J.D. Vance was overheard telling his son to shut up about his Pokemon passion the other day. Of the many sins of Vance this is way down on my list of something to be concerned about. In fact, it puts him in a relatable situation the many parents might experience — their children being annoying while he is trying to get something done. Maybe he could have handled it a bit better but when a person is busy and a child is pestering him about Pokemon, it seems like a reasonable place to snap. Shut the Hell up seems about right. This is an unremarkable bit of justifiable annoyance. It doesn’t make him a bad parent and it is certainly unworthy of a top position on the Daily Beast’s top 10 Cheat List.

Nor do I care much about Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband, having an affair while he was married to his first wife. To be clear, I wouldn’t care even if he had been having an affair while being married to Harris. If Harris and Emhoff have made their peace about it, it is none of my business. Wait, let me expand on that thought. Even if they still were fighting about it today, it wouldn’t be any of my business. And I really think it’s ballsy for Republicans to leak this bit of news to the press when Donald Trump, a frequently unfaithful husband, is their standard bearer.

However, I don’t blame the political operatives dredging up such nonsense though. They are just doing their jobs. They are paid to find dirt and to publicize it. They are hoping that some piece of dirt might influence voters to decide for them.The problem is the press and selling newspapers. They can print the dirt or not. Dirt sells newspapers, so the press will headline any and every personal indiscretion in the hopes that this bit of salacious gossip sells more newspapers. Sadly, it must work or else the press wouldn’t be spending so much time talking about these trivialities.

This doesn’t excuse the press in the least. It is comparable to a parent feeding his child only sweets because that is all she will eat. A diet of chocolates would damage the health of the child. They aren’t getting the fruits and vegetables required for a healthy diet. Just because the American Public buys bull shit doesn’t mean you have to serve bullshit. Every headline taken up with Doug Emhoff’s first marriage and J.D. Vance’s snappy parenting, is space taken away from topics that really matter — things like homelessness, or immigration, or inflation or the situation in the Middle East.

Thanks for the information though I am sure I will find it helpful on November 5.