the vision — my vision of the country — our vision. 

I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box, no violence on our streets.  That’s how democracy should work. 

We debate and disagree.  We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agenda, the vision for America. 

But in America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box.  You know, that’s how we do it, at the ballot box, not with bullets.  The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin.

You know, the path forward through competing visions of the campaign should always be resolved peacefully, not through acts of violence.

You know, we’re blessed to live in the greatest country on Earth.  And I believe that with every soul — every power of my being.  So, tonight, I’m asking every American to recommit to make America so — make America what it i- — think about it.  What’s made America so special? 

Here in America, everyone wants to be treated with dignity and respect, and hate must have no safe harbor. 

Here in America, we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours.

Let’s remember, here in America, while unity is the most elusive of goals right now, nothing is more — more important for us now than standing together.  We can do this. 

You know, from the beginning, our founders understood the power of passion, and so they created a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force.  That’s the America we must be, an American democracy where arguments are made in good faith, an American democracy where the rule of law is respected, an American democracy where decency, dignity, fair play aren’t just quaint notions, but living, breathing realities.

We owe that to those who come before us, to those who gave their lives for this country.  We that — we owe that to ourselves.  We owe it to our children and our grandchildren. 

Look, let’s never lose sight of who we are.  Let’s remember we are the United States of America.  There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.

So, God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops. 

The address:


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July 14, 2024

No, Let's NOT "Both Sides" It

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Before we do too many "both sides do it" with the overheated political rhetoric, let's recall what CNN posted on 08/09/2016:

It’s come to this. Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his opponent Hillary Clinton “wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.” Trump followed his claim, which was not supported by any source or proof, with a not-so-veiled suggestion, adding, “although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.”
Gee, I wonder what Trump meant by that?

8 years ago he was calling for one of those "Second Amendment people" to shoot Hillary Clinton.
 
GOP types were repeating the need for "Second Amendment solutions" back then, remember? 

What do you think they meant by that??
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July 13, 2024

No Political Violence.

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Political violence must always be condemned.

No political violence.

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