October 16, 2020

Dear Interested Readers,

 

Holding My Breath With My Fingers Crossed

 

There are less than three weeks until the election! It feels like this ordeal has been going on for four years, and I guess it has. The campaign for victory in 2020 began sometime in the wee early morning hours of Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the day after election day 2016. By the time the sun came up, it was obvious that what most people thought was impossible had occurred. We were not having a bad dream from which we would soon awake. We have always expected that the four years would end badly, and that still seems likely to be true, because without a miracle, we will likely have as the last insult and pain to bear, a durable conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

 

I am holding my breath and crossing my fingers as I add one more wish, and potential disappointment, to the pile that I have already accumulated over the last four years. I am hoping that putting Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court will be the last trauma to endure, but I fear that there may be more to come even if a large majority of Americans vote for Joe Biden in the general election, and he also wins in the electoral college. Donald J. Trump has led us to worry that no matter what happens on election day, he will not return quietly to his life as a shady businessman. 

 

I was delighted to learn that the debate scheduled for last night was cancelled. I had been happy to plan to listen to Joe Biden answer questions in a town hall format hosted and moderated by George Stephanopoulos on ABC. I was surprised to learn that NBC had agreed to plug in Donald Trump at exactly the same moment in time. As I thought about it, maybe this was better. What was the point of trying to have a debate? The president and Mike Pence had already demonstrated that they would not follow the rules, and they were quite willing to turn the exercise into a self serving farce. At least we could hear Biden’s answers to questions coming from real voters without whatever distractions the president might pull off. 

 

I listened to every word of the Biden debate and thought that the old warrior did a good job of honestly answering the questions that were thrown at him. There were several questions about the pandemic, and Joe’s answers about future management were in line with the best scientific thought. His answers about issues related to Black Americans and the police were considered and reasonable. His focus on the importance of economic improvements for Black Americans was a step in the right direction. His proposed approach to reduce the use excessive use of force directed at Black Americans by the police was reasonable and far from Trump’s claim that he did not support the police. He admitted to the mistakes he had made in the 1994 Crime Bill. We have all learned a lot since 1994, and it is good to admit that errors have been made. Biden handled what I thought was the toughest question of the evening, would he pack the Supreme Court, as reasonably as any politician could, and much more straightforwardly than Judge Barrett is answering the questions raised by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. I understood him to say that he does not favor “packing the court,” and would not if the Republicans refrained from appointing a new justice a few days before election day, and after millions of votes have already been cast. Depending on what the Republicans do, he will decide what he will do if elected. I read his answer as suggesting that there will be some attempt to restructure the court if Barrett is confirmed, and Biden wins. 

 

I was surprised that there were no questions asked that allowed the former Vice President to expound much on his healthcare ideas. I guess, coronavirus is healthcare these days. Joe did refer to protecting the ACA, protecting people from discrimination because of preexisting conditions, and giving thanks for the fact that the ACA was there for all the people who have lost their jobs and their employer sponsored healthcare during the pandemic. While Joe was mostly talking straight and talking about improving the environment, re engaging with allies, promoting economic equity through new jobs crafted from the power of the government to spend for the public good, what was the president doing over on NBC? 

 

He was being himself, but not getting away with as much as he had hoped because he was being managed fairly well by Savannah Guthrie, the NBC moderator. Rather than give you my stilted take on an event that I found very painful to watch, let me pass on the opinions of the writers at the New York Times and the Washington Post.  I know that the president would not consider either The Times or The Post, as capable of objective journalism, but that is just one of many areas where I think he is dead wrong. 

 

The Times piece is entitled “Highlights and Key Moments From Trump and Biden Town Halls,” and the piece in The Post is “President Trump and Joe Biden clash in distant, dueling town halls.”

 

Let’s start with the overview from The Post:

 

The events — with Trump on NBC from Miami and Biden on ABC from Philadelphia — appeared to be broadcast from entirely different dimensions. The soft-spoken Biden leaned back in a white chair, relaxed and conversational as he hit upon notes of optimism and uplift. Trump’s appearance was heated and at times abrasive, with the candidate leaning forward as he defended his record and challenged the motivations of moderator Savannah Guthrie.

 

The summation statement from The Times about the differences in tone and substance was:

 

In one of his final prime-time television events before Election Day, President Trump, who is trailing in national and battleground polls, offered little new to voters who may still be undecided, speaking positively about a far-right conspiracy theory movement and staking out positions on the coronavirus that are at odds with both the scientific consensus and public opinion.

Simultaneously, on another network, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. presented a very different vision of the country, promoting a federal response to the pandemic led by health experts and denouncing systemic discrimination.

For the first time, Mr. Biden also promised to take a stand on whether Democrats should push to expand the Supreme Court if he wins. He said he would make his position known before Election Day, adding that he wanted to see how Republicans’ push to quickly confirm a replacement to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg played out.

 

Trump’s inability to offer anything other than denials of responsibility and transfer of blame to others like Nancy Pelosi in the face of problems that are obviously getting worse must be laced with defiance and belligerent posturing because they have no connection to fact. The Times continues.

 

With 19 days until Election Day and cases of the virus rising again in much of the country, Mr. Trump said, falsely, “We’re coming around the corner.”

He added, “Vaccines are coming soon and our economy is strong.” In reality, it is not clear when a coronavirus vaccine will be widely available to the public and no medical experts have agreed with him that the country, which on Wednesday saw at least 1,009 new coronavirus deaths and 59,713 new cases reported, is rounding the corner.

 

The Post was pretty specific about the president’s empty rhetoric. My sense is that if you are voting for him you don’t need him to tell you what he is going to do. You know that he is going to continue to push economic advantages toward the wealthy, as he undermines the social services safety net, continues his attempts to kill the ACA, continues to position the Supreme Court to have the votes to overturn Roe v. Wade, and continues to offer the nation’s resources to those who are willing to make a buck by polluting the environment. To get elected, he is willing to give comfort to far right extremists, and fulfill the fantasies of the Christian Right while reassuring business that he will never get in their way by asking them to pay taxes that might rectify some of the damage that they are doing to the environment and the average American. He blew off his over 400 million in debt by calling it a small amount of money compared to his extensive property holdings. He said that he is “underlevered.” Here is what The Post said as an overview of conversation:

 

In a rapid-fire 60 minutes, Trump doubted the effectiveness of wearing of masks to prevent viral spread, refused to denounce the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, repeatedly declined to say whether he was tested for the coronavirus before the last debate and battled with Guthrie, who pressed him with details and a mastery of the facts that some moderators have not possessed when sparring with him.

 

If you watched or will watch, you will know that there is much more that makes you want to scream and ask, “How stupid are the people who would vote for a leader who talks like this?” But you know the answer. The people who will vote for him are not stupid. Everyone who votes for him thinks that that they are getting, or will get, something they want. Some are very sincere and believe that by their willingness to accept his defects they will get a Supreme Court that will  give them victory in the nearly fifty year battle that has followed the early seventies decision in Roe v. Wade. They have tired everything in the battle over what they consider to be the most important moral issue of our time, and in the end he is giving them what they want. In their desire to end a woman’s choice, they are willing to take their victory from an amoral source. Some of his voters are expecting to be validated in their desire to remain a majority with all the privileges associated with our strange caste system even if they lose benefits that must be sacrificed to provide the tax relief that the very wealthy crave. It seems that most of his supporters have some kind of transactional relationship with him, and they are willing to look the other way, or even cheer as he deconstructs efforts to move toward a more equitable society. One thing is for sure, if you were looking for straight answers, whether it was about his own recent infection, his relationship with the far right, or his indebtedness, you were naive. You could also be sure that he would try to introduce some kind of conspiracy theory to alter the flow of the conversion from facts to fantasies. The Post touches a few of these points. 

 

The president said under questioning by Guthrie that his lungs were “infected” during his bout with the coronavirus and that he had a “little bit of a temperature.”

Trump did not answer her repeated questions about whether he was tested on the day of the first debate, as required, and would not say when his last negative test was. “I don’t know. I test all the time.” He said he “probably” took a test on the day of the debate.

“As president I can’t just be locked in a room someplace and not do anything,” he said when asked why he did not often wear a mask. “I can’t be in a basement.”

He also refused to apologize for recently retweeting a false conspiracy theory that holds that the Obama administration faked the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and may have orchestrated the murder of U.S. Special Forces personnel. He said it was a “retweet,” suggesting he was not responsible for its accuracy.

 

To that craziness Guthrie shot back:

 

“You’re the president,” Guthrie replied. “You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever.” Trump responded by calling the media “so fake and so corrupt,” and said he needed to rely on social media to “get the word out.”

 

One angle that always interests me is the fact checking that is done by the “fake news.” The Times fact checked the statements of both candidates. 

 

The summation statement at the top of the article is not loaded with surprises.

 

Mr. Trump continued his pattern of exaggerated, misleading and false statements on many topics. Mr. Biden stuck closer to the facts.

 

It should not be a surprise that the pandemic was one area where the president “drifted” from reality:

 

Mr. Trump continued to state without any factual basis that the pandemic will end soon, and repeated his false statements that most people who wear masks get sick. He also dodged repeated questions about whether he had a negative coronavirus test immediately before the first presidential debate.

 

Joe Biden was not perfect, but his imperfections seemed more like honest mistakes than direct attempts to misinform.

 

Mr. Biden got his numbers wrong on troop levels in Afghanistan relative to when he left office four years ago and mischaracterized an element of the Green New Deal, but generally avoided clear misstatements.

 

The Times fact checkers identified thirteen blatantly false, exaggerated, or misleading statements made by the president during his town hall. The former Vice President was not perfect, but was nowhere near the president’s ability to spin “big ones” in the moment. The first “ding” that Joe got was on how often he was tested for the virus. He said “everyday.” The fact checkers said maybe not everyday, but most days. 

 

“Before I came up here, I took another test. I’ve been taking them every day.”

— Mr. Biden

False.

Mr. Biden tested negative for the coronavirus on Wednesday and again on Thursday, his campaign said before the town hall event. But his claim about being tested daily is inaccurate, based on the information his campaign has disclosed publicly.

In the past, the Biden campaign declined to specify whether Mr. Biden was being tested daily for the coronavirus, saying only that he was being tested “regularly.” Early this month, after Mr. Trump tested positive for the virus, the Biden campaign said it would disclose the results of all of Mr. Biden’s tests. Since then, Mr. Biden has generally been tested every other day, based on the test results disclosed by the campaign.

 

What I liked about Joe’s answer was his authentic facial expression during his answer. He threw back his head and made a move like he was trying to avoid the deep thrust of the swab up his nose. I would say it probably feels to Joe like he gets tested everyday.

 

As mentioned above, Joe’s “false statements” included his reference to troops in Afghanistan:

 

“You have Americans, bounties on American military’s heads in Afghanistan. They have more people there now, by the way, than when we left.”

— Mr. Biden

False.

 

At the end of the Obama administration there were at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. While Mr. Trump ordered about 3,000 more to the country in 2017, they have since been drawn down to about 5,000. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper recently announced that forces in Afghanistan will drop below that by the end of November and Mr. Trump’s his national security adviser recently said that the United States would cut its troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by early next year.

 

I am not so sure that Joe was lying when he was dinged for his statement about the Green New Deal. There is a huge amount of confusion about just what the Green New Deal is. It seemed to me that Joe was trying to say that he supports the general direction of the Green New Deal and knows that we must free ourselves from the use of sources of energy that pollute the environment. There is some political benefit in trying to have it “both ways” since the future of the environment is a defining issue with the progressive voters Joe needs, and a source of accusation from the president who is trying to say that the Green New Deal will kill jobs and the economy. Joe wants the progressive vote, and it is obvious from his website that he is aligned with most of the ideas in the Green New Deal. Trump is trying to hammer him on this issue, so Joe’s description of his position will be a little tortured. I am not sure this is lying, it feels more like politics, but he again he got dinged by The Times. 

 

“The difference between me and the New Green Deal, they say automatically, by 2030, we’re going to be carbon free, not possible. My deal is a crucial framework, but not the New Green Deal. The New Green Deal calls for elimination of all nonrenewable energy by 2030.”

— Mr. Biden

Mostly False.

The “New Green Deal” is not a thing. But it’s a phrasing Mr. Biden has used on more than one occasion to refer to the Green New Deal — a resolution to tackle climate change championed by progressive climate change groups like the Sunrise Movement and lawmakers like Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. That plan does not call for the automatic elimination of fossil fuels by 2030. Rather it calls for a “ten-year mobilization” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.

Mr. Biden on his website calls the Green New Deal a “crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.” It is different from his own climate plan, however, which calls for spending $2 trillion over four years to boost clean energy development.

 

That’s it. Joe scores three maybe not so clear statements to the president’s thirteen attempts to put one over on you. 

 

When we accuse someone of lying we are usually imagining some intent to gain personal advantage through deceit. If you read Trump’s thirteen not so truthful statements, most are so absurd and unlikely to sway a knowledgeable voter that one wonders what is going on. When he makes unwarranted claims about voter fraud the objective is obvious. When he claims that he has done more for Black Americans than any president other than Lincoln, most knowledgeable voters are going to say, “What about LBJ?” It is a statement that makes no sense. That’s where we will leave it. There will likely be much more that happens in the next three weeks that makes no sense. That’s why I am holding my breath and have my fingers crossed. I fear anything could happen, and some of the things that might happen have never happened before. The bad dream is not over yet. The last “debate” is scheduled for next week. I can’t not watch. I hope that Joe Biden will have an opportunity, in the midst of what will surely be another barrage of misinformation from the president, to describe his views on the future of healthcare, especially if the Supreme Court throws out the ACA. Stay tuned.

 

California Dreamin’

 

Whenever I am in California, the tune, “California Dreamin,’” by the Momas and the Papas seems to get stuck in my mind, although it should be that when I am in New Hampshire it would describe a much more appropriate sentiment. When the Momas and the Papas sang “California Dreamin’” the singer was not in California. The scene is most likely New York or somewhere else that is dark and cold. The singer wants to get back home to California. Wherever the singer is suffering now that the leaves are down and the sky is grey, the misery of not being in California is because of a relationship. The tension seems to be over whether or not the relationship is worth the suffering of being away from California where he would be “safe and warm” if he was in LA. 

 

California Dreamin’

Michelle Gilliam / John Edmund Andrew Phillips

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)

And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)

I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)

On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)

I’d be safe and warm (I’d be safe and warm)

If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)

 

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)

On such a winter’s day

 

Stopped into a church

I passed along the way

Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)

And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)

You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)

He knows I’m gonna stay (knows I’m gonna stay)

 

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)

On such a winter’s day

 

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)

And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)

I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)

On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)

If I didn’t tell her (if I didn’t tell her)

I could leave today (I could leave today)

 

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)

On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)

On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)

On such a winter’s day

 

California is not the only place that people miss in song. I am thinking about “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles. (Was it the state, or a woman named Georgia that was on Ray’s mind?) If you Google “songs about Georgia” there are sixteen on the list. Texas does fairly well. Google lists 19 songs with Texas in the title, and then there are at least ten songs about “Carolina.” My favorite is “Carolina In My MInd” by James Taylor.  But let’s not forget all the songs that Bruce Springsteen sings that touch on life in New Jersey. Country singers love state songs. I am thinking of the “Tennessee Waltz,” and who could forget the great Jimmie Rodgers? He wrote a lot of state songs. In one song or another he talked about Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Mississippi. The hauntingly beautiful “The Mississippi Delta Blues,” minus some of its racial references, that he sang not long before he died, is one of my favorite melodies. 

 

California Dreamin’ is one of those mid sixties songs that takes me back to a time that I largely spent in medical training, and trying to participate in the raising of a young family. I enjoyed the music of the sixties while I missed most of the parties.  I have made many trips to California in my life. My first was a family trip to Southern California in 1958. We saw DisneyLand, Knott’s Berry Farm, watched the Dodgers play the Giants at the Coliseum where they played before Chavez Ravine was completed, and visited a movie set to watch the filming of a segment of “Sky King” which was a program that I had enjoyed as a kid that usually aired on Saturday mornings. Over the last forty years I have generally avoided the LA area on most of my trips to California. It is too crowded for me. I do love San Diego, and anywhere North of the Big Sur, or East to the Sierras. As I said in my last post, California feels like a window into the future. When I look at California I am encouraged. On my walks I see yard signs that say “Black Lives Matter” and advocating for equality. There are not many signs for politicians. It is a forgone conclusion that Biden will carry the state. 

 

Most people in California seem to understand the importance of improving the environment. California is comfortable with talking about progressive ideas, even if they do not always pass. California is struggling to provide healthcare and higher education for everyone. It has huge housing problems, but it admits that there is a need for improvement and seems willing to try new ideas in the search for solutions. I may be looking at California through rose colored glasses, but just walking around it is easy to see that I am not in the Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, or Georgia. There is a feeling that most people are looking forward, and not backward. The state has already become a majority minority state which is where the nation is headed by 2042-45. I will be 100 in 2045, and hope to live to see the day. The preview that I can see now in California is encouraging. 

 

We have enjoyed our time in California with our grandchildren and their parents. We have also enjoyed being in an environment where almost everyone seems to be closely following the basic strategies of using a mask in public, and practicing social distancing whether they are inside or outside. Masks and keeping your distance are infectious habits that seem to create a sense of working together toward a shared objective. Today’s header is a photo I took from above a beach on Monterey Bay in Watsonville. Kaiser has a hospital in Watsonville which lies about halfway from Santa Cruz at the northern end of the arc of the bay, and Monterey at the lower end. My family enjoys this beach for its beauty and the fact that it is rarely crowded. As you can see from the photo there are little pods of families that are appropriately distanced from one another. As I walked the shoreline with my grandsons, I was impressed that most of the walkers were using their masks.

 

This is a good place, but home is calling us. Unlike the singer in “California Dreamin,’”I like winter. We are headed home come Monday. On the way we will see some friends, peak into the Grand Canyon, and maybe catch a few fish. I am already planning a return for next spring because the only season I don’t like in New England is “mud season.” Who knows? By then, we may all be in a better place.

 

Be well! Enjoy the fall. When you are out and about, wear your mask and practice social distancing, like they do in California, and as intelligent people do everywhere. Look for opportunities to be a good neighbor. Let me hear from you. I would love to know how you are managing the uncertainties of our times,

Gene