A couple of former Defense types were in the Sunday School classrooms. On This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Martha Raddatz had former Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mike Mullen, while Margaret Brennan had former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Face the Nation. Here's a bit of that interview.
On the expansion of NATO, with Finland and Sweden applying to join the alliance, Gates gives Vladimir Putin a lot of credit.
...it's an amazing thing he's done because he's -- he's gotten Sweden to abandon 200 years of neutrality... one of his many huge miscalculations in invading Ukraine is he has dramatically changed the geostrategic posture of western Europe...
Later in the interview, Brennan asked Gates about the threat of 'polarization' here,
which Gates has said was our "biggest threat." He hasn't seen a whole lot of improvement, although "there is one glimmer of hope," thanks to Xi and Putin - and it extends beyond the situation in Ukraine.
They've actually brought Republicans and Democrats together on Capitol Hill, and with the administration.... so maybe that's a foundation. Maybe there's a way to build on that. And, who knows, if you begin to get it in national security policy, maybe you can get it in some other places.
National Economic Director and Chief Word Salad Spinner Brian Deese was on Fox News Sunday with Martha McCollum; have fun with that one.
In your Extra Credit, we listened in with Brennan as she interviewed Florida Man Sen. Rick Scott and NY's Rep. Hakeem Jeffries; the two are leaders in their respective chamber's efforts to elect more members of their party.
Brennan had fun trying to get Scott to explain why, if inflation is the biggest issue in the 2022 midterms, the Rs are spending so much time "relitigating 2020.".
Scott said people care that this election will be '"fair and their votes are not going to be diluted," and hope the Rs will make that happen. He also said that people "want to know what happened, why it happened" in 2020.
Well, they want to know -- they want to know that -- exactly what happened, if -- were there problems, exactly what happened. They'd like to know that. But, also, they're -- you know, they also want to make sure we win in '22. So, they -- they want to make sure that we're going to make sure their vote's not diluted. So, I think you have to -- you have to talk about making sure people understand what happened in 2020, but also make sure you know -- they know that you're going to focus on making sure that 2022 is a -- is a fair election.
Got it? It's all about making sure things are surely made sure by making sure of being sure. That's what they want. Without saying a darn thing. As long as you're talking about 2020, I guess. But not about all the fraud committed by Rs. Don't mention that. They surely don't want to know anything about that, for sure.
And don't miss his dodging of addressing white supremacy; that was a good one, too.
All the Wondering on Wednesday was about how we can so readily legislate our way into the fray on some issues, but we're unable or unwilling to do a damn thing about mass murder. Here's a sampling.
- I wonder how it is that we can so quickly and easily pass new laws protecting people from sign-waving, chalk-wielding protestors but there's nothing we can do about mass murder...
- I wonder how it is that we can so quickly and easily pass new laws confining women inside their state borders, to prevent them from seeking medical care in another state, but there's nothing we can do about mass murder...
- I wonder how it is that we can so quickly and easily pass new laws preventing parents from providing loving care to their children, but there's nothing we can do about mass murder...
- Everyone who said that we need to re-implement the assault weapons ban, as if this shooting, in a state where the governor was embarrassed that residents weren't purchasing enough guns, in a state has no license/no training open carry, is the one that matters enough to get entrenched opponents of anything resembling a ban on any gun to swing over to the other side.
- President Biden finally signing an Executive Order on police reform, knowing as he did so that it didn't go far enough, and correctly placing the blame on elected officials who refused to work together on legislation. The EO was announced on the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
And finally, on Saturday, I launched the first in a series of posts about gun safety called Yes, We Can Do Something. The series recaps recommendations friends and I have developed over years of talking about these events, or that have been suggested by other people, and that beyond the obvious (and nearly impossible to achieve) "ban assault weapons" cry we hear after every one of these horrific incidents.
Here's an excerpt from the Introduction to the series.
My friends and I were able to give up our entrenched positions and work together to come up with things that might have a positive impact this issue; that's something that the people we elect to make to do this kind of stuff seem incapable of doing.
When they try to 'do something,' it seems that every conversation begins - and ends - with banning 'assault' weapons, changing the background check process, and implementing so-called red flag laws. Those are worthwhile changes, which they've tried several times, to no avail. And, they're trying again, now that a bunch of little children have been murdered at a school. Again.
When they start in the same place every single time, knowing that there is virtually no chance of success, it makes me wonder why they do that, and what goal they're trying to accomplish.
And, a personal note. Last week, veritable pastiche passed the 146,000 page-view threshold. Thanks for reading, and for your comments and messages over the years. I appreciate you.
I'll be back with the next installment in the gun safety series, and for Sunday School.
