Having written about the Democratic convention each day last week, I will write about the GOP this week.  This is going to be hard to do as I get angry listening to what some of the speakers have to say.  Of course I only watch the highlights (or lowlights).  I can't possibly sit through these speeches in their entirety.  I couldn't even do that with the Democrats either.

So the first night the GOP bring out their diversity starting lineup, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Hershel Walker.  I would be interested who they have coming off the bench the next three days.  From what I can see, they did very good jobs.  I think Haley is eyeing for a 2024 run.  So we may very well have two Indian women competing for the presidency in 4 years!

Trump had said that the Democratic convention was dark and his will be uplifting.  Yet the picture the GOP painted if Biden wins is most very scary and dark.  It was obvious they were trying to scare white people into voting against Biden.  The St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters said so as much.  

Donald Jr.'s speech could have been lifted from one of his dad's.  It was full of lies and hyperbole.  The greatest economy ever?   The China virus?  Beijing Biden?  It was deflection of blame by using China just as his dad.  His eyes looked watery.  Does he have allergies or has he been crying?  His girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle made Don Jr. look soft spoken.  I think she was channeling Howard Dean.  Wasn't she used to be married to Gavin Newsome?  Talk about changing teams.  This is more like changing planets!

There was no sympathy for the COVID victims.  There was no taking responsibility for the pandemic response.  In fact they tried to change history by saying how well they have done.  I don't think any objective observer would buy this.  This was all trying to play to the base and Trump himself.  I understand Melania is speaking tonight.  Who will she copy off this time?  I am not sure I can stomach 3 more days of this but I will try.

 What is going to happen to college football this fall?  The Pac 12 and the Big Ten have decided not to play, at least this calendar year.  The ACC, SEC and the Big 12 are still scheduled to play.  If these three major conferences do play, are we still going to have a national championship playoff?  Are we going to have bowl games?  What if they played out their schedule, crown a national champion and then the Big Ten and Pac 12 decide to play in the spring?  

I think it is crazy that the three conferences are still trying to play given the situation of the pandemic right now.  There is no sign that we are turning the corner.  With flu season coming, the health system may be completely overburdened in the fall.  While there has been success with professional sports playing while in a bubble, this is not possible with college football.  Most of the teams in the three conferences are in the south and southwest where the pandemic is hitting the worst at this time.  How many Florida and Texas teams are going to be able to play out the season without players getting sick and/or passing the disease to other people? Oklahoma went back to practice and immediately have 9 cases already.

With most schools opting for at least partial virtue learning, I don't see how it can be justified that student athletes are going to play a game where there is contact on every play.  Even the huddles are a good place to spread germs.  The Big Ten and the Pac 12 are doing the right thing while the other three are jeopardizing the lives of young men just for money.

 A historic day as Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris to be his running mate.  I don't think this pick will change the dynamic of the race.  It is still a referendum on Trump and I think Biden wants to keep it that way.  Every name on his list of running mates have some baggage or question marks.  Ultimately, I think Biden thinks that Harris is the safest choice.  She has been vetted in the big stages of running for attorney general and senate in California.  She also ran for president.   So her baggage is well known and will not be a surprise under the bright light.  That is not the case with other women on the list with the exception of Warren.  Given her race and age, Warren was never going to be picked anyway.  I think the Treasury post is right for her.

There will be racist and sexist attacks from the right against Harris.  But that would have been the case for any of the other black women on the list.  Harris can dish as well as take.  She did very well in senate hearings where she grilled Sessions, Barr and Kavanaugh.  So I don't think she will have trouble going up against Pence.  The VP candidate is often a bull dog attacking so the person on the top of the ticket can be seen as presidential.  Harris will attack Barr which indirectly will mean she will be attacking Trump.

By picking Harris, Biden also pulled a Ronald Reagan.  Harris attacked him during one of the debates.  It was like Bush attacking Reagan by calling Reagan's policies voodoo economics.  Reagan forgave and forgot after he won the nomination and picked Bush to be his running mate.  Biden is doing the same here.  This is also a contrast with Trump who does not forget or forgive anyone who crosses him!

 I would have to say that Trump is clever in signing executive orders that he claims will help the people and help the economy.  Besides the constitutionality of these executive orders and the inability of his people to coherently talk about the details of these orders, these will help the people or economy very little.  What these orders do is again deflect blame from Trump.  By claiming that these orders break the deadlock between the House and the Senate, Trump is able to say that he is doing something for the American people.

Instead of $600 weekly, the unemployed will get $400 if the states are willing to put up $100 of the $400.  If the state you are in is not able or willing to pony up the $100,  you will get nothing from the Federal government.  Payroll taxes will be delayed, not eliminated for now.  But if you have no job, no wages, this would not help you at all.  Trump says that there will be extension of no evictions.  But that is not true if you read the fine print.  In any case, there will be no improvement in the economy if all these executive orders are enacted.  And who complained about Obama's executive orders in the past?  None other than Donald Trump.

But by signing these orders, Trump can claim that it is the Democrats who are delaying relief to the people by not coming to an agreement.  This is especially true that the Democrats are taking Trump to court over constitutionality of these orders.  The people don't care about the legality of it, they just want relief.  So this may actually hurt the Democrats.  I say let these orders go through.  With virus still surging in many areas of the country, nothing will help the economy anyway.  The U.S. economy decrease 32% in the last quarter, while that of Germany decreased 10% and that of China increased 3%.   When these orders do nothing to change the situation, Trump will be responsible if these orders were put into action.  If the Democrats delay the implementation of the orders and things continue south, then some people will think that the Democrats are responsible.

Given the positive cases of COVID-19 among the Marlins and Cardinals in baseball in the past few days, I am not optimistic that MLB will finish the season.  I think it is 50-50 right now.  I am more pessimistic about the NFL given it is way more contact with way more players than baseball.  The Patriots already have several players opting out.  I would say that health of many players will be in jeopardy if the NFL is played.  Most serious,  I don't think college football should be played, at least not this calendar year.  The idea that student athletes play a contact sport in the middle of a pandemic while regular students are taking online class only, is ridiculous.

The NBA and NHL probably can finish their season.  They, like the MLS and women soccer, have the players living in a bubble.  But baseball and football have players going home after games and travel from city to city,   So the chances of getting infected, even if the players are careful, are still greater than the general population.  They get tested frequently so maybe able to control an outbreak better.  But as you can see with the Marlins, things still can get out of hand.  I thought originally, MLB was going to go into bubbles in Florida and Arizona, but that did not happen.

Major sports leagues such as the English Premier League have been able to finish or almost finish their restarted seasons without significant problems from the virus.  This is because these countries waited until the curves had not only been flattened but had turn downward significantly before starting their sports leagues. We are starting leagues in the middle of a surge, so our chances of success are diminished greatly.  This is a lesson for the economy as well.  If you start too early, things will go south and the second shut down will be more painful than before.