Wondering on Wednesday (v220)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Well, no more wondering on who will be Papa Joe Biden's running mate: it's California Senator Kamala Harris. I think she was the most logical choice, and I'm glad we're no longer "hanging here, glued to the floor," like a defensive player in a college basketball game, waiting for the announcement. And if you're wondering, I'm not the originator of the hanging/glued image; rather, that's one of the classic lines from the late Joel Mareiniss, a sportscaster in my neck of the woods back in the day. 

Anyway - on the Harris decision, one of the big wonderings, which I've seen repeatedly over the past few hours, is the question of how the Trump team will attack: do they go the misogynist route, or the racist route? Now, I know for most people that wouldn't be a hard choice at all - it would be neither - but we're not dealing with "most people" here, are we? 

Here's a cautionary note that folks working for the president might want to consider, from an article from Reuters, which suggested Harris may be an "elusive target" for the Trumpeters.  

More concerning for Trump: Attacks that could appear sexist or racist against the first Black woman on a major party ticket in U.S. history could complicate his campaign’s effort to shore up his standing among suburban women, a critical voting bloc he must win back in order to get re-elected, strategists on both sides say.

According to this article from Vanity Fair Hive, others thing that Mrs. Suburban Housewife might succumb to Trump tactics, particularly if he attacks Harris well.

Other Trumpworld insiders are thrilled at the opportunity to define Harris as a radical leftist, a portrayal echoed Tuesday night on Fox News. “She’s going to help with the base, and that’s where it ends,” a Trump adviser predicted. “She’ll scare the shit out of suburban women. How great is this?” Trump has taken to stoking fears that a Biden victory will fuel unrest in “Democrat-run cities,” a barely disguised racist appeal that he picked up again on Wednesday morning following the Harris announcement. “The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me,” he tweeted. The adviser added that Biden would soon regret choosing a high-wattage running mate. “This is not Mike Pence to Donald Trump or Joe Biden to Obama. Kamala is going to be the candidate. She’ll be constantly overshadowing him. In three to four weeks, Biden is going to realize he made a dumb move.” 

One thing upon which no wondering will be spent? How "nasty" this is going to get. It's already getting that way. I'll just say that the fact-checkers at Facebook and Twitter and Instagram better load up on covfefe and hydroxy and hamberders and whatever else suits their fancy, because I sense there'll be a whole bigly lot of blocking going on, going on.

What else do we have to wonder about? Football. Will there be college football this fall, or not until the spring, or not at all? Will the NFL get their season underway, as planned? And what about the kneeling - if someone kneels during the national anthem, will there be presidential hell to pay? Will we be called upon to boycott pro teams and their sponsors? And what on earth will happen the remaining Power 5 Conferences decide to follow the Big 10 and the Pac 12 and punt, as it were? As of now, it's still a go for the others, but who knows where things'll stand later.

Moving on to QAnon - something I honestly NEVER anticipated typing - it seems we'll have an honest to goodness supporter of the conspiracy theorists in the House come January. As noted in this NPR story,

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a construction executive, won 57% of the vote in Georgia's heavily-Republican 14th Congressional District, handily defeating neurosurgeon John Cowan, who had pitched himself as, "All of the conservative, none of the embarrassment."

Nice pitch there, by Cowan - too bad it apparently was way too far out of the strike zone for voters in the district. I wonder, do the rest of the Republicans agree with him on that? Well, it seems even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy does; according to his spox, he found Greene's views "appalling."  But, on the other hand,

President Trump congratulated Greene on Wednesday morning, calling her a "future Republican Star" who is "strong on everything."

Like, you know, conspiracy theories and hate and stuff. And speaking of conspiracy theorists and hate and stuff, here's Alex Jones harassing people working at a park in Austin. You can wonder on your own about him. And wonder what that coveted suburban woman demographic thinks of him attacking their children...

One more crazy thing? It appears that Kanye West, the Birthday Party candidate for president, met recently with Jared Kushner, the president's daughter's husband. I wonder, do you think they were talking about cake? I mean, Ivanka's got a birthday coming up in a few months...

And finally, I'll leave you with a prediction - because everyone's predicting Trump/Pence will win (or Biden/Harris will), or that the polls are right (or wrong), or that it will rain (or not) or that something else will happen (or it won't). A friend, who's not a fan of either Trump or Biden, asked me last night whether Harris would still get to be the VP when Biden gets the hook at the Democratic National Convention. When I asked for clarification, here's what he said, in part.

It's 2020 - something crazy's going to happen last minute to completely change everything... 

And you know what I'm wondering?  What. If. He's. Right?

The pandemic... bubonic plague... murder hornets... Megxit and Brexit... A nearly 3,000 point drop in the Dow...  Cancelled Olympics... 20,000,000 million Americans unemployed... UFO videos... SpaceX Dragon... lots more weird stuff this year, already, as well.

So, what if he's right?  We'll find out next week.

What are you wondering about?

Leave Your Guns at Home, Please

RECOGNIZE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO OPEN CARRY FIREARMS AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION AT THE QUICKEN LOANS ARENA IN JULY 2016

In case you had missed this, it seems someone started a petition at Change.org asking the RNC to reconsider their decision to hold their convention at a gun-free arena. Because, you know, 

This is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk. As the National Rifle Association has made clear, "gun-free zones" such as the Quicken Loans Arena are "the worst and most dangerous of all lies." The NRA, our leading defender of gun rights has also correctly pointed out that "gun free zones...tell every insane killer in America... (the) safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk." (March 4, 2016 and Dec. 21, 2012)

Because Cleveland is a top ten most dangerous city, the petition states, the actions of the RNC and The Q, as the arena is known, "are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside the convention site." And – 

This doesn't even begin to factor in the possibility of an ISIS terrorist attack on the arena during the convention. Without the right to protect themselves, those at the Quicken Loans Arena will be sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers, criminals or others who wish to threaten the American way of life.

Once you count ISIS, evil-doers and criminals, could there even be anyone left who would threaten our way of life? Let's see:

All three remaining Republican candidates have spoken out on the issue and are unified in their opposition to Barack HUSSEIN Obama's "gun-free zones."

So, THAT'S who's left to threaten our American way of life, right?  That president with the funny middle name? Of course, we have nothing to fear from the candidate with the funny FIRST name; you know, the one who actually wasn’t born in America? Because, well, you know, because Benghazi or something.

Having outlined the above concerns, and having included some other stuff I didn't (not wanting to spoil the whole thing), the petition asks that appropriate steps be taken to ensure a righteous and open convention come July:

The folks at the Quicken Loans Arena are asked to suspend their no weapons policy (which is consistent with Ohio's open-carry law, by the way) and allow open carry during the convention. (emphasis added)

Not, mind you, all the time - just during the convention. This is not about a principle or closely-held personal belief or anything. 

The NRA should issue an "immediate condemnation of the egregious affront to the Second Amendment..." stemming from the gun-free loophole in Ohio's law. 

The 'loophole' refers to a provision of the Ohio statute that gives private entities the right to ban handguns on their property, so "firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises..."

Governor Kasich, himself one of the last candidates standing, should use his executive powers to override the above-referenced loophole being "exploited" by the arena. 

Reince Priebus, that bastage, needs to provide "an explanation of how a venue so unfriendly to Second Amendment rights was chosen" for the GOP's summer picnic, and he needs to come up with a "contingency plan to relocate the convention" if the open carry restriction is not lifted. 

The other two candidates, Donald Trump and Rafael Cruz, "must call upon the RNC to rectify this affront", yada yada yada, because "Every American is endowed with a God-given Constitutional right to carry a gun wherever and whenever they please."

Meaning, wherever and whenever they please, as long as it's during the RNC Convention, at the Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland, OH from July 18 - 21, 2016.  

Alas, all of the honest to goodness reasonable Republicans, along with white supremacists, he-man woman haters, free speech and media haters, schoolyard bullies, and all the rest of the folks who will be under the tent who were hoping for an old-fashioned shoot-em-up convention had their hopes dashed by that gosh darn Secret Service.  

According to an article in the Washington Post (and widely reported elsewhere), it seems the US Code gives the Secret Service the authority to "preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those (sites) located in open-carry states."

Poor things. Part of me was kinda hoping there'd be a real battle for the nomination.