The Irony Board: Why Not Walk the Talk?

Back in October, Politico broke a story about text messages shared by several young antisemitic, racist Republicans.

The Republican texters were leaders in their state parties; they were the up-and-comers, the future of the party structure. They call Kansas, Arizona, Vermont, and New York home. 

In case you missed the reporting, or if you've forgotten what all the fuss was about, here's a graphic showing examples of the delightful thoughts they shared, from the linked Politico article, including an admission from one person involved that "if we ever had a leak of this chat, we'd be cooked fr fr." That means for real, x2

House Speaker and FOTUS flunky Rep. Mike Johnson (R-MAGA) spoke to reporters about the text controversy. You can watch his comments in this video. If you have a hard time watching and listening to him, as I do, here's a summary: he doesn’t know any of them, and while there was a photo of him standing with one or more of them, they were all wearing tuxedos, so it had to be from the Inauguration and they probably just wanted a selfie, like tons of others.

Johnson also doesn’t know anything about the Nazi flag or symbol that appeared in the background of a Congressional office, other than that it didn’t belong to the congressman, it was a staffer or something, and that’s being investigated, as it should be.

And the point of all of this, he said in the video, was that whatever was said, or shown, and whoever said it or showed it, “obviously” doesn’t represent what the Republican party stands for because “We stand for the founding principles of America. You want me to articulate them for you right now? Individual freedom, Limited Government, Rule of Law, Peace through Strength, Fiscal Responsibility, Free Markets, Human Dignity… the things that lead to human flourishing.”

I can't tell you how many times I've watched him deliver those ideals, but I've moved from scratching my head when I do to outright laughter. The thought of 'human dignity' and MAGA Republicans in the same sentence is really mindboggling. 

Think about what we've seen over the past several months (and before), and reflect on what today's Republicans stand for, either proactively, through state and federal legislative efforts, or passively, by sitting idly by while the FOTUS, the Heritage Foundation, and others put things into motion.

Individual freedom? How about bodily autonomy? Being able to peacefully protest in favor of or against issues that matter to you, even when it involves Gaza and Palestinians, or immigration? Not having another religion’s iconography and beliefs forced upon you, in public buildings, or children in public schools? Not having the federal government intrude into your voting records? Being able to peacefully protest without being shot with pepper balls fired by federal agents from the rooftops above you? Being able to move about freely, speaking whatever language you want, without being interrogated by federal agents?

Limited government? Does this include having the government dictate hiring, research subjects, curricula, tuition, and admission practices at private colleges and universities? The president killing programs that were approved and funded by our elected legislators before he was elected, just because he doesn't like them? Withholding funding, services, or supplies because he doesn't like the voting patterns of a state or municipality? Elevating one religion over another in public K-12 schools? Trying to interfere in the Constitutionally-guaranteed right of states to manage elections? Renaming bodies of water? Imposing the ideas, name, and tastes of the president on the country by executive fiat?

Rule of law? Oh, my goodness! Bald-faced lying to judges in all levels of the court system? Sending the National Guard into places without the approval of the governors who command them? Declaring "emergencies" to justify all kinds of nonsense, from sending in troops to murdering foreigners in open waters, to ignoring the Constitutional requirement for due process, to imposing tariffs when that responsibility belongs to another branch of government? The myriad examples of defying Court orders? Using the government - and our tax dollars - to exact retribution against personal enemies?

Peace through Strength? Hmmm... demanding we get something in return for foreign aid, unless of course it's aid to Israel, which always goes with no strings attached? Working on negotiations with other countries, while allowing Israel to bomb areas in those countries without a response? Offering to give up Ukraine's territory to Russia? Actively seeking regime change in another country through military actions, CIA involvement, and financial incentives?

Fiscal Responsibility? Two words: Qatari jet. You know, the $400M 'gift' that’ll cost us as much as a billion dollars. The entire DOGE fiasco, with bold lies about how much money is being saved, teenagers granted access to the government’s secrets, the repeated firing, rehiring, refiring, and rehiring across the whole of government? More of the same lousy and irresponsible handling of personnel during the recent government shutdown? Allowing millions of dollars of paid-for food and medical supplies to go bad or sit unused, instead of distributing them, selling them, or giving them to Americans in need? Countless gratuitous and tone-deaf trips to sporting events, hugely expensive trips to the president’s properties, including during the government shutdown, and let’s not forget the birthday parade… the jets for Homeland Security… and so much more.

Free Markets? Is that what we call it when the government demands a percentage of the profits American companies make? Demands stock ownership, including a 'golden share' of American companies? Kills subsidies for wind and solar power and electric vehicles (while lamenting how far ahead of us China is with all of those), while adding subsidies for oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy, and providing tax credits and incentives for coal and other mining programs? Bails out farmers when ‘emergency’ tariffs make a mess of things? There’s more, of course. And no, free-market intervention is not unique to this administration; it’s been going on for decades, across multiple administrations. But that’s not a free pass to claim you're for free markets when it's demonstrably untrue.

Human Dignity? Isn’t it Republicans who enacted legislation offering bounties to folks who spy on their neighbors' menstrual cycles, medical appointments, and medications? Who ignore the dignity of patients in favor of the personal beliefs of practitioners? Who hope to deny people the right to marry a same-sex or mixed-race partner? Who find dignity in forcing pre-teen girls to have babies, and in denying people the treatment they desire or need? Who ignore the expressed wishes of patients and/or their families in end-of-life and other situations, and instead impose the government's wishes? Who purposefully misgender a colleague?

It's almost laughable, isn't it, the irony of standing in front of cameras talking about "the things that lead to human flourishing" with a record like that above?

I took more than my fair share of leadership and communication classes in my career, and so I understand the value of having an 'elevator speech' that can be shared when someone asks what you stand for. And I understand that having someone like Johnson who can deliver the message on your behalf without skipping a beat is a gift.

But actually standing for what you say you stand for is much more important than having a speech you can deliver before the elevator doors open one floor up from where you got on. 

And as an unaffiliated voter, I'd love to see both parties walk their talk.

In Case You Missed It (v76)

Grab your cuppa and settle down to a review of last week's posts, in case you missed anything.

Sunday School brought conversations with a handful of Senators, including Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who talked about the American Rescue Plan (ARP) - the Biden COVID package - and about bipartisanship.

 Sen. Portman, who voted to pass the Trump tax cuts and repeal Obamacare via reconciliation, but says trying to do COVID relief that way "would poison the well of bipartisanship." 

He thinks what Biden should do is "...to start off with more bipartisan measures, so that we don’t poison the well, so that we can continue to work together. And in this case, it would be very easy to get Republican support for a COVID relief package."

He poo-pooed the idea that Republican voters are in favor of the bill -"if, you know, checks are coming out to people's homes, that's going to be popular, but that doesn't mean that this is the right bill." He gave a list of things in the bill he says are not related to COVID.

The bill passed yesterday, without a single Republican vote. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was featured in the Extra Credit post; he talked with Chuck Todd on MTP. Among other things, 

he sees there being an active engagement between our two countries - and he's happy to see us re-engaging.

I think certainly there were things that were more challenging under the previous administration in terms of moving the dial in the right direction on the international stage. But, at the same time, you know, we all have democracies that go in different directions from time to time. And the, the sweep of the work that we need to do together as, as allied nations in the G7 and elsewhere, continues to be really important.

I added a Sidebar to the previous week's Poll Watch and TGIF entries, which talked about our collective dissatisfaction with the two political parties and about the potential for a major Trump announcement at CPAC a week ago. And, there was the CPAC straw poll. Trump did well, naturally - it's his cult after all - and so did Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor. So, good news for them, right? Well, maybe not so fast.

One thing to keep in mind? The CPAC straw poll isn't very reliable. This Vox article includes a tweet from Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News. Take a look.

I was Wondering on Wednesday about a few things, including the fact that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dropped an inadvertent truth bomb on her argument for a federal $15 minimum wage. Complaining about the ARP giving only $1400 direct payments to everyone, where Trump gave $2000, here's what she said (emphasis added today)

I don't understand the political or economic wisdom in allowing Trump to give more people relief checks than a Democratic administration. People went far too long without relief last year - if anything, we should be more generous, not more stingy. It's also an insensitive compromise for the roughly 80% of Americans that live in urban areas, which are known for higher costs of living.

Here's the thing I do wonder about, now that AOC is on record with concerns about being sensitive to people in high cost of living areas. How can she be such a proponent of a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour? If you want to talk about being "insensitive," imagine convincing yourself and countless millions of others that it's acceptable to have the same minimum wage in Mississippi, where the 2021 cost of living is 86.1; Arizona, where it's 97; and in New York, where it's 139.1?

She proved the point I've been making about that for a few years now. And, as you probably know, the minimum wage hike was removed from the bill before it was voted on, and an amendment to put it back in was defeated, with eight Dems voting with all of the Rs to keep it out. 

I dropped a Quick Take on the fine art of negotiation that's practiced by some. And by some, I mean by macaques, when the tourists they steal from want to get their stuff back. 

I would never compare our elected officials to monkeys - someone got in trouble for doing that recently, I think. And I certainly wouldn't compare macaques to people - I'm sure someone would yell at me for that.

I'm just saying, if monkeys can learn to negotiate with people, can't we get our elected representatives to negotiate with each other? Is that too much to ask?

Funny, on the ARP, the hardest negotiation was the Dems talking to one of their own, WV Sen. Joe Manchin, who wanted to drop extended unemployment in the middle of the summer, when the House and Senate would be adjourned, and, for all we know, some of them (QanonRon Johnson, for example) might be in Moscow or something, and unavailable to fix it.

Lots of the progressives have been calling for the Senate Dems to ditch the filibuster. That's not new, I noted, by sharing a 2019 Knock Knock post on that very subject. I was surprising to me that I was on the same side of an issue as my other senator, Kirsten Gillibrand.

I don't always agree with my senator, but on this issue, I surely do. And if they don't want to listen to her any more than I normally do, maybe they'll listen to Delaware's Senator Chris Coons.

It's a terrible idea. Democrats would reap the whirlwind almost immediately. It is the last bulwark of the rights of the minority in the Senate. If a simple majority could carry the day, we'd have a right-to-work law signed into law by president Trump  - I could give you a list of 20 things that president Trump would have signed into law in his first few weeks that would either repeal anything positive thing that President Obama did or anything that a progressive Democrat would hope to do in the future.

The progressives may need to be reminded that they are not the majority of Dems,  that they've got to work extra hard to get things accomplished - and that they'll have to give a little. It will be interesting to see what they do with the ARP this week, when they have to vote on the Senate version before the bill can make it to Biden's desk. 

For your TGIF, I put my foot down and assigned the good week/bad week lists. The good were fun, the bad were to be expected - and I added a mixed week list just for all of us who vote. 

Voters had a decidedly mixed week, depending on what you read and, heaven forbid, on your own opinions, should you have them - please say you have opinions on this! Take a look:

Former lynching target Mike Pence had an op-ed about election integrity, which attacks HR1, the House voting rights act. Mostly, he says, it's full of changes making it harder for all kinds of people - the living, breathing kind I'm fond of, and the other kind, too - to engage in political speech. Not only that, but

Every single proposed change in HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair, and unconstitutional advantage in our political system.

And that's only part of it - it actually gets both better, and worse. 

Finally, I ended the week with an Irony Board entry, after I stopped laughing.  It seems that some old guy named Trump has ordered his most fervent fundraisers to stand by and stand back, or something like that. According to an unnamed advisor to the former president, cease-and-desist orders have been sent to the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC.

...Trump remains committed to the Republican Party and electing America First conservatives, but that doesn't give anyone - friend or foe - permission to use his likeness without explicit approval.

That's so rich, coming from Trump - complaining about someone using him without permission. After all, Trump and his campaign have not been at all shy in using other people's intellectual property without permission, suggesting that they are folks who support him and his message. 

There's a list for you, if you want to know all of the people he's co-opted without permission. 

There you have it -- last week, in a nutshell. See you later for Sunday School.

The Irony Board: 45's Cease and Desist Orders

You may have heard someone say that a headline or an article 'almost writes itself.' Well, this is one of those articles.

It seems that the twice-impeached former president has declared his name and likeness off limits to the Republican National Committee (RNC) the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). 

According to Politico, lawyers for the former president "sent out cease-and-desist letters Friday to the three largest fundraising entities for the Republican Party  - the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC - for using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise," according to a Trump advisor.

Apparently, still according to Politico,

...Trump was furious that his name has been bandied about by organizations that help Republicans who voted to impeach him - without his permission. Trump, who made his fortune in licensing, has always been sensitive to how his name has been used to fundraise and support members, even while in office.

And, there's also this, again per an advisor.

...Trump remains committed to the Republican Party and electing America First conservatives, but that doesn't give anyone - friend or foe - permission to use his likeness without explicit approval.

That's so rich, coming from Trump - complaining about someone using him without permission. After all, Trump and his campaign have not been at all shy in using other people's intellectual property without permission, suggesting that they are folks who support him and his message. 

From classic American rockers to British artists to the estates of late legends, here’s a look at some of the musicians who have objected to Donald Trump using their songs at campaign events.

John Fogarty, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen  Some classic rockers say not only do they oppose Trump using their music, the choice of songs is ironic or downright wrong... 

Neil Young, Eddy Grant Most musicians have stopped at legal threats, but a few have actually sued over the use of their songs... 

Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, Prince The heirs of dead artists have been as quick as living musicians in objecting to Trump’s use of songs... 

The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Adele Artists from the UK have been as vocal about their songs as their American counterparts... 

Panic! at the Disco, Pharrell, Rihanna It’s mostly Baby Boomer favorites who have objected to Trump’s use of their music, but younger artists have cried foul too, sometimes with foul language...

R.E.M., Guns and Roses Generation X bands have been as angry as anyone about the use of their tunes...

I think it would be interesting if the Republicans treated Trump's cease-and-desist orders with as much respect as he treated the requests from these artists - which was pretty much none. A few of them had to go back a second time when their first demands were ignored.

But what's really going to be fun is seeing how the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC work around not being able to use Dear Leader's name and/or likeness - or how much they'll be asked to contribute to him for the privilege. 

In Case You Missed it (v69)

Grab your cuppa, settle down, and enjoy this recap of last week's posts. 

Sunday School included comments from folks talking about the Capitol insurrection, and Trump, and how we go to this point. One of the folks making the rounds was Mick Mulvaney, who held a number of positions in the Administration, including Chief of Staff. Here's a bit from his conversation with Chuck Todd on MTP.

Mulvaney said he doesn't know about the president's current state of mind, but he said the Trump of eight months ago or so would have dealt with things differently.

I thought that we'd never be here. I thought the president would be presidential. Clearly, that system has broken down. And whether or not the president is different or the people advising him are different or both, I don't know what's going on inside the Oval Office now, and I don't know what's going on inside the president's head.

Does anyone know what's going on in there?

For your Extra Credit, I highlighted the panel discussions on Fox News Sunday and on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, including this comment from  Sarah Isgur, who once worked in the Justice Department during the Trump administration. In a conversation about the end of the Nixon administration, and the end of the current one,

Isgur noted that there's no one around this time like Howard Baker, back in the Nixon days.

There is no one who the president listens to. He is fundamentally different than Richard Nixon. In his farewell address in 1974, Richard Nixon said: I'm not a quitter, but I have to put the country first. That is not fundamentally who Donald Trump is, or else we wouldn't have had January 6. He incited an insurrection against the legislative branch. Mind you, our Declaration of Independence was to overthrow a tyrant who excited domestic insurrections amongst us, is what it said. Our entire Constitution is built to prevent tyranny from the executive branch against our seat of government. And like others have said, if this isn't an impeachable offense, I don't know what it is.

Honestly? Trump seems fundamentally different from every one of his predecessors, but maybe that's just me. 

And in that regard, here's some presidential poetry, some OrangeVerse for you, from last Tuesday when he spoke not once, not twice, but three times, spewing free verse left and right. This snippet is from the middle open mic, at Joint Base Andrews, as he flew off to Texas to autograph the border wall. No, I'm not making that part up. But Trump surely is making this part up, proud as he is of his speech at the insurrection rally.

But they’ve analyzed

my speech and words

 and my final paragraph,

 my final sentence,

and everybody,

to the T,

thought it was

 totally appropriate.

Okay, thank you. Thank you.

I was Wondering on Wednesday, for sure, about the impeachment activities that were taking place in the House, and the speeches, and the speakers, and hypocrisy and such. One thing that caught my eye was the proxy voters, the designated Representatives who were recording votes for the colleagues who were not in the Chamber. And then I learned this,

Members on both sides of the aisle voted by proxy, including Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw. That's notable, because he's been a very vocal opponent of proxy voting, saying things like this:

America is looking to its representatives to act like LEADERS with courage, not spineless sheep in hiding. We ask our grocers to work, our truckers to drive, and our nurses to risk their lives. Congress can show up to VOTE.

Sadly, Crenshaw himself was "unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency."  I wonder, is he referring to the "spineless sheep in hiding emergency," or something else?

Ah yes, the hypocrisy. It's everywhere, really - no surprise - but this was just rich.  

And then there was a new video from the president, stating with firm words and flimsy conviction that he condemns violence and that it has no place in his movement, or the country. That is a lie. He has been encouraging violence, and applauding it, since he was a candidate.  He knows it, I know it, and you could know it too, if you read my post proving it.  Here's an example from candidate Trump and one from president Trump. 

February 1, 2016:  At a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, IA, Trump told the crowd that... “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell out of them. I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. There won’t be so much of them because the courts agree with us,” he said.

No place for violence in the movement, but I'll pay your legal fees?  What the actual hell is that? 

August 5, 2019: A 39-year-old Montana man was charged with felony assault for choking, slamming, and fracturing the skull of a 13-year-old boy who didn’t take his hat off for the national anthem. The man’s attorney told the local newspaper that Trump’s “rhetoric” led to the violent act. “His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished,” the lawyer said, referencing Trump’s harsh words against athletes like Colin Kaepernick who protested for social justice.

And, while many of us know his words aren't worth the teleprompter they're flashed on, people in his movement take them to heart, and act on them. Just like they did on January 6th. 

All of that, and all of the rest of the news from the week, lead me to a less-than-celebratory TGIF post.

More than anything, though - I hope we get to next Wednesday, and through it - without any of the stuff we're being warned about actually happening. Attacks on state capitals; threats on members of Congress on both sides of the aisle; and the ongoing threat of more violence in DC, including the potential for improvised explosive devices - IEDs - to be used in our nation's capital. I hear that, and I don't even know how to react, whether to rage against the abject insanity of it, or hunker down with the curtains closed, waiting for the 'all clear' signal.

I thought that would be the last post of the week, but I was inspired, again, by the hypocrisy of it all, and that led to an Irony Board entry on the absurdity of the Rs going on television and talking about how they're being silenced and are unable to communicate, and how Big Tech should be liable for civil suits from folks who have been censored. 

A North Dakota state representative has a bill to allow residents of the Peace Garden State to do just that. He went on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox to talk about it, and shared some risks of social media companies running amok.

If a website comes out and selectively publishes information or manipulates true information in order to create a certain desired narrative, this restrictive action can essentially amount to defamation.

And, there's the real irony - the selective publishing, the manipulation of the truth, the defamation he mentions. 

Kading, remember, was talking on Sunday Morning Futures, just one of the FNC shows that had to run a tasty disclaimer - excuse me, a 'fact checking story,' correcting each show's lies.

It's hard to imagine how these folks say all of this stuff with straight faces, it really is. 

See you later for Sunday School; I'm sure it's going to be an interesting time in the classrooms today. 

 

The Irony Board: The 'Silenced' on FNC

I can't help laughing at all of the folks on the right who are up in arms about social media companies restricting their 'free speech' and complaining that they are being 'silenced' by Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and others. 

Why laugh, you ask? I only know they're complaining about being silenced because they're going on Fox News and telling everyone about it. 

For example, here's California farmer and Medal of Freedom recipient Rep. Devin Nunes, speaking on Sunday Morning Futures, hosted by Maria Bartiromo on Fox News (emphasis added).

But it's more than the just the financial aspect of that. Republicans have no way to communicate. It doesn't even matter if you're Republican or conservative, if you don't want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, where you get shadow-banned and nobody gets to see you and they get to decide what's violent or not violent, it's preposterous.

Yep - this is Devin 'frivolous lawsuit-filer' Nunes, the guy who sued Twitter because a parody account said mean things about him. But censorship is bad... and he gets to decide what's mean or not... Got it. 

And, the part about having no way to communicate? Saying that on a Fox News Channel (FNC) show, on not just the most-watched conservative network, but on the network that "crushed records and delivered the largest total day and primetime audience among total viewers in cable news history" in 2020, according to the Nielsen folks? Some irony there, right? 

And now, we've got this guy, Rep. Tom Kading, a state legislator from North Dakota, who is following in Nunes' footsteps. Speaking on Fox and Friends earlier today, Kading said he had drafted a bill back in December stating that

social media sites would be liable in a civil lawsuit for damages to a North Dakota resident "whose speech is restricted, censored, or suppressed," as long as it is not "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable."

And, since he introduced the bill, "things have only gotten worse," he said.

I'm frankly shocked at what's happening to our country and censoring does not create unity, it does not help the situation of division in our country, and it does not de-escalate the situation. All it really does is make those who have been silenced dig in deeper and be more suspicious of what's going on.

He's right: censoring doesn't create unity, or de-escalate the situation. Neither does tweeting relentlessly and untruthfully about a stolen election, or that the media are the enemy of the people and everything they report that is not to your liking is fake news, or that everything is beautiful and perfect when the entire universe knows it's not, or that the pandemic is under control, or that those who disagree with you is not a real American, or that people who don't do your bidding deserve to be driven out of office, and so on.  

I'd suggest that suing social media companies also doesn't create unity, or de-escalate things -and, Kading notably doesn't offer anything that does do those things. Not only that, but are social media companies or traditional media companies, including FNC in the unity-creating business anyway

Kading also talked about some other risks.

If a website comes out and selectively publishes information or manipulates true information in order to create a certain desired narrative, this restrictive action can essentially amount to defamation.

And, there's the real irony - the selective publishing, the manipulation of the truth, the defamation he mentions. 

Kading, remember, was talking on Sunday Morning Futures, just one of the FNC shows that had to run a tasty disclaimer - excuse me, a 'fact checking story,' correcting each show's lies.

In a three-minute segment aired on three shows that previously played host to some of the more zany election fraud claims coming from Trump’s advocates—Fox Business’ “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” and Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures” and Jeanine Pirro’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine”—Fox News appeared to retract allegations made against Smartmatic.

Dominion Voting Systems is not done yet, either; the company also warned Fox and others back in December that legal action is coming. 

Dominion Voting Systems, one of the targets of President Donald Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about the election that he lost, has warned Fox News, major Fox personalities, other conservative media outlets, radio host Rush Limbaugh and conservative lawyers that defamation litigation against them is “imminent.”

The voting machine company this week has sent 21 letters to the White House, Fox News, its hosts Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, the news outlets Newsmax, One America News Network, Epoch Times and others demanding they stop making defamatory claims about Dominion and that they preserve any documents they have relating to the firm.

Want even more irony? How about a settlement with the family of someone who was disparaged on the network ?

The Fox News Channel has reached a private settlement with the parents of the slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. The network had baselessly reported in May 2017 that Rich leaked thousands of Democratic party emails to Wikileaks during the height of the 2016 presidential campaign. 

The story, reported by Fox News' Malia Zimmerman and retracted seven days later, also suggested without any evidence that Democrats might have been linked to the killing of the 27-year-old Rich, a crime that has not been solved to this day. In response to NPR's questions, a Fox News spokesperson tells NPR that Zimmerman is no longer with the network. 

"The settlement with Fox News closes another chapter in our efforts to mourn the murder of our beloved Seth, whom we miss every single day," Joel and Mary Rich wrote in their statement. "We are pleased with the settlement of this and sincerely hope that the media will take genuine caution in the future."

I don't know about you, but if I was worried about censorship and divisiveness and a lack of unity, I'd probably find a different network to help share my story than the original - and still the best - home of division and loose facts.  

2020's Top Ten

It's time to look back at the year that was. Here are the top 10 posts of the year, based on your pageviews. 

Coming in  at number ten? My recap of day four of the Republican National Convention. The Trumps and the RNC decided the best way to abuse us with pageantry and falderol was to hold the final day  at the White House, in violation of general principle and ethics rules. In addition to those violations, the speeches themselves violated my sensibility, but some of them sparked my sense of humor, for sure.  

For example, here's the current Senate Majority Leader and Chief Cunctationist, Kentucky's Mitch McConnell.

I’m immensely proud of the work the Republican Senate has done.  (We refused to allow witnesses in the impeachment and made sure the president stayed in office so we can sit around waiting for him to tell us what to do, or for more judges to die.)  Like President Trump, we won’t be bullied by a liberal media intent on destroying America’s institutions. (We will instead be bullied by the president, and ignore the wishes even of you Republicans out there, who elected nearly 200 members of our party to serve you in the House).We will stand our post on behalf of the millions of Americans whose stories aren’t told in today’s newspapers, whose struggles are just as real. (Well, really, we'll sit on your stories, and drag them out at times like this, when it suits us. Other than that, we're just an ineffective part of a co-equal branch of government. You know what? I think that makes us 'flyover country' too!) 

Number nine came from back in March, and I was Ranting and Raving about a column in the Washington Post that tried to convince readers that the impeachment hindered the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Here's a part of my response to the column, addressing the author's contention that Trump couldn't have done better early on, because 

...impeachment managers were regularly calling Trump a king or incipient dictator, a more forceful response against the virus in January or early February likely wouldn't have gone well.

That one made me laugh out loud. We're talking about Donald Trump, who blurts out whatever he feels like blurting, whether it's a policy change, a threat against a Republican who dares disagree with him, any number of insults at any number of Democrats or just random crap directed at random citizens. He doesn't shrink away from anything - he tells us that all the time. If you need an example, ask the McCain family.

A Trump in Transition post from May was the eighth most popular post. This one focused on a series of four tweets, sent within the same minute, the morning after the president was whisked to "tour" the White House Bunker. I included the tweets after my comments, which began thusly.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the president of the United States. 

Hear his voice as you read his tweets,

talking about 'frisky' protesters, 

vicious dogs, ominous weapons, and

changing front lines of young Secret Service agents

 ready to 'practice' on protesters outside America's house.

He is SO full of himself.

Himself is SO full of crap.

A Sunday School Extra Credit from June was number seven. It included comments from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on how it would be helpful for some leadership out of Washington DC. In his conversation with John Dickerson on Face the Nation,he was not gentle when talking about president Trump or the veep.

On messaging: ...when I hear the vice president talk about how things are just hunky dory, it's just - it's just - it's just maddening. The situation is critical in many places...all the happy talk and wishful thinking in the world is not going to wash that away. 

On mask requirements: ...we put an order in effect, including businesses' obligation in this regard. And we sure could use some leadership from the president. It is so difficult. From day one, he has downplayed and distorted and disabled our ability to fight this war... So right now, we are in an urgent national mission - or should be - to mask up... Donald Trump is for masking up like George Wallace was for integration.

The sixth most popular was a Sunday School post from mid-April.  This is a post I went back to frequently, when talking about the vice president and his particular skill at not answering questions. He does it by saying a whole lotta words - hundreds, even, when he could literally answer that question in one note.  

In the interview, how long were Pence's generally non-specific and nonresponsive answers?  321, 219, 279, and 282 words. You'll understand why I'm not including excerpts, right? I encourage you to read them, though - they're pretty interesting.

Coming in at number five was another Trump in Transition post, from May. Whenever Trump talks about the pandemic, you can be sure he's going to follow Pence's lead and not answer the question. And while David Muir really tried to pin Trump down, he wasn't successful. 

For example, Muir asked (I'm paraphrasing here) if workers going back to their offices could get testing if the wanted it, or if they'd just have to trust their employer that everything's safe. Here's one take of Trump trying to answer.

Muir tried to get an answer to whether people going back to work should have access to testing or "do they have to go back to work, having faith in their leaders and you, Mr. president, that the workplace will be safe?" Trump talked about some new data on testing, noting among other things that "it's also, very importantly,  we have the best testing. We have the best testing."  Which wasn't an answer, so Muir tried again. Workers "should have no problem" getting tested, Trump said, adding,

 And as good as this is, we're even getting better. We came up - don't forget, the cupboard was bare. The other administration - the last administration left us nothing. We didn't have ventilators, we didn't have medical equipment, we didn't have testing. The tests were broken. You saw that. We had broken tests. They left us nothing. And we've taken it and we have built an incredible stockpile - a stockpile like we've never had before.

So, are people safe going back to work? Who knows, even now, several months later. The president surely didn't tell us then, and can't tell us now.

Number four on the list?  Me, sharing My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective, in response to a widely shared "You see Trump as x, I see Trump as y' letter to the editor. The author tried really hard to depict the president as a patriotic leader and not a politician, as pro-LGBTQ, as not being anti-immigration  "because he married an immigrant." Honestly, there wasn't much I of the column I found credible - especially the non-politician part.

You see Trump as an unpolished politician; I see Trump as a breath of fresh air. Donald Trump pretends to be unpolished, and not a politician. He is not a breath of fresh air, he and his lies and his bullying and his threatening comprise a toxic cloud that hangs over our country, and over our allies. And he is a classic, arm-twisting strongman pol, who threatens members of his own party who might disagree with him. Don't go along with me? No endorsement. A barrage of negative tweets. Attacks against you in your district. Support for your opponent. And you think he's not a politician? That's laughable.

Your number three was a Middle-aged White Lady Perspective post, about speech and law enforcement and Black Lives Matter and about outrage. It's a twisting tale of a rookie police officer gunned down in the line of duty, and people getting 'triggered' by things they see, hear or read, and how colleges handle speech. And the outrage part? 

I honestly share the outrage, expressed by my friend, a policeman's mom, over Corona's senseless death, and of the deaths of all the other officers killed in the line of duty. I hope that her son stays safe, on duty and off, and that other police officers do as well.

I honestly share the outrage, expressed by my friends - people of color and otherwise - over the senseless deaths of those who have been killed by police officers. I hope my friends' children, family members, and friends stay safe, and aren't caught up in what we know happens to people of color, particularly black men, in our country.

I just as honestly wish it was socially acceptable to be equally outraged by both circumstances - because honestly, I often feel like it's not.

And, I guess not surprisingly, we've got another Trump in Transition post filling the number two spot on our list. This series seemed to strike a chord, or a nerve, depending on which side of the Trump you were on. This one was me, channeling Trump after the upside-down Bible appearance during the protests this past summer, and saying what he wished he could get away with. Here's how it started.

Look at me! 

LOOK AT ME!

Did you see me on the news? Even the fake news, MSDNC and the rest of them, they had my picture, did you see it? 

I was holding a Bible!!

Someone asked if it was my Bible. Nah, it's 'a' Bible, not 'my' Bible - heck, I don't even know where they found it, probably in the nightstand in one of the rooms in my hotel or something, I don't know. It's a good book, they tell me. Very good, good words. Good words. I don't have time to read it, but I hear it's very good. I'll ask Mike. Is Mike here? Where's Mike?

Sadly, I bet he could have gotten away with saying what I said. His actions that day embodied everything I don't like about him. And that surely came out in the post. 

Those same feelings came out in the top post of the year, one of the top posts of all time on the blog. It was an Irony Board post, about Rev. Franklin Graham and his comments on the Democratic National Convention, including that God was missing from that event.

Graham also reminded us all of the Ten Commandments, as if Dems and leaning Dems and former Dems like me, heathens all, I guess, needed the reminder. I took offense to that.

• He places himself above all, before all, and bows before no one. He worships mere mention of his name, the almighty dollar, the almighty ratings, as if those three things are the measure of a man. Those things? They are the measure only of a megalomaniac. They are out of place in the heart, mind, and words of a person of faith.

• He  is the graven image upon which his eyes rest most comfortably: his name on a clothing label; on the side of a building, writ in gold; carved in stone on an embassy wall; emblazoned in countless gaudy hotels, his golden club, his golf carts, and more; his giant signature, held up to the cameras for all to see, to bow to, to venerate, no matter how nonreligious, how faithless, how merciless are the words above it.

To Rev. Graham, I had one question: Tell me again, where is God missing?

There you have it -- the top ten most viewed posts of 2020. I hope you stick around for next year!

In Case You Missed It (v50)

Last week's posts, at your fingertips.

Sunday School brought us, among other things, another enlightening classroom chat with Trump's 4th Chief of Staff (I can't help pointing that out every time I mention him), Mark Meadows, who talked with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. Here's a fun deflecting non-answer to a simple question - what's the difference between voting by mail in Florida and say, voting by mail in Pennsylvania: 

So, here's the difference. I can't tell you about Pennsylvania, because I don't know the difference there. All I do know is, the governor of Pennsylvania is talking like he doesn't have any money to pay for enhanced unemployment and some of these other things, when he's got $3.6 billion sitting in the bank. So that was - was a misnomer.

OK - the difference I can tell you is that (a) I know nothing about Pennsylvania, and (b) the governor's got money in the bank for his state, and (c) I'm gonna tell you what I want to tell you, and that's all the blahblahblah you see below. 

But, as we look at that, here's what I can tell you, is absentee no- excuse, what I call no-excuse absentee, say, listen, I'm concerned because of the pandemic, will you send me an absentee ballot that comes directly to me, I certify that, I have a signature requirement that makes sure that it's me that's actually voting, and I send it back...

I promised I'd give you multiple interviews with That Guy From Vermont, the one who finished second in the race for the Dem nod, for your Extra Credit. And I delivered, I hope you noticed.  Here's an excerpt from his chat with George on This Week, on TGFV's former press secretary complaining about "contempt for the base" in the party platform.

Well, I would say that the overwhelming majority of progressives understand that it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated, that we have a president who is trying to undermine American democracy, a president who has turned his back on the working families of this country, a president who has done a horrible job in terms of the pandemic, does not believe in science, is not dealing with the existential threat of climate change... A lot of my supporters are not enthusiastic about Joe Biden, you know why? I ran against Joe Biden. But I think there is overwhelming understanding that Donald Trump must be defeated, Biden must be elected, and that the day after he is elected, we're going to do everything we can to create a government that works for all of us and not just the 1% and wealthy campaign contributors. 

I covered the #DemConvention by providing highlights from the speeches given each night.  Here's one from the opening night, where several Republicans spoke on the importance of electing Joe Biden, including former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

We can all see what’s going on in our country today and all the questions that are facing us, and no one person or a party has all the answers. Joe Biden is a man for our times, times that call for all of us to take off our partisan hats and put our nation first for ourselves, and of course for our children. When America chooses the right path and pulls together, like we’ve done so many times before. Yeah, we can dream big dreams and we can see the top of the mountain as a United States of America with a soul that is a beacon of freedom to the entire world. 

From the second night, which brought us some discussion on foreign policy. Among the speakers was former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Before Donald Trump, we used to talk about American exceptionalism. The only thing exceptional about the incoherent Trump foreign policy is that it has made our nation more isolated than ever before. Joe Biden knows we aren’t exceptional because we bluster that we are, we are exceptional because we do exceptional things. On June 6th, 1944, young Americans gave their lives and the beaches of Normandy to liberate the world from tyranny. Out of the ashes of that war we made peace and rebuilt the world. That was, and remains exceptional. It is the opposite of everything Donald Trump stands for. This moment is a fight for the security of America, and the world. Only Joe Biden can make America lead like America again. 

On the third night, some of the conversation focused on the existential threat of climate change. New Mexico's Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was one of the featured speakers.

We know time is running out to save our planet. We have the chance this November to end two existential crises, the Trump presidency and the environmental annihilation he represents. We have the chance this November to attack the climate crisis, invest in green 21st century jobs and embrace the clean energy revolution our country, our young people are crying out for and the leadership the rest of the world is waiting for. The choice is clear. The choice is Joe Biden. 

On the last night, one of the speakers was Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian John Meacham, who spoke eloquently about our imperfect history, our challenges, and how we are all called to meet them.

From Jamestown forward, our story has become fuller and fairer because of people who share a conviction that Dr. King articulated on that Sunday half a century ago; the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Bending that arc requires all of us. It requires we, the people, and it requires a president of the United States with empathy, grace, a big heart and an open mind. Joe Biden will be such a president. With our voices and our votes, let us now write the next chapter of the American story; one of hope, of love, of justice. If we do so, we might just save our country and our souls.

In your  TGIF, I offered in full the nominees' acceptance speeches.  Here's an excerpt from each, starting with Kamala Harris, who spoke of her mother's influence.

I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America. I do so committed to the values she taught me, to the word that teaches me to walk by faith and not by sight, and to a vision passed on through generations of Americans one that Joe Biden shares. A vision of our nation as a beloved community, where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, no matter where we come from or who we love. A country where we may not agree on every detail, but we are United by the fundamental belief that every human being is of infinite worth, deserving of compassion, dignity, and respect. 

And, from Papa Joe, who wove together personal and professional anecdotes and influences with related policies in a way that was easy to follow, easy to understand, and easy to embrace. And that's exactly what he asked us to do - embrace the challenges, together.  This is not the most-quoted section of his speech; that was the part where he said he'd be an American president, not a Democratic president - but I like this part just as much.

In times as challenging as these, I believe there is only one way forward, as united America. A united America. United in our pursuit of a more perfect Union. United in our dreams of a better future for us and for our children. United in our determination to make the coming years bright.

Are we ready? I believe we are.  This is a great nation. And we are a good and decent people. For Lord's sake, this is the United States of America.  There's never been anything we've been unable to accomplish when we've done it together.

I think the reason why it resonates so much with me is because of the contrast between when Biden says this and when Trump say the same thing. You and I both know that, by all of his other words, and maybe more importantly by his blatant actions, Trump doesn't mean a word of it. Biden does.  

I closed out the week frustrated, again, by the emphasis placed on religion in our politics generally, and specifically the suggestion that Dems are without faith or and don't believe in religion. That led to an Irony Board addressing comments by Rev. Franklin Graham that God was missing from the convention. That's patently false, if you watched or if you read the remarks offered, or if you know anything about Joe Biden. But I guess truth doesn't matter when it comes to religion - is that the takeaway?

In his comments, Graham included the Ten Commandments for us to remember. And while I'm not religious, I remember those, and I remember - and share - the many ways the current president - and Graham favorite - ignores them. 

That's it -- your full and veritable pastiche from last week. I'll be back later with what's sure to be an entertaining Sunday School.

The Irony Board: Rev. Graham and the Democratic Convention

Rev. Franklin Graham lamented the absence of God at the Democratic Convention, an indication that he couldn't have been paying attention.

There were numerous references to God, to faith, to love, to empathy and mercy; there were religious organizations represented; there were many references to the deep and abiding faith of Joe Biden, a faith demonstrated in his empathy for others, in how he listened to, ministered to, counseled, helped, and prayed with others, throughout his career.

And, there is, of course, the well-known history of Biden's personal life, losing his wife and daughter in a car accident, losing his son to brain cancer, and how it was his faith that got him through those tragedies. Ignoring all of that smacks of a person who has a specific message he wants to deliver, but won't come right out and say it.

Yet. I'm sure he's saving it for next week.

Biden's campaign theme is that we are in a "battle for the soul of our country," something about which he spoke quite eloquently as he accepted the nomination, and something that has been set aside during the current administration in favor of more worldly goals, as we know.

Graham also shared the Ten Commandments as a reminder of the standards to which we are held, as a yardstick against which the Dems were measured, and in Graham's eyes, apparently failed. The irony is rich.

Think of them, the Ten Commandments, as you contemplate the current occupant of the White House, a man upon whom Graham has heaped praise, prayer, and blessings.

• Donald Trump stole from a charity, (one of his children ALSO stole from HIS charity) and was given restrictions should he want to be involved with a charity again. Among the ways he used the stolen money? A portrait of himself, the only image he worships.
• He cheated on his first two wives, each wife with the next, and with others, some of whom he paid for their silence; he bragged about sexually assaulting other women and lamented his failures in that regard; prowled backstage at beauty pageants hoping to see young women in varying states of undress, claiming that as his right; and was at least friendly with a sexual predator or two.
• He assaults his neighbors - all of us, really - with false witness, with patently absurd lies, with hostility, and with a profound lack of empathy; mercy is word not in his vocabulary. He mocks the sick, the frail, the disabled, the dying, and those who do not share his exalted opinion of himself. (The examples are legion; citing one or two would be absurd.)
• He takes the Lord's name in vain every time he mentions it, because he is a man without a shred of religious faith. He mocks the faithful even more than others; calls those who pray for him as the holder of the highest office in the land liars; and accuses those who are steadfast in their own faith of being faithless, or worse, of being like him: a person who uses the concept of faith as a way to advance his own interests, or as a weapon against others.
• He uses the faithful, and accepts their benevolence, their prayers, their laying on of hands, the same way he must have made promises as a child not to steal a favored toy from a neighbor - with one hand behind his back, fingers crossed, negating the promise of the faith placed in him - refusing it, truth be told, as if it's meaningless and beneath him.
• He used someone else's Bible as a prop. He lied about belonging to a church. He said the Bible was his favorite book. We know that is a lie, for it doesn't mention him by name.
• He attacks those who have more than he has - more money, more joy, more love, more purpose, more heart, more empathy. By so attacking, he demonstrates just how much he covets all that the others have, and all that is lacking in his own life.
• He places himself above all, before all, and bows before no one. He worships mere mention of his name, the almighty dollar, the almighty ratings, as if those three things are the measure of a man. Those things? They are the measure only of a megalomaniac. They are out of place in the heart, mind, and words of a person of faith.
• He is the graven image upon which his eyes rest most comfortably: his name on a clothing label; on the side of a building, writ in gold; carved in stone on an embassy wall; emblazoned in countless gaudy hotels, his golden club, his golf carts, and more; his giant signature, held up to the cameras for all to see, to bow to, to venerate, no matter how nonreligious, how faithless, how merciless are the words above it.

Tell me again, where is God missing?