President steps aside and the Short Take origin story. Jocialists unite!

How did we get here? President steps aside and sharing the Short Take origin story.

One old man decides he’s had enough. When does the other leave?
President Biden decided to step aside Sunday and pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Republicans have made Biden’s age central to their campaign while their candidate babbles incessantly at the podium, lying about the 2020 election, crime, the economy and our standing on the national stage.
Under Biden, the economy soared, prescription prices dropped for seniors, the rate of increase in the deficit declined, our military became respected again, NATO became stronger. Our allies stopped laughing openly at our joke of a commander-in-chief. America rose again rather than wilting as Russia still is.
The Republicans now have a real problem. Biden could stammer, stutter and misspeak, as he did when disabled by a cold at the debate, but at least he spoke the truth and answered the questions. The accomplishments on which the Democrats can stand from the last four years are huge compared to the previous guy
The Republican never seems to get called out for his tired act. He speaks in generalities, platitudes and vague threats, never answers a question. He accepted a candidate for vice president in JD Vance who is unqualified with little experience and who openly advocates for a national ban on abortion.
Most of what the 78-year-old convicted felon candidate says he wants to do is unconstitutional, for example rounding up immigrants and putting them in internment camps for mass deportation or eliminating civil service at the federal level in favor of patronage.
Meanwhile, ignorant people in places like Alden prattle on about Democrats encouraging fascism as the Hannibal Lecter admiring 6-time bankrupt reality TV star rambles on about storm troopers stopping people who are stealing jobs from blacks and Hispanics. Repeat after me, with a German accent, “show me your papers!” And yet somehow Biden is the Fascist? Only in Alden.
The things he said he would do last time, such as reform the tax code, improve health care and have Mexico build a wall never happened.
The real shame is we don’t have an actual Republican candidate to talk about actual issues.
Here’s Heather Cox Richardson giving context to the mess. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-21-2024

If you have read this far, I owe you an explanation.
I had Niagara Falls related content set to go this morning but ended up putting energy into this rant so the expose on the Waterboard nonsense will float for another day.
Once-upon a time, more than 10 years ago, I wrote a daily political post akin to this one, and the comment thread would go on sometimes into the hundreds. In time, the MAGA people could not keep up and drifted away because they were mostly fact averse.
First, the comments died off but I kept it going.
My first professional love was journalism but I left that in 2005 to become a financial advisor. In 2020, I decided that there was a limited future at Financial Partners of Upstate New York because Mass Mutual’s rep contract had some elements I didn't think I could fulfil, namely making it more expensive to do business without a massive propreitary product production requirement or $100 million under management (I had about 1/3 of that).
I sold my practice to a trusted colleague because I knew he would take care of my clients. There were others in the same agency who would have paid 50% more. It was more important to do the right thing.
Then I went to work at a bank. Square peg meet round hole.
The bank gig was awful. Being a W2 employee was good but all the regiment and limitations of a bank environment was not for me. I lasted less than 6 months.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do next but somehow found my way to be Regional News editor for the Niagara Gazette and Lockport Union, Sun and Journal.
A few months in, Beth suggested we move. We had been in Clarence for 30 years. I thought she had lost her mind.
We started house shopping and discovered we couldn’t find a house we both liked and could afford in the Tonawandas, Lewiston, Town of Niagara or Lockport. DeVeaux and LaSalle in the Falls, however, had depressed real estate values.
We could buy a house two blocks from the gorge and make a significant profit selling our Clarence home. We did that.
Those papers were an awful shell of what they once were. No one working there lived in or cared about the community with the exception of photographer Jim Neiss.
The Gazette gig lasted 18 months. Moving to the Falls was one of the best choices we ever made. After leaving, I started the Niagara Express, a free community news site working for the betterment of Niagara Falls and attempting to undo the damage done by the Gazette allowing a 20-year “Niagara Falls is a shithole” campaign with the weekly police blotter on Shredd & Ragan.
Subscriptions are free. Submissions, and events, are always welcome. There is never a paywall. I now have more daily views than the Gazette has home delivery customers.
If you have read this far, my card-carrying Jocialist friends, I miss Rick Fickhesen and all of you. We should do a Suds Up soon.
There is no charge for subscribing to receive one daily emailed news summary with a link to the site. You can also promote events and advertise. Donations are welcome and voluntary. If you want to Please visit https://niagaraexpress.town.news/)