In Case You Missed It (v58)

Last week was a sparse week for posts - I decided to spend time enjoying life rather than aggravating over all of the craziness out there in the world.  

That said, here's your week in review; grab your cuppa, a mimosa, or a Bloody Mary and dive in.

For your Sunday School entry, I checked in with Margaret Hoover, who does some pretty good interviews with folks on Firing Line. A conservative, Hoover's not trying to break news on her show, I don't think; instead, she's trying to give us a good look at a single interviewee over the course of her 30 minute show. I think it's an effective format, and I'm going to pay more attention to her show. 

Last week, she talked with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) about the stimulus (she prefers a comprehensive bill because it allows for negotiation more than one-off bills do) and about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 25th Amendment bill (wrong thing, wrong time), and about the coronavirus pandemic. Here's an exchange on what might have been different under a Democratic administration.

It's not even about a Democratic alternative. If the COVID response had actually even just followed any type of scientific recommendations you would see a much better response and fewer death rates and spread of the virus than it had under President Trump.

But, she added, it's more than that.

I've watched Republican administrations respond to pandemics, specifically as President Bush did. So I would think it's not just about Democrats or Republicans, it's about president Trump's failures. 

Not sure anyone can really argue with that.

Your Extra Credit entry included Margaret Brennan's um, question-and-no-answer session, I guess you'd call it, with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. I'm not going to quote that one here; you can read it and weep at your leisure. 

Also on the show? Leonard Schleifer, the head of Regeneron, the company that makes the 'cure' that the president got at Walter Reed when he went there to work for a few days, and have his picture taken and stuff. Oh, sorry -- and to get treated for COVID-19, sorry. Among the things we learned? His company has a huge government contract to make the drug, which was worked out 

...before we actually had any data from randomized trials. They went ahead and said, listen, you start manufacturing the product, we will commit to buy it from you. Stop manufacturing the other products that you're working on or move them elsewhere. And let us make sure that if it does work, it'll be available. And what the government said--

That's a $450M contract for Regeneron, and Brennan wondered how much supply that will buy.

Well, they bought from us several hundred thousand, maybe around three hundred thousand doses, which they are going to make it for free. What I think that the administration has been working recently-- I saw an announcement with-- with AstraZeneca. Look, we need-- Regeneron can't do this alone. We need the entire industry. And I'm so proud the industry has risen. We have companies like Lilly, great companies. We're partners with Roche, one of the best companies in this whole field. Amgen is involved. AstraZeneca is involved. Black-Scholes is involved. We all have to step up-- if we're going to provide enough of this.

Brennan pointed out that, last Friday alone, we saw nearly 60,000 new cases, and in Regeneron's FDA application for emergency use authorization, the company said they had 50,000 doses - less than a current one-day supply...

It's important to note that Regeneron is just one of several companies the government has committed a boatload of taxpayer money to - some $2B -  on the hopes that their therapeutics and vaccines will work. 

Mid-week, I was Wondering on Wednesday about the SCOTUS hearings in the Senate, about the 'too bad, so sad' outcome of the DOJ's investigation into the 'unmasking' of Michael Flynn - no charges will be issued -  and about masks and stuff. On that last point, I shared this experience from a visit to a restaurant when My Sweet Baboo and I were on a road trip. 

Two gentlemen and  'face coverings required for entry' signs attracted my attention.  Gentleman A came in with who appeared to be his wife and two kids, fully and appropriately masked. However, his mask was tucked firmly against the underside of his nostrils. Gentleman B, one of two who arrived together on separate motorcycles, apparently didn't have a mask or doesn't wear one, but he tried to rise to the occasion today by holding his t-shirt in his teeth and tucking his nose down so it pointed into his shirt. 

And I wonder, first of all, why they thought what they were doing was appropriate and in keeping with the requirement? And secondly, why did the waitress allow them to come in when clearly the potentially dangerous parts of their faces were uncovered? And finally, specifically regarding Gentleman B, how on earth did I keep from busting out laughing? 

How, indeed. 

By far, my favorite post of the week was Thursday's: my  Town Hall Questions for the Candidates, in which I asked the questions I've always wanted to ask Trump and Biden. For example, since the media only talks to Biden about the coronavirus, and his campaign primarily talks to us about the coronavirus, I thought I'd ask about policy. You know - immigration, Middle East Peace, infrastructure, and so on. And, I asked about education:

Do you believe that public education funds should be given to parents, directly or through tax breaks, to help cover the costs of sending their children to private elementary or secondary schools?  Please explain your position.

For the president, who likes to focus on 'promises made, promises kept' in his campaign materials, I wanted to know a couple things from him that are immigration-related. For example, 

How much money has the United States charged Mexico for the border wall, how much of that has been paid, and what are your plans to collect any outstanding balance from the Mexican government?

And this one, too.

What specific steps has your company taken to ensure that you no longer hire undocumented workers at your properties, and should other companies be required to take the same steps?

Promises, blah blah blah. 

That was all I published. I did have a TGIF post that I threw in the trash, because the words weren't really flowing well. All I managed to get on the page was this picture.

It seemed unfair to post that without any explanation - do you agree?

Have a great day - - I'll be back later with your Sunday School. 

Sunday School 10/11/20

For tonight's Sunday School, I decided to start with Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who visited the Firing Line with Margaret Hoover classroom. Duckworth is a Purple Heart recipient, a mom,  and an Asian-American.  

They spent some time talking about the coronavirus, including on what might have been different if Democrats had led the response instead of Donald Trump.  

It's not even about a Democratic alternative. If the COVID response had actually even just followed any type of scientific recommendations you would see a much better response and fewer death rates and spread of the virus than it had under President Trump.

But, she added, it's more than that.

I've watched Republican administrations respond to pandemics, specifically as President Bush did. So I would think it's not just about Democrats or Republicans, it's about president Trump's failures. 

About the president's own bout of COVID, and his suggestion that he caught the virus from Gold Star families, Duckworth's comments were pretty forceful.

...I think it's shameful again that he'd blame others for catching this virus when we know he's been the one modelling very bad behavior, going to rallies not wearing masks. He's told people not to wear masks. And even now during a time when we know he's still contagious, he's still not wearing masks and subjecting those around him to this pandemic. Earlier he blamed military men and women and police officers for exposing Hope Hicks. He keeps trying to put the blame on others but he's the one not wearing a mask and prevents other people from wearing masks.

She was equally clear-headed on House Speaker Pelosi's talk about the 25th Amendment, saying she thinks it's not appropriate and that "we should be talking about the election," since people have already started voting.

On stimulus talks, she prefers a single comprehensive bill vs. standalone bills, saying that the former "is the art of compromise. Everyone gets a little something you want and there are things you don't want." 

I want protections for families and workers. I want another round of stimulus payments. I want money in there for municipalities who lost tax revenue and are right now facing severe financial distress. For me, compromise means coming together and putting something together. The president wants to cherry pick and I don't know that cherry-picking is good for our country as a whole... I think we could put something together. I'm not saying I would be opposed to doing something important (as a) standalone, but I think it's better to put it all together.

The second classroom I visited was CNN's State of the Union, where Jake Tapper talked with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI); she's a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and starting tomorrow will be participating in the hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. 

Tapper noted that Hirono has said the Rs have the votes, and he wondered what Hirono would be asking about. She said she'd be focusing on the Affordable Care Act and on a woman's right to choose. And, she added,

This nominee poses a clear and present danger. The immediate danger is to the health care of over 20 million Americans who have health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the over 100 million Americans who are protected under the Affordable Care Act because they have preexisting conditions, not to mention the seven million who have tested positive for COVID, who will be put into the category of those with preexisting conditions.

Tapper asked whether there's anything the Ds can do to stop the nomination from moving forward.

Well, if we can get two more brave Republicans to face up to the fact that they are going to be voting on -- for somebody who's going to take away the health care of hundreds of thousands of their constituents, if we can get two more Republicans to have that courage, we can stop her.

She also said that Barrett's religion is "immaterial, irrelevant," and that she's not going to be asking questions about that. 

Tapper moved on to the lack of a mandatory testing protocol on Capitol Hill, and whether she felt comfortable, as someone diagnosis with cancer, going to the Senate.

Well, the fact that Mitch McConnell and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee have not put in place appropriate protocols, that tells you the seriousness with which they regard this virus and its spread. So, for my own protection and that of everyone that I come in contact with, I will get a test after I do this interview with you.

Last question? Tapper wondered about Hirono's reaction to Trump referring to Sen. Kamala Harris as "a monster," noting that she and Harris are two of the four women of color in the Senate.  

It's typical Trump that he will attack anybody. He calls people names. So, when he can't come up with anything more substantive, he will just call somebody a name. And he's called me names. So, that's the president.

And then -- and there's a clear choice, by the way, in this election. Are we going to vote for this unhinged person of -- who is running around in super-spreader events, by the way?

The irony of a president who's going to spread the virus, and Republicans who want to put on the court a person who is going to knock out the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic, and Joe Biden, who actually wants to get control over the virus and move us forward, the -- people are already voting. I hope they made the right choice, based on the fact that this nominee is a threat to their health care, which is, by the way, the number one concern of Americans right now.

It's going to be an interesting week, for sure. And if you want to do some light reading, there's Barrett's statement to the Judiciary Committee. 

See you around the virtual campus.