Five Debate (if it happens) Thoughts Under the Fedora

Posted: September 29, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

As of this writing, (9 AM EST Monday) the 1st Debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is still on.

This is undoubtedly a surprise to many who thought the Democrats would not risk such a thing but they may have decided it is too big a risk NOT to have said debate.

Anyways how Biden does will in my opinion determine if there are any more debates or even if he stays on the ticket, but one thing is certain. If he is still breathing and can remember his own name it will be proclaimed an unadulterated triumph.

I really thought Ginsberg’s death and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett would “Trump” any new “October Surprise” that the left was playing but the NYT decided to go all in on illegally leaked tax forms.

I suspect that the media will make much of it and Biden will try to play it up in the debate but as the leaked data not only shows no illegality, nor links to the Russians but verifies what POTUS has said for years that he’s been under audit I suspect he will be able to swat that away pretty well, and even counter that if a President’s taxes can be illegally leaked by the Deep state Democrats with an agenda then how safe is your “confidential” data if they are in power with an AG that will ignore this stuff. This tweet and reply says it all

Speaking of Barrett it will be interesting to see how Joe “I’m a good catholic really I am” Biden answer questions concerning the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. I’m sure President Trump will challenge him on some of the anti-catholic stuff but I’m thinking Biden will come back with healthcare Healthcare HEALTHCARE which actually means obamacare Obamacare OBAMACARE

I don’t think that’s a winning issue for the left but it’s their safest move.

The real danger for the Biden campaign if the James O’Keefe Stuff that dropped Sunday Night documenting voter fraud in Minnesota and more importantly unlike the “big stories” that the media has pushed, contains actual video and on the record sources.

It goes without saying that the moderator will avoid this like the plague, although attempts to bring up “will you commit to concede if defeated” questions will give President Trump a huge opening to run with this story.

This is exactly the type of thing that will get an already motivated Trump base excited and will, if viewed by people who watch the debate will cause them to distrust Democrats.

Finally who will win? Well Powerline says this:

Going back at least as far as Ronald Reagan, incumbent presidents have not done well in first debates. Bill Clinton is the only exception.

I think the problem for incumbents is overconfidence. After four years in office, presidents think they know enough and have enough experience handling questions to get through a debate in good shape. I suspect this overconfidence leads to insufficient preparation.

In addition, incumbents tend not to be used to having their statements challenged. As a result of these factors, incumbents typically struggle under the onslaught of challengers, who typically are desperate.

I think this will not be a problem. Trump has dealt with the onslaught of a hostile press every day in office, additionally You have to remember who Trump is speaking to. His escalator speech was universally panned by the experts but was designed to be understood and applauded by normal people. Expect more of that.

But I’ll repeat my line from the 1st paragraph, If he is still breathing and can remember his own name it will be proclaimed an unadulterated triumph for him by the media.

Side thought. If Drudge puts up a “who won the debate” poll it will be the 1st time in months that conservatives bother to visit his site.

DaTechGuy on DaRadio Fault Lines Radio that is Tomorrow 8:30 AM EST.

Posted: September 28, 2020 by datechguy in News/opinion, politics
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Tomorrow on the feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel I’ll be on Fault Lines Radio talking the NYT tax story.

Oh full disclose, I’ll be on Fault Lines Radio making fun of the NYT Trump Tax story & those pushing it and making this point:

Oh and don’t miss this week’s live stream podcast tentatively at 3 PM unless the horrible Trump economy makes me work another Friday.

Hope to catch you there.

Report from Louisiana: Cassidy v. Perkins, Senate 2020

Posted: September 28, 2020 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – One of the races people in Louisiana will be watching this fall will be the Senate race; incumbent Bill Cassidy will be challenged by Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins. I will tell you, a lot of people in Shreveport were not surprised when Perkins announced his candidacy; not many people really believe he has true dedication for the betterment of Shreveport.

When Perkins ran for mayor of Shreveport in 2018, he won in a runoff against incumbent Mayor Ollie Tyler. On paper, Perkins looks like a wunderkid: Harvard Law School, Army veteran, recipient of the Bronze Star, young, black, upwardly mobile…it all looks swell.

Looks are deceiving.

From the start Perkins drew controversy and criticism because he really did not live in Shreveport, and people could not figure out why he wanted to be mayor here.  Perkins was raised in Shreveport, graduated high school in Shreveport, but then left Louisiana to serve in the U.S. Army, and then was selected by the Pat Tillman Foundation to be a Tillman scholar; he went to Harvard.  Perkins was absent from Shreveport for fourteen years before he came back in 2017 to prime the pump for his mayoral run.

Perkins never voted in any election until he voted for himself at age 32 for mayor.

Local political pundit Elliot Stonecipher asked a lot of questions about the mysterious Adrian Perkins back in 2018 after Perkins won the election.

Stonecipher was not wrong.  There have been a lot of questions about Perkins and his behavior in the past two years.

For example, one of the first acts as mayor was to change insurance companies for the City. The new plan cost far more for far less coverage. As it turned out, the new plan was awarded to a man named Roddrelle Sykes of Frost Bank Insurance; Sykes is the first cousin of Perkins’s campaign manager.  Perkins did not get City Council authorization for this change which was required, nor did he go through the bid process.

The whole affair was very sketchy and prompted an Internal Audit. Scandal number one.

There was also a scandal, or controversy, about his car allowance; Perkins took both the car assigned to him AND the car allowance, rather than one or the other.

And then there were the rumors of potential drunk driving stops, which the mayor explained away and was never cited.

There have been a series of these unfortunate events that have caused many in Shreveport to question the mayor’s dedication to the city; does he really care about improving life in Shreveport or is this just a stepping stone to higher aspirations?

To that end, Barack Obama endorsed Perkins last week for his Senate bid, apparently only because Perkins is a Democrat rather than for any actual accomplishment he has done for the city.

One of his pet projects is Universal Basic Income which is obviously highly controversial.

In fact, Perkins cares so much for Shreveport, the first thing he did when Hurricane Laura blew threw earlier in the month, leaving thousands without power in Shreveport, Perkins decamped for Lake Charles to volunteer there for photo ops.

Under his tenure, crime in Shreveport has been epidemic with nearly daily shootings. We had this problem before, certainly, but it has gotten no better under Perkins. It seems to have gotten worse. Police officer pay is so low we are some forty officers short; the streets are drag strips and infrastructure is literally crumbling.

It would not be fair to attribute all of the Shreveport woes (and there are many) to Perkins, but as a man who vowed to improve life in Shreveport as part of his campaign, what has he done? Not much. Not much at all.  

I don’t think anyone really expects Perkins to win against Cassidy, but stranger things have happened. Perhaps this is more for exposure, paving the way later on for another bid at something else. He appears to have some fairly savvy handlers.

Suffice to say that many in town thought it was a joke when Perkins announced this run; I thought it was a Babylon Bee article at first, seriously.

But, time will tell.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

Democrats Barrett Dilemma: Approaching but not Crossing the Loony Line

Posted: September 28, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, elections, News/opinion, politics
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With the formal nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and the knowledge that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump already have the votes to put her on the Supreme Court the Democrats find themselves in one of the worst dilemmas that they need to face.

In a more pragmatic age the Democrats would make a few pro-forma statements ask a few pointed questions and make some fuss in the press and that would be it.

But this is not a normal age, this is an age of lunacy, an age of violent militant leftists and Bernie Bros who might not turn out for candidates who are not suffivently woke and angry.

Even worse for the left these folks are not above violence against their own side as Ted Wheeler can tell you.

If it was up to them the hearings would be the Charge of the Light Brigade with every gun firing and every voice shouting.

This of course is political suicide in an election where you need swing states and most importantly in an election where you have Democrats in the house and candidates for the senate who can’t appear as lunatics right before the voters vote.

So the Democrats need a feint, not so much to spook or fool the “Party of StupidTM (although if the make a mistake dumb enough to derail the nomination they’ll jump at it) but to fool the radical millitant left into thinking they’re ready to charge into the valley of death to stop her.

If it was up to me I’d go with the boycotting of the hearings and having some sort of large rally outside the SCOTUS. That way they can scream and shout and allow their minions to weep and gnash their teeth to their hearts content and throw in some “performance art” without actually doing anything on the record that might cost them votes they will need come election day. The angry/loony left which is their biggest danger tends to be moved by that kind of stuff.

If they are really desperate they can extend this to the actual vote where once the GOP has their 50th vote they can walk out enmasse, again plenty of symbolism without the stupidity.

Either way it’s their problem and I look forward to watching them crash and burn whatever they do

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