In Case You Missed It (v10)

In case you missed any of this week's posts, here's a recap for you.

In Sunday School,  I sat in on two classrooms with 2020 Dem presidential candidates, catching Andrew Yang and Mayor Pete, who was asked about policies, and polls, and, well, take a look.

About how his being gay impacts black voters and others, "What can you do about that, if anything?"  he said the biggest thing voters think about when trying to decide who to vote for is

How will my life be different if you're president vs. one of your competitors? That's the question we have got to answer. And when we have the best answer to that question, I think a lot of prejudices and a lot of those other considerations fall away, and it comes down to vision and results.

It was an interesting question, for sure, and I'm not sure there's a better answer. I'd like to think that there are fewer people who wouldn't consider voting for a gay man than there used to be. I mean, we've had a black president, for Pete's sake; now we've got The Apprentice. And as he once said, "what have you got to lose?"

I frequently encourage folks to listen to both sides of an argument, and in that spirit I dropped a Sunday School Extra Credit post, in which the pundits hosted some of the Republicans who were willing to chat. Here's House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy complaining to Margaret Brennan about secret depositions, transcripts and that vote the House took to formalize their impeachment inquiry:

You have members of Congress who just voted to justify what has already happened without ever reading one word of what's gone on.

My thoughts on that?

Brennan did not remind him that we have members of Congress who just voted against what has already happened without ever reading one word of what's gone on, and that the vote that was passed allows all of them to see what's gone on. And, of course, that Republican members of Congress are in the room listening to or participating in the depositions and it defies credulity that the Rs don't know exactly what's been said in those traditionally secret depositions.

Tuesday was Election Day, and that meant it was time to update my annual Election Eve post, which is full of rebuttals for not voting, and encouragement for doing so. This year, I was also thinking about New York's entry into early voting, and what the impact of that would be.

Hopefully, now that New York has added early voting, we'll see new voters participating, not just the same folks who vote every year. Overall, we're told, less than 2% of all registered voters cast their ballots early, but in my area, 20% of the early voters did not vote in 2018. Maybe there's hope after all?

There was some chatter in the Twitterverse about there not being a proclamation for Native American History Month this year; that turned out not to be true, but it did get me looking at Trump proclamations, and as with some of the ones he's issued in the past, it inspired me to drag out my Irony Board. 

This year, in addition to celebrating our Native American heritage, we are celebrating several other things, including National Veterans and Military Families Month, with a proclamation noting that

Each warrior who fights for our Nation, along with their families, has earned our eternal gratitude, and I ask that all Americans thank and support them.  Together, we remain committed to fostering a national community of support for these brave heroes and their families.

If you think about all the "fostering a national community of support" this particular president has done, you'll wonder, as I did, how he can put his signature on this with a straight face.

On Wednesday, I wondered about impeachment, mostly, but also about the election results from around the country, and from Trump country, and what they might mean in the larger picture.

Moving on to yesterday's election results: Virginia turned blue last night, for the first time in a generation. and the lady who flipped Trump off won a seat. Not because she flipped him off, mind you, but because her message resonated with voters and because she worked her fanny off. In Pennsylvania, Republicans lost in Delaware County where they've held seats since the Civil War; Democrats flipped several seats in Central Ohio, and may have narrowly won the Kentucky gubernatorial contest, although a re-canvass has been requested by the Republican incumbent Matt Bevin.

I was at the Update Desk again on Thursday, reviewing emails from the Dems. It's still about money, for the most part - no surprise there - and about both the November and December debates. They're all in for November, but December's going to be much harder for some.  Here's a taste of what one of them is talking about in campaign emails.

Andrew Yang: he's got his first ad on TV, he's worried about qualifying for the December debate; he offered a split donation to Virginia Dems and his campaign,  he's got new merch, including a new hat that will give $1 to the USO for every purchase, and we heard from his wife Evelyn for the first time.

And on Friday, instead of our usual 'good week/bad week' TGIF entry, I tossed out a Knock Knock post on all of the different ways the president's defenders are making fools of themselves on the impeachment stuff. It's really getting embarrassing. I have a suggestion for them, his defenders and, frankly, his accusers, too.

It's time to stop talking and start listening. Hear the evidence, read the evidence (and, can I ask, have you read the Mueller Report yet?), and listen to the official arguments when they are presented. 

And then, stop embarrassing yourselves, all of you.

I have no idea what next week will bring, but I know I'll be here trying to make sense of it. Join me?