Debate America

 

presidential debate: a foggy forecast

   The big winner are the vendors providing the coffee and snacks for the meetings underway at the networks, newspapers, campaign leadership and the debate commission offices or zoom meetings. 

    There's a lot of thrashing to do before another debate goes up. Once again American cultural norms have been savaged by the spurious mongrel called Trump.

Photo by Doug Mills New York Times

    We'll see if suggestions the next two debates be scrapped gains any traction. The Florida Town Hall format doesn't assure a better result. If Trump can't abide by rules, we cannot expect his supporters to behave as though they have been house broken either. 

scoring

• Biden did not hurt himself. Trump did not help himself. 
• Republicans have tried to distance themselves, a signal          Trump pooped on his efforts to get swing voters. One of Frank Luntz's focus group, Ruthie from PA said she was undecided going into the debate, but will vote for Biden becasue Trump behaved like a "crackhead."
• Biden answered any questions about his agility. He was able to hold focus and communicate with voters despite having Trump yammering away. Biden can handle any crisis or critical decision to be made in the Oval Office and there will be no bully clown in the room.
• There was a significant tune out as the melee continued meaning a lot of people are fed up with Trump and his  fouling of America. 

     now what

     One of the Murdoch's had Champaign waiting for Chris Wallace when he arrived home from Cleveland. He said he did not feel like celebrating.

     He was off balance and flustered, but in fairness he had no tool to use but reason and a louder voice and those would fail against Trump in his best "Il Duce" drag.

     In 42 years of journalism and broadcasting I moderated many debates, but never encountered anyone as ignorantly belligerent as Trump. The mic kill switch was something I always wanted and I practiced in a more sane and genteel time.

    Something needs to be done, if the institution of a Presidential Debate is to have meaning, significance and benefit to the electorate. I'd counsel for clowns waiting off stage with seltzer bottles, dispatched when needed. That arrangement of color and hair that rides atop Il Duce's head  would respond in interesting ways to a good soaking. Maybe that could keep him in check. After all that coiffure was expensed for some $70 thousand in his tax returns. If I were Wallace I would have asked about that. Is that hair style worth 

that much?

in closing

   This from historian Jon Meacham:

"No hyperbole: The incumbent's behavior...is the lowest moment in the history of the Presidency since Andrew Johnson's racist state papers."

    From David Brooks   New York Times

"I'm the most horrified I've been in my career as a political journalist and the most relieved. This election won't be close. Have faith in the American people."

   To my friends abroad, I am again embarassed for this nation. I'm not alone. There are millions of us. One of the most forwarded pieces today has been an article about where and how people can leave if Trump is re-elected. 

    On additional reflection, I suggest the debate commission provide the next two hosts, Steve Scully of C-SPAN and Kristen Welker of NBC with cattle prods-turned to high.

    Stay well. Take care of each other.

    See you down the trail.

 

SNARK, QUIVER AND COUNTING

SNARKING THE BROS

     Just a brief word to add to the debate volumes.

     For a 90 minute exchange on foreign policy, they certainly spent a lot of time on the economy and they missed most of the world.  Sure, people vote on economics and social issues, but in a troubled world they ignored too much.  A deeper discussion might have surfaced some real differences in attitude, approach and application.

Photo Courtesy of CBS News

     What a tough time to moderate!  Bob Schieffer, an old pro indeed, has been mugged by the insipid society of the snarky. Those who are guilty of such are probably the same crowd who suddenly have thrust the word "trajectory" into presidential politics. They are, most probably, people who spent more time tweeting, than actually listening, and who know in their hearts that all presidential politics really is about them, their twitter stream, face time and Facebook activity.  If you don't really have anything intelligent or important to say, then be snarky about the moderator.

       The last debate I moderated was the gubernatorial debate in Indiana 4 years ago. I escaped better than Lehrer, Raddatz, Crowley or Schieffer, though there were a couple of bloggers who went after me. One was experiencing their first governors race while being of voting age.  The other was a reporter whose work, I thought, always betrayed his lack of savvy, understanding of complexity and even more troubling his relative lack of intelligence.  So it is for those who practice snarky instead of real journalism.   

       

READING THE SNOW DEPTH

Photo Courtesy of cserc.org

     Autumn dried Californians wait for the snow season to

paint the Sierra Nevada range. An early storm is expected to leave 8-12 inches along the Sierra Crest and 4-8 inches below 7,000.

      At 700 sites in the Western US, where water supplies are dependent on snow melt, such as here at Mt Tallac, you will find SNOTEL technology.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates Snow pack
Telemetry sites (SNOTEL) utilizing meteor burst technology.

     The USDA's National Resource Conservation Service set out precipitation collectors, snow pillows, depth sensors 

     and temperature gauges. They relay data that is used to calculate water levels from snow melt.
     Alpine ski altitude gets 300 to 500 inches a season. 125 fall on the lake at 6,400 feet.

    16 remote SNOTEL sites stand sentry in the Lake Tahoe basin alone.
     The image below is from a web cam frame grab Tuesday afternoon at Heavenly Dipp above South Lake Tahoe.

ARCHIVE PHOTOS

This is the kind of accumulation the SNOTEL stations will measure.

Photo Courtesy of weather.com

Photo Courtesy of kqed.org

    The next time you read about the snow fall or accumulated depth up in California's high country, you can picture one of the little SNOTEL sites, enduring the wind, cold and depth while transmitting data.

BEFORE YOU GO

A HALF MOMENT OF AUTUMN

Quaking Aspen

See you down the trail.

SPAWNING & PRESIDENTIAL YAWNING

POST DEBATE BILGE

     We might be better off if we ignored all of the post debate analysis from the pundits and so called experts and simply held conversations with friends, family and associates, even those, maybe especially those, who hold an opposing view.

      Most of us don't need a television talking head to think for us. The traditional networks do a quick wrap up and analysis and then get back to their precious money making prime time schedule. But the cable nets and the bloggers go until the sun comes up. In this age of partisan networks there is more heat and gas than light and understanding.

     What do we gain?  It fills time and sells commercials, so the cable nets are not likely to change.  We can simply turn it off.

      For most of my life I watched it all, and for many years had multiple television sets in my office so I had as many as 5 or 6 sources of information simultaneously.  Since it is all spin, interpretation, and bombast, with very little genuine insight, what's the point? Unless for sport. 

      And you have probably noticed how the election media

is obsessed with polls, the horse race aspect, and seem to think it is all about how it plays on television and in the media. The media is A) self absorbed, B) does play a significant role but as I said first is C) self absorbed.  Again I am reminded we can switch it off.  Which is exactly what Lana suggested I do after ripping up and down the remote to monitor Fox, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, PBS, ABC and back.

       Do any of you suspend your own thoughts until one of the television yackers tell you what you just saw?

KOKANEE SALMON

    Kokanee Salmon were spawning in this mountain stream west of Lake Tahoe between Camp Richardson and Mount Tallac.

    They travel to lay their eggs and then expire.  They become more red as they mature.  

 

        See you down the trail.

BEYOND HUMAN SCALE

AWESOME

              The Sierra is a profound face of this planet.

     An October system brews over Tioga Pass.

    The range creates or builds a unique whether and climate. It breeds a bio/botanical environment in a rugged and wild beauty.

 Morning sun lights up a mountain wall in the June Lake region.

     Nature is a bold and massive exclamation, offering views that reboot the mind.

   

 Alpine lakes tuck between peaks at 7,500-10,500 altitude.

     These mountains can be spiritual and soul stirring. More exquisite than imagination while defining a perspective. The frailty of human strength goes up as an ablution.   

Mount Tallac 9,735 ft Near Richardson Camp

   They celebrate a purity as they rise toward the heavens. Ponder the imagination that went into creating these scenes.

Shadows, morning sun and moonlight.

     Mountains have a power on me. As kids we made trips to Colorado to spend time with my father's cousin who was homesteading above Boulder.  The Rockies took hold of something in my heart.  Dad took us to or through the Great Smokies a few times and again the mountains were magnetic. 

         We count as a blessing that we live so near the Sierra

and close to California Mountain Ranges.
      Looking at these mountains dwarf all the hype, hub-bub and hoopla of our human drama of the campaign. Those granite spires were here long before us and they will remain.
      See you down the trail.