Breaking Fake News Update (v11)

 Fake News Broke on August 19, 2025!

This was fun fake news to cook up, for sure: toss in a little bit of DOGE (remember DOGE? Where are our DOGE checks, by the way?), a teaspoon or so of crime (who doesn't love to talk about crime?), a cup or two of election fraud (every MAGA Republican has lived through a fraudulent election - just ask one), a heaping tablespoon of a geriatric Democratic demon, a dash of American warfighters (!!!), and a pinch of accounting, and you've got a blue-ribbon recipe, for sure!

And yes, FOTUS did say when *he* votes, he gets asked for his license plate - that part is not a figment of my imagination.

As always, when fake news is breaking, we'll be shaking things up and keeping you informed.

Breaking Fake News Update (v6)

Fake News Broke (Again) on August 11, 2025! 

This fake news broke as FOTUS's efforts to gain more control over the House of His Personal Representatives struggled in Texas as pesky Democrats left the Lone-Star-reviewed state and headed north to blue states to avoid having to participate in the mid-cycle redistricting shenanigans. This one pretty much wrote itself.

The Dems eventually returned to Austin, where they had to get permission (and a police escort) to leave the legislative chamber, for God's sake, and voted against the power grab. Needless to say, the MAGA Republicans had their way, the maps were approved, and Gov. Gregg Abbott signed the bill. 

We will continue to share fake news as it breaks.

Breaking Fake News Update (v2)

 Fake News Broke on August 8, 2025!

This news broke after MAGA Reps. Elise Stefanik and Nick Langworthy wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on August 6th, telling him to do something about the wildfires burning in his country and causing smoke issues for New Yorkers. The letter stated

The scale and severity of these fires continue to raise concerns about forest mismanagement and lack of effective deterrence of human-caused fire.

No word on Carney's response, but the fake news response was quick, and we're grateful to Rawanda for taking these two pesky representatives on with the next planeload of undocumented immigrants the US is shipping there.

We'll continue to share fake news as it breaks.

Random Thoughts 6/4/24: Hunting Hunter

Drinking my coffee, listening to the birds chirp, and trying to corral random thoughts.

• Should Hunter Biden be given the same "It's lawfare, targeting a political opponent, it's rigged, it's a scam prosecution, no one else has ever been prosecuted for this, if his name wasn't Biden this would never be happening, a Trump judge tossed his plea deal because House MAGA Campers made her, the special prosecutor was appointed because Republicans demanded it (and then bitched about it when they got what they wanted and it wasn't what they wanted), the judge is biased, Biden can't get a fair trial because of the publicity, everybody does what he did, wah wah wah wah wah wah wah" treatment as Donald Trump was given?

• Should the judge, her family, the prosecutors, witnesses, and jury members be hounded? Doxed? Plastered all over TV?

• Should Hunter have a media perch outside the courtroom so he can cry a river every day to salivating media figures?

• Should prosecutors pursue cases without fear or favor? Or should they base their prosecutorial decisions on the name/fame of the defendant?

• Someone found that data for fiscal year 2019 - which includes October 2018, when Hunter checked a box saying he wasn't a drug addict on his ATF form - 478 people were referred to the FBI for lying on their forms; 298 of them were prosecuted. I didn't find details on what lies the folks who were prosecuted told, if they ever used their gun (Hunter didn't) or if they owned it for two weeks or more (Hunter didn't).

• The judge, on a vaguely similar case, sentenced the defendant to a year in jail, double what the prosecution asked for. Some info I've seen suggests that probation is the typical sentence. If Hunter's found guilty, will he be given the usual sentence, or will he be sent to jail, to make an example of him to damage Joe Biden's re-election bid?

• Biden could have just pleaded guilty to the charge (oh wait, he did that) and negotiated a deal (oh wait, he did that, too). Which is likely what most of the other folks did. Will he wake up and do that now, instead of trying to fight it?

• Since the prosecution plans on using text messages and Hunter's laptop as part of their evidence, what's the over/under on whether any of his nude shots will be entered into evidence?

• Can the members of the jury who have experience with drug addiction, gun ownership, or both, be fair?

• Why wasn't the woman who found Hunter's gun and tossed it in a trash can at a grocery store charged with something?

Stay tuned - maybe I'll get answers to my questions.

OrangeVerse LXII: Brief But Derogatory

The PBS Newshour has a recurring feature called Brief But Spectacular, where people from various walks of life spend two or three minutes talking about something important to them, or interesting about them. 

With a slight modification (and an apology to the wonderful folks at the Newshour), I offer you this bit of verse from the Former Guy. 

I can't help noticing that, as is often the case when he accuses someone of something, it's usually done by exhibiting the same behavior he's complaining about. 

No Camp for YOU!

Nikki 'Birdbrain' Haley 

is very bad

for the Republican Party

and indeed,

our 

Country.

Her False Statements,

Derogatory Comments, 

and Humiliating Public Loss, 

is demeaning to

True 

American 

Patriots.

Her anger should be aimed at 

her Third Rate Political Consultants

and, more importantly

Crooked Joe Biden and those

who are destroying our Country - 

NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL SAVE IT.

I knew Nikki well, 

she was average

at best,

is not the one

 to take on

World Leaders,

and she never did.

That was up to me

and that is why

they respected 

the United States. 

When I ran for Office and won,

I noticed that the 

Losing Candidate's Donors

would immediately come to me

and want to 

'help out.'

This is standard in Politics,

but no longer with me.

Anybody that 

makes a

'Contribution'

to Birdbrain

from this moment forth

will be permanently banned

from the MAGA camp.

We don't want them, 

and will not accept them.

because we Put America First

and ALWAYS WILL.

I'm not sure if the MAGA camp has a gate at the end of the driveway, but if there was one,  I'd guess it would be both decidedly non-pearly, and garishly orange.

Sunday School 1/21/24: Extra Credit

In yesterday's Sunday School, I recapped three classroom visits, all with Republican governors. 

Today, the focus is on Sen. Tim Scott's Trump endorsement. As I noted last week, most of the media is falling all over themselves over how big a deal it is. Now, you can read it for yourself. My comments are interspersed throughout the post.

Scott sat down with Dana Bash in the State of the Union classroom, where the first question was why Trump, why not Haley?

It comes right down to, what does America need for the next president? It would be four more years of Donald Trump. And why do I say that? I say that because I worked with President Trump on really important issues impacting American voters and American families. We worked together. I helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the largest tax decrease in American history.

I hope Scott remembers that many of the most impactful provisions of the bill he wrote are set to expire next year.  

Think about uniting this country. He gave the highest level of funding for historically black colleges and universities in the history of the country. We had the most inclusive economy, seven million new jobs, the lowest unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, a 70-year low for women, and a 50-year low for the majority of the population,... during the Trump years.

A couple things: in some GOP circles, providing historic HBCUs funding is likely considered "woke," not a sign of unity; unemployment rates dipped even lower during Biden's term, and are fairly consistent with Trump's pre-COVID numbers; and while we know that presidents don't 'create' jobs, Biden has 'created' nearly twice as many as Trump.

We had a stronger economy, a healthy military, and a safer world. When I compare and contrast, the only, the only conclusion is Donald Trump.

Scott said he and Haley exchanged texts "several times" since he got out of the race, and he expanded upon his thinking in endorsing Trump. 

I'm not asking a question about who's from my home state. I'm not asking a question who would be -- is a good person or a better person. I think President Donald Trump is a strong president, will be a strong president again, and will have the kind of accomplishments that will unite this nation around economic opportunity.

If he's not looking for a "good person," he's found his man.

Bash talked about Scott's "a very positive, very hopeful campaign." She played a video clip of Scott asking a crowd, "Victimhood or victory? Grievance or greatness?" and said it sounded like he was talking about Trump.

No, listen, I -- we absolutely, positively, unequivocally need an America that's not filled with victims.

Trump is the victim-in-chief, for Pete's sake. So, if not Trump, who was Scott talking about? 

I'm actually talking about how Joe Biden has destroyed our economy and made victims out of people waiting for the government to show up. I'm talking about having a president who's weaponizing the DOJ against political adversaries. We need Lady Justice wearing a blindfold. I want America, every single American in every corridor of this nation to have confidence in their DOJ, not a Biden-led DOJ.

Has he not been paying attention? Has he never heard of Bill Barr? 

I want every child growing up in poverty, like I did, to have access to quality education. Unfortunately, the Democrats have sold their souls to the teachers' unions, trapping poor black kids in inner cities into failing schools and out of their best future. I want a nation where every child looks into the future and says, the American dream works for me. I was that kid.

And so when I think about bringing this country together, not under grievance, but over greatness, not being victims, but being victorious, I am talking about the future of this nation... and politicians who get in the way of that.

 Bash asked if he doesn't "see any grievance in Donald Trump's campaign for president?"

Well, here's what I can tell you. And for a person who's seen the DOJ weaponized against him, for a person who, before he was ever sworn into office, "The Washington Post" said they were going to make sure that he is a one-term president, when you look at the challenges he faced, there's no doubt that he has been aggrieved. 

I think Scott's confused; back in 2010, Sen. Mitch McConnell said “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." Maybe that's what he remembered hearing?

The question is, what are the American voters looking for? Here's what they're looking for. They're looking for a president who represents their best future, and not his. That president is not Joe Biden. It's Donald Trump. 

I have concerns about a second Joe Biden term, as do many people I know, but I don't think Donald Trump represents anyone's best future, other than his own.

Bash then turned to Scott's belief that Trump will "restore law and order," which is interesting. She pointed to Trump's recent experiences with the law, including trying to overturn the 2020 election, promising to pardon his rioters (he calls them hostages), the stolen documents case, and his latest call for total presidential immunity, and asked how that equated to law and order. 

Well, he has a legal team that can answer the questions of the legal challenges that he faces.

Yes - including a lawyer who said presidential immunity would apply if the president ordered SEAL Team 6 to murder a political rival. That's kind of hard to ignore, I think.

But what I can tell you is that, when you look around the cities, when you grow up in poor communities, like I did, and you watch the crime ravishing your communities, you ask yourself what president has allowed that to happen. It's Joe Biden.

Bash didn't interrupt to ask, "What is the president's role in dealing with crime in cities and poor communities?" but I would have. 

When you have DAs around the country that say it's no longer a crime to steal $1,000 worth of goods, and those stores start closing in San Francisco and across the country, you ask yourself what president allowed that lawless behavior to continue. That's Joe Biden.

I'm not denying there are serious issues facing retail stores - we've seen the video, right? But again, "What is the president's role in telling elected DAs how to do their jobs?" And, "What is the president's role in making sure that businesses don't lie about crime in the press and in Congressional hearings?"  And, "What is the president's role in making sure politicians don't spread the same lies?"

You ask yourself, who can restore the kind of law and order in our nation to allow it to go forward... that would be Donald Trump.

Bash tried again, focusing on the 'hostage' language, noting Scott was at the Capitol on January 6th, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, ready to defend himself "presumably until I died."  Would he now refer to the folks facing prosecution as hostages?

I would say that every single person facing our justice system should have justice done. The facts and the evidence in each individual case matters. I have confidence that that process will play out. Here's what I said also in the book that I wrote. I talked about January the 6th, because I'm one of the few people who was actually there with the people outside; 99 percent of the people who showed up were there to exercise their First Amendment rights. What I said then is what I will say now. I don't hold those people at harm. I don't hold them responsible for the actions of a few. I do hold the few responsible, no one else.  People have to be responsible for themselves.

Bash tried two more times to get a specific agreement that 'hostages' was the wrong term, but Scott only said, "We should have confidence in restoring the blindfold to Lady Justice." I'm not sure dressing Lady Justice as a blindfold-wearing hostage helps. 

Scott was asked if he was comfortable with Trump 'birthering' Nikki Haley, as he did Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, and who knows how many others. His answer is laughable. 

Well, I'm watching rhetoric on all sides of the issues facing becoming president. What I mean by that is, the rhetoric from Joe Biden is terrible, but it is -- and it's salacious.

Salacious? Really? I must have bigly missed something! Has Biden campaigned making comments that are "arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination?" That sounds a whole lot more like the House GOP (remember Hunter Biden's photos?) or Trump to me.

Nikki Haley questions whether 70-year-olds should be allowed to run for president. I think there is so much negativity and toxicity in this aim to becoming president again or for the first time that we should be very clear and look at both sides of the comments made. What I can tell you, the average voter is more interested in their future and their kids than they are the comments being thrown around by political candidates.

And, whether it's the man he sold his soul to endorsed or anyone else, 

Well, I would like for all politicians to comport themselves in a way that is consistent with the highest office.

But I'm happy to endorse the rudest, meanest, most belligerent, most violent, most openly dictatorial, most impressively indicted, most unlike me candidate I could find, instead of gracefully serving out my term and spending time with my bride-to-be. 

The last word on this goes to CNN's Amanda Carpenter, who was in the classroom for the interview.

I mean, I've just got to comment a bit on how Tim Scott has closed his race. That interview he conducted with you made me really sad. It was really hard to watch. I think you rarely see a person with his reputation, as an optimistic, charismatic leader, sully it in the way that he did in that interview...

See you around campus. 

TGIF 4/7/23

It's been nearly a month since I last posted.  Much has changed in my life in that time, and I'm struggling to find a reason to write, much less trying to figure out what to write about. It occurred to me, though, that writing about anything is almost certainly better for me than not writing at all.  

And so, it starts again.

Usually, I stay home while My Sweet Baboo makes the run to our favorite Lenten fish fry, but today I went with him to pick up our orders. I waited near the table where a gentleman was selling tickets for a couple of fundraisers. 

A man approached the table to get tickets, and the two struck up a conversation. I could only hear the ticket seller's part of it and was surprised when I clearly heard, "We've got to get rid of the damn liberals..."

I sat up a bit straighter, I did - and then I remembered where I was, and I remembered I was just there to get some fish and support the organization, and not to get into a fight while I waited, so I behaved - I didn't even laugh.

I did, however, think of a few things as I sat there. For example:

Get rid of the damn liberals, you say? 

It is not the damn liberals demanding that all children who want to participate in athletics must expose their genitals to a stranger.

It is not the damn liberals stripping parents of their rights to raise their children and get them age-appropriate medical care.

It is not the damn liberals having bounty hunters chase your wife, daughter, or sister around to find out when she had her last menstrual period.

It is not the damn liberals policing doctors instead of protecting schoolchildren.

It is not the damn liberals allowing teenagers to carry concealed handguns without a background check or training. 

It is not the damn liberals stripping people of their right to representation in state legislators. 

It is not the damn liberals threatening to impeach a judge who just won an election. 

It's not the damn liberals calling to defund the Justice Department, the FBI, or the IRS.

It's not the damn liberals calling for death and destruction in America, calling the US a third-world country, or pretending they are above the law. 

It's not the damn liberals saying and doing all of the above and proclaiming themselves to be patriotic Americans at the same time.  

It's not the damn liberals doing all of these things - it's the damn MAGA Republicans.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday 2/22/23

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

A pregnant woman, jailed while awaiting trial in Florida, is suing to be released because her unborn child is being illegally detained. When you think of it, she's right, isn't she? If her fetus has personhood under Florida law, how can it be imprisoned when it committed no crime? I have to wonder - did any legislators consider this type of consequence when they rushed to assign personhood to a fetus? 

GOP Congressional leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-You Kidding Me?) has suggested we need a national divorce, in which we'd "separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government." She's also suggested that folks from blue states who move to red states should wait five years before being allowed to vote in their new state. Greene sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability. I'll let you do your own wondering on this.

2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump, never one to shy away from the cameras, traveled to East Palestine, OH today. The town, the site of this month's chemical-carrying train derailment, was the perfect place for Trump to stand behind a podium with his fundraising banner pasted on the front and tell people he's having plenty of Trump-branded water delivered to them, along with water of "much lesser quality." I couldn't help wondering if he brought any bottles of his swamp water to throw into the crowd; it seems he forgot to do that.

Comically, on the national news tonight, an anchor said that the train derailment in East Palestine "had become political" with Trump's arrival. Why is that comical, you might be wondering? Maybe because the coverage on all the networks and cables has been about the politics of it: what FEMA is doing (or not); what the EPA is doing (or not); what the Transportation Department is doing (or not); what the mayor, governor, senators, and congresspeople asked for (or didn't); what Norfolk Southern, the owner of the train, offered (or didn't) and so on. Throw in the names of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and Trump, all once and possibly future presidential candidates, and the politics almost overshadow the derailment and the related health and safety issues it may have caused.

Oh - one more name we need to throw into the politically derailed derailment? Mike Pence. He can't stop talking about it including saying that the Biden economy "derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through...", He also said that he would have gone to East Palestine before he would go to Kyiv. If you're wondering, like I am, if Pence is running in 2024, the answer is yes. If you're wondering, like I was, whether Pence has visited Kyiv or East Palestine, the answer is no.

This last item?  I'm wondering how long it would take for the echo of right-wing screams to die down if Maddow had gotten the entire cache of the January 6th video. And I'm wondering, too, if the American people deserve to see what really happened, as the Congressional MAGAists have said, why the footage was exclusively given to a pundit, not a newsman. To a single network, not to every network. To Tucker Carlson, of all people.

What's on your wondering mind these days?

Sunday School 1/8/23

The Sunday School classrooms were full of House members: I counted three Ds and eight Rs - there may have been more.

We'll hear from three of them, starting with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who earned unanimous support from his caucus during the Speaker vote-a-rama. He stopped by the MTP classroom, where he said his concern with the 'dysfunction' of last week is that it's just the beginning. 

Holding Congress captive is one thing; it's something else entirely doing that to the American people. He said that "the extreme MAGA Republican agenda that apparently has been negotiated into the House rules" could jeopardize our "health, safety, and general well-being," and

(i)t may undermine national security and a robust defense, and undermine our ability to actually advance an agenda that is anchored in kitchen table, pocketbook issues and not extremism.

He's "going to extend the hand of partnership" to the Rs, and look for common ground whenever and wherever possible - but that can't be one-sided. 

We will oppose extremism, of course, whenever necessary. And there are Republicans who are interested in governing. And they're going to have to break from the extreme wings of their party at times around some important issues. And we'll see how that all unfolds.

He and McCarthy "have had some positive, forward-looking conversations" recently, and he hopes they can "agree to disagree without being disagreeable." That's similar to McCarthy's comments upon receiving the gavel. 

Finally, on the historical aspect of his leadership role, Jeffries said, in part, 

... I do think that it is another data point on the journey in America, which is we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people. And that means that folks from a working-class neighborhood in central Brooklyn like myself should have an opportunity to participate in American governance, particularly in the House of Representatives, which is the institution designed to be the closest to the people.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) - not one of the "MAGA Republicans" Jeffries mentioned - chatted with Jake Tapper on CNN's SOTU. 

He talked about last week's activities and his disagreement with the 'anti-Kevin' folks he referred to as 'terrorists.' He apologized anyone he offended, even as he was surprised at how sensitive they were. Crenshaw provided some transparency into why the rest of the caucus was upset.

...before we had taken a single vote in a conference with everyone there, Kevin McCarthy had asked one of the leaders of this group, what else do you want? Let's make this work. What else do you want? And they couldn't answer in that moment. And that was a real turning point for a lot of people. That was what created all of that animosity...

He also said there was no reason to keep voting throughout the week if they didn't have the agreement they wanted.  

There was no reason for us to keep voting... keep allowing these speeches that just degraded and diminished and insulted Kevin McCarthy. We didn't have to keep doing that. We could have just adjourned for the whole week and just kept negotiating...  And it seemed very, very pointless.

Based on what he knows, Crenshaw agrees with the upcoming rules changes, and said no matter what people might thing, there's not a lot of disagreement on them. He said the changes to start with a budget and build the 12 appropriation bills from there is the right way to do it. He also agrees with members being able to bring amendments to the floor. The process will be "messy. It will be time-consuming..." but it will make all members feel as if their voice matters. 

Now, let's hear from Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA); he talked with George on This Week, and said all the shenanigans last week were about power for the American people. 

You know, the American people are very, very tired of this gang of seven, gang of eight, literally seven or eight people, or just a few people in Washington, DC, running all of the policy for the American people. So, when we had a framework of an agreement where the American people can be in charge, when their representatives can actually bring amendments to the floor in good faith, I said, sure, if we can do that, then I'm all in.

What else was included in the "framework of an agreement" they worked out? Accountability, and a budget "that doesn't just continually increase spending," and "single-subject bills."

George, the American people, among other things, are tired of these Christmas tree bills with all these ornaments on them coming for -- in the middle of night, 4,000 pages, $1.7 trillion, 7,200 earmarks. Everything works perfectly for Washington, D.C., but there’s no presents under the tree for the American people... restraining those things and getting those things in order, it's an entire package. It’s not just one thing.  

I'm not sure who he thinks those 7.200 earmarks are for - are they just to keep Perry and the rest of them getting elected?

He said they want a debt limit that works to limit our debt; "(w)e can't just keep doing the same thing under the same conditions with the same management and expect different outcomes." Perry said since he's been in Congress - ten years now - the debt has doubled from around $15T to $31.5T. 

Finally, Perry doesn't think he should have to forego participating on a committee to "investigate the investigations," as George called it, simply because he's part of the investigation into the insurrection. He asked 

why should anybody be limited just because someone has made an accusation? Everybody in America is innocent until proven otherwise. And I would say this, the American people are really, really tired of the persecution and the instruments of federal power being used against them...

I'm suddenly feeling very sleepy, after listening to Perry tell me how exhausted I am. 

See you around campus. 

Sunday School 9/11/22

For your Sunday School, I'm going to noodle around in the Meet the Press classroom. What's-his-name (WHN) interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris in Houston last week, and played many clips from the interview today. 

WHN started the interview talking about how our focus "has had to shift from foreign terror to the threat from within." Harris spoke of how we were able to "hold our heads up as a defender and an example of a great democracy," and how we held ourselves up as a "role model." 

So, you look at everything from the fact that there are eleven people right now running for secretary of state, the keepers of the integrity of the voting system of their state, who are election deniers...  you couple that with people who hold some of the highest elected office in our country who refuse to condemn an insurrection on January 6th. And I think what it sends is a signal that causes people to question, “Hey, is America still valuing what they talk about?”

She said she's "very concerned" that thing like this "allow people to call into question our commitment to the principles of "what is right, what is good, what should be fought for, what should be human ideals, and certainly, the ideals of democracies... And that's a shame."

Harris said she finds "interesting" polling showing that 70% of Rs don't believe she and Biden "won the 2020 election legitimately." She's not experiencing that when she's out meeting and talking to people, which prompted WHN to ask, "do you think you talk to a lot of Republicans...?" In response, she said, "Well, I think I talk to a lot of Americans," about infrastructure, access to high-speed internet, and about choice - in particular, she mentioned the overwhelming rejection of government interference in Kansas. 

In response to his question, "what is a semi-fascist?" Harris spoke about it not being helpful when people deny elections or obstruct "the outcome of an election with the largest number of voters ever for a presidential candidate.

And when we look at where we are, I think that we have to admit that there are attacks from within, to your first question. And we need to take it seriously. And we need to stand up together, all of us, and think of this not through a partisan lens but as Americans.

WHN wondered if it was "hard to do both," calling out the obstruction and election denying and at the same time try to unite people, Harris pointed to Biden's long record of bipartisanship, and that he's been criticized for that during his career.

But there are moments in time when we have to also agree, all good people who care about our country, that there are those who right now are vividly not defending our democracy. And I think we want that our Commander-in-Chief, that the president of the United States will speak up and raise the alarm about what this means to our strength and our future, much less our integrity.

Another 'all pundits ask it' question was about Dems helping support MAGA Republicans in their primaries, even when Biden is talking about "good Republicans" and how they're not like the MAGA variety. WHN wondered if the Democratic Party was making a mistake. Harris said it wasn't up to her to tell people how to run their campaigns, and like pretty much all the administration Dems, refused to say whether it reflected badly on the party. Her focus is on "a midterm election in which so much is on the line." 

Our president has said he will not let the filibuster get in the way. If the Senate, through a majority vote, votes to pass the Women's Health Protection Act, he will sign it into law. You know what that means in the midterms? We need to hold on to the Senate and get two more. And then we can put into law the protections of Roe v. Wade. Everything is on the line when you think about the millions of women and people in America who care about them, who understand the significance of protecting a woman's right to make decisions about her own body instead of her government telling her what to do.

WHN asked if she was comfortable making changes to the filibuster for voting rights and a woman's right to choose "could end the legislative filibuster for good."  Her response?

No, I’m not. No, I'm not.

She thinks it could be set aside for these issues and still be in place for other issues, saying "that is very likely, yes."

The last section of this part of the interview was about the Former Guy, and about the certification of the next election. WHN asked how much Trump's being both a past president and a potential presidential candidate should "factor into the decision to charge him?" Harris said she "wouldn't dare tell" the DOJ what to do. She also reiterated that the current administration,

unlike the previous administration, have been very, very careful to make sure that there is no question about any kind of interference in terms of the decisions that the Department of Justice makes in that regard.

And, her opinion on "the argument that it would be too divisive for the country to prosecute a former president?"

I think that our country is a country that has gone through different periods of time, where the unthinkable has happened, and where there has been a call for justice, and justice has been served. And I think that's potentially going to always be the case in our country, that people are going to demand justice and they rightly do.

Next, WHN asked if Harris had contemplated any scenarios that might happen on January 6, 2025. She first said, "Not at all," but then said

No. I mean, well, listen, what have I thought about? I have thought about the fact that, right now, we have an election in less than two months. And if we're going to look at timelines, that's one of the most immediate timelines that I'm looking at.

Yeah, but... he asked if she'd thought about how she'd "handle a certification that did not reflect the outcome of the popular vote in the state?" 

I haven't gotten to that point yet. I have to believe that the United States Congress and all the people who have taken an oath to defend our democracy will ensure and will stand up against anyone who tries to destroy or circumvent the rules and the practices and procedures that we've had in place that have allowed a peaceful transfer of power since the inception of our nation and the founding of our nation. And getting back to the ultimate point, that is – that is what we're talking about when we think about January 6th. We have always had a peaceful transfer of power in our nation, no matter our differences, no matter how bloody-knuckled we've been in campaigns. 

And we can't say that now, WHN pointed out.

Well, certainly, we were on the verge of having a very different outcome. And the injury was still an injury for which we still are experiencing the wound. 

I'll have more from the interview for your Extra Credit. 

See you around campus. 

In Case You Missed It (v106)

Last week's posts kicked off with your Sunday School lesson. We were in ABC's 'This Week' classroom with Martha Raddatz, who spoke with Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior advisor to President Biden.  

Most of the conversation was about Biden's Independence Hall address (which none of the broadcast networks carried live), and unity, and division. Here's a snippet of the interview.

Raddatz wondered "How has President Biden bridged the divide? What has he done really to unify this country?" She pointed to a Quinnipiac poll showing that 69% of Democrats and Republicans believe democracy is in danger of collapse, but the Republicans blame Joe Biden and the Democrats blame Donald Trump, and said, "Again, how has Joe Biden helped bridge that divide?"

I had some thoughts on that, as you might imagine; Bottoms gave hers, as well. 

Bottoms spoke of Biden's bipartisanship in passing gun legislation as one example, but reiterated the point of his remarks. 

But it’s also going to take for all of us to stand up to hatred and what the president again continues to say it’s this MAGA agenda. The president has not called out all Republicans. He’s been very specific about this MAGA agenda. And I’ll just remind you the words from Martin Luther King Jr., when he said that it’s not the words of our enemies that we will remember, it’s the silence of our friends. And what the president has said is that mainstream Republicans, Independents, Democrats can all come together. We’ve seen us come together to do what’s right on behalf of the American people. But if people are silent, then the very core of who we are as a country is in danger.

I didn't give Raddatz a whole lotta love for the interview, but 

One thing I will give Raddatz credit for was asking about Dems paying for ads in the primaries that work in favor of MAGA Republicans. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, head of the DCCC, defends it, and the Democratic Governors Association apparently does, too.

In my opinion, it's dumb, and they shouldn't do it. She did say "tens of millions of Democratic groups who have spent money" but I'm pretty sure the meant "Democratic groups which have spent tens of millions of dollars." Bottoms didn't have a good answer for that - maybe because there isn't one.  

It was an odd interview, so much so that I addressed part of it in a Sidebar post that also came out on Sunday. 

Raddatz mentioned an organization, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, when she asked Bottoms about an increase in online hate speech, with lots of comments about how Biden attacked all conservatives and all Republicans, which he specifically did not do, of course. 

I was surprised, though, when I checked the ISD website for the info Raddatz mentioned; there was a blurb about Raddatz saying ISD said there was a surge, but I didn't find anything else about it.

I did, however, find a great deal of information using 'Donald Trump' and 'MAGA' as search keywords.

The ISD has posted about 2020 election violence, and the Big Lie and how it's still a threat, and Dark MAGA and the concerns about the 2024 election. They've talked about how Trump fails to convince his followers  to stop their nonsense, and about QAnon, and Facebook, and more.  I included several links in the post for your reading pleasure.

The general theme of it all? Exactly what President Biden was talking about in his remarks - which make Raddatz's line of questioning even stranger - or even more calculated. 

For your Extra Credit, I listened in on the discussion in the State of the Union classroom, where Dana Bash talked with FEMA Director Deanne Criswell. 

Criswell's in a tough spot, and I felt her answers were mostly about not roiling the waters or stepping on anyone's toes.  About her visit to Jackson, the Mississippi state capital,

She said that FEMA was focused on supporting the state's Emergency Management Agency

...with bringing in safe drinking water, bottled water, supporting their operations, but, more importantly, bringing in our federal partners that can really understand what it's going to take to bring this plant back to full operational capacity.

There was more of that kind of bureaucratic speak,  about "assessments" and things happening "in phases" and the "longer-term and the midterm" and having "a lot more to learn..." 

Eventually, after all of the 'non-answers, Bash said what I've been thinking all along.

It's just I'm listening to you, and I'm sure our viewers are listening and thinking, this is 2022. This is a state capital in the United States of America...a city of more than 150,000 people, without running water for nearly a week. And now, as you're saying, not only are they without safe drinking water, you don't have a timeline for when they're going to have that restored. Americans are lining up for hours in the heat just to get the bottles of water you're talking about. Who's to blame for this?

I included some of the history on the water crisis in Jackson in the post. The one thing that's clear? We are long past the point where governmental gobbledygook is going to solve the problem. 

Your Wondering on Wednesday didn't drop until Thursday morning, due to technical difficulties reporting from my secure undisclosed location, but the wondering hasn't stopped. 

On a more serious note, I'm shaking my head at the thought of the WaPo story that "a document describing a foreign government's military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities" was found in the mess of government property found at Mar-a-Lago. And I can't help wondering what kind of damage this information is going to do to our relationships around the world, regardless of which of country's information it was. Research has shown that our standing in the world was diminished during the Trump administration, but it rebounded quickly after Biden's inauguration; who knows what this will do.

Other wondering was on politicians who run for office but are afraid to debate their opponents. It's both Rs and Ds who are backing away from the traditional face-to-face discussions with their opponents, and I think it's dumb. 

In the post, I talked about Georgia, and Arizona, and Pennsylvania, and yes, New York, noting that

I share the opinion of Phil Boas, who opined

Katie Hobbs should debate. 

She should stick to the issues. Leave the theatrics to her opponent. Paint her vision for Arizona. 

Otherwise, why is she here? 

This is a contest of ideas, and in elections, debate is one of the ways in which we compete. You don’t have to match glib witticisms with your opponent, you can stand as a foil to her erratic ideals and ravings.

Finally, since last week was the first week of school for much of the country, I shared a post on Presidents Speaking to Kids as a #tbt entry. Back when President Obama was in office, there was a lot of concern (from folks who are now, most likely, part of the extreme MAGA folks Biden spoke of) about Obama talking to schoolchildren, which is a presidential tradition. 

The concern? He'd indoctrinate them on black power, or Muslim power, or some other sin that Blacks with funny names would, of course, do to our beautiful little white children, or something like that. I share comments from past presidents, including Ronald Reagan, who chose indoctrination of the white, Christian variety. 

My approach to all of that?

So much for indoctrination. Here's a quiz. The statements below came from either President George Herbert Walker Bush or President Barack Obama. Can you tell which comments belong to which President?

I offered five pairs of comments; can you tell which president made each of them? Give it a try and let me know how you did!

On tap later? What's-his-name's interview with VP Kamala Harris, and cleaning up my drafts folder (again).

Sidebar: Sunday School 9/4/22

Martha Raddatz led the discussion in ABC's 'This Week' Sunday School classroom. During her interview with Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior advisor to President Biden, she mentioned an organization I'd never heard of - the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 

Regular readers know I can't help myself when this happens - I have to do some research. According to the About page on the organization's website, 

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding human rights and reversing the tide of polarization, extremism and disinformation worldwide. 

And, it's been around for a decade-and-a-half, with headquarters in London and folks in DC, Germany, Jordan, Kenya, and France. 

Since 2006, ISD has been at the forefront of analysing and responding to extremism in all its forms. Our global team of researchers, digital analysts, policy experts, frontline practitioners, technologists and activists have kept ISD’s work systematically ahead of the curve on this fast-evolving set of threats. We have innovated and scaled sector-leading policy and operational programmes – on- and offline – to push back the forces threatening democracy and cohesion around the world today.

Aa a result of its efforts, the website says

Thousands of white supremacist, Islamist and covert disinformation Twitter accounts, Telegram channels and Facebook pages, groups and accounts have been removed as a result of ISD’s digital analysis and advocacy.

Here's how the ISD was brought up in the classroom on Sunday. When asked how Biden's speech was "unifying," Bottoms said, in part, 

So, the president spoke optimistically about who we are as Americans. We are the greatest nation in the world. But also, a reminder that we have to be intentional about being the greatest nation in the world and that we have to call out hatred. We have to call out this balance and that if we don’t, our democracy is in danger.

And Raddatz responded

Whatever you said, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks hate speech, said after the Biden speech, there was a surge online in conversations that said Biden’s remarks singling out MAGA Republicans were interpreted as a declaration of war against conservatives and all the Trump voters.

Now, given the organization's focus on hate speech, disinformation and the like, I'm not at all surprised they'd see an uptick, are you?

I was surprised, though, when I checked the ISD website for the info Raddatz mentioned; there was a blurb about Raddatz saying ISD said there was a surge, but I didn't find anything else about it.

I did, however, find a great deal of information using 'Donald Trump' and 'MAGA' as search keywords. Here's some of what the ISD folks have posted. 

• Gunman who tried entering FBI's Cincinnati office is a suspected 'extremist'
• Why did the January 6 rioters plot in plain sight?
• Conspiracies build communities as Trump supporters claim false flag
• Trump leans on Dutch farmers protest against climate measures to rally US base: "You're Next"
• Trump's post-Jan 6 Speech Fails to Convince MAGA nation to concede
• All I know is What's on The Internet: Trump Conspiracy and Extremism
• How the Big Lie conspiracy continues to threaten US democracy
• Narratives of Violence around the 2020 Presidential Election
• The Dominion Voting Systems Election Narrative: Beginnings
• The Dominion Voting Systems Election Narrative: Going Viral
• Dark MAGA: The Latest Cycle in the Far-Right Aesthetics Laundromat
• Trumpists coming together behind 'Dark MAGA' in preparation for 2024
• The Long Road to the Capitol: A Constellation of Actors
• The Boom Before the Ban: QAnon and Facebook
• Online Reactions of the Far-Right to the Far-Left
• Why Voter Fraud Narratives Remain Persistent

Even an article on Canadian right-wing extremism mentions, more than once, Donald Trump and US right-wing extremism.

It's fine if Raddatz wants to quote outside organizations - she also mentioned a Quinnipiac poll, which I'll look at later this week. I just wish she had been more thoughtful about it.

• Either she knew that ISD's data and analysis supported Biden's point about Donald Trump and his right-wing extremist followers and chose to ignore that, or she didn't bother to check.
• Either she knew that Biden's speech specifically didn't attack all conservatives and all Republican voters and chose to ignore that, or she didn't bother to check.

Unless, of course, she was looking for the soundbite that would get trending on social media? 

And blaming Biden for inspiring right-wingers to go nuts online is pretty silly, isn't it? I mean, it's not like they need the current president to inspire them; they've got the former president doing that all day long on his Truth Social platform. 

I'm pretty sure they don't need any extra help from Martha Raddatz.

Sunday School 9/4/22

We're back in the This Week classroom for part of your Sunday School. Martha Raddatz hosted Keisha Lance Bottoms, senior advisor to President Biden in an interview that, in my opinion, went off the rails pretty quickly.

She started with Biden's Independence Hall speech and how the White House said it would be "optimistic" and "was about bringing people together," but pointed to Biden saying "President Trump's MAGA supporters are a danger to democracy" and wondered how that was "unifying."

Now, just for clarification, if you search Biden's speech, the word 'danger' appears three times. 

The first time was when Biden quoted someone else, which seems the most likely instance Raddatz was referring to: 

That’s why respected conservatives, like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig, has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans, quote, a ‘clear and present danger’ to our democracy.

The second was when he talked about "we, the people" not getting torn apart: 

We, the people, will not let anyone or anything tear us apart. Today, there are dangers around us we cannot allow to prevail. We hear -- you’ve heard it -- more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country. It’s not. It can never be an acceptable tool.

And the third was when he spoke more directly about" public figures," MAGA Republicans prominent among them, and political violence: 

On top of that, there are public figures -- today, yesterday, and the day before -- predicting and all but calling for mass violence and rioting in the streets. This is inflammatory. It’s dangerous. It’s against the rule of law. And we, the people, must say: This is not who we are. 

Shall we forgive Raddatz her lack of specificity? 

Bottoms said Biden "reminded the American people who we are as a country," a democracy "built on the rule of law," "that values the peaceful transition of power," and "that values the right of people to go and vote safely and in peace."  He reminded us that "democracies are fragile," and

if we are not intentional about preserving who we are as a country, if we are not intentional about reminding ourselves that there is a rule of law in this country, then we will be in danger. So, the president spoke optimistically about who we are as Americans. We are the greatest nation in the world. But also, a reminder that we have to be intentional about being the greatest nation in the world and that we have to call out hatred. We have to call out this balance and that if we don’t, our democracy is in danger.

Here's Raddatz, totally dismissing the response to her first question.

Whatever you said, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks hate speech, said after the Biden speech, there was a surge online in conversations that said Biden’s remarks singling out MAGA Republicans were interpreted as a declaration of war against conservatives and all the Trump voters.

Really? "Whatever you said..." That's how Raddatz wants to run the interview? Wow. To her credit, Bottoms gave an answer I support.

Well, what I would say to that is that this is what this MAGA agenda has been all about. It’s been about distorting the truth. It’s been about misleading people. It’s been about putting out information that inflames people. And I just encourage people, go to The White House website, WhiteHouse.gov, and read the speech for yourself. I’ve read it multiple times and what I see in the speech, I see words of encouragement. I see optimism. I see a commander-in-chief who was calling out to all of us, no matter our political affiliation.

That brought this question. 

"All of us?" He wasn’t calling out to the MAGA supporters certainly. He mentioned them more than a dozen times and -- as a threat to democracy. Has the president essentially given up on those MAGA Republicans, some 70 million people?

All I can do is sigh. Really loudly, really annoyedly, really frustratingly, sigh. 

Because everyone knows - everyone who hasn't had their head in the sand, or someplace else, since late 2018 or early 2019, at least - knows that there are millions of people who voted for Trump who are not 'MAGA' supporters, at all. They are the disaffected, 'let's try something different' folks who were tired of the same old, same old, who were willing to take a chance on an allegedly successful businessman, who were willing to look past the bluster, and hope that, in conjunction with a reasonable Congress, things they were unhappy with could change. 

These are the people that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke about. And they're the people Joe Biden talked about, too. Here's just one example, for the folks in a booth in the corner in the dark in the back - and for Raddatz.

Now, I want to be very clear -- very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. 

And Bottoms pointed out that Biden has, and will, work with anyone and everyone - Rs, Ds, Is - "to get things done in our country." She didn't say it, but she could have said that the "MAGA Republican agenda doesn't include working with anyone across the aisle," and we have ample proof of that:

• Peaceful transition of power ring a bell? 147 Republicans voted against that. 
• Infrastructure? Only 13 Republicans voted for that; many more have taken credit for it.
• Doing something to ease the baby formula shortage? 192 Republicans voted against that.
• Insulin price controls? 193 voted against that. 
• Build Back Better? All House Rs voted against that. 

Is that Biden's fault? Is it solely the GOP's fault? Is it solely the Dem's fault? 

Raddatz wondered "How has President Biden bridged the divide? What has he done really to unify this country?" She pointed to a Quinnipiac poll showing that 69% of Democrats and Republicans believe democracy is in danger of collapse, but the Republicans blame Joe Biden and the Democrats blame Donald Trump, and said, "Again, how has Joe Biden helped bridge that divide?"

I could be wrong, but I believe we elected a president in 2020, not a miracle worker. Biden can try all he wants, but there's also accountability on the other side to do something other than say that Biden's speech was not unifying (as did many MAGA Republicans on social media), or to vote against everything that Biden puts forth as an agenda item, particularly when a plurality, if not an actual majority of Americans at least theoretically support much of the Dem's agenda; polling has shown this to be the case for several years, the decisions of our elected officials notwithstanding.

 
Bottoms spoke of Biden's bipartisanship in passing gun legislation as one example, but reiterated the point of his remarks. 

But it’s also going to take for all of us to stand up to hatred and what the president again continues to say it’s this MAGA agenda. The president has not called out all Republicans. He’s been very specific about this MAGA agenda. And I’ll just remind you the words from Martin Luther King Jr., when he said that it’s not the words of our enemies that we will remember, it’s the silence of our friends. And what the president has said is that mainstream Republicans, Independents, Democrats can all come together. We’ve seen us come together to do what’s right on behalf of the American people. But if people are silent, then the very core of who we are as a country is in danger.

I don't see that as being difficult to understand, do you? Unity is not forged in one hand, in one party, in one set of policies. It's like a tango - it takes two.

One thing I will give Raddatz credit for was asking about Dems paying for ads in the primaries that work in favor of MAGA Republicans. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, head of the DCCC, defends it, and the Democratic Governors Association apparently does, too.

In my opinion, it's dumb, and they shouldn't do it. She did say "tens of millions of Democratic groups who have spent money" but I'm pretty sure the meant "Democratic groups which have spent tens of millions of dollars." Bottoms didn't have a good answer for that - maybe because there isn't one. 

Please, read Biden's speech. You don't have to agree with him, but you should at least know what he said, and the context of his remarks. The punditry would prefer you don't educate yourselves, but I respect you more than they do.

See you around campus.