Today is Tuesday, August 23, 2022. Today there are primary contests in important states like New York, Florida, and Oklahoma. I’m principally interested in the Florida contest to see if Democrats can anoint a worthy challenger to the current despicable, autocratic governor Ron DeSant-ASS, as I deridingly refer to him, and whether the situation in the Sunshine State will provide enough momentum for a Democratic win in that state. As of now, seasoned Rep. Charlie Crist is positioning himself as the likely challenger to the seemingly popular governor (can’t understand why at all) over Nikki Fried, the state agricultural commissioner vying to become Florida’s first female governor. The race is reported on in an online article for CNN Politics by Steve Contorno entitled “Florida Democrats to decide Tuesday who would be best to take abortion fight to DeSantis.”

During the campaign, it was Fried who hammered Crist over the topic of abortion. She frequently reminded voters that Crist once considered himself “prolife” and that he appointed a pair of justices who ruled to uphold abortion restrictions. Crist was a former Republican governor before becoming an independent and then a Democrat. On this contentious subject, Fried has said this during the only debate of the race, “I have been prochoice my entire life.” She further added, “I have made sure that I’ve stood on the side of women. Charlie cannot say the same thing.”

The “antiwoke” incumbent, Ron DeSantis-ASS, who is frequently talked about (Ugh!) as a 2024 presidential contender, has a massive war chest of $160 million and enjoys widespread (more yech!) popularity. So this could position him as a formidable candidate in the race for governor in November. Both Democratic candidates took potshots at DeSantis during their only debate when Crist declared, “He doesn’t care about you as much as he cares about his own political future.” Fried then intoned, “He’s taking his eye off of his home base. He’s taking his eye off of you, the people, in order to have that chance of running for president of the United States.” Who knows if these criticisms will have any impact on the erratic voting public in November. I hate to say that it will take a major miracle to unseat this authoritarian governor. Florida is really still a red state in many respects. The Orange Blob won this state in 2020, as you recall.

In the Senate race, Rep. Val Demings has won the Democratic nomination for Senate. Her opponent is Dumpf toady Sen. Marco Rubio who, unfortunately, is favored to win his seat in November. He also should be unseated, I feel, for his fealty to the biggest election denier in history. A good sign is that Demings, a former police chief, has outraised Rubio by almost $11 million so far and has spent $20 million more on advertisements than her incumbent opponent. Maybe this will help Demings in the long run, who knows.

In New York, the battle over the state’s new congressional maps caused the primaries for U.S. House and state Senate to be pushed back until August. The final version of the map caused confusion with some races, as it put several incumbents in the same districts.

The most notable is on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side which melded into one district, pitting two members of Congress with 30 years’ experience each against each other, Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler. Also on the ballot is newcomer and 38-year-old Suraj Patel, a former Obama administration official hoping to bank on younger voters in the region.

Nadler’s longtime district, NY-10, had extended from where he lived on the Upper West Side through Manhattan and a huge chunk of Brooklyn. He chose not to run in the redrawn district, which has more conventional boundaries in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn but excludes his home neighborhood. Now, he’s facing Maloney in NY-12.

That leaves NY-10 as a rare open seat in the city, leading to a crowded primary that at one point even included the unpopular former Mayor Bill de Blasio who has since dropped out of the race. Polls shoe Dan Goldman, one of the Democrats’ impeachment lawyers of the former president, leading the pack. Other candidates for this district seat include Mondaire Jones, Elizabeth Holtzman, Jo Anne Simon, Maud Aaron, Yuh-Line Niou, Quandra Francis, Peter Gleason, Jimmy Li, Brian Robinson, Carlina Rivera, and Yan Xiong. Boy, talk about a crowded field – this field is more like a crowded subway car. Holtzman was a former representative in Congress and the oldest candidate among the batch; she’s 81. Rep. Mondaire Jones is a young, Black lawyer representing New York’s 17th Congressional district since 2021 and is one of the first openly gay members of Congress, along with Rep. Ritchie Torres of The Bronx. To me, Jones is a proven progressive champion while Goldman is a conservative relying on his family fortune to buy this congressional seat for himself. Because of his lead in the race, the other candidates have slammed him for several missteps in the campaign. Let’s see who emerges as the victor here.

What perturbs me to no end is that the slimy Matt Gaetz of Florida won his primary against his challenger whose name is not important here since he lost by a wide margin. What the fuck! What is wrong with these voters? Are they all stoned when they cast their ballots? I would think something is definitely wrong with these voters in the “Antiwoke” State!

As for the continuing Dumpf Shitshow, a federal judge today has given the former demagogue until Friday (this is too lenient; he should have been given a day’s deadline) to refine the legal arguments in his request for a special master to oversee the review of evidence gathered in the Mar-a-Lago search. This developing story in the Dumpf corruption show is reported in a CNN online article by Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed entitled “Judge gives Trump until Friday to better explain why he wants a special master for Mar-a-Lago documents.”

The judge, District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Dumpf appointee, may I add, in the Southern District of Florida, ordered the Orange Menace’s lawyers to elaborate on their arguments for why the court has the ability to step in at this time, explain what exactly Dumpf is asking for, and whether the Justice Department has been served with Dumpf’s special master motion.

The judge’s order illustrates the weakness of Dumpf’s most recent strategy to put a wrench into a lawful, authorized search for classified material. It showcases the many ways that the complaint filed by the classified document hoarder fell short of what would have been expected of a court submission asking for the appointment of a special master.

What Dumpf did that has raised eyebrows is that he waited two weeks to make such a request, which would seem to go against the time already spent by the Justice Department in reviewing what it seized at the Florida estate.

When Dumpf did file his request with the court, it leaned heavily into political accusations while being light on the sort of legal discussion that would explain to a court why it should intervene and what authority it had to do so. Basically, this whole strategy just illustrates the incompetence of Dumpf and his ragtag group of lawyers. A critic of this filing said that it read more like a political message than a legal document, which would augur more bad news for the former president.

I still contend that all of these so-called legal maneuvers do not hide the truth of the matter: that the former liar-in-chief is in deep doo-doo and can lose his precious freedom sometime in the near future. Let’s hope this strategy fails before the light of day!

On a more personal note, today Elliot and I drove to a medical building in New Hyde Park to consult with a surgeon on my double hernia, which was detected in a recent physical last week at my local doctor’s office. I had always known I had a hernia, but a double hernia – no. So my internist recommended that I see a specialist right away and he gave me a doctor’s name on Austin Street. When I came home from my appointment, I immediately looked up the physician’s ratings on the internet and it seemed that he had a very low rating. So we did some further research and found this practice, Progressive Surgical Care, located in New Hyde Park. Elliot called for me and was able to schedule this initial consultation today at 1:15 p.m.

Fast forward to this afternoon, when we enter the busy office at around 12:20. We decided to leave early because of fear of traffic, and we were surprisingly met with little to no traffic along the route.

The practice boasts three doctors – two men and one woman. I was assigned to the one female doctor, which made me a little nervous initially since she was going to probe me “down there.” I realized that this was an adolescent notion since a doctor is a doctor. But I did have qualms the whole week until the actual appointment materialized.

When I entered the office, I was directed to one of three receptionists who took my intake forms and had me sign the papers. She also took my medical cards and photo ID. Then she instructed that I sit down and wait to be called. Elliot and I sat opposite one another and we just waited. I tried to busy myself with reading my copy of the Daily News. Elliot had the latest issue of The Atlantic to occupy his time. The lighting in the waiting room was a little dim, so it was somewhat hard to read the paper.

A little after 1, a young nurse called me into a waiting room and I asked if Elliot could accompany me, and she said yes. Before long, a young Asian physician’s assistant (PA) came in and asked me several questions about my situation. Eventually, he had me bear my lower torso and he concurred with the diagnosis of a double hernia. Soon the doctor, Dr. Cristina “Sardinia” walked in and asked to see for herself my condition. At that point, I hardly blushed when I dropped my pants and exposed my nether region to this engaging surgical professional. Elliot did his comedy schtick as well, leaving both PA and doctor in virtual stitches. At one point, Dr. Sardinia said that she will not allow Elliot back into the room the next time. Anyway, she did recommend that surgery be done on my double hernia, but agreed it doesn’t have to be done very soon, since we hope to take a trip in October. She said it could be done in early November, say, November 3, five days before my birthday. I tentatively agreed to that date after asking some questions regarding what my postsurgery recovery would look like. Dr. Sardinia answered all of my questions patiently and with elan.

My consultation over, I walked out of the office with Elliot and reviewed the options before me. Elliot urged me to go through with the procedure on the initial date of November 3rd. I almost wanted to delay it until after my birthday. At another point, I wanted to consider getting a second opinion. To relieve my tension, Elliot took me to lunch at the Seven Seas Restaurant on Northern Boulevard, in Great Neck. One of the effects of the recovery process could include a lessened appetite and possibly experiencing constipation during the first few days after the hernia repair. Boy, would that be terrible! What a way to lose weight, I declare.

Thus ended a most pivotal day.

I will try not to think of the possibility of going under the knife in just two months or so.

Stay safe and be well.