Author: Kathleen David

7:51: Right wingers are already saying that Biden 1) already knows all the questions and 2) is taking drugs. There are, to my knowledge, no performance enhancing drugs for mental awareness, and *I* know what the questions will be.

7:52: I’m still convinced that Trump will ignore the social distancing rule and immediately come over to try and shake Biden’s hand.

8:40: Here’s why Biden has the advantage, bottom line: in recent months, when faced with hard questions during press conferences, Trump oftentimes bolts without replying. Because since he is in fact a bully and a coward, his instinct is to run from a fight. That’s not an option here. He’s going to go in feeling Biden and Wallace are teaming up against him and he’ll be fighting his fight or flight instinct to flee the entire time. That’s going to be distracting.

8:59: Biden’s family is masked. Trump’s family isn’t. Of course.

9:00: Nope, Melania is masked.

9:05: Nope, Trump didn’t try to shake his hand.

9:07: He’s assuming he’s going to win the election. Which figures.

9:08: Wait, wait, the Democrats DIDN’T have the election during Merrick Garland? They HAD THE White House, you moron.

9:11: Trump is NOT GOING TO SHUT UP. He’s not going to let Biden express any thoughts without interrupting with lies.

9:13: Jesus, Roe v. Wade IS on the ballot, it’s being challenged right now in courts, and Trump’s candidate wants to do away with it.

9:14: I can’t wait to hear this. Trump has NO medical plan.

9:15: Keep laughing at him, Joe. That’s going to get to him.

9:17: Cut Trump’s mike off.

9:18: No, Trump has NOT guaranteed preexisting conditions. He is currently in the courts trying to get rid of it.

9:20: Well , Biden dodged that question.

9:23: He couldn’t even let two minutes pass without interrupting.

9:25: No, they didn’t say Trump did a phenomenal job. More fabrication.

9:26: Notice that Biden is looking into camera, addressing America, and Trump is staring at Biden.

9:28: YES! Nail him with the šhìŧ he’s said in the past. “That was sarcastic?” Seroiusly? Now he’s trying to roll it back.

9:30: Again Biden is talking right at us. Good.

9:32: “Will he shush for a moment?” No, he won’t.

9:33: Trump is wrong. Covid has long-term effects, even on young people. Saying they’re immune to it is just wrong.

9:34: Yes, Fauci changed his approach on masks because that’s what scientists do, they learn and change. So you don’t dismiss the latest thing because they’ve learned things in between.

9:36: NO NEGATIVE EFFECT? Tell that to Herman Cain.

9:38: Oh yeah we’re doing record business. That’s why Disney has just announced it’s laying off 28,000 people.

9:40: And again, he can’t go two minutes without interrupting. They should really cut his mike.

9:41: “Excuse me, I should be allowed to ignore the rules to say whatever I want.” And no, Ohio isn’t very proud of him. Polls indicate he’s 9 points behind Biden.

9:43: He’s just saying the same old šhìŧ. “I paid millions.” “You’ll see my tax returns.” Yeah? Biden and Harris posted his.

9;44; Wait, so now he’s saying it’s OBAMA’S fault because of the tax codes? Seriously?

9:47: Why didn’t Biden do more when he was VP? Because McConnell did everything he could to prevent Obama from doing pretty much anything. God, the fact checkers are going to be going insane covering Trump’s slew of lies.

9:50: SHUT OFF HIS MIC!

9:54: Thank God Biden is going first. Let’s see if he can get through it uninterrupted.

9:54: Twenty-three seconds. That’s how long he was able to be quiet.

9:55: Go, Joe. Demolish him.

9:59: And he’s doing it again. Biden let him have his say and then Trump has to come back and start shouting again.

10:00: Race training is radical? I mean, I’d ask if he was insane, but we already know the answer.

10:03: Biden is starting to interrupt him, to do what Trump does. He should do it more, loudly, and frankly he should start using profanity. “Shut the fûçk up, dumb ášš.

10:10: He wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t tell the white supremacists to knock it off. Jesus.

10:12: No, he doesn’t. There are plenty of vets who can’t get help, who have been abandoned.

10:12: They left openings because McConnell blocked them all, you sack of šhìŧ.

10:14: That was indeed a rhetorical question because we know the answer: Trump cannot, will not keep his word or keep to a promise.

10:15: Give it to him, Biden. The part where he defended Beau is great. High point.

10:17: Once again, “people” believe something. People are against the Paris accord. Really? I’ve seen no one save for extreme Trumpies who endorse leaving the accord.’

10:18: Forest cities. He’s back on Endor.

10:27: Almost over. Thank God.

10:29: Jesus, Trump’s body language during that speech was appalling.

10:29: They’ve caught no one. No one. This is all total bûllšhìŧ. Plenty of Trump’s people have been caught and jailed. There is no fraud. No matter how much he claims it, it isn’t true.

10:35: Oh yeah, that’s not instigating trouble. Trump’s armed followers walking in and watching voters so they can scare people off. Great move.

10:38: God, unless they cut Trump’s mic, I’m not sure I can handle two more of these.

Jerry Chandler here doing a Freak Out Friday fill-in to cover for Peter’s rather hectic schedule this weekend. Let’s go ahead and dive in.

1) “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

I think many of us wanted to ask that of Trump this week. Sadly, we already know the answer. If Trump did nothing else in the last week, he definitively answered that question by making it clear that he has none.

Services were held for Sgt. La David Johnson Saturday. Trump took to Twitter first thing in the morning not to comment on the Sgt.’s service to his country or his sacrifice, but rather to launch more attacks on Rep. Frederica Wilson and by extension the family. He continued to insult Wilson and the family throughout the week, repeatedly claiming their version of the call and their stating that they found it offensive at the time were lies despite multiple witnesses to their end of the call as well as John Kelly’s comments last week basically confirming Wilson’s description of the call with regards to Trump’s wording.

I have made no secret over the years of my disdain for Trump, but I would have been more than happy to have given him all the credit in the world for doing the right thing this week. All he would have had to do was apologize. All he would have had to do was say that he spoke in an inartful manner during the call, meant no offense by it, but realized after the initial criticism of his call that his choice of words could indeed have inadvertently caused greater pain to a widow so soon after the loss of her husband and then let the issue go.

It would not only have been the decent thing to do, but it would have been the politically intelligent thing to do. Had Donald Trump come out early in the week and made such a statement, you can’t attack him over the matter after that without looking like a partisan hack. But he didn’t, and he’s gone well past the point where any such apology would be effective. He didn’t do it because to do this, to show this simple act of decency, intelligence, and class, would require Donald Trump to make the admission that he made a mistake or got something wrong in this even if only by sincerely but poorly chosen wording. That’s not something his ego will allow. So what we got was another week of watching the man who sits in the single most powerful elected office in our country attacking a Gold Star family and their longtime family friend in their time of grief.

We know the answer. You have no sense of decency, sir.

2) He knew him before he didn’t know him.

Tuesday saw the Senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake, give a blistering speech on the chamber floor, pointedly attacking what the Republican party and politics have become in the age of Trump. In many ways it was reminiscent of another speech given by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith on June 1, 1950. Her “Declaration of Conscience” address, given in the same chamber, was a powerful denouncement and indictment of what her Republican party was seemingly becoming and the man behind the change, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.

Trump’s response was to claim the first time he saw Flake on TV he thought he was a Democrat and to claim that Flake was against him and had come out with his book, Conscious of a Conservative, long before Flake got to know him; even before the campaign. Mind you, this was in the same press scrum where Trump had claimed to have one of the great memories of all time to support attacking a Gold Star family.

That claim becomes particularly hilarious when you look at two facts. Flake’s book was published in August of 2017, and Jeff Flake very publicly questioned and criticized Trump in front of other Republicans when the two met in July of 2016. This was covered by the media back when it happened. Additionally, Trump’s documented comments at that time also showed that he knew who Jeff Flake was even back then.

On some level, it seems a small thing, but it becomes yet another example that Donald Trump will lie about anything no matter how foolish it makes him look. Whatever comes into his mind in the moment, Donald Trump will say it regardless of whether or not he and everyone else listening knows it to be untrue. In the guy down the street, it’s an annoying if perhaps comical character flaw. In the President of the United States, it is a character trait that more and more undercuts the ability of anyone, from the average man or woman on the street to other world leaders, to be able trust anything Donald Trump says.

Did he do anything right? Yes, to a degree.

Thursday, Trump attempted to put the opioid abuse crisis in this country in the spotlight. He came out and declared a nationwide public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis at a White House event.

He took criticism from some quarters for not issuing a national disaster declaration, an act that would allow a greater scope of funding to address the issue. A declaration of a nationwide public health emergency will not automatically be followed by the additional federal funding for the crisis that some see as needed. While his action will not allow the federal government to immediately tap into funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund to combat the opioid crisis, his order will still expand needed access to telemedicine in rural areas, instruct agencies to curb unnecessary bureaucratic delays for dispensing grant money, and allow agencies to shift some federal grants towards fighting the crisis.

There will always be- sometimes quite valid -complaints that actions like this are not enough. But the fact is that this is at least a good start. In taking this step, Trump did the right thing this week. Hopefully, it will be the right first step of many by the administration to help the country combat this problem.

Kath here. For about the first hour or so this will be Caroline and me. I will try to delineate between us with a K for me and a C for her.

I am hoping that comments will post in a timely fashion. Usually I am on the approval of comments if something gets ‘stuck’ while Peter is typing so I am asking for your patience in this endeavor. I will approve when I have the time to do so.

9:02 so podiums back no chairs visible

(:04 Rules? There are Rules? Let’s see if anyone sticks to them,

9:04 Supreme Court good topic to start with

9:06 I agree that it should represent all of us but that does include the powerful. Nice touch to point out the roadblock against Obama’s nominee.

9:08 He’s going after Ginzberg? Why? She apologized.

9:09 C-Is he threatening violence? K- We have MORE than one amendment to the constitution.

9:10 She is being reasonable and not changing her stand on gun control. Good.

9:12 Angry? He is trying to pull buzz words out of his ášš to make her look bad.

9:14 K-Chicago? Why is he going after Chicago? Is it the only city that the murder rate went up?

9:15 He just said it out loud. Not happy at all with that. Back to the States? Is he really saying that?

9:17 Boy this is a touchy subject. And the Drumph is trying to make her look as bad as possible. C-Did he listen to her? To what she said? Does he ever listen? K-No

9:19 Immigration is up next

9:21 He is trotting this chestnut? Please. Strong borders? C-Heroin? Really? Pouring?

9:22 c-A wall won’t stop drugs. They can always dig under like they did in Mexico

9:23 Oooo she is bring logic into his plan

9:24 Caroline is very much against deportation and has been yelling at the TV

9:25 What wall? What is he talking about? Oh thanks Hillary for clarifying his words

(credit to the moderator to keeping Drumph from going on)

9:26 K- I am about to nope out of this. What world is he living in?

9:28 Good for Hillary to point out that the soundbite was not complete.

9:29 Please not Wikileaks and the Russians Oh crap. Why are we going on about this?

9:30 Good for the moderator to keep Drumph in some sort of order

9:30 back to Putin again. What the hëll is he talking about?

9:31 K- She’s not a puppet. Take it from a puppeteer

Now the moderator is losing control. Get it back.

OK who had 9:33 as when Drumph would take over the conversation?

9:33 He is repeating himself again. He has something he wants to say and he is avoiding the question.

9:34 C- She’s right and you are wrong

9:35 His pedigree? What does this have to do with nukes?

9: 36 Thank God! Economy

9:38 She has trotted out her plan that has not changed since she presented it. She has this pretty much down.

And Peter is home. More than happy to hand it over to him.

9:40: The good news is, we won all three games. So that’s good The bad news is, the debates are still going on. So it’s downhill from here.

9:41: When the hëll is he going to stop bìŧçhìņg about NAFTA?!?!

9:41: CAROLINE–Does he realize that Clinton was the president who helped bring the country out of debt? The Bush presidency then squandered it.

9:42: She’s saying what Caroline just said. Caroline wants to be president. She’s on her way.

9:44: KATHLEEN–Could he have any more of a pouty mouth?

9:46: “Chris, I’d like to phone a friend.”

9:47: Hillary looks extremely pìššëd with him. She looks like she wants to slap him.

9:47: ANSWER THE ÐÃMNÊÐ QUESTION YOU JAG OFF.

9:48: Perfect.

9:48: She didn’t let Wallace or Trump interrupt her.

9:49: Is he KIDDING?! He says that it’s okay for him to be a hypocrite, to talk about making everything in America while acquiring and building things in other countries, and it’s HER fault? It’s HER fault that he’s a dìçk?!

9:50: Ðámņëd right. Go Hillary.

9:51: No, it was a $14 million loan, and he wants to run this country the way he runs his companies: into the ground.

9:52: Yes, Obama created a huge vacuum by going into Iraq and killing Saddam Hussein…oh. Wait.

9:53: They’re all totally false? He didn’t know these women? Jesus Christ. Or HER CAMPAIGN??

9:54: HER campaign is encouraging people to start fights? Is he INSANE?

9:54: Yes, he DID say that. He said it repeatedly.

9:55: I’m waiting for her to say, “Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?”

9:55: HAAHAAHAHAHHHAAAAAA!

9:56: Seriously? He says he molests women, they come forward and say, “Yes, he did,” and he BLAMES Hillary for that?

9:57: Kathleen may have to leave the room because her blood pressure is skyrocketing.

9:58: WRONG?! We SAW HIM mock the reporter! Good lord! He is completely off the rails. Does he think that everyone in America has short term memory issues?

9:59: How in God’s name did she cause the violence?

10:01: One at a time.

10:02: Hmm. It’s an interesting point. I wonder how she’ll respond.

10:03: She’s kind of side stepping it, but the fact remains that the Clinton Foundation does great work.

10:04: And she’s back on the offense.

10:05: And once again he blames his tax dodging on her. And she can’t change the law as a senator because changes to tax laws originate from the House, you moron.

10:06: Jesus. He won’t even agree with his running mate and daughter that he will accept the election. This man is more than just a terrible candidate. He is a threat to democracy.

10:09: KATHLEEN: So he says that basically the reason he’s an áššhølë is that it’s Hillary’s fault.

10:10: She is REALLY pìššëd. I’ve never heard her talking so sharply. Can’t blame her.

10:13: He really doesn’t seem to understand how the government works. Is he remotely capable of answering a question without using it as an opportunity to attack Clinton? I mean, does he understand that she’s answering the questions and he isn’t?

10:14: KATHLEEN: Before anyone is allowed to run for President, they should be required to take the test that anyone who wants to become a US citizen is required to take to prove they know how the government works.

10:15: He’s thirty seconds over.

10:16: If you take a shot every time he says “Wrong” you’d die of alcohol poisoning.

10:17: Please let Mr. Trump interrupt you.

10:18: Yeah, Donald, quoting Bernie was a big mistake because it gave her a HUGE opportunity that she just used.

10:19: Also, I understand that Hillary was responsible for JFK being assassinated and she also betrayed Christ.

10:21: I don’t drink, but I may start.

10:21: God, I want to watch “South Park.”

10:25: Tremendous jobs? What would those be exactly?

10:26: Alcohol poisoning on the word “tremendous” also.

10:26: KATHLEEN: He wants to to back to the 1950s where women were subservient and white men had all the power.

10:28: She managed to take a huge broadside at Trump and she’s also answering the question. Excellent.

10:29: We’ve heard all your BS before too, Donald.

10:30: Oh my God. Wallace is talking about Medicare and Trump responds by wanting to dump Obamacare?

10:31: Yes, Donald, you’ve said this before. And it has nothing to do with the question.

10:32: “Such a nasty woman?” I’m amazed Bill doesn’t stride up on stage and deck him.

10:34: She is so positive and he is so negative. Let’s see if he can be positive for once.

10:35: Nope. He can’t. Why did I even ask?

10:36: Thank God. It’s over. I’m going to crack open a bottle of scotch.

Kath here.

If you haven’t wished Peter Happy Birthday on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to do it here or even if you have wished him a happy Birthday on Facebook and/or the Twitter.

I wanted to post a Happy Birthday to my husband, my best friend, and an all around sweet guy.

I love you Peter David and wish nothing but happiness for you in the coming year.

Kath ‘the wife’ David

Six month ago as I was lying in bed, flat on my back from the stroke that I had spent hours denying was happening, I said to Kath, “Put it up on my website.” I was in no shape to do it myself, so I dictated a quick statement that she typed verbatim (prompting one Internet genius to comment, “He can’t be too bad off; he’s typing on the Net.”)

For some reason, I honestly had no idea that it would take off. But it did. Within fifteen minutes it was on Bleeding Cool, and that was because Rich Johnston received three dozen emails during the intervening time.

From that point on it was all over the place. Every board everywhere, it seemed, was determined to spread the news. One áššhølë—just one—declared I had it coming. Otherwise there was an outpouring of support, prayers, etc.

Then followed ten days in the hospital, the first few of which Kathleen was informed that eighty percent of people who have this particular type of stroke tend to die, and she might have “tough decisions” to make. When I didn’t happen to do that, I then spent five weeks at Brooks Rehab hospital in Jacksonville, where Ali, my physical therapist, busted ášš to enable me to learn how to walk again. When I first arrived, the plan was that I’d leave in a wheelchair. By the time I left, I was using a cane.

Now, months later, I am done with physical therapy and next Tuesday is my last occupational therapy. My right shoulder still hurts and my endurance is not remotely what it was, but I am working to return to normal. It continues to be a long path, but with the relentless support of my wife and friends, at least I’m able to walk it.

PAD

Kath here-We would like to thank everyone for your help through this, for lack of a better word, adventure. We couldn’t have done it with out y’all.

This will be the last of these entries. I started with daily updates and then went to weekly and finally monthly as things kept getting closer to normal. We do still have a long way to go but we have made it this far and it is nice to say that after 6 months Peter is pretty much back to normal (or pre-stroke as the medical people are saying).

We still have a lot of doctor’s visits in our near and far future. It just has become a part of our lives. But these visits give us the information we need to continue his recovery and rehabilitation.

Again y’all have our thanks and gratitude.

Kath

Peter will be appearing at the Soho Digital Gallery tomorrow at 7:00 with Danny Fingeroth.

More information can be found here

Tickets can be purchased here

He will be signing and speaking. Sometimes at the same time.

Kath