Dear Commons Community,

I have just finished reading Andrea Molesini’s novel, Not All Bastards Are From Vienna. Molesini is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Padua.  Not All Bastards.. won a number of literary prizes when it was first published in 2010. The setting of this book is a small village outside of Venice in 2017 during World War I that has been overtaken by German and Austrian troops.  The story focuses on three generations of the Spada family as they struggle to survive the brutality of the war.  There is sadness, humor, and stark realism in this book.  The last sixty or so pages are riveting.

If you are at all interested in the World War I, you will enjoy Molesini’s book.

Below is a review that appeared in The New York Times when Not All Bastards.. was first translated into English in 2016.  

Tony

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The New York Times

Not All Bastards Are From Vienna by Andrea Molesini

By Katherine A. Powers

Jan. 29, 2016

“Not All Bastards Are from Vienna,” winner of Italy’s 2011 Campiello Prize, is Andrea Molesini’s first novel for adults — though it still possesses the straightforward narrative line and colorful characters of a story for children. Set during World War I, events are related by 17-year-old Paolo Spada, recently orphaned and now living with a menagerie of relations and servants in the Villa Spada, in a small town north of Venice.

First, though not foremost, among the Spadas is Grandpa Gugliemo, Paolo’s anticlerical, acerbic-tongued great-uncle. He is married to Grandma Nancy, “a white-haired panther of a woman,” a mathematician and a devotee of enemas. Then there is Aunt Maria, “the victim of a haughty manner,” a powerhouse who runs the place. The family is served by Teresa, blocky, resourceful and loyal, and by her daughter Loretta, resentful and moonstruck by the estate’s steward, Renato. He is a wily character and, as we discover, an Italian intelligence officer. Other key players include lush-bosomed, high-spirited Giulia, six years older than Paolo and the object of his urgent passion; the village priest, Don Lorenzo, well fed and authoritarian; and, finally, a lurking presence attached to Grandma Nancy known as the Third Paramour.

A German officer’s monocle glinting in the night sets off the plot. It disting­uishes the horse-mounted person of Captain Korpium, fresh from victory at Caporetto, Italy’s humiliating defeat by combined German and Austro-Hungarian forces in November 1917. He has come to requisition the Villa Spada for his fellow officers and to quarter his troops in the village. The family is forced to squeeze itself into a couple of rooms, and there is much German smashing of furniture and seizing of valuables, though Grandma’s cache of jewels and coins in an enema bag remains undetected.

Notably, the family is spared the brutality, rape and methodical pillage suffered by the common people. Of these atrocities we get some dreadful glimpses, but much of the novel dwells on the Spada household’s domestic arrangements under German and, later, Austrian occupation. Food is scarce, but the black market and Teresa’s gift for producing nameless roasts mean they do not starve. Their greatest trial, until events turn lethal, is the feeling of degradation: A soldiers’ latrine abuts the Spada graveyard, and the family is forced to attend a dinner, in their own dining room, honoring Otto von Below, the victor of Caporetto.

An air of suspense gathers as the Spadas and friends are drawn into the Italian resistance, eavesdropping, sending coded signals and carrying messages. Eventually, Paolo is sent on a desperate mission to assist a British airman — and the family oversteps the boundary of immunity granted by their class with fatal consequences. Some 20 miles away, the Battle of Piave of June 1918 has commenced. It was here that the Italians, strengthened by Allied support, reversed their enemies’ seemingly unstoppable advance in a victory that struck a mortal blow to the ­Austro-Hungarian Empire ­itself.

As events unfold, various characters observe with sorrow that this war is destroying the old order and its civilized way of life. Still, we never sense that so much as we do the immemorial horrors of battle; the motivation behind betrayal, of which there is a calamitous instance; and the appetite for vengeance in even the noblest heart. Based on the reminiscences of an actual Maria Spada, “Not All Bastards Are From Vienna” is not a deep novel, but is wonderfully alive — often terribly so — as a wartime adventure and story of youth arriving at manhood.

Dear Commons Community,

There were a number of fine speeches last night at the Democratic National Convention. Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband, gave heartfelt insights into their relationship. Barack Obama gave well-timed and hard-hitting comments about the importance of this election .  However, it was former first lady Michelle Obama who delivered the most exciting moments last night that had the crowd jumping up in their seats for more.

“Something wonderfully magical is in the air,” Michelle Obama said, speaking of “the contagious power of hope” and “the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day.”

Obama, who was America’s first Black first lady as the wife of the first Black president, noted that the country could once again make history if it gives the presidency to Kamala Harris — who would be the first female president — come November. But she warned the rallied Democrats against taking that prospect for granted, leading DNC attendees in increasingly loud chants of “DO SOMETHING!”

“Let us not forget what we are up against. Remember there are still so many people who are desperate for a different outcome,” she said, referencing possibilities like some voters being unwilling to vote for America’s first female president.

Over the course of a 20-something minute speech, she brought a fiery energy to the stage, alternately reminding people of how much hope was ahead of them ― and how much work.

“No matter how good we feel tonight or tomorrow or the next day, this is going to be an uphill battle,” she continued. Democrats, she said, should anticipate moments where polls suggest Harris is behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and noting that Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, cannot be expected to be perfect as they campaign.

“We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right,” Obama said. “We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.”

As the penultimate speaker on the convention’s second day, she described Harris as “living a life of service,” and drew parallels between the Democratic candidate’s life and her own. Though Obama’s mother was from Chicago and Harris’ from India, Obama noted, both “shared the same belief in the promise of this country.”

She made only one reference to Trump by name, but extensively contrasted his life ― as the son of a wealthy businessman with a penchant for bending the laws to his advantage, with that of people like Harris, her husband and herself.

Most Americans don’t have “the affirmative action of generational wealth,” Obama said.

And she took some subtle digs at Trump as well: “If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top,” she said, in apparent reference to Trump’s 2015 campaign announcement, when he descended on a golden Trump Tower escalator to speak to reporters.

Attendees grew increasingly excited throughout her speech, with many cheering “Yes!” after particularly compelling lines. “This girl is on fire!” one older Black woman in the crowd exclaimed.

After praising Harris ― suggesting her candidacy means “hope is making a comeback” ― she repeatedly warned against allowing her rival to win, given his penchant for attacks on individuals and particular communities. She particularly called out Trump’s year of insults and aspersions against her husband and herself because, she said, he could not tolerate seeing their success.

“Going small is petty. It’s unhealthy. And, quite frankly, it’s unpresidential,” Obama said. “Why would we normalize that type of backward leadership?”

BRAVA!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

President Joe Biden received a hero’s welcome last night at the Democratic National Convention and delivered an oration designed to be a handoff to Kamala Harris.  His address  framed his own legacy and signaled he was ready to cede control of the party to Harris.

He took the stage to a long ovation from delegates hoisting “We love Joe” placards and told them in turn, “I love you!” After the affectionate opening, Biden spent stretches of his 50-minute speech hitting Trump, returning to a key theme of the reelection campaign he’s no longer running.

Biden ticked through many of his administration’s achievements, including a major public works package and climate program, and shared the credit with Harris. He said picking Harris as his running mate was the best decision he ever made and promised to be the “best volunteer” that Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have ever seen.

His closing message to those still listening as the convention stretched late into the night: “I gave my best to you for 50 years.”

Kamal Harris made an unscheduled appearance onstage to pay tribute to Biden ahead of his own address to the convention. She told the president, “Thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you’ll continue to do.”

On a night meant to honor the president who stepped aside to make way for Harris, the vice president added, “We are forever grateful to you.”

Amen!

Tony

L. Michael Luttig. Photo by Susan Walsh.  AP.

Dear Commons Community,

Conservative former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential bid yesterday, in what will be his first time voting for a Democrat, according to CNN.

“In the presidential election of 2024 there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law,” Luttig wrote in a blistering statement. “As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.”

Luttig is a former jurist on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a highly respected conservative legal scholar. He has been outspoken about Donald Trump’s attempt to fraudulently overturn the 2020 presidential election, arguing that Trump is a threat to democracy and deeply unfit for office.

“To this day — to this day still — not only does the former president, and now the Republican Party of which he is again the standard bearer, continue to falsely claim that the former president won the 2020 election,” Luttig said in his statement, “he and his Party defiantly refuse even to pledge that they will honor and respect the vote and the will of the American People in the upcoming presidential election.”

He added that today’s GOP has “literally taken America political hostage, threatening the Nation with the specter of another January 6, 2021 on January 6, 2025, if the former president again loses his campaign for the presidency by a vote of the American People.”

The former judge, a Republican appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, said that although he and Harris likely have sharp differences on public policy, he is supporting her campaign because of her commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution.

Luttig is only the latest Republican to back Harris’ White House bid. Over the weekend, former Virginia GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock announced she planned to vote for Harris in November.

“After Jan. 6, after Donald Trump has refused for four years to acknowledge that he lost, and his threats against democracy, I think it’s important to turn the page,” Comstock said during a CNN interview Sunday. “That’s why I will be voting for the vice president.”

Thank you, Mr. Luttig and Ms. Comstock!

Tony

Shawn Fein, President of the UAW. Courtesy of MSNBC.

Dear Commons Community,

I watched a good portion of the opening of the Democratic National Convention last night.  It was part lovefest for Kamala Harris and Joe Biden; and part zingers aimed at Donald Trump.  I thought New York Governor Kathy Hochul good riddance comment about Trump moving out of New York and then expressing sympathy for Florida was especially good. Other zingers included:

Joe Biden  closed out the night with a rousing speech passing the torch to his veep. At one point, he noted that the crime rate is falling, and will drop again after the election for one very specific reason:  “Crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the oval office instead of a convicted felon.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) called Trump a “plague on the American conscience.”

Warnock, who is also a pastor, noted the $60 “God Bless The USA Bible” that Trump has been hawking.

“He should try reading it,” Warnock said.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, drew a sharp contrast between Harris and the former president, who was convicted earlier this year on 34 felony charges.

“Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety,” Clinton said. “Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial ― and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) also got the audience cheering with a reference to Trump’s criminal convictions.

“America, looking at the two choices before you, who would you hire: Donald Trump or Kamala Harris?” she asked the crowd. “Kamala Harris has a resume. Donald Trump has a rap sheet. She presides over the Senate, while he keeps our national secrets next to his thinking chair.”

Cases of sensitive documents were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, including some next to a toilet:

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) gave Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), a reminder on why the number two spot on the GOP ticket was even available to him:

“do you understand why there was a sudden job opening for running mate on the GOP ticket? They tried to kill your predecessor.”

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, let his T-shirt do some of the talking last night.

“In the words of the great American poet Nelly, ‘It’s gettin’ hot in here,’” Fain said, then removed his jacket to reveal a shirt reading “TRUMP IS A SCAB.”

The UAW filed unfair labor practice charges against Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after a conversation in which the two spoke positively about firing workers who are on strike.

Good entertainment at Trump’s expense!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Democratic National Convention is about to get underway today after a month in which the party rallied around Vice President Harris as the presumptive presidential nominee.

It’s a convention few were anticipating a month ago, when President Biden was the expected nominee. Since then, Biden has dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.

The party and Democratic voters have seemed to swing overwhelmingly behind Harris since she stepped up to replace Biden.

Today all eyes will be on Chicago to see if the Democratic convention can help spur on her momentum.

Below are five things to watch for courtesy of The Hill.

Tony

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How disruptive are the protests?

Some level of protest activity is typical for the parties’ nominating conventions, as they often attract those most passionate in favor and opposed to a party or specific candidate.

But more attention than normal has been paid to potential protest activity throughout the convention amid a split in the party over the Israel-Hamas war and the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict. The split was most prominently on display through a protest vote that occurred during the Democratic primaries.

Although Biden did not have serious competition for the nomination, some Democratic voters rallied around an effort to vote for an “uncommitted” option in protest of Biden’s support for Israel.

Harris may have an easier time distancing herself from Biden’s record and entrenched feelings about his handling of the conflict, but she also has faced pressure from pro-Palestinian protesters in the weeks since she entered the race.

A few protests have already been scheduled throughout the week, some near the United Center, where the convention will take place. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Democratic officials have expressed confidence that the party will be able to have an orderly convention and respect people’s right to protest.

Hanging over the event is the chaos of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, when anti-Vietnam War protesters were beaten by police. Democrats went on to lose that presidential election, when then-President Johnson dropped out of the race and his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, became the Democratic nominee.

How does Harris do?

Harris has quickly coalesced Democratic support behind her candidacy.

Just more than one day after launching her bid, enough delegates had publicly declared their support to make her the likely nominee. Other Democrats who might have been rivals, along with top party leaders, backed her as the nominee.

Harris’s rise has been quite impressive for a vice president who at one time was viewed as a possible drag on the ticket because of her formerly poor approval ratings.

Her address accepting the presidential nomination scheduled for Thursday will be the pinnacle of the nominating process that began months ago. It will also serve as an opportunity to share her vision with a national audience.

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Over the past few weeks, Harris has spoken to sold-out crowds across the country. Thursday’s address, and the convention in its entirety, is an opportunity for her to get her message out to an even larger audience at a time when the political spotlight will be fully on her.

Do Democrats stay on script?

The exact speaking schedule for the convention has yet to be released, but most major party leaders are expected to appear.

Biden is set to help kick off the convention with a speech Monday night, while former President Obama, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are also expected to speak. Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is expected to formally accept his nomination in a speech Wednesday, and Harris will address the convention Thursday.

These types of speeches are almost always planned down to the word in advance, allowing speakers to stay on script and message when all eyes are on them. But that doesn’t stop them from ad-libbing in the moment, either on their own accord or in response to a chant from the crowd.

Those moments could provide huge sparks for Harris, though they can also be dangerous.

The speakers at the convention will almost certainly have some zingers designed to go after former President Trump and Republicans and declare their position on certain issues. But a spontaneous moment might also prove memorable and carry beyond the convention.

How do the speakers address the Israel-Hamas war?

Harris has a bit of distance from Biden on the war as she was not the one making decisions on aid and weaponry. But that doesn’t mean she is entirely out of the woods with disgruntled Democrats who want policy shifts on Israel.

Members of the Uncommitted National Movement have expressed hope that Harris’s candidacy could signal that shift. She said at a rally in Arizona this month that “now is the time” for a deal that frees the hostages held in Gaza and achieves a cease-fire.

But groups like the Abandon Biden Campaign have said they see Biden’s and Harris’s policies as essentially the same.

The convention could be an opportunity to bring these Democrats back into the fold. Democrats hoped to do that in 2016 after a fierce primary between Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) exposed rifts in the party, but those tensions lingered through November.

Addressing the war in a way that does not alienate Democrats on either side could be key to ensuring the party stays unified.

Are there any big surprises?

Nominating conventions are among the most well-choreographed events in politics, with every speech and the roll-call nomination vote planned in great detail. But that doesn’t mean unexpected developments never happen.

Protests are scheduled for outside and aren’t supposed to get into the arena, but some could find their way into the United Center. A handful of uncommitted delegates will be present at the convention, and they could create waves over the war.

On the other side of the spectrum, a surprise appearance from an unannounced guest could spark further enthusiasm among attendees and supporters watching at home.

Credit…Photo by Rachel Stern and Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Dear  Commons Community,

Maureen Dowd in her column yesterday commented on the Democratic Convention that begins today.  She states that it is going to be a “glorious coronation  except that everyone’s mad at one another.”  She observes that “although it was not Julius Caesar at Rehoboth Beach” some top Democrats still resent how Joe Biden was pushed out of the nomination. She saves her most cutting comments for Nancy Pelosi: 

“One of the most ruthless and successful tacticians in congressional history seemed sheepish about knifing her pal, and conflicted over whether to take credit. Et tu, Nancy? Biden must have thought.

When David Remnick asked Pelosi if her long relationship with Biden could survive, she replied: “I hope so. I pray so. I cry so.” She added, “I lose sleep on it, yeah.”

Dowd’s conclusion, however, is squarely on the side of Kamala Harris’ enablers:

“Those who pushed out Biden should be proud. They saved him and their party from a likely crushing defeat, letting Trump snake back in and soil democracy.”

Amen!

Her entire column is below!

On with the show!!

Tony

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The New York Times

After Bloodletting, Time for Fun!

By Maureen Dowd

Opinion Columnist, reporting from Washington

Aug. 17, 2024

We head to Chicago on a wave of euphoria, exuberance, exultation, excitement and even, you might say, ecstasy.

It’s going to be a glorious coronation — except that everyone’s mad at one another.

Top Democrats are bristling with resentments even as they are about to try to put on a united front at the United Center in the Windy City.

A coterie of powerful Democrats maneuvered behind the scenes to push an incumbent president out of the race.

It wasn’t exactly “Julius Caesar” in Rehoboth Beach. But it was a tectonic shift and, of course, there were going to be serious reverberations. Even though it was the right thing to do, because Joe Biden was not going to be able to campaign, much less serve as president for another four years, in a fully vital way, it was a jaw-dropping putsch.

But at some point, when the polls cratered, Democratic mandarins decided to put the welfare of the party — and the country — ahead of the president’s ego, and stop catering to his self-regarding fantasy that he was the only one who could beat Donald Trump. Also, they all could know that Biden was slowing faster than he and his family and his inner circle were acknowledging.

Biden went from looking “forward to getting back on the campaign trail” to gone in one weekend, with the handprints of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries on the president’s back. And when Kamala Harris deftly cemented her position as the nominee, the party erupted in a dizzying sense of possibility.

How could Biden not be hurt that the Democratic convention went from four days of “sitting shiva,” as James Carville put it, to a joyful romp with Kamala atop the ticket?

Democrat after Democrat who had been close to Biden before conspiring to push him out had to confess to cable anchors that they had not been able to talk to the president, who was sulking in his tent.

Party leaders whitewashed the coup by ornately extolling Biden.

James Clyburn told CNN that Biden had a record “that no president of the United States could ever match.” Pelosi proposed on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” that Biden’s face should be carved onto Mount Rushmore. “You have Teddy Roosevelt up there,” she said. “And he’s wonderful. I don’t say take him down. But you could add Biden.”

Despite the grandiose flattery, Joe, Jill and Hunter were not fooled or appeased.

Even if the Democrats wanted to put their bad blood in the past, the Nasty Man at the top of the G.O.P. ticket won’t let them forget.

“Kamala wants NOTHING TO DO WITH CROOKED JOE BIDEN,” Trump ranted on Truth Social Thursday. “They are throwing him out on the Monday Night Stage, known as Death Valley. He now HATES Obama and Crazy Nancy more than he hates me! He is an angry man, as he should be. They stole the Presidency from him — ‘It was a Coup!’”

As much as she cared for the president, Pelosi would never choose helping the House of Biden over helping her beloved House of Representatives. Their alienation of affection was clear in interviews she did to promote her new book, “The Art of Power.”

One of the most ruthless and successful tacticians in congressional history seemed sheepish about knifing her pal, and conflicted over whether to take credit. Et tu, Nancy? Biden must have thought.

When David Remnick asked Pelosi if her long relationship with Biden could survive, she replied: “I hope so. I pray so. I cry so.” She added, “I lose sleep on it, yeah.”

There was no kumbaya. Biden didn’t care about the “three generations of love” Pelosi told Jen Psaki that her family had for him.

The president already resented Obama for shoving him aside for Hillary, and he resented Hillary for squandering that opportunity and losing to Trump. Even though Obama tried to do everything quietly to protect his saintly status, Joe was furious that Obama was sidelining him twice.

Michelle Obama’s relationship with Biden soured when his family ostracized Hunter’s first wife, Michelle’s friend Kathleen; that’s one reason the popular Michelle wasn’t on the campaign trail for Biden.

Kamala can’t be thrilled that Obama, Pelosi and Schumer hesitated to endorse her because they wanted more moderate rivals to compete in an open mini-primary. And Biden and Harris staffs are also tetchy, as Kamala layers on her own people.

Biden still thinks he could have taken Trump, so how could he reconcile being shoved off the sled? On Wednesday, Ron Klain, Biden’s longtime adviser, expressed to Anderson Cooper Bidenworld’s feelings about the Jacquerie heard round the world.

“I think it was unfortunate because I think that the president had won the nomination fair and square,” Klain said. “Fourteen million people had voted for him and the vice president as vice president.” He added: “I do think, you know, the president was pushed by public calls from elected officials for him to drop out, from donors calling for him to drop out. And I think that was wrong.”

Those who pushed out Biden should be proud. They saved him and their party from a likely crushing defeat, letting Trump snake back in and soil democracy.

That would keep Biden off Rushmore.

Courtesy of The Economist.

Dear Commons Community,

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday repeatedly swerved from a message focused on the economy into personal attacks, including thrice declaring that he was better looking than Vice President Kamala Harris. As reported by The Associated Press.

Trump wound back and forth between hitting his points on economic policy and delivering a smattering of insults and impressions of President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron as he held a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The former president has seemed to struggle to adjust to his new opponent after Democrats replaced their nominee. Over the past week, he has diverged during campaign appearances away from the policies he was billed to speak about and instead diverted to a rotation of familiar attack lines and insults.

As he attacked Democrats for inflation at the top of his speech, Trump asked his crowd of supporters, “You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates her.”

Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, responded to Trump in a statement by saying, “Another rally, same old show” and that Trump “ resorts to lies, name-calling, and confused rants,” because he can’t sell his agenda.

“The more Americans hear Trump speak, the clearer the choice this November: Vice President Harris is unifying voters with her positive vision to protect our freedoms, build up the middle class, and move America forward — and Donald Trump is trying to take us backwards,” Costello said.

His remarks Saturday came as Democrats prepare for their four-day national convention that kicks off Monday in Chicago and will mark the party’s welcoming of Harris as their nominee. Her replacement of Biden less than four months before the November election has reinvigorated Democrats and their coalition. It has also presented a new challenge for Trump.

He predicted financial ruin for the country, and Pennsylvania in particular, if Harris wins, citing her past opposition to fracking, an oil and gas extraction process commonly used in the state. Her campaign has tried to soften her stance on fracking, saying she would not ban it, even though that was her position when she was seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.

“Your state’s going to be ruined anyway. She’s totally anti-fracking,” Trump said.

But he also meandered, going from ripping the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 to doing impressions of Macron’s French accent.

Trump laced in attacks on Harris’ laugh and said she was “not a very good wordsmith” and mocked the names of the CNN anchors who moderated the debate he had with Biden in June.

When he began musing on Harris’ recent image on the cover of Time magazine, he commented on the picture’s resemblance to classic Hollywood icons Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor and then took issue with a Wall Street Journal columnist remarking earlier this month on Harris’ beauty.

“I am much better looking than her,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd. “I’m a better looking person than Kamala.”

Please Trump give yourself a break and look in the mirror at the fat buffoon with the orange hair that is staring back at you.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

A long-standing debate about whether simply to add an apostrophe or to add an apostrophe plus an “s” to show the possessive case when a person’s name ends in “s” has reemerged given the media popularity of Kamala Harris.

The Associated Press Stylebook says “use only an apostrophe” for singular proper names ending in “s”: Dickens’ novels, Hercules’ labors, Jesus’ life. But not everyone agrees.

Chicago Style and the Modern Language Association say add “s” as in: Mills becomes Mills’s.

The American Psychological Association (APA Style)  says add “s” to singular names ending in “s”, except if the name ends in an unpronounced “s” and then use only an apostrophe: Descartes becomes Descartes’.

The Merriam Webster Thesaurus says:  For names that end in an “s”, though, you can either add “s” or just an apostrophe such as “Jones → Jones’s car or Jones’ car.”

The bottom line is your choice but be consistent.

Tony

Courtesy of ABC News.

Dear Commons Community,

Kamala Harris laid out an economic plan yesterday including a proposal for a federal ban on what she called price gouging on groceries, as well as $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time home buyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes. She also spoke at length about lowering drug costs and criticized the platform of her opponent, Donald Trump.

Here’s a  look at some of her proposals and claims courtesy of The Associated Press.

The impact of Trump’s proposed tariffs

HARRIS: Trump “wants to impose what is in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries. … And you know, economists have done the math. Donald Trump’s plan would cost a typical family $3,900 a year.”

THE FACTS: Harris was referring to Trump’s proposal to impose a tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports — he has mentioned both figures — and up to 60% on imports from China.

Most economists do expect it would raise prices on many goods. The Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates it would reduce average incomes in the top 60% of earners by 1.8%. And the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive advocacy group, has calculated that the higher tariffs would cost households an extra $3,900 a year. However, Trump has said the tariff revenue could be used to cut other taxes, which would reduce the overall cost of the policy.

Lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs

HARRIS: “I’ll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone.”

THE FACTS: Harris made this promise while referencing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which allows Medicare to negotiate medication costs directly with drug companies. While it is difficult to predict whether she will be able to keep it, especially without more details, recent policy can provide some clues.

For example, the White House announced Thursday that it had inked deals with manufacturers that could save taxpayers billions of dollars by knocking down the list prices for 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. However, there are a number of factors — from discounts to the coinsurance or copays for the person’s Medicare drug plan — that determine the final price a person pays when they pick up the drugs at their pharmacy.

Powerful drug companies unsuccessfully tried to file lawsuits to stop these negotiations. They ended up engaging in talks and executives hinted in recent weeks during earnings calls that they don’t expect the new Medicare drug prices to impact their bottom line. However, the manufacturers have warned that the Inflation Reduction Act could drive up prices for consumers in other areas.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations achieved $35 insulin copay caps for certain Medicare recipients. Biden’s caps have a wider reach, as they apply to all insulin products covered by any Medicare Part D or Part B plan, according to health policy research nonprofit KFF. Trump’s applied only to some insulin products covered by a voluntary subset of Part D plans.

A federal ban on grocery ‘price gouging’

HARRIS: “As president, I will take on the high costs that matter most to most Americans. … And I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gouging on food.”

THE FACTS: While grocery prices are 25% higher than they were before the pandemic four-and-a-half years ago, they have settled down recently and it’s not clear that much price gouging is now going on.

In the past 12 months, grocery prices on average are up just 1.1%, comparable to pre-pandemic increases. Also, prices for most goods and services, in general, don’t fall significantly except in steep, painful recessions. Instead, most economists expect that wages will rise enough so that Americans can adjust to higher costs. Still, prices remain higher overall than they were just a couple of years ago.

Addressing housing shortages and helping home buyers

HARRIS: “And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals. … While we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide first time homebuyers with $25,000 to help with the down payment on a new home.”

THE FACTS: These promises could end up working at cross-purposes. By helping more Americans afford homes, the Harris proposal to subsidize down payments would almost certainly increase demand, at a time when estimates of the U.S. housing shortage already range from 3 million to as high as 7 million.

Harris’ proposal to provide tax incentives to builders to encourage more home and apartment construction would address that concern, but there are many reasons experts cite for the housing shortage, including restrictive zoning laws, higher costs for building materials, and even shortages of construction workers, which tax incentives can’t address.

Harris is also promising to cut red tape that restricts new building, but that is mostly a state and local concern, and many localities are already moving to make it easier build homes.

Much of what Harris proposes makes sense whether they are ever implemented depends largely upon which political party controls the US Congress if she is elected.

Tony