Wondering on Wednesday 5/8/24

Ready... Set... Wonder!

I wonder what would happen if former president Donald Trump showed up to entertain the media before his trial in NYC, and there weren't any reporters to greet him? Would he just keep on walking into the courtroom? Would he get a minion to find a reporter who could stick a microphone in his face? Would the world come to an end, I wonder? 

There is no duty for the media to stand behind the fences waiting for him. After all, he won't say anything that he hasn't already pushed out as an alleged 'Truth' sometime in the wee hours of the morning. And I find myself wondering whether any assignment editors are willing to 'forget' to assign someone to wait for him. And of course, I wonder about the job security of anyone who did that.

I've long wondered what my sleep number is, and what it says about me... or about my husband, who would have a very different sleep number, I'm sure.

I posted recaps of interviews with three possible Trump VP candidates: Gov. Doug Burgum, Senator Tim Scott, and Gov. Kristi Noem.  There's so much wondering about the interviews, the subjects, and the hosts it's hard to get my thoughts in order. But this much is clear: I have to wonder why any network would bring on any of these folks, or any of the others in the VP mix if these interviews are indicative of what we can expect. I'll have more on this tomorrow.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Burning Down the House) has been meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson this week; the two have spent hours together, I guess talking about Greene's demands, which included Johnson agreeing to consider defunding the DOJ's special prosecutors, and maybe even the DOJ itself. 

Earlier today, she posted on X that Trump was happy she'd gotten Johnson to consider her defunding proposal.  And Fox News was happy about that, too. And then, to show how happy she was, she submitted her motion to vacate the chair. 

And it was quickly shot down by the House, with only 11 MAGATs voting to boot Johnson. So, you might be wondering, what am I wondering about here?  Only this: has she now done enough to have her constituents vote her out? I sure hope so. 

Finally, in case you've been wondering, there truly are two systems of justice in America: one for slugs like you and me, and one for slugs like the former president. Why do I say this? Well, today in court, Judge Juan Merchan said Trump was "cursing audibly" and "shaking his head visibly," calling those behaviors contemptuous. 

I don't wonder for even a second that if I acted out like that, after having already been fined $10,000 for multiple contemptuous violations of a gag order, I'd be watching my own trial from a different room. But when you're the former president and presumptive nominee of the MAGA Campers, I guess the rules just don't apply. 

That's it for me - what's on your wondering minds tonight? Drop a comment if you like.

Wondering on Wednesday 5/1/24

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

During last month's discussion on foreign aid bills, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Burning Down the House) offered an amendment to the Ukraine bill requiring any Republican who voted for the aid package to conscript into the Ukrainian military. No similar requirements for aid to Israel and Taiwan were put forward. I can't help wondering why the bills weren't treated the same. 

Some people pretend Greene is Putin's representative to the House, so we shouldn't be surprised that she'd stick it to Ukraine. Others think we're not responsible for defending Europe, but we are responsible for Israel's defense, no matter the cost. These arguments are symptomatic of the degradation of our policy debates over the past few years, leaving me to wonder what it'll take to get us back to realistic discussions.

Greene also said that, instead of giving aid to Ukraine, we should focus on our 'America First economy.' Hearing that, I had to wonder if she even knew what was in the bill, or if she'd read any articles on how our aid to Ukraine works. She must know that as much as $68B of the $113B that Congress has approved for Ukraine  "is destined to be invested here at home."

U.S. support for Ukraine thus offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to sustain a demand signal to address long-standing weaknesses in U.S. DIB systems generally and ordnance and missile production specifically.

Yep - we send our stockpiled, outdated stuff to Ukraine, and we replenish our stockpiles with newer American-made stuff. If that's not an America First policy, I wonder what would be. I also wonder if Marge ever has a clue, if she's this clueless on our Ukraine aid.

Sticking with Marge for a minute longer, she's announced she'll move to oust Speaker Mike Johnson next week, even as the Dem leadership announced they'll vote table any such motion. Most House Republicans don't want her to move ahead; the RNC doesn't want her to; and even Donald Trump doesn't want her to, and yet, she's going to do it anyway. Is anyone wondering with me what the heck she's trying to accomplish?

Speaking of accomplishments, we know one thing the House GOP would rather be doing than sitting through Greene's antics: "going on the offense by attacking Democrats for insufficiently condemning pro-Palestinian protests on campuses" around the country. 

We've all seen the antisemitic signs and heard the chants at the protests; we'll continue seeing and hearing them, even if they're not the focus of the protests. I condemn anti-Semitism and the October attack on Israel; at the same time, I would love to see a ceasefire, to see Gaza flooded with humanitarian aid, to see an end to the indiscriminate killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and to see a way forward. To me, those are pro-human positions, not pro-Palestine or antisemitic ones. 

But I wonder why we have to see and hear more about the antisemitic actions of a few protesters than we do about the many; members of Jewish Voices for Peace arrested for holding a Passover Seder/protest outside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's house, for example. Or about Jews and Palestinians standing shoulder-to-shoulder, protesting inhumanity together, or about negotiations over divestment issues, especially successful ones. 

And I can't help wondering why two NY Representatives feel anti-Semitism monitors are needed on college campuses. Republican Mike Lawler, one of the two, said, "If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act."

I'll tip my hat to whoever named the bill - it's a gem: the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability, or the COLUMBIA Act.  The bill would give the Department of Education authority to appoint monitors, paid for by the schools, who would "be required to release quarterly, publicly available reports that show what the school is doing to combat anti-Semitism." 

The legislators cite Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the basis for their bill; I have to wonder how giving one type of discrimination special status fits in with the intent of our civil rights legislation? If we're going to withhold federal funding from colleges and universities, shouldn't it be done in the name of protecting everyone from discrimination? 

As I was preparing to publish tonight's post, news broke that the House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Sponsored by Rep. Lawler, with over 60 co-sponsors, the bill 

would require the Department of Education to use definitions of antisemitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) when enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

Other bills dealing with antisemitism are also in the works, according to news reports; we'll see if any of them come to fruition. 

In the meantime, I wonder how people feel about the statements below. Feel free to chime in, if you like.

• "We already have enough laws against discrimination. We need to enforce those laws; we don't need to create new ones."
• "All Lives Matter - why are they demanding we pay attention only to them?"

What's on your wondering minds tonight?

TGIF 3/22/24

I've got short good week/bad week lists for you, in this week that brought us the first day of spring and multiple cold, blustery, non-spring-like days.

It also brought us the start of the NCAA's March Madness madness, including anger over who got selected, and misery as brackets were busted by upsets. We also learned this week of a scandal in the circle of baseball's highest-paid player, and of a second cancer diagnosis in the highest echelon of the British royal family. 

We'll learn more about all of that in the coming days, I'm sure.  In the meantime, let's get to the lists.

The media - yet again - had a bad week.

The disappearance of a white male college student in Nashville garnered tons of breathless national news coverage, including the repeated airing of videos from the night he disappeared. You would have thought each of us - even me, sitting some 850 miles away - was part of his story, part of the search, part of his life. We were not. We are not. We shouldn't be.

Why was his story so important that it commanded so much of the limited national news time? Is it because it fits the narrative of out-of-control crime in our country? I guess it did, at least until this morning, when his body was found - and no foul play was suspected. 

But wait - there's more! News is breaking that NBC has hired Ronna 'I'm So MAGA I Changed My Name' McDaniel, the former head of the Trump National Committee, as a political commentator. 

McDaniel is expected to contribute to both NBC and MSNBC. Her first appearance will be on Sunday on “Meet the Press,” where she will give her first interview since stepping down from the RNC.

I hope you all laughed as hard as I did at "McDaniel is expected to contribute..." Honestly, I couldn't imagine how they could make Meet the Press worse, but a Kristin Welker/Ronna McDaniel interview is certainly a great way to start. Here's what network bigwig Carrie Budoff Brown had to say about the hire. 

It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team. 

And here's Ronna's voice, so you know what you have to look forward to. 

House Republicans - yet again - had a bad week.

Rep. James Comer (R-MAGA Camp), chair of the House Oversight Committee, is now saying that the best way to hold the Biden Crime Family accountable is through criminal referrals, and that he's got more than enough evidence to do that. This comes after Lev Parnas, former Rudy "Too Broke" Giuliani BFF, said he was sent to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine, and found none. 

Parnas also accused the GOP of doing Russia's bidding, and he named names, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Putin); you may remember he once famously spent our nation's birthday in Moscow. And after, of course, other witnesses have gone through some stuff.

But wait - there's more! Rep. Marjorie Taylor Flamethrower Greene (R-You Kidding Me?) has filed a motion to oust Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-ighteous Indignation). She did that as the House passed the remaining bills to avoid a government shutdown by a vote of 286 - 134; 101 Republicans voted for the package, while 112 of them voted against it. It's "more of a warning" to Johnson, she said. 

I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and throw the House in chaos, but this is basically a warning and it’s time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the house that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.

Green doesn't recognize 47% of her own caucus, and apparently Johnson isn't supposed to recognize them either.

Voters in my neck of the woods had a good week. Now, I know that can be said pretty much any time people can vote, but I'm talking about an unusual situation here. Village officials made a decision that would make it much harder for a local business owner to sell his business and retire. Villagers were highly disappointed in the actions of the officials, enough so that another businessman started a write-in campaign against the mayor - and he won.

This is a big deal for the little village where it happened, but it's a big-picture story, too. It shows the power of engagement, the power of fighting for something you believe in, and yes, the power of voting. Hopefully, this will resonate with people who think no one listens, or who think that one or ten or 302 votes don't matter - because they do. 

TGIF, everyone. 

Wondering on Wednesday 1/10/24

Ready... set... wonder!

Does anyone else admit to being shocked that Hunter Biden showed up at the House Oversight and Fake Accountability Committee hearing today? And did anyone else have as much fun watching Aaron Rupar's clips as I did?

The point of the hearing, of course, was to do what's called 'marking up' a bill that would hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing to sit for a closed-door deposition as requested by the folks trying to ruin his father make sure no one ever takes advantage of being in office again. I have to say, it was great theater - there was no lack of excitement, that's for sure.  

For example, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said both that Biden "had no balls" and that he was "the epitome of white privilege," while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-You Freaking Kidding Me?) seemed to take offense when Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Constitutional Lawyer) said Greene had previously displayed pornography in the hearing room when she held up Hunter's 'dick pics.' Greene said it was not porn, to which Raskin replied, "You're the expert." Forgive me for this bit of wondering, but did Rep. Mace miss that hearing?

Earlier this week, we were advised that The Former Guy planned on offering closing remarks in his New York civil fraud case on Thursday. Sadly - or fortunately, depending on your point of view - we'll miss the opportunity to see the courtroom campaign rally because the judge isn't going to allow it. 

In an email exchange, Judge Arthur Engoron initially said Trump could speak, as long as he limited his remarks to what's required of attorneys:

commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence and application of the relevant law to those facts.

He would not be allowed to introduce new evidence, "comment on irrelevant matters, or "deliver a campaign speech" or impugn the judge, his staff, the attorney general, her lawyers, or the court system, the judge wrote. 

Needless to say, Christopher Kise, Trump's lawyer, balked at that.

"You are not allowing president Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated attorney general, to speak about the things that must be spoken about," the attorney wrote.

So, what's the wondering on this one, you're wondering? Not a whole lot, really, other than how amazing it is that Trump can always find attorneys to make fools of themselves, knowing (as they must) that there's a risk they won't be paid their full billable amount, and that they may face legal action themselves for the things they say and the acts they commit on his behalf. 

If you don't believe me, look no further than Alina Habba who offered bizarre, and potentially threatening remarks about Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of Trump's SCOTUS nominees. The Supremes will hear arguments about the 14th Amendment decisions in Colorado and Maine. 

I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them. You know, people like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place, he'll step up.

And that makes me wonder what argument Kavanaugh will use, since his answer is pre-ordained.

Oh - one more thing, speaking of 'ordained' - if you haven't yet seen the "God gave us Trump" video, you can see it, and an edited script, in this morning's post. I can't help wondering what religious folks think of all of this. 

What's on your wondering mind tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 1/4/2023

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

When Sally Field won her second Academy Award, she said, "Right now, you really like me!" I wonder what Rep. Kevin McCarthy would say, after losing six votes for House Speaker?  Perhaps it's, "Right now, I wished you really liked me?"  Or, maybe "Right now, I wonder if you ever liked me?" 

I also can't help wondering how many votes McCarthy will allow before he decides it's time to step aside for someone 16 0r 17 votes more palatable?  He's said he's in it to win it, and that he's "earned" the Speakership, but there may never be enough votes for him. 

Former president Donald Trump tried to exert whatever power and control he has over the party, urging the Rs to get behind McCarthy who, Trump said, "will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB - JUST WATCH!" That didn't work - Lauren Boebert even suggested that Trump should have told McCarthy to step aside - and now I'm wondering what other Rs might have the power to convince the GOP caucus to align. 

• Former Veep Mike Pence could offer a few hundred rambling words without ever really saying anything about anything, but it might confuse people enough that they accidentally vote for McCarthy...
• Florida Man Ron DeSantis could promise to cancel anyone who voted the wrong way, or - even worse - call them all 'woke' or something. That might get them in line...
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could... nah, never mind.

Maybe there isn't a unifying Republican out there?

Sticking with the House, as Rep. George Santos (R- You Kidding Me?) cast his vote for McCarthy, someone allegedly yelled "mentiroso" - the word for 'liar' in Spanish and Portuguese. The shout came from the Democratic side of the chamber, which make sense, right? I mean, Santos was endorsed by McCarthy, and by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Trump), the GOP Conference chair. 

Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene has also chimed in, tweeting "I think we Republicans should give George Santos a chance and see how he legislates and how he votes, not treating him the same as the left is."  I know they've been busy the past couple of days, but I wonder how MTG feels now, knowing that Santos' website noted*, according to The New Republic, that he voted against the omnibus spending bill that passed, and was signed into law - in December. Does that mean he passed the test? 

Finally, I'm having lots of laughs over some of the McCarthy memes I've seen on Twitter. For example, there's Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the football; there's a speaker captcha; there's six stages of toast. There's a Groundhog's Day quip (too easy?) and even a Home Alone riff.  Truth be told, I'm having a hard time picking a favorite; I wonder if anyone else is having trouble, too? 

Oh - the House came back into session, then voted narrowly to adjourn. I think this means that McCarthy might have won a vote, finally.

What's on your wondering mind tonight? 

* When I checked his website, there was no mention of the spending bill.

Sunday School 10/2/22

For your Sunday School today, we've got multiple interviews with Florida's Republican Senator Rick Scott. The interviews covered much of the same ground, so I tried to move around with the topics. 

On MTP, What's-his-name asked Scott 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 the need for both stricter building codes, to encourage insurance companies to play in the state, and for eliminating fraud, which costs consumers money and disproportionately impacts the poor, and discourages companies from writing policies.

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.

Well, I think what you have to do is you have to, you have to, you know, spend your money wisely, but you do need – I mean, the federal government is a partner in this. And I learned that as governor. The federal government is a major partner in helping families, helping businesses, helping governments get back to, get back to normal. But you don't want to waste money. As an example, I put a lot of effort into cracking down on the significant fraud in the debris pickup market and what happens after a hurricane. And I've been actually trying to get the bill passed since I've been up there – I've been up there almost four years – to fix that because there is abuse in this. But we do have to provide disaster aid. And whether that's for a hurricane, or whether that's for flooding, or whether that's for wildfires, we've got to do that. And, you know, I hope people will, you know, continue to support and I think we ought to be doing – we've got to come up with a way to do this where it's a longer-term strategy.

And, on the election, does he think the Rs will take back the Senate? Scott thinks they're at "52 seats, plus."

On CNN's State of the Union, Scott told Dana Bash this was probably the worst storm he's seen, given the widespread nature of the damage, even in areas far from the Gulf Coast where Ian made landfall in Lee County. Bash asked him about officials there who didn't issue evacuation orders until less than 24 hours before landfall, which was "an apparent violation of their own policies." She wondered if that was the case, and it the delay cost lives.

Scott talked generically about loss of life, and all lives mattering, and doing everything you can to make sure no lives are lost, and he made sure he didn't pin the tail on anyone's um, er, 'donkey', if you catch my drift. Ultimately, she got him to agree that "I think it's something we have to look at to see why" the evacuation order didn't happen according to the plan. Teeth pulled, or something.

In the Face the Nation classroom, Margaret Brennan talked about the hurricane, of course, and also noted the most recent, offensive remarks from the FPOTUS, who said that Sen. Mitch McConnell has a "DEATH WISH" and made racist modifications to McConnell's wife's name,', and from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who claimed that Democrats want Republicans dead and that they have "already started the killings." She asked Scott if he'd rebuke the comments, given he's a member of the leadership.

Scott said we've got to come together, and "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 said, "that's not what the vice president said. She talked about equity and the problem within FEMA. But I'm specifically talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene." (I'll have more on the Veep's comments in a Sidebar.)  

Here's the exchange that followed.

RS: No, no, no. Wait, wait, Margaret. Margaret, let's make sure. FEMA has to be colorblind. FEMA has to provide support to everybody. Now, I - here's what I here's what I'll tell you, I believe that we've got to do -- President Trump has talked about this unbelievable spending that's causing inflation hurting the poorest families. I grew up in a poor family. I watched how inflation hurt my mom. We've gotta watch how we spend this money. 

MB: I know sir. You're talking about substance, and I would love to talk to you about that. But what I quoted you as a phrase saying McConnell has a death wish. He said racist things about Elaine Chao. And then they have already started the killings. I mean, that's not a policy dispute, Senator, the language is what I'm talking about. Isn't that dangerous?

RS: I think we all have to figure out how do we start bringing people together and have a common goal to give every American the opportunity to get a great job, their kids to have an education, they believe they can be anything and make sure everybody lives in a safe committee. That's what I do every day. And I've tried to bring people together to do that. 

 It went on like that a little longer, Brennan focusing on divisive language, and Scott trying to explain Trump was talking about policy.

I believe that what I believe what the President Trump was talking about is the fact that we can't keep spending money. We are -- We're going to hurt our poorest families the most with this reckless Democrat spending and we cannot we got to stop it. We can't cave into their spending. 

On Trump calling Elaine Chao "Coco Chow," Scott waved that off by saying Trump likes to give people nicknames, and he "sure he has a nickname for me." I checked Trump's Twitter archive, and here's the worst thing he ever said about Scott. Perhaps there's a nickname in there somewhere? 

Governor Rick Scott of Florida did really poorly on television this morning. I hope he is O.K. (June 25, 2015).

I'll have interviews with Sen. Marco Rubio and FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell in your Extra Credit. 

See you around campus.  

Oh - one more thing - the Dems have not started killing the Rs, just so you know.

Wondering on Wednesday 3/10/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Well, well, well. The House passed the American Rescue Plan (the Biden Stimulus) with zero Republican support, just like the Senate did. And while the Rs continue to complain that "the bill wasn't targeted enough" I haven't seen anything specific that's supposed to get me all up in arms about this bill. Why is that, I wonder? And who has that information - Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? 

I worked pretty hard today to get myself a COVID vaccine appointment, something I was able to do because I'm retired and not picky about where I go for the darn thing. As I was going through the process - two times, on different websites, trying to find the best timeslot -  I was shut out of three available time slots that were available when I started entering my info, but gone by the time I was done. And that makes me wonder why they didn't talk to the Ticketmaster/Live Nation people to see how they coded their "your transaction must be completed within 10 minutes to hold your seats" stuff - boy, what a game-changer that would be with the vaccine appointments!

The Pentagon approved having the National Guard protecting the Capitol until May 23rd, at the request of the acting leadership of the Capitol police. I'm on the side of legislators who work there in wondering why the need continues and how the date was chosen. I also have to wonder why they're not getting any intelligence briefings on why the need remains. Unless, of course, there are senators and representatives who have some bad stuff that got swept up in the cell phone data, and they can't be trusted with the intelligence?  Could that be it, I wonder?

I wonder what the roll call vote would be to have Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene disallowed from requesting roll call votes on stuff for the sole reason of trying to maintain her relevancy?

There's more, but there's also tomorrow.

Wondering on Wednesday 2/3/21

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

You know, I've often wondered what goes through the minds of our elected representatives as they sit in Washington, trying to the people's work, and watching the machinations of the party leaders. 

For example, say there's a big-time conspiracy theorist, a true believer in the cannibalistic pedophiles in the deep state Democratic party from which only Donald John Trump can save us, and in Jewish space lasers, and in the killing of Democratic leaders, and in the insurrection at the Capitol, and that school shootings are false flags, and that the government or the cabal or the laser-wielders set up the Las Vegas concert shooting to scare people into accepting gun reforms, and a whole host of other stuff about which I've only read, and in which I personally have zero belief. 

And say that she gets elected and ends up in the House of Representatives, and she refuses to act in a manner in keeping with what most civilized people consider to be adult behavior worthy of someone holding federal office. And say that she's chummy with the former president, and they, you know, talk and stuff, and she has his full and total endorsement and support. 

And say that the members of the other party are unhappy with her statements, and want her to be stripped of committee assignments, which is how the House traditionally has disciplined people who are really offensive or behave offensively. And say her party leaders get together and try to figure out what the hell to do with her, knowing that she has the full and total support of the former president, but they can't figure out what to do without facing the Florida man's wrath. And they cave, and decide to do nothing. 

And, say the members of the other party say, "Listen, party of the loved-by-the-former-president conspiracy theorist, if you don't take care of this, we will - we'll strip her of her assignments."

And then the conspiracy theorist-protecting party says, "Fine - if you strip our extremist of her committees, we're going after one of your extremists, the one from Minnesota, and we're going to move to strip her of her assignments." 

And then the majority party says, "Fine, if you go after ours because we went after yours, we're going to do a strong show of support for your third-ranking leader. At least she's smart enough to understand that you can't let the president foment insurrection and cheer when it happens, even as his most loyal servant is being hunted by the insurrectionists who think that hanging him is an appropriate punishment for following the Constitution." 

And the party devoid of leadership other than their #3 decides, "Fine - you want to throw your support behind one of ours? We're going to throw our support behind one of yours - another extremist, the loudmouth from Queens, and move to have her inserted into a leadership role currently held by one of your octogenarians. "

And the octogenarian leaders get together and announce, "Well, if that's what you want, fine - but then we'll move to shrink all of the committees and subcommittees - so you'll have lots of members without assignments!"

And the party of the gerrymandering chickens decides "Fine! If you do that, we'll refuse to attend any meetings, and you'll never have a quorum and won't be to get anything done!" 

And the petty majority party says, "Fine, if that's what you want - we won't even set a calendar and we won't even meet, so you won't be able to prevent us from having a quorum.  And then the president will do everything by executive order, just like the former president did, because Mitch McConnell held the legislation we passed hostage! And see how you like us now!"

And the party of the we're-more-pissed-off-than-you-are says "Fine. We'll get the nut-bag off the committees, but only because she's going to keep us from obstructing the majority, and that's our goal, to obstruct you and win back our majorities in the midterms next year." 

And the party of two impeachment a term graciously says "That's what we wanted anyway, thank you very much and have a nice day."

And the party of the nut-bag says, "But first, before we strip her of committees, we're going to try and force you to act on her plan to impeach President Biden for things he said he did when he was vice president. So how do you like us now?"

And the party of the oh-crap-forgot-about-that-little-issue says, "Well, since you're in the minority, good luck with that. You can't make us do anything we don't want to!"

And the party of the only slightly more obnoxious lunatics (depending on what day it is) says, "Ha! We'll all go on Fox and OAN and Newsmax and Breitbart and whatever social media will have us, and spill the beans and make everyone think it's going to happen, and that's just as good as it actually happening -- look how well we did with all the election fraud stuff!"

And the leader of the only slightly less obnoxious lunatics (depending on what day it is) says, "Well, why don't we talk together about committee assignments, before we do anything rash?" 

And ALL the voters stand up, go to their doors or windows and scream, in unison,

WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FOCUS ON US, PACK YOUR BAGS AND GO HOME!

I wonder, this Wednesday, since some of what's documented above is true, what the other members of the House - those not in leadership positions, those not participating in all of this backdoor intrigue, and those who don't qualify as extremists - think of all of this? 

Are they standing at their doors or windows screaming along with the rest of us? Are they hanging their heads in abject embarrassment somewhere? 

Or are they gleefully sitting around, popcorn at hand, watching all of this transpire and hoping to land in a better spot when the dust settles? 

I surely hope they're in the 'screaming along with the rest of us' bucket, or at the very least in the 'hanging their heads in abject embarrassment' bucket. 

If they're eating popcorn, they can pack their bags as far as I'm concerned.

What's on your mind tonight?

Sunday School 1/31/21: Extra Credit

 For your Extra Credit this week, I dropped in on two Republicans. In the Meet the Press classroom, Chuck Todd talked with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and in the Fox News Sunday classroom, Chris Wallace talked with Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. I'll take them in that order.

Chuck said a couple of other House 'yes' votes on impeaching Trump backed out of the interview. Kinzinger's poison, it seems, especially now that he's launched Country1st.com, a PAC calling itself "a home for principled Americans who are tired of the poisonous extremism that has overtaking our beloved nation's politics." 

He said "it's really difficult" being the face of the anti-Trump GOP; lots of people, including family members, have turned on him. And even though he's been accused - twice - of being possessed by the devil, he's undeterred. 

...let's take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way. How backwards looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division. And that's not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn't sign up for that. 

Even given that, he said it's invigorating to stand up for what he believes in. And, the question of whether the GOP can survive without Trump is the right question to ask. He thinks the focus on getting reelected is the wrong approach, and that there's a leadership problem in the party. That includes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy trotting off to Mar-a-Lago, further tying Trump and the party together, and feeding his desperation to stay relevant. They "they shouldn't be a Trump-first party, they should be a country-first party." 

And we need to quit being the party that even one iota defends an insurrection, a dead police officer and other dead Americans on the Capitol. There is no equivalency to that. And we have to run from that as fast as we can.

Chuck talked about Dems having a hard time engaging with the Rs; he quoted Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan, who said 

I have a hard time interacting with those members right now. Especially with those I had a closer relationship with. I'm not going to deny the reality that I look at them differently now. They're smaller people to me now.

And, he asked, how can the Rs - "the party that's defending the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world" - "lecture" the Dems on bipartisanship? Kinzinger agreed, saying the GOP "has lost its moral authority..." They can fight back, defend their principles, of course, but

when I ask people now what is a conservative principle, how many people think that conservative principles are things like just build the wall and, you know, charge the Capitol and have an insurrection?  

Kinzinger said he'd "certainly vote her off committee" but he's unsure about kicking Marjorie Taylor Greene out of the House; voters have a right to choose who they want to represent them, he said.

On impeachment, he gets that some Senators are looking for an easy way out by using a process argument, that you can't impeach someone who's out of office, but it's not the time for that.

...this is a red line in American history.... ten of us in the House took the tough vote... What we can't say, Chuck, is in the last two months of a president, you can do whatever you want, including incite a mob to insurrection, because it's just too late in the process to convict you.

They need to send a message, "that people like Donald Trump can never hold that office again."

TGIF 1/29/21

What do you think - should we focus on some good news tonight?

First, there's news on the case involving the most recent former president's taxes. A judge in New York has ordered more data to be turned over to the NY AG, Tish James, saying that "many of the communications (Trump's attorney) marked as privileged" weren't, and so the specific documents need to be turned over. If you're that former president, and you're confident there's nothing wrong with your taxes, you probably want to clear your name as soon as possible. If you're a detractor of him, you want the most information possible to be available in hopes it will do him harm. And if you're just a person who's looking to have all the crazy tax rules exposed (and perhaps changed, in the interest of fairness), you're probably happy, too. So, I guess this is good news all around - unless, of course, you're him and your taxes are not squeaky clean.

Sticking in the Empire State and with our AG, lots of people are talking about her report on nursing homes and COVID. Most folks are all gaga over the statement that COVID-related nursing home deaths were under-reported, perhaps by as much as 50%. That's an eye-catching number, for sure, but those 'excess deaths' were reported as hospital deaths, because that's where the patients died. The bigger issue, to me, that the report found fault with a number of nursing homes for how they were handling patients, infection control, and so on. Hitting the Sonofa Gov is great fun, for sure, but is he the real issue, or is patient care the real issue? Hopefully, people will understand it's the latter - that would be good news, for sure.

Sticking with COVID-related items, there were three other stories this week related to vaccines that had happy endings. In the first, vaccines were given to motorists stranded in a snowstorm in Oregon. There were only six doses available, but rather than let them expire while stuck on the highway, the health care workers went car to car to find folks who wanted one.  Said one recipient, "It is important for people to know how dedicated health professionals are to getting every single dose into people. My community should be so proud - I am."

The second COVID story also comes from the Pacific Northwest. It took only about two hours after a freezer alarm went off in a Seattle hospital signaling that vials of the Moderna vaccine needed to be used before they got too warm to get a vaccine clinic set up and get word out that folks could come on down. When all was said and done, over 1600 doses were administered, starting at 11PM. According to some reports, folks showed up in their PJs and bathrobes, they were that interested in getting the vaccine. Kudos to all involved in putting the plan together and saving the doses, and to the folks who made the trip and stood in line to get their jab. Some folks suggested that the same sense of urgency should be on display every day, and it should - but we should at least be happy that this worked as well as it did.

What else do we have?  Well, if you don't mind rampant, aggressive cursing, this Georgia resident going off on his fellow Georgians to get them to rise up against Marjorie Taylor Greene is encouraging. I repeat, this is NSFW and NSFC (children) and NSFP (parents) and maybe NSFHP (houseplants) but he's got a point. I hope people not only feel the same way as he does, but are going to act on their anger and rage and demand they get better representation. I also hope it doesn't take until the next election to get rid of her.

Oh, that third COVID story? It's a flat-out good news story, no question about that, and it comes to us from Minneapolis. Take a look. 

When COVID arrived last March, neighbors in the 4100 block of S. Colfax Avenue in Minneapolis stepped outside to sing together as a way to boost morale. Nearly 300 nights later, they're still singing. Every night at 6 p.m., "rain, shine or meteor shower, ..." they tackle Prince and Elvis, "Baby Shark" and "Let It Snow," "God Bless, America" and "This Land is Your Land." 

They've got a repertoire of over 200 songs, now. Back in the beginning, we saw lots of stories of this kind of thing, the clapping for health care workers, the solo musicians, the opera singers, even the balcony marathoner - but it's been a while since I've seen anything that shows this kind of dedication. 

Got some good news to share? Drop a comment. 

TGIF, everyone.