The Nebraska GOP’s sneaky attack to change their electoral voting system from a 2/3 split among their five electors to a winner-take-all rule was thwarted last week, which will likely give one vote to Kamala Harris instead of all five to Trump in November’s election. The state legislature couldn’t manage to get the votes together for inclusion of a heavily Democratic district into their MAGA cesspool, which could give Harris a bit of an edge in the final Electoral College result. Republicans still have a month to figure out their next attack plan.

North Carolina’s governor’s race lays scattered in ruins since the revelations about ‘Black Nazi’ and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson’s past adventures on porn sites, and his posting of inappropriate comments popping up to derail his gubernatorial candidacy. Several of his campaign staffers promptly resigned, but since then several conservative donors are now wondering how money was spent, especially since his campaign had been lagging behind so badly. The New York Times reports that the departure of chief consultant Conrad Pogorzelski, and finance director Heather Whillier has led to increased scrutiny of the campaign’s expenses, with Pogorzelski taking around $2M and Whillier’s group being paid $1.3M from the coffers which reported $15.8M on hand at July’s end. Former chair of the University of North Carolina, Harry Smith, admitted that he contributed $6,400, expressing regret that he had donated to Robinson with whom he wasn’t very impressed with from the start, as he confessed that Josh Stein will get his vote anyway. Panic took over the state’s GOP with the developments, and some members of Robinson’s team sought help from the Trump campaign to convince their candidate to drop out of the race. Of course it was too late to remove the Lt. Governor’s name from the ballot, and military ballots and overseas voter ballots were already in the pipeline; besides, who would stand in his place as a candidate? Plus, the Trump campaign had no comment, and even Donald Trump being asked for comment by a reporter, only brought his standard reply, “I know nothing about the situation.” He obviously felt he didn’t need to get into another hot mess.

Despite being a detriment to GOP prospects up and down the statewide ballot, Robinson says he is standing pat, so far, all in the face of critics blaming the party for getting into this fiasco. With many Republican leaders touting his candidacy, and Trump’s promise of an endorsement, they blundered ahead, with the national party looking the other way in spite of the many unseemly comments Robinson had uttered publicly. Robinson was probably vetted to a point, but his awfulness was accepted because he was a new, diverse, and magnetic voice for the North Carolina party. Party stalwarts who knew of his weaknesses, about some of his baggage, were horrified at Trump’s pledge for an endorsement, knowing they were rendered impotent to speak out against this apparent rising star. State treasurer, Dale Folwell, says, “Robinson was selected by former president Trump and other party officials who elevated him, and those officials and their consultants did know, should have known, or didn’t want to know about Robinson’s flaws. The party I joined nearly fifty years ago was based on conservatism, common sense, courtesy, humanity, humility, and ethics…not counterfeit conservatives like Mark Robinson who think they can build our party by people who to hate.” With Robinson’s vow to remain in the race, the state GOP concluded the damage had been done, end of conversation.

Another politician has fallen into his own trap, this time a Democrat; New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted last week on five federal charges of bribery, fraud, corruption and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. As Jimmy Fallon said on ‘The Tonight Show,’ “Its’ always fun when the city mimics the exact plot of the ‘Batman’ movie.” Adams is accused of accepting over $100K worth of free plane tickets and hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and a government official. Fallon joked, “Adams insisted that he’s innocent and made it clear that he has no intention of resigning…unless ‘someone wants to give me $100K to go away. And then maybe we’ll talk about it.'”

Then, we have the case of GOP Mayor Doug Diny of Wausau, WI, who contracted right-wing-bird fever, then dressed up as a maintenance man…hard hat, work gloves, and Department of Public Works Department jacket, and perhaps steel-toed boots…so he could remove a ballot drop box outside the city hall. Moved it to his office for security! Right!..a guarantee to securely reduce the number of ballot box locations for those exercising their voting rights! Mayor Doug said, “I’m a staff member…nothing nefarious going on here…I’m hoping for a good result.” Your Groucho eyebrows, glasses, nose and mustache are slipping down your face, sir. Diny says the city clerk should have sought permission from the city council before situating the box, even after the state Supreme Court had just ruled in July that city clerks were the decision makers for best accessibility for the voting public. Of course, Mr. Vigilante Mayor feels that the best solution is to use a dolly to wheel the offending ballot box into his office closet…make those voters appreciate the value of the vote. Diny is now under criminal investigation in Marathon County, his act being a felony for impeding “the free exercise of the franchise at an election” – due to ignorance, ineptitude, or obtuseness? You choose.

Or, how about Portage County Ohio Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski who asked his followers on Facebook to “write down” the address of those who place Harris-Walz campaign signs on their front lawns, in order for him to drop off any undocumented immigrants, or “Illegal Human Locusts” in his words, who turn up. “They’ll need a place to live, so we’ll have addresses of their new families who support their arrival,” he says. Trump won Portage County in 2020, but recent polling points to thousands who support Harris-Walz, undoubtedly to the complete consternation of Sheriff Z.

Donald Trump is being obliged to play his concertina as he enters the stage at his rallies, since most musicians have protested his non-pernitted use of their recordings. He feels disadvantaged that he doesn’t play the guitar, but since he regularly claims that he is “greater than Elvis…the greatest of all time,” and draws bigger crowds, he won’t be buying one soon…though perhaps selling autographed instruments may be on the horizon as he attempts to grift every dollar from the pockets of his base. His latest grift is selling $100K watches, joining the trove of non-fungible tokens, Bibles, or your choice of assassination-themed or gold sneakers. As JD Vance says, “People can’t afford to buy eggs today!” – but maybe they can scrape up a few thou for a Trump tchotchke. And the watches may be appropriate in Senator Marco Rubio’s eyes, who in 2016 suggested Trump would be “selling watches in Manhattan” absent his father’s fortune. Former RNC chair Michael Steele excoriated the former president as a “two-bit huckster,” and Republicans Against Trump mocked him as “truly a man of the people.” Yep, a man of the people who needs their money to fund his failing campaign, pay his legal fees and shore up Truth Social! In all fairness, he is offering a “Fight, Fight, Fight” version of the watch for only $499, which features on the back an image of Trump with his fist in the air ala the post-assassination photograph…but it’s not political he claims.

On his show, Jimmy Kimmel blasted “Trump’s brand crap to sell to his lemmings,” dubbing the watch “Ro-Lex Luthor.” He played the commercial ad for the watch line, to which he responded, “Trump time, by the way, is five to seven years or four with good behavior.” Kimmel didn’t give Melania a break after her appearance on Fox News to promote her upcoming memoir release. “We now see Melania on the same schedule as Punxsutawney Phil, since rarely does Fox News allow a brunette to appear on their shows,” he jabbed. The book, ‘Melania,’ sits atop the Amazon.com best-seller list for pre-orders as doubting-Thomases speculate how many have been purchased by the Trump Crime Syndicate to manipulate the publicity prior to the release date. Kimmel then switched to Rudy Giuliani who was just disbarred from practicing law in Washington, DC, suggesting a New York City mayor opening might be arising soon now that he needs a new gig, especially with current Mayor Eric Adams‘ tenure looking pretty iffy. Kimmel said Democrats are hinting that Adams should step down with his new legal troubles, but encouragingly, “Republicans are urging him to run for governor of North Carolina.” In a poke at Donald Trump who called Kimmel “one of the dumbest human beings ever…what a dope,” he responded with, “Isn’t that sweet…he’s confusing me with one of his sons again!” The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon also got in on the watch grift, saying, “Your can tell it’s a Trump watch because of the tiny hands. Also, if you try to set it to military time, it says, ‘Sorry, I have bone spurs.'”

Two election prognosticators have joined the heated social media posts on their presidential election predictions, in the midst of the many polling result that appear on a daily basis. American University professor Allan Lichtman, who has gained notoriety by correctly predicting nine of the last ten elections, using his ’13 Keys’ method. Political pollster Nate Silver, founder of website Five Thirty Eight, now known as 538, is questioning Lichtman’s readings of his own numbers, saying his keys clearly favor Trump instead of Harris-Walz as he has previously indicated. Silver asks if Lichtman is being “totally arbitrary,” with Lichtman responding that Silver “doesn’t have the faintest idea how to turn the keys.” Silver says that although the Democratic ticket leads national polls by nearly three points, but Trump-Vance have a 56.2% chance of winning the Electoral College. Lichtman maintains that Silver is not a historian or political scientist, and has no academic credentials, while touting their opposing views on Obama’s 2010 re-election. Silver hit back at Lichtman on X with, “He is comically overconfident and doesn’t own up to the subjectivities in his method.” as the X audience cheered on the shouting match. Capitol Forum reporter Paul McCleod commented, “If you don’t know what they’re talking about this whole exchange looks like two wizards bickering.”

A data scientist from Northwestern University, Thomas Miller, has developed a model that uses info from political betting sites rather than polls, outperforming those using multiple voter surveys in three 2020 contests. Miller contends that political betting sites are best at “predicting the wisdom of the crowd,” with polling data being backward-looking. The betting sites have a steady stream of investors, thus a better measure of future outcomes. “It’s gone from a drastic landslide in Trump’s direction to a drastic landslide for Harris,” according to Miller, who adds that it would take an equally dramatic shift in Trump’s favor for the former president to move back into contention…as things stand now it appears as if Harris will win big in November. Shawn Tully, in a Fortune piece, writes: “Miller’s view merits close attention for two basic reasons. First, it’s based on numbers-crunching that’s arguably a lot more scientific than the voter surveys cited in charting the contest’s trajectory, and second, he achieved pinpoint accuracy four years ago.” So there we have it…jump on the winning bandwagon and leave the clown car in the dust!

Tim Walz posted a short video from his campaign stop at H&H Soul Food in Macon, Georgia last week, the main subject being a wall sign that reads, “Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy.” Serve us up, Tim!