In the first debate, Trump was so rude and arrogant that he was unwatchable.
In the second debate, he was relatively restrained (a very low bar after the first one). He was still unwatchable. As he looked at Biden, his face expressed his disgust for his opponent.
He lied and lied. He treated the pandemic as no big deal and insisted that 99% of those who got it recovered quickly and fully. (Lie.)
He attacked Biden and his family as criminals. He was slinging the mud as often as possible. Biden could have but did not talk about Trump’s family.
When the subject turned to race, Trump boasted that he’s done more for black people than any president since Lincoln (he never heard of LBJ or the Voting Rights Act, which Republicans have eviscerated). And of course he reiterated the ludicrous claim that he’s the least racist president or person ever.
When the subject was healthcare, he lied about the great plan that he has never revealed.
He kept trying to bait Biden, but Biden refused to take the bait. Trump kept trying to paint himself as an outsider, running against Obama and Biden.
Trump continually reminds us that in every setting, whether it’s a debate or an interview, he lives in a fact-free world.
The happiest thought I had at the end was that I may never have to listen to this man again, other than an angry, bitter concession speech (if he concedes). In two weeks, I pray, the American people will sweep this fraud out of the White House. I’m hoping for a blue tsunami to restore sanity, honesty, and intelligence to our government. I look forward to having a president with empathy, integrity, and experience. I am hoping for a president I can respect. President Joe Biden. Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Amen!
I like the thought of the lying Orange Disaster in prison and that we’ll never have to look at his disgusting face again.
Here is the video of the debate in case you missed it or want to see any of it again.
Second Presidential Debate
Oct. 22, 2020
Campaign 2020
Trump-Biden Second Debate
President Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, faced off in their second and final debate, which was held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. They sparred over several questions, including the coronavirus response, national security and foreign policy, climate change, race in America, and health care. Kristen Welker of NBC News moderated the debate.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?475796-1/trump-biden-debate
Excerpts from the Journal Gazette in Ft. Wayne, IN:
Indiana also broke records with 2,880 new cases, bringing the statewide total to 155,246 following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard, state health officials said. Indiana’s death toll increased by 42 for a total of 3,831.
Indiana bishops responded to the rising number of cases Thursday by extending the dispensation from Catholics’ obligation to attend Mass until further notice. It was to expire Nov. 1.
“The Indiana bishops will continue to monitor the situation to determine when it might be advisable to modify or lift the dispensation,” according to a statement from the Catholic bishops of the Province of Indianapolis.
Allen County Health Commissioner Dr. Matthew Sutter said at a news conference Wednesday the increases coincided with Labor Day and Indiana’s return last month to Stage 5, which essentially lifted all restrictions except a statewide mask order.
Copyright © 2020 http://www.journalgazette.net
600 W. Main Street
Fort Wayne IN 46802
Oh dear. I’m part of the 4% who thought Biden did better. I’m posting this to show that the far R is still supporting a lying, xenophobic, narcissistic, misogynistic, bullying ignoramus.
………………………………………………..
RenewedRight.com says:
Who won the debate? Poll Results.
RAPID RESPONSE POLL: Who Won the Final Presidential Debate?
Donald Trump 96% 1397
Joe Biden 4% 58
Two post-debate polls both found Biden to be the winner, by 54 percent to 35 percent in CNN’s and 53 percent to 39 percent in YouGov’s.
Trump maintains a seven-point lead over Biden in Kansas, a new Times/Siena College poll found. In 2016, Trump won the state by more than 20 points.
Yep, COVID-19 is ‘going away’. Idaho is 6th in the nation for the number of new COVID-19 cases. Some areas still refuse to wear masks…following the guidance of Trump.
…………………………………………….
Hospitals are full but some parts of Idaho refuse mask rules
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Moments after hearing an Idaho hospital was overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and looking at sending people as far away as Seattle for care, members of a regional health department board voted Thursday to repeal a local mask mandate.
“Most of our medical surgical beds at Kootenai Health are full,” Panhandle Health District epidemiologist Jeff Lee told board members in the state’s third most populated county.
The hospital in Coeur d’Alene reached 99% capacity a day earlier, even after doubling up patients in rooms and buying more hospital beds. Idaho is one of several states where a surge of COVID-19 infections is overwhelming hospitals, likely in part because cooler weather is sending people indoors, U.S. health officials said…
Similar scenes — with doctors and nurses asking officials for help, only to be met with reluctance or even open skepticism — have played out across the conservative state. Idaho is sixth in the nation for new coronavirus cases per capita, with the average number of confirmed cases increasing by more than 55% every day over the past two weeks.
Still, Republican Gov. Brad Little has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate or limit crowd sizes beyond requiring social distancing at large events and in businesses, which is seldom enforced. Instead, Little has left it up to local health departments and school districts to make the tough decisions that sometimes come with blowback from the public…
https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-idaho-boise-686fcd99fec93b7c0908f675617b3bfd
Even when Trump is gone from the White House, the only way we will be free of seeing that tiny evil mouth moving and his little-bitty hands forming racist symbols and discover what that toxic brain is thinking is if he is brain dead, physically dead, and/or the major social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and traditional media block him and any mention of him as if he doesn’t exist.
Trump has a cultish base made up of millions of QAnon lovers and/or racists that worship him as if he were a god, and Trump wallows in that attention like a feral hog in heat taking a mud bath.
If the media lets him, we will never be rid of him. He is malignant stage IV cancer that will never go away until he is totally gone forever and so are his toxic children.
After or before he is dead, his followers will build churches to him where they can worship their god and keep him alive.
Will they nail a naked life-sized silicone figure of Trump (made in China) to a cross standing behind those altars?
No cross, even silicone, would be strong enough to hold a life size replica of DJT. Imagine that figure—with a loincloth or a business suit and a long tie?
Donald Trump in a loincloth.
Now there’s an image I could have lived without before I have even had my third coffee.
But I think the analogy is exactly backwards. We — all Americans — are the ones who are nailed to the cross.
It’s going away.
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported each morning this week: Monday, 219,674; Tuesday, 220,133; Wednesday, 221,076; Thursday, 222,210; Friday, 223,051.
Going away — toward the sky.
Character is destiny.
Or in Trump’s case, character is density
Wise words, Bob. Look at the track record of would be dictators.
One of my favorite “character is destiny” stories: When Stalin had a heart attack, he lay in his office for hours, in a pool of his own urine, dying, unable to get up, and no one disturbed him because of their extraordinary fear of the man.
There was a comic movie a few years ago called “Stalin” that showed this scene. It was almost unbelievable, but everyone so afraid of him that no one helped him.
I suspect that there might have been another reason that no one helped him.
They wanted him dead and had no problem knowing that he was suffering after what he had done to everyone else.
While many of us have been distracted by tracking polls and trying to discern Trump’s actions if he does not win, he continues to teardown what Steve Bannon calls the administrative state.
Trump has issued an executive order that makes many civil service workers “at will” employees with no benefits and no collective bargaining. He has ordered the creation of a new Schedule F classification that makes civil servants subject to the whims of the President and Senior Officials. From a brief explaining the implications:
“If you think about examples of how this could play out, Dr. [Anthony] Fauci could be fired, as well as individuals at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] who are producing analysis about the spread of the coronavirus, social distancing and the importance of masks,” Kettl said. “You could have people within the State Department raising questions about the administration’s expansion of efforts to engage in crackdowns and change other policies who could be fired. The people counting the number of immigrant children who cannot be reunited with their parents could be fired. There’s no end to it because the biggest risk is that anyone who says anything that would be in opposition to the administration’s policy could be viewed as in a policy-making position, put in Schedule F and fired.” See more at https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/10/stunning-executive-order-would-politicize-civil-service/169479/
I hope there is blue tsunami and that all of Trump’s executive orders can be rescinded.
There’s a word for this: Gleichschaltung. If the Idiot stays in office, Republicans will finally realize that by their hijacking of the courts, they have created the Pandora’s box that will kill democratic representation and individual civil rights.
Here’s an example I just read in today’s paper about how this mindset is filtering down to the local level:
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2020/10/22/reporter-excluded-court-hearing-hudson-schools-pandemic-plan/3726354001/
I took German throughout junior high, high school and college and visited Germany on a couple occasions, once living with a family for a summer in high school. I have also studied Russian and Spanish.
And I would say that German has a terse expressiveness unlike any of the other languages I am familiar with.
A way of saying the most with a single word.
I doubt there are even equivalent words like Schadenfreude in most languages.
I have always found it interesting that despite the fact that English is a Germanic language with a very large number of words taken directly from German, most people have never even heard of Goethe (the German Shakespeare)
German is a kind of poetry taken to the extreme , with single words.
I chauvinistically agree, SDP. One of my greatest regrets is that I now speak German with an American accent (it lessens when I’ve been there a few weeks and have spent an hour in a beer garden). It is a lyrical language, not the staccato harshness Americans think, mostly because they butcher the language in how they think it sounds. The Kronos Quartet recently released a tribute to Pete Seeger and it includes an extended piece with sampled music and dialogue. One of the bits they use is him telling a story of how Marlene Dietrich wanted a translated version of Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Seeger remarks that “it sings better then the English”, at 12:45 of the clip below:
Joan Baez also did a very nice version in German
Good stuff! Was not aware of this. I’ve been fairly indifferent about Baez’s music, will have to reevaluate. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you for pointing this out, Laura. This is the work of a dictator.
My husband came home and told me about this yesterday. He is a retired Fed who now works as a Fed contractor. He would have been in Schedule F. I also have a nephew who is a civil servant and will be a schedule F. This is so concerning! Why doesn’t this information hit the news cycle? Why didn’t this get discussion during the debate? Why don’t things that really matter in the long run get discussed by anyone? Do they think the public is too stupid to understand? I hate to say this, but the media seems to be a huge problem….it takes reading or watching 3-4 different views on the matter at hand to be able to put together a sort of truth because they all give their “nugget ” and then pile on the BS. And someone tell me why Steve Bannon the criminal still has a “seat at the table”? I’m mentally fatigued and I can’t believe my own dark thoughts sometimes.
And someone please explain to me why Biden didn’t respond to Trump’s accusation that the Obama/Biden administration got nothing done in 8 yrs?……they were stopped by the Tea Party….Republicans…they shut the government down in a temper tantrum!!! I didn’t like “the bail out” that was given and I didn’t like the players in the Obama administration, but they they tried to put together a health care bill and greedy Republicans wouldn’t let it happen. I have very dark thoughts toward some of these maggots running the government.
He really is an incredibly stupid man-child (an insult to both adults and children). I only watched five minutes, when he boasted about HBCU funding–that he took care of it for the next ten years. What this statement demonstrates is that he, like the vast majority of Americans, has no understanding whatsoever of the appropriations process, which is, in theory at least, an annual cycle. There are no federal programs under annual discretionary spending that are funded more than a year. That’s why we have the annual train wrecks of “shutting down the government.” The ten year funding level he boasted about is an authorized category–a goal that is not funded. The final levels are determined every year in the appropriations process. Biden should have retorted that not only has the Idiot not secured HBCU funding, he gutted the TRIO program which is essential funding to help incoming students prepare to excel in college. Had to turn it off then and go back the depressing movie I was watching.
I felt the same frustration, watching this debate. Time after time after time, Biden missed opportunities to respond with facts. He appeared to me to be coasting toward his victory and content to leave it at that.
If Trump wins, it might quite literally be “The last Presidential debate”
And you can be sure that Trump is going to go after anyone and everyone who has ever criticized him with a vengeance, using the full power of the US government to do so.
If it isn’t already, it will become his rai·son d’ê·tre.
Diane I think Trump performed well . . . much better than before. IF you don’t know he is lying his head off.
So the question remains, will the lies of the best scam artist the world has ever seen work with the electorate? CBK
This seems to be making the headlines:
WaPo
Biden draws GOP attacks with call to ‘transition’ from oil
Republicans and even some Democrats criticized Joe Biden after he said during the final presidential debate that he wanted to “transition from the oil industry” in order to fight what he called the existential threat of climate change.
When pressed by debate moderator Kristen Welker, the former vice president suggested the burning of petroleum, which adds greenhouse gases to the air, eventually has to end “because the oil industry pollutes significantly.”
“It has to be replaced by renewable energy, over time. Over time,” he added.
TRUMP IS LIAR IN THE USA. “BOLSOSSAURO” IS LIAR IN BRAZIL.
I don’t know how many people remain unconvinced at this point anyway. More than 50 million have already voted. Most people have made up their minds. The orange monster is holding a super spreading rally in Pensacola tonight. Nobody needs this fool helping the virus kill more people. He already has so much blood on his hands.
I think there might be one or two undecideds at this point.
And they are basically brain dead vegetables being kept alive with life support.
SomeDAM My point in my other note is that, if these brain deads haven’t been paying attention and so don’t know the difference between telling lies and telling the truth, then from watching the debate alone, they will like Trump as much or more than Biden. CBK
People with HIV/AIDS that have knowingly had unprotected sex with other have been charged with attempt murder/assault and other charges. What is different about trump having his “superspreader” events and knowingly putting people in harms way?
Exactly! Well observed, Dr. Rex!
Looking forward to working for a country seeking once again a “more perfect union.
jim2812 Yes . . . a more perfect union. Here are a few counterpoints to that great idea in this morning’s news:
(1) THE OIL LOBBY’S COVID-19 WISH LIST As the coronavirus pandemic upended the U.S. economy, the head of the oil and gas sector’s leading trade association declared that fossil fuel companies weren’t looking for government handouts to stay afloat. But the American Petroleum Institute had already sent a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former fossil fuel lobbyist, a month earlier, outlining two dozen temporary actions it wanted the Interior Department to take to help the industry through the pandemic. These included waiving “non-essential compliance obligations,” conducting remote site inspections and delaying penalties for failing to meet enforcement deadlines. [HuffPost]
(2) TRUMP’S FASCIST CRACKDOWN ON DIVERSITY TRAINING One of the president’s most dangerous attacks on civil rights and free speech is getting relatively little attention amid the firestorm of news as Election Day approaches. In an executive order and a series of administrative actions issued over the past month and a half, the Trump administration effectively banned diversity and inclusion training in the federal workforce and at any company or entity that contracts with the government or receives federal funding, a huge swath of American businesses and universities, covering millions of workers and students. [HuffPost]
(3) From Obama’s speech this week: “The Environmental Protection Agency that’s supposed to protect our air and our water is right now run by an energy lobbyist that gives polluters free reign to dump unlimited poison into our air and water. The Labor Department that’s supposed to protect workers and their rights right now is run by a corporate lobbyist who’s declared war on workers. … The Interior Department that’s supposed to protect our public lands and wild spaces … right now is run by an oil lobbyist who’s determined to sell them to the highest bidder. You’ve got the Education Department, that’s supposed to give every kid a chance, being run by a billionaire who guts rules designed to protect students from getting ripped off by for-profit colleges and stiff-arms students looking for loan relief in the middle of an economic collapse. The person who runs Medicaid right now is doing their best to kick people off of Medicaid, instead of sign them up. Come on.”
(4) Overlooked is the news that the Trump administration is STILL in the process of breaking down what Bannon refers to as the “administrative state” aka the best way to order a large and complex democratic political culture. CBK
I bet Trump believes “more perfect union” refers to Teachers, teamsters and electrical workers
I didn’t watch the ‘debate’. However, I do get Trump emails. They claim he ‘Killed it!’, or that he was the clear winner.
I’m reminded of the play by Arthur Miller, “Death of a Salesman’. Remember the sad urgency of Willy Lowman to project himself as a ‘winner’ to his son ‘Biff’ (Don Jr.?).
Daedalus Trump “won” only if those who claim it believe he is telling the truth. If not, the lies have it and the lying ego-maniac television star won. CBK
He killed it
He killed it!
What ? Debate?
He killed it!
What? The virus?
He killed it?
What? The speech?
He killed it!
Dead, the country
Getting over COVID-19 is not as easy as the Orange LIAR describes. Mary Trump warned that the “worst-case scenario” would be for President Trump to overcome his illness relatively quickly, because it would convince him to continue ignoring the pandemic.
……………………………………
Study Highlights Need for Continued Care of COVID-19 Survivors
Posted on October 22nd, 2020 by Dr. Francis Collins
The past several months have shown that most people hospitalized with COVID-19 will get better. As inspiring as it is to see these patients breathe on their own and converse with their loved ones again, we are learning that many will leave the hospital still quite ill and in need of further care. But little has been published to offer a detailed demographic picture of those being discharged from our nation’s hospitals and the types of community-based care and monitoring that will be needed to keep them on the road to recovery.
A recent study in the journal EClinicalMedicine helps to fill in those gaps by chronicling the early COVID-19 experience of three prominent hospitals in the Boston area: Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. These data were reported from a patient registry of 247 middle-aged and older COVID-19 patients. The patients were admitted over three weeks last March into one of these hospitals, which are part of New England’s largest integrated health network.
The data confirm numerous previous reports that COVID-19 disproportionately affects people of color. The researchers, led by Jason H. Wasfy and Cian P. McCarthy, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, found a large number of their patients were Hispanic (30 percent) or Black (10 percent). Wasfy said these numbers could be driven by many factors, including a low income, more family members living in one home, greater difficulty accessing healthcare, presence of chronic illness (health disparities), and serving as essential workers during the pandemic.
The researchers also tracked the patients after discharge for about 80 days. About a third of patients left the hospital for a post-acute care facility to continue their rehabilitation. After discharge, many required supplemental oxygen (15 percent), tube feeding (9 percent), or treatment with medications including antipsychotics and prescription painkillers (16 percent). About 10 percent were readmitted to the hospital within weeks or months of their initial discharge.
Wasfy and colleagues also found:
· Many patients undergoing treatment were enrolled in Medicaid (20 percent) or both Medicaid and Medicare (12 percent).
· A substantial number also were retired (36 percent) or unemployed (8.5 percent), highlighting the role of non-occupational spread. Many others worked in the hospitality industry, healthcare, or public transportation.
· A large proportion (42 percent) of hospitalized patients required intensive care. The good news is that most of them (86 percent) ultimately recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital. Tragically, 14 percent—34 of 247 people—died in the hospital.
These findings represent hospitals in just one notable American city hard hit early in the pandemic. But they spotlight the importance of public health efforts to prevent COVID-19 among the most vulnerable and reduce its most devastating social impacts. These are critical points, and NIH has recently begun supporting community engagement research efforts in areas hardest hit by COVID-19. With this support and access to needed post-discharge care, we aim to help more COVID survivors stay on the road to a full recovery.
Reference:
[1] Early clinical and sociodemographic experience with patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at a large American healthcare system. McCarthy CP et al. EClinicalMedicine. August 19, 2020.
Links:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) (NIH)
Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston)
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston)
Newton-Wellesley Hospital (Newton, MA)
Jason Wasfy (Massachusetts General Hospital)
I had dinner with a doctor a few nights ago. He insists that Trump never had COVID, that the doctors never released any tests of any kind, that the whole thing was a hoax to win sympathy and to show how “harmless” the disease is. I argued with him but he knew far more than I.
I believe your doctor! I don’t think he had it. I don’t think Melania had it or Barron. I believe it was a political stunt. I still want to know what has happened to Crede Bailey since he was the likely start of the virus in the WH.
I apologize for the length of the attachment in advance. This was an email sent out by David Barrett, CEO of Expensify, an app to help keep track of business expenses. He’s earned my undying respect, but lost my company’s business:
I know you don’t want to hear this from me. And I guarantee I don’t want to say it. But we are facing an unprecedented attack on the foundations of democracy itself. If you are a US citizen, anything less than a vote for Biden is a vote against democracy.
That’s right, I’m saying a vote for Trump, a vote for a third-party candidate, or simply not voting at all — they’re all the same, and they all mean:
“I care more about my favorite issue than democracy. I believe Trump winning is more important than democracy. I am comfortable standing aside and allowing democracy to be methodically dismantled, in plain sight.”
If the polls are accurate, there’s a roughly 50% chance that you agree Trump needs to go. You know what to do: show up on November 3rd and vote for Biden. Or even better, don’t wait until then: vote today. Go to Vote.org if you need help figuring out how.
The rest of this email is intended to address the concerns of those who disagree, and I’ll try to take the most likely questions in turn:
Q: Why do you care so much about democracy?
Democracy is core to our business success, in a variety of ways. Internally, we are a famously “flat” organization — nobody reports to anyone else, and advancement is the result of meeting well defined criteria as judged by the vote of those who have already advanced. How we compensate each other is left up to a team vote as well. Even our external business model depends on individual employees “electing” to adopt Expensify as individuals, and then “campaigning” internally to get it adopted companywide. At every layer, democracy is our core competitive advantage — both as a company, and as a nation. But that advantage is only as strong as the clarity of our rules and the fairness of their application. Any attempt to disrupt the rules or apply them unfairly is a direct threat to the strength of our company, and the strength of our nation.
Q: What gives you the right to tell me what to do?
The first amendment. To be clear, you don’t need to listen. But the first amendment exists to encourage people like you and me to find some way to talk about the issues that matter, set aside our differences, and find a common ground on which to collectively govern 331 million citizens. Yes democratic self-rule can be inconvenient. But a burden of democracy is that this is literally our job, so I’m asking all of us to take it seriously.
Q: But you’re a company, shouldn’t you remain neutral?
Expensify depends on a functioning society and economy; not many expense reports get filed during a civil war. As CEO of this business, it’s my job to plot a course through any storm — and all evidence suggests that another 4 (or as Trump has hinted — 8, or more?) years of Trump leadership will damage our democracy to such an extent, I’m obligated on behalf of shareholders to take any action I can to avoid it. I am confident our democracy (and Expensify) can survive a Biden presidency. I can’t say the same about Trump. It’s truly as simple as that.
Q: Don’t you think you’re… exaggerating a bit?
I truly wish I was. I wouldn’t be sending this email if this election were just about “normal issues” — taxes, legislative priorities, healthcare, etc. But it isn’t. This election is a referendum on what limits, if any, we place on our elected leaders to govern us in a fair and representative way. This election will decide if widespread voter suppression is an acceptable governing tactic.
Q: Doesn’t everyone suppress votes?
Not like Trump. This is the most heavily litigated election in history, with over 300 lawsuits rushing through the courts before election day. And in every case, Biden is pushing to enable voters while Trump is pushing to suppress them. The trend couldn’t be more clear: Biden wants democracy, Trump does not. A vote for Trump is to endorse voter suppression, it really is very basic. This isn’t about party politics: if Biden were advocating for half of the voter suppression that Trump is actively doing, then I’d be fighting against Biden, too. This is bigger than politics as usual: this is about the very foundation of our nation.
Q: Isn’t Trump just trying to prevent voter fraud?
Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent, as overwhelmingly shown by data showcased by the White House itself. That data comes from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank counting every single known case of voter fraud since 1948, which adds up to only 1,290 distinct votes over 78 years. In 2016 alone there were 138 million votes. There is just no credible argument that voter fraud is significant, even based on Trump’s own data.
Q: Isn’t Biden just using more widespread voting to get elected?
Absolutely. This is the heart of the issue. Biden believes that enabling more people to vote will help him win. Biden wins by promoting democracy; Trump wins by suppressing it. A vote for Biden is a vote for democracy.
Q: So what if Trump gets elected by voter suppression, all’s fair right?
Well that’s what we’re going to decide, on November 3rd. Do you want your elected official to win based on the merits of their ideas? Or based on the ruthlessness of their voter suppression? And if you’re ok with “just a little suppression” — where do you draw the line?
Q: Why send me this when the polls say Biden is going to win?
The polls said Trump was going to lose last time, and he didn’t. But even if the polls can be trusted, that might still not be enough. Trump has stated repeatedly he will only honor an election that he personally feels is fair. So much depending on his personal judgement is worrying, because he has rejected the overwhelming expert consensus that voter fraud has been negligible historically, and has also said he believes it would be impossible to lose a fair election. Accordingly, the only way to ensure a peaceful transition of power is to ensure this election is an overwhelming, undeniable landslide in favor of Biden. Any excuse to question the election is an opportunity for Trump to refuse to leave the White House, plunging this country into a Constitutional crisis bordering on civil war. No matter how slight that risk might be, the consequences of it happening would be so catastrophic to society and the economy, we need to do all we can to prevent it.
So one final plea. As a fellow citizen, I fully support and respect your Constitutional right to disagree — and as an avid supporter of democracy, I value that disagreement. Constructive, well-informed debate (hopefully using the most accurate, least biased news source available) is what makes this nation so exceptional.
But the Constitution is only as strong as the respect we give it. I’m asking you to cherish it close to your heart, and demand that those you elect do the same.
-david
Founder and CEO of Expensify
PS: Agree or disagree? Reply to this email to share your thoughts with Concierge, or hit me up on Twitter @dbarrett to discuss!
PPS: Want to do even more? Support the National Popular Vote to make every vote count equally toward the presidential election, even if you aren’t in one of the 12 states deciding this election.
PPPS: Are you annoyed that you received this as a non-US citizen? If you’re lucky enough to live in a democracy, then I’d encourage you to protect it and be willing to do uncomfortable things — like emailing millions of customers — to defend it.
Sent by: Expensify, Inc. – 548 Market St #61434 – San Francisco, CA 94103
Greg, great letter!
It takes guts for a CEO to put his company on the line like this.
Trump has such a way with words. LIAR!!
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a vaccine that’s coming. It’s ready. It’s going to be announced within weeks, and it’s going to be delivered. We have Operation Warp Speed, which is — the military is going to distribute the vaccine…
We have a problem that’s a worldwide problem. This is a worldwide problem. But I’ve been congratulated by the heads of many countries on what we’ve been able to do with the — if you take a look at what we’ve done in terms of goggles and masks and gowns and everything else, and in particular ventilators. We’re now making ventilators all over the world, thousands and thousands a month, distributing them all over the world.
It will go away. And as I say, we’re rounding the turn. We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I take full responsibility. It’s not my fault that it came here. It’s China’s fault.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/10/23/biden_trump_debate_covid_healthcare
carolmalaysia Anyone can say ANYTHING about the future, and make promises galore.
But we’ve had four years of that; we should be in the “once burned, twice shy” mode. That is, whenever Trump talks about the future, look out . . . he’s probably lying; and as president, when he does that, he takes another step in destroying whatever battered trust we have left in government, its officials, and politicians.
Trump really is the destroyer<–not hyperbole. CBK
The election is less than two weeks away. I don’t think there will be an announcement of a vaccine before the election. Promises are cheap!
And, as we have seen, very costly!
I can add nothing to the above
except
Spread the word
pray
and
VOTE.
Diane:
Finally decided to send you a note of thanks for sharing your knowledge all these years. I met you at the Wellesley awards ceremony the year where we were both awarded a Wellesley Achievement Award….. They brought the awardees
together for a picture later put on cover of the Wellesley Magazine. That was a loooong time ago, and I am delighted to have kept up with you via your ongoing Wellesley articles. Thank you.
Peggy Funkhouser ’52.
Sadly, the radicalized small town is in Indiana. These are people who believe that Trump will help them.
I don’t understand why people who are so far down think Trump will solve any of their problems. He wants to take away ACA and has chosen someone for the Supreme Court who will most likely oblige this wish. People who get Medicaid through the ACA government subsidy will find it gone.
COVID-19 is raging throughout the country and Indiana has the highest numbers now since the pandemic began. Trump declares that it “will go away” and has no plan to lower the number of confirmed cases nor lower the number of dead that continues to rise. Many hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. The economy isn’t going to improve as long as COVID-19 is raging.
Trump doesn’t want the minimum wage to rise and has appointed people in government who destroy their departments. Do we really need more pollution since the EPA is run by a former coal lobbyist? Do our public schools need to be trashed by DeVos? Lessening of worker safety protections by corporations who want to pay starvation salaries isn’t going to help. People who can’t pay their rent are going to be on the streets with no help from the government. Cutting SNAP won’t benefit anyone who is hungry.
It is sickening that a once peaceful town in Indiana buys into Trump’s lies and his rhetoric of bullying, racism and xenophobia. These are people who vote against their own best interests. Help for average and poor people doesn’t come from the GOP and it certainly won’t come from Trump.
The Radicalization of a Small American Town
The change has occurred so slowly that at times I hardly noticed it.
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — For 20 years, off and on, I’ve lived in this small, blue-collar town about 30 minutes west of Cincinnati. My grandparents, immigrants from Germany, bought my old farmhouse, on 15 acres, during World War II. I’ve always felt that this town embodies much of what I love about the Midwest: friendliness, a lack of pretension and a prevailing sense of decency among neighbors…
Over the past four years, my hometown has become radicalized. This is a loaded word, but it’s the only way to describe it….
And not just Trump flags. In the past few months, I have seen three Confederate flags hoisted in neighbors’ yards, where previously I’d seen none. Just a few weeks ago, two masked men appeared outside our high school, holding a large KKK flag and fliers, apparently scouting for young recruits….