In Case You Missed It (v44)

Gather 'round - it's time to review the week that was.

Sunday School brought us an interesting conversation with Susan Rice, former UN Ambassador and National Security Adviser in the Obama administration.

She was befuddled by how the Trump administration is handling - or, should I say, not handling - the Russian bounty mess. You'll recall our intelligence folks have long had information suggesting that Russia was paying bounties to Taliban fighters for killing Americans, and that the information was included in the president's daily briefing book - the PDB - back in February, and maybe even before that.

Responding to a question from Andrea Mitchell on This Week on why our team would have let Trump have multiple calls with Vladimir Putin and never raise this issue, Rice said

... it makes no sense. None of this adds up. And if, in fact, the president is surrounded by such cowards and incompetents that even when he's trying to invite Putin into the G7 and has these six phone calls nobody has the guts to say to (him), "Mr. President, we still, I want to remind you, have credible intelligence that the Russians are trying to kill U.S. servicemen and women in Afghanistan. This is not the time to be handing Putin an olive branch. This is the time to be working at options to punish him."

Indeed.  Are those adults still in the room? Bueller? Anyone?

In our Extra Credit entry for the week, we head from several mayors about their efforts in responding to the surging coronavirus in their neighborhoods. One of them was Kate Gallego, who's the woman in charge in Phoenix.  Arizona opened "way too early," she said.

We've seen cars lined up as far as the eye can see on the news, hours before drive-through test sites open, people hoping to get a test. Gallego knows that's an issue - long waits, not enough providers, and said that

... she's been "begging everyone" - including out of state companies - to come in, and asking FEMA to come in and do community-based testing, but

We were told they’re moving away from that, which feels like they’re declaring victory while we’re still in crisis mode.

She also noted the issue with the mixed messaging coming from the feds, specifically the CDC and the president who are clearly not on the same page. That kind of thing can make a person wonder...

And of course, there was Wondering on Wednesday, when our subjects included the retirement of Lt Col. Alexander Vindman, an actual patriot as opposed to all of the fake ones we hear from all the time; and Mary Trump's book, and we also wondered the chief law enforcement official of the country and his thoughts on systemic racism. Or the lack thereof.

Attorney General Snitty Snitty Bill Barr has said he doesn't think that law enforcement is systemically racist, but he does "think it is a widespread phenomenon that African American males, in particular, are treated with extra suspicion and maybe not given the benefit of the doubt.  I have to wonder what, in practice, the difference is between the two?  Any takers? 

I guess if it makes you feel better to say it's a phenomenon... but that's a systemic problem right there, right? Refusing to call something what it is, to make yourself feel better?

In Friday's TGIF, Barr made his second appearance of the week (for a different reason); we also had Papa Joe Biden and the ever-smarmy Mike Pompeo, one of the people in the administration that I trust the least. Here he is talking about government officials who are afraid to talk to reporters. 

What we found in China is the Chinese Communist Party was simply incapable...they're incapable of being transparent, of accepting criticism, of allowing reporters to ask them questions that they find uncomfortable that elicit the truth and the facts... They're afraid that the truth will be something that will not shine a happy light on what took place, and so instead they chose to hide and obfuscate and deny basic truth... this is the - this is a fundamental and fatal flaw for authoritarian regimes...

Now, if you know anything about Pompeo and Mary Louise Kelly, or Pompeo and pretty much any female reporter, you'll know how absurd it is for him to even mention anyone else being afraid to answer questions...

We ended the week with a Poll Watch entry highlighting findings from a Pew Research Center poll from early June. The survey was wide-ranging, covering a variety of topics, including opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement, reasons behind the protests, protests, personal experiences with racism, and more. 

Our great national partisan divide, is incredibly evident - there are huge differences between Democrats and Republicans throughout the survey, including thoughts on whether electing more blacks to public office would be effective in helping achieve racial equality. 

 In fact, only 10% of Republicans think that would be very effective, only 1% higher than the number thinking that organizing protests and rallies would be. Not only that, but 49% of Republicans and those leaning Republican think that getting more blacks elected to office would be not too effective, or not effective at all.

I had some thoughts on that, as you might suspect. 

So -- there you have it - the full and veritable pastiche from last week.  I'll be back later with today's Sunday School.