Sunday School brought us interviews with the slimy Rep. Steve Scalise, with too-progressive-for-me Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; she spoke with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Weingarten was talking about getting schools reopened, something her union is being blamed for slowing down, or blocking. She disagreed with that portrayal.
She said 85% of her membership "have said that they would be comfortable being in school," with the right protocols in place. It's happening in different places around the country, and
... I think the issue is, if the NFL could figure out how to do this, in terms of testing and the protocols, if schools are that important, let's do it. And my members want it, they just want to be safe.
She's got a point, you know. Other people who had a point? The Texans who were making classroom rounds. They were the focus of our Sunday School Extra Credit. Houston's Mayor Sylvester Turner, Rep. Michael McCaul, and Fort Worth's Mayor Betsy Price all talked about the failures that happened when the power grid went down and the pipes burst, and how Texas failed to learn a lesson from a decade ago, when winterization was recommended, and ignored. Here's a snippet from the conversation with Price.
I admit I was surprised to learn from Brennan that "the majority of the ERCOT board, the energy grid operator, the people on the board don't even live in the state of Texas." She wondered if they were "in touch at all" with what's happening. Price said she was surprised to learn that, too.
I certainly hope they're in touch, but it doesn't appear that way. And I think that's what surprised more people than anything is that they are not Texans who have not been living here. Most people didn't realize that, including myself. I didn't realize that. And, of course, now you've had the perfect storm, a state-wide storm that's tested our system. And we just have to -- we went through this ten years ago.
And speaking of being out of touch, my Wondering on Wednesday topics included on Biden Cabinet confirmation hearings, mean tweets, and hypocrisy - you know, Republicans. I also noted that Louis (kill)DeJoy, the Postmaster General, was more than slightly full of himself when he testified about the mess he's made at the USPS, and his plans to fix it. He
... told Congress yesterday they'll have to get used to him because he's going to be sticking around. He offered support for a plan to eliminate the need to pre-fund future health insurance costs, so that's progress. But he also suggested improving service by slowing down delivery of first-class mail, and said something about having the USPS stop using planes to move mail around the country. I wonder if he doing a CBA on a revived Pony Express? That would surely accomplish both of his goals.
At the same time, his longevity is potentially threatened by the pesky Biden administration's efforts to fill seats on the governing board. And they are not all white men, darn those inclusive Dems. I wonder if any of them have sent any mean tweets in the past? Hope not.
Notably, I delivered the WoW post on Thursday, a tip of the hat to (kill)DeJoy, who's been doing the same thing with the mail since he was put in charge.
I provided some info from a couple of recent public opinion surveys in the first of two posts on Friday. The Poll Watch entry focused on the growing sentiment, especially among the Rs, that their party ain't worth much and doesn't give much of a hoot about them, and maybe it's time to try something different. Here are a couple of highlights from the two polls; the first comes from a Gallup poll.
- 62% say the major parties are doing such a poor job that a third party is needed; only 33% feel the parties do an adequate job. In 2003, when the question was first asked, 56% said the parties were doing an adequate job, with 40% saying a third party was needed.
- 73% of Republicans think it's important (46% saying it's very important) that their guys are loyal to Trump.
- Women (75% total, 49% very important), folks 65 and older (79% total, 59% very important) and those without college degrees (78% total, 52% very important) are the most focused on Trump loyalty.
If they have any patience, the Dems can wait and see what happens to Plan B, a proposal from Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
As chair of the Finance Committee, I’ve been working on a ‘plan B’ that would make big companies pay for mistreating their workers. My plan would impose a 5 percent penalty on a big corporations’ total payroll if any workers earn less than a certain amount. That penalty would increase over time.
I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that's going to fly any higher than the original proposal. We'll have to wait and see. We'll also have to wait and see about this, too - but not for long. The former president is the headliner for today's CPAC closing day, and
...Trump is more likely than not to declare himself for the Republican nomination...during his CPAC speech... As of Friday morning, the odds were 4 to 5, suggesting a 55.6% implied probability that Trump declares during his speech.And will he do that as a Republican, or as a Patriot Party member? Well, there's only a 4-to-1 chance that he'll do it as anything other than a died-in-the-wool RINO.
There you go - last week, in review. See you later for Sunday School.
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