The Journal of Unpopular Opinions (Chapter 4)

When a president, congressman, senator, governor, state legislator, or anyone else tells you that the only way they can ‘protect you from the other side’ or ‘continue serving you to the best of their abilities’ is to treat you as if you haven’t got an independent thought in your head, run screaming from the room.

*****     *****     *****     *****     

Off-cycle Congressional redistricting by Republicans, like that done (so far) in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, and soon Indiana, which will tackle it starting Monday, has nothing to do with what voters want and everything to do with what the politicians want: to protect their longevity by caving to a president who clearly knows he is as unpopular as we the people believe he is.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for similar redistricting efforts by the Democrats, such as those under consideration in Maryland, Illinois, and New York (so far). Some consider these noble efforts, from a 'we can't let them rig the election' or whatever the logic is, but I disagree. It's a shameless attempt to grab power, to protect their longevity, and to cheat the system, which is exactly what the Ds claim the Rs are doing.  

California's goal is the same, but the process is different, so I dislike it slightly less than I do the blatant stuff being done elsewhere. The Golden State has an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, so the legislature needs voter approval to bypass that group and institute its own maps - and I hope voters reject the Prop 50 ballot initiative. 

Why?  Because we should be demanding the right to choose our politicians, rather than letting them choose us. We should never give a politician our vote simply because we share a party affiliation. We should be making them work for every vote they want and earn every vote they get. 

And we should never stand for them giving in to the narcissistic, panicked demands and threats of the person at the top of their party, no matter how high the throne upon which that person sits.

For too long, we have acted as if the term ‘voting rights’ only applies to ensuring access to voting.  For years, we have sat by, watching the people who have been trusted to represent us:

• make it harder for us to vote by taking away options like early voting, mail-in ballots, and other changes, and by implementing ridiculous rules that directly and negatively impact women, the elderly, and economically disadvantaged voters, because 'those people' are more likely to vote against a certain party;

• constantly bang the drum about all kinds of voter fraud, ignoring years of evidence that there is negligible impact from the extremely limited fraud that occurs, and complaining that elections they don't are rigged, and threatening states, which have constitutional control over their voting rules, with all kinds of retribution if they don't change their ways to diminish or exclude certain voters;

• allow our voices to be overshadowed and overwhelmed by the tens of millions of dollars politicians of both parties receive from corporations, political parties, unions, lobbyists, PACs, and super-rich donors, in return for who knows what legislative promises; and

• blatantly look away from - heck, they run away from - our legitimate concerns about the direction of our country, their policies, and their ineffectiveness.

And here we are today, 

• letting them disrespect us even more by rearranging us into districts they assume will give them an advantage; 

• letting them assume we’re nothing but sheep that will vote for a party rather than for our issues and interests; and 

• letting them assume they no longer have to work for our votes.  

You know what they say about people who assume, right? That old line about 'making an ass...'?

Don’t let them get away with it.

• If your state asks you to vote for off-cycle redistricting, vote no.

• If your state just goes ahead and redistricts off-cycle, let the folks who represent you know that you’re unhappy about it, and that you’ll vote against them at the earliest opportunity. And then, do exactly that.

• And if they’re not talking about it, or have decided not to play the game, thank them – and remind them that they still have to work for – and earn – your vote, every single election.

It's time we fully use our voting rights - and there's no better time to start than this Tuesday, Election Day. 

Sunday School 10/30/22

I visited the CNN State of the Union classroom for Sunday School. Joining Dana Bash this week were Florida Man Sen. Rick Scott and (separately) Cheri Beasley, who's running to represent North Carolina in the US Senate. I'll take them in that order. 

Scott was asked for his thoughts on the attack on Paul Pelosi.

It's disgusting. This violence is horrible...We had a door knocker in Florida that was attacked. I mean, this stuff has to stop...  So, a lot of it, we got to say, let's have a -- we can have a heated conversation about the issues, but this violence has got to stop. This is horrible. And my heart goes out to Paul Pelosi, and I hope he has a full recovery.

Bash asked if President Biden "is right" to suggest condemning violence isn't enough, you also have to condemn "all the malarkey that's being put out there to undermine democracy," and if the Rs should "do more to reject conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric."  Scott seemed to try and justify the violence by tying it to election security. He said "we have to condemn the violence," and added

...We have got to do everything we can to get people comfortable that this election in nine days is going to be free and fair, that people's votes are all going to be counted fairly, they're not going to be diluted... I tell people, go to the polls, vote. Go to the polls and be poll watchers, so you can see that these elections are going to be fair. And we have got to work on it every cycle and get it better every cycle.

Bash circled back to the importance of party leaders, including FPOTUS, toning down the rhetoric that might instigate somebody. Again, Scott brushed that off. 

Dana, I think what's important is everybody do everything we can to make these elections fair. We have got Hillary Clinton saying the '24 elections could be stolen. We have got Stacey Abrams saying she didn't lose...so my job is do everything I can to get people to feel comfortable that these elections are fair and then tell people, get out to vote, go be a poll watcher. And when we have the opportunity, let's make our election laws safer...

He said that means voter ID, no ballot harvesting, monitored ballot boxes, and, perhaps (my comment, not Scott's) armed folks keeping an eye on things - because that's a whole other level of comfort right there...

What about the anti-Semitic messages displayed at the Florida/Georgia football game? Scott said he dealt with this when he was governor, and that "it's disgusting."

... And, I mean, we have got to understand, we are blessed. We live in a country where we need to accept people. We need to do -- we can cherish our differences, but let's accept people and let's all live in a country that we -- we have got the best opportunity in the world. So, let's quit dividing ourselves and quit attacking other people, and just talk about how we make this a better place...

Bash asked about his plan to sunset all federal legislation after five years. Dems say this'll jeopardize Social Security and Medicare. Could he give a simple yes or no on whether Republicans want to cut Medicare and/or Social Security? 

Absolutely not. And the Democrats just cut $280 billion, all Democrats in the Senate and House voted to cut $280 billion out of Medicare just two months ago. And then they want to say Republicans want to cut something? Democrats have done this. Joe Biden, when he was senator, said he wanted to cut Medicare and Social Security. I believe we got to preserve them and make sure we keep them. What I want to do is make sure we live within our means and make sure we preserve those programs. People paid into them. They believe in them. I believe in them. And I'm going to fight like hell to make sure we preserve Medicare and Social Security.

Bash tried "to correct the record," by noting the Dem's plan "didn't cut Medicare benefits. It allowed for negotiation for prescription drug prices, which would ultimately bring down the price and the costs for Medicare consumers." (I added the emphasis, in case Scott reads this.)

He continued to argue, either because he doesn't understand the difference between reducing benefits and reducing costs, or he simply doesn't value telling the truth - but he made sure we all understood the importance of what Joe Biden said in 1984.

TGIF 4/1/22

Lots of 'week' stuff for you tonight, for people and corporations - because they're people too, of course. 

I'd have to say President Biden had a good week, Oh sure, there's still fallout from him not using his inside voice saying that Putin needs to be removed from power, but there was another good jobs report. And we know that presidents (and their daughters) create jobs. The latest figures? 

U.S. employers added 431,000 jobs in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department said Friday. The figure was just shy of forecasts, and there was an upward revision of 95,000 for the previous two months of this year.

The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent a month earlier and just a touch higher than its levels right before the pandemic.

We'll have to see what the pundits do with this news in the classrooms on Sunday. 

Speaking of pundits and the media and whatnot, I'm confident in saying that both Fox News and CBS News had bad weeks. 

The folks at Fox hired Caitlyn Jenner, saying in a press release

Caitlyn's story is an inspiration to us all. She is a trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ community and her illustrious career spans a variety of fields that will be a tremendous asset for our audience.

That's quite a contrast with how the network's shows covered Jenner when her Vanity Fair cover hit the Internet, but as we know, times change and opinions evolve. Well, some do; - it'll be fun to see what happens if Jenner and Tucker Carlson get together for a chat.

For their part, CBS decided to hire former Trump guy Mick Mulvaney. Reaction, as they say was swift. Vanity Fair's Charlotte Klein noted that "the backlash is rooted in a litany of stains on Mulvaney’s track record that hang over whatever analysis or expertise CBS is now paying him to provide." 

Also not impressed? CBS staffers who are "embarrassed" and "baffled" at the decision, and Stephen Colbert, who was more vocal in making Mulvaney '"welcome."

I for one can't wait to hear Mulvaney's trenchant and objective political analysis, given his calling COVID-19 a media "hoax," telling everyone to "get over it" after Trump extorted Ukraine for political gain, and predicting Trump would accept his 2020 loss gracefully. Is Mick Mulvaney psychic? Get this man to Vegas! He's Nostradumbass.

Obviously, I'm just joking, but why would the Tiffany network's venerable news division put this craven toady-to-a-tyrant on their payroll?

Because the Rs are going to win the midterms, Stephen, you silly goose.

Who else had a week? Jared Kushner, the WhatsApp-wielding son-in-law of the former president. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-NC) said "it was really valuable" that he talked with the January 6th Committee, for six hours or so. Not sure whether he had a good week or a bad one, since it was the Biden administration's refusal to extend executive privilege to him that allowed his testimony, but since he did testify, and Ivanka will as well, I'll give them both a luke-warm good week.

Moving away from the luke warm power couple, let's give a red-hot good week recognition to corporate profits! According to an Axios article, 

...Companies complained loudly about rising costs for raw materials and labor for most of 2021, but data released yesterday...show they passed those costs along — and then some. For the full year 2021, pre-tax profits rose 25% to roughly $2.81 trillion, handily outpacing the 7% rise in consumer prices over the same stretch. (Emphasis added.)

And to lobbyists! The Washington Post tells us

The lobbying industry had a record year in 2021, taking in $3.7 billion in revenue as companies, associations and other organizations pressed Congress and the Biden administration over trillions of dollars in new pandemic spending... (Emphasis added.)

And to stock buybacks! Here's what the folks at The Street have to say on that.

...buybacks reduce a company's shares outstanding, pushing its profit-per-share figure higher. Buybacks also can signal that a company has strong finances...So perhaps it’s no great surprise that companies are ratcheting up buybacks this year, after a record total in 2021. (Emphasis added.)

And don't forget dividends! From an Insider Monkey article a while back, we learned that

In the United States, common dividends in 2021 increased to $78.6 billion, up 89.7% from $41.4 billion in 2020. Higher earnings, sales, and improving margins have enabled companies to start returning shareholder wealth...(Emphasis added.)

All that red hotness has me feeling all patriotic and everything, which is why I have to say that our astronaut Mark Vande Hei had a good week, for sure. He's returned safely to Earth, along with a couple of Russian cosmonauts. after spending 355 days in space, an American record for a single trip. The head of Russia's space agency had seemingly threatened to leave him behind because our response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, so him getting back in one piece was welcomed news. 

Hillary Clinton had a teeny little bit of a bad week, after she was fined $8000 by the Federal Elections Commission for funding the Steele dossier back in 2016. The DNC was fined $105,000 as well. The fines resulted from a 2018 lawsuit filed by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a 501 (c)3 organization with the flimsiest website I've ever seen for this type of group. I'd be surprised if they could even pay for the filing fee for the lawsuit. 

And speaking of lawyers, I'm giving a giant good week to folks involved in teaching law to students at the University of North Carolina. First-year law student Jess Errico filed for an extension on a project for her Research, Reasoning, Writing and Advocacy course, so she and her classmates could watch the Tarheels play the 'Dook' Blue Devils in the Final Four. A 'court' of eight professors and the associate dean for academic affairs granted her request - and added a day, on the hope that the Tarheels end up playing for the championship.

I love everything about this!  Except, of course for all the people who think this is some sort of miscarriage of justice, or that the professors should be fired, and all the rest. That's a whole lot of bad week, self-inflicted misery right there.  

TGIF, everyone. And Go, Blue Devils! Beat Carolina!

TGIF 6/4/21

Ah... Friday! My chance to pick the good week and bad week lists. It's always such fun, isn't it?

Let's start with me: I had a great week, at least in one respect: veritable pastiche has been around for twelve and a half years, while Former Guy's blog lasted barely a single month. Yay, me!

And speaking of Former Guy, he had a bad week, and not just because his blog slunk into the morass of failed Trump business ventures. It's been determined that his bans from Facebook and Instagram have been extended at least until January 2023. Never one to miss an opportunity to lash out at others, Former Guy responded in typical bullybluster fashion.

Facebook's ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our country can't take this abuse anymore!

And my favorite part? 

Next time in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business! More hamberders and covfefe for MEEEE!!!!!!!!!! 

OK, I made up the last sentence. But only the last sentence. 

Now those "plus many others" he mentioned? I have to assume he's referring to the Russians and Ukrainians and Iranians and the rest of the election interferers who were on his side, right? 

Economic prognosticators had another bad week; they (again) widely (again) missed the mark on their jobs projections. In May, the experts anticipated over a million jobs would have been added in April, but it turned out there were only 266K. For May, the experts were looking for around 650,000 (or even as high as 671,000), but only 559K were added. Which makes me wonder if meteorologists are now helping predict our key economic indicators are going?

Elected officials in Surry County, NC think they had a good week, but I think they had a bad week. The county banned Coke machines from government buildings, to let the soda company know that they aren't going to tolerate 'woke' corporations and their support for "the out-of-control cancel culture and bigoted leftist mob." By, you know, cancelling the corporation's machines. Sigh.

Here's what the Surry County Board of Supervisors said in a letter to the company: 

Citizens of Surry County and across America are growing increasingly tired of large multinational corporations and their CEOs pushing an increasingly intolerant, bigoted, left-wing, divisive political agenda on its customers.

The root of this? A statement from James Quincey, the Georgia-based soda giant's CEO, in response to the restrictive voting legislation passed in its home state. Among other things, he had the audacity to say in part, that 

Voting is a foundational right in America, and we have long championed efforts to make it easier to vote.

We want to be crystal clear and state unambiguously that we are disappointed in the outcome of the Georgia voting legislation...  our focus is now on supporting federal legislation that protects voting access and addresses voter suppression across the country. We all have a duty to protect everyone's right to vote, and we will continue to stand up for what is right in Georgia and across the US. 

Now, I don't find anyone who says that voting is a foundational right in America to be bigoted and divisive and worthy of cancellation. And by 'anyone' I mean both living, breathing people and those large, multinational corporate people. I reserve those words to describe the people who have submitted over 360 restrictive voting bills across the country this year, and to people like the officials in Surry County, plus many others. Kudos to Coca-Cola on this one, and a giant, over-ripe raspberry to the rest of them.

Don McGahn - remember him? After a two-year fight, McGahn finally had to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. I initially thought maybe this was a bad week for McGahn, but it probably was a relief to be able to tell people how hard Trump worked to obstruct justice. Since McGahn was limited to talking about stuff in the Mueller Report that was already public knowledge, I don't think anyone else got much out of it, we'll see. We can probably read any number of books written by Trump staffers and critics, plus many others, and learn just as much.  

Do you need a fix from Donny Jr, since Daddy's availability is limited? Well, have no fear - for as little as 20 bucks, you can hear directly from the heir to the Golden Toilet. Seriously!

Apparently, there's a service called Cameo, and lots of self-important people like these are out there, waiting to provide you a personal video message, or in some cases, DMs. 

• Junior’s squeeze, Kimberly Guilfoyle ($200 for video; $19.99 for DM)
• George Papadopoulos ($100/no DMs available)
• Tomi Lahren ($90/no DMs available)
• Corey Lewandowski ($70/DMs at a bargain price of $2.99. No word if punches are included or cost extra)
• Jacob Wohl ($50/no DMs available)
• Sebastian Gorka ($99 for video, no DMs available)
• Joe Arpaio ($30/no DMs available)

That's a full-blown bad week list right there, IMO. 

And finally, there was a big kerfuffle over a tweet sent by Vice President Kamala Harris two days before Memorial Day, in which all she said was "Enjoy the long weekend." That was too much for the Fox News/My Pillow crowd, plus many others, who went off on Harris, never mentioning that she issued a Memorial Day tweet - on Memorial Day. And that's something that many of the attackers didn't even bother to do themselves.

The same people, plus many others, aren't making a peep about this story, reported by the AP. 

Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speaker's microphone when the former US Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War. 

That's right - when Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter (Ret.) decided to include that part in his speech, he did so because "he wanted to share the history of how Memorial Day originated." Sadly, the folks who organized the Ohio celebration Kemter spoke at, said "that part of the speech was not relevant to the program's theme of honoring the city's veterans."  Pretty easy to see who the good week guy is, and who they aren't, right? 

There's more, but this'll have to do. TGIF everyone - I hope your week was a good one. 

Sunday School 10/25/20: Extra Credit

It's Extra Credit time, students!  Let's take a listen as Face the Nation's Margaret Brennan talks to a couple of her CBS counterparts: first, Mark  Strassman on the coronavirus, and then Anthony Salvanto with some swing state info.

Strassmann was in Atlanta, talking about the surge in new cases, which he reported have spiked 248% since the start of September; that 31 states are in the red zone for new cases, 11 had single-day records, and Wisconsin- a battleground state - is "in crisis" with seven of the top ten metro areas for new cases. Fun stuff, right, especially now that we've "turned the corner," as a certain someone likes to say.

Voting is underway in all 50 states, and Strassmann said that nearly 3,000,000 Georgians had already voted, "more than double the record set four years ago." He talked about one group, Black Voters Matter, that plans on passing out a quarter million flyers with a QR code listing polling places, as well as wait times in real time, which is really cool. He also mentioned folks who have said the pandemic is a key reason they're voting, and he referenced another display, white flags in DC, place to honor the American lost due to COVID.

His final note? Mike 'My staff all has Covid" Pence will be campaigning in Georgia, because it's now a very tight race there - tied, in fact, in the network's latest poll.

And that's the segue to the Salvanto interview. He echoed what Strassman was hearing from voters, that the pandemic is definitely having an impact: the majority of Biden voters are 'very concerned' about it, while Trump voters are less so; personal character is another key factor for Biden voters. On the other side of things, Trump voters are more concerned about the economy and immigration. They also fear the country is becoming "too socialist," he said, while Biden voters think it's becoming "too authoritarian." One heck of a pickle we're in isn't it?

Brennan asked him about key groups he's watching. He mentioned women with college degrees, who've been trending D since the last mid-terms. Dive deeper to white women with college degrees, and they've been trending D for even longer, going back to 2016. Biden is up with this group compared to Hillary Clinton in Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Another key group he mentioned? Seniors. Biden actually is leading with seniors in North Carolina; they're traditionally pretty reliable in the R column - that's where they are in Florida and Georgia.

With 57 million people already having voted, Brennan wondered, "is there a risk here of misreading these early indications?"

Well, it's a tale of two groups. First, you look at the early vote. And we estimate about half the vote in all of these states is already in. Among those voters, Joe Biden has a lead. These are voters who have told us that they voted for Joe Biden. And, also, if you look at the public voting roles, it seems like Democrats are turning out more than Republicans.

But if you look at voters who are still to vote, plan to vote between now and Election Day or on Election Day, that electorate tilts very heavily towards the President. When we get to November 3rd, it's going to be a case of perhaps the Democrats have a lead and then do the President's supporters turn out in large enough numbers to make up the difference. They have done that before. And I would caution anybody: if you read the early vote, or for that matter small polling leads, and think that this race is over, you will be mistaken. Margaret.

She also wondered whether the president needs these three states in order to win. 

If you look at the map and then you put these states, hypothetically, back into the President's column. So I'll put Florida, I'll put Georgia, and I'll put North Carolina, all back to where they were in 2016, which could happen, then he's got to go up and win Ohio again, and I'll put Iowa, again, back in his column. That on the electoral vote count gets him much closer to Joe Biden, and then we are back to the Upper Midwest, and we're going to watch Pennsylvania, maybe Wisconsin, or a couple of those other states, to see if he can flip them from leaning Democratic as well. So, if that feels a little bit like 2016, or that old Yogi Berra line, "It's déjà vu all over again;" maybe it is. Margaret.

"Ain't over until it's over," she said. Ain't that the truth. 

With all of the knot-tying and untying and twists and turns that the punditry is going through already, based on exit polling and based on what they're hearing in prospective polling, in focus groups, from the campaigns, and from their Ouija boards, and with more than a week to go, I fear for what's going to happen next week. 

If we don't have a clear winner, or if we have a thousand million ballot challenges, which we may, the talking heads will be going nuts trying to predict the outcome. In a ratings-driven world, with an impetuous child-president, it's going to be an interesting ride.  And yes, we will have a full Supreme Court to handle the thousand million challenges - Amy Coney Barrett has been sworn in, by Clarence Thomas.

See you around the virtual campus. Mask up, and remember to vote!

In Case You Missed It (v53)

Can I tell you, remodeling your kitchen really cuts into writing time? 

There's the supervising, and the cleaning, and the demolition, and the decisions-on-the-fly, and the keeping the cats out of the way, and then there's the getting rid of the derbis (a Dad word), and the corresponding exhaustion...  

Before you know it, seven days have gone by with only three posts to show for it. Sigh. Here's your short and sweet review of the posts that did manage to make it out of my head last week.

Our Sunday School lesson was all about voting, and voting security, and it also included  couple of references to what folks in charge of elections in their states have to deal with. Here's Karen Brinson Bell, the State Board of Elections director in North Carolina, talking about the efforts she and her team are making.

Benson said there's been "near constant communication" with postmasters and postal leaders, trying to ensure "the system works, that citizens can receive their ballots and return them on time." The drop boxes are "a workaround" for folks who aren't comfortable mailing the ballots in, or who wait until the last minute. But, she said, 

we're now also facing a perception issue. That the changes in the postal service, if nothing else, have created confusion and chaos where none existed prior. And so, the voter education and the confidence-boosting we now have to do and will do to ensure voters feel confident that their vote is sent through the mail and will count is a key part of our work moving forward.

Part of that perception issue? Yeah, the drivel from the president who (among other things), suggested that voters in NC vote by mail and then vote again in person.  

For your Extra Credit, I looked for guests who were on to talk about the 'suckers and losers' comments allegedly (and probably) made by the president. Here's Chuck Hagel, a former senator and former Secretary of Defense offering his thoughts.

But let's go back to the words from Trump himself, coming out of his own mouth, starting in 2016 about - what he said about John McCain and what he continued to say about McCain. 

How he degraded the service of Generals Mattis and McMaster, and just recently, General Kelly, the history of this president over the last three, four years is pretty clear. The 2018 experience when he did not go to the American military cemetery in France, to recognize and honor the World War I Marines, every other leader went, every other leader drove, leaders of Germany, France, Canada. And you can go through a litany of past things that he said from his mouth, actions that he's taken, and it corroborates really the Goldberg article in "The Atlantic.”

But my favorite thing from the article was this comment from a voter in Colorado, speaking about the president:

It didn't surprise me. You can see what he said about Senator McCain from the very start. I think that (he's) someone who respects the military vote but that's not the same thing as respecting the military. 

Give yourself a pat on the back if you also realize they're not the same thing.  

Wondering on Wednesday was all about silliness coming out of the Administration, including this section on another whistle being blown.

• Is anyone wondering that another whistleblower is coming forward in this administration, or that the issue he's blown the whistle on is Trump's downgrading Russian interference and upgrading Ch-eye-na's and Eye-ran's instead? Because we know that fits the narrative that Trump likes. His minions have made no mistake about that in many appearances in the Sunday classrooms. The experts say Russia, the minions say the other two. The experts say Russia, Trump says the other two. The whistleblower says Russia, and says that Acting DHS Director Chad Wolf says the other two...  I can't help thinking I'm not the only one seeing a pattern here?

There was one segment in the piece about those random seeds from China and what Americans did with them that prove our unique American-ness, or our MAGAness, or something. I'll let you decide on that part. 

There was nothing noteworthy in my emails to warrant an Email of the Week feature, which usually hits on Thursday, and Friday was not the day to bitch about political stuff, so I stayed away from things for the most part. 

So, that's it -- three posts, a lot of work done on the kitchen, and now I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for hanging out and sticking around. 

See you back here later for Sunday School.

Sunday School 9/6/20

So, what was cooking in the classrooms today?  Let's wander around the halls.

Because of the focus on the upcoming election, or rather on voting in the upcoming election, I spent my time with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press.

Here's how he set the stage:  According to a new NBC News/Survey Monkey poll, 52% of Americans plan on voting early (33% by mail, 19% in person) but 54% of those who lean Republican say they'll vote in person on election day, while 71% of those leaning D plan on voting by mail or by voting in person during the early voting window. The consequences of that are our worst nightmare: Trump leads on election day because the Rs who vote in person have their votes counted right away, while the Biden camp picks up speed only as the mail-in votes get counted.  Who know what will happen under those circumstances, given the incumbent, and given the US Post Office has already told states things could be kind of scary come November, and then there's all the lawyers waiting to get involved, and so on...

Guests on the show included Republican Frank LaRose, Ohio's Secretary of State; Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who holds that same position in Michigan, and Karen Brinson Bell, the State Board of Elections director in North Carolina. Here are some highlights.

• Brinson Bell said they've "been optimistic the entire time" in NC, and that it's not her state's first rodeo with the process. She did say they're trying to get out more ballots than usual, but they had their primary (pre-COVID), they had a small election in June, and they're ready for November.
• LaRose said Ohio had an all-mail ballot primary, and they learned a lot from that, including that "our boards of elections are incredibly well positioned" to handle the absentee ballots. And, he mentioned recruiting poll workers (they need 35,000) and "getting accurate information out to voters."
• Benson said in Michigan, voters have lots of options, including voting by mail, using drop box for their ballot, voting early in person, and voting in person on election day, when all precincts will be open. She also noted that in every election this year, "turnout has doubled, putting (them) on track to have Michigan's November election be the highest turnout ever" in the state's history.

Benson said there's been "near constant communication" with postmasters and postal leaders, trying to ensure "the system works, that citizens can receive their ballots and return them on time." The drop boxes are "a workaround" for folks who aren't comfortable mailing the ballots in, or who wait until the last minute. But, she said, 

we're now also facing a perception issue. That the changes in the postal service, if nothing else, have created confusion and chaos where none existed prior. And so, the voter education and the confidence-boosting we now have to do and will do to ensure voters feel confident that their vote is sent through the mail and will count is a key part of our work moving forward.

In Ohio, La Rose said that the drop boxes are under 24-hour surveillance, and are emptied daily by a bipartisan team from the county Boards of Elections. Also, "whether they mail in their absentee ballot or whether they use the secure drop box at the Board of Elections," ballots can be tracked online the same way you can track a package. 

North Carolina's Brinson Bell said ballots started going out last Friday to nearly 600,000 voters who requested one, and that they can process absentee ballots before November 3rd, and that they count their early voting ballots, which could be 50% of the total cast. All in all, "even by the close of polls on Election Night, we may be reporting as much as 80 percent of our voter turnout and how they've chosen... at the time that the polls close."

Michigan can't do the same, Benson said - they don't start processing until Election day, but she seemed to think that Todd's question about Thanksgiving and the Michigan results to be coming together was silly. 

No, but we should be prepared for this to be closer to an Election Week, as opposed to an Election Day. I mean, the bottom line is we are not going to have the full results and a counting of all of our ballots on Election Night. We already know that. We've asked the legislature to make changes to the law to give us more ability to be prepared and count those ballots more efficiently. They have not acted for reasons that I don't fully, completely understand.

They're making changes to "more efficiently and securely count those ballots," and she said she's "laser-focused on accuracy."

And if it takes a few extra days to ensure we have a full and accurate counting of the results of every race, that's what it's going to take. And we're going to be transparent throughout that whole process to make sure every citizen knows exactly where we are in the counting process and how many more ballots we have to get through.

And in response to Todd's question about concerns "people may take the delay in getting all the results in Michigan to declare a phony winner?" she said she had concerns, 

But to me, that's just going to be another example of the type of misinformation and disinformation that we're seeing multiple ways from multiple platforms and voices in this election cycle. So, we're going to counter that misinformation with truth and accuracy.

Being "that source of trusted information," of facts and data, is going to be important for all of the folks in charge of elections this year, 

as we seek to cut through lots of different rhetoric that's going to only be increasing in the weeks coming up to Election Day and beyond.

Frank LaRose was asked about a bill submitted by Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio that would change the date electors meet, pushing it out a few weeks to January 2nd, because "states may need more time. They may need more time to certify and don’t -- it's an artificial date, the December 14th. It’s not in the Con -- you can shift that around." 

La Rose said Ohio's electors are planning on meeting on December 14th, and that they count ballots on Election Night, and report an "unofficial tabulation." They'll count everything that was legally cast, they'll count everything "over the next 10 days" after Election Day.

We're even changing the way that our Election Night reporting is done on our website to make it clear that there still may be tens or hundreds of thousands of outstanding absentee ballots. We expect those to come back in. Whether it's one of my former military teammates who's serving overseas, or maybe an Ohioan that just procrastinated and waited till the last minute, as long as those ballots are legally cast, they deserve to be counted. And so again, Election Night, yeah, we'll give a snapshot of those results. But the final tabulation is what really matters.

I don't always agree with Chuck Todd, but today I did, when he said

I appreciate all of you. Good luck. We're all counting on all three of you doing an outstanding job. This is one case where, regardless of party, everybody wants all three of you to succeed. 

Indeed we are - them, and all of their counterparts, regardless of their redness or blueness.  

See you around the virtual campus, masks on as always.

Wondering on Wednesday (v181)

Meandering through the muddle, and wondering, this Wednesday, about stuff like this:

• Whether anyone will ever be able to show us conclusively, with forensically verified photographic evidence, where Donald Trump was on 9/11?  The story changes, and changes, and changes, and I know it's not the most important thing in the world, but everyone remembers where they were when they heard about the attacks, and to my knowledge no one has three or four versions of where they were and what they did that day. And I don't know if anyone believes that Trump was at Ground Zero - and if he had been (which is highly doubtful) there would absolutely be a photo. About that I don't wonder one bit. 

• If the Republican legislators in North Carolina reached out to Scott Walker and the rest of the Wisconsin Republicans to get a page out of their playbook?  Incredibly, the GOP, the party of patriotism and flag-waving and chest-thumping and all that, decided that the best time to override the Democratic governor's budget was to call a vote while Democrats in the legislature were attending a 9/11 memorial service, guaranteeing them the requisite majority to blow up the budget. I've long wondered where all the Republican cojones were, and it seems I don't need to wonder about that one bit, either.

• Why the president expressed concern about "very very bad drug dealers" who could be hiding among the refugee, when our own data shows that there's actually more risk of drugs flowing from the US to the Bahamas than the opposite?  

And I wonder if the country will ever remember what it felt like on 9/12, when everyone was of one heart, and stood together, and was kind to each other, no matter what our differences may have been on 9/10. 

Is that lost forever?

Wondering on Wednesday (148)

Let's get right to it, shall we?

I wonder what the president meant when he said "we love the people of Poland coming into the United States in any way, shape or form, OK?" I'm sure he meant in any legal way, shape or form, of course. Right?

White House photo

And now there's no reason to wonder if there's a reduction in the number of Poles we love wanting to come here, after Trump bigly dissed his counterpart, President Andrzej Duda, by not giving him a chair to sit in while signing a new joint strategic partnership.

You'll see the American president, resolutely staring with resolve at the White House photographer from behind the Resolute Desk, and you'll see the insensitive treatment of Duda to Trump's right.

No one could find the man a chair? Not even one of the couple thousand 'senior officials' in the administration? Maybe Poland won't be naming the their hoped-for new military base Fort Trump after all.

Trump visited North Carolina today, to survey damage from Hurricane Florence and greet residents.  Differing from his well known trips to Texas (what a great turnout) and Puerto Rico (tossing paper towels to storm victims), closer to home he helped hand out meals. And, of course, he had to ask about Lake Norman, a large man-made lake north of Charlotte.

And how is Lake Norman, that area? How is that doing? I love that area. I can't tell you why, but I love that area. 

It didn't take a ton of wondering as to why he might be interested.

Moving on to the other major storm occupying the news, I wonder why it is that the Senate feels the need to move forward so quickly on the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation?  I mean, it's not like we need him on the Supreme Court, right?

There's certainly no reason to think that having a 9th judge on the bench is necessary on the first Monday in October 2018, given that we were denied a 9th judge for 293 days when it was a Democrat behind the appointment. Honestly, what's the big hurry?

I'm also wondering about the specific qualifications the Judiciary Committee members and their staffs have for investigating allegations of sexual abuse. I mean, do any of them even watch Law and Order SVU?

And I'm trying to picture them explaining to their daughters, granddaughters, nieces, or any other young women they know why there's no need for an impartial, professional investigation.

Moving on to the deteriorating level of discourse in politics (and everything else, it seems) today,  is anyone wondering why Trump supporter Claudia Tenney is conjuring up Mafioso images in her battle against Anthony Brindisi to represent NY's 22nd congressional district? I know she's doing it now - but did you know she started with this tactic more than a year ago?  Here's a little bit from an interview with USA today in July 2017.

While unloading on her Democratic challenger during a Thursday interview with USA Today, Tenney (R-New Hartford) sought to highlight the "great contrast" between her own father, late state Supreme Court Justice John R. Tenney, and Brindisi's father Louis, who she described as "very heavily involved with the organized crime in Utica for many years, representing them."

"He fought for law and order and Anthony's father represented some of the worst criminals in our community," Tenney said, looking at a picture of her father during a wide-ranging interview in her DC office.

"You have to question...some of the things that have happened in his family. The voters make that decision. I'm not saying Anthony is part of that but that's the family you come from." 

Brindisi's campaign had the best possible answer back then:

Anthony Brindisi believes that name-calling never created a job in Upstate New York.

Fast forward to this week and Tenney is downing her game, to Trumpian levels. In a memo sent to staffers - and to the Utica Observer-Dispatch - we learn from Tenney campaign consultant Tim Edson that

We have the unique situation that we should be cautious about, his family has a track record and this is going to be an intense, tough race (Edson said). And as the pressure  itself on Brindisi and he watches his political career come to an end, (people) need to be vigilant because it's possible his family members could return to the kind of intimidating behavior that's sort of characterized the last 30 years of them being in Utica. 

What the ever-wondering hell is that???  No -- seriously, what the ever-wondering hell IS that???  Is this guy actual proud of himself for this?

Why, yes - yes he is. Just look at his company's website. Here's a snippet, with a little emphasis to help you see what this stereotypical attack on Italian-Americans is all about.

FP1 writes and produces advertising that is inspired, fresh, and cuts through the clutter of typical political and issue ads. The utmost importance is placed on creating advertising that is emotionally and intellectually compelling - with an overall tone that viewers find to be informational, honest, and persuasive - not standard spin. 

I wonder how much Tenney's paying for this "intellectually compelling' crap?  It's not worth one red cent if you ask me.

Wondering on Wednesday (v85)

Tonight, on this Wednesday, let's go wandering through a land of wonder.

In North Carolina, we no longer need to wonder the official price of legislative conviction; it's been determined: no college championship games for five years. Facing a looming deadline from the NCAA indicating that plans for college tourneys through 2022 were going to go through without any opportunity for Tar Heel State bids, a compromise that no one was happy with - not the folks who originally voted the law in, and not the the LGBTQ community - was reached, and the NCAA's deadline was met. A study by the AP estimated the economic loss to be at least $3.76B over a dozen years. Whether it was these two carrots, or the outrage of the masses, we may have to keep wondering.

What we don't have to wonder about, though, is the capacity for NC legislators to press on with restrictive legislation.  This bill, for example, would retaliate against athletic conferences that boycott North Carolina universities for the state's anti-LGBTQ 'orientation'. State universities such as North Carolina and NC State would be forced to leave their conferences at the end of their current media contract should any retaliation occur. Because nothing says "we don't tolerate retaliation like retaliation do" or something like that.

And there was this bill, which sought to defy the United States Supreme Court:

Marriages between persons of the same gender are not valid. The General Assembly of the State of North Carolina declares that the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision of the United States Supreme Court of 2015 is null and void in the State of North Carolina... Marriages, whether created by common law, contracted, or performed outside of North Carolina, between individual of the same gender are not valid in North Carolina.

The House Speaker advised the bill would not be heard, recognizing the law of the land supersedes the law of North Carolina. I wonder, how long will this Republican be in a leadership role? Is he the future, or is he just a temporary distraction from the rest of his party?

Let's move on to Texas, a state where there are virtually no laws too ridiculous when it comes to restricting legal abortions, or harassing women who wish to have them, You know, requiring clinics to meet all of the requirements of to have hallways wide enough to allow two hospital beds to pass unobstructed, when there are no hospital beds in clinics? Or the one that would have required fetal remains from miscarriages and abortions to be buried or cremated, which was blocked by a judge.

The good thing to come out of Texas is a bill that aims to punish unregulated 'self-pleasuring' (wink, wink).

The law, introduced last month and forwarded to the committee Tuesday, calls for civil penalty for unregulated masturbatory emissions that are outside of a woman's vagina (or) medical facility. Any man who does so faces a $100 fine because the act is considered an act against an unborn child and failing to preserve the sanctity of life.

The 'Men's Right to Know Act' as the bill is called, is a breath of fresh air - I applaud State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Dem representing residents in Houston, for her creativity and legislative skill in drafting and keeping the bill moving. I wonder how the men on the legislature are taking this? Are they learning anything, or are the just sitting there while the womenfolk have their fun?

You know, like they're doing in Minnesota, where men will be men but they sure don't like being called out by women. Seems there was discussion around a provision a bill that would fine protesters for blocking highways, and the women of the Democrat - Farm - Labor (DFL) party, including women of color, spoke in opposition to the provision; one quoted an emotional letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. that spoke of sometimes having

no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community.

Apparently, while the women were speaking, the men were in another room, playing cards - which did not sit well with Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, who called the wayward members back to the floor, noting

I hate to break up the 100% white male card game in the retiring room, but I think this is an important debate.

She went on to note that she was "really tired of watching women of color, in particular" being ignored by fellow legislators.  There was no wondering how the men felt, including the one who had submitted the offending legislation. He called for an apology; Hortman refused. She was asked the next day for an apology, and refused again, according to reports I've read.  After the bill passed, including the contested provision, there were even more calls for an apology from Hortman. Not only did she refuse, but then the chair of the DFL party called on the Republicans to apologize for their budget proposal.

I wonder, will other women in state legislatures learn from the Texas and Minnesota situations, and take advantage of their opportunities to protest legislatively, or procedurally, to make their voices heard? And will the 'new' Democratic National Committee begin offering support and encouragement for similar positions to be taken by others in the party, or their affiliates?  

I also wonder how long it will take for North Carolina to get some of these uppity women in their legislature?