Meanwhile, Back in Albany (v47)

Here we go again, New York. 

We're losing gambling money to neighboring states, dammit, and we're not going to take it anymore!

First, there was the casino money we were hemorrhaging to neighboring states.

Then, it was sports betting at our casinos, something we needed, you know, to fund things like education and gambling addiction treatment, and to stop bleeding money to neighboring states. And to help our underperforming casinos, which were not generating nearly the revenue we expected. 

Then it was mobile sports betting, because, you know, funding education, even more gambling addiction treatment, and buying tourniquets to stop the blood loss from all that hemorrhaging we've been doing are important governmental functions, as is helping casinos addict more gamblers.

And now, it's online casino gaming; here's some info from a Spectrum News report from October 2023.

Lawmakers are working to amend legislation to legalize a new form of online gambling in the state officials say could bring upwards of $1 billion in revenue to New York and help close budget gaps expected over the next few years.

Why? Well, we're addicted to the money gambling brings in, of course, and the success of mobile sports betting can't be ignored. It's

spurring discussion to permit online casino gaming — also known as iGaming — in the state, allowing games like blackjack, roulette and others to be played from a mobile device.

And, of course, because of those darn neighboring states that already allow it. After all, as Sen. Joseph Addabbo, chair of the Senate's Addiction Funding Committee (sorry - the Racing, Gaming, & Wagering Committee), says

Other states surrounding us are doing it. We can do this. I think it's the conversation we have to have dictated by the poor fiscal situation we're going to be in next year.

In addition to the revenue, it's flat-out altruistic, too, especially for the New Yorkers who are forced to do their online gambling on apps registered in other states.

We can't help someone with an addiction because we don't know who they are, and once we regulate it in New York, iGaming, we then can help those that might be in need are on their pathway to addiction. We'll put in statutory language in this bill to address that.

Fast forward to January 2024, and the legislation is being worked on in earnest. According to Addabbo 

It's a good bill. We got a lot of input from a lot of individuals, but it's a starting point. It's a starting point where I'm hoping that we can have these kinds of discussions during the budget process.

The bill would allow for mobile or online betting on various types of interactive gaming, referred to as iGaming, and iLottery. I'm pretty sure those names are not affiliated with the giant fruit vendor known for selling all the other iThings, or with iCarly, an old Nickelodeon TV show, but there's a chance we could see some kind of copyright lawsuit, right? What are the odds? 

As proposed, the licensing fees for the iStuff would be a cool $2M, and revenues would be taxed at 30.5%, which could generate a billion dollars annually. And, of course, we're hemorrhaging that money to PA and NJ now. Once we get that back, we'll be in good shape, Addabbo thinks.

We need to look at the outyears, 2025, 2026, where according to the state comptroller the fiscal situation only gets worse, then we do need to figure out a sustainable plan both short-term and long-term and that is iGaming and iLottery.

And what about those problem gamblers? There's $11M in annual funding for "addiction services and supports." I'm not sure if that money is dedicated solely to gambling addicts, or if it covers all other causes of addiction as well. But we do need to act with urgency, it seems.

If we're serious about helping people with a gaming problem, knowing that they're doing iGaming anyway in New York, they're just doing it illegally, then you try to do it this year because that will actually help the New Yorker who is already participating in iGaming.

But wait - there's more! Progressive more!

To ensure "existing union casino employees" aren't threatened by the new option, there's a "a fund of at least $25M annually" towards training and supporting employees of private business enterprises - because that's the New York Way. Addabbo also said we may see more union jobs created because people will be able to sit in their jammies and play poker on their phones - with live dealers. I'm sure they'll be even more addicting than CGI dealers.

Anyone who's already allowed to feed our gambling addiction won't be ignored, either. Existing license holders, including "current video lottery terminal licensees, mobile sports betting operators, state-licensed and Native American casinos" can participate in the iJunk if they like.

I'll be following this one as we go through the legislative session.

Sunday School 11/13/22

Here's your Sunday School classroom review for this week, starting with excerpts from interviews Dana Bash had with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Gov-Elect Josh Shapiro (D-PA) on CNN's State of the Union.

Bash asked Whitmer if there were any national takeaways from her convincing, more-than-10-point victory. Focusing on the fundamentals was key, she said, "whether it's fixing the damn roads, or making sure our kids are getting back on track after an incredible disruption in their learning, or just simply solving problems and being honest with the people."

A governor can't fix global inflation, but what we can do is take actions to keep more money in people's pockets, protect our right to make our own decisions about our bodies. And all of this was squarely front and center for a lot of Michigan voters. And I suspect that's probably true for voters across the country.

On whether "this election was in any way a repudiation of political violence," Whitmer said she'd like to think so. 

Whether it is aimed at me or... a Republican congressman like Fred Upton or Peter Meijer here in Michigan, it's unacceptable. And my heart goes out to the Pelosi family. I think that this is a moment where good people need to call this out and say we will not tolerate this in this country. And perhaps part of that message was sent this election.

Finally, on how to keep Michigan 'blue' going forward, Whitmer said it was the agenda the Ds have been putting forward. Even with a "very challenging legislature," she said, it's all about the fundamentals. She's proud to be a Dem, and added 

I will work with anybody who actually wants to roll up their sleeves and solve problems... There's a seat at the table for anyone who's serious about solving problems and building the Michigan that ensures generations can thrive.

Shifting to Shapiro and how he did so much better than President Biden did two years ago, he said they went everywhere and talked to everyone, "no matter their party label." They

reached out to constituencies that, quite frankly, had been ignored for some time, from Latino voters to Gen Z. And we built a coalition around getting stuff done for people, focusing on the things that mattered most.

His message to other Dems, who, Bash said, "are increasingly a coastal party and have had trouble with particularly the rural voters and working-class voters, who used to be the core of the Democratic Party," on how to be more competitive?

I think it's just a matter of showing up, treating people with respect, and showing them how you're going to make their lives better, helping them understand how you can actually build a bridge between the parties to kind of take down the temperature and get real things done.

In the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

Asked what he learned from the election, Cassidy said it was that

the American people want a way forward that actually focuses on ideas, ideas that will make their lives better, not just their lives but that for future generations. Those who are most closely aligned with the former president under-performed. Those who are talking about the future or who had managed their states well, they over-performed. The American people want ideas. They want a future.

He said he wasn't blaming Donald Trump for the Rs losing the Senate, he said he was "looking at it empirically." And, the Rs

need to have a debate about ideas. In that debate, we need to explain to the American people exactly where we think our country should go. And by the way, since I think using market forces to make the individuals' lives more free, more prosperous, is the way to go, I think we win that debate.

Warren said she learned "when Democrats deliver, Democrats win."

We fought for working people. That's the heart and soul of the Democratic party. And the voters said, "Yeah, that's what we want." The Republicans, by contrast, they were there for the billionaires and the billionaire corporations. They were extremists. They wanted to fight about conspiracy theories and the 2020 election. And voters said, "No, we need somebody on our side." So, Democrats fought, Democrats delivered, Democrats won. And that should inform what we do during the lame duck and what we do in 2023 and 2024.

And, asked whether she has "a concern that Democrats can't win if they're running against, say, normal Republicans, kind of like Chris Sununu or Mike DeWine" (governors of NH and OH, respectively), she said she doesn't have that concern. The Dems won, and President Biden won, she said, because they did the work, and because they "went big" on vaccines and testing, helping the unemployed, caps insulin and drug costs, getting corporations to pay taxes, and more. 

Every one of those things is popular. The Republicans, every single one of them voted against every provision I just described. The president's leadership put us in a position, every candidate, up and down the ballot, to talk about what Democrats fight for and what we deliver on. And by doing that, we were able to address the values and the economic security of people across this country. And it sure paid off. It paid off at historic levels.

Finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked with George Stephanopoulos in ABC's This Week classroom. 

Responding to his question on how the Dems did so well in the midterms, she said they didn't accept the pundits saying they couldn't win "because history, history, history." 

I’m very proud of our candidates, both our incumbents as well as our red to blue candidates... they had courage, they had purpose, and they understood their district. They also rejected calls from Washington about, oh, your message should change. No, our message was clear -- people over politics, lower cost, bigger paychecks, safer communities. And they knew the value of a woman's right to choose, they knew how important it was to protect our democracy, they knew the contrast between themselves and their opponents and that is what made them win... I hope that's a lesson, because really it depresses the vote sometimes when people say “it's all over” 18 months before the election. We never accepted that.

Asked about the steps Dems need to take to bring Congress - and the country - together, which she's talked about since the election, she said they've

always been taking that step because we honor our oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and that should be a unifying principle for us. The -- when many of our bills, we worked very hard to make it bipartisan, bipartisan, bipartisan. And while the bills were bipartisan, the votes were not. So again, I go back to Abraham Lincoln. Public sentiment is everything. With it, you can accomplish almost anything. Without it, practically nothing. And the point I want to make is, when the public knows what is at stake and what's happening there, I think we'll see more cooperation, again, working together to produce a bill, but not having people vote no, take the dough, and make it look like we don't have bipartisanship, when, in fact, in the bills we do, but in the votes, not necessarily. Let the public know.

Chew on that last answer, and I'll see you around campus.

Wondering on Wednesday 9/7/22

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

I wonder how happy the Obamas are that their official White House portraits have finally been unveiled, and that it was the Bidens, not the Trumps, who welcomed them to the ceremony? I'm thinking it's off the charts kind of happy - what do you think?

Similarly, I wonder if the Bidens will do the unveiling of the Trump portraits? Or, since they don't seem interested in doing anything presidential or first ladylike, perhaps someone could just hang a couple of magazine covers? There are enough of each of them (but no Vogue cover for Melania, if memory serves).

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

I've also been wondering about all the politicians - Rs and Ds alike - who are refusing to debate their opponents. For some, like Herschel Walker in Georgia, the reasons seem obvious. Walker is magnificently unqualified for any public office, and I can't imagine anyone working on his campaign would allow him to go face-to-face with Rev. Raphael Warnock. Katie Hobbs, running for governor in Arizona, refuses to debate Kari Lake; Hobbs issued a statement to the effect that she doesn't want to diminish Arizona any further than the Republican primary debate already did. 

John Fetterman finally agreed to debate Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, and here in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul says she "always debates" and will do that this year - but we don't know where, when or how many times. She's been ignoring her opponent Lee Zeldin's requests, and ignoring questions from the press as well. I share the opinion of Phil Boas, who opined 

Katie Hobbs should debate. 

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

Otherwise, why is she here? 

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

Replace 'Katie Hobbs' with the name of any candidate, and the answer would be the same, right?

What are you wondering about tonight?

Let's Fight This - TOGETHER!

A Special Message from

the Twice-Impeached 

45th President of the 

United States

They've got it all wrong, the Lame Stream Media, the liars on CNN and MSDNC and the failing New York Times and the Bezos Washington Post and all the rest... they've got it All Wrong. 

Let me give you the Truth about what's happening here. 

First of all, I didn't lose the election. 

I didn't lose the election, so there was no reason for me to pack anything, so I didn't pack anything, because I won and wasn't going to be leaving. And I'd still be your President, Right Now, and there wouldn't have been a problem if only Georgia had found those 11,780 votes like I asked them to, and like Lindsey asked them to, and like Rudy asked them to, and like everyone else asked them to. 

Or Arizona, too, if they had done the right thing. Or Michigan, or Nevada, or  Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. So if they had just done the right thing, none of this would be happening right now, and all my documents would be safe and the Country would be safe, our Borders and our Stock Market and our Taxes - everything would be safe, if they had just done the right thing. 

But they didn't and when that wimp, that un-American, un-Patriotic traitor Mike Pence refused to do the right thing and send it back to the states like he was supposed to, I was stuck. I swear, my Secret Service guys should have just grabbed him and stuffed him in the SUV. Worthless. 

Anyway, Melania was so frazzled that we were leaving - she had more decorating to do, and stuff to document just like she was doing on January 6th and didn't know anything about what was happening, she really didn't - she was upset, she loved it here - she just started throwing stuff in Tupperware bowls and tubs and stuff, even the jewelry I gave her, the ungrateful wench. 

And there I was, alone. Jared was, I don't know, showering all day long or counting his Saudi money with his crook of a father - why did I pardon him again? 

Those worthless sons of mine were probably out golfing or something, or maybe Donny Jr was home waiting for what's her name, the "The Best is Yet To Come!" girl I paid $60,000 to for introducing Don Jr. to the crowd at the Ellipse on January 6th - what a waste of money she is! And how on earth was she married to that incompetent commie nutjob in California, Gavin Newsom? And now she's my son's fiancé? What did I do to deserve this?

And my beloved Ivanka was home with those Beautiful grandchildren of mine, aren't they Beautiful? They are the most beautiful grandchildren a man could have, right? Just Beautiful, through and through.

So the staff people, the ones that I hadn't scared off,  the staff came running up to the residence with boxes every day, packing, packing, boxing up everything they could get their hands on, I don't even know what they put in all the boxes, the stuff was just thrown in, all willy-nilly, and then the boxes were stuffed in the truck and off everything went to my Beautiful, Historic, Important Mar-a-Lago, the most Famous house in all the world.

I barely managed to get my hands on the compromising photo books, and my pictures of Vlad - it was crazy.

And then, when they reached out to me last year, I had no idea there was anything being stored at my beloved Mar-a-Lago that I wasn't supposed to have. I thought I had taken care of most of the stuff anyone would worry about; that was ripped up and disposed of at the White House. 

And what about that Crooked Hillary flunky, Maggie Haberman, the third-rate NY Times reporter - half the kid her parents were, for sure, sharing those pictures... who takes pictures of other peoples' toilets?

And remember when I complained about having to flush and flush and flush? Yeah, well now you understand right? Damn 'green' toilets. You gotta flush and flush and flush them, it's a mess. Horrible.

And in January when I gave them boxes, they were boxes I had never even seen before, maybe someone found them in the back of Melania's closet, that's why I didn't know anything about them. And so, they took the boxes and I thought that was it. They even got back that meteorological map of Dorian - just like I told you, Alabama was in danger the whole time! 

And then they said other stuff was missing.

And so I let the lawyers handle everything, and they all said we gave everything back, and that's what they told them, so I just assumed that there was nothing left. They even signed something, saying they had given everything back, I didn't even know we had anything, I didn't pack anything.

And then we heard from them again - good lord, don't these people have anything do to other than pester me about boxes of stuff I know nothing about? Why aren't they trying to put Crooked Hillary in jail? Why the hell aren't they publishing all the stuff off Hunter's laptop, all the Biden Crime Family stuff, instead of trying to pretend there's a Trump Crime Family? What a lie! Everything I have, I've earned the hard way, ever since I was a kid. Even my bone spurs, hard-fought battle but I got them.

'Put a new lock on the door', they said - 'it's not secure enough,' they said. So we did, and even that wasn't good enough, they wanted the camera footage and they sent a subpoena, and still we were cooperating with them, just like from the beginning when the White House Staff filled the boxes and put them in the truck and then they came and picked stuff up. 

Just like I've said all along, if they wanted the boxes back, I would have given them back, but they never asked. And once they sent the subpoena, why should I give them back the boxes? Just because they sent me a subpoena? 

I've gotten hundreds of subpoenas in my life, and I never just do what they ask me to, that's ridiculous, especially when Trump is under attack, all the time, my entire life. I've been sued more times than anyone in history! My legal files are the biggest you've never seen! They're massive, way bigger than Obama's! I can show you - mine are bigger, no question about it.

And it doesn't matter anyway, because I declassified everything - every single piece of paper, photo, post-it note, article, white paper, briefing book, eyes only piece of paper they shoved under my nose - I declassified it ALL - all at the same time. They must know that, everyone knows that - I can do it, and I did it, and all of this is stupid. Nothing is classified anymore, I declassified all of it, I stood right there over the boxes. 

Oh, wait that's not how I did it, I had no idea what was in the boxes, the staff took care of that. But I declassified everything, everything in the residence was declassified, even if it wasn't classified in the first place. 

And even if I didn't, it doesn't matter, because all of this is old stuff now, since they kicked me out of my White House in January 2021, that bastard Mike Pence, we should have hung him, just like I said. So how can something a year-and-a-half old be a threat to Our Great Country? 

Well, it was Great once, now it's a Third World Country with the libs and Sleepy Joe and Carmella and Drunk Nancy and Cryin' Chuck and the Radical Left Squad and the Woke Mob in charge - what a Mess they have made of our Beautiful Country, right? Antifa and BLM and all the rest...

And now that we've got this NEW Witch Hunt, after the Fake Russia Russia Russia and Impeachment#1 and Impeachment #2 and Mueller's Fake Witch Hunt, now we've got another one to deal with and I tell you, real Americans are just not going to stand for this anymore! We must FIGHT to get Our Great Country back again. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Because these documents that I never took and didn't know I had and they could have had back at any time just by asking for them and they're not top secret any longer because it's old stuff on old paper, and besides, I declassified EVERYTHING, and this RAID on my Beautiful Home, the most Beautiful, Famous home in the world, ask anyone, this Raid and this Unlawful Search - they touched Melania's clothes, can you believe that? I think one of them even put on her I Don't Care Do U? jacket, we saw that on the camera, I'm sure we did.

These are just the tip of the iceberg that's going to hit Our Country if we don't stop the woke mob, the lazy liberals who are trying to turn us into a Fourth World Country and if there weren't any of those last week, we're the first and best Country ever to become one. And don't believe any of that Climate Change crap; if it was so warm, why do we still have icebergs? And that iceberg aiming for America right now? 

Civil war, I tell you. Some people are saying we're on the verge of a civil war.

I even called Merrick Garland - and have you ever heard anyone so wimpy? His mother Judy, boy could she sing, right? He sounds like a little kid up there, trying to convince his parents he wasn't out drinking with what's her name, that Renate person... oh wait, that's a different judge, never mind. 

Anyway, Garland, I called him, asked him what I could do to calm things down after HE raided MY house, SEIZED my documents that I never had and even if I did have them, it doesn't matter because there's nothing wrong with it, and besides, I declassified everything back in January before I left Washington so I wouldn't have to be there for the Fake Inauguration of the Fake President. 

Here I am, trying to help, and what do I get? NOTHING! Merrick Garland, he didn't even take my call. We get nothing, Patriots - you and I, we get nothing. But that's all going to change. 

With your help, and your prayers, and your donations, we will Fight this Together! We Love You. You are all Beautiful, Special people. Stand back and stand by, and if you do that near an FBI office, that's even better. 

We Love You. 

And we will fight this together.

Rush your Generous Donation to the

Protect Melania's Wardrobe and Keep The "Justice" Department 

and the Liars at the FBI from Ruining Our Great Country PAC

right away (you can just ignore the highlighted box

making this a daily contribution - that's just a joke). 

We love you. And together We. Will. Save. America.

And if you donate within the next 45 minutes, we'll make sure

the President sees your name at the top of the list of America-loving Patriots.

And if yours is the lucky name he circles with his Presidential Sharpie,

you could win tickets to his next rally. 

And remember to vote against

Liz Cheney. Even if you don't live in Wyoming. 

Thank you for your support. 

You're a helluva Patriot.

Wondering on Wednesday 5/18/22

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Aw, shucks. North Carolina's Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-I'm a Liar of the First Degree But I Swear, I Really Was Invited to those Orgies on Capitol Hill!) failed to win his primary and will not get a second term. So, what's next for him, after this year? Some have suggested he'll go to work at Mar-a-Lago, or become a commentator on a right-wing network or something, although I have to wonder if there are any media companies desperate enough to hire him.

Dr. Oz, a guy once famous for being a cardiothoracic surgeon and now famous as a flip-flopping, Trump-endorsed, Columbia University-disaffiliated, quack medicine-promoting, Turkish presidential-election voting, non-resident Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, is effectively tied in that race with another MAGAist. A recount is almost certain to occur, given the margin of separation between them, barring some kind of election fraud 0r random meddling with the mail-in ballots, or some such silliness. 

And I can't help wondering, how fun would it be if some of the well-documented Republican election shenanigans we've learned about were to befall Pennsylvania again? Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm all for secure elections - but there have been so many instances of Rs behaving badly in the Commonwealth, it would almost be too rich if they had a mess in the primary.

On that point, the former president said that Oz should declare himself victorious, without waiting for all the votes to be counted, because, "It makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they "just happen to find." And, he said, we should go to all paper ballots with same-day voting. I wonder if he's practicing his speech for November 2024?

Sticking with things the former president said, it seems his contract with Trust Me Social or whatever it's called allows him to post on other platforms after a six-hour wait. Yep -according to an SEC filing cited in this Vanity Fair article, 

President Trump is generally obligated to make any social media post on TruthSocial and may not make the same post on another social media site for 6 hours. Thereafter, he is free to post on any site to which he has access. Thus, TMTG has limited time to benefit from his posts and followers may not find it compelling to use TruthSocial to read his posts that quickly.

I wonder, is there anything compelling at all about joining Trump's platform?

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-You Kidding Me? Of Course My Caucus Supports Me - They Don't Have a Choice) was babbling earlier tonight about baby formula and Peloton memberships, saying the Dems were too busy to do anything about the former because they were focused on the latter.  Meanwhile, the House voted overwhelmingly make more formula available under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Nine members of McCarthy's House Lunatics Conference v0ted against the bill. 

I don't know about you, but I wonder, wouldn't we all be better off if this crew was at home, faces glued to Peloton apps, instead of bothering to show up to work?

What are you wondering about?

In Case You Missed It (v61)

Let's dive in to your recap of last week's posts, starting with Sunday School, where Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar joined Chuck on MTP. 

Todd asked her how much patience we'll need.  She reminded him that "elections have never been called election night," mentioning military and overseas ballots having a full week after Election Day. 

So, I just want to set that straight, that this is a process, and we want to make sure that every single vote of every valid voter is securely and accurately counted.

That said, she expects the "overwhelming majority" of mail-in, absentee, and in-person ballots will be counted "in a matter of days" and that, "for the most part," counties are planning on counting 24/7 until they're done. She did say that ballots received by Friday that are postmarked on or before Election day will be segregated, but they will be counted. And, she hopes that people will "Ignore the lawsuits, ignore the hype. Just get your ballots in today."

And we know, of course, that the lawsuits have started pouring in already; several of them were dismissed, although there was a court order addressing that last part, about segregating the late-arriving ballots. 

Next up was the Election Eve post, which I update every year. It always includes a story, told in quotes from thinkers, scholars, religious leaders, and yes, politicians. And it also includes some commentary, because it's my post, after all. This time out, I spoke of the president's efforts to involve the courts - in advance of Election Day - as he set the stage for what I obviously hoped would be his defeat (and I think he was preparing for that, as well).

And, of course, in his rallies, in his tweets, in his constant feeding of his propaganda machine - the talk shows on Fox - the president is both complaining about the Supreme Court deciding in favor of voters, instead of in favor of voter suppression, and he is thanking the Supreme Court in advance for their anticipated rulings against voters - against you and me - and looking forward to them handing him the election. That's why, of course, it was so important to get Amy Coney Barrett on the Court before the election. 

Please, let it not be said of you that you sat back and waited for the Supremes to (again) pick the president for us. They have lifetime appointments, sure - but so you do you and I! We have a lifetime of opportunity to vote, to record our decisions. Don't give your voice, on purpose or out of neglect, to a group of political appointees.

I also offered my Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on why I vote.  Here are a few reasons:

I vote for American ideals. 

I vote because people are trying to take away my right to. 

I vote because I'm a middle-aged white lady, and that's what we do.

I vote because I am a patriotic American. 

I vote because people tell me to shut up.

I vote.

I did not post on Wednesday or Thursday - I was quiet, and staying below the fray as much as possible, while we watched and waited and counted and the the nominees made their wildly conflicting statements. 

But on Friday, I had to share the president's full remarks as his "update for America." His words, only the best words, beautiful words, the best words since Abraham Lincoln, I'm sure he'd suggest, are poetry. Pure, unadulterated OrangeVerse.

Whining for the Litigation and Corruption

There are lots of litigation, 

even beyond our litigation. 

There’s a tremendous amount of litigation 

generally, because of how unfair 

this process was, and I predicted that. 

I’ve been talking about mail-in voting for a long time. 

It’s really destroyed our system. 

It’s a corrupt system 

and it makes people corrupt, 

even if they aren’t by nature, 

but they become corrupt. 

It’s too easy. They want to find out 

how many votes they need, 

and then they seem to 

be able to find them. 

They wait and wait, and 

then they find them,

and you see that on Election Night.

Yep - so much whining, I'm tired of the whining. And I'm tired of this, the fomenting of violence, which is another of his calling cards.

Whining for Unhappy and Somewhat Violent People

In Philadelphia, observers have been kept far away, 

very far away. So far that people are 

using binoculars to try and see, 

and there’s been tremendous 

problems caused. They put a 

paper on all of the windows so

you can’t see in, and the people

 that are banned are very unhappy and 

become somewhat violent.

For last week's TGIF, we have your good week and bad week lists, and it felt like it was pretty easy to allocate folks to the right list this time.  On the good week list? Front-line workers in the fight against the pandemic, and poll workers and election officials, among others. 

On the bad week list? These guys, among others.

Republicans who are standing by the president as he makes a mockery of the integrity and sanctity of our election process, that integrity and sanctity which he's been calling into question almost daily since February. Those who are standing with him have nothing to gain - literally, nothing to gain. He cannot hurt them anymore. He cannot threaten them anymore. He cannot denigrate them, or call their spouses ugly, say hateful things about them, and endorse their opponents instead of them. It's time for them to stand up, to stand up to him, and to help him slink away.

My opinion only, of course, and based on the projection that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election.  And here's the thing: the Rs can walk away from him at any time. All they have to do is get sick of his nonsense, and put the country first. If they don't, they're admitting that their policies and ideology - things that Trump does not believe in - are worth nothing. And if that's the case, they shouldn't be in office in the first place. 

One last note. While I didn't post on Friday, I did add a new countdown to the blog. It's ticking down the days to the peaceful transfer of power in January. I guess I'm an optimist after all.

That's last week in a nutshell. I'll be back later with Sunday School. Oh - wear your damn masks, will you please?

Sunday School 11/1/2020

For your Sunday School this week, we'll start and end with Jake Tapper, host of CNN's State of the Union.

He set the stage for Tuesday's election, saying the state of our union is "on the edge of our seat." 

Make no mistake, this is anyone's race right now. Both Trump and Biden have clear paths to 270 electoral votes. Casting a shadow on the election, the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, which is surging across the country, new cases hitting a record in nearly 100,000 new cases just on Friday.

Tapper noted that Trump "continues to downplay the pandemic," and that Dr. Fauci is again under attack. Not only that, but

This as the president's chosen adviser on the Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Scott Atlas, who is not an expert on infectious diseases, mocked Dr. Fauci on Twitter and gave an interview to RT, the Kremlin- controlled propaganda network.

Because hey, why not talk with the Russians a few days before the election... 

Switching over to Chuck Todd and the folks at Meet the Press, I was interested in his conversations about the challenges we might see next week and perhaps even later. PA SecState Kathy Boockvar was on to help with that. Todd asked her how much patience we'll need.  She reminded him that "elections have never been called election night," mentioning military and overseas ballots having a full week after Election Day. 

So, I just want to set that straight, that this is a process, and we want to make sure that every single vote of every valid voter is securely and accurately counted.

That said, she expects the "overwhelming majority" of mail-in, absentee, and in-person ballots will be counted "in a matter of days" and that, "for the most part," counties are planning on counting 24/7 until they're done. She did say that ballots received by Friday that are postmarked on or before Election day will be segregated, but they will be counted. And, she hopes that people will "Ignore the lawsuits, ignore the hype. Just get your ballots in today."

Next up? NBC Legal Analyst Nate Persily. He said there've been over 300 lawsuits already, in both battleground and non-battleground states. 

This is sort of the legacy of Bush v. Gore 20 years ago is that the lawyers are becoming an important part of the campaign, as well.

Ballot arrival being a hot issue for litigation, Todd asked "how did that become such a vague deadline when you would think a postmark on Election Day seems pretty simple to me?" In a nutshell, Persily explained that because of the pandemic, some deadlines were extended (by the elections folks in the states, or by the courts).  And that, he said, 

 led to further lawsuits to try to clarify what the rules were, and then those ended up at the Supreme Court, where there's been a fight as to where non-legislators, which is to say state courts or local administrators can extend the deadlines like that.

Citing a UMass Amherst poll showing that 80% were concerned to some degree about election-related violence, Todd wondered how concerned Persily was about that. He said he tries to stay positive, and noted

This is a 100-year flood of voters that we are seeing, and while there's always reasons to be concerned and vigilant, we shouldn't look at Election Day and see isolated instances of problems and assume that that is the story.

Finally, in response to Todd's question that "maybe a responsible government could address when it comes to voting," Persily said we need a "national effort to secure the vote, and he hopes a post-election "autopsy on our election system" is done to see what can be done to ensure future elections run smoothly. 

I have to tell you, over the last six months, we've had hundreds of thousands of these local, sort of unsung heroes who have been dedicating their time to trying to adapt the election infrastructure to deal with the pandemic and they have done an unbelievable job.

He's right about that, for sure.  

Back to Jake Tapper, to lead us down the hall, out the door, and back into the real world.

It's been a horrible year for so many people around the world and here at home in the United States.

A terrifying virus has killed or infected millions of our grandparents, moms and dads, sisters, brothers, friends. The pandemic has cost millions of jobs, thousands of businesses. And it is far from over. We must acknowledge, however, that we have seen so many Americans rise to this moment, first responders and health care providers, good Samaritans and kind neighbors, from the greatest acts of sacrifice from doctors and nurses, who literally gave their lives to care for the sick, to small, but noble actions, as simple as wearing a mask in public.

And now it's time for all of us to take one more action, to stand up and vote.

Whomever you're voting for, and for whatever reason, the idea of this nation, government of the people, by the people, for the people, as President Abraham Lincoln once said, it needs the people. It needs you.

So many of you already have risen to the challenge, braving the pandemic, and bad weather, and long lines, and attempts at discouragement and intimidation and more. It's been a beautiful sight to see, early voters totaling about two-thirds of the entire 2016 tally already, a testament to the mettle of this country, in some of the most challenging times we have ever seen.

What we need to do now is keep going. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, an independent, a political agnostic, vote.

President Thomas Jefferson said -- quote -- "We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

Don't be left out. The state of our union, it's in your hands.

See you around campus. And if you are able to vote, and registered to vote, and fail to vote, you will fail not only yourself, you'll fail the rest of us too.  

Masks up. Pearls on. Go vote.

TGIF 9/4/20

Because of the Blue and Red conventions, the schedule here at veritable pastiche has been a little off, but I'm doing what I can to get us back on track. Let's dive into this week's roundup of random good and bad weeks.

Right off the bat, let's update on the primaries I mentioned in Tuesday's Knock Knock post. Remarkably, a Kennedy lost a state-wide race in Massachusetts for the first time ever.  Joe Kennedy III gave up his congressional seat to run for the Senate against Sen. Ed Markey, but fell short. In the other race, which was the focus of the post, incumbent Rep. Richard Neal, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee fended off his opponent, Alex Morse.

So, did the results tell us anything about the fickle Dems, that they kept a 70-something progressive in the Senate and kept a 70-something traditional Dem in the House?  Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. But we do know that the professor who apologized 'in case he made anyone feel uncomfortable' will not be going to Washington, and in the end that's probably a good thing. 

Moving on to national stuff, no surprise that the president's trip to Kenosha caused some stir, right?  It seems that our fearless leader wanted the owner of a burned-out business to appear on TV with him, and so he found one. Trouble is, the guy who appeared with Trump was the former owner of the business, according to the man who bought it from him several years ago. There might be a semantics issue here - property owner vs. business owner - but honestly, did anyone not expect something like this to happen?

Trump's visit was followed by Joe Biden's, which was described by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, as being "worlds apart - in substance and style - from" the president's.

Biden wore a mask when he spoke. Trump did not.  Biden spoke by phone with Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot seven times by a white Kenosha police officer, and met with Blake's family. Trump did not. Law enforcement was a central presence and theme of Trump's visit, but not Biden's. Trump spent a lot of time decrying violent unrest and rioting and looting. Biden spent a lot of time discussing inequality and racism and poverty and heard impassioned pleas from Black residents about the way African Americans are treated by the criminal justice system.

Worlds apart, indeed. In polling done after the end of the RNC, Biden held onto his lead in Wisconsin; we'll have to see if anything changes after these two visits. 

Speaking of Biden and Trump, I've got a question for you:  How long did you live in your childhood home? And if your family moved from your childhood home, did you have any input in that decision?  I'm asking because I actually crack up every time Trump tries to sell the tale that Biden "abandoned Scranton" for Delaware. It's comical, it really is. And ridiculous, as this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer points out. Here's an example of Trump's 'abandonment' claim, from remarks he made in Old Forge, PA.

He keeps talking about, ‘I was born in Scranton. I lived in Scranton.’ Yeah, for a few years, and then he left for another state. You know the state. But this Scranton stuff. That’s why I figured I’d come here and explain to you one thing. But I think you people know it better than I do. He left! He abandoned Pennsylvania. He abandoned Scranton.

The claim is insane - Biden's family moved to Delaware, and they took 10-year-old Joe with them when they moved. Should he have stayed behind? Fended for himself like a feral cat on the streets?  And that the comment is coming from the man who actually just abandoned New York to move to Florida, giving (perhaps not-quite-legally) Mar-a-Lago as his permanent residence. Seriously, is there anything Trump won't say, won't lie about?

Well, here's one that we're kind of thinking might be totally made up: the rioters and looter and vandals dressed in black on a plane that is either leaving DC heading out to the great city of Wherever, or it's coming to DC for the convention. I'm not sure which direction the plane was flying, because he's told the story with it going in both directions., And, of course,  I can't determine how fast the train was going in the opposite direction after leaving he station some moments later than the plane took off, because of course we don't even think the plane existed. Well, it probably did because "a person" as on board and it's all being investigated (by Scully and Mulder? By Snitty Snitty Bill Bar? Who actually knows?)

What else? Oh -- 

• Nancy Pelosi's hair appointment. 
• A congressman being shut up by Facebook for purposefully misinterpreting CDC data on coronavirus deaths.
• Peter Navarro's lousy coronavirus deals.
• More concerns about the census - from inside the Census Bureau.

Hope that's enough for you. There was more, of course - there's always more.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday (v189)

Where should we start the wondering tonight, I wonder..."

Let's start with the impeachment thing and get that out of the way:

• I wonder how successful "shooting the messenger" will be as a defense for the president? The whistleblower wasn't even there, the Rs used to say, and so not the report is not even credible. And then, it was the whistleblower was partisan, so completely not credible. 

• And now that there is credible evidence from people who were there, it's escalated to "the whistleblower used to work for Biden and therefore is a material witness" (to something that happened before Trump was elected and is not germane to whether Trump did or did not commit an impeachable offence)after taking office), but now, we need the whistleblower exposed IMMEDIATELY and WE NEED TESTIMONY! LOTS OF TESTIMONY! 

• Silly me -- the defense is not "shoot the messenger", it's DEFLECT!! DEFLECT!! DEFLECT!!  

• Honestly, if the Senate wants to waste everyone's time and not do the job we sent them there to do and go after Joe Biden and his son, that's fine, but that's the exact same argument they're using to suggest that the impeachment is the wrong thing to do -- and so, I wonder if we can get this impeachment thing out of the way first?

• Little Donny Trump has tweeted the identity of the alleged whistleblower, and allegedly so have Little Donny's Daddy's Russian friends. And he apparently denies any coordination with the White House on this -- as if he'd do anything like that, he suggested. He's his own man and all. But I have to wonder, do you think he told Daddy he was going to do that, or if it was a surprise? 

• And which one of them, I wonder, told Russia, "Hey, if you're reading Don Jr's tweets, there something there you could publish if you want..."

Moving on to yesterday's election results: Virginia turned blue last night, for the first time in a generation. and the lady who flipped Trump off won a seat. Not because she flipped him off, mind you, but because her message resonated with voters and because she worked her fanny off. In Pennsylvania, Republicans lost in Delaware County where they've held seats since the Civil War; Democrats flipped several seats in Central Ohio, and may have narrowly won the Kentucky gubernatorial contest, although a re-canvass has been requested by the Republican incumbent Matt Bevin.

So - does all of that, or any of it, have anything to do with what can be expected in 2020, I wonder? Does it have anything to do with impeachment/ With bad trade deals? Leaving the Paris Climate Accord? The Iran nuclear deal?

Or, does it really only mean that people at the state and local level are unhappy with what's going on where they live?

I wonder...

TGIF 2/23/18

Yay! Another week in the books...

The week that saw Pennsylvania get handed redistricting maps, drawn by an expert from Stanford University, based on the 2016 presidential election vote.  Why were new maps needed?  Well, the old maps were determined to be a 'partisan gerrymander' and in violation of the law, and the governor (a Dem) and the state legislative leaders (Reps, natch) couldn't get it figured out on their own, so down came the new version.

The court's new map largely undid the Republican gerrymander, creating 10 Republican-leaning and eight Democratic-leaning House seats, as estimated using 2016 presidential election returns. Outside experts who were not involved with the case praised the new map, calling it "fairer" and "much more competitive" than the old one. 

The new map is a better reflection both of the composition of the state's electorate which tends to be divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and of the traditional redistricting criteria used to draw maps in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

So, naturally, the justices on the state Supreme Court that made the ruling need to be impeached, because, oh for Pete's sake, because the Republicans stand to lose as many as three seats because of the redistricting.

The week that saw the Florida House declare pornography a public health crisis, and require that "In God We Trust" be placed conspicuously in every school in the state. According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kimberly Daniels (a Democrat),

It is not a secret that we have some gun issues that need to be addressed. But the real thing that needs to be addressed are issues of the heart.

The week that saw the president chime in officially, and give full control of his son-in-law's security clearance to General Kelly, his personal general, who will do the right thing, we're sure.

That will be up to General Kelly. General Kelly respects Jared a lot, and General Kelly will make that call -- I won't make that call. I will let the general, who's right here, make that call... I will let General Kelly make that decision and he's going to do what's right for the country. And  have no doubt that he will make the right decision. 

Or, he'll be fired, of course.

And finally, the week that say every teacher in West Virginia go on strike. Even after the state's governor signed wage increases of 2% this year and 1% for next year two fiscal years.

Wages and benefits are the issues; the salary increases are not enough to cover the increases in their health insurance, according to the teachers. And, a promised freeze of health insurance premiums for sixteen months wasn't enough to keep the teachers on the job, where the average starting salary is less than $32,500 and the average salary is $44,700. 

Which isn't a lot of money, in the overall scheme of things - especially if we end up asking teachers to be law enforcement officers too.

TGIF.

Point/Counterpoint: Voter ID Laws

Dateline, the cloud.  A Facebook conversation about Voter ID laws:

If you are poor and apply for welfare you have to have ID, so why can't you afford to get ID to vote?? If you are too poor or lazy to get ID to vote then maybe you shouldn't vote... just saying. 

The big question is, why is this just an issue this election, why was it not an issue back in the day of Nixon, Reagan, Carter, Clinton, Bush I, Bush II? Did voter fraud just fall off the turnip truck when Obama got elected? Or is it really, like the politician from Pennsylvania said, we pass Voter ID and we get Romney elected?  

It sounds like Obama can't get re-elected unless he has all these people that can't prove who they are to vote for him.

Ha ha - sure sounds like Romney can't get elected without these new laws keeping people from voting... 

Bottom line should be that if you want to vote and be counted get off your lazy ass and get an ID, no reason to not be able to, none what so ever!!!!

Boy,  I'm sure glad that the Republican National Convention is over and we're not going to be divisive anymore.