If she gets in, you’re all going to DIE!
If she gets in, the economy will crash worse than any economy has ever crashed.
If she gets in, every one of you will have to marry a goat!
If she gets in, the planet will explode!
If she gets in, everyone will get health care. (He actually said that one, like it was a bad thing.)

Yeah, yeah, we get it Donald. If she gets in, terrible things will happen. Well, to you, anyway. He wants everyone to think all of those terrible things will happen to everybody, everywhere, all the time. But the entire truth is, if she gets in, the only person who will face “terrible things” is Donald, himself. If she gets in, he goes to prison because of the crimes he committed.

Everyone else will be just fine, thank you very much…

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So, it can be hard to remember, but if you can think back ALL the way to…um…yesterday, you’ll remember I wrote that his team still thinks they can pull out this election if they can just get Trump to settle down, stay focused, and focus on the issues, especially on the issues he is perceived as being the better option. (Sidebar: can you believe somebody thinks Trump might be a better option for ANY issue outside of theft, grift, and adultery?)

All they had to do was give him a carefully written script, put it on the teleprompter (that he never uses), and have him stick to the script. His team set all of that up and put him in front of a rather sizable audience. 8,000 people, reportedly. I mean, it’s no Harris/Walz crowd size, but it’s not nothing. Word is, he started well enough. Apparently, he CAN read. Who knew?

It didn’t matter, though, because he didn’t read. Not for very long, anyway. I suspect he finds talking about actual issues as boring as he found working on actual issues. He can’t DO either one. Oh, but he CAN attack his opponent with lies and promise the worst of all possible outcomes for all people everywhere if he doesn’t win. Chicken Little come to life.

Now seems a good time to point out that he made all the same predictions in 2020 when he ran. If Joe got in the economy would crash. Didn’t happen. If Joe got in, everyone would die. Didn’t happen. If Joe got in the world would take advantage of us. Didn’t happen. If Joe got in the sky would fall. Nope. The sky is still up there. It’s almost like Donny is just making up scary things to frighten his audience. Of course, it’s more likely he’s deranged, making ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ a real thing. Oh, but I digress…

So, he started strong but couldn’t stay on topic for long before leaving the script to chase a butterfly. He called Kamala both Communist AND Fascist, proving he doesn’t know the definition of either word. He attacked her laugh again. He can do that because she does laugh. She seems a MUCH happier person than he is. Come to think of it, I’ve NEVER seen nor heard him laugh. I presume that’s because he’s a bitter old man, terrified of all the specters he creates in his own head.

I think my favorite part was when he started rambling about how he doesn’t ramble. You do, Donald. You ramble a LOT. It’s always the same re-hash about grievances that don’t exist, too. BOR-ING! And it’s not boring only to me. MAGA started leaving the venue early – while he was talking. (In fairness, those who left early might have been the people they pay to attend his rallies.) As soon as they realized he was just doing the same routine, they started to go. They’ve heard all of this before and they have better things to do. But he can’t help himself.

He just wants to re-litigate everything. He asked why, if Harris could become the nominee “without an election,” were Republicans having an election? Couldn’t they just name HIM the nominee, too? “I said, so why are we having an election? They didn’t have an election. Why are we having an election?” Hey, Donny, I don’t want to wake you from your fever dream, but you ARE the Republican nominee.

So, at least at last they know. They WILL NOT get their boy to focus on, well, anything for too long. His ADD, or OCD, or whatever it is with his malfunctioning brain kicks in and he’s off chasing squirrels again. If they’re going to get their boy into the Oval, they’d better get the January 3rd coup ready…

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There’s a place in the city I live in called ‘Caritas Center.’ It provides comprehensive services to homeless individuals and families. They can wash their clothes and get cleaned up but they can get health care and recovery help and pretty much any other service you can think of that people struggling with homelessness might need. It’s an amazing place, doing amazing work.

I had a chance to attend a walk-through for people who participated in getting the program off the ground. (Full disclosure, I was not one of them. I was WITH someone who was one of them.) It’s a truly beautiful facility. I’m told it cost $39 million dollars to build. (It’s a whole city block and includes a dormitory.)

The people and the place provide an absolutely necessary service to the victims of our brutal little society. Interestingly, I learned the same day (from a different source) that only a third of the people suffering homelessness have mental health or drug issues. As it happens, we SEE them the most, so we THINK they’re the primary demographic, but they’re not. MOST are people who have been priced out of the markets by Wall Street greed. The largest growing, single segment? Seniors. God bless America, where we throw old people out into the streets for profit. I’ll tell you this: Capitalists make Capitalism look very, very bad.

I want to make sure this is clear, Caritas is a vital service staffed by people doing very good work for a very vulnerable segment of our society and I’m glad they’re there. Nothing I’m about to write should be construed as in any way denigrating to their good work and what they’re trying to accomplish. But as I was driving home from the event, all impressed by the facility and people, a thought crossed my mind. (Hey, it happens…)

The Caritas Center cost $39 million dollars to build. It employs lots of people. It will be providing tax revenues to the city. This is a model facility and I’m sure they will be springing up all over the place, soon, because I’m sure the need won’t be corrected any time soon. And that’s the source of my concern. Caritas treats the symptom. It can’t cure the disease.

Congressman Mike Thompson was there and he spoke of all the good things people are doing to address the homeless problem, treating the symptom. He did NOT mention the ‘Stop Wall Street From Buying Single Family Homes Act,’ curing the problem.

I’m probably late to the party but it seems to me, there’s an industry developing around caring for homeless people. Why is that a problem? Because in this once-great nation, once an industry develops, maintaining the industry becomes part of the challenge. If one solves homelessness, jobs will be lost, tax revenues lost, and a large, $39 million dollar facility will stand empty with nothing to do. People profiting from the homeless industry will be loath to let that happen. Sadly, it’s the American way.

Think of when conservatives decided that private prisons were just as good as state-run prisons. (They’re not. In practice, they cost MORE and provide worse conditions. Profits, you know.) Private prison contracts require a certain minimum number of inmates at all times. If crime starts going down, the state may not be able to send enough inmates to fulfill it’s contractual obligations. It incentivizes states to criminalize behaviors just to maintain an agreement. How dumb is that?

Now we’re doing something similar with the homeless population. Will the burgeoning homeless industry reduce incentives to solve the problem outright? I know, the question seems stupid, but “stupid” seems to rule the roost, these days, here in America…