What Joe Said

Yesterday, Joe Biden showed up in Erie, Pennsylvania....at a local plant operation.

In his basic speech....he drifts around and finally at some point.....suggests in some fashion that their factory was 'thinking of shutting down'.

All heck broke loose in a matter of minutes, with workers walking around and asking what the heck is going on....they'd not heard any rumors of a shut-down....is there something going on that they'd not heard about?  The union got called....the foremen got direct chatter from employees, and the management folks were quizzed.  

Well....it took about two hours for the plant managers to realize the impact of the bogus statement, and they sat down to formulate a 'answer'.

In a direct way.....they said no....the claim of the shut-down was totally bogus.  

How many workers did this piss off?  I'd take a guess that more than half the folks there were in serious worry-status for two to three hours, calling their spouses over the potential impact, and this Biden speech basically sold them on voting for Trump.

Regionally?  That one statement probably flipped a couple of thousand votes over to Trump.  

Basically, it's another case where Joe needs to do more lid-time and ease-up on making speeches.  The less seen or heard....the better off that the campaign is.  

Observations

 1.  I've sat and gazed over this picture of Joe Biden....wearing two masks, and often wondered....if it's that hard to breathe with one mask on....how exactly do you breathe with two masks?

You have to be cutting off at least a quarter of the oxygen 'content'.

2.  At some point in the hearing yesterday with Ms Barrett....the Hawaii Senator suddenly 'wakes' up and asks....'wait, are you telling me that policy considerations are something we should address?'  To which Ms Barrett responds....'you are the one who writes the laws'.  

It was one of those moments like you had Einstein in the room, and some 6th-grade science teacher gets lectured on actual science.

3.  If you haven't watched this exchange yesterday (Tuesday) between Wolf Blitzer of CNN and Rep Pelosi....go google it up and watch it via YouTube.  For a brief moment, I had this impression that Wolf might actually might be a secret Trump-enthusiast.

4.  With all the hype of the past ten days in Germany being Covid-19 infections drastically on the rise (now bumping 5k per day nationally)....breakfast public TV news started the morning off discussing 'vacation frustrations' of Germans.....that you can't just pack and bag and drive off five hours to some Alpin resort, or Berlin hotel....without worrying about the check-in procedures, your Covid-19 test, etc.  

5.  Virtually every single diabetic in the nation has awaken in the past couple of months to realize their insulin cost dropped by 60 to 70 percent.  Responsible party? Donald Trump.  It did not require rocket-science to figure out the way to reduce cost.  

6.  This Arizona campaign 'stop' for Joe Biden from three days ago?  Complete and absolute f**k-up.  There was no one there....not even the city council members.  A real campaign would have hired a minimum of 100 people to fake-show-up, and be a crowd.  These campaign managers did nothing.

7.  Should you get paid-time-off for voting?  This came up via Amazon employees and they want the company to cover this 'cost'.  The problem here....in some urban areas....you could be talking about four hours of time to wait, and finally get a chance to vote.  

8.  US investigating fires in Chevy Bolt electrical cars?  Basically, there's three mystery fires, where Bolts were just sitting there (non-moving).  All started under the rear seat area.  

9.  The FBI came out yesterday and admitted that four times the number of Americans were killed with knives, than assault rifles in 2019.  No one suggested however background checks for knives. 

10.  Trump yesterday, tested negative for Covid-19.  Twelve days with Covid.  Yes, that's it.  The drama?  Basically a one-star pony-show, with a bunch of talkative midgets running around and pretending to be journalists.   

Hearing Over Amy Coney Barrett

 I've probably watched about 5 to 5.5 hours of the Barrett hearings (to become a Supreme Court Judge).  My five observations:

1.  This constant use of the Ginsburg 'rule' (never engage on hypothetical questions) has destroyed any real 'got-you' situations.  You can sense that the Senators that would like to have something negative to tag upon her....are screwed.  

2.  Senator Hirono of Hawaii is a pretty dismal individual for this type of atmosphere....like dragging some 75-year old grandma into the midst of a family argument.  Once the senator asked if Ms Barrett had ever sexually assaulted anyone...I just sat there laughing over the necessity to ask this.  

3.  This Senator Whitehouse 'dark-money' briefing?  What the heck did this really have to do with Barrett?  I almost got the impression that he was supposed to be in the next building and just accidentally wandered into this judge hearing.  

4.  If you just watch raw feed (not filtered with NPR hosts talking what they think, or CNN dimwits sharing their thoughts)....it's pretty slow and boring (enough to put you to sleep after two straight hours).

5.  To a great extent....you end up with the fairly negative opinion about some of these Senators.  Those up in their seventies and eighties....are performing at a level that you'd expect.  It just makes you want to establish an age requirement....to be mandated to retire as a Senator by age 70, or take a test to show mental skills if you want to stay on for another year or two.