Letters & Opinions

"Phony Kamala and Slow Joe." That was President Trump giving nicknames to the opposition after Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to share the Democratic ticket with him. Of course, Trump threw in "extraordinarily nasty," but he always describes those who oppose him as "extraordinarily nasty."

It was just two weeks ago that I submitted an article entitled "News Cycles" that pointed out that climate change has not received much publicity lately. It has been crowded out by the pandemic and Trump's failure to respond adequately to keep us safe. It has been crowded out by the Black Lives Matter movement brought back to the forefront by the killing of George Floyd and the kneeling of NBA players before their televised games in a deliberate effort to keep in our consciousness continued mistreatment of people of color.

The city was in a position where they had 60 days to appoint someone to the vacant seat (it was 60 days from 7/28/20). As of this writing, there are four city councilmembers. An appointment of a councilmember would require a 3-4 vote and that wasn't likely. After speaking with several sources, there does not appear to be a way to break any tie that takes place.

While many more Californians than ever before are planning to vote by mail in this November’s election in order to avoid exposure to the coronavirus, Trump’s new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is sparing no effort to make voting by mail harder for all Americans (not just Californians). The recent primary elections in several states have given us a preview of how that works, with ballots being ensnared in postal delays.

There’s a widespread belief that the exorbitant quantity of money the Federal Reserve is pouring into the U.S. economy must eventually mean the return of high inflation. After all, if there’s lots more money but no more stuff to buy, prices must rise, mustn’t they? So the prospect of Judy Shelton – known for her support of the gold standard – joining the Fed’s Board of Governors is raising the hopes of those who want the Fed to be stripped of its money creation powers.