In the Sunday School classrooms, we heard from a few of the usual suspects, and from an unusual one: Nadya Tolokonnikova, the Russian activist and founding member of Pussy Riot. In her conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN she was asked what might have led to Putin's invasion on Ukraine. Was it declining mental health, maybe - or was he acting out because he's never been held to account for his prior bad acts? It was clear where she stood.
...we have heard a lot of loud, big proclamations from the global community, but, unfortunately, it wasn't followed through. And Putin didn't really feel like he -- him and his closest -- closest oligarchs and cronies suffered from invasion of Ukraine. And I think, partly, what we're seeing right now in Ukraine is the result of complacency of the global community about a situation that happened in Ukraine in 2014.
For your Sunday School Extra Credit, there was more talk of Russia and Ukraine, but I also included some discussion on the current state of our union, as shared by the panel on Fox News Sunday. One topic? Recent polling showing that people would rather see Congress under Republican control, to keep Biden's agenda in check, than to have the Dems retain their majorities. Georgetown University's Mo Elleithee said polling like that is generally a bad sign, but that the Dems still had a chance.
Biden's SOTU was a big part of that; he suggested (Biden) was reminding voters why they voted for him - or, for the Biden that campaigned closer to the middle than many of his opponents. And, he added,
I think it was him sort of reorienting the public perception of the Democratic Party, which, for many months now has been defined by a fight between the left and Joe Manchin, you know, and Kyrsten Sinema over the Build Back Better, right? That was what was defining the Democrat Party in the eyes of many voters. And I think Biden said, let me remind you what you got when you voted for me.
Lest you think only the Dems are in a quandary in advance of the midterms, I included a hint of a mess brewing on the Republican side of the aisle in the post as well.
Also stemming from the Sunday School classrooms was a Sidebar on the foolishness of Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio sharing a "nondescript" picture of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the equal foolishness of two network anchors not asking him why he did it.
I mean, it's not like it was a side-by-side of Rubio's 'resting Intelligence Committee face' and Zelenskyy - it was a solo shot of the Z-man, one that's almost certainly hanging on the walls and ceilings of bedrooms around the world - probably next to one of Andrew Cuomo.
Mid-week, I was Wondering on Wednesday about things like Republicans still taking about trying to do something they tried - and failed - to do for a decade.
Wisconsin's Sen. Ron Johnson wants to obstruct the president's agenda until the Rs take control in the midterms, and then when they take back the White House in 2024, he wants to see the GOP repeal the Affordable Care Act... I also wonder, how many people wish that Johnson had kept his promise not to run again?
And, the week's posts came to an end with a TGIF entry all about the state of the state of Texas. There's the vigilante abortion bill, which the Texas Supreme Court pretty much guaranteed would stand (and would spread to other freedom-loving Red states), and there was the now temporarily on hold directive to investigate and, presumably, punish parents who allow certain medical procedures for their trans children. And, there was more.
I don't want you to think that Texas only discriminates against women and LGBTQ kids they're equal opportunity discriminators.
A Texas agency discriminated against communities of color when it denied more than $1 billion in federal relief funds sought by Houston and Harris County to help hard-hit areas recover from Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found.
It's a helluva time we're living in, don't you think?
See you next week.
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