Wondering on Wednesday 3/30/22

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's dive into the wonderment, shall we? 

Right off the bat, I have to wonder why Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R- I Lied About Why I Didn't Get In To The US Naval Academy But They Elected Me Anyway) would actually think anyone in DC political circles wanted him to attend their orgies? I mean, seriously, he's among the most obnoxious people I've never had the pleasure of meeting. And, frankly, the words 'pleasure' and 'Madison Cawthorn' go together about as well as 'delicious' and 'bird poop.'

And I wonder, who's going to get to him first: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Mar-a-Lago's Tool Shed), or the folks who invited him to the orgies? Or, maybe it's going to be the other folks he knows, the politicians who do all that coke?

I also wonder if McCarthy or anyone else is going to require him to name names - otherwise, how will the Rs know who to put on key committees when they regain the majority in November?

The other day I gave US Attorney General Merrick Garland the We May Never Find the Poop Under this Snowpile award for moving oh-so-slowly in deciding whether to do anything any time soon. About anything. The House January 6th Committee asked for contempt of Congress charges against Mark 'One Man's Rusty Trailer is Another Man's Castle' Meadows. To his credit, Garland's folks did charge Steve 'Does Hanging Out On This Chinese Yacht Make My Podcast Sound Stupid?' Bannon, but still no word on Meadows. 

With former Trump administration goofballs Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro now facing a vote by the full House to refer their contempt charges to DOJ, it's past time for Garland to act on the Meadows referral, or explain why he won't act.  And the only wondering here is this: How long will it take Garland to decide whether he'll decide to make a decision?

Former president Donald Trump's White House call logs apparently have a bigly gap on January 6th. How bigly, you're wondering? Here's what CBS News is reporting.

The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes — from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. — on Jan. 6, 2021 means there is no record of the calls made by Trump as his supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, battled overwhelmed police and forcibly entered the building, prompting lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety.

In case you wondered, as I did, it would take nearly 25 separate Rosemary Woods yoga poses, demonstrated in this AP photo, to create a chasm that big. And I can't believe he didn't take or receive a single call during that time - especially since we know he talked with several members of Congress, by their own admission.

Sticking with the former president, I'm sure you're all familiar his enthusiastic endorsements of MAGAesque candidates - including Madison Cawthorn, it turns out. Trump also endorsed Rep. Mo 'I Tried to Stop the Steal' Brooks, who's in the hunt for the open Alabama Senate seat. After getting Trump's support, Brooks started talking about looking ahead to 2022 and 2024 - he 'went woke' according to Trump, who pulled his endorsement last week. 

Now, what makes this all so very wonderful and interesting? Brooks pulled no punches in responding to the lost endorsement. After blaming Trump for going along with Mitch McConnell - unlikely, at best - he said

President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I've repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period."

I don't wonder for a second whether Trump did what Brooks says he did; at the same time, I don't doubt for a second that Brooks would say just about anything to try and stay in the game.

What's got you wondering tonight?

Sunday School 3/27/22: Extra Credit

In this week's Sunday School we heard from a Right Winger and a Woke Lefty on issues unrelated to regime change and ethics. For your Extra Credit, we're going to look at the latter, starting with three guests John Dickerson had on Face the Nation. 

First up? Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Dammit, I'm a Republican; Trump is a Menace). The bulk of their conversation was about the Ginni Thomas texts, the January 6th Committee, and the Supreme Court. (Full disclosure: Thomas and her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, recently received one of my Dirty Snowpile awards.)

Kinzinger wouldn't officially confirm or deny the texts existed, since they were leaked, but he said the Committee's bottom line was to get the facts and share them with us.

We're going to get to the bottom of this. And as we're seeing in Ukraine, people are willing to die for democracy. We at least have to be willing to put careers on the line for the same cause.

He's got a point there...  Sadly, he didn't offer much of value, other than his lack of confidence that Mark Meadows, the recipient of the texts in question, has been fully forthcoming. There's a reason why he's been turned over to the DOJ for a potential contempt prosecution.

I mean, he was cooperating with us for a little bit, and then... to make Donald Trump happy, he stopped cooperating. We gave him plenty of space to come back to resume that. He has not. And, in fact, he's waived executive privilege a thousand times by presenting us what he already has. So, no, I'm not convinced he's handed over everything to us. 

Next up? Bob Woodward (WaPo) and Robert Costa (CBS), who broke the story the texts. Dickerson asked for an explanation on the importance of the messages. Woodward compared them to Watergate, which was tampering on the front end of the election process. This is different because "they come after the election is over." 

Costa noted this "campaign, spearheaded by then-president Trump," crossed all three branches of government "in at least tangential ways." It wasn't just pressuring Pence and Congress to overturn the results, and pressuring the states to invalidate the votes.

... you had the executive branch doing everything possible to have a legal challenge that would maybe go all the way, as Trump said, to the Supreme Court. This was Trump pulling every lever of power. And one of those levers, it appears to be...his own chief of staff at least communicating on legal strategy with the spouse of a justice.

Woodward said that Chief Justice John Roberts "really has grounds for being worried" about the Court being seen as political. He pointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett's "remarkable speech" a few months back, 

She said, I want to prove to you that we are not a bunch of partisan hacks in the Supreme Court. And she said justices - all justices - must be hyper vigilant to make sure they're not letting personal biases creep into their decision since justices and judges are people, too. So, she made it very clear that this hypervigilance should be the condition in which justices operate.

And yet, we have Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows texting about 'war' and 'good vs. evil' and 'not giving up' in their efforts to overturn the election, and Justice Thomas not recusing himself from January 6th-related cases... 

Costa appreciated the Committee's frustration by Meadows and what else he might have, and that includes any texts with Ginni Thomas after the end of November. I agree; it seems weird they would suddenly end. After all, she attended the Stop the Steal rally, until her feet got cold, and allegedly has ties with some of the groups behind the event. 

That said, The Committee has "done hundreds of interviews. They have thousands of pages of documents" from cooperating witnesses,

but they still feel in many ways they do not have enough. Steven Bannon has refused to cooperate. Mark Meadows has now refused to cooperate. So, the question facing ...Kinzinger and others is, where is the John Dean who's going to put the hand in the air and start outlining all of these different facets?

 Woodward said "there are always surprises," so it possible there's a John Dean out there. And

remember, the January 6th committee, in a filing in California, has said they have a good-faith conclusion that Trump and people around him engaged in a full-fledged criminal conspiracy to overturn the election. They rule this as criminal. 

And just yesterday, that judge ruled it was "more likely that not" that Trump "corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021." 

Costa said the "real test" for the Committee is whether they give Thomas a chance to speak voluntarily, or if they subpoena her. And, he said, it's not just about her conversations with Meadows. 

We just don't have the full picture at this point about her relationship with Justice Thomas and his knowledge of her exchanges with the chief of staff.

Ain't that the truth. 

Finally, let's hear just a bit from Sen. Cory Booker (D-No One's Going to Steal My Joy!), who chatted with What's-his-name on Meet the Press.  In addition to talking about the #KBJ hearings, the host brought up the text thing, using former AG Loretta Lynch and the meeting on the tarmac with Bill Clinton as an example of someone recusing themselves, and asked if Justice Thomas "should follow the Loretta Lynch precedent?" 

Booker ignored that example; instead, he offered a relevant one: Justice Elena Kagan.

Out of 70-some cases, she recused herself over 20 times... not necessarily because she was conflicted, but because she understood that even the appearance of impropriety would delegitimize the Court. And the Court needs that legitimacy in this nation. So clearly, Justice Thomas should have recused himself. That's not even at question here. (Emphasis added.)

He said he's frustrated with the Court "as a whole, that they have not taken better measures to police themselves." That includes holding lower courts to ethics rules that they "don't put upon themselves." And, he gave one my favorite examples of shady ethics: justices giving paid speeches to partisan groups that may have direct matters, or amicus briefs, before the Court.

There are a lot of ethics rules that they do not, have not put upon themselves that are just common sense and ultimately lead to a delegitimized court. And I think that they need to use this Thomas affair as an opportunity to change their ethics rules.

He didn't add "or we'll change the rules for them" - but that possibility is already on the table, as it should be.

See you around campus. Unless you need to recuse yourself for something. 

Sunday School 3/27/22

Every classroom I visited yesterday was all abuzz about the off-script statement from President Joe Biden about Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was a classic Biden gaffe, a classic Biden ad-lib, a classic Biden throw-away line. It was classic Biden. 

Like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Shrieking in the Hearing Room), saying someone needed to 'take Putin out', Biden said out loud what many people say quietly to themselves, or to a higher power in their prayers at night. 

In case you missed it, here's the video.

Since we know how that played out, with all the administration folks quickly moonwalking back the comment, I'm going to move on to other things, like these Fox News Sunday interviews, starting with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida Man). 

The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Scott didn't even wait for a question to dive right in.

It's nice seeing you, John. I think we're going to have a great year. We've got great candidates running around the country. We've got some primaries. The Democrats have primaries. In their primaries, I think Bernie Sanders type candidates are going to come out. The Biden agenda is very, very unpopular. So, as long as we raise our money, as long as we, you know, focus on big, bold ideas, I think we're going to have a great November.

The 'John' mentioned was host John Roberts, who asked about Russia and Ukraine. Scott said we should be doing more.

 ... don't play to tie, you play to win. You give them every resource you can and you do it every second. You're thinking, every second, what else can we do to put Putin back on his heels and have him take his troops back into Russia? That's what we should be doing every second. We have got to win this.

Scott also said that Biden has "been pretty weak" and that he had done more, "Putin wouldn't have invaded."

Roberts had some questions on two items in Scott's "11-point plan to rescue America." First, that all Americans should pay income taxes so they "have skin in the game," and second, that  all federal legislation will sunset in five years - which could potentially lead to the end of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. 

He wondered why Scott would propose that kind of thing in an election year. Scott said those were "Democrat talking points," but Roberts insisted they were in the plan - and he's right. In his defense, Scott said

Also in the plan, it says we ought to, every year, talk about exactly how we're going to fix Medicare and Social Security... No one that I know of wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security, but what we're doing is we don't even talk about it. Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years. I think we ought to figure out how we preserve those programs. Every program that we care about, we ought to stop and take the time to preserve those programs.

That italicized part? I searched the plan for 'Social Security' and there's only one reference:

Force Congress to issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt. 

That's not the quite the same thing as talking every year about fixing these programs. And, on the other point, the tax thing? 

...here's what's unfair. We have people that don't -- that could go to work and have figured out how to have government pay their way. That's not right. They ought to have some skin in the game. I don't care if it's a dollar. We ought to all be in this together. I'm going to focus, continue to focus on reducing taxes. 

Just once, I'd love a politician to name one of these freeloaders, or one of the lobster-and-steak-eating welfare queens 0r whatever they call them. If they can't name one, do they even exist? 

Scott said he's only been in DC for a short while - three years - but he went there "to change this country.

Look at where we are now. The woke left controls, you know, the executive branch. They control a lot of our government. They control academia. They control Hollywood.

My goodness - they control Hollywood!  

To his credit, Roberts suggested most of his Republican colleagues "want to focus on Joe Biden," not on coming up with some plan they have to try and sell to the American public. And I'm pretty sure he's right about that.

And, speaking of the woke left, the next guest was Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Silicon Valley is Nowhere Near Hollywood); he's one of the Deputy Whips of the Congressional Woke Left Caucus. 

They talked a bit about Ukraine, and the Iran nuclear deal, and where India gets military equipment. And then Roberts shifted to politics and stuff that's more wokey-lefty: how Biden "keeps talking about, 'we've got to move toward the green agenda,' That's fine,  

if you do it over the course of decades. Even if you gave everybody in the country an electric vehicle for free and you convert every home to electric heat, the grid wouldn't stand it. So, you've got to update the grid as well. I mean, is it a time to put a pause on the push toward the green agenda and say, look, for the meantime, we've got to pump more oil, we've got to help out our European allies, we've got to get prices down?

Damn - that's an unwoke righty comment right there. Khanna suggested it's possible to walk and chew green gum at the same time, or something. He called it 'common sense.'

Short term, increase production. Here's one way to do it: the federal government can buy back what we're using in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and provide a floor price. That's a bipartisan proposal. Let's pass it.

Long-term, let's have a moonshot on clean technology. If John F. Kennedy said that we need to go to the moon to defeat the Soviets, you want to defeat the petrol states of Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, let's have a moonshot on renewable energy.

Remarkably, Roberts' head did not explode after Khanna's answer. He moved to Queen Work Lefty AOC and her recent NY1 interview, and her thinking that "the Democratic Party is in trouble because of the president." He played this clip, and asked Khanna if she's right.

This is really about the collapse in support among young people, among the Democratic base, feeling like they are not -- that they worked overtime to get this president elected and they aren't necessarily being seen. 

Khanna outlined Biden's accomplishments (American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill, and more) and said "of course there are other things we ought to do. But this president has met the moment in very difficult circumstances." That led Roberts to suggest "Americans might disagree with you," pointing to the president's 40% approval rating.

Finally, Roberts had a question about Khanna's book, which talks about technology and how we can make it work better for us. 

... the political discourse in this country has sunk to new lows. Everybody's yelling at each other. And much of the reason why they're yelling at each other is because of social media. Is social media ruining this country?

He said no, but "social media needs to do better." 

They ought not to have incitement of violence. They ought not to discriminate against viewpoints, allow for free speech, and they ought to make sure that teenagers aren't getting manipulated in ways that are causing depression and suicide. So, absolutely, there need to be more smarter regulations on social media.

Speaking of social media, remember Truth Social, former president Trump's new platform? No surprise if you don't - it's been a dud, it seems. This article in The Guardian says  

...nearly a month after its launch, Truth Social has become a laughingstock, marked by a botched rollout, a share price collapse and, in Trump, a figurehead who doesn’t actually post much to his own social media platform...

And almost a month after the launch, Trump has so far shared only one thought to the platform; a boilerplate message in mid-February urging people to “Get ready!”

 See you around campus.

And the Winners Are...

Here in Central New York, we're familiar with massive piles of snow, which go through cycles of looking pretty, and looking pretty disgusting, like the one shown here.

It's been a while since I've handed out any Dirty Snowpile Awards, given for particularly bad acts on the part of local, state, and federal politicians.

It wasn't for a lack of trying, I assure you. During the Obama years, I attempted to hand some out, but I never managed to get them done during awards season. And, of course, the Trump years were one giant dirty snowpile, from so many perspectives; it seemed silly to single anyone out. 

Tonight, folks are gathering for the Oscars, and I can't think of a better time to get some other well-deserved recognition out there. 

> The We May Never Find the Poop Under this Snowpile award goes to US Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland moves at a very deliberate pace, it seems, and he's hardly an emphatic speaker. We know things are moving forward on the insurrection, and hate crimes, and such, but sometimes all we know is that things are moving s-l-o-w-l-y. There have been accomplishments, of course, and we know that his goal is to leave no snowpile unturned, at this pace by the time he finds the poop under all that snow, we'll forget which dog left it there. 

> Speaking of poop, former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has earned the Just When You Thought Winter Was Over award. Cuomo, as you know, resigned in the face of multiple sexual harassment allegations, for which he offered the Italian defense, and blamed his alleged victims and his political opponents. But now, like snow in April and May, he's back. That's right- the Sonofa Gov is campaigning to get his reputation back, and, if that weren't enough, he's been teasing a return to politics. 

Cuomo meandered back and forth across the ethical aisle for a long time. He was one of the three amigos back in the day; the other two were convicted of crimes. There were the economic development issues, with several people very close to Cuomo charged (and convicted). There were previous allegations of sexual harassment in his  administration; and of course, there was the Moreland Commission mess. 

The bottom line? Cuomo's just one more in a long line of NY pols who've behaved badly and tried to make us think they didn't. And, like late season snow, we don't like it, we don't need it, and we're sick of it. 

> The Does this Snowpile Make My Uterus Look Big award, given collectively to Republicans for their attacks on women and our bodies. Remember their, um, erudite conversations on rape? A few of those are captured here. And, of course, there are the new anti-abortion laws, some of which defy both logic and science. And in their zeal to see Roe v. Wade overturned, they're salivating at the possible end of Griswold v. Connecticut, which afforded privacy protections to married women and their birth control decisions. Considering the Rs are the party of small government and individual freedom, they're sure spending a lot of time trying to control my lady parts.

> The My Snowpile's So Small It Fits on this T-shirt award goes to the thousands of politicians, their advisors, or whoever it is that decided we should have a government of the t-shirt, by the t-shirt and for the t-shirt. You know what I'm talking about, right? Policies and positions that fit on a t-shirt are great; anything else, we don't give a hoot about. And don't forget how those slogans get twisted and turned into opposition missiles, either.

Need some examples? Well, off the top of my head, and in keeping with what we just talked about, My Body My Choice. And these: Make America Great Again; Build Back Better; Back the Blue; Defund the Police; Race to the Top; Read My Lips - No New Taxes; Drill, Baby, Drill; the Green New Deal... There must be a political slogan factory somewhere, I swear - and there are days I want to work there.

Sadly, one of the most important things with all this 'governing by slogan' stuff is that you buy the t-shirt, literally or figuratively.

> My frustration with progressives in the Democratic Party is no secret, so it should come as no surprise that they win the With Friends Like These Who Needs Enemies award. They think nothing of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; it's never good enough to get something you've been fighting for, if you can't get everything you've been fighting for, and - of course - nothing is more important than what they want. This year, the progressives had a response to their own president's State of the Union address, for Pete's sake. 

> This year's The Couple That Shovels Together Stays Together award goes to the Thomases, Clarence and Ginni. Her work is hers, and his is his, and never the twain shall meet, except when the twain is all twisted up in an ugly ethical hairball, even without those text messages. And don't forget, Clarence has some issues separate from his wife's texts; here's one example; here's another one. 

That's all for this year's awards; I'd love to give out more, but I've got to go out and shovel one last time.

ICYMI (v82)

 Time to recap last week's posts, in case you missed anything.

The week started with a visit to the Sunday School classrooms, where we heard from The Grim Reaper himself, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He offered some thoughts to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Putin's war, including that

The Ukrainians have killed more Russians in three weeks than we lost in Afghanistan and Iraq in 20 years. 

Given how well the Ukrainians are doing, he suggested an open purse - and an attitude adjustment - might be helpful. 

If Ukraine needs more aid, on top of the $13.6B that was just approved, "we ought to give them more." And,

Look, I think we need to change our attitude here. The Ukrainians could actually win this thing and that's - the attitude we ought to have, that we're in it to help them win.

I also covered UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who joined Jake Tapper in the State of the Union classroom.

For your Sunday School Extra Credit I wandered into the host's chat with Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) in ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos classroom. Barrasso and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) traded a few barbs separately, including on the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to move up to the Supreme Court.

George picked up with Sen. Barrasso where he left off with Durbin, asking if Hawley was engaging in what Barrasso specifically said should not happen with Jackson: "a process of character assassination." Barrasso said "the whole process is going to be fair, respectful, and thorough." And he offered an attack on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

I’m less concerned about her statements than I am about Chuck Schumer's statements. He said she's going to rule with empathy. A judge ought to be making decisions based on the law as written, not the way they feel about it. So, he also said check her record. And going through the record, there are some concerns that people have about her being perceived as soft on crime. That's all going to come out with the hearings but they're going to be respectful, they’re going to be thorough and they’re going to be fair, George.

We now know what happened on the 'respectful' part, don't we?

I was Wondering on Wednesday about the KBJ hearings, and the approach the Rs took in their questioning, much of it focused on Judge Jackson's sentencing of child pornography defendants. For some reason, this is a GOP Most Favored Topic - remember Pizzagate? Anyway.

And I wonder why these child-porn-focused Republican senators are now asking to receive additional information on these cases, including pre-sentencing reports? And why is Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin withholding information from the Republicans, if in fact that's happening here?

Truth be told, there's a simple way to resolve that conflict, and I wonder why no one has suggested it yet: have the FBI urgently investigate, like it did with the sexual harassment allegations against Brett 'I Really Like Beer' Kavanaugh, and then the senators can all go into a SCIF or something and have the report read to them. Oh wait - we all remember how that went.

That didn't happen, of course. We know they didn't really want to see the reports; they just wanted their moment in the spotlight, to pound their chests and scratch themselves and pick bugs off each other... 

Interestingly, that whole "moment in the spotlight" stuff came up in my TGIF entry. In a blitz of mostly bad week items from the hearings, I dropped this kudo.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) had a good week, for calling out the bad behavior of his colleagues - and not just the ones making fools of themselves in these hearings. While explaining why he doesn't want cameras in SCOTUS proceedings, he offered this bit of wisdom, with which I can't argue. 

I think we should recognize the jack-assery we often see around here is partly because of people mugging for short-term camera opportunities.

And later, after my  post was published, we learned that he was going to vote 'no' on Jackson, even though there'll be no change in the balance of the Court. 

Sasse can't vote for an "extraordinary person with an extraordinary American story" who "love(s) this country" and who has "impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law..." because she's not an 'originalist.' 

But boy, she's damn qualified., isn't she?

I'll be back with a special post for this special day - stand back and stand down, or something.

TGIF 3/25/22

After last week's all good news TGIF, we're back to the regular format, where both good and bad week stories are included. Let's dive in with a good week mention, to get us off on the right foot. 

Some great unemployment news came out Thursday, giving the Biden team a bit of a good week. It's possible you missed it; good news doesn't garner wall-to-wall coverage in the press like bad news does

Here's the scoop, from the White House:

This morning, we received news that the number of Americans on unemployment insurance fell to its lowest level since 1970 and the number of Americans filing new claims fell to its lowest one-week level since 1969. 

Now, it wasn't just the White House talking about the great numbers. Reuters concurred. 

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a 52-1/2-year low last week, while unemployment rolls continued to shrink, pointing to rapidly diminishing labor market slack that will keep boosting wage inflation.

Piggybacking on that good news, I'll give a shoutout to businesses that are paying higher wages to get and keep good employees. I'm especially proud of them for not waiting for the government to order them to do that.

Hearings were held this week on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. As with other recent SCOTUS hearings, we saw a teeny bit of time spent on learning about the nominee, and an overwhelming amount of time spent on career advancement, harassment, and showing off by Judiciary Committee members. Here are some noteworthy takeaways from the hearings, both good and bad.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) had a good week, for calling out the bad behavior of his  colleagues - and not just the ones making fools of themselves in these hearings. While explaining why he doesn't want cameras in SCOTUS proceedings, he offered this bit of wisdom, with which I can't argue. 

I think we should recognize the jack-assery we often see around here is partly because of people mugging for short-term camera opportunities.

On the very bad week side of the ledger, there's Sen. Ted Cruz (R- Cancun). I've made no secret about my dislike of him over the years, and nothing he said this week changed my opinion of him.

Of all the folks on the Judiciary Committee, he was the most hypocritical, especially on the issue of critical race theory. Here's what he thinks about that, and about Judge Jackson being on the board of the school that he says

aggressively teaches critical race theory, and that is an extreme and divisive theory that pits children against other children, divides us based on race, and teaches a false and revisionist history of our nation.

The problem? He sends his daughters to a school that espouses a similar philosophy. For example, statements by school leaders after the murder of George Floyd said the school

must be antiracist and eliminate racism of any type - including institutional racism - within our school, community, and beyond.

And, from the school's website, we learn that "cultural proficiency, diversity, global awareness and inclusivity" will be incorporated "into all facets of the curriculum." One can't help thinking Cruz has never looked at his daughters' homework. Unless  he only gives a hoot about this stuff when the cameras aren't on.

In fairness, I must give the Rs on the committee a wee dollop of credit; it seems the idea of boycotting the vote to move Judge Jackson's nomination out of committee is DOA. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said

There's not going to be any boycott. There's zero, not one iota (of a chance) that we would boycott.

Other senators, including the despicable Lindsey Graham (R-Shriekerville) said he didn't think that was the right way to handle it. John Cornyn (R-TX) said they should

show up and try our best to be on our best behavior and treat the nominee respectfully. (Emphasis added)

Good luck with that, if what they showed this week is any indication. 

Speaking of being on best behavior, Judge Jackson was remarkable. Her grace, tolerance, and patience were on display throughout the hearings. There was a moment, though, when she took a very long pause before answering one of Sen. Cruz's questions. Elie Mystal of The Nation explained what that pause meant; in part, she said

It’s the calculation when black people try to decide: “Am I gonna risk it all for this?” 

Jackson took a moment to decide if it was worth it to throw everything away—her chance, her good name, maybe even her whole career—just to tell Ted Cruz, a man she’s known for over 25 years, what she really thought of him. 

She decided against it, of course.

And in that moment, she proved herself better than Cruz, Graham, Cornyn, Hawley, and all the rest of them. 

I'll close with one more reference to Cruz; as I said, he had a very bad week. USA Today columnist Rex Huppke addressed the same question as Elie Mystal - did Jackson think babies are racist? Here's his take.

Some viewers wondered why a man who looks like he rubbed honey on his face then rolled on the floor of a barbershop would pose such a question. In fact, the collective eye roll was so intense the Earth briefly tilted off its axis.

But I stood and cheered the bold senator from Texas/Cancun. He was speaking truth to power and addressing an issue few Americans have ever been willing to face: Babies are incredibly racist. 

We know this, he opines, because babies "are silent on the issue." 

If babies aren’t racist, and if a clearly intelligent and serious U.S. senator is out there floating a possible epidemic of infant racism, don’t you think babies themselves would stand up, immediately fall down, and then assure everyone they don’t have a racist bone in their soft and pliable bodies?

Of course, they would. 

TGIF, everyone. 

Wondering on Wednesday 3/23/22

Ready... Set... Wonder!

What's wonder-full today? 

My local newspaper ran an article letting us know that gas prices in my neck of the woods fell a dime a gallon in just ten days. Now, if you've been paying any attention, every time the price of gas goes up, or there's even a hint that it's going to go up, the angry folks on the right throw a mass conniption fit, which apparently causes them to run around putting Joe Biden "I Did That!" stickers on gas pumps, yell out their windows that they're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore, and run out and order overpriced gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs which they drive around potholes and stones in the road and stuff.

And I'm wondering, why the heck they aren't thanking Joe Biden for lowering the price? Is it because they really know that presidents don't have a whole lot to do with gas prices? 

You may have heard the news that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been hospitalized since last Friday. Keep that thought in mind as we reflect on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Some pissed-off place south of North Carolina) and his questioning of SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Graham was particularly interested in how other people, or outside groups lobbied hard to have Jackson be Biden's pick; or, maybe, they lobbied hard to have Judge J. Michelle Childs, from South Carolina, not be Biden's pick. Either way, Jackson herself had nothing to do with that, Graham knows that, and he doesn't give a dried-out palmetto leaf if we all know he knows.

I think it does matter that the groups that came to your aid at the expense of Judge Childs - how did that happen and why were they doing what they were doing? What is it about your nomination that the most liberal people... threw in their money, their time, their support, and threatened Joe Biden if he picked Judge Childs? 

So, here's what I'm wondering: if Justice Thomas is unable to return to the bench, for whatever reason, how hard would Senator Graham lobby to have Judge Childs replace him?

And, sticking with the Judiciary Committee hearings on Judge Jackson's nomination, I wonder why so many Republicans want to spend so much time talking about child pornography? 

And I wonder why these Republicans are expending so much effort on how Judge Jackson sentenced offenders in these cases, when what she did was exactly what other judges were doing? 

Were those judges questioned on this issue? Not just soft-on-crime-liberal-Democrat appointees, but Republicans, too, the ones recommended by the Heritage Foundation (they're the folks who fan themselves with their pocket copies of the US Constitution if it gets too hot in the freedom-loving trenches)? Judges nominated by Donald "Only the Best People" Trump, their appointments strongly supported by these same porn-focused senators?

And I wonder why these child-porn-focused Republican senators are now asking to receive additional information on these cases, including pre-sentencing reports? And why is Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin withholding information from the Republicans, if in fact that's happening here?

Truth be told, there's a simple way to resolve that conflict, and I wonder why no one has suggested it yet: have the FBI urgently investigate, like it did with the sexual harassment allegations against Brett 'I Really Like Beer' Kavanaugh, and then the senators can all go into a SCIF or something and have the report read to them. Oh wait - we all remember how that went.

There was much more from the hearings that inspired wonder, like the war criminals issue involving George W. Bush (but curiously not Barack Obama) question and the definition of 'woman' but I'll leave it here, and you can wonder out loud or to yourself, as you prefer.

I'll close out tonight's wondering where we started - with gas prices. It seems that, in addition to the blame game, some folks in DC want to try and help. And we know there's a whole lot of wondering going on when that happens, right?

We've got three federal proposals - and it's only March 23rd. Who knows how many more there'll be, since the House isn't occupied with Daylight Savings Time. One would provide a

monthly energy rebate of $100 per person. That refund would kick in for the rest of 2022 (if) the national average gas price topped $4 a gallon during any given month... both joint and single tax filers would receive $100 each, while each dependent would also receive $100 each. In other words, a family with two kids could receive up to $300 a month in rebate checks. 

The second would offer less money, but would be paid for, I think. It'd offer

a quarterly rebate to consumers based on a tax levied on oil and gas companies. The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax would charge a per barrel tax equal to 50% of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and its pre-pandemic average price between 2015 to 2019... if the per barrel price sits at $120, the tax would raise about $45 billion a year — providing single filers with $240 annually and joint filers with $360 each year. 

The last proposal would also be paid for, but differently, and we have no idea how much money's involved. It would

create a rebate based on oil company profits. It's unclear how much Americans would receive because the plan is based on taxing this year's profits from oil and gas companies. 

So, what's the wondering on this one? Well, for starters, how much more appetite is there for sending checks to Americans who may or may not need them? Didn't we learn anything from the previous stimuli? And, what are the chances that any of these will make it through the legislative process before the midterms? I'm guessing slim to none, but maybe that's just me.

What are you wondering about tonight?

Sunday School 3/20/22: Extra Credit

This week's Sunday School lesson focused mostly on the war in Ukraine, so I'm going to share some of the other stuff that made the list.  

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was a guest in ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos classroom, where he was asked by the host about China, and its support for Russia. Durbin said China's president 

has to decide his place in history and China's place in the world. If they are going to be part of Putin and his barbaric conduct in Ukraine, he's going to run the risk of discrediting his own nation. He has to think twice about that.

George, like all the other pundits in the universe, was unable to resist talking about "inflation, higher gas prices across the board." He played a clip of Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), who was also on the show, saying

Biden would rather turn to dictators like those in Iran and those in Venezuela rather than turn against the climate elitists who dictate the energy policy of that Democratic Party and of his presidency. So now he's trying to pass the buck to Vladimir Putin.

Durbin said it was "hard to deny" that our cutting off Russian oil has impacted Americans, and he mentioned some of the steps being taken to help alleviate that. And, about Barrasso's comments?

We’ve got to make sure that we’re sensible not only about Putin, the war, and these Russian oil supplies, but also sensible in what my friend John Barrasso calls these 'climate elitists.' We are fighting and waging a war against climate change. It is a war which will decide what... the world looks like for the next generation. Let’s take both of these very seriously.

George wondered about the tone of attacks on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, specifically mentioning those of Sen. Josh Hawley (R- Insurrection Lunatic Fringe). Durbin said 

Judge Jackson has been scrutinized more than any person I can think of. This is her fourth time before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In three previous times, she came through with flying colors and bipartisan support, the last time as soon as just last year.

As to the accusations, "there's no truth to what he says." And, to Hawley himself?

... he's part of the fringe within the Republican Party. This was a man who was fist-bumping the murderous mob that descended on the Capitol on January 6th of the last year. He doesn't have the credibility he thinks he does.

George picked up with Sen. Barrasso where he left off with Durbin, asking if Hawley was engaging in what Barrasso specifically said should not happen with Jackson: "a process of character assassination." Barrasso said "the whole process is going to be fair, respectful, and thorough." And he offered an attack on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

I’m less concerned about her statements than I am about Chuck Schumer's statements. He said she's going to rule with empathy. A judge ought to be making decisions based on the law as written, not the way they feel about it. So, he also said check her record. And going through the record, there are some concerns that people have about her being perceived as soft on crime. That's all going to come out with the hearings but they're going to be respectful, they’re going to be thorough and they’re going to be fair, George.

On the fairness of Hawley's attacks, Barrasso was about as forthcoming as then Judge Brett Kavanaugh in his hearing before the same committee. 

Well, he's going to have his opportunity to question the judge as will all the members of the committee. The last time we had a hearing with Kavanaugh, he was accused of being a serial rapist with no evidence whatsoever. So, I think we're going to have a fair process and a respectful process, unlike what the Democrats did to Justice Kavanaugh.

Back to gas-passing we went; Barrasso was asked about Durbin agreeing with the so-called "climate elitists" that we must take climate change seriously. Here's his, um, "response."

Well, Joe Biden can't hide from the fact that he is the president of high gas prices. And they're looking for anyone to blame, whether it's Putin, whether it's Republicans, whether it's the energy companies, whether it's COVID. The Democrats have a very big problem with 40-year high inflation, highest gas prices ever. When Joe Biden came into office, it was $2.38 a gallon for gasoline. Americans paid $1,000 more for energy last year than the year before. And on polling last week, 70% of Americans say more American oil and gas, and less emphasis on climate.

"Good answer, good answer!" said the GOP Family Feud fans.

George finished the interview by offering Barrasso the opportunity to spell out the "three specific things" President Biden needs to do if he wants to lead from the front.

Well, number one is, he needs to tell NATO that we collectively are going to supply the people of Ukraine things that they know how to use, whether it's drones, planes, missile systems.

Number two, he has to say that he is going to go from Brussels to the eastern front of NATO to show the resolve of NATO and the United States' commitment as well.

And, third, he needs to say to the people of Europe who are really in a tough situation with regard to energy and the dependence that they have on Russian energy, that we are going to increase the exporting of liquified natural gas from America to them.

"Even Germany," he said, realizes that "energy security is much more important than climate zealotry." And, Barrasso said, he's got bipartisan legislation to make this happen. 

Truth be told, the gentleman from Wyoming has been introducing variations of his bill at least since 2013. For those in the back of the room, that's years before Biden started "leading from behind." And, of course, all this happens because his state has a boatload and a half of natural gas buried within its borders, not for any altruistic reason whatsoever. 

One final note: as I write this, a screeching Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-?????) has stormed off the dais shortly after his first few minutes of questioning in Judge Jackson's hearing were over. Several of his questions pertained to his choice, Judge Michelle Childs, not being the person sitting at the table in front of him. I think we can take that "fair and respectful process" idea with a grain of salt. 

See you around campus. 

Sunday School 3/20/22

Let's dive into the Sunday School classrooms, starting with Margaret Brennan and her chat with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Some dark place in Kentucky), on CBS's Face the Nation.

Among their topics? All things related to Ukraine; Ketanji Brown Jackson, and COVID. Here are your grimly reaped highlights, starting with his take on the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainians have killed more Russians in three weeks than we lost in Afghanistan and Iraq in 20 years. 

To that end, he "is perplexed" with our not helping get the Russian MiGs from Poland into Ukraine, even as he realized that we're given loan guarantees to countries who send those planes to their neighbor, so they can order new stuff from us. And, if Ukraine needs more aid, on top of the $13.6B that was just approved, "we ought to give them more." And,

Look, I think we need to change our attitude here. The Ukrainians could actually win this thing and that's - the attitude we ought to have that we're in it to help them win.

Brennan didn't ask his thoughts on why Poland felt the need to involve the US in the delivery of the MiGs to Ukraine, instead of sending them directly. 

He referred to the lunatics in his party as "lonely voices out there that are in a different place" - Cawthorn, Greene, and the rest of them - but he thinks his party is unified in its support, and he suggests we shouldn't pay much attention to the nut balls. 

He wouldn't answer repeated questions on how he's going to vote on the Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson SCOTUS nomination. He said he "had a very good conversation" with her, in which he touched on court-packing.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Breyer both publicly opposed court packing that is trying to increase the number of court- court members in order to get an outcome you like, that would have been an easy thing for her to do to defend the integrity of the court. She wouldn't do that. 

He did say she'll "be treated much better than Democrats typically treated Republican nominees like Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh."

On COVID, he pointed to the $2T package, "passed on an entirely partisan basis" and said much of it hasn't been spent. That said, he's "willing to listen" to the argument on why more is needed, and on how we're going to pay for it.

Next up? Jake Tapper and UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on CNN's State of the Union. 

Right off the bat, she made it clear that our role is to support Ukraine's efforts, not to make decisions for them - so she didn't have a lot to offer on the risk that Zelenskyy "might give away too much" in a deal with the Russians. Similarly, she couldn't or wouldn't comment on whether we'd recognize Crimea and the Donbass if Zelenskyy let those areas go to Russia in a peace deal. 

On the possibility that Poland will introduce a proposal for a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine, the Ambassador reminded Tapper that

the president has been very clear that we will not put American troops on the ground in Ukraine. We don't want to escalate this into a war with the United States. But we will support our NATO allies. We have troops, as you know, in NATO countries. And the president has made clear that, if there is an attack on any of our NATO countries, under Article 5, that we will support those countries and defend those countries.

Asked about reports that resident of Mariupol "were taken to camps" inside Russia, or "redirected to remote cities," Thomas-Greenfield said she'd heard it, but can't confirm it.

But I can say, it is disturbing. It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia, and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps. So, this is something that we need to verify. Russia should not be moving Ukrainian citizens against their will into Russia.

"Damn straight, Skippy," I agreed unprofessorially. 

The last two points?  First, Russia knows, because we "have been clear...we will respond aggressively to what they're doing" if they bring chemical weapons into the mix. And they might - after all, "they have used chemical weapons against their own people," for Tsar Pete's sake, the bastages.

And second, as far as Thomas-Greenfield knows, "it's not on the table" for President Biden to go to Poland. 

Remember, we have discouraged Americans from going into Ukraine. This is a country at war. I can't imagine that it would be on the table.

See you around campus.

In Case You Missed It (v81)

Trying to get back in the 'writing-on-a-schedule' swing of things, including doing the weekly post recap. In case you missed anything, I've got you covered for last week.

It started with a Sunday School post, where we listened to a handful of senators talk about what's going on in the world, and here at home. Touching on both of those was Idaho's Sen. Jim Risch, who pointed out how difficult it is to vote on legislation these days. 

Speaking to Fox's Brett Bair, Risch noted he voted against the omnibus spending bill that was just passed, even though it included a boatload of billions for Ukraine, something he supports, and a boatload of billions in pork, something he doesn't.

Whenever we have these doggone big bills, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, whether you vote yes or no. But I -- I have -- I hope that no one would take this as not being the support for -- for the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian war.

Several guests gave their thoughts on a decision, shared by Biden administration types who were also in the classrooms, on not helping Poland provide Russian-made fighter planes to Ukraine.  To provide some context for that, I included highlights from those interviews in a Sidebar. Here's a taste, from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan:

Our goal is to support Ukraine and their negotiations with Russia and our allies, but "ultimately, it is Ukraine that will have to make its own sovereign decisions about the shape of any diplomacy going forward."

There was some good discussion from the panel on ABC's This Week, which made it into your Extra Credit entry. Some of the back-and-forth had to do with Russia and Ukraine and WWIII, of course, but there was also some talk about gas prices, and who's to blame for them.  

Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp noted that blame always falls on whoever is in power, but she also pointed out that the Dems and Biden's own people aren't doing a very good job pushing back on what she called "the red herrings." One example? The common complaint that "It's because you didn't build the Keystone XL Pipeline." 

And I remind them, one of the first things Donald Trump did was give the permit. And in four years the pipeline didn't get built. Why not? Because it wasn't -- it wasn't economical to build that pipeline in those price points.

She's right - the party in power does get blamed - and she's right that the Dems don't have a clue how to fight back, or how to get in front of this stuff so they don't have to play defense all the time. 

After watching and listening to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak to elected officials in the West, I was inspired to envision Zelenskyy asking Donald Trump for a favor via Zoom. I made some slight adaptations to Zelenskyy's remarks to American officials, and gave him the upper hand in the conversation. Here are a couple of snippets.

I remember your national memorial in Rushmore, and how you want to see your face there, with the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America as it is today. 

And, later in the conversation,

 I understand that you are not personally familiar, because of your bone spurs, with how much depends on the battlefield, on the ability to use aircraft, powerful, stronger aviation to protect our people, our freedom, our land.

It was a fun exercise.

For your TGIF, I focused only on good news/good week stuff. Some of it was consequential to folks involved, personally or professionally. Some of it wasn't, but there are times when we need to escape into our time-honored traditions. 

First, one of the consequential items.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested across multiple Russian cities earlier this week; since the invasion started in late February, over 14,000 have been arrested. They protest, even in the face of up to 15 years in prison.

And, one of the less-than-consequential ones.

Baseball's Spring Training is underway, after a lengthy lockout of the players by the owners, over what else? Money. It's always about money, one way or another. Playing ball is great; my Boston Red Sox starting the season 2-0 is even better.

Finally, I tossed up a Quick Take on the entertaining process by which the Senate "unanimously" passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Savings Time permanent come November 2023. The folks at BuzzFeed did some digging into how this passed, and honestly, it's a tragi-comedy or something. 

Don't believe me? Listen to Sen. Chris Coons.

Asked to re-create his reaction to the news, Sen. Chris Coons issued a series of shocked stammers that is impossible to phonetically translate.

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

Coming up this week? I'll be in the classrooms, of course, and there'll likely be some Wondering on Wednesday. Other than that, my former governor is getting on my nerves, and my current governor is getting ready to rumble with her own party on crime and the budget. I'm sure there's a post or two in that mess somewhere.

Thanks for sticking around.