Gray skies with a hint of blue now and then this late afternoon Wednesday here in California’s Central Valley—an environment that supplies an occasional burst of bright sunshine that quickly fades—make for a snap, shadow-dark flicker to the light, fluttering like an old black-and-white movie.
The overcast might be our first seasonal encounter with our infamous ‘tule fog,’ a thick-ass, wet, dark gray mistiness that plaques the entire valley in winter. Maybe a bit early, though, and maybe not-nowhere as thick as in December/January, weather nowadays everywhere is different kinds of weird, crazy, and becoming dangerously unpredictable.
Since political news nationwide is so overwhelming in this way-most important election year, and so continuing foaming with so much shit happening, I haven’t paid much attention to a key, local race important to the country’s future right here in my area, the 13th Congressional District, composed of parts of four different counties located just about in-the-middle of the San Joaquin Valley, the southern two-thirds of the ‘ The Big Valley.’ (The northern section is the Sacramento Valley).
It’s a contest between Republican incumbent-freshman John Duarte and Democrat former state Assemblyman Adam Gray — this is their second meeting after Duarte beat Gray by 564 votes two years ago. The 13th is a Latino-majority voting-age district with a large population of young people (my daughter received her Phd at UC Merced, and is now employed there), but one with low turnout — allows an unfair advantage to older, white, Republicans.
Some background via The Sacramento Bee from Monday:
The Bee has spoken to nonpartisan analysts at The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball over the past year about the race, which is drawing a lot of national attention to the San Joaquin Valley, a politically purple agricultural section of California.
There are 220 Republicans, 211 Democrats and four vacancies in the House. Three of those empty seats were held by Democrats, one by a Republican. The number for control of the chamber is 218, meaning Democrats need to flip four seats nationwide to win control of the House
Analysts say Duarte will have a tougher time in November than other vulnerable incumbents because he is a first-term congressman.
“Anything that’s good for Democrats is going to have an outsized effect on Duarte simply because he’s the less-tested candidate,” said Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections, in an August interview.
Gray spent a decade in the state assembly, and as a Democrat, is calling for investments in renewable energy, with more attention paid to problems the Central Valley faces, like water infrastructure. He appears like he cares, and seems more like a Tim Walz kind of guy. He noted: “Watching the dysfunction in D.C. and the lack of civility in the dialogue, it made me think that folks like me with successful careers of working with both sides, it was time to step up.”
In the interim, Duarte is a Republican MAGA asshole. A for instance: ‘He believed there was enough evidence of financial misdealing by Biden to justify an impeachment inquiry. Such “evidence” was mostly seen through his partisan perspective.‘
In other words, more of just plain-old Republican lying shit, ‘partisan perspective,’ my ass. Of course, Gray needs to pull this out here in the 13th and I’ll be casting my vote for him. Although I don’t come in contact with many people, whoever I do will receive a plea to help save the country, and vote for Gray towards winning back the House is paramount in keeping America as its been for some 250 years.
Meanwhile:
The Vance campaign provided the Wall Street Journal with a police report to prove their claims about cat-eating Haitians in Springfield.
The WSJ spoke to the woman who filed it, who said she later found her cat alive and well in her basement. She also apologized to her Haitian… pic.twitter.com/1ZgFUhWduf
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 18, 2024
In conclusion, Kilgore said she was sorry ‘with the help of her daughter and a mobile-hone translation app.’
Despite the horrible T-Rump/JD Vance lying shit, there is at least attempts to show kindness and shame.
Even the originator of the original cat-eating tale (per The New York Times yesterday):
Ms. Lee, 35, says she now regrets writing the Facebook post and feels bad about the racially charged fallout that has consumed the city for days.
“I was not raised with hate,” Ms. Lee said, speaking through sobs. “My whole family is biracial. I never wanted to cause problems for anyone.”
And the whole weight of this cruel, nasty story is the T-Rump.
Therefore an apt end:
(?) NEW at RETRO: The Memes You Need, Vol. 7
Pepperidge Farm does what Pepperidge Farm does, Elon Musk dons his Communist get-up, and we encounter burning Cybertrucks, the Pink Panther, and wizards in this deep-cut-laden, political meme-o-rama (?).
?: https://t.co/oAzM4SdiS7 pic.twitter.com/LTirhiexw8
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) September 18, 2024
Humanity is on the ballot in November, or not, yet here we are once again…
(Illustration out front: Salvador Dalí’s “The Burning Giraffe” [1937], oil on panel, and found here.)