In Case You Missed It (v38)

This has been a challenging day, as  I've been without my computer for over 12 hours, and not really able to respond to what I was seeing when browsing news and social media sites, and without being able to off you both of our usual Sunday features.

So, Sunday School and any Extra Credit that catches my eye will come tomorrow. But, I can offer you your week in review, in case you missed anything last week.

First up? Sunday School, and Dana Bash's interview with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on CNN' State of the Union. In addition to talking about masks (he trusts the American people to do the right thing, silly man), voting by mail (Florida can do it, because they do it right), and church services (We have a Bill of Rights here, you know), they talked about funding for states to help with pandemic costs and what not. Bash pointed out that red-state Florida receives $25B more in programs than it sends to Washington in taxes, whereas blue-state NY pays $22B more in taxes than it receives in programs.  Here's how Scott talked about that.

Well, first off, the -- the government of New York has never sent a dime while I have been up there in D.C. to the federal government. They don't do it. What happens is, their citizens, while they're working in New York, pay into Social Security and Medicare. And they get sick and tired of all the taxes up there and move to Florida and receive those benefits. That's not the government of New York sending a dime to the federal government. So, that's exactly what's happened. That is -- that has nothing to do reality.

We moved on to a Sunday School Extra Credit entry, which included Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) talking about race, and Papa Joe Biden's "you ain't black" comment and about potentially being Biden's veep. Let's look at the race question, and whether Demings though the comment was out of line.

...look, the vice president went on the show. I'm so glad he did, because these are the conversations that we really need to be having. And one of the things I said in a statement on Friday was that, look, we know we have some serious issues that we're dealing with in this country. And if we're going to be able to address them effectively, then we have got to hold everybody accountable, even those that we do support.

Look, the vice president shouldn't have said it. He apologized for it. But I really think the gall and the nerve of president Trump to try to use this in his campaign, he who has, since day one, done everything within his power, of course supported by his enablers, to divide this country, particularly along racial lines?

And then it was time for some Ranting and Raving about the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and about white privilege. Here's how I ended the post.

If you think it's OK that George Floyd and the others are dead at the hands of the police, you can't think it's OK that I'm still here. 

If you think it's OK that I'm still here, then you can't think it's OK that George Floyd and the others aren't. 

You can't have it both ways: Wish me dead, or be angry that they are. 

Continuing the discussion about race, last week's Wondering on Wednesday brought us examples of black people doing things that white folks like me just 'do' without having people call the police on us, or question our 'right' to do things - work out, ask someone to leash a dog, and so on.  And then, there was a police officer in Louisiana who was fired for making racist comments on Facebook, and the police chief's really low 'higher standard" comments.

He was fired, Aucoin was, for making comments that were "not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook," said Chief Joshua Hardy. And, "the department is moving forward and making sure this will never happen again" and the social media policy has been updated and officers have been notified about that.

But here's something else Chief Hardy said.

We're held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say. You can't just go and post anything you want on social media.

What?  Huh?

We had another Email of the Week, in which I took excerpts from several Dems, including a former president and some of the people who wanted to be the next president, but won't be. My take on all of it?

Every day Trump has the stage alone is a day wasted. Every Sunday with no Dems in the classrooms is an educational opportunity wasted. Every time a talking head is talking about who's going to be Papa Joe's VP, instead of talking about why Trump has to be defeated, is a vote wasted. 

All of them need to become scrappy kids from Scranton, and they have to do it quickly.

I closed the week out on Saturday with a Trump in Transition entry, which was really just four of the president's tweets about protests at the White House. I was disgusted with the joy and anticipation he showed as he salivated on what would happen if protestors breached the fence. And here's how I interpreted what he was saying.

"I watched the protests. I could have been in danger

from the people I was chosen to lead."

"I was saved by virile young men."

"I could have been a virile young man,

but for the bone spurs." 

It was a rough week, for sure, and now you're up to ate with the veritable pastiche. 

See you tomorrow morning for Sunday School, and get ready for what's apt to be another long and difficult week.