The cavalcade of political emotion continues its inexorable march across our perceptions. Yesterday, it was shrieking about the President’s taxes, and the religious extremism of the latest nominee to the Supreme Court. We won’t know the answer to the debate question until after midnight, though the script is being written in advnce to ensure accuracy.

The pieces move, apparently of their own volition across the map. The prediction of a scandal a day was accurate. Response to the big story in the New York Times about taxes included well-prepared accusations of fraud from the Biden Bubble. The problem was that “avoiding” taxes, which most of us alert enough to do their own filings do when legal and proper. The accusations were that the President had not paid taxes for ten years. It sounded big. The number $716 was presented as the amount submitted by the billionaire for his business filings. It harks back to Warren Buffet’s lamentation that he paid less than his secretary.

Which of course was nonsense. There was a $915 million credit spread over multiple tax years, which represented millions in tax debt paid over years. Fully legal. Yet one of my progressive buddies bought the pre-prepared line and insisted that the matter represented “tax fraud,” and the President will be escorted from the White House to the hoosegow after the Biden election. For what, I am not sure. Even the Times coupled find any connection to Russia, or that legal avoidance was somehow an illegal act.

Fun. And like much of the daily release of crisis, is a reprise of memes already deployed in the 2016 election. We had results in that one, and in retaliation, the impeachment crisis began immediately. The notes and email from inside the FBI at the time reveal the unease of career special agents who were moved to spend their own money to acquire insurance for professional liability just in case the attempted coup d’etat became a matter of public interest.

Despite the election of a man described in the most odious terms, all those agents and their leadership are still walking around breathing unfiltered air. The current Director of the FBI even brought up Russian attempts to interfere with this cycle of general elections. Between a ten-fold increase in mail-in ballots, and the natural desire of the Russian leadership to see the same misery in the U.S. as they experienced in the collapse of their socialist paradise. Duh. That it was Hillary’s team that enlisted the Russians, like Trumps taxes, will slide out of the daily focus of outrage and into the recycle bin. It is pretty amazing, seeing all the interlocking gears begin to turn together.

Which brings us to the Big Deal of the Day. This one is actually (possibly) significant. The two candidates will confront each other, in person, on a stage in Cleveland. No masks, they tell us, and no handshakes due to the awful plague which will for sure erupt again before the third of November. A milestone was announced late yesterday, that the number of fatalities attributed to COVID19 had surpassed a million individuals. It is an impressive number to be floated today to keep our attention fixed on the rational need for extraordinary government intervention in social activities.

I have mentioned the “fun with numbers” component of the campaign narrative before. It was a nice job. For example, the way the numbers are presented supports a narrative. I mention this because, by pure happenstance, I happened to be working at the HHS Secretariate during the SARS epidemic. That one featured Dr. Tony Fauci and others who became famous in the COVID19 adventure. I remember what he said then, and what he said this time. There was a remarkable commonality. Then, when the matter of quarantine was raised, the good doctor warned of the serious impact on social activity, one that would likely exceed the treat of the disease. Forgive me if hearing the same questions and different answers this time is most interesting.

My favorite number yesterday, as the media prepared to celebrate the million who passed, was the difference in reporting criteria. Analysis of the CDC counting methods has long recognized that attribution to COVID of comorbidity factors changed the public face of the disease. Like the motorcycle accident which remains in the COVID column. The conclusion of this analysis was that if attribution of the last bad flu (61,000 deaths) were applied to COVID, the equivalent reporting standards for it would be 81,000 citizens. Bad and serious. But only a blip up from a nasty influenza outbreak. The last month in which more Americans died than they usually do was July.

Call me a chump, but we can have fun with numbers, too. At the farm, we do what we have always done in flu season. Avoid a lot of personal contact with other citizens. Wear a mask when you do. Don’t be stupid. Anyway, that aspect of the election carnival continues.

I want to see the debate. The state of acuity in Mr. Biden has been a matter of some controversy. His schedule has been so light as to be minimal. There are allegations that he is on a pharmacological diet to enhance energy and coherence. I don’t know about that. But I do know that the nine-o’clock pm start is after my normal bedtime, and I may need enhancements to watch and see who wins. I know part of it is already written, so I wish they would just release it in advance so I can get a good night’s sleep.

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com