tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74665970195048169222024-03-18T20:02:43.047-04:00veritable pasticheNoodling around on local, state, and national politics and current events.Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.comBlogger2477125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-72496021534184217902024-03-15T20:48:00.001-04:002024-03-15T20:48:41.662-04:00TGIF 3/15/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Lx0nAYRgL7c3JlpkM5Hzn4IUprolj78SDDJUFn7E9yGjWJs_FyldMw4VROs38ZVMHjpIivfSuM0XkDZvAffJDfmIEeaa6L7tWYl3H8oYGihiM5RPknzcNVGCyI1CCwy39K3V3UxyIKG9tHiVJm43khyV88l4dOf0ltU03IGrlH6qDuPRmY94DwpRCQ/s622/TGIF.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="622" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Lx0nAYRgL7c3JlpkM5Hzn4IUprolj78SDDJUFn7E9yGjWJs_FyldMw4VROs38ZVMHjpIivfSuM0XkDZvAffJDfmIEeaa6L7tWYl3H8oYGihiM5RPknzcNVGCyI1CCwy39K3V3UxyIKG9tHiVJm43khyV88l4dOf0ltU03IGrlH6qDuPRmY94DwpRCQ/w200-h161/TGIF.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's been a while since I've posted - life and stuff interrupting. I'm sure you all know the drill. I'm happy to get back into the swing of things, starting with today's<b><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">good week</span></b>/<b><span style="color: #990000;">bad week</span></b> lists. </div><p></p><p>Fulton County, GA <b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">District Attorney Fani Willis</span></b>, who brought the RICO case against former president <b>Donald 'Orange Jesus' Trump</b>, his former Chief of Staff <b>Mark Meadows</b>, and several other co-defendants, dodged a bullet when <b>Judge Scott McAfee</b> ruled that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/15/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case/" target="_blank"><b>she can stay on the case</b></a>, provided she fires her former romantic partner <b><span style="color: #990000;">Nathan Wade</span></b>. I never really understood why Willis was the one accused of receiving financial benefit from the pair's relationship; it seems to me Wade was the one who had a financial interest in it, with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/14/nathan-wade-fani-willis-georgia-trump/" target="_blank"><b>his firm earning some $650,000</b></a> from the case since he signed on.</p><p>I think <b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Judge McAfee</span></b> had a good week; he reached a reasonable conclusion here, and on his decision to dismiss, without prejudice, a handful of charges due to a lack of specificity. Importantly, he didn't mince words criticizing Willis for her insanely poor judgment. I mean, where I used to work, we trained everyone in the company from the lowest person on the totem pole to the CEO and our Board of Directors, on why a boss/employee relationship is wrong; I can't imagine she didn't intuitively know that. </p><p>Oh - by the way, <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4535571-read-nathan-wades-resignation-letter/" target="_blank"><b>Wade resigned</b></a> from the case, "in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible."</p><p style="text-align: center;">***** *****</p><p style="text-align: left;">The<b> <span style="color: #3d85c6;">OJ</span> </b>and <b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">President Joe Biden</span></b> officially became the presumptive nominees of their parties, each having <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68550523" target="_blank"><b>secured enough delegates</b></a> to win the nomination on the first ballot at their respective party conventions this summer. To me, that's not news, but it seems news to newspeople. who now get to say extra words when talking about the candidates. Like <span style="color: #990000;"><b>tens of millions of voters</b></span>, I wish we had different choices. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***** *****</p><p style="text-align: left;">In my heart of hearts, I wish this was a fake picture, but of course, it's not. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I mean, the guy in the middle triumphantly <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/08/trump-alabama-bibles-1213269" target="_blank"><b>autographed Bibles</b></a> after a tornado struck Alabama, leaving 23 people dead and thousands dealing with the aftermath. And grinned, with an upraised thumb, while Melania stood next to him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/09/trump-el-paso-melania-orphan-baby-thumbs-up" target="_blank"><b>holding a baby orphaned in a mass shooting</b></a>. There's really no reason to be shocked at <span style="color: #990000;"><b>him posing, grinning as usual</b></span>, with a newly-autographed poster of a murdered college student. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9TH-d4yFYRXPwXV1xntWQ1V_nK8j7L2uEujcdZDNUFG1PXsFLp-MQxO8OhNoWVcH7lGJwsr-lBI5WEBi18crMtjWkxl8rSxEm8mIPiKMIvSP3RE8MMVB2mvnswgJrbOGRmYeDGvIf9d4-DzHMyH8zdz1od19qaR2IMgl2KLNQ9l80hPOBaD_bcdNkA/s693/wtah.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="693" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9TH-d4yFYRXPwXV1xntWQ1V_nK8j7L2uEujcdZDNUFG1PXsFLp-MQxO8OhNoWVcH7lGJwsr-lBI5WEBi18crMtjWkxl8rSxEm8mIPiKMIvSP3RE8MMVB2mvnswgJrbOGRmYeDGvIf9d4-DzHMyH8zdz1od19qaR2IMgl2KLNQ9l80hPOBaD_bcdNkA/w400-h238/wtah.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">What's appalling, though - in addition to <b><span style="color: #990000;">her smiling family</span></b> surrounding the autographing OJ, is that <span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">he spelled the victim's name wrong </span><span>-</span> on a poster telling everyone to Say Her Name. This stuff can't be made up - it really can't. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***** *****</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>President Biden</b> gave what could have been his last <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/read-president-bidens-2024-state-of-the-union-address-annotated/3562330/" target="_blank"><b>State of the Union address</b></a> last week. According to the <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/annual-messages-congress-the-state-the-union-0" target="_blank"><b>official time-keeping</b></a>, which starts when the President addresses the Speaker of the House, he spoke for one hour, seven minutes, and 17 seconds. If you didn't watch the speech and happened to see or hear the news more than once in the days since then, you might think the only thing he said was "She was killed by an illegal," and the only other highlight was that he <i>didn't</i> say the OJ's name 13 times. We are done such a disservice by <b><span style="color: #990000;">the media</span></b>, we really are.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***** *****</p><p style="text-align: left;">Shockingly, <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>former Vice President Mike Pence</b></span> has announced <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/politics/pence-will-not-endorse-trump/index.html" target="_blank"><b>he will <u><i>not</i></u> endorse</b></a> the OJ - and he "will never" vote for Biden. I say 'shockingly' because Pence <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/08/gop-debate-fox-news-donald-trump-1235526538/" target="_blank"><b>raised his hand</b></a> when <b>Brett Baier</b> asked which of the GOP presidential candidates would support Trump "if he were convicted in a court of law."</p><p style="text-align: left;">TGIF, everyone.</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-60470528891805467352024-02-29T20:40:00.000-05:002024-02-29T20:40:21.409-05:00Sunday School 2/25/24: Extra Credit<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYtXZOdFUd9VcTUp1gIo3PQDWhOAkpZoqKkn7rkO7i6u4aWGlxLd7j8QbRCyesnCtYVAEVpQ9yVMpbkm4H-BEbR_dxofXeWZyDjUhwwwWUpb_wIkEc8Tdy4EGje0GBTsKN_8pstAq2ezfV2ojkcuIzC8A5mretN_QjO45qZZfgLdUr9HnrOQBIF23gQ/s1008/sundayschoolextracredit.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1008" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYtXZOdFUd9VcTUp1gIo3PQDWhOAkpZoqKkn7rkO7i6u4aWGlxLd7j8QbRCyesnCtYVAEVpQ9yVMpbkm4H-BEbR_dxofXeWZyDjUhwwwWUpb_wIkEc8Tdy4EGje0GBTsKN_8pstAq2ezfV2ojkcuIzC8A5mretN_QjO45qZZfgLdUr9HnrOQBIF23gQ/w200-h134/sundayschoolextracredit.png" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">For your Extra Credit this week, I spent time with <b>Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Mar-a-Lago)</b> and <b>Kristen Welker</b> in the <b><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-february-25-2023-n1308936" target="_blank">Meet the Press</a></b> classroom. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Donalds, who was among the people receiving votes for House Speaker last fall, is on former president Donald Trump's VP shortlist. </span><p></p><p><u><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Topic #1: Trump's Black Conservative Federation Gala comments</span></b></u></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker played a video clip of Trump talking about his indictments, and asked if he was "implying that he can win Black voters because they get indicted all the time, too." <span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Donalds said "it's part of it," and said that Trump also mentioned issues - the border, the economy - that cause concern for Black voters. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">But then
when you layer on the fact that, yes, this is political persecution from the
Department of Justice and from radical DAs throughout our country, this is
something similar that Black people had to deal with – with the justice system
themselves. And so their look – their look of it is real simple: "Well,
dang, if the government's going after him with foolishness, he can't be that
bad." Especially considering the fact that Joe Biden is terrible at his
job.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker noted that grand juries brought the indictments against Trump and that there's "no evidence the indictments are political in nature," and asked for his thoughts on former Rep. Cedric Richmond's opinion that Trump's comments were "just plain racist." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number one, Richmond's "trying to play politics and use racial politics," Donalds said. And number two, he continued (with <i>my emphasis</i> added)</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;"><i>like I said at the top</i>, the number one reason why minority voters
in our country want to support Donald Trump is because he did the job of
president. He did a great job... Our country was secure. The economy
was great. These are all things that Donald Trump talked about Friday night. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And yes, he also talked about the indictments. </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">What Americans don't want to see,
especially Black Americans and anybody else, they don't want to see a
politicized Justice Department. They don't want to see a two-tier system of
justice. They want justice to be followed. They want Lady Justice to be blind.
That's what the American people want. That's what Black voters want. That's
what everybody wants.</span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Welker, who clearly can't help herself, came back again, asking if Donalds was "offended at all" by the comments.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">No, I wasn't. Because I understood what the president was
talking about. And like I said<i> now for the third time</i>, he talked about all the
reasons why minority voters want to support him.</span></blockquote><p><u><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Topic #2: The Hur Report</span></b></u></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Donalds segued into Biden not being indicted by <b>Special Counsel Robert Hur</b> as indicative of that two-tiered justice system. </span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">You have to acknowledge the fact that now that the Robert Hur
report has come out about Joe Biden's misuse of classified information, which
is a violation of the Espionage Act, he had no rights to any of those documents
when he was a senator or vice president, yet there are no charges... While President Trump is under prosecution.
Come on now. You know that doesn't make any sense at all.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then they talked over each other, and argued about what the report actually said (open to interpretation, it seems), and then he said</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">The Espionage Act is clear - </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">you cannot possess those documents as a senator or vice
president. You have no rights to those documents as a senator or a vice
president. They must remain in a secure facility. Joe Biden took them from a
SCIF. That's a violation of the Espionage Act, period.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker gave up arguing but before moving on, she said the Hur report said there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges.</span></p><p><u><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Topic #3: IVF (and shouted questions)</span></b></u></p><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Welker brought up Donalds saying he agreed with the Alabama ruling that embryos are children, and she wanted to know if he supported IVF as we know it here, which sometimes ends with donated or destroyed embryos. </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Donalds said he does support IVF, he's got several friends who have been through it, and have beautiful and wonderful children, and said "I totally support the procedure." He also noted he responded to a question as he was "in the middle of a hallway," that he "heard the tail end" of the question, and that he wasn't aware of the Alabama decision when he answered.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">By way of explaining his position - <i>that he fully supports IVF</i> - he said</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Look, embryos are
important to the production of life. We all come from embryos. That's what I
said because I heard half her question. But do I support the IVF procedure?
100% I do. It should be made available. And I believe, as President Trump has
also said, we really want the Alabama legislature to make sure that that
procedure is protected for families who do struggle with having children. That
helps them actually create great families, which is what our country
desperately needs.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And so Welker, after hearing him state twice that he 100% supports IVF, how important it is, and how he supports legislation protecting it, asked this:</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">So just to be very clear, though, if you believe that embryos are
children, do you think they should be treated as people with all the same legal
rights as people?</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He should have said, "Are the answers I've given you twice insufficient in some way?" Instead, he said she was "getting into a personhood argument" and that's where legislation - and how legislators put it together - would be critical. And he said -<i> again</i> - </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">The IVF procedure is very
important to a lot of couples in our country. It should be protected. I agree
with President Trump on that. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And so, 'to put a fine point on it,' as Welker likes to say, she asked if he'd support federal legislative protection for IVF. He said he'd need to see "the devil in the details," but</span></p><p></p><p></p>
<blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">I feel I could broadly
support that. Because, like I said, IVF is something that is so critical to a
lot of couples. It helps them breed great families. Our country needs that.</span></p></blockquote><p><u><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Topic #4: Ukraine, the border, and government funding</span></b></u></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker played a clip of a 2022 town hall where Donalds said we "<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">needed to be engaged in Ukraine because, quote, "If you essentially allow
the bully to bully, you're going to be drawn into a broader conflict you do not
want to be a part of." She wondered what changed since he made those comments. It's really simple, he explained: Biden's failure to secure our country, which is "the first job of the federal government."</span></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">...many citizens are saying, "Why are we sending billions of dollars to
protect Ukraine while our country remains open?" So my message has been
clear. I agree with the Speaker. You want to talk Ukraine funding? Let's talk
about it. But you've got to secure America first.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">She suggested the House failed to do its job when it refused to take up the Senate border bill; Donalds said it was "a terrible bill," and reminded her that the Senate didn't even pass it. Welker then asked,<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> "</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">So can you really say... you have done
everything possible for the border when you've opposed that deal?" </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">He</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> pointed to H.R.2, the House bill, which is "the most </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">robust border
security package ever to pass a chamber of Congress.," again noting that the Senate did not pass its own bill. And, he said, </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Joe Biden doesn't even need legislation to secure the
country. He could do that right now. He can undo all of his executive orders
that he put into place when he became president... That's
what created the crisis that we have today.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker countered with this statement: "<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Congressman, as you know, executive orders often get tied up in the
courts. That's what happened under former President Trump." Have any of Biden's EOs been challenged? If yes, she didn't mention it.</span></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">But let me ask you, big picture, because the government is careening toward another potential
shutdown in just days. Are you willing to shut down the government over border
security?</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">When he finally got her to listen to him, he said he is "willing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2a2a2a;">to fund the
government as long as our border is secure." </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2a2a2a;">Welker pressed him again, saying "and of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2a2a2a;"> course, the Biden administration's
working on executive actions as we speak," and demanded a yes or no answer on whether he'd vote to shut down the government.</span></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">I will not be voting for any funding if the border is not
secured. Anything I vote for has to secure our border. And the president should
agree to that. That's common sense for a nation like America.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I reviewed the video and the transcript of their conversation for this post, one question stuck in my mind: When did Kristen Welker start working for the Biden campaign? </span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">See you around campus.</span></p><p></p></div>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-39843422237545124672024-02-29T08:48:00.000-05:002024-02-29T08:48:51.742-05:00Wondering on Wednesday 2/28/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeus3ZMQI0OEcXrXNyObmkowhrbFzeaz07nRMcZWJ4jS706FIf99RnT2gtJRJxmy8-sSUhIU37GlZwPvoOvL2Mf2Cc_8H15IG8NB7rDBAg8x3kjR_mVWTBk9N_fjnZj3omvVSbxGr1d0rFCBnFQW5pB0serxsqhewiHH1CnTiwbk4SmIoVoqK1gX1XZA/s615/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="615" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeus3ZMQI0OEcXrXNyObmkowhrbFzeaz07nRMcZWJ4jS706FIf99RnT2gtJRJxmy8-sSUhIU37GlZwPvoOvL2Mf2Cc_8H15IG8NB7rDBAg8x3kjR_mVWTBk9N_fjnZj3omvVSbxGr1d0rFCBnFQW5pB0serxsqhewiHH1CnTiwbk4SmIoVoqK1gX1XZA/s320/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ready... set... wonder!</span></div><p><b>Ronna McDaniel</b> is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronna-mcdaniel-trump-rnc-stepping-down-presidential-2024-dde6c031db877008a348d0a31f04f278" target="_blank"><b>stepping down</b></a> as chair of the RNC after the Super Tuesday primaries in March. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">I wonder if</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></b><span style="line-height: 107%;">she’ll have to get permission from her family to go back to using her
maiden name, which she used before Donald Trump frowned on having anyone named Romney
involved in the party leadership.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sen.
Mitch McConnell a</b>nnounced he’ll <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7466597019504816922/3984342223754512467"><b>step down as leader</b></a> of the Republicans in the Senate after the
November election, but will serve out the remainder of this term. <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">I sort of wonder</span></i></b><span style="color: #833c0b;"> </span>if he announced this so he won’t have to endorse
Donald Trump?<span style="color: #990000;"> <b><i>I also wonder</i></b></span><span style="color: #833c0b;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">if he’s got the courage to do the right thing and
pass on making that endorsement.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>Michigan Dems held a primary yesterday, and over 100,000 Dems -13% of the total - voted 'Uncommitted,' while 81% voted for President Biden. I was not surprised that Biden <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/27/michigan-primary-trump-biden-haley-00143773" target="_blank"><b>did the right thing</b></a> after the results were announced.</p><blockquote><p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In his statement late Tuesday evening, Biden thanked “every Michigander who made their voice heard today,” noting that “exercising the right to vote and participating in our democracy is what makes America great.”</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
couple of things on this one. As <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7466597019504816922/3984342223754512467"><b>I noted previously</b></a>, <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">I wonder why</span></i></b> we <u>all</u>
don't have the chance to actively vote for nobody, whether it's ‘uncommitted'
or 'none of these candidates,' as they can in Nevada. Second, <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">I wonder why</span></i></b> the
media can't help tripping over themselves trying to cement a connection between a
protest vote in a February primary </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and the presidential election (checks calendar) over 250 days away.
And then I laughed and laughed at the stupidity of my wondering.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I support the protest vote, and the protest; <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">I often wonder</span></i></b> if we are doing enough to pressure Israel to at least ensure that sufficient humanitarian aid is reaching the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are guilty of nothing other than living in Gaza. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if you want to make the argument that "Hamas was elected, so everyone in Gaza must support them," </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #990000;">I can't help wondering </span></i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">how you handled the whiplash of going from being an Obama Democrat to a MAGA Republican to a Biden Democrat over the last three elections... I'd love to hear about that, if you're willing to talk about it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <b>Supreme
Court</b> announced <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/29/trump-wins-delay-immunity-case-supreme-court" target="_blank"><b>it will hear arguments in April</b></a> on whether or not a US
president has complete immunity - up to and including going as far as having<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1231974416/supreme-court-trump-immunity#:~:text=The%20panel%20said%20that%20Trump's,free%20from%20any%20criminal%20prosecution." target="_blank"><b> SEAL Team 6
</b></a><b>murder a political opponent -</b> or if he's just like any other American thug, and subject to our
criminal justice system. By delaying arguments for five weeks, they're playing into his hands, I think, and that's frustrating. <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">I wonder why</span></i></b> there isn't a way for the Supremes to act more expediently when the case is both critically important and significantly time-constrained, unless they're acting exactly as fast as they want to, in which case <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">we might have to wonder</span></i></b> about other things, right?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Donald
Trump</b> has said he’s unable to come up with the full bond amount in his
NY business fraud case. He maintains <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-crunched-for-cash-says-he-cant-make-full-bond-payment-in-appeal-of-new-york-fraud-case-b4689806" target="_blank"><b>he can come up with $100M</b></a>, but
getting to the full amount ($355M not counting the daily interest accruals) is
impossible, without having to sell off properties. <b><i><span style="color: #833c0b;">And I wonder</span></i></b><span style="color: #833c0b;"> </span>which he’d
pick - <a href="https://www.trump.com/commercial-real-estate-portfolio/trump-tower" target="_blank"><b>Trump Tower</b></a>, with its 30,000 square-foot penthouse? <a href="https://www.40wallstreet.com/" target="_blank"><b>40 Wall Street</b></a>? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">But wait <b><i><span style="color: #833c0b;">– I wonder if </span></i></b>he even <i>can</i> sell
any of the NY properties? Would that count as "doing business' in NY, which is prohibited under Judge
Arthur Engoron’s decision? And if he has to go elsewhere, would he pick
<a href="https://www.trump.com/golf/trump-national-golf-club-bedminster-new-jersey" target="_blank"><b>Bedminster</b></a>, where the buyer would get not only a golf course but also Ivana Trump's burial site? <a href="https://www.trumpwinery.com/" target="_blank"><b>Trump Winery</b></a> in Virginia? Or – gasp – <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/news/mar-a-lago-was-only-worth-27m-despite-trump-org-claiming-517m-to-gain-edge-trial-evidence/" target="_blank"><b>Mar-a-Lago</b></a>, which is worth $27M (accountant valuation), $517M (Trump loan application), or <b>ONE BILLION DOLLARS</b> (Trump's personal opinion)? There’s <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">just so much wondering</span></i></b> on this one. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
speaking of the Engoron decision<b><i><span style="color: #833c0b;">, </span><span style="color: #990000;">in case you’re wondering</span></i></b>, the <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">GoFundMe</span></i></b> set up to allow Americans to help
their billionaire best friend pay the judgment <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-trump-raise-the-settlement" target="_blank"><b>has raised more than</b></a> $1.28M
from some 22K donors. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">What's on your wondering mind tonight?</span></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-59135887390858239182024-02-26T20:17:00.000-05:002024-02-26T20:17:57.967-05:00Sunday School 2/25/24<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEharr0aaBtixBqiKHen1iRCt4JRix9EO3L00IJc9D08HmvtEt7nZAeVNN-hDtZdFdyV0rWbZ28me0TSw6gfi_4qG8h7WSyAA6fQ-j-QPq6VROs7e3ILpW99n3WA2z5YIjIW7KOvDWEcQ8lBCGazKVUuwEZrGs8Zen7-PwZBdLrH6XNLjivbirrt2mmiUA/s444/sunday%20school%20logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="444" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEharr0aaBtixBqiKHen1iRCt4JRix9EO3L00IJc9D08HmvtEt7nZAeVNN-hDtZdFdyV0rWbZ28me0TSw6gfi_4qG8h7WSyAA6fQ-j-QPq6VROs7e3ILpW99n3WA2z5YIjIW7KOvDWEcQ8lBCGazKVUuwEZrGs8Zen7-PwZBdLrH6XNLjivbirrt2mmiUA/w200-h154/sunday%20school%20logo.png" width="200" /></a></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your Sunday School for this week starts with </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> who talked with <b>Martha Raddatz</b> in the </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-25-24-white-house-national/story?id=107520117" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>This Week</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> classroom.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Their conversation started with the </span><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/alabama-supreme-court-landmark-decision-frozen-embryos-classified-as-children-in-wrongful-death-suits/ar-BB1ivQNi?cvid=c669ee4b5fb643bbb745af76321fa1b9&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&ei=34" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>activist Alabama court ruling</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> that frozen embryos are people, too. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">That ruling has caused some IVF facilities in the state to suspend services as they try to figure out what the risks are, and whether they can continue offering services. </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've seen this before, of course, when abortion clinics closed in many states as providers simply aren't willing to take the chance of facing criminal charges for treating their patients.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Duckworth wasn't surprised by the ruling - it's more than that. She's been afraid of this - and talking about it - since 2018.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">I said if Neil Gorsuch gets put on the Supreme Court, if Amy Coney
Barrett gets put on the Supreme Court, we're going to have an erosion of Roe v.
Wade, and even back in 2018, I said, IVF is next. They said they're coming for
IVF. So, unfortunately, I wasn’t surprised. I’m devastated for those families
that are trying to start families, but I was not at all surprised.</span></blockquote></div><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Raddatz noted the decision doesn't overtly ban IVF, but Duckworth, speaking from experience, said that by ruling a fertilized egg is a child, it puts the treatment in jeopardy. Both of her daughters were conceived via IVF; three of the five fertilized eggs were nonviable. With her consent, her doctor destroyed them, and under the Alabama ruling, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">that would be
considered potentially manslaughter or murder. Basically, Republicans have put
the rights of a fertilized egg over the rights of the woman, and that is not
something that I think the American people agree with.</span></blockquote><p>Duckworth has introduced a bill "multiple times and in multiple congresses", most recently last month, that would protect access to IVF nationwide. Raddatz noted that the Republican Senate campaign team "is<span style="font-family: inherit;"> instructing their candidates to, quote, clearly and concisely
reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF," and wondered if there'd be enough support now to pass the bill.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's been crickets since the Alabama ruling. A</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">nd let's make it clear. Republicans will say
whatever they need to say to try to cover themselves on this, but they have
been clear and Donald Trump has been the guy leading this effort to eliminate
women's reproductive rights and reproductive choice...not a single Republican has reached out to me on the
bill... let's see if they vote for it when we bring it to the floor.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She said the Dems will run on this. And speaking of running, Raddatz brought up Trump's 20-point win in the South Carolina primary. Duckworth, who's a co-chair of the Biden/Harris campaign, said it doesn't really change things.</span></p><blockquote><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think what we
talk about, again, is that Donald Trump has been very clear about what he's
doing. He's not running for president for the American people. He's not running
for president to take care of working families. He's running for president for
himself. That's all he cares about every single day. President Biden, in
contrast, gets up every day and works hard to protect the American people and
works hard to make sure he delivers for working families across this country.
The choice is very clear and we just need to continue to hammer home that
message.</span></p></blockquote><p></p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;">She agreed with Raddatz that exit polls do give them pause (veterans voting for Trump, for example, after his ridiculously insulting "<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-asks-whereabouts-haleys-husband-serving-overseas-rcna138247" target="_blank"><b>where's her husband</b></a>?" stuff), but then, Duckworth said, that's not new. And she reiterated that Trump has</p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">shown us over time who he is, and he's a guy who cares
about no one but himself. You know, I have often thought when I go into work
with my colleagues, and I assumed they loved America as much as I love America,
that we just look at the problem from different perspectives, but we can come
to a compromise. Donald Trump cares about one thing, Donald Trump. </span></blockquote><p>I think most of them think that - or, maybe they used to think that, pre-MAGA. </p><p></p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;">Down the hall in the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-full-transcript-02-25-2024/" target="_blank"><b>Face the Nation</b></a> classroom, <b>Margaret Brennan</b> talked with <b>Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI)</b>; their first topic was this Tuesday's primary and how the state's large Arab/Muslim population might impact the voting.</p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #101010;">Brennan said there's a "protest effort underway to vote uncommitted" to let President Biden know they're unhappy about what's happening in Gaza, and she asked if this could damage Biden. Dingell explained there are actually two protests.</span></p><p class="ekqkg" style="margin-top: 0in;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">One is
an 'abandon Biden' campaign, but the other, the major campaign that has made over
100,000 calls – we'll see how many people vote on Tuesday – (is) trying to make
sure the president hears them. </span></blockquote><p>Their concerns? Family in Gaza; family members they have lost (20 or more, in some families); the lack of food, medicine, and water (the salt water they're drinking is almost gone); and more.</p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">I don't sleep at night... The
sanitary conditions on the ground, there's – I mean, one woman, the aunt of
somebody, goes to the bathroom once a day. There – a month ago, there was one
toilet for every 220 people, one shower for every 15,000 people. It's a
nightmare. And they're scared for their families and they're worried.</span></blockquote><p>A cease-fire is needed, and "when we get a cease-fire...<span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">then we sit down... and talk." Until then it's personal, not political. Brennan said she understood that, but at the same time, she noted that Benjamin Netanyahu said "</span><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">that he is going into Southern Gaza
whether President Biden likes it or not," and she wondered if Dingell thinks we're "doing enough to get Americans or families of Americans out of harm's way."</span></p><p></p><p>Dingell noted that we don't know what's happening in the various negotiations that are going on, with involvement from the CIA, the National Security Council, and others, including the president.</p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">People need to understand
that – what is going on in Rafah right now. The population of Gaza is
approximately 2.2 million people; 1.5 million of them have been forced into
Rafah... you know, we can argue about the numbers.
Nobody denies that 12,000 children have already died... Doctors Without Borders have talked about
1,000 children who have lost limbs, the number of children that don't have
families. It would be outrageous for further innocent civilians to be killed. I
know that the White House is working very closely with a number of other
countries to make it clear that we cannot continue this loss of life.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #101010;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She's been assured by the White House that "the president is very engaged in delivering very direct messages," and that "in private conversations...he's working towards a temporary cease-fire."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #101010;">Brennan asked if it was "a mistake" for Biden to not meet with anyone from the Arab/Muslim community. Dingell believes "he is going to need to do that" and that "this community is pretty angry right now." She said she gets protested, even though she's one of the folks who has been "the most empathetic and has been working this issue very hard." Biden did send people out, and</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">they developed relationships or connected with people that
from both sides I've heard that they've got ongoing conversations. And that's
got to continue. </span></blockquote><p>And Dingell explained that Michigan's a purple state, and "<span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">It's been a purple state as long as I've
been doing presidential elections." The Israel-Gaza war is a "very important issue here" but there'll be other ones too. Dingell fought to have Michigan be an early primary state for things like this.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">I
want to be talking about this issue now, in February -because it will matter in
November - and not on October 15th, which has happened too many times in
previously presidential elections, that issues that matter in November aren't
talked about early.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #101010;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Touching on the Alabama decision, Brennan asked "Is the</span></span><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;"> concern about reproductive health care access enough to cancel out these
negative headwinds?" Dingell noted the state's "unprecedented turnout two years ago" when abortion was on the ballot, and said they've got work to do again this year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #101010;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've got to get young people, we've got to get women, and we've
got to go into union halls. And it's great that we've got the union presidents
and the union organizations endorsing, but we've got to go in those union halls
and draw the comparison, remind people about what Donald Trump did and didn't
do, he talked, didn't deliver, and about what Joe Biden has delivered on.</span></span></blockquote><p>Dingell sees this issue as similarly motivating for voters. especially women who might have thought they were safe and their rights were protected</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">and now we've seen what
the Alabama court has done in terms of IVF... </span><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">I think a lot of
women are going to be very emotional about their women's health decisions
should be made between them, their doctor, their faith, and their family, and
the federal government's got no business in it. Or state government.</span></p></blockquote><p>I can't argue with her on that.</p><p>See you around campus.</p><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-89498668590878983712024-02-25T08:39:00.000-05:002024-02-25T08:39:02.397-05:00In Case You Missed It (v122)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqL2qDiiY4IAlmTnUfz7iCEDSOBfNmwo0bEEdk_EN4MSCga-vNVQdjnseqB23SsFNFGjiDnymB7KRhaUxYxF6YVciwTwMAHfpv2H2kuJ0oPM0tlQVMxJFDpsNyNiGOrACKClonsIQI-BDz1ja_42BElZRqzmy1qetNmfbdzCG4nV94nxmiCet28odUsg/s168/icymi%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqL2qDiiY4IAlmTnUfz7iCEDSOBfNmwo0bEEdk_EN4MSCga-vNVQdjnseqB23SsFNFGjiDnymB7KRhaUxYxF6YVciwTwMAHfpv2H2kuJ0oPM0tlQVMxJFDpsNyNiGOrACKClonsIQI-BDz1ja_42BElZRqzmy1qetNmfbdzCG4nV94nxmiCet28odUsg/s16000/icymi%201.png" /></a></div>Time to settle into a comfy chair and catch up on last week's posts, in case you missed anything.<div><br /></div><div>I listened to three Democrats for your <a href=" https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21824.html" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>Sunday School</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> this week: South Carolina </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Rep. Jim Clyburn</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">, Minnesota </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Sen. Amy Klobuchar</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and Pennsylvania </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Gov. Josh Shapiro</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">They all put in good words for President Biden, tried to dispel fears about his age, and reminded us why we need him to be re-elected in November. Here's a bit of Shapiro, referencing </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Ezra Klein</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">'s NYT comments.</span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shapiro agrees with Klein that "the stakes could not be higher," but said Biden'll be the guy, and he'll have Shapiro's support.</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">...we’ve got to go out and make that case. The president, the vice president and those of us who are privileged who support him and have a front-row seat to this, we've got to go out and do this important work now. </span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said we all are "going to have to stand up and be counted" on whether America will continue "to be a voice of freedom and democracy..." and he's confident voters,</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"> ...just as they did in 2020, they will rise up; they will demand more; they will seek justice; and they will look to defend freedom in this nation, and they will reject Donald Trump.</span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Switching gears for your <a href="they will reject Donald Trump. https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21824-extra-credit.html" target="_blank"><b>Extra Credit</b></a>, I focused solely on <b>Jake Tapper</b>'s chat with former <b>Rep. Liz Cheney</b> who, of course, is persona non grata with the MAGA crowd. She was not impressed with recent comments from <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2019/05/sing-it-with-me.html" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Snitty Snitty Bill Barr,</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">who recently said he'd vote for Trump over Biden even though, he also said,</span></span></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Voting for Trump is playing Russian roulette with the country. Voting for Biden is outright national suicide.</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She said he's "absolutely wrong," and even though she hasn't endorsed anyone, she "certainly would never support Donald Trump." Why?</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">...we know what Donald Trump will do because he's telling us every day. And anybody who has spent any time overseas, who has spent any time studying the history of autocracies and of autocrats knows we have to listen to what Donald Trump's saying. So electing Donald Trump's not Russian roulette. Electing Donald Trump would mean putting in power a man who's committed to unraveling our constitutional framework. So Bill Barr is just wrong on that.</span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/wondering-on-wednesday-22124.html" target="_blank"><b>Wondering on Wednesday</b></a> about <b>Choco Tacos</b>, and about a proposed '<b>trucker boycott</b>' of NYC, among other things,. The boycott was proposed by a trucker named <b>Chicago Ray</b> who tweeted about the boycott as a response to the penalties in the NY financial fraud case.</span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm just one of the many millions of Truckers who believe in God and love this Country. I stand with Trump bc Trump stands with me. Truckers for Trump ain't just a slogan, it's real.</span></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><div style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Trump was <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111950486977084547" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>delighted</b></a>, as you might imagine, to "have so many Great Patriots" on his side, and so on. But then, Chicago Ray deleted his original tweet, put up another one in which he stressed he was <b><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-trucker-calling-nyc-boycott-backs-down-1871306" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">not encouraging anyone to do anything</a></b> - and then deleted that one, too. And<i style="color: #674ea7; font-weight: bold;"> I can't help wondering</i>, is he still a Great Patriot, or not?</span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I took a more serious turn on Thursday, where I highlighted one more Sunday School interview in a <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/quick-takes-v72-three-cs.html" target="_blank"><b>Quick Take</b></a>. I was not familiar with <b>Charlemagne tha God</b> until I watched his taped conversation with <b>Jon Karl</b>. Here's how things kicked off.</span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl started with a quote from his guest, who said the 2024 campaign is "a race between the cowards, the crooks, and the couch." Here's how he defines those three Cs.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">...<b>the crooks</b> are the Republicans. <b>The cowards</b> are the Democrats, because they don't fight hard enough on anything. And, you know, <b>the couch</b> is voter apathy. And, you know, that's -- that's who everybody is up against in 2024. </span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He doesn't know if anyone benefits from the couch winning, but that's what it feels like will happen; even his audience isn't energetic. He said "nobody wants to see the rematch" between Biden and Trump, and that's why he feels the couch will win.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Charlamagne's very quotable, and he had a few in the interview that I think really hit the mark, even though a lot of Dems might be mad at him for saying the quiet part out loud. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Friday was a two-fer: first, an <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/orangeverse-lxiii-february-19-2024.html" target="_blank">OrangeVerse</a> </b>entry in which I turn former president Donald Trump's words into verse, and there was my usual Friday feature, <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/tgif-22324.html" target="_blank"><b>TGIF</b></a>, where I attempt to identify folks I think had a good week or a bad one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">There were political references, of course, including <b>Rep. Dean Phillips</b>, who's running for president on the Dem line, who had a good week. There also was a culture reference, one that didn't mention Taylor Swift. </span></p><div style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Beyonce </span>has her first #1 single on the<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b><a href="https://ew.com/beyonce-becomes-first-black-woman-with-country-no-1-hit-8597768" style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Billboard Country</a><b> </b>chart, the first Black woman with that achievement in the history of the chart. And some<b> </b>folks <a href="https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/why-beyonces-1-in-country-doesnt-really-matter/" style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">don't seem happy</a><b> </b>about it.</span></blockquote></div><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Sure, if a Black woman either native to country music or coming up through the country music ranks would have achieved a similar goal, it would speak to the opening up of the genre to women of color. But that’s not what’s happened here at all. Instead, </span><b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Beyonce</span></i></b><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> is leveraging her global superstar status earned in the pop and R&B/hip-hop world, the enthusiasm of her Stan army the Beyhive, and the coercion of country music’s institutions to ensconce herself atop the genre.</span></span></div></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, people are <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/beyonce-texas-hold-em-line-dance-tiktok-viral-savannah-bananas" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">l<b>ine dancing all over the place</b></a> to the song - including the <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Savannah Bananas</span> - does that mean this whole thing is a wash?</span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">See a snippet you like? Click the link and check out the full post - and be sure to stop back this week for more of the pastiche.</p></div>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-78574002522819832912024-02-23T21:06:00.000-05:002024-02-23T21:06:22.469-05:00TGIF 2/23/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUwUCVE08mZxnmOOy4gjyo1CYzQjK69r3nif6pXccllu4ZZK9W5fBCKmXaBClydYUja8uZ6pjpoO6WM4Rt_3gAapNWLz2DVItYUxmGoO2FKFLTJfglOWgm3Gyhz1alzF5wct4-lES0d13TzFQD73bborekOuyinTUzcAA1HNPGkt7xyXDwXAc_PuPsg/s622/TGIF.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="622" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUwUCVE08mZxnmOOy4gjyo1CYzQjK69r3nif6pXccllu4ZZK9W5fBCKmXaBClydYUja8uZ6pjpoO6WM4Rt_3gAapNWLz2DVItYUxmGoO2FKFLTJfglOWgm3Gyhz1alzF5wct4-lES0d13TzFQD73bborekOuyinTUzcAA1HNPGkt7xyXDwXAc_PuPsg/w200-h161/TGIF.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Let's get right to the <span><i style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">good week</span></i><b> </b>/</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><i>bad week</i></b></span> lists, shall we?<p></p><p>Rep. <b><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>Dean Phillips (D-MN)</i></span></b>, a 55-year-old guy running for president as a Democrat, thinks <b>Sen. Amy Klobuchar (also D-MN)</b> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dean-phillips-absurd-amy-klobuchar-reelection-minnesota-liz-cheney-2024-2" target="_blank"><b>shouldn't be running for re-election</b></a> in November. It's not because of her age (63), it's that this is her 18th year as a senator, and if she wins re-election, she'll serve at least 24 years.</p><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit;">Turn it over to other Americans who wish to serve the public. We're precluding other generations of Americans from participating, and what do they do? They kind of give up. And that's what's happening all around our country right now.</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">He's not wrong - I mean, if folks never leave, what chance do we have for new people, new outlooks, and new ideas to come forward? I'm all for term limits, I really am. And if Phillips wants to make a point, he'd call out these House colleagues who have declared for re-election: <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>James Clyburn</i></span>,</b> 83, first elected in 1992; <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><i>Nancy Pelosi</i></b></span>, 83, first elected in 1987; <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Steny Hoyer</i></span></b>, 84, first elected in 1981; <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Eleanor Holmes Norton</i></span></b>, 86, first elected in 1991; <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Bill Pascrell</i></span></b>, 87, first elected in 1996; <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Hal Rogers</i></span></b>, 85, first elected 1981; and <b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Maxine Waters</i></span></b>, 85, first elected in 1990. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm giving <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-weight: bold;"><i>voters in Wisconsin</i></span> a shout-out: the Republicans in the state opted not to fight the latest redistricting maps, not out of the goodness of their heart, but because they were afraid if they took the maps to court, they'd end up looking even more fair for voters than they did in the redrawing. And now,<b> <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/02/23/wisconsin-ethics-commission-alleges-illegal-scheme-by-trump-fundraising-committee-and-rep-janel-bran/72711365007/" target="_blank">a bipartisan ethics group</a></b> has referred former president Trump's <span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;"><i>Save America PAC and a host of Republicans</i> </span>for prosecution for their role in trying to skirt campaign finance laws in the 2020 election.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">There's a <span style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">measles outbreak</span> <b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">in Florida</span></i></b>, which is really sad, especially since there's a highly effective vaccine that's been available since 1968; it's so effective the disease was declared eliminated from the US in 2000. The outbreak is only a few cases now, but time will tell how long that'll be the case, thanks to the state's <b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo</span></i></b>. Per the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article285834346.html" target="_blank"><b>Miami Herald</b></a>, Ladapo sent a letter to parents acknowledging the common practice -- keeping unvaccinated kids home from school - but </div><p></p><blockquote>Ladapo, then, however, wrote that, “due to the high immunity rate in the community,” the Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”</blockquote><p></p><p>It's too hard, I guess, to follow the science.</p><div style="text-align: left;">Remember the <b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">My Pillow Guy</span></i></b>, and his "<a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/22/mike-lindell-5-million-challenge-court" target="_blank"><b>Prove Mike Wrong</b></a>" contest, offering to pay $5M to anyone who could prove he didn't find evidence of election fraud? Yeah, a guy named <b><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Robert Zeidman</span></i></b> proved it and asked for the $5M. Feet were dragged, arbitration ensued, and a judge ordered the payment, plus interest from last April be paid within 30 days. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Beyonce</span></i></b> has her first #1 single on the <a href="https://ew.com/beyonce-becomes-first-black-woman-with-country-no-1-hit-8597768" target="_blank"><b>Billboard Country</b></a> chart, the first Black woman with that achievement in the history of the chart. And some folks <a href="https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/why-beyonces-1-in-country-doesnt-really-matter/" target="_blank"><b>don't seem happy</b></a> about it.</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Sure, if a Black woman either native to country music or coming up through the country music ranks would have achieved a similar goal, it would speak to the opening up of the genre to women of color. But that’s not what’s happened here at all. Instead, </span><b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Beyonce</span></i></b><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> is leveraging her global superstar status earned in the pop and R&B/hip-hop world, the enthusiasm of her Stan army the Beyhive, and the coercion of country music’s institutions to ensconce herself atop the genre.</span></span></span></div></blockquote><p>On the other hand, people are <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/beyonce-texas-hold-em-line-dance-tiktok-viral-savannah-bananas" target="_blank">l<b>ine dancing all over the place</b></a> to the song - including the <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Savannah Bananas</span><span> - does that mean this whole thing is a wash?</span></p><div style="text-align: left;">Who made your lists this week?</div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-79781641445408564162024-02-23T10:09:00.000-05:002024-02-23T10:09:17.857-05:00OrangeVerse LXIII: February 19, 2024<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0nXSUlk2a_CAIiopb6dXRfPA4T2rGzcpkyMqkXFoLre3DSkoIfKYVe44j-MbmCz3q0X08cJp8zcUNnVhPM95vW94DXciCwaz59BEas3UYsAe0Ndo7RiHlgo5RmgORSW3e9GR6CHQXiFMKO0fszKeNuVxwqBV9wy4FuKMu9iBCDuqTPeG6rv-59sQTg/s1509/orangeversewinner%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1509" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0nXSUlk2a_CAIiopb6dXRfPA4T2rGzcpkyMqkXFoLre3DSkoIfKYVe44j-MbmCz3q0X08cJp8zcUNnVhPM95vW94DXciCwaz59BEas3UYsAe0Ndo7RiHlgo5RmgORSW3e9GR6CHQXiFMKO0fszKeNuVxwqBV9wy4FuKMu9iBCDuqTPeG6rv-59sQTg/w320-h251/orangeversewinner%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-large;"><u>A Social Truth</u></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">The sudden</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">death of</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Alexei </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Navalny</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">has made</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">me more </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">and more</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">aware of</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">what is </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">happening</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">in our </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Country.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">It is a</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">slow, </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">steady</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">progression,</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">with </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">CROOKED,</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Radical Left </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Politicians,</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Prosecutors,</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">and Judges</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">leading us </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">down a path</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">to destruction.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Open Borders,</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Rigged </span></b><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Elections</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">and Grossly Unfair </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Courtroom Decisions are </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">DESTROYING AMERICA.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">WE ARE A NATION</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">IN DECLINE</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">A FAILING </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">NATION!<br />MAGA</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">2024</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKQHAEWZM8k9fUj4lr97pOUfOZ97ItH-w6rue1I2SCA28DSX5IRVWkwiwWOqO-ltd1-9hXWOECR7dWeg_Ol2B8iaYOPEM2nfq8FL5MZiSsVlXlnXShwb6mWlHGKIBgxzDkFRrJSrKDxTBVSpHGP-NzHwC_BzFx-2Pz3sDElpu3NSLq-MJjznmzFtL7Q/s539/Trump%20post%20Tulsa.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="415" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKQHAEWZM8k9fUj4lr97pOUfOZ97ItH-w6rue1I2SCA28DSX5IRVWkwiwWOqO-ltd1-9hXWOECR7dWeg_Ol2B8iaYOPEM2nfq8FL5MZiSsVlXlnXShwb6mWlHGKIBgxzDkFRrJSrKDxTBVSpHGP-NzHwC_BzFx-2Pz3sDElpu3NSLq-MJjznmzFtL7Q/w308-h400/Trump%20post%20Tulsa.PNG" width="308" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-89137900464070045952024-02-22T11:20:00.002-05:002024-02-22T11:20:48.466-05:00Quick Takes (v72): The Three Cs<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rx2EYJJAeeuMjNrN3uoQJS3soS_0ctEaCUY99C9MqDmplXDk_9EKoL-u51hFtrCvNZz3HO_JL8Sk1QQaUuLcNxxbBDROoYBRn2VoXBQGCNUeLdw_8wlb1Gh5cgtR7d9cbFv_5a9BoFZwIjam56joMTfRLJ_sm0vr8npmu4jfMNOjFRQBUUuECHxVaQ/s640/mad%20clocks.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rx2EYJJAeeuMjNrN3uoQJS3soS_0ctEaCUY99C9MqDmplXDk_9EKoL-u51hFtrCvNZz3HO_JL8Sk1QQaUuLcNxxbBDROoYBRn2VoXBQGCNUeLdw_8wlb1Gh5cgtR7d9cbFv_5a9BoFZwIjam56joMTfRLJ_sm0vr8npmu4jfMNOjFRQBUUuECHxVaQ/w200-h150/mad%20clocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>He's important, he's influential, and he'd never been in a Sunday School classroom until his taped interview with <b>Jon Karl</b> aired on <a href=" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-18-24-nikki-haley-gov/story?id=107321041 " target="_blank"><b>This Week</b></a>. <p></p><p>'He' is <a href="https://www.cthagodworld.com/about" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Charlamagne tha God</a>; it was in his interview in 2020 that brought us <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/22/politics/biden-charlamagne-tha-god-you-aint-black/index.html" target="_blank"><b>this comment</b></a> from then-candidate Joe Biden: </p><blockquote><p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black</span></span><span>.</span></p></blockquote><p>Karl started with a quote from his guest, who said the 2024 campaign is "a race between the cowards, the crooks, and the couch." Here's how he defines those three Cs.</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">...<b>the crooks</b> are the Republicans. <b>The cowards</b> are the Democrats, because they don't fight hard enough on anything. And, you know, <b>the couch</b> is voter apathy. And, you know, that's -- that's who everybody is up against in 2024. </span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">He doesn't know if anyone benefits from the couch winning, but that's what it feels like will happen; even his audience isn't energetic. He said "nobody wants to see the rematch" between Biden and Trump, and that's why he feels the couch will win.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">He also said it's "mind-boggling" to him that people aren't even taking January 6th seriously. He said, "Everybody's <span style="font-family: inherit;">acting like it was just a bunch of people, you know, wilding at spring break, you know, down in Florida." </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">Karl pointed out that President Biden talks about that all the time, and wondered why it isn't resonating. Charlamagne was blunt: "... there's nothing about...Joe Biden that makes you want to listen to him." He said Biden needs to be leaning on others, like Vice President <b>Kamala Harris</b> ("way more charismatic than him"), California's<b> Gavin Newsom,</b> and Pennsylvania's <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21824.html" target="_blank">Josh Shapiro</a></b>.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">And he should just be, I guess, if you want to call it the brains of the operation behind the scenes... Like, that sounds crazy that we're saying that about a president of the United States of America, but he, he has no 'main character energy' at all. None.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">And when he compares Biden to Trump, who's nearly as old, the latter seems "a lot more youthful... like he has a lot more energy."</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">And I always say this about him: Donald Trump seems more sincere about his lies than Joe Biden does about his truth.</span></blockquote><p>Ouch. If you're part of the Biden campaign, you've got a tough row to hoe with that, I think.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">Charlamagne endorsed the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020, mostly because of Harris, and Karl asked if she had met expectations. Another blunt response: she hasn't - but he doesn't think "it's too late for her to pivot." Her problem is that the VP is supposed to speak on behalf of the president, that's it.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">But I think, man, we're in a new, a new era, right? Like, like for new jack problems, we need new jack solutions. And she serves a unique purpose, right? Because she is the first woman of color in that position. </span></blockquote><p>Thinking about then-Senator Harris 'prosecuting' witnesses in hearings, Charlamagne said</p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">I want to see her prosecute the case against Donald Trump in this country. I feel like she could go out there and really let the American people, you know, know what's going on. I'd like to see her going on outlets like Fox News. I'd like to see her going in there and mixing it up.</span></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">Does he hear from the administration when he's critical of Biden? That's a yes, and he thinks "that's the<span style="font-family: inherit;"> stupidest (EXPLETIVE DELETED) ever," because he thinks we all should be able to criticize elected officials, especially given what we're up against. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what I'm saying to them is, where is the sense of urgency? You can't keep saying that there's a threat to democracy, and democracy as we know it is going to be, be gone, but not act like it. </span></blockquote><p>He also has a problem with the Dems "demonizing" their opponent, saying "<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since I've been alive, whoever the Republican presidential candidate has been, they've demonized." </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And now that there's an actual legitimate threat right there in our faces, they're like, they're like the party who cried wolf. Nobody believes them.</span></p></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">He says it's "scary" that he doesn't know who will win. With the insurrection, and Roe being overturned, when you look at it, "it really shouldn't be close, right?" But the polls say Biden would lose to Trump in the general election.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's where these conversations are coming from, where they're like, you, you might need to step aside and put somebody else in there. Because you know, my fear is that the election is going to be close, right?</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">He's not going to endorse anyone, Charlamagne said, but he will tell his listeners what he's seeing including this:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">For years, they've told us that, you know, these people are threats to democracy. This person is <i>absolutely</i> a threat to democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">He'll continue to "speak the truth" about Dems, too. If he lies about Biden, why should anyone believe him when he tells the truth about Trump? He added</p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">... I hate to say this, but why do we keep having to say this: pick your poison. One poison might send you to the hospital for a couple of days. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other ones will absolutely kill you. </span></p></blockquote><p>I don't take issue with what Charlamagne said, just as I didn't with <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sidebar-tgif-21624.html" target="_blank"><b>what Jon Stewart said</b></a>. I'd love to hear what you think - drop a comment, if you like.</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-61431780437558948232024-02-21T20:37:00.001-05:002024-02-24T12:43:42.220-05:00Wondering on Wednesday 2/21/24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSoz-MUR8mgOUxVD0Hbw2wmjcEFpvLGsNPT9GfGo6KHc2DlhwCu9S1NC8nI0dxf1tHx6NLSmEy2HFoxuRBn98b02NpTnDyZno4cSjwT5JusX4qhze5WkkAx5SbHZxCRQ3JgRBFfSvsZcepqrFUrbhOOlBpuFJP30sihrvBn5OCcMR5lLF_ZlwOG6YnbA/s615/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="615" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSoz-MUR8mgOUxVD0Hbw2wmjcEFpvLGsNPT9GfGo6KHc2DlhwCu9S1NC8nI0dxf1tHx6NLSmEy2HFoxuRBn98b02NpTnDyZno4cSjwT5JusX4qhze5WkkAx5SbHZxCRQ3JgRBFfSvsZcepqrFUrbhOOlBpuFJP30sihrvBn5OCcMR5lLF_ZlwOG6YnbA/w320-h50/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ready... set... wonder!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I read an article about a move to </span><a href=" https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/financial-literacy-classes-growing-in-high-schools-with-middle-school-the-next-target/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR2YIPB6UEQJHKS8QJEzwjElltxlLTj8drSQZlJ-xZptTkIjssuIGl8TAsQ" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>teach financial literacy</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in high schools, which I think is a good idea. I mean. my dad set up something like that when I was a high school senior way back in the dark ages, so I'm all for it. In this case, though, banks are behind the curriculum, and </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">I'm wondering how</span></i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> they'll possibly avoid trying to train </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">customers</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, not just financially aware students.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">***** *****</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This one's such a no-brainer that I can't imagine it not moving forward, especially in an election year: there's at least one bill to <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/win-win-bill-eliminate-taxes-115000255.html" target="_blank"><b>eliminate federal income taxes</b></a> on Social Security beginning in 2025. In addition to getting rid of taxes, it'll change the way Social Security is funded, which could add years to the program's life expectancy. You might be wondering<b style="color: #674ea7; font-style: italic;"> what I'm wondering</b> on this one, and it's simple: Will Donald Trump tell the MAGA Campers to block this one and save it for him? Or, if it does pass, will he take credit for <u>not</u> stopping them from voting? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***** *****</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This one's <span style="font-family: inherit;">a head-spinner: a trucker has called for </span><a href="https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-supporting-truckers-stage-nyc-drive-boycott-after-350m-legal-hit" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>boycotting deliveries to New York City</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, in protest of the fines imposed on Trump in his financial shenanigans case. "Chicago Ray," the trucker, tweeted</span></div><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm just one of the many millions of Truckers who believe in God and love this Country. I stand with Trump bc Trump stands with me. Truckers for Trump ain't just a slogan, it's real.</span></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Trump was <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111950486977084547" target="_blank"><b>delighted</b></a>, as you might imagine, to "have so many Great Patriots" on his side, and so on. But then, Chicago Ray deleted his original tweet, put up another one in which he stressed he was <b><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-trucker-calling-nyc-boycott-backs-down-1871306" target="_blank">not encouraging anyone to do anything</a></b> - and then deleted that one, too. And<i style="color: #674ea7; font-weight: bold;"> I can't help wondering</i>, is he still a Great Patriot, or not?</div><div style="text-align: center;">***** *****</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">I wonder </span></i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">if anyone actually bought a mattress for President's Day, and if yes, which president were they honoring? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">***** *****</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/jul/26/choco-taco-discontinued-ice-cream" target="_blank"><b>Klondike Choco Taco was being discontinued</b></a>? I don't - I would have thought it was last year, not back in 2022 - but I do remember seeing 'make them yourself' recipes popping up on social media at the time. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">I suspect fans of the ice cream favorite are pretty excited this week, as we learned that </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/19/1232383825/get-excited-the-choco-taco-is-coming-back" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;" target="_blank"><b>they're coming back</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">, thanks to Taco Bell and the Salt & Straw ice cream company. They won't be exactly the same though.</span></div><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.36px;">The new treat will feature a waffle cone filled with cinnamon ancho chile ice cream dipped in chocolate and topped with toasted brown rice. </span></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">And, because it's Taco Bell, there'll be dipping sauces - and <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">I'm really wondering</span></i></b> how I lived to the ripe old age of way older than a Choco Taco, and never felt the urge to dip my ice cream in a spicy sauce. </div><div style="text-align: center;">***** *****</div><div style="text-align: left;">Things have been <span style="font-family: inherit;">a little rocky in the House lately, with Speaker Mike Johnson trying to balance the so-called Freedom Caucus, Donald Trump's campaign wishes, the imploding impeachment investigation into President Biden, foreign aid to our allies, a border crisis, a looming government shutdown, losing the Santos seat, redistricting efforts which might erase his razor-thin majorities, and most recently, </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u-s-house-is-losing-three-republican-committee-chairs-to-retirement-in-the-span-of-a-week" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>three GOP committee chairs</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> announced they won't be seeking re-election.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">But Johnson might <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/21/democrats-mike-johnson-motion-vacate-gottheimer" target="_blank"><b>get a lifeline from the Dems</b></a>: a resolution being circulated by NJ Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would change the 'McCarthy Ouster Rules' and require party leadership to approve any resolutions to vacate the Speaker's chair, rather than allowing any member to do it. I like this idea, <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">but I wonder</span></i></b> if there are enough Rs upset with the nonsense to approve such a measure, <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">and I also wonder</span></i></b> if Johnson's got the courage to accept such an offer. </div><div style="text-align: center;">***** *****</div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, I've got some information on something <span style="color: #674ea7; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">a lot of people have been wondering about</span><span> - that GoFundMe to raise money for Trump's fines. Many people have questioned how it didn't violate the website's policies, and the GFM folks have <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gofundme-addresses-calls-halt-donald-235845264.html " target="_blank"><b>answered the question</b></a>. </span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span>According to the rules, you cannot raise money to pay legal fees for someone charged with a violent crime, or financial crimes - but this one, which is to pay fines after crimes have been adjudicated, is not outside the rules. Yet, anyway. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span>And <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">in case anyone's wondering</span></i></b>, over $905,000 has been donated by over 16,000 people. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span>What's on your wondering minds tonight?</span></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-19228688132183471102024-02-20T20:53:00.000-05:002024-02-20T20:53:28.653-05:00Sunday School 2/18/24: Extra Credit<p style="background: white; margin-top: 18.75pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFjlyVODcj-QCw8SgdOF4S_C4CpwP7CapJI0e6FaQSr4XaK4buixE-sTJpttd2WYpMU0UBXIL0b8xEt6BDf5fGg61Lm13jfrdukcvEDkM7zxEohEKLey4Fjg5jcrLwktCvaHVQD4To_3YK_DK7NyKPfVcRJZ0-CHOSAQWIKvFQPkENv6viHVrwvBzkA/s1008/sundayschoolextracredit.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1008" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFjlyVODcj-QCw8SgdOF4S_C4CpwP7CapJI0e6FaQSr4XaK4buixE-sTJpttd2WYpMU0UBXIL0b8xEt6BDf5fGg61Lm13jfrdukcvEDkM7zxEohEKLey4Fjg5jcrLwktCvaHVQD4To_3YK_DK7NyKPfVcRJZ0-CHOSAQWIKvFQPkENv6viHVrwvBzkA/w200-h134/sundayschoolextracredit.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this week's <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21824.html" target="_blank"><b>Sunday School</b></a>, I focused on some of the Democrats who were wandering the halls. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For your Extra Credit, I've got former <b>Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Too Sane for MAGA Camp)</b>, who talked with <b>Jake Tapper</b> in the <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2024-02-18/segment/01" target="_blank"><b>State of the Union</b></a> classroom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like most folks, Cheney believes "there's no question" <b>Vladimir Putin</b> is responsible for the death of<b> Alexei Navalny</b>. And that makes it even more important that we "pass the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">aid bill
that the Ukrainians need so urgently to help them continue what they're doing" to defeat the Russians.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">And one thing that's really important, Jake,
for the viewers to recognize and understand is, one man - one man has the power
in his hands to get that done. And that's... <b>Speaker of the
House, Mike Johnson</b>. It's very unusual actually in American history to be in a
situation where one man holds that kind of power who's not the president.</span></blockquote><p>Officially, it's Johnson, but for all practical intents, haven't her former colleagues in the House (and the Senate, too) ceded that power to Donald Trump? </p><p>She added Johnson's got some soul-searching to do on <b>Ukraine</b>; he needs to understand "exactly what's happening," and how the Ukrainians are the front line in the fight for freedom.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">And history will look back at this moment and ask, what did Mike Johnson
do? He has said, and I take him at his word, that he believes that God has told
him that he's called to be Moses. And I think Mike Johnson ought to look at
whether or not this is actually that moment, and he ought to help the Ukrainian
people.</span></p></blockquote><p>Tapper mentioned the pressure on Johnson, and the threat that hangs over his head: the ironically-named <b>House '<i>Freedom'</i> Caucus</b>, which holds the Speakership hostage, could move to boot him from the role. Cheney agrees but says Johnson should understand it'd be worth it to lose the position to do the right thing. She should know, right?</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And, again, he's going to have to
explain to future generations, to his kids, to his grandkids whether or not he
did what was right, whether or not he was a force for good and aided the cause
of freedom, or whether he continued down this path of cowardice and doing what
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin want him to do.</span></p></blockquote></div><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, like most folks, she's not impressed with Trump not having said anything about his friend Putin taking out a political rival. She also reminded us that Trump has promised retribution, and that retribution is what Putin did to Navalny. Trump needs to be taken seriously, and</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We have to take seriously the
extent to which you have now got a Putin wing of the Republican Party. I
believe the issue this election cycle is making sure the Putin wing of the
Republican Party does not take over the west wing of the White House.<br /></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="line-height: 107%;">She was harsh on <b>Trump's NATO approach</b>, calling it "dangerous," "disgraceful," and "completely uninformed and ignorant," and said what's "so misguided" about people thinking we should just walk away from Ukraine is</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">if Putin
wins in Ukraine, he's telling us... the Baltics are next, Poland is
next, NATO member countries will be next.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> If Putin wins in Ukraine, the security system -- and he knows
this -- the security structures that have maintained peace and security and
freedom since the end of World War II will begin to unravel.</span></span></blockquote><p><span style="line-height: 107%;">She thinks "what the Republicans are doing" with our border issues "is really shameful." She strongly blames the Biden administration for its failures there, but "as soon as the agreement was reached" - the tripartisan Sinema/Langford/Murphy bill - she said Trump stepped in again, preferring an issue to run on, rather than movement to solve the problem. And the "contortions from many leading Republicans," aren't fooling anyone, on anything.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think, again, the American
people are too smart to fall for that, and I think that my former colleagues
ought to stop the political contortions and realize how significant and serious
this national security moment is.</span></blockquote><p></p><p>They talked about Trump's legal issues; regarding the E. Jean Carroll case, she said the jury found that Trump <i>actually did</i> what he said he could get away with on the Access Hollywood tape. And she pointed to the common thread with all of the cases: Trump won't follow the law, he won't tell the truth, and he's got a "fundamental lack of character."</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> And I think one of the things that is
so troubling about this political season is the extent to which you have got
people that used to be good and honorable members of Congress, for example, who
have simply, apparently, abandoned the need to actually elect people of
character and honor, and instead are embracing him.</span></p></blockquote><p>Tapper was surprised that <b>Sen. Mitt Romney</b> would be "unique" among the Rs in the Senate and House to say, in effect, that he won't vote for someone who's guilty of sexual assault. Cheney agreed. </p><blockquote><p>I mean, you would think that anyone with a daughter, sister, a mother would be where Senator Romney is on that issue. </p></blockquote><p>Tapper noted that <b>Sen. J.D. Vance</b> <b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">(R-OH YEAH, I'm in the Cult!)</b> and<b> Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-You Kidding Me? Of Course I'll be His Veep)</b>, both said they would not have certified the election on January 6th, and he wondered whether anyone should be comfortable voting for a Republican ticket with either of them on it. That's a big fat no from Cheney - and, she said, Stefanik should be removed from the board of the <a href="https://www.ned.org/" target="_blank"><b>National Endowment for Democracy</b></a>. </p><p>Cheney also didn't think much of <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2019/05/sing-it-with-me.html" target="_blank"><b>Snitty Snitty Bill Barr,</b></a> who recently said he'd vote for Trump over Biden even though, he also said,</p><blockquote><p>Voting for Trump is playing Russian roulette with the country. Voting for Biden is outright national suicide.</p></blockquote><p>She said he's "absolutely wrong," and even though she hasn't endorsed anyone, she "certainly would never support Donald Trump." Why?</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">...we know what
Donald Trump will do because he's telling us every day. And anybody who has
spent any time overseas, who has spent any time studying the history of autocracies
and of autocrats knows we have to listen to what Donald Trump's saying. So
electing Donald Trump's not Russian roulette. Electing Donald Trump would mean
putting in power a man who's committed to unraveling our constitutional
framework. So Bill Barr is just wrong on that.</span></p></blockquote><p>And what about <i>her</i> plans? Tapper tried to get her on the record, on a variety of options.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Is she running for president? No decision yet, but she'll do whatever it takes to stop Trump. </li><li>If she didn't run, would she support Biden over Trump if they were the choices? She's "not making any announcements or endorsements," but she'll do whatever it takes to stop Trump.</li><li>If she were a South Carolina voter, he assumed she'd support <b>Nikki Haley</b> in the primary? "Yes; I mean, again, I am not making any endorsements, but I don't think that's a hard call at all."</li></ul><div>Cheney was - is - much more conservative than I am; heck, she <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/liz-cheney/" target="_blank"><b>voted with Trump</b></a> nearly 93% of the time during her career. But she's one of the few politicians who answers the questions she's asked and is not afraid to speak her mind. I wish all of the folks who sat in the classrooms were as accessible. </div><div><br /></div><div>See you around campus.</div><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-53156948160184987472024-02-19T17:15:00.000-05:002024-02-19T17:15:12.273-05:00Sunday School 2/18/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5Rl1VP0BviYqiRE09FL7mIbs7-P5U3jNdiB9SORMA69orweIj0EAJt4HZRm2EfC_eQPo_OSxQXXSvATcnmsR2fNIXrIouvAneLkcWY59204t6rxbLREk2dvyNtTddxFGP00KnLoVVwq89vKzerZMh07g_MRb3DzNb9IczBjBZycL2zd9e0Nc69f6dA/s444/sunday%20school%20logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="444" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5Rl1VP0BviYqiRE09FL7mIbs7-P5U3jNdiB9SORMA69orweIj0EAJt4HZRm2EfC_eQPo_OSxQXXSvATcnmsR2fNIXrIouvAneLkcWY59204t6rxbLREk2dvyNtTddxFGP00KnLoVVwq89vKzerZMh07g_MRb3DzNb9IczBjBZycL2zd9e0Nc69f6dA/w200-h154/sunday%20school%20logo.png" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">I visited three classrooms Sunday to hear what the <b>Democrats</b> were saying, starting with the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-18-24-nikki-haley-gov/story?id=107321041" target="_blank"><b>This Week</b></a> classroom, where Jon Karl talked with <b>Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro</b>. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl asked, "What worries you about... a Biden-Trump rematch?" In part, the gov said</span><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">this election really is about all of us and whether or not we’re going to rise
up and use our voices and ultimately our vote to protect our fundamental
freedoms, to scream out for the kind of country that we want, to protect this
247-year experience that began right here... </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Regarding the tight polls in PA, Shapiro correctly noted that the campaign hasn't really started yet, and polls have frequently been wrong in his state. Echoing Jon Stewart, he added</span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And I would say to folks who are worried about the numbers, stop
worrying and start working. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He gave several examples of how Pennsylvanians "voted for freedom and against extremism," over the past few years, and promised that he'd "do everything in my political power" to make the case against Trump and for Biden. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl mentioned <b>Ezra Klein</b> commenting in the NY Times that Biden should bow out of the race and let the delegates choose the nominee. </span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
think Biden, as painful as this is, should find a way (of) stepping down as a
hero, that the party should help him find his way to do that, to being the
thing he said he would be in 2020, a bridge to the next generation of Democrats... Retirement can be, often is, a
trauma. But losing to Donald Trump would be far worse." </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shapiro agrees with Klein <span>that "the stakes could not be higher," but said Biden'll be the guy, and he'll have Shapiro's support.</span></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">...we’ve got to go out and
make that case. The president, the vice president and those of us who are
privileged who support him and have a front-row seat to this, we've got to go
out and do this important work now. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said we all are "going to have to stand up and be counted" on whether America will continue "to be a voice of freedom and democracy..." and he's confident voters,</span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> ...just as they did in 2020,
they will rise up; they will demand more; they will seek justice; and they will
look to defend freedom in this nation, and they will reject Donald Trump.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)</b> was in t<span>he </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-february-18-2024-n1308872" target="_blank"><b>Meet the Press</b></a><span> classroom with </span><b>Kristen Welker</b><span>, who asked if the <b>Senate Intelligence Committee</b> was going to call <b>Robert Hur</b> to testify.</span><span> Klobuchar suggested in the upper chamber, they</span><span> have "many other things" they need to do, legislating tech and dealing with fentanyl among them. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also said it would be "up to the president and his lawyers," to address Hur's comments about Biden, but said she's been with him, talking about both domestic and international issues, and she said "he was focused. His recall was good." Her colleagues have said had similar experiences, she said.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>...</span><span>I think that we've got to
evaluate what's happening right now by, one, what he has done... and focus on what matters to the American people and
compare what he is doing to what we've got as the alternative on the Republican
side, which is Donald Trump </span><span>who is nothing but standing up week by week for
chaos.</span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker mentioned growing chatter from Dems <span>about Biden's ability to win a second term, and like Karl, she picked something from Klein's column.</span></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>He is</span><span> not up for this. He is not the campaigner he was even five years ago. The way
he moves, the energy in his voice. The Democrats denying decline are only
fooling themselves.</span></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Klobuchar disagreed; she listed several Dem wins, none of which really rebutted Klein's point. And, she added,</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Time and time again
the American people have stood with the policies and the work of Joe Biden </span><span>because they do not want to go back to the chaos
and madness of Donald Trump.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker said that "the vast majority of Americans say they are not feeling it" on Biden's handling of the economy, and asked whether it was time for Biden to hang it up. </span></p><blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, I'm a believer in President Biden because I believe he is a good moral
person that has the backs of the people of this country... I am proud to be supporting Joe Biden for president.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welker pushed back about voters not feeling it, and after listing more policy wins, Klobuchar said</span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He is not running, as the president has
said, against the almighty. He is running against Donald Trump. And time and
time again, the voters have made clear where they stand on Donald Trump. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the choice, moderates and independent voters will go for "someone who believes in democracy" and fights against the Putins of the world, </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">as opposed to Donald Trump, who literally a week ago said that Vladimir Putin should be
able to do whatever the hell he wants... </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">My last stop? The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-full-transcript-02-18-2024/" target="_blank"><b>Face the Nation</b></a> classroom where <b>Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC)</b> spoke with <b>Robert Costa</b>. Noting the Congressman was "optimistic" about Biden's re-election campaign, Costa asked, "What keeps you up at night, politically? "</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clyburn said "the misinformation efforts that are underway throughout this campaign" keep him "wide awake."</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">I've heard so much from people sharing with me things that just
aren't true. So much from people who seem to feel that everything they see or
hear via the internet has some substance to them. And so that's the thing that
keeps me up, whether or not we're going to have a campaign for the presidency
free of all of these interruptions and all of the misinformation.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When prompted, he mentioned the AI robocalls in New Hampshire and said similar shenanigans are happening in his state; for example, Dems are being invited to participate in the GOP primary, and folks "saying things over the air that just aren't true." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Costa switched gears, asking if the administration's support of Israel's war with Hamas could dampen turnout "among young voters and others," Clyburn expressed concern about Israel/Hamas, and Russia/Ukraine, too. People are looking for someone</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">who can lead us through
this stuff. And nobody is better equipped to do that than Joe Biden. He –
has the experience. He has the wisdom. He has the demeanor. He has the
relationships. He has what it takes to get this country to where it needs to be
and to maintain the relationships we need to have with our allies around the
world. That you're not going to find on the other side of the aisle.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He's shared his personal thoughts about Netanyahu with Biden, he said, and interestingly, I thought, Clyburn added that while Biden doesn't share all his thoughts publicly</span></p><p></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 18.75pt;"><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">...I know this,
he feels about the way I feel when it comes to Netanyahu... his
leadership has not been good for Israel. We stand firmly with the people of
Israel. But I've always had a real problem with Netanyahu, and that continues
to be today.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Costa, the former newspaper guy, did something remarkable - <i>he asked a follow-up question!</i> Two of them!</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Costa: You say you have a problem with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,
and you say you've spoken to the president privately about this. Does he have a
problem with Netanyahu?</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Clyburn: I've shared with the president what my feelings are about Netanyahu.
He is going to develop his own feelings about that. He hasn't told me exactly
what – <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 18.75pt;"><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Costa: But does he agree or
disagree with your assessment, Congressman?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Clyburn: Well, he's accepted my assessment. I have not asked him whether or not
he agreed with me. In fact, I just let him know, 'This is the way I feel. I'm
not running the country. You do what you feel is in the best interest of the
country.'</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last two questions. First, in 2020, Biden pledged to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court; he got Clyburn's endorsement in return. Is there a pledge this time around, too?</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">He should continue to manage the country the way he's managing it... I would say to him, keep doing what you're doing.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally, 83-year-old Clyburn is running for re-election in November. Costa wondered how 81-year-old Biden should handle the age question as the campaign progresses. The answer? talk about his experience and wisdom, and maintain connections with people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clyburn's going to be visiting New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, he said, </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">carrying the president's message of
experience, of a steady hand, of maintaining our trek toward a more perfect
union, doing the things that are necessary to maintain our relationships around
the world and move this country forward on behalf of all.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He closed by telling Costa he's "fond of<span style="color: #101010;"> saying,
this is a great country, in no need of being made great. </span><span style="color: #101010;">We've just got to
figure out ways to make this country's greatness accessible and affordable for
all of our citizens. And Joe Biden is doing that. And we have got to stay focused
on that."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Out of the mouths of octogenarians, or something. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">See you around campus. </span></p></div>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-62752634978834849892024-02-18T07:14:00.000-05:002024-02-18T07:14:34.275-05:00In Case You Missed It (v121)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLj86muv0BuVuqlLebwYMM85eInFnLuzsWSIa1WqM9BYzVhJ4K_f8srUT1hYY6NSmI1mOqav_iHH6LF0YS_v7FYolwh8MflSQDPLbwV-8syg8fik9ExPah4peAOXLLhEk45EYDrO-olWyg01jq_oxIhOcSW1gMJxJEMkaVdI-IH57WyxjIcZHzMUVuA/s168/icymi%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="168" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLj86muv0BuVuqlLebwYMM85eInFnLuzsWSIa1WqM9BYzVhJ4K_f8srUT1hYY6NSmI1mOqav_iHH6LF0YS_v7FYolwh8MflSQDPLbwV-8syg8fik9ExPah4peAOXLLhEk45EYDrO-olWyg01jq_oxIhOcSW1gMJxJEMkaVdI-IH57WyxjIcZHzMUVuA/s1600/icymi%201.png" width="168" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ready for a recap of last week's posts? Let's dive in!</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As usual, <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21124.html" target="_blank"><b>Sunday School</b></a> was first up, and the <b>Jon Karl/Benjamin Netanyahu</b> interview on <b>This Week</b> was the only lesson of the post. One of the highlights for me was the exchange about how Israel was being mindful of <b>Palestinian civilians</b> and the various ways they tried to keep them safe. Here's a bit of that part of the discussion.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">Netanyahu said civilian losses are "a tragedy" of Hamas' making, and that Gazan Health Ministry statistics are unreliable. He also said, "</span><span style="color: #222222;">according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we've brought down the civilian-to-terrorist casualties, the ratio, down below 1-1, which is considerably less than in any other theater of similar warfare."</span></span></p></blockquote><div style="background-color: #fff9ee; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; margin-top: 0in;"><blockquote><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl was incredulous, but Netanyahu said it was true.</span></span></blockquote></div><div style="background-color: #fff9ee; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; margin-top: 0in;"><blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">... we've killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that about 12,000 -- 12,000 fighters. And we're doing everything we can to minimize civilian casualties and continue to do so. </span></span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was incredulous with Karl's apparent lack of curiosity about Netanyahu's response.</span></p></div><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, no follow-up questions: where did he get the 20,000/12,000 figures? What's the difference between a "Hamas terrorist" and a "fighter"? And what about the tens of thousands of wounded Gazans? It's unconscionable there was no challenge to Netanyahu's statement.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">For your <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-21124-extra-credit.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Extra Credit</a>, I again only offered one lesson: <b>Sen. Marco Rubio</b>'s discussion with <b>Jake Tapper</b> in the <b>State of the Union</b> classroom, which focused on immigration and the so-called border crisis which is so important the Senate couldn't pass a tripartisan bill that folks had worked on for four months - or wouldn't pass it because the House had declared it DOA. Here's a snippet of the conversation on changes to how we would have handled asylum claims under the failed bill.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rubio agreed changing the asylum standard is good, but "it's ultimately going to be applied by an administration that has proven its unwillingness to enforce our immigration laws." No matter what he was asked, his answers were consistent: from his perspective, bad liberals were going to be making bad decisions at the border - period.</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, in the hands of another administration, perhaps that asylum standard could be applied differently. But, ultimately, once you have this asylum corps hired by Mayorkas, hired by Biden, put at the border, they are going to be -- they will have the power...</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">That got me thinking... </span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the whole process that occurs after a bill passes - funding allocations, regulation-writing, job classification, hiring, background checks to complete... does he really think all that would happen before January 20, 2025 - or does he think Biden's going to be re-elected?</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it came time for Wednesday's <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/wondering-on-wednesday-21424.html" target="_blank">Wondering</a></b>, I was thinking a lot about <b>President Biden</b> and <b>former president Trump</b>, their ages, and their memories. And, about this.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">Don't get me wrong - I'm not giving either of them a pass. I believe they are both the wrong people to be running for president. But if 'we' - the media, the punditry, the keyboard warriors - are going to make the age and mental failings of </span><i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">one of them </i><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">an issue in the 2024 race,</span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><i><span style="color: red;"> I can't help wondering</span></i></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> what it's going to take to get 'us' talking about </span><i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">the other guy</i><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">, too, with the same level of breathless panic.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I managed to hit another of my old weekly features - <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/tgif-21624.html" target="_blank"><b>TGIF</b></a> - in which I make somewhat random, definitely opinionated <b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">good week</span></b>/<b><span style="color: red;">bad week</span></b> lists. Here's a sampling of what that looks like. The topic? Democrat Tom Suozzi's win in the race to replace George Santos.</span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">About that loss, many <span style="color: red; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">House Republicans</span> are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/15/house-gop-reflects-george-santos-democrats/72602470007/" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>venting their frustration</b>s</a> about the decision to expel Santos back in December. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/matt-gaetz-associate-cooperating-house-ethics-investigation-sources/story?id=107115444" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Ethically challenged</b></a> <b>Matt Gaetz</b> is one of course; and so is Texas <b>Rep. Troy Nehls</b>, who declared "...the only way you can win elections, is that you have to get into the slop with the pigs," or at least don't kick them out of the House.</span></blockquote><p></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; margin: 14px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #303030;">Speaking of pigs, Colorado's </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Rep. Ken Buck</span> referenced the same hoofed mammal as Nehls did when he <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republican-congressman-blasts-party-mayorkas-impeachment-1869727" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>explained his 'no' vote</b></a> on the Mayorkas impeachment.</span></blockquote><p></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; margin: 14px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can try to put lipstick on this pig, but it's still a pig...</span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The rest of that comment is important, too. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I closed the week with a <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sidebar-tgif-21624.html" target="_blank"><b>Sidebar</b></a> on the TGIF. I had <b>Jon Stewart</b> on my good week list, for his return to the host's desk on The Daily Show. I appreciated what he said, and how he said it, even though I had seen several critical articles about it - including one from a certain someone's famous relative. I was surprised with her take on it, and on Stewart's power.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">Lots of people, including the former president's niece, </span><b style="color: #222222;">Mary Trump</b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">, were beside themselves after the show. For example, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/175759629987500061" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Ms. Trump tweeted</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> "Not only is Stewart's 'both sides are the same' rhetoric not funny, it's a potential disaster for democracy." And, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1757596890860831101" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>she added</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">, "</span><span style="color: #222222;">I know Donald, and the media has to stop with the both sides bullshit."</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also penned an email newsletter titled <a href="https://marytrump.substack.com/p/jon-stewarts-danger-to-democracy" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Jon Stewart's Danger To Democracy</b></a>, in which she blamed him for low voter turnout in 2012 and 2016 - and for helping her uncle get elected. </span></p></blockquote><p>And just like that, you're all caught up on the latest pastiche. I hope to see you for this week's posts.</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-56588585100642467532024-02-17T21:16:00.002-05:002024-02-17T21:16:47.458-05:00Sidebar: TGIF 2/16/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG5jndjDO0RSX7Ek_I-elX_tV6QRE3VtbFO_qxa2-q12q3P7WJb1lp9WDuEDSb8uCYcEdQ659VPSZIF5ybX_5Fi0Lbrt0zHcxJJf2PaIpAERyS-9fGcFVTMZWKHQorTb4Q2tKHauou7iZTKLA5xxFHODy5gtDWi5DobFpC_VNPMtFQrC8Ikmm5lUlfQ/s255/sidebar4.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="255" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG5jndjDO0RSX7Ek_I-elX_tV6QRE3VtbFO_qxa2-q12q3P7WJb1lp9WDuEDSb8uCYcEdQ659VPSZIF5ybX_5Fi0Lbrt0zHcxJJf2PaIpAERyS-9fGcFVTMZWKHQorTb4Q2tKHauou7iZTKLA5xxFHODy5gtDWi5DobFpC_VNPMtFQrC8Ikmm5lUlfQ/w200-h164/sidebar4.PNG" width="200" /></a></div>In yesterday's <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/tgif-21624.html" target="_blank"><b>TGIF</b></a>, I put Jon Stewart on my <b><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">good week</span></i></b> list; here's what I said.<p></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Jon Stewart</span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; font-style: italic;"> </b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">returned to the host's chair on Comedy Central</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">'</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">s </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBPm0b9deQ" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Daily Show</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">, and I thought he did fine. Of course, I'm not afraid of pointing out shortcomings on the Dem side of the aisle, just as I'm not afraid of pointing them out on the aisle's other side.</span></p></blockquote><p>While I thought his monologue was entertaining, it didn't pull any punches. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>He talked about Biden not being able to remember things in his deposition and he showed a clip of not one, but <u>four</u> people named Trump not being able to recall things in<b><i> their</i></b> depositions;</li><li>he blasted Biden's handlers, who aren't keeping a good handle on him, allowing him to make bad decisions, and bad appearances, like going on TikTok instead of doing the traditional Super Bowl Sunday presidential interview;</li><li>he mocked just one of Trump's absurd statements - that Pennsylvania would change its name if he didn't win the election;</li><li>he said Trump and Biden are "similarly challenged" age-wise, and gaffe-wise and</li><li>he lamented that the strong, focused, on-his-game Biden that all of his staffers, appointees, and friends see is never filmed.</li></ul><div>Lots of people, including the former president's niece, <b>Mary Trump</b>, were beside themselves after the show. For example, <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/175759629987500061" target="_blank"><b>Ms. Trump tweeted</b></a> "Not only is Stewart's 'both sides are the same' rhetoric not funny, it's a potential disaster for democracy." And, <a href=" https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1757596890860831101" target="_blank"><b>she added</b></a>, "<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know Donald, and the media has to stop with the both sides bullshit."</span></div><p>She also penned an email newsletter titled <a href="https://marytrump.substack.com/p/jon-stewarts-danger-to-democracy" target="_blank"><b>Jon Stewart's Danger To Democracy</b></a>, in which she blamed him for low voter turnout in 2012 and 2016 - and for helping her uncle get elected. </p><p><span style="color: #2b2c30;">Mary Trump, and the many others who jumped all over Stewart for "both-side-ism," missed the real point </span><span style="color: #2b2c30;">of his monologue. I added<b><i> emphasis</i></b> for her, and them.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHfG2Zvnwo7WLqGywKZ6lrpdcZ4iybi7zYtbQdZXQ7I-RBfJTGPNWJ1hT2t3gLBp8cs7tCJNv3_smTqgRPc19us7su3764ngCSBzblRkeZB0g_NsIMTAou8A_O2X-kfbuuH53canhYeNIKmz3g61b6LwqSqTwbyGmkqzem-ltIZe4hqRIeu1LWhJHgA/s420/Indecision%202024%20Antiques%20Roadshow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="420" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHfG2Zvnwo7WLqGywKZ6lrpdcZ4iybi7zYtbQdZXQ7I-RBfJTGPNWJ1hT2t3gLBp8cs7tCJNv3_smTqgRPc19us7su3764ngCSBzblRkeZB0g_NsIMTAou8A_O2X-kfbuuH53canhYeNIKmz3g61b6LwqSqTwbyGmkqzem-ltIZe4hqRIeu1LWhJHgA/w200-h158/Indecision%202024%20Antiques%20Roadshow.png" width="200" /></a></div><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">We are not suggesting neither man is vibrant, productive, or even capable - but they are both stretching the limits of being able to handle the toughest job in the world. <b><i>What's crazy is thinking that we're the ones, as voters, who must silence concerns and criticisms. It is the candidates' job to assuage concerns, not the voters' job not to mention them</i></b>.</span></blockquote><p>Stewart goes out of his way to say Biden isn't Trump, and lists the many ways they are <u>not</u> the same, and then says</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">But the stakes of this election don't make Donald Trump's opponent <b><i><u>less</u> subject to scrutiny - it actually makes him <u>more</u> subject to scrutiny</i></b>. And if the barbarians are at the gate, you want Conan standing on the ramparts, not "chocolate chip cookie man."</span></blockquote><p>The 'chocolate cookie man' comment is not a slap at Biden per se; it's a slap at the people who kept him away from - or didn't get him into - the Super Bowl Sunday interview and instead posted a bad TikTok video. Those folks, he said, deserve to be fired. </p><p>Stewart told us that "T<span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">he next nine months or so, depending on the coup schedule - they're gonna suck." We're going to be bombarded with emails, phone calls, and more,</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">and it's all going to make you feel like Tuesday, November 5th is the only day that matters. And that day does matter, but man, November 6th ain't nothing to sneeze at, or November 7th.<b><i> </i></b></span><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>If your guy loses, bad things might happen but the country is not over, and if your guy wins, the country is in no way saved</i></b>.</span></blockquote><p>He continued, after admitting that the old Jon Stewart was "too glib" and "too dismissive" of the fact that</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">... the work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunchpail fucking job day in and day out where thousands of committed anonymous smart and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues until they get a positive result and even then, have to stay on to make sure that result holds. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">So, the good news is, I'm not saying you don't have to worry about who wins the election - <b><i>I'm saying you have to worry about it every day before it and every day after it. For ever</i></b>. </span><span style="color: #2b2c30; font-family: inherit;">Although on the plus side, I'm told that at some point, the sun will run out of hydrogen.</span></p></blockquote><p>If Mary Trump and all the others who jumped all over Stewart had paid attention to his full monologue, they'd understand that he's not "a danger to democracy," he's promoting participation in our democracy, and he's promoting accountability on the part of people who put these candidates before us. </p><p>Is he wrong? </p><p></p><p></p><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text" style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; max-width: none; padding: 0px;"><p></p></div>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-68583805392929671622024-02-16T19:56:00.000-05:002024-02-16T19:56:38.684-05:00TGIF 2/16/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o5HWiUl3N82alpJ95kZtYB27EOXu1w9P8P1xiNBxWWkhbgZ58OYn0PKDq-BUOY4E3gBIBP0yWC_HvP30ds6p_FDCtVZAC0S8uSrwV5TaOq4e0aslEKCOFVLt50s0RcqOEHkYoNntcooShdayXqo4V9hP-d7sXLp1xgpafT98q_D6hUu1q_nfF-0p0w/s622/TGIF.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="622" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o5HWiUl3N82alpJ95kZtYB27EOXu1w9P8P1xiNBxWWkhbgZ58OYn0PKDq-BUOY4E3gBIBP0yWC_HvP30ds6p_FDCtVZAC0S8uSrwV5TaOq4e0aslEKCOFVLt50s0RcqOEHkYoNntcooShdayXqo4V9hP-d7sXLp1xgpafT98q_D6hUu1q_nfF-0p0w/w200-h161/TGIF.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">What a busy few days we've had! Here are my <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">good</i><i><b><span> week</span></b></i></span> and <span style="color: red; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">bad</span> <span style="color: red; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">week</span><span> lists. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><b><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Jon Stewart</span></i></b> </span>returned to the host's chair on Comedy Central<b>'</b>s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBPm0b9deQ" target="_blank"><b>The Daily Show</b></a>, and I thought he did fine. Of course, I'm not afraid of pointing out shortcomings on the Dem side of the aisle, just as I'm not afraid of pointing them out on the aisle's other side.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">House Speaker <b><span style="color: red;"><i>Mike Johnson</i></span></b> may think he had a good week, but I beg to differ. First, there was the declaration that the Senate's tripartisan border bill would be DOA in the House; then, the House impeached Homeland Security Secretary <b>Alejandro Mayorkas</b> in a purely partisan effort (even though he <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-2424.html" target="_blank"><b>pretended that wasn't the case</b></a>). And then? <b>Tom Suozzi</b>, a Democrat, won the special election for the NY-3 seat previously held by serial liar <b>George Santos.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">About that loss, many <span style="color: red; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">House Republicans</span><span> are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/15/house-gop-reflects-george-santos-democrats/72602470007/" target="_blank"><b>venting their frustration</b>s</a> about the decision to expel Santos back in December. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/matt-gaetz-associate-cooperating-house-ethics-investigation-sources/story?id=107115444" target="_blank"><b>Ethically challenged</b></a> <b>Matt Gaetz</b> is one of course; and so is Texas <b>Rep. Troy Nehls</b>, who declared "...the only way you can win elections, is that you have to get into the slop with the pigs," or at least don't kick them out of the House.</span></span></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #303030;">Speaking of pigs, Colorado's </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Rep. Ken Buck</span><span> referenced the same hoofed mammal as Nehls did when he <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republican-congressman-blasts-party-mayorkas-impeachment-1869727 " target="_blank"><b>explained his 'no' vote</b></a> on the Mayorkas impeachment.</span></span></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can try to put lipstick on this pig, but it's still a pig. And this is a terrible impeachment. It sets a terrible precedent. The first impeachment of Donald Trump was a bad impeachment. And we've got to stop this in this body, or we are going to - further lose our credibility with the <b><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">American public</span></i></b>. </span></blockquote><p></p><div style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And, sticking with the bad impeachment theme, <b><i><span style="color: red;">Rep. James Comer</span></i></b>, chair of the <b>House Intelligence Committee</b>, saw another of his<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-burisma-fbi-informant-lying-6969656f6012780a23a4b8841ce2689b" target="_blank"><b> key Biden investigation witnesses get in trouble.</b></a> This time, it was <span><b>Alexander Smirnov</b></span>, who was charged with lying to the FBI about Joe and Hunter Biden each being paid $5M by Burisma executives in 2015 or 2016. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last time, it was <b>Gal Luft</b>, head of a think tank, who alleged that the Bidens received payments from the Chinese, and that Hunter had a mole in the FBI. Luft is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/gal-luft-charged-arms-trafficking/index.html" target="_blank"><b>a wanted fugitive, indicted</b></a> for arms trafficking, being an unregistered foreign agent, and other charges.</span></div><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}" style="margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Sir Paul McCartney's</span><span> week ended on a high note: his missing bass has been found. It was stolen in 1972</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> from a roadie's van. According to the folks responsible for tracking it down, it'll need some work before it can be played again. You can read more about the instrument, the search, and how it was found at <a href="https://thelostbass.com/" target="_blank"><b>The Lost Bass Project</b></a>. </span></p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}" style="margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally, <b><i><span style="color: red;">Donald Trump </span></i></b>was handed another <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ny-fraud-case-damages-pay-millions-judge-engoron-rcna135283" target="_blank"><b>nine-figure penalty</b></a> by a judge, and<b><i><span style="color: red;"> NY AG Letitia James</span></i></b> attempted to be funny with a <a href="https://twitter.com/TishJames/status/1757814418807656851" target="_blank"><b>Valentine's Day poem</b></a> that was neither particularly funny, nor particularly poetic. And yes, I know most folks will say James had a good week, but we'll see what happens on appeal.</span></p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}" style="margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who made your lists this week?</span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span></span></span><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-85229463107273083392024-02-14T21:31:00.001-05:002024-02-15T13:41:46.719-05:00Wondering on Wednesday 2/14/24<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhvbAOch2jTY2XiJD3wnjrNEW7vmrzwz2GihNvfnxQ4u2fK1G0gxq-h5j7a66qo2k2tugCuJX-Hd1IIEF8PMqhyJRqkKM0D8wDb1FT1E7cftBMd21ZzcCLD4_0dgc9Da0q1IXgqCJEYdZjtREk9JB-grAjWbRMzMNp9Nr1O4olwm9nlK0L0Z0wAU4ag/s615/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="615" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhvbAOch2jTY2XiJD3wnjrNEW7vmrzwz2GihNvfnxQ4u2fK1G0gxq-h5j7a66qo2k2tugCuJX-Hd1IIEF8PMqhyJRqkKM0D8wDb1FT1E7cftBMd21ZzcCLD4_0dgc9Da0q1IXgqCJEYdZjtREk9JB-grAjWbRMzMNp9Nr1O4olwm9nlK0L0Z0wAU4ag/s320/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" width="320" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ready... set... wonder!</span></p><p></p><p><b><i><span style="color: red;">I wonder more than a little</span></i></b> if the candy in those ubiquitous red hearts - the ones that have been on store shelves in my neck of the woods since around Thanksgiving - is still safe to eat? And if it is, will it taste as good as if I paid full price to get it, <b><i><span style="color: red;">I wonder</span></i></b>?</p><p>With all the talk about memory, two old guys running for president, and all of the known instances where <b>both of the OGs</b> have demonstrated memory lapses, <span style="color: red; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I wonder if </span><span>there's really a significant difference</span><span> between<b> OG1</b> not remembering the exact dates he was vice president, and <b>OG2</b> not remembering when he was married to one of his wives. </span></p><p><span><span>And <b><span style="color: red;"><i>I wonder more</i></span></b> if there isn't greater significance to <b>OG2</b> saying, in a videotaped deposition about his sexual assault case, that a <a href="https://www.politico.com/video/2023/05/05/new-deposition-tape-trump-mistakes-e-jean-carroll-for-marla-maples-907222" target="_blank"><b>picture of him and the woman he was accused of sexually assaulting</b></a> was actually a picture of him and his wife than there is that <b>OG1</b> <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-special-counsel-son-death_n_65c579c9e4b0fb721d60692f" target="_blank"><b>didn't remember the date his son died</b></a> when asked that question in a deposition regarding classified documents. </span></span></p><p>Don't get me wrong - I'm not giving either of them a pass. I believe they are both the wrong people to be running for president. But if 'we' - the media, the punditry, the keyboard warriors - are going to make the age and mental failings of <i>one of them </i>an issue in the 2024 race,<b><i><span style="color: red;"> I can't help wondering</span></i></b> what it's going to take to get 'us' talking about <i>the other guy</i>, too, with the same level of breathless panic.</p><p>And, totally NOT related to breathless panic... My father, a high school history teacher, used to call me every Valentine's Day and leave a voicemail telling me he loved me and hoped I'd have a great day. Before he hung up, without fail, he'd close with a 'rat-tat-tat-tat-tat' which was his way of commemorating the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/crime/saint-valentines-day-massacre" target="_blank"><b>St. Valentine's Day massacre</b></a>. And <b><i><span style="color: red;">I find myself randomly wondering</span></i></b> <span>what my mother must have thought the first time he did it, and, the tenth, and the 20th... </span>I know I loved it, every time. </p><p>What's on your wondering minds tonight?</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-86914805575876678552024-02-14T08:44:00.001-05:002024-02-14T08:44:41.864-05:00Sunday School 2/11/24: Extra Credit<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ROjKCdMDCXXFhzkA_4Yw9FyShY-UhGnysScrCta-shi1YwUXIdV9IO0bwMIHrPqKaflfu9IuhcY-7JYce3GkeOshvSzfs5Bfx4QAT-7qvbk0mxNJDu6fzhCtQN1lTK12qKzTBXmEEN6fRuL3clS0J46jscxLyv9_o8pqWQFWeVQBcbay3l4esze8nQ/s1008/sundayschoolextracredit.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1008" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ROjKCdMDCXXFhzkA_4Yw9FyShY-UhGnysScrCta-shi1YwUXIdV9IO0bwMIHrPqKaflfu9IuhcY-7JYce3GkeOshvSzfs5Bfx4QAT-7qvbk0mxNJDu6fzhCtQN1lTK12qKzTBXmEEN6fRuL3clS0J46jscxLyv9_o8pqWQFWeVQBcbay3l4esze8nQ/w200-h134/sundayschoolextracredit.png" width="200" /></a></div><b>Little Marco Rubio (R-Florida Man)</b> was in the <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2024-02-11/segment/01" target="_blank"><b>State of the Union</b></a> classroom on Sunday, and<b> Jake Tapper</b> was hosting, so I figured, why not drop in? <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Rubio, who sponsored legislation back in December requiring any American president to get the advice and consent of the Senate, or an Act of Congress, before pulling the US out of NATO or messing with our membership, was asked if he was "comfortable" with Trump's recent comments on Russia, NATO, and us potentially not supporting our allies. Here's his 264-word response.</p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">Well, that's not what happened. And that's not how I view that statement. I mean, he was talking about something, a story that he talked about happened in the past. By the way, Donald Trump was president, and he didn't pull (us out of) NATO. In fact, American troops were stationed throughout Europe. As they are today, they were then as well. But he's telling a story. And, frankly, look, Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He doesn't talk like a traditional politician. And we have already been through this now. You would think people had figured it out by now. What he's basically saying is, if you see the comments, he said NATO was broke or busted until he took over because people weren't paying their dues. And then he told the story about how he used leverage to get people to step up to the plate and become more active in NATO. He's not the first American president. In fact, virtually every American president at some point in some way has complained about other countries in NATO not doing enough. Trump's just the first one to express it in these terms. But I have zero concern, because he's been president before. I know exactly what he has done and will do with the NATO alliance. But there has to be an alliance. It's not America's defense with a bunch of small junior partners. Some of these are big countries with big economies. Many of them are doing more. The Germans are doing a lot right now.</p></blockquote><p><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">He didn't, but Tapper should have asked why that legislation was so important if Trump's only blowing smoke. He did ask how </span>Rubio'd explain to Israel and Ukraine why he's going to deny them aid. Here's his 333-word explanation; I've broken it into themes for clarity. </p><p><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">First: "I'd do anything for you, dear, Israel."</span></p><p></p><blockquote>I don't oppose giving them the help that they need, especially in the case of Israel. And if you put the Israel thing up to a -- if you put Israel aid up to a vote right now, it would pass. I don't even know -- maybe a couple of people would vote against it. But, basically, it would pass very quickly. The problem is, Israel is being held hostage so they could get Ukraine. </blockquote><p>Second: "I'm An American, and I might miss the Super Bowl." </p><blockquote>As far as how do I explain it to them, before I explain anything to them, I have to explain to my constituents, I have to explain to the people of Florida, I have to explain to the American people because I'm a US senator. And my number one obligation is America. If America is not strong, we can't help any of our allies. And I will have to explain to them why the Senate is going to work all through Super Bowl weekend, which is fine with me. </blockquote><p> Third: "We're being invaded!"</p><blockquote>We're going to make a big priority, except on something that's critical to this country, which is the invasion that's going on, on our own border, on our own border. We're over -- according to a House committee and the documents and the statistics they put out -- I think these numbers are low, but let's just use them -- 3.3 million people have been released into the country who arrived here illegally. Over 600,000 of them either have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them. </blockquote><p>And, fourth: "We don't need no stinking bill." </p><blockquote>I mean, this is a huge problem and it has to be addressed and they put out a bill. They can call it whatever they want. It wasn't a border security bill. It wasn't tough. And, frankly, it was negotiated by three people. I don't begrudge it, but I wasn't involved in that negotiation. I didn't even ask for a bill. I asked for the president to reverse the executive orders that created this crisis when he took over in January 2021.</blockquote><p>Tapper asked directly if Rubio supported aid to Ukraine. </p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">I think, if we secure our own border here in the United States, I have said that we should do -- we should help Ukraine. Look, half the money that's going to Ukraine is not going to Ukraine. It's to buy back our own weapons that we gave them to restock our own shelves. And, obviously, Taiwan is included there as well. My problem is this: Before we do these things, we have to make America and Americans a priority again...</span></blockquote><p>Besides, the current migrant crisis, he said, is causing "a crime wave," and</p><blockquote><p>Why are we spending all of this taxpayer money to house migrants, feed migrants, accommodate migrants? We have a bunch of needs in our own country for Americans. How is that not our priority? Americans have to be our priority, and then we can help our allies.</p></blockquote><p>Tapper played a clip of Brandon Judd, the head of the Border Patrol union, saying the bill Rubio helped defeat "absolutely is" better than the status quo, and</p><blockquote><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">Nobody can argue that it's not better than what we currently have. Although it's not perfect, it is a step in the right direction. And I would rather have the step in the right direction than nothing. <br /></span></blockquote><p>Rubio thinks the union's wrong, saying "It's not better than nothing."</p><blockquote><p>Look, there are some things in that bill that we should do, change the asylum standard and the like. Here's what else the bill did. The bill basically creates an asylum corps, OK? It creates a bunch of -- thousands of bureaucrats, basically agents, asylum agents, that would be empowered right at the border to either allow people into the country with an immediate work permit. Today, they have to wait six months. You give them an immediate work permit, you're going to have more people coming. That's a huge magnet. Or they have the power to immediately release them and grant them asylum, which now puts them on a five-year path to citizenship, which is what a lot of Democrats want. They want to turn a bunch of illegal immigrants into voters, into citizens, into voters, in the hopes that those people will then turn around and vote for them in future elections, grateful because they will know who let them in. That's a huge problem. That doesn't solve the border. It makes it worse.</p></blockquote><p>Tapper argued the bill didn't have a path to citizenship, but Rubio said it did - a green card in a year, and citizenship in four, he said, for people who are granted asylum. And, he added,</p><blockquote><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">And these bureaucrats would have the power to grant you asylum, not even a judge, a <i>bureaucrat</i>.<br /></span></blockquote><p>Tapper pointed out that "immigration judges" aren't judges either, they're immigration <i>attorneys</i>. He also noted the bill is "by far the most conservative border security bill in four decades," according to Sen. Jim Lankford - even more conservative than the bill Rubio helped negotiate in 2013, and that it didn't include much of what the Ds wanted. He asked why this wasn't a win for the Rs.</p><p>Rubio's response? Let me count the ways: the president doesn't have to shut down the border; 1,400 migrants still need to be processed during a shutdown; it sunsets in three years; it doesn't touch the 'parole' system; and decisions made by immigration judges can be overruled by the Attorney General, but the decisions made by these new asylum officers can't be. </p><p>Hmm... the AG is an unelected bureaucrat; couldn't he overturn <i>every </i>denied asylum request, to create those brown voters Rubio mentioned? It sure would have been fun if Jake asked <i>that.</i> </p><p>Rubio agreed changing the asylum standard is good, but "it's ultimately going to be applied by an administration that has proven its unwillingness to enforce our immigration laws." No matter what he was asked, his answers were consistent: from his perspective, bad liberals were going to be making bad decisions at the border - period.</p><blockquote><p>Now, in the hands of another administration, perhaps that asylum standard could be applied differently. But, ultimately, once you have this asylum corps hired by Mayorkas, hired by Biden, put at the border, they are going to be -- they will have the power...</p></blockquote><p>Given the whole process that occurs after a bill passes - funding allocations, regulation-writing, job classification, hiring, background checks to complete... does he really think all that would happen before January 20, 2025 - or does he think Biden's going to be re-elected?</p><p>Tapper moved on to Trump's bizarre comments about Nikki Haley's 'missing' husband Michael, who's on a year-long deployment with the SC National Guard. Everyone knows that, including Trump, and asked what Rubio thought about that. He thinks "they're part of the increasing nastiness of this campaign and every campaign in American politics."</p><blockquote><p>I mean, they're calling him a grumpy old man. They're attacking Donald Trump. </p></blockquote><p>"A Grumpy old man?" The horror! He shared other 'nasty' comments and then said</p><blockquote><p>But at the end of the day, I think one of the things I'm not going to do any longer is, like, respond to every comment Donald Trump makes and say, oh, you still support him? I do. And I support him because Joe Biden's a disaster, because Joe Biden is a disaster. He's done tremendous damage to this country. America is less prosperous and the world is less safe because Joe Biden became president.</p></blockquote><p>See you around campus.</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-51303933091894353012024-02-13T13:58:00.000-05:002024-02-13T13:58:08.916-05:00Sunday School 2/11/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHp4ga9mWz4bUIfI7MGjvMEkyGBUaTvMszkYzgA2Ayw7djO9CwtTH0Ah0JoTUembMosKbhN1TekbAU8Gmr4uIQl2A14eEWY_b-_skXx7coqqrTMYjPLFyDgfjYthLcN_mXa4u_c9z2K1bWO3OYTo1WTsUFGRR2AT6hpbO9JYamOlRCJRQ5KrzUPYYHQ/s444/sunday%20school%20logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="444" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHp4ga9mWz4bUIfI7MGjvMEkyGBUaTvMszkYzgA2Ayw7djO9CwtTH0Ah0JoTUembMosKbhN1TekbAU8Gmr4uIQl2A14eEWY_b-_skXx7coqqrTMYjPLFyDgfjYthLcN_mXa4u_c9z2K1bWO3OYTo1WTsUFGRR2AT6hpbO9JYamOlRCJRQ5KrzUPYYHQ/w200-h154/sunday%20school%20logo.png" width="200" /></a></div><div>I only did a little bit of learning on Sunday, most of it in the <b><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-11-24-pm-netanyahu-sen/story?id=107128294" target="_blank">This Week</a></b> classroom where <b>Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</b> talked with <b>Jon Karl</b>. </div><p></p><p>Before I get into the highlights, I wanted to share this six-week-old information from the <b>Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre</b>'s <a href="https://www.diakonia.se/ihl/news/2023-hostilities-in-gaza-and-israel-factual-account-of-events/" target="_blank"><b>website</b></a>, </p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: black;"><span>As of 7 January 2024 (figures</span><span> </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-86" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>reported</b></a><span> </span><span>by the Gaza Ministry of Health),</span><span> </span><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">at least 22,835 Palestinians in Gaza</span><span> </span><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">have been killed</span><span>, around 70% of whom were women and children, while</span><span> </span><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">around 58,416 others have been injured</span><span>. Thousands more are</span><span> </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-83" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>feared trapped</b></a><span> </span><span>underneath the rubble, and “entire families” have been</span><span> </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-residents-who-have-lost-family-fear-more-destruction-ground-assault-looms-2023-10-15/" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>wiped out</b></a><span> </span><span>– it is</span><span> </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-90" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>estimated</b></a><span> </span><span>that as of 5 January, 1,876 families have lost multiple family members. </span></span></blockquote><p>OK - now, the highlights. Netanyahu didn't know "exactly what" President Biden meant when he said the response to the October 7th Haas attack has been "over the top." In Netanyahu's opinion, after the "worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust," the Israeli response focuses on going after terrorists and minimizing harm to the civilians he says Hamas uses as human shields. And, he said, they give folks plenty of notice when major attacks are imminent.</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We drop thousands of fliers. We phone Palestinians in their
homes. We ask them to leave. We give them safe corridors and safe zones. So I
think we're -- we're doing the right thing, and let me tell you one other
thing. We're going to win this thing. Victory is within reach.</span></p></blockquote><p>I wish Karl had asked about the people being killed or injured as they fled. He did mention over 28,000 people killed (a more current number than the one above), the "hundreds of thousands" forced from their homes, and the lack of basic necessities, and wondered if there wasn't a "moral obligation to do more... to stop what is seen as a catastrophe." </p><p>Netanyahu said civilian losses are "a tragedy" of Hamas' making, and that Gazan Health Ministry statistics are unreliable. He also said, "<span style="font-family: inherit;">according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we've brought down the civilian-to-terrorist casualties, the ratio, down below
1-1, which is considerably less than in any other theater of similar warfare."</span></p>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl was incredulous, but Netanyahu said it was true.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">... we've killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that
about 12,000 -- 12,000 fighters. And we're doing everything we can to minimize
civilian casualties and continue to do so. </span></blockquote></span></div><p>Again, no follow-up questions: where did he get the 20,000/12,000 figures? What's the difference between a "Hamas terrorist" and a "fighter"? And what about the tens of thousands of wounded Gazans? It's unconscionable there was no challenge to Netanyahu's statement.</p><p><span style="color: black;">Karl turned to Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, now home to about half the population. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is charged with drafting an evacuation plan along with an attack plan. Karl wondered where the 1.4 million refugees from other parts of Gaza are supposed to go. </span>Netanyahu's response was, um, interesting, to say the least.</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, Rafah is a -- is a very small percentage of Gaza,
and I think it's about 10 percent, or 15 percent...</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the area
north of Gaza, that has already been cleared...</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="color: black;">Karl reiterated that there are around 1.4M people there, "and as the German foreign minister said... 'they can't just disappear'. Where are they supposed to go?" Netanyahu suggested there were "plenty of areas" north of Rafah, disregarding that almost everything to the north had been decimated since the war began.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">... we're not cavalier about this.
This is part of our war effort, to get civilians out of harm's way. It's part
of Hamas's effort to keep them in harm's way... Those who say that under no circumstances should
we enter Rafah are basically saying, 'lose the war. Keep Hamas there.' </span></p></blockquote><p>With many countries against the idea of a full-scale attack on Rafah, Karl asked whether that gave him "a second thought" about moving ahead. Netanyahu was firm: it doesn't. He said they've been taking care of the civilian population of Gaza, "along with the provision of the necessary humanitarian aid." That statement, too, seems to fly in the face of multiple reports, including some stating the IDF sometimes prevents the aid from being distributed.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karl wondered how they'd know when Hamas has been eliminated. Netanyahu said they've already taken out "18 of their 24 terrorist battalions," suggesting taking out the rest was key; so is freeing the hostages, and ensuring Gaza's no longer a threat.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">You don't have to kill every last terrorist. You
don't have to kill every last ISIS terrorist, but you make sure that ISIS was
finished as a military force... Hamas is a military force that controls territory. We're well within reach, and we
shouldn't stop.</span></blockquote></div><p><span style="color: black;">And, "After you've eliminated the military threat, doesn't there need to be a Palestinian state?" Netanyahu wonders what people mean by a two-state solution.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Should the Palestinians have an army? Should
they have -- can they sign a military pact with Iran? Can they import rockets
from North Korea and other deadly weapons? Should they continue to educate
their children for terrorism and annihilation? Of course, I say, of course not. </span></span></p></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">He thinks there should be the power of self-government for the Palestinians, but "none of the power should threaten Israel."</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Israel has to maintain overriding security control over everything west of the Jordan River, including Gaza. Failing to do that will allow terrorism to return.</span></div><p><span style="color: black;">Karl wondered which was the higher priority, bringing the hostages home, or "totally eliminating Hamas?" Netanyahu said those are not mutually exclusive goals; they've gotten around half the hostages out by applying military pressure, and he suggested that's how they'll get the rest of them. </span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">...I think the families of the hostages are in a terrible bind. I mean,
it's -- it’s just -- it tears your heart out to listen to them and to think
about what their relatives are going through. I'm committed to getting them
out. We'll make every effort. It requires pressure, and pressure has worked,
and pressure will work again.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He thinks enough of the remaining 123 hostages are still alive to "</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">warrant the kind of efforts that
we're doing." The goal is to bring the living hostages home, and the remains of those who have died. He also said </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not sure that anybody can put themselves in the position of the
families, but neither can the families put themselves in the position of the
decision-makers. These are two separate things. </span></blockquote><p>He's moved by them, but explained he's "<span style="font-family: inherit;">also responsible for the safety and the security of the
people of Israel," and it's his job to make sure nothing like this happens again.</span></p></div><p></p>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, Karl wondered about Netanyahu's "assessment" of Biden, in light of the special counsel's mental health evaluation of him. The two have had "more than a dozen" calls - "extended" calls, he said - and they also met in person.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">... I found him
very clear and very focused. We managed to agree on the war aims and many
things. Sometimes we have disagreements, but they weren't borne of a lack of
understanding on his part or on my part.</span></blockquote><p>A note: on Monday, Israel <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/middleeast/israel-hostages-rescued-gaza-rafah-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank"><b>rescued two more hostages</b></a>; the </p></span></div><p></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style=" margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">complex rescue operation was conducted
after receiving “highly sensitive and valuable intelligence.” It involved Shin
Bet, Israel’s internal security service, police special forces and an IDF tank
brigade... The duo were found on the second floor “in the hands of Hamas
terrorists.” Hamas militants were also stationed in adjacent buildings, Hagari
said.</span></span></p></blockquote><p>The death toll <span style="font-family: inherit;">(so far) may
be as high as 133 people, with several dozen more injured.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">See you around campus.</span></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-24771223519021244202024-02-11T07:47:00.000-05:002024-02-11T07:47:19.260-05:00In Case You Missed It (v120)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZN8ad2el5ND6cx0vYu-B5lYQquoN61aulCaYJrWRSnU43gHI2tKvpL-iMy_8EMJTqvuh9Y6ukYZkbHbdnsy8Wii0tzXQ7Dj3rDVeJEDVaBmhjBFf6hoT9abIoo9I6U5sqbQbJT6G4eeaU6GbtZ3BOjHhYGW-JXSgplsbgmEpl6rYH6YNTY__Mc0Vmew/s168/icymi%201.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="168" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZN8ad2el5ND6cx0vYu-B5lYQquoN61aulCaYJrWRSnU43gHI2tKvpL-iMy_8EMJTqvuh9Y6ukYZkbHbdnsy8Wii0tzXQ7Dj3rDVeJEDVaBmhjBFf6hoT9abIoo9I6U5sqbQbJT6G4eeaU6GbtZ3BOjHhYGW-JXSgplsbgmEpl6rYH6YNTY__Mc0Vmew/s1600/icymi%201.png" width="168" /></a></div>I thought I'd have gotten more posts done, but in hindsight, I think my frustration with the week's news got the best of me.<p></p><p>Here's what made it out, starting as we usually do with a recap of the<a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-2424.html" target="_blank"><b> Sunday Schoo</b></a>l classrooms.</p><p>It was not the best week for several of the hosts, or some of the guests, for that matter. Here's <b>House Speaker Mike Johnson</b>, the very religious man, talking down to Kristen Welker on the subject of the Mayorkas impeachment (which failed, by the way).</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Johnson previously said he's very much against a one-party impeachment, as we saw in a clip. He said three times, "The founders of this country warned against single-party impeachments. </span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 16.478px;"></span></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">You guys know why. Because they feared it would bitterly and perhaps irreparably divide our nation.</span></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">What they're doing with Mayorkas is not that, and it's not a 'policy disagreement,' either. "It's very different, Kristen, in many ways." Let me mansplain "the many ways."</p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">For one, the House has methodically, slowly, deliberately gone through the impeachment process, impeachment inquiry, impeachment investigation on Mayorkas and – and President Biden himself. We've involved three different committees of jurisdiction: Judiciary, Oversight, Ways and Means. We –we have followed the facts where they have led. Not for political purposes. Not because we take pleasure in this. It's, again, a heavy thing to look at the impeachment of a president or a Cabinet secretary. But these facts require it.</span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">I snickered - I mean, wasn't that the same speech Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi gave?</p></blockquote><p><b>Senate and House Republicans</b> decided it was more important to show allegiance to someone who's not in office than it was to do something - <i>anything</i> - about the so-called crisis at the border. And I decided it was more important to <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/ranting-and-raving-v10-how-deep-is-deep.html" target="_blank"><b>Rant and Rave</b></a> than it was to do laundry.</p><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">The same people who pretend </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">they</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> don't need to do anything because </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">the other gu</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">y can do something. </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Unless of course he does</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">, in which case they'll </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">challenge his every move</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">, </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">doubt his every motivation</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">, and </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">keep everything ground to a halt</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> so they can claim they can't get anything done because the other guy, </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">blah bippity blah bippity blah blah blah</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">.</span></p></blockquote><p>And later </p><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Yep. The <span style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;">Orange Jesus</span>, the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">OJ</span></b>. The man who led the charge against the Soros Deep State, the unelected bureaucrats who he thinks should be <i>'his'</i> people, who should do whatever <i>he</i> wants, regardless of, you know, laws on the books, or what Congress wants to do on our behalf, regardless of what they're <i>required</i> to do. (And who, by the way, the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">OJ</span></b> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-retribution-agenda-government-workers-schedule-f-rcna78785" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>has promised to fire</b></a>.)</p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">In his kingdom, everyone loves him, works for him, bows to him, kisses his ring (<i>blecch</i>), and if they don't, well, they're part of the<b> </b>Soros Deep State that's trying to subvert him and drive our country down a path that is decidedly not leading to the <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/orangeverse-lxii-brief-but-derogatory.html" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">MAGA Camp</a></b>. </p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">I'm not at all afraid of the Soros Deep State - but the other one, the orange one,<span style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;"> </span>scares the crap out of me, and - and it's hiding in plain sight.</p></blockquote><p>Tuesday's <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-school-2424-extra-credit.html" target="_blank"><b>Extra Credit</b></a> was the <b>Jake Sullivan</b> show. He's the administration's National Security Advisor and - at least on Sunday - a man possessing the patience of more than a handful of saints. I have to say, at least a couple of the classroom discussion leaders made themselves look like fools, although I'm sure they thought they did a great job. </p><p><b>Kristen Welker</b> (MTP) was not the only host to try and get Sullivan to divulge the who, what, where, when, and whys of our continuing retaliation against Iran-backed terror groups and Houthi rebels, <i>after </i>asking him to address MAGA accusations we "telegraphed" our fist retaliatory strikes. I. Kid. You. Not. </p><p>I wasn't sure this was a serious question, but she wasn't the only one who asked it, so I guess it was? </p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">But wait - there's more! Here's how the interview closed.</span></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">Okay. Let me ask you, finally, Jake: Our new NBC news poll, which we were just discussing, found only 29% approve of President Biden's handling of the war in Gaza. Sixty percent disapprove of his handling of foreign policy, overall. Should the President be factoring the public's disapproval into his foreign policy decisions?</span></blockquote></blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Obviously, he said no, but part of me wanted him to say, "Why yes - yes he will!" just to see the look on her face. </span></blockquote><p>I was scratching my head on a few things when it was time for Wednesday's <a href=" https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/wondering-on-wednesday-2724.html" target="_blank"><b>Wondering</b></a>. Among the things on my mind? Primaries, and how the media handles them, and how <b>Nevada</b> handles them.</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">The primary was meaningless, you see, because Nevada has both a</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Republican <i>primary</i></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">, which doesn't result in delegates being awarded, and a</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Republican <i>caucus </i></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">two days later, which does. Obviously,</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"><i><span style="color: #800180;">I can't help wondering</span></i></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">why the state GOP thought it was a good idea to have both; the Dems don't. </span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif;">Haley lost to '<b><a href="https://apnews.com/article/nevada-2024-presidential-primary-biden-trump-haley-d731bf8ab1e7d4a7379c07d3a37b581b" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">none of these candidates</a></b>' - the first time any candidate has lost to 'none' since the option became available in 1975. My <i><b><span style="color: #800180;">last bit of wondering</span></b></i> on this is simply this: why don't we <u>all</u> have that ballot option?</p></blockquote><p>Why <i>don't</i> we have that option? I might explore that in another post...</p><p>So, that's a wrap - you're all caught up on last week's posts. </p><p><b>Go, Niners - beat the Chiefs!</b> </p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-8523526088313817172024-02-07T20:35:00.000-05:002024-02-07T20:35:40.603-05:00Wondering on Wednesday 2/7/24<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTZgxO7KXTFrt-DtM6kNHLX8OQ9Denjm3WG7bbP5pObzLTGvyd_aHKdyomCUoR3G_u16J2Mg7r5CpYoJDhk_qd49RJblJkKLHdJg6nO5mlOPjtNyvslOfuXFFtTlra9mDn6gkSNrdAueue3GlKydVWywqzSqIcMIdob5ujlhVGTSECevokfvE03miYQ/s615/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="615" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTZgxO7KXTFrt-DtM6kNHLX8OQ9Denjm3WG7bbP5pObzLTGvyd_aHKdyomCUoR3G_u16J2Mg7r5CpYoJDhk_qd49RJblJkKLHdJg6nO5mlOPjtNyvslOfuXFFtTlra9mDn6gkSNrdAueue3GlKydVWywqzSqIcMIdob5ujlhVGTSECevokfvE03miYQ/s320/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" width="320" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ready... set... wonder!</span></p><p>When the media reports that <b>Joe Biden</b> "easily won" a Democratic primary, <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">I wonder why</span></i></b> we don't know who he defeats. I know other candidates are in the race, but you'd think the media was totally unaware, given how infrequently they're mentioned. <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">And I wonder why</span></i></b> they <u>always</u> mentioned other folks on the Republican caucus and primary ballots (at least until yesterday's meaningless primary in Nevada). </p><p>The primary was meaningless, you see, because Nevada has both a <b>Republican <i>primary</i></b>, which doesn't result in delegates being awarded, and a <b>Republican <i>caucus </i></b>two days later, which does. Obviously, <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">I can't help wondering</span></i></b> why the state GOP thought it was a good idea to have both; the Dems don't. </p><p>Haley lost to '<b><a href="https://apnews.com/article/nevada-2024-presidential-primary-biden-trump-haley-d731bf8ab1e7d4a7379c07d3a37b581b" target="_blank">none of these candidates</a></b>' - the first time any candidate has lost to 'none' since the option became available in 1975. My <i><b><span style="color: #800180;">last bit of wondering</span></b></i> on this is simply this: why don't we <u>all</u> have that ballot option?</p><p>This morning, former president <b>Trump</b> woke up for the first time having been told he's not special - he's just a citizen, like the rest of us. And<b><i><span style="color: #800180;"> I wondered, briefly,</span></i></b> if there's <b>any ketchup left at Mar-a-Lago</b>. Nah, I'm kidding - I know there's not. <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">Seriously though, I do wonder </span></i></b>what the <b>Supreme Court</b> will do if Trump files an appeal of the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/07/supreme-court-trump-immunity/72494010007/" target="_blank"><b>Yes, You Have No Immunity</b></a> decision by Monday's deadline. I sincerely hope that they don't take up the appeal on this one, but we can't be sure of that.</p><p>In my <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/ranting-and-raving-v10-how-deep-is-deep.html" target="_blank"><b>Ranting and Raving</b></a> post yesterday, I included a link to an article in which Tennessee's <b>Rep. Mark Green</b> was named as <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-rep-mark-green-193500415.html" target="_blank"><b>the guy who called Trump 'Orange Jesus</b></a>'. <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">I don't wonder</span></i></b> if <i>someone</i> said it, and it doesn't matter to me whether it was Mark Green, or <b>Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene</b>, or someone else. What's more concerning, and what causes <span style="color: #800180; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">my wondering</span><span>,</span> is the number of people who seem to believe the name fits.</p><p>Yesterday, the House <b>failed to impeach Alejandro Mayorka</b>s, the DHS Secretary. <b>Rep. Al Green of Texa</b>s <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alejandro-mayorkas-al-green-hospital-bed-impeachment-vote/" target="_blank"><b>left his hospital bed</b></a> and, with some medical people tagging along, cast the tying vote, which was enough to kill the measure. The final tally was 214 -216, allowing another vote later. Speaker Mike Johnson said that <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/4453702-speaker-johnson-amid-criticism-mess-in-house-not-a-reflection-on-the-leader/" target="_blank"><b>the vote was a "setback"</b></a> and that "democracy is messy," and "sometimes when you're counting votes, and people show up when they're not expected to be in the building, it changes the equation." <b><i><span style="color: #800180;">I'm wondering</span></i></b> how big Rep. Al Green's smile was after hearing that!</p><p>Not to be outdone by the mess in the lower chamber, the Senate <b><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-border-deal-national-security-funding-package/" target="_blank">failed to advance</a></b> the bipartisan immigration bill, which fell 49-50, with both Rs and Ds voting 'no.' And, it <b>postponed a vote</b> on a bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. <b><span style="color: #800180;"><i>I'm wondering</i></span></b> if the actions we've seen over the last few days are what people are talking about when they say <b>America looks foolish and inept</b> in the eyes of the world.</p><p>There's always more, but that feels like a good place to stop. What's on your wondering minds these days?</p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-32622191463289771022024-02-07T16:09:00.000-05:002024-02-07T16:09:36.407-05:00Sunday School 2/4/24: Extra Credit<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUtABV2QUTQLCGqdJxWr1ff3XWb1Np7cK8Owonr3FhNwBimQnaZp6kPzJhekrvs2deQrJHiFztxp2Z4ByeVLVxUvqMnYrniADMMssgSe0aJrrsmVPNE4giOACugigMMbrM-zW__G6I6l0HK7_AILH4M-3C-89EX22w1sQU6YEnEsGO1IgWS7joF6EPQ/s1008/sundayschoolextracredit.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1008" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUtABV2QUTQLCGqdJxWr1ff3XWb1Np7cK8Owonr3FhNwBimQnaZp6kPzJhekrvs2deQrJHiFztxp2Z4ByeVLVxUvqMnYrniADMMssgSe0aJrrsmVPNE4giOACugigMMbrM-zW__G6I6l0HK7_AILH4M-3C-89EX22w1sQU6YEnEsGO1IgWS7joF6EPQ/w200-h134/sundayschoolextracredit.png" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">National Security Advisor <b>Jake Sullivan</b> made at least four classroom appearances. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm amazed at his ability to withstand the assault of a lot of repetitive - and often dumb - questions.</span><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I tried to find at least one reasonable exchange from each classroom, starting with </span><a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2024-02-04/segment/01" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>State of the Union</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> where he spoke with </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Dana Bash</b><span style="font-family: inherit;">. I also included a few ridiculous exchanges, like the first one below.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>DB: You said it's just the beginning. And I just want to clarify, that</span><span> means
that there will be more strikes coming in the next few days?</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS: What it means is that we will take further action. I'm not going to,
obviously, describe the character of that action because I don't want to
telegraph our punches. But there will be further action.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>DB: I</span><span>nside Iran? Would you rule that out at this poin</span><span>t?</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS: Look, sitting on a national TV program, I'm not going to rule in and
rule out any activity anywhere. What I am going to say is that the president will do what he thinks needs to be
done and again reinforce the point that he's going to defend our forces and
also that he is not looking to get into a war.<br /></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A more reasonable exchange occurred regarding Sullivan's oft-repeated comments that we don't want this to become a regional conflict. Bash said there are "<span>10 countries, at least, four major terrorist groups" involved, suggesting it was already that. Sullivan worked hard to explain that the different actions we're seeing, including the Israeli-Hamas war, "are </span><span>distinct but related
challenges." As such, we'll continue working </span></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">to deal with the challenge of
escalation and continue to work to ensure we're responding forcefully, but at
the same time staying out of the prospect of the United States getting pulled
into a broad war in the Middle East of the kind that we have seen in the past.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bash said that all of the conflicts lead "down one road, and that is the road to Iran." He agreed, noting that he'd explained the Iranian connection many times before, including in this classroom and from the podium during briefings.</span></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, we make no bones about that. Iran has a significant and
pernicious responsibility for much of the instability in the Middle East, and
that has to be factored into how we approach everything that we're doing and
how Israel has to approach everything it's doing.<br /></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-february-4-2024-n1308551" target="_blank"><b>Meet the Press</b></a> classroom, several ridiculous exchanges were initiated by Kristen</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Welker. For example, she referenced GOP comments about the Biden administration waiting too long to respond, and how it "telegraphed to the</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;"> world, including to Iran" our response. How would Sullivan respond to that, she asked. In a nutshell, we did what we said we'd do (retaliate if attacked) </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">and added</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">...of course, there will always be armchair quarterbacks, but we are confident in
the steps that we have taken so far. And we are confident in the course that we
are on going forward.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Dana Bash did, Welker tried to pin Sullivan down on our future responses - except she did it right after asking about the 'telegraphing' complaint.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">KW: </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Have you ruled out strikes inside Iran?</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">JS Well, sitting here today on a national news program, I'm not going to
get into what we've ruled in and ruled out from the point of view of military
action. What I will say is that the president is determined to respond
forcefully to attacks on our people. The president also is not looking for a
wider war in the Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">KW: But is it off the table? Are strikes inside Iran off the table?<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">JS: Again, Kristen, sitting here on television, it would not be wise for
me to talk about what we're ruling in and ruling out. </span></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">KW:</span><b style="color: #2a2a2a;"> </b><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">So,
you're not ruling it out?</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> I'll just say the same thing one more
time, which is I'm not going to get into what's on the table and off the table
when it comes to the American response.</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Did Welker redeem herself after that embarrassing exchange? Well, not really. Moving to the Israel-Hamas war, she said there was a sticking point in the hostage negotiations about "<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">whether this should be a
six-week pause in fighting or a permanent ceasefire. What is the United States
pushing for?"</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">JS: Well, what we're pushing for is an outcome in which every hostage
gets home, in which Hamas is no longer in charge of Gaza –</span></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">KW (interrupting):<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Would
you like to see a permanent ceasefire? </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">JS (trying to answer her first question):</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> – and not threaten Israel
in the way – </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">KW (interrupting, again): </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Would you like to see a permanent ceasefire today?</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">JS: Well, Kristen, everybody wants to see an end to the war. Nobody's
rooting for the war to continue... <o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">But wait - there's more! Here's how the interview closed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">KW: Okay. Let me ask you, finally, Jake: Our new NBC news poll, which we
were just discussing, found only 29% approve of President Biden's handling of
the war in Gaza. Sixty percent disapprove of his handling of foreign policy,
overall. Should the President be factoring the public's disapproval into his
foreign policy decisions?</span></blockquote><p>Obviously, he said no, but part of me wanted him to say, "Why yes - yes he will!" just to see the look on her face. </p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-4-24-white-house-national/story?id=106926540" target="_blank"><b>This Week</b></a> classroom, <b>George Stephanopoulos</b> did better than his counterparts. For example, he asked what our initial strikes on the terror groups had achieved - which is different from 'Did we kill any bad guys?' Sullivan said, "...w</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">e believe they had good effect
in reducing, degrading the capabilities of the militias and of the Houthis."</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He also reiterated that this was just the start of our response, and said there'll be "more actions </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">taken to
respond to the death of the – the tragic death of the three brave U.S. service
members."</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In response to a question on whether we've thought about Iran making a direct response against us, Sullivan acknowledged that was a threat that we're prepared for, adding</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">And I would just say,
from the perspective of Tehran, if they chose to respond directly to the United
States, they would be met with a swift and forceful response from us.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He also said we've passed messages back and forth, but "in the last few days, the message
that we have sent to Iran has been through our action, not through our words."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last, we visited the<b> <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-full-transcript-02-04-2024/" target="_blank">Face the Nation</a></b> classroom, with <b>Margaret Brennan</b>. Very early on, she asked whether Iran has "done anything to rein in the militias they fund and arm?" since our strikes. The question came barely two days after we launched them, so was it reasonable to think we'd have an assessment on that yet? I'd guess no, but maybe it's just me.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">H</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">er next question? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">There are
reportedly civilian casualties in Iraq and in Syria as a result of these
strikes. </span><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Does the U.S. assess that any of those hit in these strikes were
actually Iranian Al Quds Force personnel? Or did the fact that this was so
telegraphed in advance give those personnel time to go to ground?</span></blockquote><p>Sullivan said he "didn't have anything to report...this morning" on who exactly was killed, but said assessments were continuing. And he refuted the "so telegraphed" comment, as he did in other classrooms. </p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">And
when three service members were killed, of course Iran knew that the United
States would respond. So the idea that somehow this was telegraphed, I think,
is a bit more of a political talking point than – than a reality. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">She had no reaction to that, of course. And she, too, turned to the polls showing Americans aren't happy with Israel's military campaign - or with President Biden's handling of it. She wondered</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">At
what point is this open-ended Israel conflict in Gaza not just a political
problem, but a national security one for the United States to be so closely
associated with the Netanyahu government's war, with the civilian casualties
that we've seen to date, and the starvation of women and children in Gaza?</span></blockquote><p>In part, he responded, </p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">...I'm glad you put the question in those terms, because we don't design
our policy towards Israel or Gaza or the Middle East based on politics. We do
it based on the national security interests of the United States.</span></p></blockquote><p>We've been clear, he said, that we won't ignore "<span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">the immense and
terrible suffering" of Palestinians. We'll continue to pressure Israel on that, and it'll be a "top priority" of Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he meets with the Israeli government.</span></p><p></p><p>Brennan referenced an interview with Israel's National Security Minister, who seemed to be on a different page than his boss. She asked, "Does <span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Benjamin Netanyahu have control of his government?" </span>Sullivan rightly responded that it's not up to us to say. </p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">Look, I'm going to
let the Israeli government and Israeli politicians speak for themselves. They
certainly have no trouble doing so, as you just related. </span></p></blockquote><p>He also explained that a deal allowing for a "sustained pause" so assistance can reach the Palestinians who need it is in our national security interest, and is "a paramount priority for us."</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">The Israeli government can answer whether it's a paramount priority for them.
And depending on that answer, they'll also have to answer to the Israeli
people.</span></p></blockquote><p>So, of course, she turned back to the guy who was "<span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">threatening politically the prime minister..." after Sullivan had just said the Israelis could speak for themselves. It was a zero-value question, but he was gracious and answered it anyway.</span></p><p>If you feel so inclined, drop your best shot and ask a dumb question multiple ways; I'll collect and publish any that come in.</p><p>See you around campus.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-1529233167176589282024-02-06T14:07:00.003-05:002024-02-06T14:10:23.862-05:00Ranting and Raving (v10): How Deep is the Deep State?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ErYag2uIeyUKz31grojmnkn9ZGsNUEC4oqwATQRHIjmXmRztjUO19PFie-BqaFYKGF7xdayatyRzFWTPH5xtwXvxy4c4RlvhTr_X7H9laMGptw0M_N0NgcL0Q67_br2GOyUee1_KIbfv8Ac9h8S2YslFh_SjdrsIw4uXkktwW0jiKpOGSN5HRNwCdg/s278/ranting.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="269" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ErYag2uIeyUKz31grojmnkn9ZGsNUEC4oqwATQRHIjmXmRztjUO19PFie-BqaFYKGF7xdayatyRzFWTPH5xtwXvxy4c4RlvhTr_X7H9laMGptw0M_N0NgcL0Q67_br2GOyUee1_KIbfv8Ac9h8S2YslFh_SjdrsIw4uXkktwW0jiKpOGSN5HRNwCdg/w194-h200/ranting.PNG" width="194" /></a></div></div>I shouldn't be shocked that "leaders" like <b>Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Why Didn't I Retire?)</b> would cave to the pressure and stop supporting the immigration bill that the Senate has been working on, for months - although I was surprised it took him <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/mitch-mcconnell-trump-border-bill/?u=d398118f8f74c9128ddc131554f2199032d9250139c97e3a9529bb58228a0908&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb.6.2024_12.50pm" target="_blank"><b>only three hours</b></a> to do so.<p></p><p>I am definitely not shocked that my Congressman, <b>Brandon Williams (R- MAGA Truffle Farm)</b>, is going along with the rest of the cult in the House and declaring the bill "<a href="https://twitter.com/RepWilliams/status/1754577627342377163" target="_blank"><b>dead on arrival</b></a>" even though it's <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/border-patrol-union-backs-senate-immigration-bill-despite/story?id=106969976" target="_blank"><b>supported by the Border Patrol union</b></a>. And </p><p>Heck, I'm not really even shocked that evangelical House Speaker <b>Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Last Best Hope to Lead) </b>suggested that the union supports the bill <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-mocks-border-patrol-1867171" target="_blank"><b>because it gives the members a raise</b></a>; after all, we know his coat has only one color.</p><p>But I should be mad, and I am, and you should be, too.</p><p>We should all be mad at, and sick and tired of, elected officials pissing and moaning about all of the problems we face, and how horrible things are in the country right now, and how the American people are almost as concerned about everything as Sen. Susan Collins is on any given day, and how the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket because Joe Biden is the president, Democrats control the Senate, and the House GOP majority is so stinking small that<span> (dear lord, It's The Big One, 'Lizabeth) they might have to (gasp!) <i>work with the Democrats</i> </span>to get something done. <b><i>Clutch those pearls, baby!</i></b></p><p>Good lord, give me a break already.</p><p>The same people who pretend <i>they</i> don't need to do anything because <i>the other gu</i>y can do something. <i>Unless of course he does</i>, in which case they'll <i>challenge his every move</i>, <i>doubt his every motivation</i>, and <i>keep everything ground to a halt</i> so they can claim they can't get anything done because the other guy, <i>blah bippity blah bippity blah blah blah</i>.</p><p>Or, they'll propose something so extreme even <i>they</i> know it won't pass muster in the other chamber - not that they care - because they can say, look, <i>we did something</i>, and <i>everyone's ignoring us</i> and so it's<i> their</i> <i>fault</i> that nothing's getting done,<i> blah bippity blah bippity blah blah blah</i>.</p><p>And all this time, for the last several years, we've been told that if only the '<b>deep state</b>' - the <b>George Soros-funded shadow government</b> that's keeping the <i>unelected, unmanaged, Democrat bureaucrats</i> in place - was not in control, everything would be better and America would be great and people would be happy and our margins of victory would, you know, actually be margins of victory. </p><p>And yes, you <i>always</i> blame the nonagenarian, Hungarian-American who fled Nazin Germany as a child for everything wrong in our country - that's the MAGA way. Well, you can blame Hollywood. Or black football players. Or white female singers. Or school librarians. But you can never speak ill of the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">Orange Jesus</span></b>. That's right - <b>Rep. Mark Greene (R-Not Half as Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey)</b> or <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-rep-mark-green-193500415.html" target="_blank"><b>maybe another one of his ilk</b></a>, referred to <b>Donald Trump</b> as the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">Orange Jesus</span></b>.</p><p>Yep. The <span style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;">Orange Jesus</span><span>, the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">OJ</span></b></span>. The man who led the charge against the Soros Deep State, the unelected bureaucrats who he thinks should be <i>'his'</i> people, who should do whatever <i>he</i> wants, regardless of, you know, laws on the books, or what Congress wants to do on our behalf, regardless of what they're <i>required</i> to do. (And who, by the way, the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">OJ</span></b> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-retribution-agenda-government-workers-schedule-f-rcna78785" target="_blank"><b>has promised to fire</b></a>.)</p><p>In his kingdom, everyone loves him, works for him, bows to him, kisses his ring (<i>blecch</i>), and if they don't, well, they're part of the<b> </b>Soros Deep State that's trying to subvert him and drive our country down a path that is decidedly not leading to the <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/orangeverse-lxii-brief-but-derogatory.html" target="_blank">MAGA Camp</a></b>. </p><p>I'm not at all afraid of the Soros Deep State - but the other one, the orange one,<span style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>scares the crap out of me, and</span> - and it's hiding in plain sight.</p><p>Hell, it isn't deep at all - it's as shallow as a droplet on a rose petal in my garden. And, not only does it not <i>subvert</i> his will and desires, it <i>actively, openly promotes</i> them - <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/29/trump-republicans-border-deal-senate-immigration" target="_blank"><b>they don't even hide it anymore</b></a>. Maga Campers - the <b><span style="color: #e69138;">Deep State</span></b> <span style="color: #e69138;"><b>soldiers</b></span> - ignore us, and rub our noses in it when they do. </p><p>We elect these folks to state and national office because we're looking for solutions to the problems <i>we've all been complaining about</i> - often, for years. But now, they do the bidding of an <b><i>unelected, unmanageable, in-it-for-himself, convicted sex offender who never should have been in office in the first place, and who should never be in office again? </i></b></p><p>Really? Is that what they think is the right way to do their jobs? Is that any way to run a country?</p><p>It's like we shouldn't even bother having an election this year, since the<span style="color: #e69138; font-weight: bold;"> OJ</span><span> can just issue pronouncements from his gold-plated golf cart and his minions will all scurry off and do his bidding. (Not to mention, no one can steal the election if we don't have one, right?)</span></p><p>Where's the accountability? What happened to country over party? How on earth do we find ourselves where we are right now?</p><p>What the actual hell? </p><p>What the ever-loving actual hell. </p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-75573924013784767292024-02-05T19:20:00.000-05:002024-02-05T19:20:01.124-05:00Sunday School 2/4/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMF3EhIfRmFYWVNwETz1OlbluDjP6a4lfrpMjfxv_PLT2Ate8NSCTeOBwAZqLJRVTWqRIapZwO0fuxvDuVB4zxauK-qn4ggOMa5u-MomQuLZKGpu_wpFll9IB1QVs0jaLJkTmzFinLhEKk3g9uU9d5367UxN4WXaCsmhuvwAsUp2fjmPhXnN1Gx54UA/s444/sunday%20school%20logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="444" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMF3EhIfRmFYWVNwETz1OlbluDjP6a4lfrpMjfxv_PLT2Ate8NSCTeOBwAZqLJRVTWqRIapZwO0fuxvDuVB4zxauK-qn4ggOMa5u-MomQuLZKGpu_wpFll9IB1QVs0jaLJkTmzFinLhEKk3g9uU9d5367UxN4WXaCsmhuvwAsUp2fjmPhXnN1Gx54UA/w200-h154/sunday%20school%20logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>The classrooms were rocking yesterday. Let's dive in, starting with <b>Kristen Welker </b>and her catfight with House Speaker <b>Mike <i>I'm Calling the Shots Here</i> Johnson (R-LA)</b> on <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-february-4-2024-n1308551" target="_blank"><b>Meet the Press</b></a>.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2c30; margin: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">The two repeated themselves multiple times and often spoke condescendingly to each other; here's</span></span> what I gleaned from the interview on the hot topics of the day.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px;">Johnson thinks we need to take a Reaganesque/Trumpesque approach with Iran - peace through strength - and he said "We should not be appeasing Iran..."</p><blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">We need to act to
decimate the Iran Central Bank, the assets that they've held there. We need to
lean on international banks to seize the assets of Iranian proxies. We need to
– to put big-time pressure, maximum pressure, on their oil exports. There's a
lot that we could do to Iran to send a message instead of this appeasement
strategy. </span></p></blockquote><p>We need to 'Soleimani' them, like under Trump, when "we used a drone and three missiles" to take out a single bad guy, instead of "using potentially hundreds of munitions to strike close to 100 targets so far." I guess he thinks we're using too much ammo or something.</p><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">The House proposed a separate Israeli funding bill because the Senate isn't doing anything; in fact, HR2, "which is our signature bill right out of the beginning, right out of the block" could have solved the border problem if it hadn't "been sitting on Chuck Schumer's desk collecting dust..." And, if you didn't know, </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Senate bills are DOA in the House, and vice versa.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Johnson hasn't been briefed by his Senate counterparts, and to date he's only heard the same rumors as everyone else. I get the sense that he thinks the bill doesn't matter. </span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit;">But here's the essential point... We documented 64 specific actions that Joe Biden and his
agencies have taken to create this catastrophe. They did it intentionally... The
American people are done with this. The border has to be secured. The president
has the authority right now. He doesn't need another act of Congress. He could
do it right now. But he's unwilling to do it.</span></blockquote><p></p><p>At some point, I stopped listening, but I perked up when I heard them mention Homeland Security Secretary <b>Alejandro Mayorkas</b> and his impeachment. Johnson previously said he's very much against a one-party impeachment, as we saw in a clip. He said three times, "The founders of this country warned against single-party impeachments. </p><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">You guys know why. Because they feared it would bitterly and perhaps
irreparably divide our nation.</span></blockquote><p></p><p>What they're doing with Mayorkas is not that, and it's not a 'policy disagreement,' either. "It's very different, Kristen, in many ways." Let me mansplain "the many ways."</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">For one, the House has methodically, slowly, deliberately gone through the impeachment process, impeachment inquiry, impeachment investigation on Mayorkas and – and President Biden himself. We've involved three different committees of jurisdiction: Judiciary, Oversight, Ways and Means. We –we have followed the facts where they have led. Not for political purposes. Not because we take pleasure in this. It's, again, a heavy thing to look at the impeachment of a president or a Cabinet secretary. But these facts require it. </span></p></blockquote><p>I snickered - I mean, wasn't that the same speech Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi gave? Johnson says his GOP team has done a very careful, methodic, nonpartisan investigation.</p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">And it is exactly the opposite of what the House Democrats did in the previous administration. That is a fact, and we can follow those facts and understand them for what they are.</span></p></blockquote><p>"And that's the truth," said Edith Ann. </p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">Moving down the hall, <b>George Stephanopoulos</b> was in the chair for <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-4-24-white-house-national/story?id=106926540" target="_blank"><b>his own show</b></a>; one of his guests was <b>Sen. JD Vance (R-OH YEAH, I'm in the Cult!)</b>. Vance is unofficially campaigning to move into<span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><b style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/fotoware?id=6891307F7F474523%2096B111D39DD0CDD7" target="_blank">Number One Observatory Circle</a></b><span style="font-family: georgia;">, but he'll have to outlast dozens of others in the <i>Donald J. Trump </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">VP Hunger Games</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> to get the keys.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">George opened the interview by playing a video clip of Vance acting very RINO-y back in 2016 when he said he was "a Never Trump guy." <span style="font-family: georgia;">George wanted to know why he had changed his mind. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When you compare Trump's term and Biden's term, Vance says there's a clear difference, and</span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">... It's hard not to conclude that I was wrong and
so many were wrong about Donald Trump back in 2015. He delivered, George, he did
a good job. And I think it's why we ought to give him another run at it.</span></p></blockquote><p>George countered with some positive Bidenomics data, then turned to what's happened since then: Trump's 2020 loss, January 6th, the indictments, and the verdicts in the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault and defamation cases. <span style="font-family: georgia;">And he asked if being a Trump supporter means that he's "sanctioning that kind of behavior, sexual assault, and defamation?"</span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, I think it's actually
very unfair to the victims of sexual assault, to say that somehow their lives
are being worse by electing Donald Trump for president, when what he's trying
to do, I think is restore prosperity. So, I think it's insulting to victim --
victims of sexual assault.</span></p></blockquote><p>Wait, what? What the actual hell? </p><p><i>Trump is trying to restore prosperity</i>, and damn those pesky sexual assault victims for being insulted that so many people are willing to look past not only how Trump <i>talks about</i> sexually assaulting women, but the <i>actual</i> sexual assault he was found guilty of committing. Can't they just be happy he's trying to make them more prosperous? </p><p>Honestly, that's preposterous, and insulting to pretty much anyone other than a MAGA Camper. Vance went on to say most of the cases are "not about prosecuting Trump for something that he did, it's about throwing him off the ballot because Democrats feel that they can't beat him at the ballot box. And so, they're trying to defeat them in court."</p><p>That's exactly what Trump did in 2020, with five-dozen-some-odd losing court cases, his Kraken legal team, and the presser at Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Vance didn't mention those, but he argued that fighting an alleged criminal in the courts isn't the right way to go - we should fight over policy in the election.</p><p>When George pointed out that it was juries making the decisions, Vance noted</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">George,
if you look at all of these cases, the through line, two-fold. Number one,
they’re funded by Donald Trump’s political opponents, and the goal here is not
to help us actually have a real conversation about how to advance the country
forward. Their goal is to defeat Trump at the courts because these people know
they can’t defeat him at the ballot box. </span></p></blockquote><p>There was no second fold in "the through line," and George moved on - or, I should say, moved <i>backward</i> - and asked if Vance would have certified the election had he been VP on January 6th. Vance said it was "such a ridiculous question," which it was. George reiterated he wasn't looking forward, he was looking over his shoulder, which prompted Vance to say</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have to make a point here. You constantly say to
people like me, 'why do you talk about January the 6th, why do you talk about
the election of 2020,' and then you ask about this multiple times during a six-minute interview. </span></p></blockquote><p>After listing his concerns with the 2020 election, Vance said there was a "political solution" to the problems, and "litigating<span style="font-family: georgia;"> which slate of electors were legitimate I think
is fundamentally the political solution to the problems that existed in 2020."</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">And I find it weird, George, that people like
you obsess with what I call 'what happened in 2020,' you're so incurious about
what </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">actually</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> happened in 2020, which is why so many people mistrust our
elections in this country. We’ve got to do better, George.</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">George pushed the 'you'd do what Trump said' point a few times, while Vance maintained that wasn't <i>why</i> he'd have done it - and he continued to hit on the media's obsession. He thinks what's happened since 2020 - instability, the border, and so on - is more important, and said</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We need to litigate the
2024 election about those issues. You guys are obsessed with talking about
2020. I'm happy to answer the questions, but I think it's a disservice to the
American people that you're so preoccupied with it.</span></p></blockquote><p> Next question? What about this advice Vance has for Trump? Roll tape, George!</p><p></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">... if I was giving him one piece of advice, fire every
single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state.
Replace them with our people. And when the courts -- because you will get taken
to court -- and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew
Jackson did, and say "The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him
enforce it." </span></p></blockquote><p>George asked if Vance really wanted to fire "everyone in the government" and if it was really "OK for the president to defy the Supreme Court?" Vance argued <i>everyone</i> didn't need to be fired, just that Trump should replace "<span style="font-family: georgia;">the mid-level bureaucrats with
people who aren't responsive to the administration's agenda. That's called
democracy."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then there was a pissing match, with George quoting Vance directly, and Vance trying to clarify that what he meant was</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">...the president has to be able to run the government as he thinks he
should. That's the way the Constitution works...</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></p><p><span>And, the</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> SCOTUS can make an "illegitimate ruling" and if it did, "the</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> president would have to respond to it."</span></p><p>Eventually, <span style="font-family: georgia;">Stephanopoulos said, in effect, "Thanks very much for playing," and closed the interview as Vance was still talking. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Honestly, I would have sent all of them to after-school detention. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">See you around campus.</span></p><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-67577665435528271272024-02-04T07:57:00.000-05:002024-02-04T07:57:09.949-05:00In Case You Missed it (v119)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-XSDqrXN5tBaJdFpNa7lrLYowDERR_hSdyCgO362pWkh-LG-xXwQDBPvWATXHUZ_445cHivz3Bpfg_XxYD79F_UH1D22DFjbsRsnRqZhbBQnwpGlCIiKsLKho7M28MCj9W-erBAtILpc2sqM3we2SFetk47adg9w2HxpJ-A4JhBAKeKPeTNWgtQEQw/s168/icymi%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="168" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-XSDqrXN5tBaJdFpNa7lrLYowDERR_hSdyCgO362pWkh-LG-xXwQDBPvWATXHUZ_445cHivz3Bpfg_XxYD79F_UH1D22DFjbsRsnRqZhbBQnwpGlCIiKsLKho7M28MCj9W-erBAtILpc2sqM3we2SFetk47adg9w2HxpJ-A4JhBAKeKPeTNWgtQEQw/s1600/icymi%201.png" width="168" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's your recap of last week's posts, in case you missed anything. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As usual, we started the week in the <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/sunday-school-12824.html" target="_blank"><b>Sunday School</b></a> classrooms, where I focused on immigration. Here's a bit of <b>Margaret Brennan</b>'s conversation with <b>Sen. Jim Lankford (R-OK)</b>, who helped negotiate the immigration bill we heard so much about last week. </span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; font-family: inherit;">Lankford said they've been working on the bill for "about four months" and they're trying to get it wrapped up so they can get into people's hands and put false rumors to bed.</span></blockquote><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #212529;"><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">So people want to be able to just see it, read it and go through it, and to be able to see the dramatic change that this really makes in how we handle our immigration system and how we work to be able to secure our border completely. That's been the simple request of Americans, whether you're Republican, Democrat, or Independent. People just want a secure border, where we have legal immigration, but we're not promoting illegal immigration. And that's what we've seen in the last three years.</span></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #212529;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said some of the language is similar to our pandemic-era Title 42, which allowed the border to be closed when we couldn't process the number of people who were crossing. Right now, he said, when we can't process them, they're just being released into the country.</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #212529;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="color: #101010; font-family: inherit;">That's what's driving the mayors in Denver, in Chicago, in New York City, and other places around the country crazy to say, when the border gets crowded, you just release them to our cities, and it causes all the chaos... </span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was interesting that Lankford mentioned some of the country's mayors; so did <b>Bakari Sellers</b>. Here's a highlight in this snip from your <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/sunday-school-12824-extra-credit.html " target="_blank">Extra Credit</a></b>.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">He chastised the Ds who "have refused to pay attention to immigration and crime in this country, saying it really didn't exist, it wasn't a problem." What's needed now is the folks who</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">have</i><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> complained,</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">we need our good mayors, like Frank Scott from Little Rock, like Chokwe from Jackson, Mississippi, we need Randall Woodfin from Birmingham, Alabama, and we even need mayors who don't know what they're doing, like Eric Adams in New York City, to now simply stand up for this piece of legislation and say, 'this is what we need done.'</span></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">This has to be the messaging and the messengers who can get this done for the country. This is not a problem that you kick down the road... This is something you fix right now. This is a problem. Fix it.</span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">That sure beats merely complaining about the other side, doesn't it?</span></blockquote><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lankford was mentioned again in a <b><a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/sidebar-sunday-school-12824.html" target="_blank">Sidebar</a> </b>post, in which we learned that he had been censured by Oklahoma's State Republican Party... at least, that's what it looked like in the beginning. Here's a snip.</span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">According to the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/DustyDeevers/status/1751370101410902410?s=20" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>censure resolution</b></a><span style="color: #222222;">, </span></span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Senator Lankford playing fast and loose with Democrats on our border policy not only disenfranchises legal immigrants seeking citizenship but it also puts the safety and security of Americans in great danger. </span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not sure he's "playing fast and loose" with the Dems; I mean, leading the bipartisan negotiations doesn't sound like he was behaving <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/play%20fast%20and%20loose#:~:text=idiom,and%20loose%20with%20the%20facts" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>in a clever and dishonest way</b></a> with them, does it? </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">After news of the censure broke, things started to unravel for what we all thought was the OKGOP.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interestingly, <span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">there are complaints that the Committee's vote to censure Lankford </span><a href="https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-sen-james-lankford-okgop-republicans-condemned-border-deal/46564070" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>may not have been legitimate</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">, as some members with voting rights weren't invited to the meeting. </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">More interestingly, or perhaps comically is the better word, the OKGOP </span><a href="https://okgop.com/okgop-issues-statement-regarding-reports-on-meeting-held-on-january-27th/" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>released a new statement today</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">:</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The meeting held by certain Republicans on January 27th was an illegitimate meeting. Proper notice was not provided to all members of the State Committee meeting. None of the actions done at the meeting are the official position of the OKGOP and the media is advised to refrain from reporting or suggesting that this was an official action of the 'OKGOP' or 'Oklahoma Republican party' regarding the motions, resolutions, or procedures done at this illegitimate meeting.</span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Someone's got some 'splaining to do.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Three immigration-related posts in three days - and by then, I was more than ready for some <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/wondering-on-wednesday-13124.html" target="_blank"><b>Wondering on Wednesday</b></a>. I won't lie - the Lankford censure popped up there, too, as did the Florida legislature. That group seems a bit unsettled by what's happening on the book-banning front.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">Most of us are aware of the penchant for book banning in Florida. This </span><a href="https://popular.info/p/the-tide-turns-on-florida-book-bans?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1664&post_id=140946479&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=1l6l9x&utm_medium=email" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>article</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> by Judd Legum reminds us that the whole mess started when the Rs in FLA attacked alleged "grooming" by school librarians pushing "pornographic" materials in their bookshelves.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Florida's Republican legislature passed — and Ron DeSantis signed — several pieces of legislation that made it easier to take books off the shelves of the state's public schools. This was all seen as smart politics, appealing to parents seeking to protect their children from inappropriate content.</span></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the Rs are getting tired of taking the heat for the ridiculous bans; even noted conservative <a href="https://pen.org/conservative-commentator-bill-oreilly-hits-the-roof-over-his-books-being-banned-in-florida/#:~:text=O'Reilly's%20books%20were%20on,been%20at%20the%20forefront%20of" style="color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Bill O'Reilly's books</b></a><b> </b>were pulled from the shelves. Legislation is moving along that would "make it more difficult for people to challenge books en masse." That's happened in at least one Florida county, where every book in the library was pulled for review. Legum says the legislation</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">is an implicit acknowledgment that book banning in Florida schools has gone too far. It also suggests that the enormous number of books being taken off the shelves of Florida schools has become a political problem for Florida Republicans. </span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Check the post to see what had me scratching my head on these topics, and a few others. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wrapped the week with a <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/02/meanwhile-back-in-albany-v47.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Meanwhile, Back in Albany</a> entry on one of my favorite subjects, NY politicians and their gambling revenue addiction. </span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">And now, it's </span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">online casino gaming</b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">; here's some info from a </span><a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2023/11/01/lawmakers-weigh-mobile-casino-gaming-to-boost-state-revenue" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>Spectrum News report</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> from October 2023.</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lawmakers are working to amend legislation to legalize a new form of online gambling in the state officials say could bring upwards of $1 billion in revenue to New York and help close budget gaps expected over the next few years...</span></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to the revenue, it's flat-out altruistic, too, especially for the New Yorkers who are forced to do their online gambling on apps registered in other states.</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">We can't help someone with an addiction because we don't know who they are, and once we regulate it in New York, iGaming, we then can help those that might be in need are on their pathway to addiction. We'll put in statutory language in this bill to address that.</span></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now that the Legislature is back in session, we can see what's up for discussion.</span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">The bill would allow for mobile or online betting on various types of interactive gaming, referred to as iGaming, and iLottery. I'm pretty sure those names are not affiliated with the giant fruit vendor known for selling all the other</span><a href="https://www.apple.com/" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> <b>iThings</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">, or with </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0972534/" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>iCarly</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">, an old Nickelodeon TV show, but there's a chance we could see some kind of copyright lawsuit, right? What are the odds? </span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's a lot in the proposed bill to get riled up about, and I can assure you, riled I was. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And just like that, you're up to date. Stay tuned for this week's posts - regular features, and more.</span></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-857576666029400242024-02-01T09:43:00.001-05:002024-02-03T21:42:40.043-05:00Meanwhile, Back in Albany (v47)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rtDtGW6ys6wu5tdiFq3-iuCC9KxutpUP6m57OLmKRnPR3ms2FawD2H_7sbW_IotcMnAUvrgj712u8xp_qvbQcjWD4WxwEmgBjaKEYwT0Jmvhcs0m1qft_MPbE99_ldqQMikI6djRTEemfvrQtW2aTRrfef1uUx7eGTSFzwE9gHvSWiX0nzvkgjCxhw/s756/nys%20flag.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rtDtGW6ys6wu5tdiFq3-iuCC9KxutpUP6m57OLmKRnPR3ms2FawD2H_7sbW_IotcMnAUvrgj712u8xp_qvbQcjWD4WxwEmgBjaKEYwT0Jmvhcs0m1qft_MPbE99_ldqQMikI6djRTEemfvrQtW2aTRrfef1uUx7eGTSFzwE9gHvSWiX0nzvkgjCxhw/w198-h200/nys%20flag.PNG" width="198" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here we go again, New York. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>We're losing gambling money to neighboring states, dammit, and we're not going to take it anymore!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, there was the <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2014/03/sidebar-state-sponsored-gambling-then.html" target="_blank"><b>casino money we were hemorrhaging</b></a> to neighboring states.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then, it was <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-update-desk-sports-betting.html" target="_blank"><b>sports betting</b></a> at our casinos, something we needed, you know, to fund things like education and gambling addiction treatment, and to stop bleeding money to neighboring states. And to help our underperforming casinos, which were not generating nearly the revenue we expected. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then it was <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/new-york-approves-mobile-sports-betting-for-9-operators-67535654#:~:text=The%20New%20York%20State%20Gaming,State%20by%20the%20Super%20Bowl.&text=New%20York%20is%20going%20mobile,operators%20for%2010%2Dyear%20licenses." target="_blank"><b>mobile sports betting</b></a>, because, you know, funding education, even more gambling addiction treatment, and buying tourniquets to stop the blood loss from all that hemorrhaging we've been doing are important governmental functions, as is helping casinos addict more gamblers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And now, it's <b>online casino gaming</b>; here's some info from a <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2023/11/01/lawmakers-weigh-mobile-casino-gaming-to-boost-state-revenue" target="_blank"><b>Spectrum News report</b></a> from October 2023.</span></p><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lawmakers are working to amend legislation to legalize a new form of online gambling in the state officials say could bring upwards of $1 billion in revenue to New York and help close budget gaps expected over the next few years.</span></span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why? Well, we're addicted to the money gambling brings in, of course, and the success of mobile sports betting can't be ignored. It's</span></p><blockquote><p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">spurring discussion to permit online casino gaming — also known as iGaming — in the state, allowing games like blackjack, roulette and others to be played from a mobile device.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And, of course, because of those darn neighboring states that already allow it. After all, as <b><a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/joseph-p-addabbo-jr" target="_blank">Sen. Joseph Addabbo</a></b>, chair of the Senate's <b>Addiction Funding Committee</b> (sorry - the Racing, Gaming, & Wagering Committee), says</span></p><blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other states surrounding us are doing it. We can do this. I think it's the conversation we have to have dictated by the poor fiscal situation we're going to be in next year.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to the revenue, it's flat-out altruistic, too, especially for the New Yorkers who are forced to do their online gambling on apps registered in other states.</span></p><blockquote><p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We can't help someone with an addiction because we don't know who they are, and once we regulate it in New York, iGaming, we then can help those that might be in need are on their pathway to addiction. We'll put in statutory language in this bill to address that.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fast forward to January 2024, and the <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2024/01/19/online-gambling-back-on-the-table-in-ny" target="_blank"><b>legislation is being worked</b></a> on in earnest. According to Addabbo </span></p><blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">It's a good bill. We got a lot of input from a lot of individuals, but it's a starting point. It's a starting point where I'm hoping that we can have these kinds of discussions during the budget process.</p></blockquote><p>The bill would allow for mobile or online betting on various types of interactive gaming, referred to as iGaming, and iLottery. I'm pretty sure those names are not affiliated with the giant fruit vendor known for selling all the other<a href="https://www.apple.com/" target="_blank"> <b>iThings</b></a>, or with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0972534/" target="_blank"><b>iCarly</b></a>, an old Nickelodeon TV show, but there's a chance we could see some kind of copyright lawsuit, right? What are the odds? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">As proposed, the licensing fees for the iStuff would be a cool $2M, and revenues would be taxed at 30.5%, which could generate a billion dollars annually. And, of course, we're hemorrhaging that money to PA and NJ now. Once we get that back, we'll be in good shape, Addabbo thinks.</p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We need to look at the outyears, 2025, 2026, where according to the state comptroller the fiscal situation only gets worse, then we do need to figure out a sustainable plan both short-term and long-term and that is iGaming and iLottery.</span></p></blockquote><p>And what about those problem gamblers? There's $11M in annual funding for "addiction services and supports." I'm not sure if that money is dedicated solely to gambling addicts, or if it covers all other causes of addiction as well. But we do need to act with urgency, it seems.</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If we're serious about helping people with a gaming problem, knowing that they're doing iGaming anyway in New York, they're just doing it illegally, then you try to do it this year because that will actually help the New Yorker who is already participating in iGaming.</span></p></blockquote><p>But wait - there's more! Progressive more!</p><p>To ensure "existing union casino employees" aren't threatened by the new option, there's a "a fund of at least $25M annually" towards <u>training and supporting employees of private business enterprises</u> - because that's the New York Way. Addabbo also said we may see more union jobs created because people will be able to sit in their jammies and play poker on their phones - with live dealers. I'm sure they'll be even more addicting than CGI dealers.</p><p>Anyone who's already allowed to feed our gambling addiction won't be ignored, either. Existing license holders, including "<span style="font-family: inherit;">current video lottery terminal licensees, mobile sports betting operators, state-licensed and Native American casinos" can participate in the iJunk if they like.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll be following this one as we go through the legislative session.</span></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466597019504816922.post-41830444527830943482024-01-31T21:06:00.000-05:002024-01-31T21:06:50.982-05:00Wondering on Wednesday 1/31/24<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-mjrFTR4ows9ZkcXYZU5tjs4zuiiPjFUmeI0yMIoPXBRApDdV0MfBHSdYyzs93Rt5z7oogx3pOOV5KDkJsBvkv_81dHh8yS6-HQN_yLk_GpbcWPOTA3GV6pTnR2c02QSr1pjVuDRS5EDW6YMye0QDZehUnhP30laB1d5049XQCulhgmGAHXt9t2AxQ/s615/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="615" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-mjrFTR4ows9ZkcXYZU5tjs4zuiiPjFUmeI0yMIoPXBRApDdV0MfBHSdYyzs93Rt5z7oogx3pOOV5KDkJsBvkv_81dHh8yS6-HQN_yLk_GpbcWPOTA3GV6pTnR2c02QSr1pjVuDRS5EDW6YMye0QDZehUnhP30laB1d5049XQCulhgmGAHXt9t2AxQ/s320/Wondering%20on%20Wednesday.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;">Ready... set... wonder!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I<span style="font-family: inherit;">t's rare for me to update my wondering a mere seven days later, but that's where I find myself today. Last week <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/wondering-on-wednesday-12424.html" target="_blank"><b>I wondered about the stock market</b></a>, what Trump thought of it when he was president, and how his thinking has changed.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">That was then, but this is now, and with</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> </span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">Joe Biden</b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">in the White House, Trump is no longer excited about the market's success. Rather, he's telling his supporters that "</span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-bemoans-record-stock-market-just-making-rich-people-richer-2023-12-18/" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #993300; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b>the stock market is making rich people richer</b></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;">" - as if that's ever been a bad thing for an alleged billionaire. </span></span></blockquote></div><p style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222;"></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #222222; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MGtISBh1wcv6uCwDn4CS-YL11EkiUAeRzXIp3Abn7qz9TIjzLK-tzdXJE6UfNbwc8wEdnQjojuoF37whOx1jrsUjomv2S2fw_IDM_G7aAFCbswuFLn0-0iEFWj3TCfS4-tzDuLMhNWUUeDoU5eL0ohsKWGjH0B7VSEtfFOUK3nAdB3eGCnbrQPBzvw/s790/lying%20to%20me%20now%20or%20lying%20to%20me%20then.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="790" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MGtISBh1wcv6uCwDn4CS-YL11EkiUAeRzXIp3Abn7qz9TIjzLK-tzdXJE6UfNbwc8wEdnQjojuoF37whOx1jrsUjomv2S2fw_IDM_G7aAFCbswuFLn0-0iEFWj3TCfS4-tzDuLMhNWUUeDoU5eL0ohsKWGjH0B7VSEtfFOUK3nAdB3eGCnbrQPBzvw/w320-h296/lying%20to%20me%20now%20or%20lying%20to%20me%20then.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #222222;">So, why am</span><b><i> <span style="color: #674ea7;">I </span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">wondering about this again</span></i></b><span style="color: #222222;">, you might be asking? Well, he apparently has changed his mind - again. Not only is a booming market great again, it's all because of him! Because of his polls! Because everyone loves him and can't wait for him to be president again!</span></span></div><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">And I have to wonder</span><span>, was he</span><span style="color: #222222;"> lying to me while he was in office, or was he lying to me over the past several weeks, or is he lying to me now?</span></span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #222222;">I learned today that a judge in Delaware's Court of Chancery has tossed Elon Musk's Tesla</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-rules-favor-plaintiffs-challenging-musks-tesla-pay-package-2024-01-30/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">compensation package</a>, saying that $56 billion was an "unfathomable sum." Kathaleen McCormick wrote in her decision, which is appealable, of course,</span></span></p><p style="background-color: #fff9ee;"></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Swept up by the rhetoric of 'all upside,' or perhaps
starry-eyed by Musk’s superstar appeal, the board never asked the $55.8 billion
question: Was the plan even necessary for Tesla to retain Musk and achieve its
goals?</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The article I linked above has some interesting information of the corporate intrigue kind, including board members beholden to the CEO and shirking their responsibilities, angry shareholders (that's how the suit came to be), and my favorite piece of information, to which I've added the <i>emphasis</i>:</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amit Batish at Equilar, an executive pay research firm,
estimated in 2022 that Musk's package was around <i>six times larger than the
combined pay of the 200 highest-paid executives</i> in 2021.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">I'm wondering</span></i></b>, as I re-read that last part for the umpteenth time today, whether incentive-only compensation packages - according to the article, Musk didn't draw a Tesla salary - should have limits? And <span style="color: #674ea7;"><i><b>I also</b></i><i style="font-weight: bold;"> can't help wondering</i></span> what a less Musk-friendly board would have done in the compensation negotiations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a <a href="https://veritablepastiche.blogspot.com/2024/01/sidebar-sunday-school-12824.html" target="_blank"><b>Sidebar</b></a> yesterday, I talked about the Oklahoma Republican Party voting to censure <b>Sen. James Lankford</b>, and how the meeting was subsequently deemed illegitimate by the 'real' OKGOP. And <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">what I'm wondering about</span></i></b> here is simply this: how many other GOP organizations are at risk for this same kind of thing, where a cabal is bold enough, willing, and able to take over the party, even temporarily, and create this kind of havoc? And how long before we figure out they exist?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of us are aware of the penchant for book banning in Florida. This <a href="https://popular.info/p/the-tide-turns-on-florida-book-bans?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1664&post_id=140946479&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=1l6l9x&utm_medium=email" target="_blank"><b>article</b></a> by Judd Legum reminds us that the whole mess started when the Rs in FLA attacked alleged "grooming" by school librarians pushing "pornographic" materials in their bookshelves.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Florida's
Republican legislature passed — and Ron DeSantis signed — several pieces of
legislation that made it easier to take books off the shelves of the state's
public schools. This was all seen as smart politics, appealing to parents
seeking to protect their children from inappropriate content.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the Rs are getting tired of taking the heat for the ridiculous bans; even noted conservative <a href="https://pen.org/conservative-commentator-bill-oreilly-hits-the-roof-over-his-books-being-banned-in-florida/#:~:text=O'Reilly's%20books%20were%20on,been%20at%20the%20forefront%20of" target="_blank"><b>Bill O'Reilly's books</b></a><b> </b>were pulled from the shelves. Legislation is moving along that would "make it more difficult for people to challenge books en masse." That's happened in at least one Florida county, where every book in the library was pulled for review. Legum says the legislation</span></p><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">is an implicit acknowledgment
that book banning in Florida schools has gone too far. It also suggests that
the enormous number of books being taken off the shelves of Florida schools has
become a political problem for Florida Republicans. </span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not surprised pols are upset about the consequences of their anti-woke, anti-LGBTQ, anti-everything approach to school libraries; here's what really got to me in Legum's article.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The majority of book
challenges in the United States came from 11 people. Two of the most prolific,
Bruce Friedman and Vicki Baggett, hail from Florida.</span></span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="color: #404040;">Eleven people</i><span style="color: #404040;"> are responsible for the majority of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/20/1200647985/book-bans-libraries-schools#:~:text=There%20were%20nearly%20700%20attempts,in%202022%2C%20the%20organization%20said." target="_blank"><b>book challenges</b></a> in the United States? </span><b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">How can you not wonder with me</span></i></b><span style="color: #404040;"> how that's even possible? <i>Eleven peopl</i>e, out of a country of over <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/happy-new-year-2023.html#:~:text=U.S.%20Population%20Estimated%20at%20334%2C233%2C854%20on%20Jan.&text=1%2C%202023.,1%20person%20every%2027%20seconds." target="_blank"><b>334,000,000</b></a>? How does this even happen?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #404040;">And finally, <b>Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ)</b> <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/dem-lawmaker-rips-gop-reps-093304803.html" target="_blank"><b>pulled less than zero punches</b></a> in comments directed towards GOP members of the House Homeland Security Committee as they considered impeachment charges against Alejandro Mayorkas.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #404040;">According to the article, Menendez noted there've been plenty of hearings on the border, but none on things like "emergency preparedness, cyber threats, infrastructure protection, and more," all of which would be in the Committee's portfolio.</span></span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #232a31; font-family: inherit;">We have not lived up to our oversight obligation here on this committee because you all are obsessed with the border. Because you bend the knee to the ‘Orange Jesus’ as you refer to him across the aisle. </span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">You <span style="color: #232a31; font-family: inherit;">can watch the video of his comments </span><a href="http://witter.com/Acyn/status/1752549033405772195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1752549033405772195%7Ctwgr%5Ee3321bbbb4448b9466d8bb7a513da8b1036d1855%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Frob-menendez-orange-jesus_n_65b9c8e3e4b05c8779f6b99c" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>, and <b><i><span style="color: #674ea7;">maybe wonder, as I often do</span></i></b>, how much longer the folks in the House will keep it together.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">What's on your wondering mind these days?</span></p><p></p><p></p>Sue Drummondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02029774265525845620noreply@blogger.com0