Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Kamala Harris

Harris and Walz interviewed on CNN. Now let’s see Trump and Vance.

Ever since Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, following Biden's withdrawal, many in the media have been clamoring for her to do interviews and press conferences. Today Harris and Walz were interviewed by CNN's Dana Bash in a Georgia diner. Hopefully this will put an end to the claims that Harris is scared to answer tough questions. She handled everything Bash threw at her with calm competence, as did Walz. Given how often Trump changes his policy positions, it's amusing that Bash thought it was worthwhile to ask Harris about her 2019 statement that she'd ban fracking if…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem Salem Reporter

Salem’s “news desert” makes it tough for the city to pass a tax increase

In reading a Salem Reporter story about the effort of city officials to get voter approval of a property tax increase in order to deal with a $8 million - $13 million gap between revenues and expenses, I was struck by the several mentions of communicating with the public about this problem. Here's some excerpts from "City Council discusses possible next steps to address budgetary shortfalls" by Joe Siess. Salem city councilors appear ready to put a measure before voters next May to raise property taxes to avoid sweeping cuts to city programs. But councilors made clear during a work…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Kamala Harris

Nate Silver says Harris is a great candidate and RFK Jr. dropout won’t mean much

Last night Kamala Harris gave one of the best acceptance speeches I've ever heard from the presidential pick of the Democratic National Convention. I've watched them all since the 1960s, I'm pretty sure.  Harris was virtually flawless in both the substance and delivery of her speech. And I've added "virtually" not because I found anything not to like in what she said, just because no one is perfect. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch the 38 minute speech. Which is relatively short by acceptance speech standards, way shorter than Trump's. NPR reports that Harris' speech…
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Posted in2024 election Tim Walz

Watch Tim Walz’s inspiring acceptance speech at Democratic National Convention

Like many millions of other Americans, I've become a big fan of Tim Walz. Tonight he gave an acceptance speech for the vice-president nomination at the Democratic National Convention that showed why he inspires so much love and affection. Walz is a regular guy who happens to be a skilled politician -- a wonderful change from the usual skilled politicians trying to appear like regular guys. Yeah, I'm talking about you, J.D. Vance. The problem for Vance and other regular guy wanna-be's is that you can't fake the sort of background Walz wears effortlessly, because it is who he is,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Salem City Council facing tough choices on revenue-raising options

It wouldn't be surprising if Mayor Hoy and the other members of the Salem City Council have a bit of post-traumatic stress as they get serious at next Monday's council meeting about choosing an option to raise revenue for city services, which are heading for a $15 million shortfall in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2025.  That figure is in an informative Salem Reporter story, "Library advocates push for property tax increase to restore Salem library hours." Local library advocates organizing through the group Fund Our Libraries Now are asking the Salem City Council to seek voter…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Kamala Harris

Harris-Walz are doing great, but I have one big worry

Happy days are here again for us Democrats. We've gone from severe depression when it looked like Biden was going to stay in the race and hand a victory to Trump, to fervent joy now that Kamala Harris is at the top of the Democratic ticket and is kicking Trump's butt. The good news is plentiful. I'll be content with just providing a few examples before doing what is typical for Democrats: worrying.  Nate Silver's "Silver Bulletin" take on the presidential race currently has Harris with a 56% chance of winning this November, with Trump at 44%. That's basically a…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump

Trump lied lots in yesterday’s press conference. Reporters let him get away with it.

At least since 2015, and before that also, it's been obvious that Donald Trump lies. Not just a little. A lot. He's a compulsive liar. Can't stop himself. Even, or probably I should say, especially, at yesterday's press conference at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times fact-checked Trump's rambling, often incoherent, statements in response to questions asked by reporters -- which couldn't be heard at all clearly, since the Trump campaign didn't provide a microphone for those asking questions, probably so Trump could blather on about whatever he wanted without the television-viewing audience knowing the question he was asked. I've copied…
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Posted in2024 election Kamala Harris Tim Walz

Tim Walz is a joyous vice-president candidate, unlike JD Vance

There's no guarantee that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will be elected this November, but one thing is sure: they'll bring a heck of a lot more joy and positivity to the campaign trail than the dour Trump and Vance will. I'm thrilled that Harris picked Walz yesterday. However, I would have felt this way about anyone she chose to be her vice-president candidate, because I trust Harris to make good decisions and she had way more knowledge about the possible VP picks than I or anyone else were privy to. A New York Times story discussed "Five Key Reasons…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Kamala Harris

I hate Trump, but here’s my advice to him for defeating Harris

I'm not actually a Buddhist, but occasionally I like to pretend that I am. So I'm putting on my Buddhist persona for this blog post in which I demonstrate my boundless compassion for all sentient beings by telling Donald Trump what he needs to do to defeat Kamala Harris and win the election this November. Even though that prospect fills my non-Buddhist self with revulsion. But since there's basically a zero chance that Trump will take this advice, I feel fine sharing it. Donald, things haven't been going well for you lately. Sure, your surviving the failed assasination attempt garnered…
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