Cheerleading has its place. Polemic has real value. If that's all we have, though, it is crap.

I just got off the phone with my father-in-law from Ohio, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Joe Biden, even down to the crankiness of declining mental acuity. He can't stand Donald Trump on a visceral level. He can barely stand me, but I am family and his daughter loves me and our kids (his grandkids) are fruit that prove the adequacy of me as an obnoxious New York tree.

America has been creeping towards socialism since the Great Depression. My daughter and her friends love the Soviet National Anthem. When I try to be hip and joke about it, she gives me a dirty look and explains to me that actual communism killed millions of people.

The frantic cries that this election is liberty's last stand are spoken by those ignorant of history.

<Deep Breath>

But T_D has also been a real solace and education and forum for me. Something stinks in the handling of mail-in ballots and voter registration in big cities. The electronic vote tabulating process, especially in this election, is unconscionably flawed.

<Another Deep Breath>