AUGUST 28, 2020: CARNIVAL OF DREAD & A GOOD SIGN

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AUGUST 28, 2020 CARNIVAL OF DREAD & A GOOD SIGN PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. IF THIS BLOG WAS FORWARDED TO YOU, YOU ARE NOT SUBSCRIBED.

CARNIVAL OF DREAD I didn't watch a lot of the Republicans this week, but what I did see made me sick. For one thing, compared to the Democrats, it was just a lousy, amateurish show, with no variety or humor. That wouldn't have been so terrible of the GOP convention hadn't also been a continuous spewing of lies, hatred and fear, such as: Joe Biden is an extreme leftist who supports violent anarchists and wants to destroy the suburbs! Really? REALLY? The speakers made almost no mention of that little thing, the pandemic. Oh wait a minute, there WAS a a video collage of many Democrats, including Pelosi, dismissing the virus as no big deal --- which they all did in the beginning, the VERY VERY beginning -- followed by President Trump riding to the rescue and SAVING US ALL! Who are the people who will swallow this complete rewriting/reversing of very recent history? It was like some schlocky dystopian science-fiction movie that takes place in an imaginary country where lies are truth, war is peace, sickness is health, and reality is whatever Big Brother says it is. It was strangely bizarre and strangely antique. Wait! Am I in Germany in 1933?? Guess not, because they took the antisemite who was going to speak off the roster at the last minute. Phew. I don't know what I expected of the Republicans, but it wasn't as creepy as what they delivered. In a way, Trump's acceptance speech last night was the perfect culmination of the festivities: He broke the law by giving his acceptance speech in front of the White House. The Hatch Act, passed in 1939, draws a bright line between government functions and partisan politics. It forbids incumbents from using the tools of their office to run for re-election. I mean, you're not supposed to even use a White House PHONE to make campaign calls. So using the entire White House as a back-drop for the convention is FLAGRANT. Just to make himself feel all warm and loved, Trump demanded a packed and unmasked crowd of 1500 adoring fans to hear the pearls of wisdom fall from his lips. So Donald Trump, in accepting the Republican nomination for President, broke the law AND condemned an unknown number of his supporters to sickness and death. That's really kinda perfect, don't you agree? I am praying that this horrible Carnival of Dread just shows the desperation of an animal backed into a corner, and others will be as repulsed as I was. And who IS that masked woman in the lower photo? It took a lot of guts to take precautions in THAT crowd! LINKS TO MORE ON THE CONVENTION & KENOSHA: Steven Colbert, of The Late Show, gave a brilliant outraged rant on the convention and the shooting in Kenosha, WI of ANOTHER unarmed Black man. Don't expect any laughs from this one. Great satirist Alexandra Petri, explores how the incumbent President will make American great again again, in The Perfectly Logical Case for Donald Trump. 2. A GOOD SIGN

Please note that the New York Times, in its sub-headline on Page One, uses the adverb "falsely" to describe Trump's act of warning. The paper of record has clearly turned an editorial corner. Of course, they've been publishing op-ed columns that talk about Trump lying forever. But now they are reporting Trump's lies AND LABELING THEM AS LIES in NEWS stories and even in headlines -- as they should. This is a recent change. A few months ago, the sub-headline would have read simply "Warning of Support for 'Anarchists...." and the reader would have had to read the entire article to discover something like "A spokesman for the Democrats protested that Biden has never expressed..." etc. etc. So someone just skimming the headlines would know of Trump's accusation but not of its falseness. This is a very important change, because just reporting the accusation without reporting that it's a lie is simply furthering the power of the lie. In the past, the NY Times has adhered to that kind of fake "objectivity." That Trump lied is really the most important story and deserves to be part of the headline. THANK YOU, NEW YORK TIMES, FOR GIVING US TRULY COMPLETE OBJECTIVE REPORTING! Hey, Bloggelinis, ya gotta gather ye bright spots while ye may. Thank goodness the GOP convention is over. It was difficult to watch people go so low. Being a responsible Blogmistress forces me to do these things. I can't just hide under the covers, an impulse which often strikes me. Terry