DON’T MAIL IN YOUR BALLOT, IT’S TOO LATE!

In one major city, the mail is running five days late, even though the normal delivery time is supposed to be one day. If you have a mail-in ballot, drop it off, do not mail it.

WATCH THIS VIDEO

“What if a US presidential candidate refuses to concede after an election? – Van Jones: bit.ly/2Tz27Ni

This is a TED Talk that is only sixteen and a half minutes long. I guarantee you, unless you’re Larry Lessig, you will learn something. Furthermore, Van gives advice on how to prepare for this hypothetical situation.

What the hell was she doing on SNL?

She’s the biggest act in the world. Bigger than Drake, bigger than Taylor Swift, bigger than ANYBODY! Maybe because she goes away, she’s not working it all the time, maybe because she has hits, in a genre almost everyone has forgotten about, straight ahead pop, sans the trendy 808 beats, maybe because she’s the best live performer out there, she can not only sing, she interacts with the audience, she tells stories, she’s riveting…she sets herself apart, she exists in her own bubble. SO WHY DID SHE COME DOWN TO EARTH TO APPEAR ON A SECOND-RATE TV SHOW DOING BAD MATERIAL??

I know, I know, she wanted to show off her newly-slimmed body. Her self-image has improved, great. But this does not add an iota to all the elements that made her a star and kept her shining bright. It doesn’t matter how those with true talent appear, hell, I don’t want to body shame anyone, but my point is it’s what goes into the ears, not what comes into the eyes. Furthermore, true fans have already seen these thin images, they’ve been all over the gossip sites. So, you’ve got a coming out on late night television and..?

Why late night television? That’s certainly not cool. What self-respecting youngster wants to tune in on a Saturday night, they’ve got no better options? Hell, they’d rather make a TikTok video using an Adele song than watch her on SNL, where she’s not even singing!

Oh yes, she ended up singing a bit, and that was cool, but it was just a wink to those who couldn’t fathom that she was not the musical guest.

As for the oldsters… They remember when SNL was truly great, back in the late seventies. If they’re watching today, it’s out of habit at best, if they’re awake to begin with, or on the west coast and viewing the live feed.

The opening bit, the political bit…it would be funny if there were any jokes. We’re just supposed to laugh because they’re doing it? How low can the bar be?

So low that major media outlets cover the show the next day, as if it matters, but it’s Quibi without the monthly charge, with bad short bits that you never want to see again. Oh sure, you get more eyeballs than the competition, there’s an imprimatur of importance, if you’re the musical guest it demonstrates to gatekeepers that your handlers are committed to breaking you, but few play absolutely live anymore and it’s all about as genuine as a Twinkie, with the same nutritional effect.

But this is what happens when legacy media is beholden to publicists, when it still lives in the last century, when it believes one show can reach and impact everybody and change the culture. Come on, when was the last time someone employed a catch phrase from SNL? Yet they were rampant back in the seventies. Back when the show was cutting edge, the anti, now it’s establishment, it’s what young kids are REBELLING AGAINST!

So, just by going on SNL Adele hurts her image. Bruce Springsteen does an Apple TV+ movie for his stiff on arrival new album, imagine if Adele created something special stamped with her personality, people would be salivating over it. And she wouldn’t share the stage with others, she’d be the star, deservedly.

Adele is more than the hits, she represents something, rarefied, why bring herself down to earth, we need people to believe in!

As for ticket sales… She can sell every one available. And that’s because you can only get what she’s selling at the gig. Each show is different, they’re magic, there’s no online equivalent.

However, the truth is “25” was not as good as “21,” not as successful. So, unless the next album truly delivers, her fans and her business might fall off. You can sell tickets off a stiff album if you’ve got enough dedicated fans, but how many true fans does Adele have anyway? She’s a pop star with hits, without them..? She was more like Barbra Streisand, there’s only one of her, hits are irrelevant if you manage your career very closely, keep yourself exotic, don’t appear just anywhere, place yourself in your own solar system, above everyone else.

This is where a manager counts.

Then again, not enough managers will say no to an artist.

And probably, Adele had a desire, pushed to do this show. But the truth is she’s a Brit, she doesn’t really understand it, just like Americans don’t understand U.K. television shows, if they know anything about them at all. And eyeball counts only matter if you’re selling, trying to extend your reach, AND ADELE WASN’T SELLING ANYTHING! Except for herself.

But watching all you could do was marvel at her appearance. Did she have weight loss surgery, did she have plastic surgery…what she said was secondary. And it was scripted by SNL hacks, who deliver this tripe every week. If you want to make an impression, write your own intro, that you test elsewhere first.

Subtleties. Many people will say the above makes no difference. That people forget. But the truth is image and career management are what separates the legends from the rest of the acts. Come on, those who go their own way, who are sui generis, those are the ones you want to get closer to, the ones you are yearning to understand. Like Neil Young. He’s an enigma. You hang on his words. But he didn’t give the public what it wanted, he went his own way, and then the world circled back to him and then it left him once again, alone with his fans, who’ve supported him.

Adele had charisma. I tell everybody her live show was one of the two best I’ve seen this century.

But now everybody has seen her. And she appears to be nothing special, not so different from everybody else. Another singer.

It’s a tragedy.

cbsn.ws/34vR3qB

And you wonder why no one will confront him.

Lesley Stahl did a good job, better than any of the debate moderators, but still, Trump made mincemeat out of her. He started off soft and then went on attack and it was a tsunami of B.S., to the point where Lesley essentially had to put her hands over her head to protect herself from incoming.

They say Trump is gonna lose and vacate the office.

NOT IF YOU WATCH THIS INTERVIEW!

People believe it’s business as usual. That our country operates normally. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s start with the Supreme Court. People think it’s all about winning, that it’s a game and if you can get your candidate on the court you’ve succeeded.

That is patently untrue.

You see there is an issue of credibility. Do the people trust the Supreme Court? That’s now in question.

Read this:

“We Were Clerks at the Supreme Court. Its Legitimacy Is Now in Question. – Brazen politics in Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation process threatens the court’s standing with the public.”: nyti.ms/3movqP9

And it’s not only the left asking this question:

“I Was Reagan’s Solicitor General. Here’s What Biden Should Do With the Court. – Joe Biden should be open to enlarging the number of justices. But first, he should see if the conservative majority overplays its hand.”: nyti.ms/3kzVlTI

And it’s not only the Supreme Court, but the lower courts, which have been packed with right wing loyalists after Obama’s picks were denied.

So, the question is, do you believe in the government?

To twist your head, it’s the right wing that professes it does not. Reagan famously succeeded by telling his constituents that the worst words they could hear were “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”

Tell that to those infected by Covid-19, tell that to those feeling the effects of natural disasters. You want and need the government, which is supported by taxes, otherwise you end up with chaos.

Which is what we’ve got now.

So our Supreme Leader is in a fight for his electoral life. And he says as much. He tells Stahl that to lose is go to home to mommy. Why do those on the left believe he’s going to do this, why do they believe he’s going to accept electoral college defeat, especially after he has continually told us he won’t?

So what we’ve got is echo chambers. On the left and right. And the twain do not meet. Talk to your friends, they’ve abandoned those with different political opinions, polarization has filtered down this far. What makes people believe there is one unified set of facts, blasted on the news, that everybody pays attention to? Furthermore, Trump has discredited the news, Stahl even brings this up.

So, Trump is immediately disarming, telling Stahl he knows she’ll be fair, after she says she’s going to ask him tough questions. That’s how far we’ve fallen, we can’t even ask questions of our president without warning him, for fear of upsetting him. And then he starts to spew his alternative facts. Stahl remains calm throughout, because she’s afraid of media blowback. If she loses her cool in reaction to Trump it will be her fault, not his. But Trump doesn’t hesitate, he continues to push forward, like a bulldozer.

And then the switch is flipped.

Come on, you know when this happens, when you can see the light in someone’s eyes changing, when you can see the smoke start to come out of their ears. You know if you say one single thing, a conflagration, a battle will begin.

If you blow back, YOU’LL GET FIRED!

Because HR always aligns with the boss. And the Board too. If they don’t touch you, if the content is not sexual, they get away with it, under the rubric of life is hard, business is tough, and if you don’t stand up, if you don’t fight ferociously, the other guy will win. As for the rules and regulations…they don’t apply, especially when they control the judiciary.

And then Trump’s got his hackles up. He’s going full steam. He’s stating his malarkey like it’s true, and anyone who questions it is just dumb.

Come on, do you now understand what is happening in the White House, in the “Deep State”? It’s either Trump’s way or the highway. And even if you’re aligned with him you still might not evade excoriation. Like Bill Barr. Trump keeps telling him to prosecute innocent people.

And it’s not only the inside, it’s elected officials too. Vote to convict Trump at the impeachment trial and not only will you lose your seat in the next election, before that Trump will excommunicate you and double-down on you, you’ll be the endless victim of his scorn.

And politics is a team sport, and therefore all the Republicans have aligned with Trump and won’t say boo and…

The Democrats have no power. The Republicans control the Supreme Court, the White House, the Senate, and so many lower courts, which will approve the shenanigans of Republican-controlled legislatures, which are oftentimes that way because of gerrymandering.

As for the right’s response? YOU DO IT TOO!

Don’t you get it, they’re playing offense 24/7, to the point that those on the left are always playing defense, according to the right’s agenda. And if you’re on the left and you stand up, you’re denigrated day in and day out, like AOC. The right made AOC a star, not the left.

You know Trump. You’ve encountered him numerous times over your life. The next door neighbor who is right even though they’re wrong, who continually calls the cops on you. The coworker who makes fun of you, gangs up with the other coworkers to ostracize you. In school, you can fight back physically, once you’re an adult you’re not supposed to. So what is there to do but throw your arms in the air and back away?

As for a fair fight… Who believes in fair in a world where the Houston Astros cheat and do not lose their title? Russia is banned from the Olympics so they hack the event, disrupting it. Fairness went out the window years ago. People cheat to get into college… It appears if you’re not cheating, you’re not winning.

And if you’ve got enough money, you can stand up to anybody, get the lawyers involved, bury the other team in paper. But the only people with enough money to do this are the same ones who are cheating.

As for the interviews with Biden and Harris…

Biden was benign. He made no news. He’s refraining from being aggressive for fear of losing votes. As for Harris, she was so phony that I had to turn her off, I stopped believing what she was saying, she certainly did not. But neither of them got heated, hot under the collar, they didn’t throw bombs at Trump and the right because they believe in decorum in a rigged society. It’s like having a baseball manager who never questions the calls, as the opponent is rampaging 24/7 and making the umpires uptight.

So, Trump loses.

Well, he can still win.

Read or listen to last week’s “Daily” podcast: nyti.ms/34rXo6y

You think so much is set in stone in the electoral process when it is not.

And let’s not forget, Nixon resigned because Republican senators told him to. No Republican senators stood up to Trump during the impeachment trial, are they gonna stand up to him when he declares victory after a “rigged” election?

Possibly, but I doubt it.

Trump has disrupted politics, employing a new game, a new style of play. And just like the record companies and the rest of those who lost out in the transition to digital on the internet, all those on the left are saying is it’s unfair and people should play by the rules. Meanwhile, the motto of Facebook has been “move fast and break things.” And Google told us it would “do no harm.” Yeah, right. And who won in the end, the historical powers or the disrupting techies? THE DISRUPTING TECHIES EVERY TIME! And if you beat one techie in court, usually years after the disruption, another techie popped up to take its place.

The left and the right don’t seem to agree on ANYTHING!

But Trump sets the agenda, he’s playing offense all the time, to the point where those on the left just respond and if you grow a set of balls you’re told to STFU, by the LEFT! To the point where Biden and Harris keep denying they’re progressives, both afraid of the s-word, i.e. socialism, they keep backpedaling while Trump and his cronies keep decreasing the area they can play in. It’s like a game of operation, and the left is deathly afraid of touching the outside rail and when it does, the right goes berserk!

I’m not trying to convince the right here, they’ve got their leader, who’s fighting damn hard for them.

But those on the left? THEY’RE WIMPS!

As for the media, it lionized Kristen Welker’s performance when it was truly lame, compared to Lesley Stahl she was a zero. Is that how far we’ve fallen, that maintaining order is a victory?

This is a death match. That’s what most of the public has not realized.

Furthermore, the right knows it doesn’t have the numbers so it has been rigging the game, with the aforementioned judges, gerrymandering and voter suppression. And all the left can say is…IT’S NOT FAIR!

We need not only a candidate, but an entire infrastructure to stand up to these bullies. Instead, we get lifelong pols who think they know better looking out for each other. Meanwhile, the right is running circles around them.

Be afraid, be very afraid. November 3rd is just the beginning. Wake up and see what you’re up against.