Welcome to The Now

 The Texas Democrat who couldn't beat Ted Cruz and ran for president on a platform of taking everyone's guns away has come out against Critical Race Theory (CRT) being taught in schools, even though he knows that it's not happening right now . For those who don't know, CRT is basically about analyzing and discussing the intersection of race and (US) law. Opponents believe it's about teaching white children that white people are evil, but that argument neglects the fact that CRT has roots in the Civil Rights Era.  Anyway, O'Rourke has at least partially embraced the belief that CRT is bad, most presumably because he (or his consultants) believe that this can help him win the election for governor in Texas and perhaps another shot at the White House. Considering that Joe Biden, with his record on race, is the current POTUS, is that really a stretch?  Critics joked that O'Rourke was the "Vanilla Obama" because of his cadence during the 2020 election....

Thanks to some very awesome Youtubers , I was able to view last night's debate through a non-corporate lens. I won't do the "Winner/Losers" thing, but I will give my impression on their overall effectiveness: Joe Biden : He's pretty much riding off name recognition at this point. Combined with the fact that (1) his polls are based on landline calls and (2) most of his supporters don't watch news stories related to him, he's fairly insulated from just having a massive drop. In other words: as long as older voters (and the media) keep propping him up, Biden's not going anywhere. Which is said, because you have to sift through his word salad to find any real points, and most of the time those points are either common-sense or too wonky for the average voter to care about. In short, he's not beating President Trump on a debate stage, and he's not going to convince many former-Obama-voters-turned-Trump-voters to switch back.  Kamala Harris : It...