Greetings! Dark. That’s how I’d describe Trump’s 25-minute prime time speech last night as he spewed toxic charges challenging the integrity of the nation’s elections.  My take: it’s all designed to provide Trump and his allies with an excuse to call into question the results of the midterm elections, in which Democrats are expected to perform well. And when that happens, troops could be called in and Democracy will hang by a thread. Worth noting: CNN posted an annotated transcript of his speech. Students of autocracy will study it for decades....Song of the day: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Here in NYC  as well as parts of the Northeast and Midwest, hazardous smoke from Canadian wildfires are fouling the air.  PJ Media nailed the situation perfectly with this headline: Canada: “Mind If I Smoke?”....Uh oh. Trillionaire Elon Musk is angry.  He slammed Netflix’s supposed “woke” description of the 1939 civil war epic “Gone with the Wind.” (Hollywood in Toto)...Weekend Watches (retro edition): I stumbled across the 2017 Netflix documentary Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins and it’s a winner.  The documentary charts the rollicking professional life of Texas political journalist, raconteur  and  humorist Molly Ivins who died in 2007 at the age of 62.  Her putdowns of George W. Bush will trigger belly laughs. She professed great faith in the wisdom of the voting public and I wonder if she would still hold that belief in the age of Trump. Also worth watching: If you can’t get into director Chris Nolan’s blockbuster epic The Odyssey, which opened today to rave reviews, I recommend Nolan’s 2006 hit The Prestige, about two feuding magicians in Victorian England. Starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, it’s available on Hulu...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Charlie Kirk news: If Italian artist Sergio Furnari has his way, his sculpture of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk will be unveiled in Times Square on September 10. That would be exactly a year after he was gunned down in Utah. Here’s a video of the sculpture. (Fox News)...It’s déjà vu all over again: Trump will deliver a prime time speech tonight and it’s expected that he will focus on – wait for it – 2020 election fraud, according to ABC News and other outlets. Sheesh! The Portly POTUS is obsessed. I also think he’s just preparing the country for more claims of election tinkering by Democrats after the midterm elections when Republicans are expected to fare poorly...Joe Biden’s new political memoir just went on sale for pre-publication orders. Promise Me, America drops November 17 and it focuses on his four years as president.  I’m glad it’s not being published before the midterms because Democrats don’t need to revisit Biden’s awful debate performance on June 27, 2024, and the weeks leading up to his decision to withdraw from the race. Lousy title, BTW Joe...The balls on this guy! SecDef Pete “Hairgel” Hegseth announced in a post on X yesterday that the U.S. military will require service members 30 and older to undergo annual screenings to measure their testosterone levels. Testosterone replacement therapy would be available to men described by Hegseth as “war fighters”  who wanted it. (NBC News). Worth noting: Trump administration cast members like Hegseth are really hung up on their masculinity...The Washington Free Beacon published a list of the “trust-fund socialists transforming the Democratic party.” They include: Zohran Mamdani, Morris Katz, Graham Platner, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, the anti-elite granddaughter of oil billionaire H.L. Hunt who has a Maltipoo named after Malcolm X... Seriously? The American Conservative urges the Trump to pull U.S. troops from Europe...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard