Another Comma Fault

Longtime readers know that the niggardly use of commas is a pet peeve of mine. Today, I received my November issue of Trains. As usual, I turned immediately to the Commentary page written by Bill Stephens. In his essay, “Railroads’ undoing and evidence of better times,” I encountered this sentence:

Rail service still can’t match trucks and cars still spend too much time sitting.

The sentence stopped me cold. After reading “Rail service still can’t match trucks and cars,” I ran into a brick wall when I saw “still,” at which point the sentence was making no sense. I had to backtrack to figure out that a comma was missing after “trucks.” The compound sentence was not punctuated like one and was therefore a run-on sentence. What is so annoying in this case is that the phrase “trucks and cars” is a quite natural one, and, lacking a comma, there was no reason to stop after “trucks.” This is a particularly fine example of bad punctuation.

   

2024 Needs for a More Perfect Union

A lot is wrong in this country, and the outcome of the November election has the potential to make matters considerably worse. Many factors undermining democracy, such as our Electoral College system, are difficult to fix. 

I have just written an essay on changes needed to form a more perfect Union. I urge you to read “Agenda of Urgent American Problems in 2024” on my Web site. Comments are sincerely welcomed.

Voters Should Cut Harris Some Slack

It has been irritating to listen to voters interviewed about their reactions to Tuesday’s debate who complain about what Kamala Harris didn’t say or do. She didn’t address their favorite issue or didn’t say enough about it. Or she didn’t completely explain a policy in which they are interested. Or she failed to implement her ideas in three-and-a-half years in office. Or a Harris administration would just be a continuation of the Biden administration.

Well, she only got two minutes at a time to talk and was (unlike Donald Trump) somewhat constrained by what she was asked by the moderators. (She was also constrained by reality. But I digress.) As for her failure to implement her policies before now, one has to acknowledge that she has only been vice president. Her job has been to support the man on top. Although I suspect that she approved of President Biden’s actions more often than not, when she disagreed, her job was to keep her mouth shut. Continuing the policies of the Biden administration would not be a totally bad thing, though any administration can be improved. A vice president running for president has to walk a narrow path, however, and there is little to be gained by criticizing the job of her boss.

Harris needs to be cut some slack; she hasn’t been running for president very long. Trump, on the other hand, was been at it for quite some time and still seems like a total incompetent. He thinks he was the greatest president ever, but presidential historians rate him as one of the worst. Harris skeptics should listen to a recent New York Times opinion piece. Binyamin Appelbaum says that Harris “may make things better,” but Trump “is pretty certain to make things worse.”

Harris may not be perfect, but she is infinitely better than the alternative.

A Few Observations Concerning the Presidential Debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris participated in a presidential debate hosted by ABC News last night. The overwhelming consensus is that Harris won in grand style. Harris cleaned Trump’s clock, something I had expected Biden to do in his ill-fated debate with the GOP candidate.

I won’t essay a full analysis of the debate; others are doing that very well. Instead, I want to comment on a few moments in the debate I found notable.

The first topic of the debate was the economy and the cost of living. Trump took no time to illustrate that he understands neither tariffs nor the concept of inflation. He mistakenly believes that tariffs are a cost to nations selling to the U.S. rather than a cost invariably borne by consumers. And he believes (or wants us to believe) that the inflation rate is about higher prices, not the speed at which prices are changing.

Politicians are certainly in the habit of embellishing the truth, but Trump repeatedly offers outrageous observations that are blatantly false. He insisted that infanticide is perfectly legal in parts of the country run by Democrats. This is an outright lie, and one wonders if Trump supporters really believe such nonsense. (Moderator Linsey Davis noted that Trump’s statement is untrue.) Just as outrageous was Trump’s assertion that Haitian immigrants are killing and eating Americans’ pets. His information source for this charge was something he saw on TV. On Fox News likely. (Moderator David Muir observed that no evidence exists that people’s pets are being eaten.) These two incidents by themselves should be disqualifying for any candidate for the highest office in the land.

Harris repeatedly showed concern for everyday Americans. Her explaining how Trump got  GOP legislators to kill the bipartisan border bill was a stark illustration of how Trump has little concern for America and Americans but only for his own ideocratic interests.

Harris mentioned some of the crazy things Trump talks about in his rallies. Trump countered by talking about crazy things. (This is when he brought up pet eating.)

Trump repeated one of his favorite lies that the country is being flooded by drug dealers and terrorists who are responsible for a crime wave. He never offers data to support this assertion, of course, and David Muir pointed out that the FBI says that crime is down under the Biden administration.

When asked about his inaction during the January 6 insurrection, Trump accepted no responsibility and remarked that the insurrectionists have been treated badly. Another disqualifying response.

Trump was also asked about his recent admission that he lost the 2020 election. His response was that that “admission” was simply sarcasm. David Muir noted that he saw no sarcasm in Trump’s statement.

Trump called Harris weak and made the extraordinary declaration: “Putin endorsed her last week.” He claimed she will cause World War III.

Trump tried to blame Harris for the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Harris pointed out that Trump ignored the Afghanistan government, negotiated an exit with terrorists, and invited terrorists to Camp David.

Trump was asked about Obamacare, which he has wanted to replace. He described Obamacare as lousy, but admitted that he had no replacement plan, though he has “concepts” for a plan. (How much time does he need to come up with a plan?) Harris pointed out that the administration has improved Obamacare, though Republicans in Congress tried 60 times to kill the program.

In general, Harris behaved like a normal candidate; Trump acted like a crazy man. How much this matters to people, I cannot say.

ABC News and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis did a fine job. Their questions were well-chosen, and they were willing to call out the most outrageous falsehoods. Had I been a moderator, Trump’s microphone would have been turned off at times it was left on, but the moderators headed off the shouting matches that often result in debates in which Trump participates. I continue to believe that the lack of an audience makes a positive contribution to presidential debates.