Unconventional Conventions
By Hank Silverberg
I liked the finale: fireworks outside instead of a big balloon drop inside, but other than that, the Democratic National Convention last week was pretty much what was expected. Virtual conventions obviously have none of the pomp and circumstance, screaming crowds and floor demonstrations that we are used to, but I don't think the speeches we saw were very much different than they would have been without the pandemic.
And that brings us to this coming week when the Republicans hold their convention.
Some people will look for a slick broadcast. Is it as well produced as the Democratic convention since Trump fancies himself as a TV Producer.
Forget that nonsense. Here's what I will be looking for: Will the Republican Party make some firm commitment to steer away from a government of "No"? Will they commit to promoting racial equality, social justice and a policy that cares more about all the people instead of the rich and big corporations? Will they acknowledge science, including climate change? I could go on, but with Donald Trump as their standard bearer and scheduled to speak every single night of the convention, I doubt you will hear any of that.
What you will hear is all about Donald Trump. Yes, we heard a lot about Joe Biden from the Democrats, but it was more about what Biden has done during 50 years of public service and what he wants to do as president. There were lots of people to back him up.
From Trump we are likely to hear that HE and HE alone has done a great job on the pandemic (he hasn't), that the economy is bouncing back (it isn't),
You can also expect either the President or a family member to blame the media and the Democrats for everything that's bad, and lash out at them for picking on poor Donald. Trump makes me laugh loudly every time he tweets out, "Presidential harassment!" Imagine that? Americans criticizing their President?
Mr. Trump presents the media with a dilemma. Conventions are often broadcast with very little interruption. The big speeches the Democrats had went on uninterrupted, though they were interspersed with some analysis in between. There was some fact checking, and except for the usual political rhetoric which always makes promises nobody can keep, there were no outlandish lies or misinformation.
That will likely NOT be the case with Donald Trump. But if the media interrupts to correct the facts every time he or one of his surrogates lies, it will appear they have taken sides, which of course they should not do. My suggestion, carry the President's speeches and then talk about his lies afterward. Ignore his attacks on the media and concentrate on his untruths. That should fill hours of airtime.
For example, Trump tweeted out this week that the Democrats had left "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance during their convention. Nope, it was there. I heard it. And much of the media went back to the recordings to find it and prove Trump was wrong. They will be doing a lot of that this week.
Now your average person will say, "most politicians lie," and I can't argue with that having covered politics for more than 40 years. But I will say this affirmatively having watched Donald Trump as President and candidate for more than five years: he lies, he lies again, and then he lies about his lies. Lying is part of his public persona and apparently part of his presidential policy. As I have written before, I can not understand how any person can think otherwise or think it's good. Maybe for some people that's okay, but not for most of us. Character counts in the White House.
Of note: many of the speeches will be done from places around Washington instead of from around the country like the Democrats did. And some of them may have live audiences, even though large crowds are prohibited from gathering in most places across America because of the pandemic.
Mr Trump and Melania will speak from the White House--totally unprecedented for a convention speech. (Don't forget, you and I own the White House, not Trump.)
Watch for the lies during Trump's convention. You won't have to watch long to find one.
THE POLLS!
Just after writing all the above, I came across this poll from CBS .
The numbers are downright baffling.
More than half of the Republicans surveyed say the 175,000 deaths from Covid-19 are "acceptable" and 75% say the country is in better condition than we were four years ago. (Have they checked out the National Debt?)
An ABC poll taken just before the Democratic Convention showed Joe Biden polling 53% to 41% for Trump among all registered voters in general. So far there's no evidence the convention has given Biden a big boost as they sometimes do.
It's in the mail! Or is it?
One of the things Trump has been lying about a lot is voter fraud. He will probably lie about it again during the convention. He has picked up on "mail-in voting" as his focal point for alleged fraud for this election. As I have written before, his Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor, has made some moves to slow down the mail in an effort to suppress the vote and enhance the cry of "Voter Fraud'. When Boards of Election across the country pointed out that they will have drop boxes near their offices to deposit the mail-in ballots, Trump then attacked the bi-partisan Boards of Election questioning the integrity of the drop boxes. (They will be locked and the ballots collected by public servants sworn to run elections fairly.)
DeJoy denies any trouble with the U.S. Mail and says the Post Office can handle mail-in voting. He also says he's stopped any changes in operations until after the election. But with reports coming in from the public all around the country about slow and missing mail, the House is holding hearings this week to ask questions.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-knocks-mitch-mcconnell-republicans-170106157.html
If your mail has been on time and arriving every day in the last few weeks, you are an exception. There were protests at post offices across the country this weekend about the obvious decline in service since DeJoy took over.
I took this video of a small protest that occurred at the main post office on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on Saturday, August 22.
There were similar events at post offices in many places that were deliberately kept small in nature because of the pandemic.
Mail sorting machines in a large number of key postal centers were disconnected in the first few weeks of DeJoy's reign. These machines do the work of 30 people. At the same time, he put a freeze on overtime so employees could not work late to make up the difference. He also had U.S Mail boxes removed in some cities including many low income areas where there are no post offices.
As a result of the complaints from Congress and the public, DeJoy promised no changes in service until after the election.
In the meantime, the House of Representatives passed a $25 billion emergency funding bill to make sure the postal service has the money to process those mail-in ballots. The same bill also prohibits any changes in service at the U.S. Post Office until after the election.
https://news.yahoo.com/democrats-move-pass-25-billion-162348963.html
But the bill won't get through the Republican controlled Senate. Before the hearings, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the House bill "political" and "unnecessary". The White House has threatened to veto the bill.
There though some brave people at there. Some postal workers have defied DeJoy's earlier orders and have reinstalled the sorting machines.
The USPS employs 600,000 people, including 90,000 veterans. Apparently, they know what is at stake here. If you can, give a nice "thank you" to your postal carrier who is working under extreme conditions.
Panda-mania
Congratulations are in order for Mei Xiang, the Giant Panda at The National Zoo in Washington. She has produced another cub, her fourth offspring. Mei is 22, a bit old for a panda mother. In fact, she is the second oldest panda ever to give birth, at least among captive pandas. There are only a few still in the wild in China. But so far she's doing fine and so is the cub. The National Zoo only gets to
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| (Mei Xiang with her first cub Tai Shan) |
Adult female pandas weigh about 220 pounds. Baby pandas are just 3 to 5 ounces when they are born, so it might be hard to see the cub now. The zoo, which was closed for quite some time because of the pandemic, has just reopened with some tight restrictions.
If you are wondering about the father of the new cub, it's the other Giant Panda at the National Zoo, Tian Tian. But the pair haven't been able to mate very well. Like the last three cubs, Mei was artificially inseminated again.
And then there is this:
The Trump administration continued it's assault on the environment. The Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, has announced plans for an oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska, which may be sitting on billions of barrels of oil. The administration says it opens a new chapter in American energy independence. It could bring in billions of dollars and thousands of jobs and both Republican U.S.Senators from Alaska favor the drilling. But the plan has set off alarm bells for environmentalists and lawsuits are likely.
The decision comes just two months after the Arctic Circle recorded its highest temperatures ever and hence more evidence of climate change. Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden has already called for a ban on such gas and oil permits on public land.
The Wildlife Refuge is some of the most pristine wilderness left in the United States, encompassing over 19,286,722 acres. The biggest worry is the toll it might take on the local wildlife. The area is an important land-based den for polar bears, and it is the birthing ground for the Porcupine Caribou herd. Over 200 species of birds call it home, as well as Arctic Foxes, Black Bears, Brown Bears and Moose.
An oil spill could be fatal to most of these animals who now have nowhere else to go.
Beware of Asteroid:
Taking everything into account, from politics to science to the pandemic, 2020 has been a strange year. Now comes word that an
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| (This asteroid came close to earth in 2011, NASA photo) |
Don't panic, though. NASA says it has a 0.41 chance of hitting the planet. Last week, a smaller asteroid flew 1,830 miles over the Indian Ocean, the closest to earth ever recorded. Nobody but a few scientists noticed.
More Atmospheric Worries:
You may have missed this news: NASA is now monitoring a growing dent in the Earth's magnetic field, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. The bigger it gets, the larger the impact there could be on spacecraft, including satellites used to forecast the weather and those that provide us with global communications.
Here's the science behind it. The magnetic field acts as a shield against solar winds--streams of charged particles and radiation that flow out from the Sun. It protects the entire planet and it also protects orbiting satellites close to Earth.
New data shows the field weakening and expanding to the west, creating two lobes rather than one large one. There's also worry it could have some impact on our atmosphere. Right now scientists routinely shut down the satellites as they travel through the field, but the bigger it gets the harder that will be. The real trouble here, unlike climate change, the anomaly is not man-made. It originates from explosions on our Sun.
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