TGIF 6/17/22

It's Friday again, and time for our good week/bad week lists. As I was gathering notes for today's post, I wasn't sure which list some of these would end up on. 

We learned this week that John Hinckley, the guy who shot President Ronald Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, and DC Police Officer Thomas Delahanty back in 1980 to impress actress Jodie Foster, had been released from all supervision. 

I was unaware that Hinckley had been working on art and music during his decades of confinement, but it seems he's been trying to sell art on eBay, and he cut a record and scheduled a concert tour, once he knew the date he'd be free of all supervision. (I am not encouraging anyone to look at his art or listen to his music; I include the links so you know I'm not making stuff up.)

Sadly, or thankfully, his concerts are being cancelled, mostly because of strong feelings on the part of people who think it's sick to pay money to a guy who tried to kill the president, or who think it's wrong to make money off a guy who tried to kill the president, or for any number of other strongly held opinions on this. Here's a statement from one venue that decided to cancel Hinckley's performance. In part, it says

So, Hinckley had a good week, based on his release after "41 years 2 months and 15 days," but a bad week because some of us are not willing to accept that he deserves a chance at a normal life? Is that how it works out for him? And the rest of us? Do we make the good week list for keeping him from performing? Or does that put us on the bad week list?

Here's another mixed week mention. The EU "gave its blessing" for Ukraine to become a candidate to join it. That's just the first step - becoming a member can take years, as the article pointed out - and there's no guarantee.

...there are 35 "chapters of the acquis" setting out standards to meet in areas from judicial policy and financial services to food safety...talks have been stalled for years with Turkey, a candidate since 1999.

That said, as Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president said,

Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us the European dream."

If nothing else, it's a symbolic step for the Ukrainians, still caught in the very ugly war with Russia, but it's hard not wondering how much of a Ukraine will be left to try and meet the onerous requirements. Does that make this news, like the Hinckley story, a candidate for both lists? 

Axios is reporting a number of police crime reporting failures, saying that "nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies nationwide...failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI. Agencies that failed to send some or all their data included the LAPD and the NYPD, as well as several significantly smaller law enforcement organizations across the country.  

The report, from a partnership between The Marshall Project and Axios Local, noted

The FBI's annual data set is the country's foremost way to understand how crime across the U.S. is changing, measuring things like how many murders or rapes took place last year or how many people were arrested. It's going to be really hard for policymakers to look at what crime looks like in their own community and compare it to similar communities," Jacob Kaplan, a criminologist at Princeton University, told The Marshall Project.

The FBI switched to a new system last year, but it shouldn't have been a surprise; the transition was "announced years ago, and the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars" to help departments switch over to the new system. Many agencies that didn't submit data blamed "staffing shortages and technical issues. You can see an interactive map of who didn't report in the Axios article.

I don't know about you, but to me this seems like a bad week for LEO agencies, and for the FBI, and for policy makers. And, I'd have to add, for the hundreds of political candidates who are running on a platform of fighting crime in their communities. We know they make stuff up, and talk out of their hats half the time, but without accurate data, it's hard to fact-check their nonsense, and that's bad for all of us.

Here's what I think is, hands down, a good week list story: we'll have COVID vaccines for the youngest among us.

U.S. regulators have authorized the first COVID-19 shots for infants and preschoolers. That paves the way for vaccinations for children under 5 to begin next week. The Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization Friday follows a unanimous recommendation by its advisory panel. The kid-sized shots are made by Moderna and Pfizer.

I've read and listened to enough interviews with medical professionals - researchers and doctors and nurses alike - who believe that this is a very good thing, and who have said they'll vaccinate their kids as soon as the vaccine is available, to convince me this is a good thing.

And it's also a good week list thing that states have pre-ordered doses of the vaccine, so that they'll be widely available where they're needed. Except Florida, of course. The alleged Sunshine State is the only state that didn't pre-order by the deadline. Why, you ask? 

Because Gov. Ron Bad Week DeSantis.

I would say we are affirmatively against the Covid vaccine for young kids. These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything

Residents will be able to get the shots from a pharmacy, or from their pediatrician, assuming there's enough quantity to go around. 

And, finally, today is the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. I offered some thoughts on that earlier today - and I'd have to say, Richard Nixon would have ended up on the good week list, which is hard to imagine under normal, scandalous circumstances.

TGIF, everyone.

In Case You Missed it (v88)

I'm not sure why I was so busy last week, but I only managed three posts. Here's your week in review, in case you missed anything. And if I missed anything important last week, someone give me a heads up? Thanks!

For Sunday School, I dropped by three classrooms: Meet the Press, where Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) talked about COVID funding; Face the Nation, where Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) talked about the January 6th Committee, and State of the Union, where Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) talked about all kinds of fun stuff. Here's a bit of that. 

He said that cancelling student debt is a bad idea. Bash asked if doing that wouldn't be helpful to Arkansas families that are hurting now, even though he said his state is generally doing OK. 

Well, sure it'd be helpful to them. It would be helpful to cancel rent for them. It'd be helpful to pay all their utility bills. It'd be helpful to help on mortgage payments. But the question is, what is the right solution?

He also said that he's in the game for 2024, no matter what a certain orange-haired menace decides to do.

That's why he went to New Hampshire, and why he plans on being engaged this year in the national conversation, not just on the economy but on border security, going after the cartels, helping the states, and so on. And, what Trump does or doesn't do has no impact on Hutchinson. 

I have made it clear I think we ought to have a different direction in the future. And so, I'm not aligned with him on some of his endorsements, but also the direction he wants to take our country. I think he did a lot of good things for our country, but we need to go in a different direction. And so, that's not a factor in my decision-making process.

Also in the classrooms on Sunday? Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. His interview with  with Dana Bash in the State of the Union classroom, and one with What's-his-name on Meet the Press were featured in your Extra Credit. I wasn't that impressed, but I would have to give him an A+ for consistency, that's for sure.

He talked a lot about what's going to happen when Title 42 ends later this month, and he also talked about the latest free-for-the-asking talking point the Dems have put on the silver platter for the Republicans. I'm talking about the Disinformation Governance Board, or, as the GOP is calling it, The Ministry of Truth. Bash asked exactly what it'll do, and specifically if it will be monitoring Americans. On the latter, he said it will not be monitoring us, as it has no "operational authority or capability."

And so, what will it do? Well, after saying that they "probably could have done a better job of communicating" about the program, he delved into the whys and the whats.

So, what it does is, it works to ensure that the way in which we address threats, the connectivity between threats and acts of violence are addressed without infringing on free speech, protecting civil rights and civil liberties, the right of privacy. And the board, this working group, internal working group, will draw from best practices and communicate those best practices to the operators, because the board does not have operational authority.

...What it will do is gather together best practices in addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries, from the cartels, and disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing in addressing this threat for years.

And, in response to What's-his-name's same general question?

So, we've set up essentially an internal working group. And I must say that we could have done a better job in communicating what it is and what it isn't. It's a working group that takes best practices with respect to our work that has been going on for years. Best practices on how to do that work, the work of addressing disinformation that presents a threat to the security of our country, how to do that work in a way that does not infringe on free speech, does not infringe on civil liberties. So, this working group takes best practices and disseminates those best practices to the operators.

He was bad; the interviewers were worse, I think, focusing on the stuff that doesn't matter much at all, other than for sound bites, and not asking hard questions about what the hell the administration's going to do about immigration - not because of the midterms, but because we need to do something about immigration... Of course, if anyone really cared about that, other than for the midterms, we'd be doing something. So a pox on all their House and Senate seats, or something.

Finally, I was Wondering on Wednesday about the leak heard 'round the world - and for a change, it wasn't anyone's January 6th texts. 

No, I'm talking about the Alito Draft, the "it probably shouldn't be released, except that we have to make sure the conservative justices toe the line, so we'll leak it and clutch our deeply rooted pearls and everyone on the Right will blame a clerk for one of the liberal justices, and that'll work for us too, so what the heck, drop the darn thing and let's sit back and watch" bombshell opinion eviscerating Roe and Casey and all of the other abortion-related cases of the past nearly 50 years.

I offered two quickly conceived and silly brain dumps of how it got out, because, as we know, wonderment and entertainment begin at conception and, on a more serious note, wondered

What else will fall? If the standard is things that are deeply rooted in our history, clearly additional attacks on voting rights will be affirmed, and encouraged.

Interracial marriage, and marriage equality, of course, are obvious targets. but there's more.

Another issue about which we can wonder? Can any of the alleged privacy protections in the Constitution actually protect women who want to use contraception? I mean, think about it. 

Our life expectancy is falling. 

The birth rate is falling. 

We're projected to be a minority-white country - by 2045.  

Is it really beyond our wildest imagination, I wonder, for some red-state pseudo-religious legislature to decide that what we need more than anything is more cute white babies, and act to make sure that happens by restricting access to contraception?

I know Alito said, in the draft, that this was just about abortion, but we know we can trust that about as far as we can throw him, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, or Coney Barrett.

That's all I had for you - hope your week was otherwise full. 

Happy Sunday, and Happy Mother's Day to those who celebrate. 

Sidebar: Could We Be Like the Ukrainians?

In my Sunday School Extra Credit post, I struggled with a story told by Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who had an encounter with an American one of her visits to Ukraine. Here's what he told her. 

You know, Victoria, these Ukrainians, they're actually more Americans than I thought. They really remind me of Americans, and they really inspire all of us.

I'm still struggling with his comment. There's no doubt Americans, and people all over the world, are finding inspiration in the resolve of the Ukrainian people, but I don't see them as being particularly "American." Honestly? I find them particularly not American - at least, particularly not today's American.

And this morning, as I waited for my first cup of coffee, I envisioned a crisis, an honest-to-goodness existential threat to the United States, not one of the many manufactured threats we're told almost daily we need to fear. Would we be able to pull together to defend each other and our republic (if we can keep it), the way Ukrainians are defending theirs?

Here's what fell out of my head.

• Red state governors would immediately call emergency sessions, or ditch their scheduled legislative agenda of book banning and enhanced cancel culture, and pass laws declaring that teachers, librarians, LGBTQ people, and abortion providers would all be conscripted into the military first, regardless of age, to get them the hell out of the way, so when the crisis was over, "we" would be safe from "them" and their agendas.

• If the Republicans hold Congressional majorities when my crisis occurs, expect the same to come at the federal level. But, on the chance that any of their relatives re teachers or librarians, they would be excluded from military service. They would still be outcasts in their families, but they wouldn't have to go to war. 

• Fortunately, there'll be no need to worry about trans people being in wrong-gendered foxholes; after all, real women won't be sent to fight. They shouldn't have to do that, except in places like Denmark, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Eritrea, Israel, and North Korea. But those countries are different. There's not like us. 

• The Rs in states along the southern border would race directly into the Rio Grande to pull immigrants from the water. Unaccompanied minors and other children would be sent to temporary detainment facilities to sew MAGA flags and make other mission-critical supplies, while adults, including parents, rapists, murderers, drug dealers and the other 'not the best people' will be sent with their COVID and fentanyl to the trenches. Promises of speedy citizenship would be dangled, of course, with no intention of anyone ever making good on them.

• The Ds would do their best to ensure that no one got sent to battle unless the government first wiped out their student loans, and guaranteed that, no matter what, they can't be evicted from their home for the duration of their service, including any time served as a POW or in any other state of confinement.

• The most progressive of the Ds would vote against any Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), unless we first ensured that all of our weaponry was carbon neutral, and that none of the bombs would hit the ground, preventing any environmental damage. The bombs would need to be of the 'bursting in air' kind, and would have to leave no trace. They'd vote no, even if 70% of our 'militaria' met the thresholds they demanded, because everyone knows getting nothing is better than getting a lot of what you want.

• Further, nothing could be fired by drone, because having pilots fire missiles and whatever else these things can fire, without being able to see the whites of the eyes of our opponent, is wrong.

• Meanwhile, back on the home front, people from dueling Charles Koch- and George Soros- supported think tanks would be thinking, fast and furiously, how they could make money from the war, and how many additional elected officials and unelected bureaucrats they would need to purchase in order to achieve their goals. And how to finance the purchases, too; I think they might ask Russia for help on that. Or the Saudi Crown Prince. 

• And, the Heritage Foundation would be building a list of potential candidates to replace anyone they like who got sent into battle (after the first wave of undesirables was conscripted). I think that process is called Indeed? Indeed, but I could be wrong.

 And when I had coffee in hand, my viewpoint didn't change all that much. 

• Hunter Biden painted a picture of someone who might be wife of the mayor of an enemy city's brother-in-law's niece's boyfriend's sister's daughter's illegitimate son's cousin, who may or may not have thought about giving someone named Biden some money to be used for something: drugs, paying for sex, buying gouache and canvas, or, maybe, bribing an elected official. The jury's still out on that, and we can't tell on social media. Or, maybe they thought about giving Biden the Golden some treats, I don't know. I can't be sure, because the fact-checkers aren't allowed to fact-check any of this.

• Separately, some young Rs in Congress freaked out about the groomer  thing, not realizing that groomers are necessary; sometimes, they even help people wear a coat and tie in the House. And we all know, without groomers, Shih Tzus would look like... you get the drift.

• Not only that, but they're also afraid someone's going to tell them that all of their friends and colleagues and R teammates around the country who've been arrested for things related to the kind of grooming the Rs are now freaking out about are, well, the kind of groomers the Rs are now freaking out about. The call is coming from inside the house, so to speak. 

• On the other hand, if they keep talking about groomers, no one will know they voted against the AUMF, too - not because of any policy idea, but because they're just trying to make sure President Biden and his agenda are stopped - so they'll probably continue pretending their colleagues aren't groomers.

• Democratic leaders in the House and Senate - with a combined age of 1234 years, 5 months, 6 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes, and 9 seconds as I write this - will be huddled in a corner of the Speaker's balcony, trying to figure out how to 'message' the existential threat, who should deliver the message, and how many focus groups will be needed to test it out. Separately, the 57 caucuses - the same number of states President Obama said he visited - all prepared self- serving, unresponsive responses to the official message, to be ready in case the leadership every issued one. The Rs prepared a response, too, for what's it's worth.

• Meanwhile, in the trenches, folks learned to sit around and wait for something to happen. Some people brought books - banned books, can you believe that? - with them to pass the time and that created almost more of an existential threat than the threat they were there to fight. Books don't belong in foxholes, it was argued. Foxhole is a dirty word and shouldn't be allowed, someone said. Others wanted to ban a book someone was reading, which led to hand-to-hand combat.

• And then there were cries for hand sanitizer, to prevent the spread of immigrant COVID germs, but no one thought to bring any. The issue was resolved when the germaphobes agreed to eat dirt, a man said he had eaten dirt as a child and hadn't gotten the Wuhan flu. QED. 

• Back home, people who had family breadwinners deployed, or who lost their jobs when the trouble started, or who were displaced, were looking for safe places to go. But some people wanted the safe places to be safe from conflicting ideas, including disagreement on the existence of the existential threat, and so the churches and schools that had opened their doors had to close, and the government had to step in to solve the problem. And we all know how that'll work out, right? 

This is an admittedly dark take on things, and yet, it presents Americans the way we currently present ourselves to the world, and to each other. I'm sure, if push came to shove, much of what's written above wouldn't happen. We could rise to the occasion, I'm sure. We pulled together after 9/11, for a while, and we could to it again. 

The hard part, for me, is that it seems we're willing to wait until another 9/11, or some other horrific event, for us to try and talk about where we agree, rather than where we disagree... about how we can make our country successful, rather than how we can make an administration fail...  about what's worth fighting for, and how we can go about it...

Wouldn't that be inspiring?

Sunday School 4/24/22

Here's a recap from my stroll around the Sunday School classrooms.  

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, talked with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, and the first topic was inflation. Which, in case people haven't noticed, is a global problem, not simply a "Joe Biden did this" gas-pump-sticker problem. 

Lagarde has suggested she'd wait a while before raising interest rates, noting that she and the Fed "share the same resolve" - taming inflation - but they're "facing a different beast." She said that energy prices account for 50% of the inflation in Europe.

If I raise interest rates today, it is not going to bring the price of energy down... So, we will be interrupting the purchases of assets in the course of the third quarter. High probability that we do so early in the third quarter. And then we will look at interest rates and how — and by how much - we hike them. But we have to be data-dependent because of the sources of inflation that we have at the moment.

She said her bank's mandate is restoring price stability at around 2%, but they have to act in a "sufficiently well-sequenced, well-calibrated for us in Europe, gradual way" to not cause a recession. And, she said, they have to do things "in a sufficiently smart and subtle way" to achieve their goals, including reducing the flow of money that allows Russia to continue the war against Ukraine. 

That includes sanctions, cutting off their access to SWIFT, seizing assets from Russian oligarch, and so on. That said, 

If we were to take abrupt measures that would induce an increase of the price of oil or gas around the world, from which the Russians would eventually benefit, then that would not be the right policy move.

Europe has adopted a compete boycott of Russian coal, and there's "a lot of work going on concerning oil, concerning gas, and, you know, there will be more stories to tell a bit later on."

Brennan noted there's a bit of debate here that the government bears some blame for inflation, including $6T in COVID stimulus, a third of which went out "on President Biden’s watch last spring when the economy was already recovering." Noting "Europe didn’t spend like this," she wondered if our path exacerbated inflation.

Lagarde said Europe put "half as much" as the US on stimulus; rather, the focus was "predominantly on keeping the jobs, not necessarily sending the checks." That's not the same as what's going on here.

And the current situation you have in the labor market here in the US is clearly contributing to possible strong inflation and second-round effect, where prices go up, wages go up, short supply of labor, wages continue to go up, and that feeds back into prices. That’s one of the differences between our two economies.

Lagarde said we're in a "difficult moment, but it’s one where a very interesting phenomena developed." She explained that Russia's attack on Ukraine "has produced three key results."

... it has resurrected NATO. It has united the Europeans more than ever. And it has strengthened a nation, Ukraine. The price of that is terrible. The death, the destruction, the devastation, and we are all concerned and all want to help. But this is quite an interesting development. And we have to be united and resolved to actually address the situation together because there has to be solidarity.

Another well-known woman was in the classrooms yesterday: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D -I'm a Progressive Capitalist, not a Socialist Like Bernie), who talked with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. Warren had an op-ed in the NY Times, which Welker quoted in part.

Democrats cannot bow to the wisdom of out of touch consultants who recommended we simply tout our accomplishments. Instead, Democrats need to deliver more of the president's agenda, or else we will not be in the majority much longer.

Warren also said that, even though Dems hold both houses of Congress, "Republican senators and broken institutions have blocked" a lot of the progress the Dems promised during the 2020 campaign. Welker asked her to explain that; here's Warren's answer.

Look, my point is not to look in the rear-view mirror. My point is to say we've got nearly 200 days left between now and the election. 

And she went on to talk about what families are facing: which groceries to send back, unaffordable student loan repayments, inflation (food, gas), and said 

Democrats ran and always run on trying to make government work for working people. We've got nearly 200 days left. That's what we need to put our energy on. If we don't, then we haven't been there. So that's what we need to do.

Welker circled back around to one of the Dems who is blocking his party's agenda: Sen. Joe Manchin (D- I'm a Coal Farmer, Dammit!) and his position that he'll support big legislation solely if it addresses climate change, prescription costs, and reducing the deficit - nothing else. Welker wondered if Warren could support a package like that. 

Ignoring the question, Warren focused on her agenda: attacking inflation by bringing down costs for families by making childcare more affordable so millions of women can go back to work and that increases our capacity and helps drive down inflation (I paraphrased her). 

Welker tried again, this time naming Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Roadblocks Are My Favorite Kind of Infrastructure), who agrees with Manchin; Warren's wish list would add to the deficit and make inflation worse. Welker asked again if Warren could go along with the three-issues-only bill - and Warren added more things to her 200-day to do list.

So, the point I'm trying to make is that we need to do more. Yes, we need to do climate change. Yes, we need to do prescription drugs. And we need to make sure that we're paying for it by making sure that giant corporations that make billions of dollars in profits and pay nothing in taxes are actually paying a minimum tax – and yes, Amazon, I'm looking at you in that one – and other corporations. Look, we need to also authorize the FTC so they can go after companies that are price gouging. And we need to remember that it's not only what Congress can do. It's also what the administration can do.

And that's where she said, "Mr. President, today would be a great day to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of people across this country."

My point is that we have nearly 200 days. And not just one negotiation going on. We should have multiple negotiations going on. There is a lot we can deliver for American families. And we need to make that happen.

Welker said that "two Obama-era economists" have said extending the moratorium on loan repayment "during this kind of inflation" is both regressive and inflation-inflating. Warren disagrees. 

No, actually not paying student loan debts has already been baked in. But what matters is how we're going to be out there helping millions of American people. You know, keep in mind, 40% of the folks who have student loan debt do not have a college diploma. These are people who tried, but life happened... But now, they earn what a high school grad earns and they are trying to manage college level debt...It is the job of Democrats, it is the job of the party in power to help make people's lives better. We can do that. And the president can do that one all by himself.

She did answer one question, firmly and repeatedly.

I'm not running for president in 2024. I'm running for Senate. President Biden is running for re-election in 2024 - and I'm supporting him. You can ask it any way you want, but I'm going to say the same thing. President Biden is running in 2024 and I'm supporting him. Cheerfully.

Finally (and I'm not sure why), Welker asked if Warren was satisfied with the administration's handling of the decision ending the mask mandate on public transportation, including the appeal. Warren said the appeal is about looking forward and ensuring the CDC can implement decisions to protect public health, whether it's COVID or something else down the road.

Sadly, neither mentioned how confused people were, seemingly not knowing the difference between state and federal mandates, and how people didn't realize that wearing their mask until they were at their final destination, where they could get familiar with any applicable state or local regulations, made sense. And yes, that sounds judgmental, but based on last week's reporting, it seems necessary. 

FYI, when you come to class, if you want to wear a mask, you're free to do so. You're also free to not wear one, because we're an online educational institution. 

See you around campus. 

Wondering on Wednesday 4/20/22

Ready... Set... Wonder!

I wonder about the people who scream about 'cancel culture' and, at the same time, cheer the politicians who are, in some ways, on the verge of 'cancelling' Disney in Florida? 

And I wonder what happens when someone else in the Sunshine State is forced to pick up the costs of providing services to Disney properties, which (as I understand it), the company provides through their Reedy Creek Improvement District? And who, I wonder, will be the lucky people to assume that responsibility?

And I wonder, now that DeSantis has attacked the cruise industry for COVID rules, and the Mouseketeers for supporting LGBTQ folks, who's next on his radar? Will teachers be swept off the beaches? Blacks, maybe? Or librarians who dare to keep bad books on the shelves? 

And I wonder, when did DeSantis first stop liking the 'special districts' created before 1968? He mentioned in a press conference last month that, "a matter of first principle is I don’t support special privileges in law just because a company is powerful, and they’ve been able to wield a lot of power."  

Was it just when Disney became 'woke' - 0r has he always thought that? And if he's always thought that, I wonder why he waited until now - during a special session of the legislature, called to cram his personal redistricting maps down everyone's throats - to address the issue? 

And if the 'cancellation' isn't going to take effect until June 2023, I wonder what DeSantis and the rest of them will do to punish the company for the next year? And I wonder, if Disney wanted to reapply for a special district, would DeSantis and the gang even consider it? 

And what about the Imagineers? I wonder if they're going to spend the next few months trying to come up with a theme park ride about a vindictive governor and his minions? Oh wait - can't be minions, maybe they can Imagineer a new name for the Rs in the legislature, and introduce that along with the ride?  

And what about the trailer? Disney always makes a mini-movie when they're ready to roll out a major new 'experience' at their parks, and I wonder, would I have to subscribe to Disney+ to see it, or would ABC carry it on broadcast TV?

And I have to wonder, how many other DeSantis-ish pols in other states will follow his lead and start attacking businesses in their own backyards? And who will be the first?

What are you wondering about tonight?

Sunday School 4/17/22

For this week's Sunday School, I've got three hot topics from three different classrooms. First up? Margaret Brennan, chatting with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Elaware) about COVID relief on Face the Nation. 

Coons said he was "disappointed" that Congress couldn't get their act together and "deliver critically-needed global help," and get vaccines to the three billion or so people who haven't had a single shot yet. He mentioned the kind of sentiment the Senate is up against. 

As we were fighting over this additional payment, this additional funding for Covid relief globally, one of my colleagues memorably said, well, my constituents are done with this pandemic. Margaret, just because we're done with the pandemic doesn't mean it's done with us.

Coons said he respects the goal of finding offsets to pay for this, 

but in a moment when we badly need additional emergency funding to support the Ukrainian military resistance against Russian aggression, to support millions of refugees in Ukraine and around the region, in Europe and throughout the world, and to provide food relief and additional COVID relief, I think we should treat this as emergency spending.

He also thinks that immigration and COVID relief are separate issues, even if some of his party think they should be somehow tied together.

Finally, Brennan pointed to recent comments where Coons said that we need to talk about when we might be willing to send troops to fight in Ukraine, and "if the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation and brutality by Putin." 

She wondered if he thinks Biden was wrong when he said we wouldn't send troops, or if he was looking for Biden to draw a red line somewhere on this issue. Coons feels if Putin is allowed "to commit war crimes throughout Ukraine" without any forceful action by NATO and the West, he thinks we'll see Ukraine "turn into Syria."

The American people cannot turn away from this tragedy in Ukraine. I think the history of the 21st century turns on how fiercely we defend freedom in Ukraine, and that Putin will only stop when we stop him.

Referencing the religious significance of the weekend, he suggested that when so many of us gather to "celebrate the very best in the human spirit: and grieve those we've lost,

we should also be prayerful and mindful of those who are fighting for freedom in Ukraine and how much their heroism and patriotism inspires the rest of us.

Next, we've got Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Tone Deaf in the Mar-a-Lago Tool Shed), who talked with host Mike Emanuel in the Fox News Sunday classroom. Here's what McCarthy said, after being welcomed back to the show. 

Thank you, and happy Easter to all Americans.

Um, I hate to break it to him, but "all Americans" don't celebrate Easter; many celebrate Passover and Ramadan. Many also celebrate chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, or spring. And still others of us don't celebrate a damn thing this weekend. I'm guessing he doesn't care much at all about the non-Easter people.

I almost gave up after that, but decided to hold my nose and keep listening. At some point, the discussion turned to Ukraine, and McCarthy's complaints that President Biden "acted too slowly" on, well, everything. After noting that we've now sent $2.6B in military assistance to Ukraine, Emanuel asked what more Biden should be doing. McCarthy babbled about all of his own efforts to get something done before Russia attacked, and he said

Had we moved the weapons to Ukraine earlier, that they could defend themselves, it would have saved thousands of lives and probably the decision of Putin not to enter.

All that aside, 

...what we need to do is learn from here, provide the weapons to Ukraine, but also look to the future of what China is doing. Taiwan has been waiting more than a year for weapons they've already purchased to defend themselves.

If you know me, you know I can't let a comment like that pass without doing some research. Meaning, I did a really simple search. And yes, it's true: Taiwan is waiting for weapons they've purchased from us. 

According to this article in Defense News,  there's "a backlog in the U.S. delivering $14.2 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan that the island has purchased since 2019."

Wait - what's that? The backlog existed before Biden even took office? 

However, it remains unclear what — if anything — the United States can do to address the pandemic-related acquisition issues that prompted the backlog. “Our primary issue — and we see this playing out in Ukraine also — is that the industry has been delayed in the development of these systems,” a Republican staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Defense News. 

And there's nothing the Biden administration can do? And the same issues are hindering our efforts to help Ukraine? Good lord, if I didn't know better, I'd think McCarthy was lying when he blamed Biden.

The staffer also noted the U.S. defense industry has attributed supply chain issues, staff shortages and shipping delays to COVID-19 — problems that have cascaded into broader production troubles. 

Wait, wait, wait. It's the pandemic, the one the Rs took a hands-off approach to mitigating, that's now making a mess of things in democracies like Ukraine and Taiwan? 

“Honestly, the bottom line is there is very little that the government can do at this juncture to address supply chain issues,” Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, told Defense News. 

I'm shocked - completely shocked... (that's a lie, by the way. I'm not shocked at all.) 

McCarthy said the Rs are not over-confident about winning back the House, but he said they need to do more than just criticize, they must commit to making changes and fixing the big problems. Emanuel asked if they could do that - tackle the national debt, for example - with a divided government. 

We need to have sound fiscal policy, stop the irresponsible spending to curve inflation and make America in a stronger path. But it's not just to balance the budget, you have to pay off the debt. And the only way we'll be able to do that is with fiscal responsibility, with Republicans in the majority.

And I laughed and laughed at that, I really did.

Let's close on a positive note, and spend a moment or two with Jake Tapper, who played parts of his exclusive interview with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on CNN's State of the Union. 

Tapper mentioned the politicians who annually express a 'never again' sentiment on Holocaust Remembrance Day - and he wondered if those words rang hollow to Zelenskyy, who lost ancestors in the Holocaust. "When the world says, 'never again,' do they ever mean it?" He doesn't think so, not after what they've seen in his country. Through his translator, said

The only belief there is, is belief in ourselves, in our people, belief in our armed forces, and the belief that countries are going to support us, not just with their words, but with their actions. And that's it. Never again. Really, everybody is talking about this, and yet, as you can see, not everyone has got the guts.

Tapper and Zelenskyy chatted about their kids. Zelenskyy has an 18-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son. Tapper has a 12-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. Zelenskyy said

Girl? So, you understand me, 14-year-old girl. TAPPER: Yes. ZELENSKYY: We understand. TAPPER: Yes. I call my daughter, and she's like: "Can't talk, dad. Very busy." (LAUGHTER) ZELENSKYY: Not now. (LAUGHTER) TAPPER: "I'm very busy." ZELENSKYY: Yes, I know it's -- without knocking the door, I can't speak with my own daughter. TAPPER: Right. Right. ZELENSKYY: That's good.

I chuckled at that; with teenaged girls (I was one once, so I can say this), you don't have to be in a war zone to sometimes feel like you're in one. And I appreciated that Zelenskyy could enjoy a bit of normal, dad-to-dad talk.

On a more serious note, Zelenskyy acknowledged that he might not survive this war. Tapper wondered how he wanted the Ukrainian people, and his children, to remember him.

A human being that lived life to the fullest and loved his family and loved his motherland, definitely not a hero. I want people to take me as I am, a regular human.

And in response to the "not a hero" comment, Tapper wondered who Zelenskyy's heroes were, and where he draws inspiration "during dark days here?" 

Only the people. I believe our people are genuine and unique. And I just can't afford to be worse than them. When, at certain moments, I feel like all of this is dangerous. I understand that all the rest of us are going through this as well, what people are feeling like who are in basements, who lost their children, what our soldiers feel like right now. And I understand I have to be the strongest one in this situation. And this is all. And the most important is the way my children look at me. They have to be proud of me. This is the most important thing. I do everything for this.

Wouldn't it be nice if any of our politicians could articulate that the next election wasn't the most important thing in the world? I'd be willing to vote for anyone who could say that with a straight face, if they could back it up with their record, their policies, and the wear and tear proving they've walked the talk, wouldn't you?

See you around campus.

Sunday School 1/2/22

Yesterday's classroom discussions focused mostly on the pandemic and the insurrection; I'll focus on the former here, and save the latter for your Extra Credit.

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona made multiple appearances, while former FDA head Scott Gottlieb and Republican governors Larry Hogan (MD) and Asa Hutchinson (AR) were also roaming the halls. Here are some highlights.

Fauci, speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, gave this as his "key message on where things stand right now." 

Well, we are definitely in the middle of a very severe surge and uptick in cases...it is actually almost a vertical increase. We're now at an average of about 400,000 cases per day. Hospitalizations are up. One of the things that we hope for, George, is that this thing will peak after a period of a few weeks and turn around. 

And, in the State of the Union classroom, here's Fauci's response to a question from Dana Bash about the driver of the CDC's new relaxed guidelines on quarantining - science or social and business pressures.

There is no doubt that you do want to get people out into the workplace if they are without symptoms. And in the second half of a 10-day period, which would normally be a 10-day isolation period, the likelihood of transmissibility is considerably lower... the CDC made the judgment that it would be relatively low-risk to get people out. You're right. People are getting concerned about, why not test people at that time? I myself feel that that's a reasonable thing to do. I believe that the CDC soon will be coming out with more clarification of that, since it obviously has generated a number of questions...

Gottlieb appears regularly on Face the Nation, and touched on a few key issues in his discussion with Margaret Brennan. For example, he said that over 600 children have died from COVID since the beginning of the pandemic, compared to three pediatric deaths from the flu in the same time period. That said, 

In terms of going back to school, I think the prerogative clearly is to try to get schools reopened. We shouldn't be doing preemptive school closures, in my opinion, but there will be situations where we have reactive school closures, when there are large outbreaks.

Antigen tests work fairly well at detecting the omicron variant, but that "serial testing over a period of time" is the best way to protect a high-risk setting like a school. 

While any individual test could miss the infection, if you're doing serial testing, you're likely to pick it up. And we need to get tests into schools. We still don't have tests widely available to the schools, so that they can use these tests for tests-to- stay policies to prevent large quarantines when are cases diagnosed in the classroom.

He said we should be focused on getting schools open, and keeping them open, pointing out "with the tools we have, with prudence, with the knowledge we have," we can do "a pretty good job" of controlling large outbreaks in schools. However, he's not a fan of mandating boosters for school-age kids. He pointed to studies showing that there was "100% protection" in the 12-16 age group, and said in that group, the vaccinated "are getting a more robust response" from vaccines than others.

For his part, Secretary Cardona did his best to explain that the Biden administration wants kids in schools, they want everyone learning the best possible way they can, they want tests to be available, they want ventilation to be effective, and so on - but that's not enough, according to both Brennan and Gallagher. 

The hosts were skeptical of the efforts that have been undertaken, and how they are being perceived, particularly by teachers. Brennan wondered about teachers in Chicago, Massachusetts and Connecticut saying "they don't feel safe" in schools. Cardona said that the administration's messaging hasn't changed since he's been in position.

We need to make sure we're following mitigation strategies, that we're supporting our educators by providing a safe learning environment, we're providing vaccination for our students as young as 5, so that the whole school community is safe, and we're providing surveillance testing to make sure that, if someone is sick, that they stay home. 

Similarly, Gallagher referenced comments from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, expressing concern that school districts "don't have the infrastructure for testing and tests to stay. It's going to be really, really bumpy and there's going to need a lot of grace," something she said was "in short supply." 

Cardona noted "there's a level of urgency that we shouldn't lose around making sure that our children learn in person", saying "the impact of hybrid learning, the impact of remote learning, is very real" for parents as well as for the kids. He said the American Rescue Plan funding, coupled with efforts from other groups, is all geared towards keeping kids in school.

And when Gallagher asked if the road wasn't going to be as bumpy as Weingarten predicted, Cardona said

...it's really important that we continue to work together. I do think there will be bumps on the road, especially tomorrow. I mean, superintendents today are receiving calls of staff members that they were expecting to be in the classroom tomorrow who have come down with COVID. So, we're going to roll up our sleeves, all hands on deck. Let's keep our children in the classroom. That should be our default thinking, and as problems come up, we need to work together to solve them.

In both classrooms, I think his arguments fell short.

I'll close with an interesting discussion down the hall in the Fox News Sunday classroom, where Trace Gallagher talked with Gov. Hutchinson. To me, it felt like Gallagher was trying to get Hutchinson to downplay the efforts of the Biden administration on the pandemic, but the gov was surprisingly complimentary. 

For example, Hutchinson thought it "was an important step" that the CDC revised the guidelines, saying it was "a recognition that we have to be able to manage our way through" the pandemic. He applauded that "they used science, they overlaid it with practicality" but admitted there could be more consistency and simplicity for people.

While he agreed that 'pandemic politics' has played a role, and caused frustration and division, he also said "it really is refreshing that, I believe, there's a uniformity of opinion by our leaders that vaccinations are critical to get us through this. And so that unified message is absolutely essential, and we've got to -- so I complemented the president on that." 

Vaccinations have been a sore point in Arkansas; the state ranks 45th in percentage of people vaccinated, but he's not moving towards a mandate any time soon. If they ever did get to that point,

there always has to be the right exceptions for religious convictions if -- you know, if vaccines are not acceptable, and that is the current law in Arkansas, and that should continue to be the case.

Feeling better after all of that? 

See you around campus. 

Sunday School 12/26/21

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You goddamn old senile (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You're as old and ugly as Biden. You ought to get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off the planet, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) foul (EXPLETIVE DELETED). They ought to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) try you for treason. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you and every one of your scumbag (EXPLETIVE DELETED) friends. I hope your family dies in front of you. I pray to God, if you got any children, they die in your face. 

In this week's Sunday School, we learned that the diatribe above was left in a message for Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI). Dingell and her friend and colleague, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), stopped by CNN's State of the Union classroom via pre-taped interview.

Dana Bash hosted the two Michigan representatives, and asked about what she described as a feeling "like a hostile work environment" where things "are reaching a boiling point" on Capitol Hill.

Upton agreed, saying "It's pretty toxic. There's no question about it." He pointed to a recent situation when "one of our members had their words taken down," which only happens when someone refuses to apologize for whatever it was they said. (He could be referring to circumstances surrounding the House censure of Rep. Paul Gosar, not sure.)

Dingell said she's been getting, on average, several threats a week like the one that opened our post, dating back a couple years to when her husband, Rep. John Dingell, passed and she got put in "that Trump hate tunnel." She said the threats don't prevent her from doing her job - and she's not trying to normalize them. It's the opposite, in fact.

I want the American people to think about what's happening in our country, that this kind of hate, this fear is happening in communities across the country. You know, if you even look at that horrific shooting that killed children in our state...he was living with parents that had some of that. We need to really worry about our democracy, and find a way that you can disagree with people and do it in a civil and agreeable way. And it really does have me very worried.

Upton echoed her concerns, pointing out that there have been copycats after the Oxford shooting, so "we have had a number of schools across our state that have been closed all over because of some of the threats, one of them in my district by an 8-year-old."

They both agreed when Bash asked if they're "connecting the toxic environment on a national political level to what you're seeing on a local level."

So, are we screwed? Have we lost who we are? Is it hopeless? Nope. Dingell said she doesn't "want to be all negative here," pointing to positive experiences with constituents, and that

-- we're Fred and Debbie. We don't want to be anything but Fred and Debbie, including from you, Dana. And people talk to us, but there is a lot of fear and hatred and people scared about what's going to happen to themselves. And we need to listen to each other more. And we need to -- if you look at de Tocqueville, who came over in the early 1800s and talked about the strength of democracy, it was community. And we have got to remind ourselves, in community, that coming together really is the pillar of our democracy.

Upton noted that he worked for Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), and how "it was a whole different climate back then."

And it was a reminder to all of us that, 'how do we get the trains to run on time?' 'How do we work together, be -- maybe disagree on issues, but not be disagreeable?' And that's -- he had the best wit, but he got things done. He had wonderful relationships with either Republicans or Democrats down at the White House or certainly with his colleagues in both the House and the Senate.

How different things are now, at least as far as we know? I say "as far as we know" because there aren't enough interviews like this one, colleagues from across the aisle talking about their shared experiences and shared outlooks, for us to think that this is the norm, and what we see in other classrooms is not the norm: A Dem followed by someone from the GOP (or vice versa), discounting both policy and personality as if there's only enmity, never amity.

Dingell noted that she and her colleagues - even Upton - could have "very strong disagreements" on policy and still be friends. Upton's response? "And I will always make her laugh at the end of it."

The final question from Bash? "What can people look to, beyond the vitriol, to see their government actually working? Is there some bright light -- or maybe dim light that you can show that exists?" Here's Dingell's take on that.

Well, I mean, I think it has to be a bright light... I have a lot of other friends on the other side of the aisle. And what we need to do is to, all of us, get back to just remembering how much we have in common, just respecting each other, treating each other with dignity. And I say to everybody, a little act of kindness towards anybody can make the difference in that person's day, week, or life.

And here's Upton's: 

As we look towards '22 coming, it's going to be a tough year. We see it in Michigan. We're the number one hot spot in terms of COVID. What can we do, working together, to try and help our hospitals, our heroes, our workers, families to make sure they don't get this? I just had a neighbor die of COVID... I mean, if we don't work together, we're not going to get this thing solved.

Bash thanked them "for this image, this discussion to show there is bipartisan discussion and relationships, even in this tumultuous time..."  

Hopefully elected officials - and yes, regular folks like you and me - found some of that 'discussion' thing and that 'relationship' thing under their Christmas trees. And before you yell at me, 'Christmas trees' here refers to the spirit of the multiple holidays people celebrate late in the year, and to the increased light that comes with the solstice, and to the sense of humanity we demonstrate in times of pain or tragedy. 

We just need to figure out how to demonstrate it before we inflict any more pain or tragedy on each other.

See you around campus.

Sunday School 9/5/21: Extra Credit

For your Extra Credit this week, we're talking COVID. 

Why? As schools here in my neck of the woods prepare to open this week, schools in the early-opening states are already in the thick of the COVID quagmire, with at least 1,000 from 31 states reportedly having stopped in-person learning, and over 10,000 students and staff across 14 states exposed to the virus - and that was as of mid-August. School board meetings are becoming battlegrounds as parents fight mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and 'fascism' being perpetrated on them by their neighbors on the boards.

Here are some highlights from the Meet the Press classroom, where Mr. Both Sides Now, Chuck Todd, talked with governors Andy Beshear (D-KY) and Larry Hogan (R-MD). They've both got veto-proof legislatures - of the opposite party - in their states, which makes things interesting, to say the least.

Beshear said if he had the ability to do it, there'd be a mask mandate in his state, where they're setting case records and hospitalization records, but he's been limited by the legislature on that. What he has done, though, is send the National Guard to help hard-hit hospitals with logistics, and they've taken over testing in those hospitals, so staff can be freed up to do patient care. And, they've got FEMA teams, and are deploying nursing students to help with staffing.

We are hit very, very hard. But we are going to continue to fight. When you're at war, you don't get to cry about what you can or can't do. You've got to do your very best every day because this is a battle of life versus death.

Meanwhile, Maryland has one of the highest vaccine rates in the country, something Hogan is very proud of; 81% of all eligible folks, and 95% of seniors, are vaccinated. In response to Chuck playing the 'if yours was a red state, that wouldn't have happened' card, Hogan noted there have been "tremendous disinformation campaigns, and people are believing things that are simply not true,"

but it's not just in the red areas where we're having difficulties. We're one of the states with the highest percentage of minority populations. And in some of our urban areas, we have similar challenges. But we're doing really well. And I'm pleased with the results of where we are. It's convincing those last, you know, 19 percent of our people that they've got to take action. That's where we're focused on.

Chuck asked Beshear if there are just some people that won't listen to him, and if he's looking to get others involved in trying to convince folks to get the vaccine. Beshear pointed out that misinformation isn't a red or blue issue, it's a "fact versus fiction, or a sometimes sane versus insane issue."

We are well past, I think ... across America, the populations that are going to listen to a government official and take the vaccine because of it. We're probably past even the point where a local official, a pastor or others. Where I think we're at is where people are going to have to break that Thanksgiving dinner rule. They're going to have to call or go see that person they love and care about that is unvaccinated, and they're going to have to put their relationship with that person on the line because they've never been at greater risk. And I think it's that type of caring, and the person who is willing to do that and to make that sacrifice that will finally get through to those that are not vaccinated. That's what we're seeing here in Kentucky. And we need all Americans to do it. Yes, you might lose a friend because of that conversation.

Next, Chuck said that "it's clear the Biden administration can't speak to those folks that need to be spoken to," referring to supporters of Former Guy, and asked Hogan who should speak to them, and for his advice for the COVID task force on "how to talk to the Trump folks."  Hogan said he's been critical of both the Trump and Biden administrations when he "thought they were bad on messaging" and otherwise not being helpful. 

I mean, we're getting some mixed messaging out of the administration, out of the CDC, the FDA, and the White House. And, you know, we need clear guidance on these booster shots because it undermines, you know, the credibility of it. And so, they came out with -- I guess they slipped and pre-leaked an announcement about booster shots with all three vaccines and then had to backtrack it and say you can only use Pfizer. What about the people that took J&J? What about the people that took Moderna? They haven't messaged properly about how to take care of these breakthrough infections. Like, look, it does prevent hospitalizations and death, or greatly reduce it. But it's not stopping, you know, people from getting breakthrough infections. So, I think the messaging was not clear with either administration. And I think that's one of the ways we've been successful in our state is a clear, direct messaging that people can believe in and listen to. And that's been a problem all over the map.

No argument with Hogan from me on this - messaging has been an issue from the very beginning of the pandemic, both on the side of "let's minimize this so we don't crush the economy" side and on the "OH. EM. GEE. The sky is LITERALLY falling and it going to hit us in the head!" side. And on all the other sides of the pentacontagon. 

The final portion of the interview touched on the Texas abortion bill, which I covered in yesterday's Sunday School post, and on "the larger challenge of polarization," as Chuck described it. I should note that this was the part of the conversation Todd said he was "lifting up" and "going to play political analyst" for, both of which I thought were mildly amusing. 

Both of you have benefited when the other party went too far, right? I could argue that's why you're both governor today. Certainly why you may have a second term, Governor Hogan, and why, Governor Beshear, you're there. Is that the only way to cut through polarization, Governor Hogan? Is when the other party goes too far and then the voters create a check? Is that about it? Because it doesn't seem as if the middle ground gets represented unless one party goes too far.

Hogan said Todd had an "interesting idea, and that it was possible" that's what happened in Maryland. He referenced the 43 consecutive tax increases implemented by his Democratic predecessor), saying "even the Democrats go frustrated" about that.

...but I think right now in America, there are certainly people on both ends of the extremes, on the left and the right, who get all of the attention. The ones that are making the most noise. And that's what we hear about when we're watching television. But about 70% of the people actually just are somewhere in the middle. They're moderate or right of center, left of center. They really want their elected officials to try to figure out a way to do something about this toxic politics. And they want us to work together to come up with real bipartisan, common-sense solutions. Turns out that's the most popular thing in America with most voters.

Regular readers may recall that I've previously referred to Gov. Hogan as my favorite Republican. I don't always agree with him, but I never argue with his understanding of what us purple folks in the middle want: common sense, collaborative efforts from the people we elect. 

Is that where you are on this stuff? Or are you out there in the noisy wings? Let's talk.

See you around campus.