I have noticed a trend in Texas.

I live in a rural county just south of San Antonio so I get the local and state political commercials all over the local news. The usual republican misrepresentations are there but there is something else going on. Every single candidate from both parties has expressed support for health coverage for people with preexisting conditions in almost all of their commercials. Of course the gop assertion is a lie, they are suing to have this protection removed from existing law without so much as a rough draft of its replacement, much less a specific plan to restore the preexisting condition protection.

I could go on about the content, but my point is this: The debate is being held on our turf, healthcare. It is never a good sign for a political party when their offer is "that thing you like about the other party."

About Trump's secrecy regarding medical history.

We have all noticed that he is abnormally guarded about any of his medical records being released, much like his tax or academic records. This was before the pandemic, with the diagnosis himself, he is down right obstinate even in the face of sharp criticism and a paramount need to know.

On the other hand, look how wide open he is about drugs he takes, whether they are risky, against sound advice or experimental. I get that it is all political, if there are drugs the pandemic is not that bad therefore go back to work, fix his economy and reelect him. But the gulf between his public proclamations of his drug regimen and the state secret nature of his health is enormous and the hypocrisy rivals the Supreme Court shenanigans.

San Anotnio Police shove "suspect" into car, admit it was the wrong man.

You know what grinds my gears about convention speech reaction?

When they say, "I didn't hear anything about blank", when it was there if you listen. The consensus on NBC, ABC and CBS today was that there was nothing about policy in Biden's speech. Plus Trump surrogates were echoing this in their 15-20 minute segments.

Let's review:
On covid-19, the policy will be guided by experts based on facts on the ground at the time. Shutting down the economy again would be a drastic measure only taken if Trump leaves the country in bad enough shape to require it. Republicans say he said he would just shut it down.

On the general economy, I heard about job creating plans to modernize our infrastructure and to move us toward green energy. I heard, but they did not, about help with child care so that working parents would not be stuck if they have to work.

Am I crazy to think I heard these things? Was I dreaming?

$200 or $600 a week? Let's let the people decide.

That's the rule for Supreme Court Justices in an election year, right? Simple internet poll should clear things up. It is our money after all, why can't we decide to share it evenly among ourselves? We can't wait for Biden to be elected to sort this out, this needs to be done last week.

My wife can't get a hospital bed for non-covid health issue.

We live near San Antonio, Texas. A few weeks ago, she started to feel nauseous and had a hardness in her upper abdomen. Symptoms got progressively worse until she could not hold down food and eventually even water made her vomit. I took her to the emergency room where she received intravenous fluids, had medicine prescribed and then was released. They put her on a liquid diet, which she tells me is a clear indication that she should have been admitted. Based on her history of being hospitalized, she has told me that they do not release you until you take in solid food and process it normally.

The medicine stabilized her condition for a time, but it did not improve. We have repeated the emergency room, IV, prescribe and release dance 3 times. The car ride there and back is intolerable for her, causing motion sickness. She does have Medicaid, but has to jump through hoops to get referrals for doctor's appointments. She finally has one tomorrow, but it is a video chat appointment. It's nice that the doctor has video chat capability at his end, but we only have internet through hot spots on our phones and no web cams. I have doubts about how that would work or if it will help at all.

All of this is happening in a state that rushed to reopen like Florida and had the state block local mask ordinances like Georgia. The general attitude was that the lockdown being over meant that the pandemic was over. When the surge became undeniable, the governor finally issued a state-wide mask mandate. He is catching hell from all sides, from people with common sense for doing it too late and from the idiots on the right, both in and out of government, for doing it at all. They still don't get it.

We are no longer arguing over competing theories like trade or tax policy. We have finally gone through all the bouts on the undercard, and are engaged in the championship fight: reality versus bullshit. Reality should be the favorite since objective proof exists. The only reason the fight continues is because reality fights fair and bullshit cheats. The right has a decades old infrastructure to discredit truth tellers, scientists, journalists and non-partisan career government officials, and were quick to whip it out for the corona virus.

The climate debate has shown us that the republicans would rather burn the whole world down before allowing the government to make it a little less profitable to do business. My wife can't get a hospital bed for non-covid health issue because the wealthy will fight tooth and nail to avoid being slightly less rich.