Kamala's coconut story has gotten a lot of coverage and literally just made the cover of New York Magazine, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

The New York Magazine cover shows an exhuberant Kamala Harris looking youthful and exuding confidence while sitting on a giant coconut. In the foreground they have Chuck Schumer, AOC, Barak Obama, George Clooney, a sad looking President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Beyonce, and a leaping Hakeem Jeffries.

 I wasn't able to identify the woman on the left. She could be one of these Kamala supporting singers (read article).

For those who remember the days of JFK's Camelot the name Kamalot will be evocative.

Even those who aren't old enough to remember how Jackie Kennedy remembered his years as president as Camelot (read article) ley alone know that Camelot is a legendary castle and court associated with King Arthur or that it was a hit 1961 Broadway musical. Just the name sounds really, really good. One could be literal and read it as Kam-a-lot mean a lot of Kamala but that is rather boring.

I'd like to envision Kamala as a modern day noble and virtuous Queen Guenevere with lots of liberties taken with the actual story told in the musical. She did help King Arthur put together the Knights of the Round Table made up of knights who do not pillage and fight but instead uphold honor and justice.

We can leave out the part about her and Lancelot....

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Woke Olympics opening ceremony triggers righteous right, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

I didn't watch any of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Above is some of what I missed.

This is from the Olympics X account:

The inclusion of costumed drag performers and some others of indeterminate personal gender preference prompted cringing Christian hand wringing implying that Satan himself had ascended from the depths of Hell into River Seine in Paris.

No less a MAGA than Donald Trump, Jr. brought up Satan: 

Donald Trump Jr. Fumes Over 'Satanic' Olympics Opening Ceremony: 'Such A Shame'

I doubt anyone intended this to depict The Last Supper. In fact the Olympic X page said it was meant to refer to the Greek god Dyonysis and to show the absurdity of violence between human beings. From Wiki: The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia.

Here's a story from The Hill: 

Speaker Johnson blasts Olympics for mocking Christians, Last Supper

Johnson was nice enough to provide a photo on his X page:

Click above to enlarge.

The Today Show featured a clip of the drag show and an article here.

A far right poster, I suppose she fancies herself to be an influencer (and she probably is) posted these on X:

Fox News had this article" "Viral Catholic leader: Christians must not be ‘weak’ in the face of Olympics opening spectacle"

They posted this video of Catholic leader and evangelist Bishop Robert Barron:

This is a portion of what he said:

France, which used to be called the eldest daughter of the church, Paris, that gave us – Thomas Aquinas taught there, and Vincent De Paul was there, and King Louis IX – St. Louis. France has sent Catholic missionaries all over the world.

France, whose culture – and I mean the honoring of the individual, of human rights, of freedom – is grounded very much in Christianity, felt the right thing to do is mock the Christian faith.

I think, folks, what’s interesting here is this deeply secularist, postmodern society knows who its enemy is. They’re naming it. And we should believe them.

We Christians, we Catholics should not be sheepish, we should resist, we should make our voices heard.

I'm going to put on my theologian's hat here and ask what Jesus would say about all this brouhaha. 

He might say:

Look, people, I know you mean well but you are confused. I was actually at The Last Supper and let me tell you something. Among my 12 apostles we had some real characters. They were all devoted to me and truly good people. I won't mention any of them in particular, but some of them wouldn't be welcomed with open arms in some of the churches you created in my name. I love them all equally. So should you.

Update:

This is from The Hollywood Reporter:

Olympics Drag Performance Seemingly Resembling ‘Last Supper’ Draws Backlash From Conservative Leaders

Some say the performance featuring drag queens and dancers during the Opening Ceremony in Paris resembled the Leonardo da Vinci portrait.

More much ado about not much:

Paris’ Olympics opening was wacky and wonderful — and upset bishops. Here’s why

I don't think they have anything to apologize for the fact that some people misinterpreted the intention of the performances.

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Trump promises that if elected nobody will have to vote in four more years. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

You can watch him saying this here.

I couldn't t resist posting my snarky reply to Acyn, shown above. He is the Senior Digital Editor for http://MeidasTouch.com who frequently posts on X, with many of the posts republished. Most of the replies were much more serious than mine. Just a few examples (click to enlarge):

This was the top story on HUFFPOST:

Here's an excerpt:

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump told Christians on Friday to vote “just this time” and said they “won’t have to do it anymore” after the election in November.

“You won’t have to do it anymore — four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore,” the former president told the crowd at the Believers Summit, a faith-focused event in Florida.

“You’ve got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

It’s unclear what Trump was referring to in his remarks.

He has previously said that he’d act like a dictator only on “day one” of a second term, called for the “termination” of articles of the Constitution, attempted a coup to remain in the White House, and appeared to float the idea of serving a third presidential term.

The former president’s new comments arrive roughly four months after The American Conservative, a magazine and partner organization of the far-right Project 2025 agenda, published an article calling for the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms, as Media Matters for America reported at the time.

This is being covered in other media:

I didn't see anything on the Fox News website.

I suppose there are two ways to take this. The least bad may be that Trump will have become dictator and eleminated elections. As horrifying as that is, consider that the reasons these Christians and others like them wouldn't have to vote is that anyone who might vote against Trump would be in concentration camps or worse. 

If he had elections, which he might want to do for appearances sake, with mostly his supporters voting he could, like Putin did, claim to have gotten 87.97% of the vote. I feel for the 12.03% who voted for his rival who I think were well compensated for running and making the election appear to be fair.

I wonder if Trump even thought about how these comments would be used against him or if he did, if he cared. Perhaps he gets a thrill out of trolling his enemies. Once again, his behavior fits with his being a sadistic malignant narcissist.

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I'm rethinking Pete Buttigieg as Kamala's VP choice. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

Above: Chasten and Pete Buttigieg with adopted twins.

Of all Cabinet members it is usually the Secretary of State who is most well known. Consider Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who won the popular vote and should have become president. I doubt too many people could name many other Obama Cabinet members. 

While Biden's Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin was globe trotting, here at home Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg might as well have been designated Secretary of Everything and Everywhere. He was ubiquitous. One might think he was considering running for president in 2030. 

This is quite amazing for someone who went from being the two term mayor of South Bend to seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 to being appointed to President Biden's Cabinet and then, as we just learned, being seriously considered to be Kamala Harris' running mate.

Now it turns out that he may very well end up as president if Kamala Harris serves two terms and he is her vice president.

From Mayor Pete to Vice President Pete to eventually become President Pete would be a career leap never achieved by a mayor.  The only mayors to come close to being elected presdient were John Lindsay and Rudy Guiliani of New York.

An NPR/PBS News/Marist National Poll taken Monday asked Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, “who would you most like to see selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President?” Tied for first place at 21% were Gretchen Whitmer and Pete Buttigieg.

This is from RawStory:

New poll reveals Democrats' top choice for Kamala Harris' running mate

Excerpt:

Across all candidates and demographics, the highest percent is 28%, which is owned by Buttigieg under the “Region” category: 28% of Democrats in the West support Buttigieg to be Harris’s vice presidential running mate.

Whitmer has the strongest polling in several categories, but removing her from the equation, assuming she refuses to join the ticket, Buttigieg is the clear top choice among those polled.

This is from Newsweek:

Pete Buttigieg's Chances of Being Kamala Harris' Running Mate Skyrocket

On the face of it Pete Buttigieg would seem to be a daring choice. While I was favoring Mark Kelly because of the optics, an astronaut married to Gabby Giffords who survived a bullet to the brain. Read: Kamala Harris doesn't scare Republicans, but Mark Kelly absolutely should.

I'd kind of dismissed Pete Buttigieg because of his being gay. 

Then on rethinking this, I figure why not? Indeed, why yes ought to be the question. They are lots of yeses to tick off.

He's well known nationally and well liked and he comes across great on TV. Add to that the fact that Kamala Harris has been working with him for four years.

Perhaps the Democrats should go all in on woke and run a Black woman married to a White Jewish man and a happily married gay man with two beautiful brown-skinned twin children, Gus and Penelope. I don't know if it was an accident but People published "Pete Buttigieg's 2 Children: All About Twins Gus and Penelope" yesterday.

Let Trump and Vance try to restrain their bigotry. Let them try to attack Pete with even the slightest wiff of the stink of anti-gay prejudice.

Maybe Pete Buttigieg would be a daring choice  because choosing a gay man would actually be daring Trump, Vance, and their surrogates to reveal their deep homophobic bigotry.

All we need next is for Kamala Harris to tease her announcement that Buttigieg will be her choice by announcing an endorsement by America's number one drag queen, Ru Paul. Hold on, this has already happened:

 Is there a message in this (read story)?

Watch video

I can envision how Harris will announce her selection of Buttigieg. It would go something like this:

"My opponent has called me Lyn' Kamala and he had to spell it out lest someone mistake my nickname for the noble female beast, the cat lady, that brings food home for her lazy husband. Well, you are welcome to call me Lion Kamala, that's L-I-O-N without an apostrophe, and you can hear me roar today." 

Of course this would be a reference to Helen Reddy's chart breaking 1971 anthem to feminism  "I Am Woman." 

She would go on to say "I am about to introduce the name of the next vice president of the United States. Fellow Americans, please welcome to the podium someone I have worked closely with for almost four years and come to know, admire, and respect. He is someone who is more than qualified to hold the second highest position in our great country. He is tough, smart, and compassionate."

"When he first came to national attention we had something in common. Lots of people couldn't or wouldn't pronounce my first name properly, in fact one person still thinks it is funny to mispronounce it. Like with me, the country had to learn to pronounce his last name, thus when he first came on the national scene everyone just called him 'Mayor Pete.' Here he is, the next vice president of the United States Peter Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg."

Here's Buttigieg being interviewed today on Morning Joe.

Yesteday's blog, 

Lion Kamala Harris should say that a vote for Trump is a vote for razor wire and wire hangers, 

 here.

I made this illustration for that blog but is works here too:

If Trump backs out of debating her she can use this:

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Lion Kamala Harris should say that a vote for Trump is a vote for razor wire and wire hangers, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

I was originally was going to use "Trump has a final solution for dealing with the border crisis, Harris must offer a humane resolution" as my title but then decided not to "go there" with the term "final solution", at least not in my blog title. 

Then I thought that the sadistic malignant narcissist didn't just enjoy making brown skinned people trying to cross the border suffer to poltically exploit the fears of his base, he also wants to make women who wanted to control their bodies suffer.

If you've seen clips of Trump's rallies you know that he is still ranting about rapists coming across the border. It should be unnecessary to point out that coming from him this is a juicy one, just ask E. Jean Carroll. 

Harris has to counter this fear-mongering by continuing to remind voters that it was Trump who made sure that Biden and her tough immigration bill never saw the light of day. She can say he made sure it was buried like he is trying to bury all the criminal behavior he's been charged with.

The word "tough" should preface appropriate descriptions of Kamala Harris and her policies. She and those who campaign for her should use this word whenever possible using her career as a prosecutor to remind people that she put people who actually deserved to be behind bars in prison.

Harris has to explain how tough the immigration bill was and how when she's president she would make certain it is passed. She needs to call out Trump for his absurd lie about her being for open borders.

When talking about how she wants to deal with the border crisis she should emphasize the word "humane" and say that as Americans we are far better than the cruel heartless country Trump and Vance want to turn us into. She doesn't have to recycle the line that America was built on the hard work and sacrifices of immigrants. She can, however, remind voters that Trump himself married an immigrant and that J.D. Vance's wife's parents came form India.

Then she can switch gears with the finesse of the Indy drivers Trump thinks should run the military (really) and segue into talking about family planning.

She should address the plight of women who want to end their pregnancies. I think she should avoid the word abortion when possible, lest she be labeled pro-abortion. It should always be called pro-choice. Abortion an evocative word that brings to mind the procedure where a fetus is, as the anti-abortionists  like to say, murdered. This plays into the anti-abortionist's hands. 

She should emphasize the description "pro-choice" and save the word abortion to accuse Trump and Vance for wanting to go back to the days of women trying to terminate their pregnancies with wire hangers and sometimes dying or rendering them unable to have a baby in the future. 

Harris can say that Trump and Vance aren't anti-abortion, they are pro-back alley abortion. 

When possible she should link Turmp to his choice of running mate. The more people are reminded of this cat hating opportunistic poseur who just pissed off Taylor Swith fans and led to being condemned by Jennifier Aniston the better. Trump is a god to his fans who find him charismatic. They should be reminded that Trump chose this unpleasant man to be a heartbeat away from being president by an elderly obese man who has a lousy diet, poor sleep hygiene, and gets no exercise.

If Trump, who now says he wants to debate Harris more than once, thinks she'd be easy prey for him. He looks at her and see a vulnerable little woman who he can stomp into the dust. I'd bet the house that he hasn't read the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, but he surely knows the story of David and Goliath. 

Kamala is 5' 2" and Trump says he's 6' 3". Goliath was said to be 9' 9". If Trump didn't believe his own super-macho hype he should realize that there's another saying he should heed: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Indeed, when Goliath fell it had to be ground shaking.

On another matter:

Perhap the nickname Laffin' Kamala wasn't working as Trump intended it to. Now he's trying out Lyn' Kamala Harris. However, he is now spelling Lyn' (L-Y-N-apostrophe) out loud when he calls her this. You can watch him doing this in this short clip from his rally speech the other day:

No doubt he spelled it out to make sure nobody jumps on the fact that she is like a lion, and that in nature it is the female lions that do most of the hunting while the male lions lay around. Well, Trump, I noticed it and made this:

I considered calling her Lioness Kamala but because Trump is using the word lyn' I decided to use this. He's lying and she's a lion.

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