Good Cop, Bad Cop: Kamala Harris graciously accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president last night with an edge of attack on President Trump. “We’re at an inflection point,” the 55-year-old Harris said. “The constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone.”

  She said, “We can do better and deserve so much more.” 

  It was former President Barack Obama who broke with his pledge not to criticize his predecessor. He said, “I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously. That he might come to feel the weight of the office. And discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care. But he never did.”

  Obama said bluntly, “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.” 

  Referencing Trump’s mixing of business and public office, Obama said, “No public official, including the president, should use the office to enrich themselves or their supporters.”

  The former President said of Trump, “For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”

Unconventional: The Democrats staked out their ground last night on gun violence, climate change, and the treatment of illegal immigrants. In a series of videos, victims of gun violence and their families spoke, farmers talked about the damage of climate change, and immigrants talked about separation of families.

  Political analyst Jeff Greenfield tweeted, “The video use by Dems at this convention shows they are very comfortable with images of protest, marches, clenched fists. Those images would not have been seen even a few conventions ago; vivid testimony to how the party’s sense of its base is.”

   Among the speakers was former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2007 while greeting constituents outside a shopping mall in Tucson. Giffords, was left partially paralyzed and could barely speak in the months after the shooting, said with amazing clarity, “America needs all of us to speak out, even when you have to fight to find the words. We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue, or we can act. We can protect our families, our future. We can vote.”

  Contrary to the claims of President Trump, no one said they want to confiscate all the legally owned guns in the country.

Conspiracy Theory: Facebook has removed from its servers 790 groups dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy and is restricting another 1,950 groups, 440 pages, and more than 10,000 Instagram accounts.  

  Facebook’s purge follows stunning growth of QAnon groups on the site, much of it since the coronavirus pandemic began in March, according to data gathered by The New York Times.

  “We have seen growing movements that, while not directly organizing violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns of violent behavior,” Facebook said in a statement. 

  QAnon followers believe that a cult of Satan-worshipping child sex traffickers and molesters who are conspiring to take down President Trump. 

  Answering questions yesterday the President said, he appreciated the support of QAnon followers and said that, “I heard these are people that love our country.”

Poison Politics: Russia’s most prominent opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, was unconscious and on a ventilator in a Siberian hospital after suffering appearing to have been poisoned.

  Navalny challenged Vladimir Putin in Russia’s 2018 election. He fell ill on a plane that made an emergency landing. His spokeswoman said she believed something was in the tea Navalny drank at the airport in Tomsk. “That’s the only thing he drank this morning,” she said. 

The Bulletin Board: The Trump administration on Wednesday suspended or terminated three agreements with Hong Kong related to extradition and tax exemptions, the latest in a series of actions as relations between the US and China deteriorate. The US is punishing China for putting the lid on political dissent and the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. —  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to penalize cities that cut police funding by stalling their ability to raise property taxes. — True to his word, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said ordered the city to disconnect utility service at a Hollywood Hills house after it hosted large parties in “flagrant violation” of COVID-19 public health orders. — Apple has become the first American corporation to reach a market value of $2 trillion.

Tired Argument: President Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires after learning that they won’t allow employees to wear MAGA hats, but will allow a Black Lives matter t-shirt.

 He tweeted, “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less!”

  Goodyear issued a clarifying statement that said, “To enable a work environment free of those, we ask that associates refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”

  By the way, the presidential limousine has Goodyear tires.

Tamil Talk: In her speech last night Kamala Harris said ““Family is my uncles, my aunts and my chittis,” thrilling viewers of Indian decent and bewildering everyone else. 

  The word basically means “aunts,” but it was a callout to hundreds of thousands of Americans who share Harris’s heritage. Her mother was Indian.

  Many Indian Americans, including celebrity foodie Padma Lakshmi, posted that just hearing the word from a candidate for vice president brought tears to their eyes. She wrote, “My heart is so full right now.”

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