Goldilocks 🌴 ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 🌴

On Fire: So far, the Democratic convention has rocked.  There have been good and sometimes even great speeches, tributes to Joe and lots of exhortations to get onboard for Kamala and Tim.  VP candidate Tim Walz is scheduled to speak tonight after former President Clinton.  Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is scheduled to deliver her acceptance speech on Thursday.  Putting distance between their speeches and those of the Obamas was a good scheduling move because the Obamas were in tip top shape last night, with both delivering forceful riveting speeches.  If you missed it, the former President not so subtly equated Trump’s obsession with crowd size to a certain part of his anatomy while Michelle, whose speech may have been her best one ever, very astutely pointed out that now is not the time to be a Goldilocks because seeking perfection when the opposition is as flawed and dangerous as Trump is the kind of folly that could lead to disaster. Both warned that the election will be close and it likely will be which explains why Trump’s team is doing their best, and by best think worst, to load the dice throughout the country but especially in swing states like Georgia where in addition to putting in place procedures intended to make it more difficult for people in heavily Democratic areas to vote, three members of the State Election Board have managed to “slip in” rules that allow local election officials to delay or deny certification if they have “concerns” about the election results. No definition of what would constitute valid concerns because just a general feeling of unhappiness will suffice.  Each of those “concerned” board members still question the result of the 2020 election so it’s more than fair to believe that their intent is to refuse to certify election results that don’t go Trump’s way. They don’t stand alone, MAGA Republican election officials in other swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania have similar plans. It’s not hyperbole to say that this is a five-alarm fire, not only will Democrats have to win convincingly on election day but they’re likely to be spending the months following the election fighting to get results certified.

Ugh:  Added further fuel to the fire, yesterday during a podcast interview RFK Jr’s running mate Nicole Shanahan said that their campaign is considering dropping its bid and joining forces with Trump as it “weighs options for the future.”  For his part Trump told CNN that he “certainly” would be open to RFK Jr playing a role in his administration in exchange for an endorsement, adding “I like him, and I respect him,” he’s a “smart” guy.  It’s fair to assume that Trump will give RFK whatever title he wants to get that endorsement and it’s also fair to assume that RFK is open to negotiating a position especially one that would allow him to put the kibosh on vaccinations.  Afterall, it’s not a coincidence that RJK Jr’s largest donor is billionaire Timothy Mellon, the heir to the Mellon banking fortune, who in addition to giving $25 million to RFK’s campaign also has contributed $125 million to Trump’s.  It’s highly likely that Mellon’s contributions to RFK were always intended to help Trump. RFK is polling in the low single digits right now and given how close this election is expected to be, if a disproportionate number of his voters follow him to Trump, they will influence the outcome of the election.  

More Stupid:  House Republicans have released their Biden impeachment inquiry report concluding that though they have no evidence that he did anything wrong, Biden should be impeached because of course.  It’s not expected to go anywhere largely because with Biden stepping aside what’s the point and also because they have some vulnerable House candidates who can’t afford to be voting on a totally ridiculous Biden impeachment right now. Intelligence officials have confirmed that Iran really did hack into Trump’s campaign by compromising (likely through phishing) Roger Stone’s Hotmail and Gmail accounts to gain access to the emails of Trump campaign aides.  Apparently, the Iranians also tried to hack into Harris’ campaign, but their attempts weren’t successful possibly because having been burned in 2016, the DNC team is being more careful about responding to emails from questionable sources than their Republican counterparts, who think that hacking and disseminating information is okay but only when it is done to Democrats.

Fog:  A ceasefire and hostage release deal remain elusive.  Secretary of State Blinken reports that Israel has agreed to ceasefire terms, but Hamas says that they have not agreed to those terms.  Meantime Iran’s Hezbollah surrogates have been waging a war of attrition against Israel in the north.  Their constant bombardment hasn’t been getting as much press attention maybe because it doesn’t fit into the Gaza narrative but it’s most definitely escalatory and dangerous.  And taking a page from Nixon’s pre-election Viet Nam playbook, PBS’s Judy Woodruff reports that Trump has been urging Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to hold off cutting a deal right now over concerns that a ceasefire would help the Harris campaign. Trump admits to having tanked the border/immigration deal for a similar purpose so this is definitely something that he would do, and we know that more death and destruction wouldn’t bother him if it led to his winning in November. 

#BringThemAllHomeNowALIVE because while recovering bodies is important, bringing home live hostages is infinitely better.