Author: A.T.

Friday, we did Florida.

It was long, but can you imagine the difference it would make if this time, instead of LOSING a senate seat and the governorship by less than 1%, as in 2020, we WON them?  So I felt Florida deserved that long post, because we absolutely can.

Today, a short one:

Could Beto O’Rourke — a Democrat — become the next governor of Texas?

Watch.

BONUS:

Not long before New York special election Tuesday, polls showed the Republican incumbent winning by double digits.  Yet Pat Ryan won.

Could something like that happen in Florida ten weeks from now?

Might women and young people and democracy lovers turn out to unseat Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio?

Might some formerly-moderate Republicans, like Florida’s current Lieutenant Governor — who called Trump a ‘con-man,’ and KKK supporter — vote for a moderate like Charlie Crist?  After all, Crist enjoyed a 72% approval rating when he was Florida’s Republican governor?  (He has since switched parties.)

Well, no, she won’t — she’s running for re-election with DeSantis (and has long since deleted her anti-Trump tweet).

But ordinary Republicans, who’ve had enough of the Trump cult?

If you have six minutes, watch Charlie’s pitch. 

It’s compelling.

Even if moderate Republicans won’t vote for him, might they at least stay home out of dismay over what their party has become?

Might law-and-order Republicans decide that Police Chief Val Demings’ message resonates?  (True, Rubio has received millions from the NRA — but has he helped keep Floridians safe by working to keep weapons of war in the hands of 18-year-olds?)

I don’t know.

I do know that, like so many Republicans seeking to remain in power, Rubio caved to Trump.

Here’s what he told the Guardian six years ago.

Honest and spot on:

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“ . . . If we’re the party of fear, with a candidate who basically is trying to prey upon people’s fears to get them to vote for them, I think we’re going to pay a big price in November and beyond.” [Sure enough, Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million votes and Republicans lost control of the House and Senate. — A.T.]

If elected, Trump would not have the respect of allies around the globe, Rubio warned.

“I think he’s already an embarrassment,” Rubio said. “People around the world are watching this debate and this campaign and wondering what’s happening here, because the things he says are nonsensical. . . . “

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Of traditional Republicans and conservatives who had cast their lot with Trump, Rubio went on to say:

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“These are people that – whether it’s now or five years from now or two years from now or six months from now – are going to be explaining for a long time how they fell into this.”

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And then he, too, “fell into this.”

But back in 2016 he saw things clearly:

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“Leadership is not inciting people to get angrier. That’s not leadership. You know what it is? That’s called demagoguery.”

He referred at times to the violent clashes that erupted at recent Trump rallies over the weekend, likening them to “third world images” that posed a threat to the republic. The impact of the scenes was such that Rubio, for the first time, said in a press conference on Saturday he no longer knew if he could commit to backing Trump as the Republican nominee.

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Turns out, he could.

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Rubio told the Guardian he believed Trump was pursuing a strategy employed by strongman leaders that defied America’s founding values.

“He’s arguing that he himself is the singular figure that’s going to do these amazing things for the country. He’s asking us to basically make it a nation of a man instead of a nation of laws,” Rubio said.

“Our founders chose a very different form of government … We don’t have political messiahs in America and every nation that’s tried to find one has ended up finding that those people are fallible and make terrible mistakes.”

. . .

“I don’t know how this is all going to end. This is uncharted territory,” he said. “But from my mind, the Republican party has a very important decision to make: Are we going to be the party of fear or the party of optimism?”

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That Rubio twice voted to acquit Trump and to block the January 6 investigation tells us where he came out on this.  Solidly pro-Trump.

He may win, as may DeSantis — but Val Demings and Charlie Crist have the better stories — and are for all the things most Floridians want, that Republicans consistently vote to block: affordable health care (click that link for Florida-specific details!) . . . a sensible Roe-like middle-ground on women’s reproductive rights . . . sensible gun safety measures . . .  IRS enforcement of the tax laws on the ultra-rich and corporations, not just the little guy . . . attention to the climate change that threatens to submerge much of their state . . . and more.

My money’s on Val.  (Specifically, $5,800.)  And on Charlie, via the Florida Democratic Party.

Speaking of which — and acknowledging the challenge Democrats have retaining the support of the disparate Hispanic communities — here is what Manny Diaz, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, had to say in reaction to controversial comments by the aforementioned Lieutenant Governor:

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Sixty-one years ago, my mother and I walked through the halls of this historic building…Miami’s Ellis Island, to be welcomed into America.

We had to leave my father behind in Cuba, a political prisoner Castro’s jail.

Many other Cubans have followed a similar fate, those who came on the freedom flights, Camarioca, Mariel, the Balseros, from third countries and those who continue to come today.

Millions of us, who share much in common.

To be clear — we are all exiles.

We have fled and continue to flee a communist government that continues to tyrannize its people, jail, beat and kill its people.

A country that cannot even provide for the most basic needs to its people — food, medicine, a roof over their head — even electricity.

Adding to the desperation, for the last six years Cubans have been cut off from legal migration.

There are backlogs of approximately 100,000 visas and over 20,000 applications under the family reunification program, both programs canceled by President Trump.

These are Cubans desperately trying to unite with their families. Who speaks for them?

Governor DeSantis, my parents and the Lieutenant Governor’s family did not voluntarily choose to leave their country.

They had no other choice if they wanted their children to grow up free.

We left one at a time, we left however we could, forced to separate from our families.

Leaving behind parents and grandparents, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives — many of us with just the clothes on our back….many of us risking death.

We left out of desperation and the dreams of parents, like the Lt. Governor’s and mine, who dreamed of raising us in a free and democratic country.

And we chose to come to the greatest country in the world because Americans have always been a kind, humane and generous people, many of whom also chose America for similar reasons.

America chose and found ways to let us in.

It could just as easily have chosen not to, and for that, we will always be grateful.

We came to America to give back, not to take.

We came to have an opportunity to work and fight for the American dream

Sadly, the Cuban model spread throughout the Americas — in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua.

They, like us, have also come to America in search of freedom and the American dream.

Together, we have helped build a city where 60% of our residents are foreign born.

We have helped build a city with one of the most recognized brands in the world, and where people around the world choose to live, invest, simply visit or play.

Just look at the group standing with me today. We hail from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Trinidad…

That is Miami. That is what truly makes America great.

So what is the problem?

I take no pleasure standing here today.

I have known Lt. Governor Nuñez for decades. This is not the Jeannette Nuñez I used to know.

Rather than remembering where she and her family came from….of our struggles.

Rather than following her heart, her moral compass, her sense of human dignity.

She has chosen to be an instrument in her boss Governor DeSantis’ campaign to dehumanize everything and everyone within arm’s length.

I can see Desantis’ xenophobia.

We are all too familiar with his political pandering, his obsession with power and ambition.

It is clear that he cares about no one other himself and his political agenda.

But, Lt. Governor, you should know better. or have you too become so driven by power that you have left your heart, your compassion and your principles at the door.

Why do you allow yourself to be a useful tool to promote DeSantis’ hatred?

We do not need proxies from the Governor or you to explain to us what your words mean.

We did not misinterpret your statements. We clearly understood them.

There are many in our community who believe you deny your roots (arrepentida). Sadly, I join them today.

What a shame (que pena).  It seems unreal (parece mentira).

But, it’s not too late.

Repudiate this law, this policy, and honor, not betray, the memories of so many immigrants in American history, including our Cuban families.

It is clear that Governor DeSantis, Lt. Governor Nuñez, their proxies and the Florida Legislature are clueless as to the inhumane, un-American, immoral and illegal nature of this law and policy.

But now that you know, tells us you will not watch in silence as Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Haitian and other families in Miami and Florida are ripped apart and separated.

Tell us you will not join governor Desantis in turning into “coyotes” busing migrant families from one place to another.

Tell us that, at least this once, you will not honor and serve your master’s contempt for human dignity and respect.

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Call me crazy, but I think we have a shot to pick up that Senate seat and Governorship.

Have a great week-end!

For former and future students — as seen here.  The debt relief strikes a balance.  Those who think low-income folks have had it too easy the last few decades — while the uber-rich and giant corporations that pay little or no tax have had it too rough — will not like the balance.  But those who think inequality has grown too extreme may decide these changes are well thought through and a step in a better direction.

For democracy — because it’s becoming increasingly clear that those who reject the Big Lie, reject authoritarian rule, reject the sale of weapons of war to 18-year-olds while forcing young girls to carry their rapists’ babies to term . . . are coming out to vote.

It’s still going to require all hands on deck — this guy just tossed the Republicans $1.65 billion — but those who were until recently certain we’d lose the House are no longer so sure.

Back in June I posted How We Hold The House.  I believe it’s as true today as it was then.  It may just now seem less far-fetched.

Even Florida might surprise folks.  Val Demings just might beat Marco Rubio.  And former moderate Republican Florida Governor (now moderate Democratic Congressman) Charlie Crist just might beat Ron DeSantis.

Tomorrow, I’ll likely post a little about that.

. . . you probably wouldn’t incite an armed mob to storm her Capitol.

If you love democracy and were watching the violent assault, you probably wouldn’t ignore pleas to shut it down.

But if you’re a wannabe strongman who kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside, trusts and admires Putin, exchanges love letters with Kim, and finds common ground with Orban — then . . . well, you know the rest.  (Click here for 4 minutes on his predilection for strongmen.)

Trump’s behavior thrills the Klan and the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and Q-Anon.

Almost all House and Senate Republicans have voted with him every step of the way — to not impeach, to not convict, to not certify the election, to not investigate January 6.

So if, like millions of others, you believe government should restrict a woman’s reproductive freedom but not an 18-year-old’s freedom to buy assault weapons — if you believe that a 15% minimum tax on corporate profits is excessive or that the climate crisis is overblown — you would ordinarily vote Republican.  I get that.  But if you also think democracy is worth preserving, the next two elections might be great ones to sit out.

For the rest of us, with 76 days to go, have you joined your local chapter of the League of Women Voters?  Joined Field Team 6? Joined Vote Forward? Done all you can to fund the organizing effort?

DEFUND THE FBI?

I am by no means the first to note that when the FBI was investigating Hillary’s emails, Trumpers chanted “lock her up” . . .  but now that the FBI is investigating Trump’s theft of documents, they chant “defund the FBI.”

There was a time Republicans saw Russia as an anti-American, undemocratic security threat.  As Democrats still do.  (Hillary was truculent in her opposition to Putin, a journalist-murdering KGB thug.)

Today, Republicans overwhelmingly back Trump despite his siding with Putin over the FBI and with Russia over Ukraine.

And despite his view, shared with Stalin, that the press is the enemy of the people.

In their view, Trump — and those he has pardoned — are simply above the law.  If he likes Russia, they like Russia. If he walks down Fifth Avenue shooting people, they probably deserved it.

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Taking Texas as a prime example: they don’t have one.  (“Texans face greater risk of heat, drought and hurricanes, but Abbott administration has no plan to tackle future threats of climate change.”)

It’s quite similar to their plan to end inflation (they don’t have one) and their plan for replacing Obamacare (they don’t have one of those, either).

FORGIVE ME IF YOU’VE ALREADY SEEN THESE AMAZING ITALIAN SHOES

But first . . .

PRKR APPEALS

The press release.  The appeal.  I’m betting PRKR will eventually win the right to a jury trial.  (In the last one, nearly a decade ago, the jury found against Qualcomm to the tune of $174 million.)

Meanwhile, in front of a Texas judge who believes in patent enforcement, jury selection has been moved back from December to February . . . but for a not entirely unhopeful reason: the judge has granted PRKR’s motion to seek punitive damages based on “willfulness,” giving Intel’s attorneys two extra months to prepare.

With hindsight, I feel foolish not to have sold half my PRKR a year ago around $1.50 when the Qualcomm trial was poised to begin, before the judge’s inexplicable ruling — now being appealed.

Even so, with the entire company currently valued at around $20 million, I sit pat and happy with my zillion shares, all purchased with money I could truly afford to lose.  The upside, though a gamble, for sure, presses all my buttons.

KLTR REJECTS

I barely know what Kaltura does.  Just that they went public at $10 last July, got bid up to $13.98, had fallen to $2 by the time I suggested it in March — which is about where it is today — and has rejected $3 a share from one of its competitors.  No one is likely to find it as tasty as a competitor (who’d prefer less competition), so I’m not sure how it runs back to $10 any time soon, if ever.  But at $2.30, I’m in no rush to sell.

And now . . .

ABOVE THE SCALP

Ah, vanity.  But better than hair plugs?

BELOW THE SCALP

Yet another reason to try BrainHQ (which you can do free): Brain fog from long COVID.

So, too, the risk of a fall.

You, of course, are young and nimble.  But your dad?  Your great aunt?

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Sitting at a computer properly improves balance and prevents emergency room visits

. . . It may seem surprising, at first consideration, that sitting at a computer to do brain exercises can improve a person’s movement. However, the BrainHQ data has been shown in multiple studies to improve gait and balance and reduce fall risk.

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If we can find a way to make BrainHQ exercises as much fun as Wordle or Spelling Bee . . . neither of which likely does anything to improve mental acuity, but without completing each of which I have become incapable of beginning my day . . . then (a) I will become insanely rich and (b) the global scourge of dementia and lesser indignities of aging will be greatly diminished.

In the meantime, you should still do five minutes a day.

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It takes less than five minutes to do each BrainHQ level, so you can use it in tiny bites or long blocks, depending on your schedule. Plus you can use BrainHQ on almost any computer or mobile device, so you can take it on the go. If you want, you can set up personal training goals and have BrainHQ send you training reminders when you want them.

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Five minutes a day works out to 30 hours a year.  A ten-year study of 2,800 subjects found that just 10 hours — not 30 — just the first year — not every year — reduced the incidence of dementia significantly . . . and that adding a 5-hour halfway in cut the instances of dementia at Year 10 almost in half.  So what might 30 hours’ worth every year do?

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BrainHQ has 29 online exercises that work out attention, brain speed, memory, people skills, navigation, and intelligence.

If you want, you can have BrainHQ tell you exactly which exercises to do, and in which order. The personalized trainer feature, designed by scientists, continually measures your performance and serves up the exercises that are right for you.

Or if you prefer, you can design your own program, choosing exercises and workouts that meet your personal interests, mood, and schedule.

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Have a great weekend!

But first:

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If you have worked in public service (federal, state, local, tribal government or a non-profit organization) for 10 years or more (even if not consecutively), you may be eligible to have all your student debt cancelled.

Now, for a limited time, it is easier than ever to receive that forgiveness, or get credit toward forgiveness if you have not yet served 10 years.

But you must apply before October 31, 2022.

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→ Spread the word.

And second . . .

President Biden: Three Things Everyone Should Know about the Inflation Reduction Act.

That every single Republican in the House and Senate opposed.

They don’t want seniors’ out-of-pocket prescription drug costs capped at $2,000 a year — not if it means Amazon has to pay a 15% tax on its profits.  They don’t want us to join the world in confronting climate change — not if, to pay for it, the IRS will be given the resources to assure greater compliance by corporations and the wealthy.  They don’t want the deficit reduced — not if it means a 1% excise tax on corporate stock buy-backs.

Republicans rejected it all, unanimously.

But we won.

And now . . . Schrödinger.

I don’t buy that his cat could be both living and dead at the same time.

But I do buy this:

Jewish!

Who nu?

Artificial Intelligence is gaining traction.  Shelly Palmer:

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Want to know how fast virtual worlds are going to appear? TikTok recently added a new effect called “AI greenscreen.” Users type a description, then the AI does its best to interpret the prose and output an image that can be used as a background for a TikTok video.

The filter is very primitive and it is nowhere near as powerful as OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 or Google’s Imagen, but it is an amazing next step in the evolution of social video production tools. Just open your TikTok app, click the “green screen” filter, then click AI. Fun! Here’s why you should care.

The cover of this month’s Cosmopolitan magazine was created by a human/machine partnership, based on an image created by AI. The human (Karen X. Cheng) typed the sentence, “wide-angle shot from below of a female astronaut with an athletic feminine body walking with swagger toward camera on Mars in an infinite universe, synthwave digital art,” into OpenAI’s DALL-E 2. After a little editing by the human, here are the results:

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Click to see.  It took the computer 20 seconds.

The implications for TikTok are nice.  The implications for “deep fakes” and so much else that will be racing toward us?  Fasten your seatbelts.

And finally, there’s SO much to cheer about the Inflation Reduction Act!  Yesterday was an exceptionally good day for America — and, because we all share the same planet, humanity.

But first . . .

Having done so much to damage America, setting citizen against citizen (and funding the NRA), Putin — whom Trump and Tucker Carlson trust and admire — is wrecking his own country:

Far from Putin’s claims of resilience, Russian economy is being hammered by sanctions and exodus of international companies,

(And, argues Yale’s Steven Tian, Russia’s crippling invasion of Ukraine may not cause global famine after all, thanks to bumper crops in several major wheat-producing countries.)

Brittney Griner purchased two cannabis vape cartridges legally in the U.S. and was sentenced to 9 years in prison for bringing them into Russia for her personal use.  What kind of country does that?  What Russian could possibly have been harmed in any way by what she did?

Article 15 of Russia’s Criminal Code distinguishes between “crimes of little gravity” — which surely this one was, if a crime at all — “crimes of average gravity,”  “grave crimes,” and “especially grave crimes.”  Putin apparently pretends to believe hers was a “grave crime.”

But if you live in a country ruled by a “strongman” instead of a country of laws, what recourse is there?

I want to live in a country where — for all its flaws — we at least try to get it right.  And can freely protest when, as all too often, things go awry.

Inciting a violent coup against the government of the United States should not be acceptable — as Lindsey Graham and others briefly acknowledged before falling back into line.

Indeed, it is a crime.

Likewise, obstructing justice.

For anyone not above the law, the penalties for such crimes would be severe.

So, I ask my Republican friends: in America, should anyone be above the law?

Martha Stewart went to prison, for crying out loud.

How can we have become a country where a Texas woman has been imprisoned for five years for voting but most Republican leaders support a man who attempted to steal an entire election? 

(The fact that he narrowly failed, and that only a few hundred people were injured or died, does not excuse the crime . . . any more than “attempted murder” or “attempted bank robbery” are excused by failure.)

And now . . .

I’ve written about Thor Halvorssen before.

He is, in my book, an American hero.

This report on his latest Oslo Freedom Forum describes the state of the world — and of the tyrants and strongmen who rule so much of it.

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. . . The world of 2022 is a nightmare compared to that of five years ago, the last time I was in Oslo for the forum. The list of things that have gotten worse is long and sobering. Any remaining hope that the Twitter and Facebook-driven revolutions of the Arab Spring would usher in an era of freedom and democracy in the Middle East has evaporated. Bashar Assad and his Iranian allies slaughtered their way to control over nearly all of Syria, Yemen became the site of an ever more violent and intractable proxy war, and even Tunisia devolved into a soft autocracy. The Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan; Nicholas Maduro held on in Venezuela, sending over 5 million of his subjects fleeing for their lives. Russia invaded Ukraine and became a full-on police state. . . . The autocrats have grown more confident and more dangerous as democracies’ sense of weakness and drift settles into an indefinite and comfortable malaise.

Powerful bad people are defeating powerless good people, just as they have for millennia. . . .

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So worth reading in full . . . and working to make right.

Have you joined your local chapter of the League of Women Voters?  Joined Field Team 6? Joined Vote Forward? Done all you can to fund the organizing effort that is our best chance of saving democracy?

From the editors of the Las Vegas Sun (thanks, Andy R.):

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No one knows better than Nevadans when it’s time to put our cards on the table.

The Editorial Board, and Nevadans as a whole, are facing an agonizing problem. We have endorsed Republicans in the past and might do so again in the future. Yet as we survey the field of Republican candidates across the state, we are struggling to identify those who are not an active threat to American democracy . . .

. . .

Of the five leading Republican candidates for the governorship of Nevada, every one of them has gone on record as both supporting and contributing to the Big Lie. In doing so, they have all made a choice to subvert our democracy, undermine the integrity of our elections, and ignore the Constitution of the United States.

Will GOP leaders stand up for the rule of law and free and fair elections by rejecting autocracy and lies? Or will they continue to debase themselves and their formerly great party by kneeling to their unhinged demigod, Donald Trump, and his dreams of authoritarianism.

We pray this type of anti-democratic leadership does not represent the entirety of those candidates seeking office under the Republican banner in the Silver State. After all, this is the state that just seven years ago found common ground and reelected Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval with a staggering 70.5% of the vote.

Sandoval proved to be a fair, effective and honorable governor. And had the party not lurched into insanity, he would be considered a compelling GOP candidate for president in 2024. In today’s GOP, he wouldn’t stand a chance because honor and fairness doesn’t win primaries in the GOP anymore.

. . .

We yearn for a dignified, honest and pro-democracy Republican leadership. We yearn for the Republicans of years past. Patriots, not insurrectionists.

So please, if you are such a Republican and are running for office, stand proud and reach out to us. We want to present a list of heroes trying to rescue their party from the madness afflicting it. 

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Worth reading, and sharing, in full.

That was, basically, “What’s wrong with the Republican Party.”

Here, now, basically, “What’s right with the Democratic Party.”

From the Miami Herald:  

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President Biden and the Democrats have come through for working-class Americans
Opinion By FDP Chair Manny Diaz

. . . Biden’s presidency opened to seemingly insurmountable obstacles — a pandemic infecting 185,000 and killing 3,300 Americans each day . . . almost 10 million jobs lost in 2020 . . . razor-thin margins in the House, an evenly divided Senate, and a Republican opposition so extreme it attempted a coup.