Free-flowing White House Verse

Sure, there's lots of construction noise, and construction lawsuit noise, and some destruction of construction that was underway but didn't meet the Builder-in-Chief's vision, but even with all of that,  there was still plenty of arguing and yelling and ketchup-squishing noise that made it out into the public realm. 

I won't reveal my sources for this; let's just say they're very well-placed, like a good microphone or something. I might write a book, but first I'd probably need to officially be a reporter for the Fake News, to bump up my viewership.

The (alleged) words of the FOTUS are easily identifiable. Others (allegedly) involved? Secretaries Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Scott Bessent; Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg; and yours truly. Let the free verse fly, like the American Flag over Greenland!

Talk Like Nobody's Listening (or yell, if you want)

We need more munitions! The Biden and Obama administrations depleted our reserves!

We need more munitions! The Biden administration gave all our weapons to Ukraine! I will end the war in Ukraine on Day One! I will win the Nobel Prize – maybe two, and Obama only has one!

We're fighting Iran because Israel said they were going in, and if we didn’t go with them, we’d look weak, and the world would be a more dangerous place!

We’re fighting Iran because it is TWO WEEKS AWAY from having ‘the nuclear’ and we can’t let that happen! We are winning the war! We have won the war! We will win the war!  We are winning the war! We are playing 5-D chess; they are playing ‘Fast and Furious’ with the ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST, and we won’t let that happen! The Bored of Peace will act swiftly, on my order to Jared, to end all the hostilities and develop plans for MULTIPLE Gold Coast Rivieras on the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of America, and the Gulf Station in Winthrop, MA – they are ALL ripe for development!

We need more money from Congress because we are almost out of munitions!

We’re out of munitions because I’ve been ending wars around the globe, including in Gaza, Venezuela, Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, the FIFA Soccer War, the Mulch War - that was BRUTAL but my Skid Steer of Peace has fixed that – we BURIED the opponent and Four Seasons Total Landscaping was declared the victor, by a pile! – and PakIndiaStan, where my tariffs stopped that war cold! NOBEL! NOBEL! NOBEL!

Holy crap, we have fewer munitions in the stockpile than we have barrels of oil in the strategic reserve – the Biden and Obama administrations were completely irresponsible!

Munitions are flowing in from all over the place to the US, where we do NOT have a munitions shortage!

Hi, Congress? It’s me, Pete - the Secretary of War, Tattoos, and Testosterone... we need way more manly dollars to make way more manly munitions. I'm in trouble here; can you help a guy out?

WE ARE NOT ALMOST OUT OF MUNITIONS – WE HAVE MANY MORE MUNITIONS THAN ANYONE ELSE, MORE MUNITIONS THAN ANY COUNTRY IN HISTORY! ANYONE SAYING WE ARE OUT OF MUNITIONS IS A COMMUNIST TRAITOR WHO DESERVES THE ULTIMATE PENALTY! KASH PATEL IS OFFERING A $50,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF THESE EVIL AMERICA-HATING DUMOCRATS!

We have directed munitions companies to tell us, within 21 days, how the hell they’re going to start delivering way more munitions way more faster than they ever dreamed they could, and how the hell they’re going to expand manufacturing facilities here in the US and hire American workers to make them, and oh, by the way, you can undocumented workers who will work for way less and save us money so we can afford to pay you for the munitions; we’ll tax the crap out of them, not fine you for hiring them, and deport them after we have the munitions we need to solve the shortage we don't have.

WE DO NOT HAVE A MUNITIONS SHORTAGE! THE REFLECTION POND WAS VANDALIZED! JEANNINE PIRRO FOLDED LIKE A COCKTAIL UMBRELLA! I HAVE ORDERED KASH PATEL TO OFFER A $50,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION PROVING JEANNINE PIRRO IS A LYING, TRAITOROUS DUMOCRAT!!

We expect the Strait of Hormuz to be fully open by Tuesday or Wednesday of last week, maybe by Friday. I’ll have a market-roiling update for you on the status by yesterday, in time for tomorrow’s market opening. And just like K-cars, the K-shaped economy is over – that should help manipulate things nicely, don’t you think?

FAKE NEWS!!! HER EMAILS!!! RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA!!! IT’S ALL FAKE NEWS! COMEY AND MARK KELLY ARE TRAITORS!!! SLEEPY JOE IS A TRAITOR!!! I WANT MY BALLROOM AND I WANT IT NOW!!!

Wondering on Wednesday 5/13/26

 

What's on my wondering mind tonight? Here's a sampling:

The Trump International Hotel and Tower planned for Australia's Gold Coast is a no-go, according to multiple sources. What happened to the ~$1.09B deal depends on who you ask. The Aussie developer is blaming the 'toxicity' of the Trump name, while folks who bear that name are saying the developer didn't meet the contract terms. 

Both things seem plausible, and I wonder how many other projects tentatively on the docket might not go forward? The FOTUS (yeah, I know, 'he's not involved in day-to-day operations of the company,' or so they say) continues to display progressively more petulant, aggressive, and narcissistic tendencies, and I suspect there's a point at which some folks will pull a Nike and just say no...

Speaking of the FOTUS and his tendencies, I have to wonder if anyone in his administration is supposed to be playing the role of the adult in the room? Someone really should be, given this recap of his social media activity in the hours before he was to leave for China. Some of his posts were just plain crazy, like one from a fake JFK Jr. account about Barack Obama bugging Trump Tower, apparently not realizing, or caring, that Kennedy died several years before Obama's rise to national prominence. Others? Obama made $120M off the Obamacare name; Sen. Mark Kelly must resign; he own team is not doing enough to punish his enemies, and more. 

Speaking of his China trip, among his entourage are a trillion dollars' worth of CEOs, a trio of Cabinet Secretaries (Rubio, Hegseth, and Bessent), Eric and Lara Trump, and Brett Ratner, the guy who directed the Melania movie, who was accused in 2017 by multiple women of sexual harassment. I don't know about you, but I can't help wondering what value Ratner will bring to the trip. Maybe it's just a chance for him to pitch a movie to China's first lady?

What else... Oh, how could I forget? The FOTUS, you'll remember, sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10B (that's two-thirds of the agency's total budget!) because it failed to protect his privacy when years of his tax returns were stolen, and juicy parts were published, like the fact that for several years, he paid no federal income tax. Last month, the judge in the case raised concerns about how 'adversarial' the parties are, given that the president pretty much controls the whole show. With briefs due on May 20th and a hearing scheduled for May 27th, there are reportedly discussions about settling the case before the judge's concerns are even addressed. Shocking, I know.

Among the options allegedly being tossed around? Dropping the audits against Trump, his sons, and his companies...the same audits that 'prevented' him from disclosing his taxes to the American people, as most major-party candidates have done for the past several decades. Now, if you're wondering what I'm wondering about on this one, it's this: would the FOTUS accept just the dropping of the audits, or would he demand a financial payment, too? If he demanded a payment, would he donate it to charity, as he's promised all along, or would he pocket it along with all the other money he's grifting from us? 

Drop a comment if there's something you're wondering about; there's always more than I can fit into a single post.

Breaking Fake News Update (v20)

Fake News Broke on September 19, 2025!

It seems we're going to be in for a continuing bumpy ride with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting in the coming weeks or months. Well, truth be told, it's already a bumpy ride there, as the FOTUS told us the numbers we'd received this week were bad and he fired a BLS official, or the fault of the Federal Reserve, and that we have to wait a year for the good numbers. And now, we have new concerns that have led to today's fake news update.

Since the shocking murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk - just the latest episode of political violence in the US - there's been a concerted effort on the part of the FOTUS and his administration (JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi, and others), Republican elected officials, talking heads (including Miller's wife), and just regular Joes to root out so-called 'haters' of Kirk and 'celebrators' of his murder, and get them fired for comments they made primarily, but not exclusively, on their personal social media pages. 

Between the folks doing the doxxing and those getting doxxed, there's lots of lost productivity, fewer people in the workforce, and a potential for the unemployment rate to increase.

Educators, reporters, editors, analysts, moms and dads, government employees, employees of private companies, comedians, medical professionals - pretty much across the board, folks are being doxxed and blasted for ALLEGEDLY making negative comments. Some clearly did, according to reports. But others? Not so much. People are being investigated, disciplined, or fired simply for quoting Charlie Kirk's own words. A favorite? His comment about some gun deaths being OK to protect the Second Amendment.

And it goes further than that - tourists may be refused entry to the US; a Congressman has suggested anyone who speaks ill of Kirk's death be banned from all social media platforms, and that media companies can be shut down if they don't comply. 

It's out of control, folks, it truly is. Again, there's no question some people have reacted with joy at Kirk's death, as is their right. Many others, though, have merely expressed an opinion that's not to the liking of the powers-that-be. I have no idea when this will stop; it likely won't until everyone in the universe who is not celebrating the life of Charlie Kirk or mourning his death in a manner deemed appropriate by folks who haven't issued any guidelines on what exactly we're allowed to think or say about this issue.  

Honestly? it's a #goodthingimretiredtheycantgetmefired

Who knows how many will lose their jobs, and who knows what kind of celebration will be hosted at the White House when the scope of this effort is realized? I suspect we won't know that until next year, when the "good numbers" are issued.

In the meantime, when fake news breaks, we'll have it here. 

Wondering on Wednesday 11/13/24

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

It's been a while since I've published my mid-week Wonderings, but today seems like as good a time as any to get back in the saddle. Let's dive in!

Our once and future president (OAFP) visited the White House today to shake hands with President Joe Biden. Current presidents welcoming incoming presidents is all about putting our best feet forward and letting the country know there'll be a smooth transition between administrations. 

I don't wonder, at all, why Biden invited the guy to stop by, even though he was denied the same courtesy four years ago. After all, one of these men is a decent human being, and the other threw paper towels to hurricane victims he didn't even know were Americans. 

Why the OAFP showed up is open to question. I doubt he cares about the transition; I'm sure it was for the cameras, and nothing else. I wonder if we'll see him selling trading cards of him standing over Biden during their handshake. 

Speaking of a smooth transition, Congress passed The Presidential Transition Enhancement Act a while back; the law requires the Democrat and Republican nominees to submit, no later than October 1st of a presidential election year, Memorandums of Understanding with the government related to transition activities, including 

(1) ...an agreement that the eligible candidate will implement and enforce an ethics plan to guide the conduct of the transition beginning on the date on which the eligible candidate becomes the President-elect.

47's team has yet to sign the overdue documents, so while the OAFP is busy lining up his minions, no official transition stuff can happen. If you're wondering what the holdup is, reports point to the ethics requirements. Shocked? I didn't think so. 

Speaking of minions, the joke is he doesn't have a Cabinet, he has a junk drawer, so there's no wonder it's shaping up to be a doozy:

• NY Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been tapped to be the next Ambassador to the United Nations.  She's not known for her reasonable, even-tempered demeanor, and she's made a name for herself in two ways: her unwavering attacks on anyone who speaks ill of Israel and/or supports Palestinians, and for sucking up to Trump. 

• Another New Yorker, former Congressman Lee Zeldin, has been tapped to head the Environmental Protection Agency. His most notable qualification for this role, it seems, is his 14% approval rating from the League of Conservation Voters. 

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is Trump's pick for Ambassador to Isreal. The first non-Jew to be chosen for this role, he believes that there's no such thing as 'the West Bank' and said that "of course" the annexation of that land is a possibility under the new administration.

• Fox News host (and husband of another Fox News host) Pete Hegseth has been picked to be the new Secretary of Defense. Now, he's not completely without qualification for the role - he is a veteran, after all. And he's got more than a passing familiarity with weapons of war, like these aromatic grenades.  How much of a shock was this, you might be wondering? Well, even his cohost was stunned. 

• Ethically challenged Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has just been picked to be the Attorney General. This is so absurd, the only thing I'm wondering is if Rep. Jim Jordan turned it down first. 

• Also joining the administration from Florida are Secretary of State pick Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Waltz, who's been chosen to be National Security Advisor.

• And moments ago, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who's also a former Democrat and a big friend of Russia, was tapped to be the Director of National Security.  

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.  If this first round of appointments is indicative of what's to come, I can't help wondering whether our allies are laughing or crying right now.

On the plus side? Most of these appointments will require the advice and consent of the Senate. But there's a catch here, that the OAFP is already lobbying for: recess appointments. Given the Rs are now in control of the Senate,  it seems unnecessary - and contrary to the principle of the Legislative branch being separate from but equal to the Executive.

Other presidents have used this mechanism to get stalled appointments through, but the OAFP seems to be plotting to have this be the rule, not the exception, even demanding that whoever became the new Senate Majority Leader had to agree to this foolishness.  I wonder if all the voters who thought they were electing someone who 'believed in the Constitution' had any idea who they really voted for? 

Speaking of the Senate Majority Leader, say hello to Sen. John Thune, the gentleman from South Dakota. He might be the most reasonable announcement of the day.

What's got you wondering these days?

Sunday School 3/24/24

For this week's Sunday School, we've got Jon Karl and Sen. Marco Rubio (R- The 'Normal' Florida Man) in the This Week classroom. Here are highlights of their conversation, starting with the Israel-Hamas war.

Rubio says he continues to "do everything" he can to keep US support for Israel from becoming a partisan issue; he does that by suggesting President Biden's foreign policy decisions are colored by his worrying "about losing Minnesota and Michigan," and the pressure "from the pro-Hamas wing" of the party.

I think he's trying to have it both ways, still stick with Israel to some extent, but also do things that signal to these people and try to appease them... 

He disagrees with Trump's statement that "Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed."  He tried to talk his way through all of the ways someone can think about Israel, Netanyahu, and being Jewish, but it didn't really work. In the end, he said this is "an existential battle," and that "anyone who doesn't understand that is, frankly, whether they know it or not, an enemy of Israel." 

Next topic? The vice-presidency. Rubio says anyone in public service "should be honored by the opportunity" to be the VP, and he made it clear he's not talked with Trump, anybody on his team, any family members, or anyone in his inner circle, and that Trump "has plenty of really good people to pick from."

Karl said he asked because well, you know, the "hang Mike Pence" stuff. Rubio's response?

I will tell you this, that when Donald Trump was president of the United States, this country was safer. It was more prosperous. We had -- we had relations, for example, in a part of the world that I care about called the Western Hemisphere that we’re very strong, we had a lot of good things done there.

This has nothing to do with hanging Mike Pence, of course, but he also said it was a better place when Trump was president, and

I would love to see him return to the White House compared to the guy who's there now, Joe Biden, who’s been a disaster economically. Look at the world, every single day we wake up to a new crisis, to a new conflict. Everything has gone on fire since the time Joe Biden took over.

"Everything" being Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Haiti, "we wake up every single day, terrorist attacks, 9 million people across the border." Karl was incredulous, but Rubio was adamant that it's all Joe Biden's fault, one way or another. 

And when Karl played the classic 2016 clip of Rubio calling Trump "a con artist... he runs on this idea that he is fighting for the little guy, but he has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy... friends do not let friends vote for con artists," what was the response?

Yes, but so – so why didn't you play the clip of Kamala Harris basically insinuating that Joe Biden was a segregationist on the debate stage and she’s now his vice president?

Because Karl is interviewing Rubio not Harris, maybe?

Karl switched gears to the immunity issue and asked, "You don't agree with that, do you," referring to the "absolute immunity" claim that the Trump team claims.

Well, I don't – so, I don’t think that – on the case of immunity, there's two separate issues here. One is, can the president do anything? Can he go out and basically, you know, kill one of the members of the staff overnight inside the White House? Obviously, that's an absurd outcome and that's a common crime.

That's an argument Trump's attorneys seem to think is fine - that Trump could have SEAL Team 6 take out a political rival. Rubio then wondered about a "legitimate issue" we have to talk about,

especially after what we've seen the last three years and is, do we want to live in a country where basically the opponents of a president can – can – can extort them, can have leverage over them during their entire presidency and say, don’t worry, once you're out of office, we're going to prosecute you, we’re going to come after, we’re going to charge you for this crime, we’re going to charge you for that crime.

He said "we're living in a country now" where a president would have to think about having to be careful about what they do because if they upset someone, they'll get charged with a crime after they leave office. And that everything's a political prosecution and no one else has been treated this way before. 

Of course, we've never had quite this good a con artist in office before, but that's lost on Rubio, it seems. 

Finally, he doesn't think the folks who attacked the Capitol on January 6th are "absolute patriots like Trump says and should be pardoned, " but he sees a difference between the zip-tie guys and the people "who walked in through an open door," and that only the violent people should have been prosecuted. 

... there are people that have been charged, in some cases egregiously charged, for simply walking in. Not – they didn't attack anybody. 

And, by the way, "Why didn't they do that for the people who set all the fires in Portland?" 

And with that, this veep interview was over.

In Case You Missed It (v121)

Ready for a recap of last week's posts? Let's dive in!

As usual, Sunday School was first up, and the Jon Karl/Benjamin Netanyahu interview on This Week was the only lesson of the post. One of the highlights for me was the exchange about how Israel was being mindful of Palestinian civilians and the various ways they tried to keep them safe. Here's a bit of that part of the discussion.

Netanyahu said civilian losses are "a tragedy" of Hamas' making, and that Gazan Health Ministry statistics are unreliable. He also said, "according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we've brought down the civilian-to-terrorist casualties, the ratio, down below 1-1, which is considerably less than in any other theater of similar warfare."

Karl was incredulous, but Netanyahu said it was true.

... we've killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that about 12,000 -- 12,000 fighters. And we're doing everything we can to minimize civilian casualties and continue to do so. 

I was incredulous with Karl's apparent lack of curiosity about Netanyahu's response.

Again, no follow-up questions: where did he get the 20,000/12,000 figures? What's the difference between a "Hamas terrorist" and a "fighter"? And what about the tens of thousands of wounded Gazans? It's unconscionable there was no challenge to Netanyahu's statement.

For your Extra Credit, I again only offered one lesson: Sen. Marco Rubio's discussion with Jake Tapper in the State of the Union classroom, which focused on immigration and the so-called border crisis which is so important the Senate couldn't pass a tripartisan bill that folks had worked on for four months -  or wouldn't pass it because the House had declared it DOA. Here's a snippet of the conversation on changes to how we would have handled asylum claims under the failed bill.

Rubio agreed changing the asylum standard is good, but "it's ultimately going to be applied by an administration that has proven its unwillingness to enforce our immigration laws." No matter what he was asked, his answers were consistent: from his perspective, bad liberals were going to be making bad decisions at the border - period.

Now, in the hands of another administration, perhaps that asylum standard could be applied differently. But, ultimately, once you have this asylum corps hired by Mayorkas, hired by Biden, put at the border, they are going to be -- they will have the power...

That got me thinking... 

Given the whole process that occurs after a bill passes - funding allocations, regulation-writing, job classification, hiring, background checks to complete... does he really think all that would happen before January 20, 2025 - or does he think Biden's going to be re-elected?

When it came time for Wednesday's Wondering, I was thinking a lot about President Biden and former president Trump, their ages, and their memories. And, about this.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not giving either of them a pass. I believe they are both the wrong people to be running for president. But if 'we' - the media, the punditry, the keyboard warriors - are going to make the age and mental failings of one of them an issue in the 2024 race, I can't help wondering what it's going to take to get 'us' talking about the other guy, too, with the same level of breathless panic.

I managed to hit another of my old weekly features - TGIF - in which I make somewhat random, definitely opinionated good week/bad week lists. Here's a sampling of what that looks like. The topic? Democrat Tom Suozzi's win in the race to replace George Santos.

About that loss, many House Republicans are venting their frustrations about the decision to expel Santos back in December. Ethically challenged Matt Gaetz is one of course; and so is Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, who declared "...the only way you can win elections, is that you have to get into the slop with the pigs," or at least don't kick them out of the House.

Speaking of pigs, Colorado's Rep. Ken Buck referenced the same hoofed mammal as Nehls did when he explained his 'no' vote on the Mayorkas impeachment.

You can try to put lipstick on this pig, but it's still a pig...

 The rest of that comment is important, too. 

I closed the week with a Sidebar on the TGIF. I had Jon Stewart on my good week list, for his return to the host's desk on The Daily Show.  I appreciated what he said, and how he said it, even though I had seen several critical articles about it - including one from a certain someone's famous relative. I was surprised with her take on it, and on Stewart's power.

 Lots of people, including the former president's niece, Mary Trump, were beside themselves after the show. For example, Ms. Trump tweeted  "Not only is Stewart's 'both sides are the same' rhetoric not funny, it's a potential disaster for democracy." And, she added, "I know Donald, and the media has to stop with the both sides bullshit."

She also penned an email newsletter titled Jon Stewart's Danger To Democracy, in which she blamed him for low voter turnout in 2012 and 2016 - and for helping her uncle get elected. 

And just like that, you're all caught up on the latest pastiche. I hope to see you for this week's posts.

Sunday School 2/11/24: Extra Credit

Little Marco Rubio (R-Florida Man) was in the State of the Union classroom on Sunday, and Jake Tapper was hosting, so I figured, why not drop in? 

Rubio, who sponsored legislation back in December requiring any American president to get the advice and consent of the Senate, or an Act of Congress, before pulling the US out of NATO or messing with our membership, was asked if he was "comfortable" with Trump's recent comments on Russia, NATO, and us potentially not supporting our allies. Here's his 264-word response.

Well, that's not what happened. And that's not how I view that statement. I mean, he was talking about something, a story that he talked about happened in the past. By the way, Donald Trump was president, and he didn't pull (us out of) NATO. In fact, American troops were stationed throughout Europe. As they are today, they were then as well. But he's telling a story. And, frankly, look, Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He doesn't talk like a traditional politician. And we have already been through this now. You would think people had figured it out by now. What he's basically saying is, if you see the comments, he said NATO was broke or busted until he took over because people weren't paying their dues. And then he told the story about how he used leverage to get people to step up to the plate and become more active in NATO. He's not the first American president. In fact, virtually every American president at some point in some way has complained about other countries in NATO not doing enough. Trump's just the first one to express it in these terms. But I have zero concern, because he's been president before. I know exactly what he has done and will do with the NATO alliance. But there has to be an alliance. It's not America's defense with a bunch of small junior partners. Some of these are big countries with big economies. Many of them are doing more. The Germans are doing a lot right now.

He didn't, but Tapper should have asked why that legislation was so important if Trump's only blowing smoke. He did ask how Rubio'd explain to Israel and Ukraine why he's going to deny them aid. Here's his 333-word explanation; I've broken it into themes for clarity. 

First: "I'd do anything for you, dear, Israel."

I don't oppose giving them the help that they need, especially in the case of Israel. And if you put the Israel thing up to a -- if you put Israel aid up to a vote right now, it would pass. I don't even know -- maybe a couple of people would vote against it. But, basically, it would pass very quickly. The problem is, Israel is being held hostage so they could get Ukraine.

Second: "I'm An American, and I might miss the Super Bowl." 

As far as how do I explain it to them, before I explain anything to them, I have to explain to my constituents, I have to explain to the people of Florida, I have to explain to the American people because I'm a US senator. And my number one obligation is America. If America is not strong, we can't help any of our allies. And I will have to explain to them why the Senate is going to work all through Super Bowl weekend, which is fine with me.

 Third: "We're being invaded!"

We're going to make a big priority, except on something that's critical to this country, which is the invasion that's going on, on our own border, on our own border. We're over -- according to a House committee and the documents and the statistics they put out -- I think these numbers are low, but let's just use them -- 3.3 million people have been released into the country who arrived here illegally. Over 600,000 of them either have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them.

And, fourth: "We don't need no stinking bill." 

I mean, this is a huge problem and it has to be addressed and they put out a bill. They can call it whatever they want. It wasn't a border security bill. It wasn't tough. And, frankly, it was negotiated by three people. I don't begrudge it, but I wasn't involved in that negotiation. I didn't even ask for a bill. I asked for the president to reverse the executive orders that created this crisis when he took over in January 2021.

Tapper asked directly if Rubio supported aid to Ukraine. 

I think, if we secure our own border here in the United States, I have said that we should do -- we should help Ukraine. Look, half the money that's going to Ukraine is not going to Ukraine. It's to buy back our own weapons that we gave them to restock our own shelves. And, obviously, Taiwan is included there as well. My problem is this: Before we do these things, we have to make America and Americans a priority again...

Besides, the current migrant crisis, he said, is causing "a crime wave," and

Why are we spending all of this taxpayer money to house migrants, feed migrants, accommodate migrants? We have a bunch of needs in our own country for Americans. How is that not our priority? Americans have to be our priority, and then we can help our allies.

Tapper played a clip of Brandon Judd, the head of the Border Patrol union, saying the bill Rubio helped defeat "absolutely is" better than the status quo, and

Nobody can argue that it's not better than what we currently have. Although it's not perfect, it is a step in the right direction. And I would rather have the step in the right direction than nothing. 

Rubio thinks the union's wrong, saying "It's not better than nothing."

Look, there are some things in that bill that we should do, change the asylum standard and the like. Here's what else the bill did. The bill basically creates an asylum corps, OK? It creates a bunch of -- thousands of bureaucrats, basically agents, asylum agents, that would be empowered right at the border to either allow people into the country with an immediate work permit. Today, they have to wait six months. You give them an immediate work permit, you're going to have more people coming. That's a huge magnet. Or they have the power to immediately release them and grant them asylum, which now puts them on a five-year path to citizenship, which is what a lot of Democrats want. They want to turn a bunch of illegal immigrants into voters, into citizens, into voters, in the hopes that those people will then turn around and vote for them in future elections, grateful because they will know who let them in. That's a huge problem. That doesn't solve the border. It makes it worse.

Tapper argued the bill didn't have a path to citizenship, but Rubio said it did - a green card in a year, and citizenship in four, he said, for people who are granted asylum. And, he added,

And these bureaucrats would have the power to grant you asylum, not even a judge, a bureaucrat.

Tapper pointed out that "immigration judges" aren't judges either, they're immigration attorneys. He also noted the bill is "by far the most conservative border security bill in four decades," according to Sen. Jim Lankford - even more conservative than the bill Rubio helped negotiate in 2013, and that it didn't include much of what the Ds wanted. He asked why this wasn't a win for the Rs.

Rubio's response? Let me count the ways: the president doesn't have to shut down the border; 1,400 migrants still need to be processed during a shutdown; it sunsets in three years; it doesn't touch the 'parole' system; and decisions made by immigration judges can be overruled by the Attorney General, but the decisions made by these new asylum officers can't be. 

Hmm... the AG is an unelected bureaucrat; couldn't he overturn every denied asylum request, to create those brown voters Rubio mentioned? It sure would have been fun if Jake asked that.  

Rubio agreed changing the asylum standard is good, but "it's ultimately going to be applied by an administration that has proven its unwillingness to enforce our immigration laws." No matter what he was asked, his answers were consistent: from his perspective, bad liberals were going to be making bad decisions at the border - period.

Now, in the hands of another administration, perhaps that asylum standard could be applied differently. But, ultimately, once you have this asylum corps hired by Mayorkas, hired by Biden, put at the border, they are going to be -- they will have the power...

Given the whole process that occurs after a bill passes - funding allocations, regulation-writing, job classification, hiring, background checks to complete... does he really think all that would happen before January 20, 2025 - or does he think Biden's going to be re-elected?

Tapper moved on to Trump's bizarre comments about Nikki Haley's 'missing' husband Michael, who's on a year-long deployment with the SC National Guard. Everyone knows that, including Trump, and asked what Rubio thought about that. He thinks "they're part of the increasing nastiness of this campaign and every campaign in American politics."

I mean, they're calling him a grumpy old man. They're attacking Donald Trump.  

"A Grumpy old man?" The horror! He shared other 'nasty' comments and then said

But at the end of the day, I think one of the things I'm not going to do any longer is, like, respond to every comment Donald Trump makes and say, oh, you still support him? I do. And I support him because Joe Biden's a disaster, because Joe Biden is a disaster. He's done tremendous damage to this country. America is less prosperous and the world is less safe because Joe Biden became president.

See you around campus.

In Case You Missed it (v110)

There was a lot of focus on Florida in the blog, with Hurricane Ian, and three elected Florida Men who have been in the news recently. Here's your recap of last week's posts, in case you missed anything.

Your Sunday School lesson recapped multiple interviews with Florida Man Sen. Rick Scott. Here's a snippet from his stop in the Meet the Press remote classroom, where he was asked 

if "things like mobile manufactured housing should even be legal" in Florida anymore. In part, he said they have to look at building codes after every event, to make sure it doesn't happen again. 

At the same time, you know people that they want to live in Florida. They want to live in the Sunshine State. And, you know, the more expensive housing you have, it makes it difficult for people to live there. So, I guess it's a balance.

They also talked about insurance, and things they can to do encourage insurance companies to stay in the state.  

And on getting federal money for his state, something he and Rubio have requested, What's-his-name suggested there may be some in Congress who "don't want to support" the request, given DeSantis voted against Hurricane Sandy aid because it wasn't paid for by cuts somewhere else. Grab a fork and some croutons.

Scott's pretty good at spinning up a word salad (and he's not the only one, as you 'll see a bit later.) His meandering answer to Karl's question, and recaps from his other interviews, are in the post. 

For your Extra Credit, I recapped an interviews with FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, and with another Florida Man, Sen. Marco Rubio. Speaking with Jon Karl in the This Week remote classroom, he talked about the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

...So, this is a character-altering event. It will change the character and the nature of these communities. They’ll be rebuilt, but you can’t rebuild something that is slice of old Florida and bring it back. 

They also discussed disaster aid, and Rubio's votes to deny aid after Superstorm Sandy devastated New York, New Jersey, and other northeast states. 

And when Karl asked if he'd take the same stand on aid for Florida if Congress did their thing and added a bunch of unrelated stuff, Rubio said "it won't come to that," because he and Rick Scott won't ask for anything unrelated.

I mean, why would somebody add something from another state that’s not impacted by the storm? So, it shouldn’t come to that and I’m not -- you know, it shouldn’t come to that pork in the road because it’s unnecessary thing. It's our request. 

You can read my reaction to that in the post; let me know yours.

The third Florida Man, Gov. Ron DeSantis, was in my head when I was Wondering on Wednesday. I wasn't wondering about those white boots he wore; well, actually I was wondering about them, but not in the post. 

First and foremost, I'm wondering what the heck is wrong with the national media - not the crazies, the regular old media - who can't seem to stop asking each other if they notice how amazing it is that the president, a Democrat, is collaborating with the Republican governor of a storm-ravaged state, and how amazing it is that's happening, this close to the midterms and all the rest. 

I'm not kidding - it was a topic on NPR, and on ABC and CBS and NBC and probably all the other networks I didn't check in on. I'm wondering exactly what they were expecting to happen; was Gov. DeSantis going to swallow his pride and refuse to ask for help for residents of his state? Where was he going to get help, from Martha's Vineyard or something? 

It took me a bit, but I realized why it was such a big deal for the media; check out the post and see if you agree with me.

On Thursday, I circled back in a Sidebar to Sen. Scott's interview with Margaret Brennan in the Face the Nation remote classroom. She asked him to respond to nasty comments made by former president Donald Trump. Scott didn't really address Trump's comments; instead,

I'd also say that what Vice President Harris said yesterday that, or the day before yesterday that, you know if you, if you have a different skin color, you're going to get relief.   

Brennan pointed out that Harris didn't say what Scott said she did; he argued with her on that. I promised I'd get to the bottom of it, if i could figure out what was going on.

In the post, I relayed the full question Harris was asked by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, which was really about climate change, not about Hurricane Ian, although it did touch on the storm.

I know this will sound silly, but in the interest of clarity, I included the Veep's 750-ish word answer. As I said, Scott's not the only salad spinner in DC.  It's easy to see why folks on the right went off the rails on this: they wanted to go off the rails. 

I closed the post with some frustration, which I'm sure some of you will share.

And speaking of frustration, there was more of that in last week's TGIF, in a 'bad week' entry about how the agency fails to identify fake charities. I mean, they really fail to identify them; one man got approval for 76 charities if you can imagine that.

All of this was made possible by stripping down processes a few years ago, at a time of budget and staffing cuts. Which makes all the political handwringing about the Biden administration's funding additional IRS staff to backfill vacancies, provide customer service to taxpayers, and yes, to do the vetting that would prevent this kind of things all the more absurd. 

There you go - all caught up on last week's posts. I'm taking some time off, so there won't be much new content for you this week. 

See you when I get back.

Sunday School 10/2/22: Extra Credit

In your Sunday School, we heard from Rick Scott, one of Florida's two Republican senators. Today, we hear from Marco Rubio, the other one, and from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Both made multiple appearances. 

We'll start with Criswell, who talked with Jon Karl in the This Week classroom. She described the situation in Florida using terms like "a lot of devastation," "significant damage," still homes under water," "active rescues," and "a long road to recovery."  She spent a day with Gov. Ron DeSantis, to hear his concerns, and the concerns of folks impacted by Hurricane Ian. And,

I committed to him that we would continue to bring in resources to meet the needs, not just for this response and the stabilization, but as we go into the recovery efforts... it was good to be able to see some of the damage and talk to the people directly while we were together so then he could let me know what kind of resources and assistance he might need.

Karl asked her about the death toll (NBC reported 87 deaths) and wondered if it had to do with the forecast being off, or because of delays in ordering evacuations. Criswell said the storm was "fairly unpredictable" in the days before landfall, adding 

Just 72 hours before landfall, the Fort Myers and Lee County area were not even in the cone of the hurricane. And as it continued to move south, the local officials immediately -- as soon as they knew that they were in that threat zone, made the decisions to evacuate and get people to safety.

There's some disagreement on that, as we learned from yesterday's conversations. She also said that FEMA had "pre-staged... search and rescue resources across the federal family" with state resources to mobilize immediately after the storm passed, and they're still working to account for everyone.

Efforts continue in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona. Criswell noted that 90% of customers now have power, and other agencies are also going in to the island to "make sure that we continue to move forward in supporting all of those people that have been impacted by that, to include individuals that have had a lot of damage to their homes -- a lot of water damage this time as compared to previous hurricanes." 

Rubio was next. He described Hurricane Ian as without comparison in Florida storms, noting Fort Myers Beach "no longer exists" and Sanibel Island is "basically flattened."  Even the buildings still standing

have been damaged by water, probably uninhabitable and have to be razed. So, this is a character-altering event. It will change the character and the nature of these communities. They’ll be rebuilt, but you can’t rebuild something that is slice of old Florida and bring it back. 

Regarding Sanibel, he said the priority now is to identify the people who stayed but will have to leave eventually,

because there's no way to continue their life there. There’s no way to restore the power. There’s no economy there. At some point, they'll have to be moved. And, you know, as I said, that bridge will be rebuilt. That will take a very long time, a couple of years at least. And, obviously, you know, life in Sanibel is going to change in the interim.

He praised the federal response, saying it's been very positive from day one. It's not just FEMA; it's the Army Corps, the Coast Guard, the SBA, and other agencies that will be helping individuals who need assistance. And, speaking of assistance, Karl asked about his history of voting against Superstorm Sandy relief, which Rubio said included pork and other non-disaster related funding. He asked if Rubio would insist on a clean emergency funding bill for his own state. 

Rubio said he's supported other emergency relief bills for folks all over the country, and he's supported them without pay-fors. 

What I won't support is things that are not emergency relief. What we're going to ask for Florida is what we supported for every other state in the country that’s been affected by -- by natural disasters, and that is emergency relief designed to be spent immediately to help the people affected now...

That wasn't the case with the Sandy aid bill, he said; it included things that may weren't directly related to urgent disaster relief. And when Karl asked if he'd take the same stand on aid for Florida if Congress did their thing and added a bunch of unrelated stuff. Rubio said "it won't come to that," because he and Rick Scott won't ask for anything unrelated.

I mean, why would somebody add something from another state that’s not impacted by the storm? So, it shouldn’t come to that and I’m not -- you know, it shouldn’t come to that pork in the road because it’s unnecessary thing. It's our request. 

Remind me, how long has he been in the Senate? Honestly, it'll be fun to watch this play out if push comes to shove. 

Karl's last question was on Ukraine, and whether i's application for NATO membership should be expedited. Rubio's a no on that, and says the bigger issue is what Vladimir Putin will do next.

Putin...could very well attack some NATO distribution point, because that's who he's blaming. He’s blaming NATO, the U.S., our allies for supplying Ukraine with weaponry that’s allowed Ukraine to be so effective. So, I think we need to start thinking through, what’s the response going to be...

The concern is if NATO forces are hurt or killed in such an attack; Rubio said it's a decision for the alliance that could come sooner rather than later.

The senator also spoke with Dana Bash in the CNN State of the Union classroom. Switching from Hurricane Ian to Hurricane Fiona, she asked if thought Puerto Rico should become a state, "so that it can be more resilient in having infrastructure" for disasters. 

He said he has "long believed" that Puerto Ricans should be able to vote on statehood - they "certainly have a right to have that vote." He also  said he thinks Puerto Ricans serve in the military more, on a per capita basis, than "just about any community in the country."  

Turning to Ukraine, Bash said the administration doesn't think there's any imminent threat of Putin using nuclear weapons, and she wondered if he sees things the same way. Rubio said he couldn't comment on what the administration folks are seeing, but

...I'm not saying the risk of him detonating a nuclear device as a demonstration is zero. I think, certainly, the risk is probably higher today than it was a month ago. 

And, did he think the Nord Stream pipeline leaks were sabotage?

I think logic and common sense will tell you that these things don't blow up on their own, especially in strategic and key points. Someone has to know where the vulnerabilities are. And someone has to have the capability to go down there and do it.

He doesn't think we have to look very far to find the likely suspects. 

And the only people in that region who have both the motive and the capability to have done it are Russian or Russian forces. So, I think, for me, it's not an intelligence matter at this point. It's a common sense matter.

And, finally, he thinks the recent deal with Venezuela to get seven Americans home was a bad deal. Rather, he said it encourages bad actors to "trump up some charges and arrest Americans..."

I think seven innocent American hostages in exchange for two convicted drug dealers who happen to be the nephews of Maduro is a huge win for Maduro and, unfortunately, puts Americans all over the world now in danger.

Feel free to chime in on any of this - you'll get extra Extra Credit for that!

See you around campus. 

Quick Takes (v64): Unanimous Consent, or Something

People are buzzing about how the Senate "unanimously approved" making Daylight Savings Time, which most of us follow from late March t0 late October, permanent starting next year. 

Here's what we know about how the comically-named 'Sunshine Protection Act' made it through:

• It was 'passively' unanimous - meaning, when the vote was called, no one objected. It was not - at all - a case of 99 senators actively agreeing to make the decision;
• some senators don't have an opinion on the issue, others actively approve, and others actively disapprove of the idea; and
• some of them didn't even know the vote was going to be on the calendar.

I'm not kidding - that's what the folks at BuzzFeed reported.

Everyone Was Surprised by the Senate Passing Permanent Daylight Saving Time. Especially the Senators.

An inspiring story about how presumptuous Senate staffers can accidentally make history.

So, how did it all go down?

In a twist the Founding Fathers likely did not anticipate, quirky Senate conventions and a decision by staff in Sen. Tom Cotton’s office may result in an overhaul in the nation’s time zones. 

As the article explains, a bill needs to get through a Senate committee, and then the majority leader must agree to put it to a vote. That may or may not happen, depending on what the leader has as priorities. If it does get to the floor, there could be hours of debate and multiple rounds of votes, with 60 senators needing to approve the bill.

If a senator chooses to skip that process, they can ask for unanimous consent, which bypasses debate and all the voting. When that's the plan, all other senators are notified in advance, so they can object if they want. And, if no one objects, in advance or when the bill's called on the floor, it's "passed by unanimous consent." 

Any senator could have blocked passage of the bill.  The article notes that Florida Man Rick Scott, a fan of the bill, "would have gone to give a speech on the Senate floor" if he had known it was going to be discussed. Did I mention that the other Florida Man, Marco Rubio, was the sponsor?

Perhaps the funniest part of the article was this.

Asked to re-create his reaction to the news, Sen. Chris Coons issued a series of shocked stammers that is impossible to phonetically translate.

Coons was one of the senators who wasn't informed by his staff that the request was coming - and, he said, he'd never talked with them about the idea.

It’s literally an issue my staff and I had never discussed, and they made an assumption that I don’t really care about daylight saving time. And I don’t know if I do! I’ve never taken five minutes to stop and think about it.

Perhaps the senator most disturbed by the whole thing? Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who "vehemently opposes" permanent Daylight Saving Time. According to a source, Cotton's staff never told him about the request. 

Was it an accident? A nefarious plot by his staff? We may never know - but it might behoove someone to keep an eye on staffing changes in Cotton's office.

In Case You Missed it (v80)

A busy week in the world, and to a much less consequential extent, at veritable pastiche. Here's a recap of this week's posts, in case you missed them.

In the Sunday School classrooms, we heard from a few of the usual suspects, and from an unusual one: Nadya Tolokonnikova, the Russian activist and founding member of Pussy Riot. In her conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN she was asked what might have led to Putin's invasion on Ukraine. Was it declining mental health, maybe - or was he acting out because he's never been held to account for his prior bad acts? It was clear where she stood.  

...we have heard a lot of loud, big proclamations from the global community, but, unfortunately, it wasn't followed through. And Putin didn't really feel like he -- him and his closest -- closest oligarchs and cronies suffered from invasion of Ukraine. And I think, partly, what we're seeing right now in Ukraine is the result of complacency of the global community about a situation that happened in Ukraine in 2014.

For your Sunday School Extra Credit, there was more talk of Russia and Ukraine, but I also included some discussion on the current state of our union, as shared by the panel on Fox News Sunday. One topic? Recent polling showing that people would rather see Congress under Republican control, to keep Biden's agenda in check, than to have the Dems retain their majorities. Georgetown University's Mo Elleithee said polling like that is generally a bad sign, but that the Dems still had a chance.

Biden's SOTU was a big part of that; he suggested (Biden) was reminding voters why they voted for him - or, for the Biden that campaigned closer to the middle than many of his opponents. And, he added,

I think it was him sort of reorienting the public perception of the Democratic Party, which, for many months now has been defined by a fight between the left and Joe Manchin, you know, and Kyrsten Sinema over the Build Back Better, right? That was what was defining the Democrat Party in the eyes of many voters. And I think Biden said, let me remind you what you got when you voted for me.

Lest you think only the Dems are in a quandary in advance of the midterms, I included a hint of a mess brewing on the Republican side of the aisle in the post as well.

Also stemming from the Sunday School classrooms was a Sidebar on the foolishness of Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio sharing a "nondescript" picture of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the equal foolishness of two network anchors not asking him why he did it. 

I mean, it's not like it was a side-by-side of Rubio's 'resting Intelligence Committee face' and Zelenskyy - it was a solo shot of the Z-man, one that's almost certainly hanging on the walls and ceilings of bedrooms around the world - probably next to one of Andrew Cuomo.

Mid-week, I was Wondering on Wednesday about things like Republicans still taking about trying to do something they tried - and failed - to do for a decade.

Wisconsin's Sen. Ron Johnson wants to obstruct the president's agenda until the Rs take control in the midterms, and then when they take back the White House in 2024,  he wants to see the GOP repeal the Affordable Care Act... I also wonder, how many people wish that Johnson had kept his promise not to run again? 

And, the week's posts came to an end with a TGIF entry all about the state of the state of Texas. There's the vigilante abortion bill, which the Texas Supreme Court pretty much guaranteed would stand (and would spread to other freedom-loving Red states), and there was the now temporarily on hold directive to investigate and, presumably, punish parents who allow certain medical procedures for their trans children. And, there was more.

I don't want you to think that Texas only discriminates against women and LGBTQ kids they're equal opportunity discriminators.

A Texas agency discriminated against communities of color when it denied more than $1 billion in federal relief funds sought by Houston and Harris County to help hard-hit areas recover from Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found.

It's a helluva time we're living in, don't you think?

See you next week.

Sidebar: Sunday School 3/6/22

I'm just going to say it: I've never been a big fan of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-The Other Florida Man). 

Like many people, I was introduced to him when he made "the sip" in 2013's Republican response to the State of the Union address. Using that as a launch pad, he had his failed run for the GOP nomination in 2016. Since then, I haven't seen a lot of leadership out of him; to the contrary, what I've seen appears to be more 'followship' and 'evasiveship' than anything else. 

Could I be doing him a disservice? Sure - he may be way more better, as we say, than I give him credit for, but I honestly don't pay enough attention to him to form a more nuanced opinion. If you want, drop a comment on why I should, and I'll consider it. 

The reason why I'm talking about him at all today is because he was in two Sunday School classrooms this week, ostensibly because he's vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but also because of something he tweeted - and no, I'm not talking about his daily Bible verse; I'm talking about the screen shot heard 'round the echo chamber. 

Rubio was one of 300-some-odd senators and House members participating on a Zoom call with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy - and one of two who shared a screen shot of Zelenskyy while they were on the call. 

Here's how that conversation went down, first on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper.

JT: You tweeted a photo of Zelenskyy during the virtual meeting. Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips said that the Ukrainian ambassador had explicitly asked lawmakers not to share anything on social media until after the meeting ended just for Zelensky's security. Is that true? Was it a mistake for you to tweet that picture?

MR: Well, first of all, she asked that like 30 minutes into the call, after I had already done it. The second is, I think she's under the impression that no one knew that call was happening. That call had been widely reported. Actually, the specific time had been reported. There were over 300 people on it. All the call details had been e-mailed. So, there was nothing secure about that call. And the picture is just a nondescript picture. It looks just like any of the other ones that you have seen out there publicly. So, I -- there's no risk posed. But you're always going to have a couple of people that want their name in an article somewhere and mentioned in the press. So...

And, here's how it went on This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

GS: You were facing some criticism from fellow legislators for tweeting out a picture of President Zelenskyy during his Zoom with Congress yesterday. The ambassador asked members not to do that because it would endanger Zelenskyy. Why did you ignore that request?

MR: First of all, she said that well into the call. Second, there was no security risk in that at all. I'm -- perhaps she was under the impression that the Zoom call was a secret. It had been broadly reported like multiple outlets, maybe even ABC had tweeted it was at 9:30. There were over 300 people on this call. The details of the call were emailed to a bunch of people. And it was a nondescript picture unlike any of the other -- just like the other ones you've seen on the air. So, there was no security risk there.

GS: You don't believe you put him at risk?

MR: No.

So, a US senator felt compelled to screenshot and post a "nondescript" picture, one that "looks just like any of the other ones that you have seen out there publicly," and neither anchor asked him why he felt the need to do that?

I mean, it's not like it was a side-by-side of Rubio's 'resting Intelligence Committee face' and Zelenskyy - it was a solo shot of the Z-man, one that's almost certainly hanging on the walls and ceilings of bedrooms around the world - probably next to one of Andrew Cuomo.

I don't think anyone - Rubio's constituents or anyone else - benefitted in any way from seeing the picture. Like Rubio said, the call was widely publicized in advance, so people should have known he would be there. 

Oh wait - that's not necessarily true. He skipped President Biden's State of the Union address because he was too busy to get a Covid test first. Besides, he told CPAC attendees,

For the first time in American history, you now have people having to produce paper to go in somewhere, to sit somewhere, to go to the State of the Union.

You’ve got to show them I’m vaccinated, I took a test yesterday, they took my temperature, you know, all this stuff. This is, what’s happening now in America, is what happens after 20 years of infusing this Marxist thought process into every aspect of our lives and now we’ve come face-to-face with it.

And he does seem to miss an awful lot of votes - so, maybe his constituents did need evidence that he was working. 

And maybe I don't really need to reconsider my opinion of him.