She says: "The lack of clear policy commitments in Trump’s response [re Child Care] is a problem; so is the fact that the tariff plan he has been hawking is likely to raise prices for American consumers by billions of dollars. But the biggest problem, the problem that all journalistic analysis of Trump’s response ought to lead with, is that his answer makes absolutely no sense." She says a lot more that you have been saying for a long time, Robert. Hopefully this will start a trend!!
Indeed we shall continue to speak out and try to counter the media's venom. How could this have happened? The scary part is the number of people who read headlines and don't dig down for some truth, who still believe the media offers us "news" when in fact it is soap opera drama. I just keep asking people - what is your source? - but it is difficult to convince them that the media is the true conspiracy...
Thank you Robert! Nice to have a little positive perspective. I live in PA. I truly look forward to the day it’s not getting all this attention as a swing state, but is firmly in the blue camp.
Love your photography photos too, even ones you don’t consider up to snuff. I did look at the links you provided. A truly impressive giant! There’s that microscopic “Sol”, and there we are on one of its smaller planets, incomprehensibly tiny. Mind boggling.
Everyone needs to keep this in mind, that all the elections matter. We should also continue to (as you wrote) "[...] ignore the polls; they are props in the hands of charlatans who shape them to support partisan messages." We the People can't become complacent and it is gratifying to see how greatly volunteer efforts have ramped up everywhere! I had been doing postcards but recently joined voteforward.org with writing letters, since I have accumulated quite a collection of Forever stamps.
Last but not least, thank you for another astronomy lesson - I had no idea of the scale of Antares to our sun Sol. Awe-inspiring. Your photos are always striking, even when sometimes you are less than satisfied with your results. Thank you.
I think Nate Silver is trying to remain relevant. Unfortunately, for him, it's not working. And WaPo is trying to do the same...because it's losing subscribers and its relevance...by continuing with its "both-sides" pap.
Excellent column. You show clearly that Harris-Walz and the Democratic Party are outsmarting the Republicans at every turn. They see what you point out: that the election is about thousands of big and little races all over the country and that even the presidential race is going to be decided not just in Pennsylvania but in any of a number of other states. I see this to be true because 1) Reproductive Freedom is on the ballot; 2) Democratic voters and independents, especially women, are motivated; 3) at no time have we seen such a dystopian and tyrannical view (Project 2025) as the adopted platform of a major party; 4) Harris-Davis are shifting resources to where they will do the most good; they are being very tactical, while Trump's operation flounders; 5) the Democrats have a staff and operation in place; 6) the coattails of the candidates extend both down ballot and up ballot, e.g. the noticed House of Representative candidate or mayor will get out neighbors and friends who will with urging vote up the ballot as well. 6) Our side is cooler than theirs -- who would you rather sit next to in the cafeteria -- Jamie Raskin or Lindsey Graham? Vance or Coach Walz? Trump or Kamala Harris.
Thanks for your thoughtful and passionate noticing of what many/most ignore. You mentioned Nate Silver. He's not alone in focusing on Pennsylvania, of course. I spent a few minutes watching data boy Steve Kornacki and Chris Hayes get all serious over the MSNBC "news desk" focusing on Pennsylvania's importance, without ever addressing how this election might have different parameters in play than 2016, 2020, or even 2222, factors that would include Vance and Walz, Trump's increased deterioration, and, say it again and again, Project 2025, not to mention, Kamala Harris.
I have become quite cynical about the press, but when I saw "the vote will depend on Pennsylvania" my first thought was that this is the same old ploy all over again. Part of what gave 45 the presidency was the number of people who stayed home because they were overwhelmed with uncertainty after Comey implied 11 days before the election there was a strong chance they'd find something illicit in a huge new batch of emails. I saw articles and analyses that looked like that announcement took the steam out of many D voters.
It's already a fight to build up enthusiasm that will carry some people to the voting booths, or encourage them to request and return their ballots, but if people are told their vote won't count, past experience suggests it might be more apt to be less engaged voters, voters whose states have made it harder to vote, and Independents who will lose steam and stay home.
I see it as at least possibly just another ploy to harm Democrat candidates. Media that have been demonstrating strong bias provide stories that then get picked up and lazily repeated by smaller news providers.
I have come to the point of embracing the word, “bewildered.” Why? Well, it seems so incredible and incomprehensible to continue to see and read the multiple ways the media fails to fully and full throatily report on what we have seen and now hear from candidate Trump - a loser, a fraud, a misogynist, and insurrectionist. This man and the Republican Party have contributed nothing but divisiveness to the great American experiment in democracy, nor do they make any reasoned attempt to the speak to the common good of people and the environment/climate crisis U.S.Citizens are and will be impacted by for years to come regardless of their ideological perspective. It is truly a time for journalism with integrity focused on the realities of our nation and the global community. What has brought the media to this point? Thus my embrace of “bewildered.”
And so, we must admire Kamala Harris’s approach to getting the message out directly to the people of our broad and diverse country. I am thankful for her messaging.
Democrats are finally IN ARRAY and it is not only freaking out MAGA land but our failed MSM as well! VP Harris and the democrats are steamrolling this thing and I am hopeful that we are going to start living up to the potential this great nation is possible of. Boots on the ground, let's finish this!! Also I would love to see the Hendrix version of your photo!
A terrific article from Isabel Fattal, Senior Editor at the Atlantic about the media failure to report on Trump's incoherence. Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/09/a-new-level-of-incoherence-from-trump/679742/
She says: "The lack of clear policy commitments in Trump’s response [re Child Care] is a problem; so is the fact that the tariff plan he has been hawking is likely to raise prices for American consumers by billions of dollars. But the biggest problem, the problem that all journalistic analysis of Trump’s response ought to lead with, is that his answer makes absolutely no sense." She says a lot more that you have been saying for a long time, Robert. Hopefully this will start a trend!!
Indeed we shall continue to speak out and try to counter the media's venom. How could this have happened? The scary part is the number of people who read headlines and don't dig down for some truth, who still believe the media offers us "news" when in fact it is soap opera drama. I just keep asking people - what is your source? - but it is difficult to convince them that the media is the true conspiracy...
I just think that Roevember is coming, and none of the pollsters seem to have a clue.
Thank you Robert! Nice to have a little positive perspective. I live in PA. I truly look forward to the day it’s not getting all this attention as a swing state, but is firmly in the blue camp.
Love your photography photos too, even ones you don’t consider up to snuff. I did look at the links you provided. A truly impressive giant! There’s that microscopic “Sol”, and there we are on one of its smaller planets, incomprehensibly tiny. Mind boggling.
Everyone needs to keep this in mind, that all the elections matter. We should also continue to (as you wrote) "[...] ignore the polls; they are props in the hands of charlatans who shape them to support partisan messages." We the People can't become complacent and it is gratifying to see how greatly volunteer efforts have ramped up everywhere! I had been doing postcards but recently joined voteforward.org with writing letters, since I have accumulated quite a collection of Forever stamps.
Last but not least, thank you for another astronomy lesson - I had no idea of the scale of Antares to our sun Sol. Awe-inspiring. Your photos are always striking, even when sometimes you are less than satisfied with your results. Thank you.
The news just broke: Liz Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris!!!!
Nate Silver is not a reliable resource. He is a shill for Peter Thiel, per Jay Kuo in today’s Staus Kuo.
I think Nate Silver is trying to remain relevant. Unfortunately, for him, it's not working. And WaPo is trying to do the same...because it's losing subscribers and its relevance...by continuing with its "both-sides" pap.
From Denialad: donbialostosky.substack.com
Sanewashing—Thanks to Parker Molloy at the New Republic
“Sanewashing” is a coinage we have needed,
Describing how the press takes unimpeded
Trump rants and cleans them up so that they look
Like statements from a normal pol’s playbook.
Mainstream reporters turn his bubbling rage
Into what’s fit to print upon their page,
Distilling boiling-over toil and trouble
Into a liquor that’s assimilable.
Commitments or straight policy positions
Extracted from random juxtapositions
Allow opinion writers to compare
A politician who’s really not there
With one whose normal generalizations,
Though vague, bespeak her consequent mentation.
Post editors on Sunday played this game
And compared Trump and Harris, to their shame,
As if they both were normal candidates
And one was not a raving reprobate.
In their misguided effort to be fair,
They sanewashed the bewildering billionaire!
Excellent column. You show clearly that Harris-Walz and the Democratic Party are outsmarting the Republicans at every turn. They see what you point out: that the election is about thousands of big and little races all over the country and that even the presidential race is going to be decided not just in Pennsylvania but in any of a number of other states. I see this to be true because 1) Reproductive Freedom is on the ballot; 2) Democratic voters and independents, especially women, are motivated; 3) at no time have we seen such a dystopian and tyrannical view (Project 2025) as the adopted platform of a major party; 4) Harris-Davis are shifting resources to where they will do the most good; they are being very tactical, while Trump's operation flounders; 5) the Democrats have a staff and operation in place; 6) the coattails of the candidates extend both down ballot and up ballot, e.g. the noticed House of Representative candidate or mayor will get out neighbors and friends who will with urging vote up the ballot as well. 6) Our side is cooler than theirs -- who would you rather sit next to in the cafeteria -- Jamie Raskin or Lindsey Graham? Vance or Coach Walz? Trump or Kamala Harris.
Thanks for your thoughtful and passionate noticing of what many/most ignore. You mentioned Nate Silver. He's not alone in focusing on Pennsylvania, of course. I spent a few minutes watching data boy Steve Kornacki and Chris Hayes get all serious over the MSNBC "news desk" focusing on Pennsylvania's importance, without ever addressing how this election might have different parameters in play than 2016, 2020, or even 2222, factors that would include Vance and Walz, Trump's increased deterioration, and, say it again and again, Project 2025, not to mention, Kamala Harris.
I have become quite cynical about the press, but when I saw "the vote will depend on Pennsylvania" my first thought was that this is the same old ploy all over again. Part of what gave 45 the presidency was the number of people who stayed home because they were overwhelmed with uncertainty after Comey implied 11 days before the election there was a strong chance they'd find something illicit in a huge new batch of emails. I saw articles and analyses that looked like that announcement took the steam out of many D voters.
It's already a fight to build up enthusiasm that will carry some people to the voting booths, or encourage them to request and return their ballots, but if people are told their vote won't count, past experience suggests it might be more apt to be less engaged voters, voters whose states have made it harder to vote, and Independents who will lose steam and stay home.
I see it as at least possibly just another ploy to harm Democrat candidates. Media that have been demonstrating strong bias provide stories that then get picked up and lazily repeated by smaller news providers.
That did it. I'm cancelling WaPo today.
🥳
I think I will start my day by jumping directly to your astronomy graphics.
WOW! Just WOW!
Oh, dear God! Another school shooting in Georgia, at least 2 dead.
I have come to the point of embracing the word, “bewildered.” Why? Well, it seems so incredible and incomprehensible to continue to see and read the multiple ways the media fails to fully and full throatily report on what we have seen and now hear from candidate Trump - a loser, a fraud, a misogynist, and insurrectionist. This man and the Republican Party have contributed nothing but divisiveness to the great American experiment in democracy, nor do they make any reasoned attempt to the speak to the common good of people and the environment/climate crisis U.S.Citizens are and will be impacted by for years to come regardless of their ideological perspective. It is truly a time for journalism with integrity focused on the realities of our nation and the global community. What has brought the media to this point? Thus my embrace of “bewildered.”
And so, we must admire Kamala Harris’s approach to getting the message out directly to the people of our broad and diverse country. I am thankful for her messaging.
Democrats are finally IN ARRAY and it is not only freaking out MAGA land but our failed MSM as well! VP Harris and the democrats are steamrolling this thing and I am hopeful that we are going to start living up to the potential this great nation is possible of. Boots on the ground, let's finish this!! Also I would love to see the Hendrix version of your photo!