Wondering on Wednesday 1/3/24

It's been a minute since I last 'officially' wondered on a Wednesday, but there's no time like a new year to jump back into the fray. 

Perhaps today, maybe even before I finish this post, part or all of Jeffrey Epstein's 'list' will be released.  The list contains names that were included but redacted in court documents. Among the folks whose names are expected? Former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Britain's Prince Andrew, former president Donald Trump, and one-time Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz, if media reports are correct. 

To my knowledge, only one of those folks has suggested that he'd date his daughter, if only she weren't his daughter, and was accused of raping a thirteen-year-old child. But he's not the one who's getting the most attention here... I wonder why that is?

Also rumored to be on the list? Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, according to noted conspiracy theorist Aaron Rodgers. I'm not exactly sure where Rodgers got his information, and Kimmel has vigorously denied the accusation. When I think of Rogers and conspiracy theories, the one I've wondered about is how he managed to get hurt on the first play of his first game with the NY Jets, and still collect his full salary. 

Harvard president Claudine Gay has tendered her resignation, making her the shortest-tenured president in the school's history. She's had a tough go of it since Rep. Elise Stefanik (MAGA-NY) attacked Gay and two other female college presidents over allegations that they did not sufficiently protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack in Israel last October. Gay is the second to resign; Penn's Liz Magill did so in December. 

Stefanik, a Harvard alum, seems an odd choice to lead the attack on this issue, given her use of 'replacement theory' rhetoric in campaign ads, and her strong support of Trump, who recently spoke of immigrants poisoning the blood of our country. Both of those themes, of course, can be tied back to Nazi Germany. I have to wonder how she ignores that connection, and then attacks others for not doing enough to protect Jews.

Speaking of ignoring things, there was lots of chatter about Ambassagov Nikki Haley (Running in 5-inch heels -SC) and her 'gaffe' at a town hall in New Hampshire, where she said that the cause of the Civil War

was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. 

This was after she took a deep breath and suggested that it wasn't an easy question. But here's the thing many in the media missed, which is what I'm wondering about:  this is not the first time she's given this kind of answer. Back in 2010, when she was running for governor of the first state to secede from the Union, she said one side was fighting for tradition and the other side was fighting for change.  

Folks, that's not a gaffe - it's a mindset. And it's perfectly OK for the media to call a spade a spade, especially when a person's standing in a garden holding one by the handle.

Finally, wonder with me as I meander through some of the reasons states shouldn't be allowed to keep Donald Trump off the ballot. 

• There's the argument that, while an insurrectionist is not qualified to hold office, there's no reason why an insurrectionist can't run and win. Now, I don't know for sure why anyone would want to allow a candidate who's not eligible to serve to participate. I mean, Trump himself went to great lengths to convince Americans that Barack Obama was not eligible to be president due to him having a funny name not being a natural-born American... can you imagine Trump allowing an insurrectionist Obama to be on any ballot? 

• There's the argument that the 14th Amendment's Section 3 - the 'Disqualification Clause' - was put in because we needed to keep secessionists out of office, and it "hasn't been used since then," so why would it apply now since the Civil War has nothing to do with what's happening today?  I'm sure folks would be shocked - shocked, I say - to learn that in 2022, a New Mexico judge removed one of the state's county commissioners for participating in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. 

• There's the argument that Trump hasn't been charged, tried, or convicted of insurrection, so you can't disqualify him. Except that the disqualification clause doesn't require charges, a trial, or a conviction. We certainly shouldn't be putting words into the mouths of the folks who wrote the Amendment, should we? And, there's the little matter of a Colorado district court judge who determined that Trump incited an insurrection on January 6th. That judge stopped short of banning Trump from the ballot, and the state's Supreme Court overturned that part of his decision. 

• Finally, there's the argument that Trump can't be held accountable because we need to prevent a civil war - what a bunch of hooey! We cannot use the threat of danger - especially when that threat has been suggested by you-know-who and his MAGA minions - to allow the Constitution to be tossed aside. And if you think I'm wrong, ask yourself what Trump would be saying right now if any of his opponents had done what he did and were trying to stay on the ballot. There's no need to wonder about that, at all - he'd be suing to block them from every ballot in the country. 

I'd forgotten how good it felt to get this stuff out of my head... what are you wondering about?

In Case You Missed It (v112)

I'm chuckling this morning doing my 'week in review' post - it feels like I missed last week! Only two posts escaped my head, although I had the best of intentions.

 If I had to pin it down, I'd say my ADD and my Maine Coons and our other cats got the best of me after vacation. (As I write this, I've got a MC on my lap, and another on my desk, her head resting against my laptop and her feathery white fur covering the tab, caps lock and shift keys, so this could be fun.)

Anyway - two it was, and here they are. For your Sunday School I focused on a couple of US Senate races - Colorado, where Joe O'Dea (R) and incumbent Michael Bennet (D)  are battling it out, and Utah, where Evan McMullin is mounting an independent bid to oust incumbent Mike Lee (R).  And, it was purely coincidence that Utah and Colorado were the states were I spent my vacation...

First up? Dana Bash in the State of the Union classroom with the candidates for the Colorado seat. O'Dea was pushing a 'tough on crime' message, although the specific message would have made more sense if he was running for a state office, not the US Senate. 

He said Dems in his state are ignoring the laws on the books, that we "need more cops on the street" and to "make sure we're enforcing the laws we have." And, specifically on red flag laws, like the one in Colorado that's focused on mental health? 

Sheriffs tell him it doesn't work, "it puts them at risk. They're not happy with that law," and it needs to be rewritten.

...We need to do more with mental health here to get these people off the street. But we have hundreds of laws on the books. We need to enforce them.  We need more cops on our street right now. If you talk to Chief Pazen here of the city and county of Denver -- he's the chief of police -- he will tell you he's short 250 officers. That's because Democrats across the state of Colorado have defunded, demoralized the police. And we need to do better.

Bash followed up, noting that Colorado's approved 146 applications to take guns away from dangerous people in two years, and asked if that didn't make his state safer.

He said no, citing stats saying it's the "the third worst state for violent crime in the United States," and "they just deemed Denver as one of the most unsafe cities in the nation." He said they have record crime everywhere, cashless bail issues, and again, the laws on the books need to be enforced.

I wish, as I do every Sunday, that the interviews were more about getting questions answered than about getting questions asked.  

Meanwhile, down the hall in the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with McMullin. His opponent has said that voting for the independent is "a vote for the Democrats to keep their majority," and W-H-N wondered if that was correct. McMullin said no.

... look, I'm building a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and members of third parties to better represent Utah and to help lead our country forward. And I'm not going to Washington to join a party or to caucus or to play the party power game. I'm going to represent our coalition. 

... He said he'll maintain his independence, and that would help Utah and give it "an added value of influence." After blasting Lee ("He sits on his hands until it's time to vote no and then he goes and complains about our country on cable news."), he said he thinks we've seen

... that the senators in the chamber who are willing to act with greater independence, serving their constituents, standing up to party bosses, standing up to extremist factions and special interest groups, they have the most influence in the chamber. They're more influential, I think, even than the party bosses. And I want that for Utah. 

I wonder what would happen if we had more unaffiliated members of Congress? 

For your Extra Credit, I spent time with the pundit panels in the MTP and This Week classrooms. Starting with MTP, Amy Walter said the Dems

have known that the crime issue was a challenge for them" from the beginning, and she said "they've been playing defense on this for quite some time.

Maria Teresa Kumar said that "one of the conversations we're not having is that this is an opportunity for the Democrats to own police enforcement... all of a sudden, these Republicans and Republican leadership flipped on it, and said it was an FBI sting job. That is not the party of law enforcement. And if anything, it's undermining a really basic institution." Pat McCrory said he was "shocked the Democrats aren't bringing up guns," but said on "everyday crime, the Democrats are on their heels. And they deserve to be on their heels."

On abortion, 

Daniels said it "was always going to happen" that the Rs would be all over the place on abortion, creating "kind of this hodgepodge of different ideas of what voters might want to hear at that time... People can just pick and choose whatever they want, even within the issue themselves." Walter said how important the issue is depends on where the voter is. "...if you're in a state with abortion restrictions -- you are much more motivated than if you're in a state that doesn't." So, in reliably blue states, it's not that big an issue.

And in George's This Week classroom, the gang talked January 6th and election deniers running for office. 

Donna Brazile said even if Trump shows up to answer his subpoena from the January 6th Committee, he won't say anything. But she wishes he would tell his story, he should be willing to - but he won't, because "he doesn't have the truth on his side." Julie Pace agreed when George said polls aren't showing a bump for Dems as a result of the hearings, and that the Ds aren't pressing this issue. Rather, "Democrats are scrambling to try to figure out how they can form an economic message." 

Maggie Haberman said the election deniers is "the story that is actually not getting a ton of attention" given the crush of information that's out there, and that secretaries of state elected this cycle will be the ones to impact 2024, as they'll be deciding whether to certify the results. 

Chris Christie and Brazile got into it a little bit on the Committee

Chris Christie said the January 6th Committee "was resigned to having a credibility problem because of the membership of the committee and the way that was done." He also said "there's nobody there to argue the other side," to which George said "But there's - there's no other side..." Brazile agreed. Christie said "I think you can question a lot of these witnesses who came up, and test their credibility." 

Brazile pushed back pretty hard, wondering if Christie wanted to test the credibility of Bill Barr, the people who were advising Trump in the Oval, or "of the cops who got their heads smashed in - is that who you're going to test?"

 In the end, they didn't come to blows. Christie said his point was some people are remembering things now that they had no recollection of earlier - which is likely true, but also not uncommon. I mean, just look t the Republican Party. Half of them don't remember what they said, even when they see themselves saying it on television...

So - there you have it: last week's posts, in a nutshell. We'll see how I do this week...

Sunday School 10/16/22

Here's a look at a couple of the Senate races at play in November. First up? Dana Bash in the State of the Union classroom with the candidates for the Colorado seat, Joe O'Dea (R) and incumbent Michael Bennet (D).

O'Dea was up first; he was asked what he'd do about inflation if he gets elected. Mostly, "we have got to get our energy policy back on track" and that means "getting the permitting out of the way" 

so we can go back to work here in Colorado and flood the market with increased supply. It'll cause the price to come down. Inflation will go away. That's how you do it.

Bash didn't follow up on that, or on data showing that the Biden administration is approving 96% of the lease permits it receives, or about approved leases not going into production. Instead, she moved on to guns, asking if O'Dea thought any new gun laws were needed. 

He said Dems in his state are ignoring the laws on the books, that we "need more cops on the street" and to "make sure we're enforcing the laws we have." And, specifically on red flag laws, like the one in Colorado that's focused on mental health? Sheriffs tell him it doesn't work, "it puts them at risk. They're not happy with that law," and it needs to be rewritten.

...We need to do more with mental health here to get these people off the street. But we have hundreds of laws on the books. We need to enforce them. We need more cops on our street right now. If you talk to Chief Pazen here of the city and county of Denver -- he's the chief of police -- he will tell you he's short 250 officers. That's because Democrats across the state of Colorado have defunded, demoralized the police. And we need to do better.

Bash followed up, noting that Colorado's approved 146 applications to take guns away from dangerous people in two years, and asked if that didn't make his state safer.

He said no, citing stats saying it's the "the third worst state for violent crime in the United States," and "they just deemed Denver as one of the most unsafe cities in the nation." He said they have record crime everywhere, cashless bail issues, and again, the laws on the books need to be enforced.

Moving on, O'Dea said January 6th was "a black eye on the country" and that Trump "should have done more" to "keep the violence" away from the Capitol. Anyone who was violent needs to be held accountable. Trump should not run again, he said, and he'll "actively campaign" against him and will make sure the Rs have viable choices.

And finally, on abortion, he believes "for the first five months, that decision should be between a woman and her doctor. After that, for rape, incest, life of the mother, medical necessity, I believe that decision should also be between a woman and her doctor."  He says his position "is where most of America is."  

Bash started her interview with Sen. Bennet asking why the Inflation Reduction Act isn't reducing inflation. Bennet pointed out that some pieces "are going to take a while to put into place." He also explained that it's "a global problem," something other Dems forget to do. He blamed oil prices that skyrocketed during the recovery and Putin's invasion of Ukraine. 

Bash interrupted him to note that the media's favorite economist, former Dem Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, said that spending Bennet voted for, "particularly $1.9 trillion for the American Rescue Plan" is making inflation worse. Like other Dems who are paying attention, Bennet noted that other economists disagreed. And, he said, the ARP 

kept 30,000 Coloradans from being evicted... it has funded law enforcement all over the state, mental health services that we desperately need. It cut childhood poverty in half last year because of a bill that I wrote. I'm concerned that the Federal Reserve kept their interest rates at zero for too long and that their quantitative easing was too aggressive. But that's looking in the rearview mirror.

The senator said we can fix things by bringing supply chains back to the US, and "by making sure we are benefitting from the Inflation Reduction Act" by being the leader transitioning away from fossil fuels over the next 25 years. He thinks we're perfectly positioned to do that, and he thinks "that's an amazing place for us to be."

Bash turned to an ad run by a Dem group to help boost O'Dea's primary opponent "because they thought he would be easier" for Bennet to beat - and she wondered how Bennet would paint O'Dea as a "far-right Republican." Bennet said O'Dea does that by himself: he would have voted for all of Trump's SCOTUS picks; he opposes codifying abortion rights; he voted for a ballot issue that banned all abortions; and he doesn't think Trump bears any responsibility for the insurrection. 

Bash asked if it was a "mistake for fellow Democrats to prop him up as" Bennet's opponent. Bennet said we need to reform the campaign finance system, noting he's "got a racist billionaire who's funding a super PAC" that's supporting O'Dea - from Wyoming. 

That's not helping voters in Colorado. But I want, Dana, you to know and I want your viewers to know how out of touch he is with Colorado... not just on the abortion issue, but the idea that he would not support any additional gun laws, including a law Mitch McConnell voted for in the U.S. Senate. He thinks that our red flag law in Colorado after Columbine, after Aurora, is -- is out of touch.

Meanwhile, down the hall in the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with Evan McMullin, the Independent running against Republican incumbent Sen. Mike Lee. Notably, the other Utah senator, Mitt Romney, hasn't endorsed Lee. What's-his-name wondered if McMullen had spoken to Romney; McMullen said he hasn't, and said he respects and appreciates Romney's decision to sit this one out.

Lee has said a vote for McMullin is "a vote for the Democrats to keep their majority," and W-H-N wondered if that was correct. McMullin said no.

... look, I'm building a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and members of third parties to better represent Utah and to help lead our country forward. And I'm not going to Washington to join a party or to caucus or to play the party power game. I'm going to represent our coalition. 

If he serves all six years, he wouldn't join either party's caucus? He said he'll maintain his independence, and that would help Utah and give it "an added value of influence." After blasting Lee ("He sits on his hands until it's time to vote no and then he goes and complains about our country on cable news."), he said he thinks we've seen

... that the senators in the chamber who are willing to act with greater independence, serving their constituents, standing up to party bosses, standing up to extremist factions and special interest groups, they have the most influence in the chamber. They're more influential, I think, even than the party bosses. And I want that for Utah. 

W-H-N asked about McMullen tweeting in January 2021 that "Not only should Mitch McConnell never be majority leader again, he shouldn't be minority leader either. It's time for something new." He said he wouldn't be involved in choosing the leadership, because it's up to the parties to make that decision.

Next, he was asked whether he would have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. There were things in it he liked, and some that he didn't like, and he would not have voted for it "as written." He thought it didn't do enough about inflation in the short term, and thinks more needs to be done on that front.

...we need leaders and need a Senate who is going to focus on actually delivering more results to lower inflation. I did like the fact that it started to allow Medicare to negotiate on prescription drugs. We pay far more for prescription drugs than we need to in America...

McMullin favored Roe being overturned, but he's expressed concern that extreme laws were being created since that happened; most of the bills that have surfaced since the decision have been designed to make a political point, and that the extreme positions are "tearing the country apart." 

...we've got to stand up to those extremes. But more importantly, we've got to find a more constructive way forward. And that's about making contraception more available, doing more to support women, children, and families, and improving education on this matter. And that's where I'll focus my time.

Of the three candidates we heard from, I prefer McMullin's approach. We do need more people who are there to represent us, not just to stand with their party or protect their own longevity. 

See you around campus.

In Case You Missed It (v111)

There's something about vacations, and being away, and not reading the news every day, isn't there?

We were gone last week, riding planes, trains, Ubers, buses, shuttle vans, and even a Hummer, traveling from Syracuse to Las Vegas to Arizona to Utah to Colorado and back home. The week started and ended with 3AM wake-up calls; they were the good kind of   and they were good ones, getting us up and ready for the next phase of our trip. 

That kind of wakeup is nothing like those that hit my phone, with (ahem) "breaking news" about the weather in a state I've never even visited, or about some politician here or elsewhere pretending to have a new idea, or spewing an old one, or attacking their opponent, or a president proclaiming a success and the media trying to prove their chops by attaching a "... things are still horrible..." comment at the beginning or end of every paragraph, or a former president shrieking on social media in flaming caps and enough exclamation points to poke holes in the atmosphere.

I didn't miss the latter, and I'm glad today didn't include the former. It was nice to sleep in with our cats, who missed us as much as we missed them, after a week of about 1% news and 99% exploring the American southwest: the Grand Canyon; the fake canyons created by Las Vegas hotels; the desert between Vegas and Moab by plane, and outside Moab, where our unforgettable Hummer ride happened; Arches National Park, and a climb from the desert to the mountains, across the Continental Divide, and down into Denver by train.

It was on that last leg of the trip that I saw a political sign unrelated to a local race; those were everywhere, and there were seemingly hundreds of ads on television too, when we were trying catch up on baseball scores and get the next day's weather forecast; that part felt just like home. The national sign was about President Biden; it was near the entrance to the driveway of a house in the middle of the Colorado nowhere. It had a bunch of issues on it, and boxes where I guess you'd check whether he was doing well or failing; I couldn't see the whole sign,  but I'd guess it was a 'red' sign not a 'blue' one.

I was honestly surprised by the lack of Trump/MAGA signs; I see more around here in Central New York. Maybe it's because everyone knows where folks stand out there, or because no one wants anyone to know where they stand (the 'shy Trump voters' we hear about)? I'm not sure why, but it was interesting, and not the least unpleasant.

I hope you all had a great week.  It would be fun to see what everyone thought was the most important thing, the most interesting thing, the funniest thing, or just something I missed. If you're up for sharing, drop a note in the comments.

I'll be back later with your Sunday School - most likely 'tomorrow' later.  Talk to you then.

Wondering on Wednesday (v203)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

So, what's going on in wonder-land today? 

Let's take a look, starting in Colorado, where it seems the governor and the state's congressional delegation has been working furiously to get much needed ventilators to help patients with COVID-19 - for weeks. But when they finally got 100 of them, it seems it had nothing to do with anyone other than the state's Republican senator.  Here's the story from Democrat Rep. Diana DeGette, who was not impressed. 

Governor Polis and our Congressional delegation have been working to get more ventilators to Colorado for weeks. In fact, Colorado was set to receive 500 ventilators until FEMA blocked the shipment. Now, President Trump says we will get 100 as a courtesy to Senator Gardner. That means, because the president is playing politics with public health, we're still 400 ventilators short from what we should have received. His mismanagement of this crisis is costing lives and livelihoods.

The governor's press secretary, Conor Cahill, had to take a more conciliatory approach, having seen from the experience of other governors.

The Governor welcomes every piece of equipment that will help save lives in Colorado. He is committed to continuing to work with the federal government, other states, and the private sector to acquire the necessary equipment needed to protect the lives of Coloradans.

So, what's the wondering here? Basically, when will everyone just get the supplies they need, without there being any involvement of the president or anyone outside the distribution wing of the task force? And when will Trump stop requiring people to kiss his ring in order to get what they need for their residents?

In a similar vein, we've got a governor telling a mayor in his state that she has to open the tourist beaches in her city, much to the mayor's dismay. Yep - while there's a state-wide shelter-in-place order for Georgia, Tybee Island is supposed to have their beaches open. Which if you think about it, makes no sense whatsoever, as we saw in Florida and Texas. And again, there's wondering about why there isn't better coordination of these things, and why local officials cannot do what they need to do to protect their residents?

That's what's happening where I live. The state has social-distancing orders in place, supposedly with fines although I'm not sure any have been handed out. But our County Executive, with the support of the mayor of our area's largest city, has added another layer, calling on people to stay at home except on designated days based on whether they were born in an odd or even year. I think it's just fine, and I don't know that I'd want my Sonofa Gov to come in and tell us that we can't do what we need to do here for our own safety. And I'm glad I don't have to wonder what would happen if he did issue a conflicting and less-safe order.

And, of course, the big non-coronavirus news today? That Guy from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has dropped out of the presidential race. There'll be a lot more about that in other posts, but for now, we have to wonder, how well can Papa Joe Biden corral the Sanders fans, and how much of TGFV's message will be adopted by the Democratic Party when they convene in August?

Now -- on to the good news, the cool stuff that's happening around the world as everyone, and everything, adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• I wonder what it must have felt like for this man, running a marathon on his balcony? It took nearly seven hours, with encouragement, water and M&Ms from his girlfriend, and "confusion" from onlookers. 

• The only thing I wonder about this couple, from Naples, is how anyone can thank them enough? Looking back into history, they put in place a century's old idea: they lower a basket from their balcony, with a note attached. I won't spoil it for you, but the reaction is heartwarming. 

• And for those who are missing baseball, and one of its most endearing traditions - the 7th inning stretch, there's this 7th Inning Stretch to keep you company. Josh Kantor, the organist for the Boston Red Sox, streams 30 minutes of requests and stories and live chat and charity every day. Fun stuff for a Sox fan like me, and fun in general if you're missing the sound of organ music. I wonder if other organists are tuning in to his show...

• And finally, even Mother Nature is getting in the swing of things. It seems that, with China's manufacturing shut down for weeks, the air has cleared to such an extent that, for the first time in decades, folks can actually see the Himalayas, even from 125 miles away. For some, it's the first time they've been able to see them - ever.  My wondering here? How long will it last, can it last, before we go back to what we were. 

And finally tonight, another one that's sort of close to my heart - we're cat owners, or I guess cat caretakers would be more appropriate. So when I saw a tweet from someone about a friend losing, and then finding his cat, I was thrilled - and then I laughed and laughed. 

I have to wonder, first of all, how he found the missing cat, and second of all,  I wonder how long it'll take for him to find the owner of the one that's not his, once he figures which one is his?

What's got you wondering tonight?