Sunday School 8/16/20

What to do, what to do?  Full classrooms today, and I have to pick what to share with you...

Here's what I'll do:  Bernie Sanders - That Guy from Vermont (TGFV), remember him?  - made appearances with Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper and George Stephanopoulos - so we'll see how the three interviews stack up in tomorrow's Extra Credit.

Today, we'll hear from the president's 4th Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (a decision I might regret, we'll see), his 4th National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, and I'll see if I can fit in his 1st son-in-law, the ever-whiny Jared Kushner, and the ever-hopeful Sen. Cory Booker.

Let's start with O'Brien, who talked with Chuck Todd on MTP. The conversation started with the agreement to normalize relations between the UAE and Israel; they've been working together for years, but this made all of that official. 

• On when Saudi Arabia might make a similar arrangement: It's possible they could be next. With this deal, you're now going to have direct flights from those fantastic airports... we're going to have Arab and Muslim pilgrims coming to Jerusalem and going up to the Mount and worshiping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. And we think that's something that will be a great confidence builder. 

• On the annexation question: ...we're pretty confident, the UAE is confident, that Israel will not unilaterally extend sovereignty or Israeli law to parts of the West Bank. And that's what part of this deal is about. 

• On whether the US would be in a better spot vis-a-vis the Iranian arms embargo if we were still part of the nuclear deal (the JCPOA): I think getting out of the JCPOA was the predicate for this fantastic deal between UAE and Israel. 

• On whether it's a policy failure that Russia is still interfering in our election: the DNI report...detailed the influence and the efforts of China and of Iran to denigrate President Trump and to make sure that he's not re-elected. It also talked about the Russian interference...we've spent millions and millions of dollars hardening election infrastructure, working with 50 secretaries of states on cyber security. And we've also sent very strong messages to all these countries. With respect to Russia, I mean, we've put so many sanctions on Russia, there's almost nothing left to sanction. 

And now, Meadows, who spoke with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union.

• On why the president is trying to prevent Americans from voting by mail: The president doesn't have a problem with anybody voting by mail, if you would look at it in terms of maybe a no-excuse absentee ballot.. this debate is really over a process. A number of states are now trying to figure out how they're going to go to universal mail-in ballots. That's a disaster, where we won't know the election results on November 3, and we might not know it for months.  And, for me, that's problematic, because the Constitution says that then... a Nancy Pelosi and the House would actually pick the president on January 20. So, we need to make sure that we do it right.

• On whether the president would support a standalone bill to fund the Post Office: Let's -- let's put it with enhanced unemployment extension. Let's put it with small business reform in terms of the PPP and extending that. Let's get that. Will the president sign that? Yes, he will sign that. And I'm certain...

• On whether Meadows would tell Louis DeJoy to respond to the bipartisan group of Secretaries of State who have requested a meeting with the him: Well, what I will tell him, and as he's already mentioned to Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi the other day, is -- is that he's willing to put the resources necessary to make sure the mail process -- is processed. 

• On the difference between voting by mail in Florida and say, voting by mail in Pennsylvania: So, here's the difference. I can't tell you about Pennsylvania, because I don't know the difference there. All I do know is, the governor of Pennsylvania is talking like he doesn't have any money to pay for enhanced unemployment and some of these other things, when he's got $3.6 billion sitting in the bank. So that was -- was a misnomer. But, as we look at that, here's what I can tell you, is absentee no- excuse, what I call no-excuse absentee, say, listen, I'm concerned because of the pandemic, will you send me an absentee ballot that comes directly to me, I certify that, I have a signature requirement that makes sure that it's me that's actually voting, and I send it back...

• On the fact that there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud: There's no -- there's no -- there's no evidence that there's not either. That's the definition of fraud. Jake. When we look at that, what we have seen are a number of mail ballots that get lost.

I can't take it anymore. I've cut out a lot of the stuff in between the bullets here, because it was all just more of the same. And there was more of the more of the more of the same. Let's have this one last exchange on voting.

• On whether the president will guarantee that he will do everything he can to help people vote: No, no, I'll give you that guarantee. I'll give you that guarantee right now. The president of the United States is not going to interfere with anybody casting their vote in a legitimate way, whether it's the post office or anything else.

And I'll close this part with the actual definition of fraud, from the good folks at Merriam-Webster:

And now, Sen. Cory Booker, also with Tapper:

• On whether he stands by his previous criticism of Joe Biden: As far as Joe Biden is concerned, I'm proud of the hard-fought primary that we had. He emerged from a wide field of people as our choice, as our champion. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of the dialogue that we had, rich, vibrant dialogue.

And now I am confident, looking at their criminal justice plans and partnering, especially now, as he's done, with Kamala Harris, one of the champions on criminal justice. I have no worry about the degrees at which Joe Biden will be tearing down the awful institutions of mass incarceration in America, that he will be a champion to help get the bill that Kamala and I wrote on the Senate side done that creates just -- excuse me -- police accountability.

So, as a United States senator, as an African-American, I am excited about what Biden and Harris will do for advancing criminal justice, rolling back mass incarceration, an really, frankly, having a broader view of what public safety is by investing in things like health care, environmental justice, education, and more.

• On whether he was surprised by the 'birther' attacks against Sen. Kamala Harris: ...when you have African-American women who are rising up in positions that there have never been African-American women in before, that people are going to viciously attack them on gender and race.  

...the gendered words that this president has been using about Kamala, attacking her in extraordinarily awful ways, just reflects the demeaning and degrading language he's used about blacks, about black and brown places, about congresspeople, telling them to go back where they have come from, when they were born in this country. This is nothing new, nothing surprising.

What I don't think Trump understands is that Kamala Harris has been fighting this fight her entire career, rising to positions where she was the first African-American woman in -- time and time again. So, if there's anybody that's ready for this kind of mess, it's Kamala Harris. 

And just like that, Jared ends up on the cutting room floor.  Sorry/not sorry. Don't forget the all-TGFV Extra Credit coming up tomorrow.

I'll see you around the virtual campus. You'll know it's me because I'm wearing a mask and keeping my distance - and I'll know you, because you're doing the same thing. 

Sunday School Extra Credit 5/31/20

Sunday was oh, so long ago, it seems, but it's still interesting to see what was being said in the classrooms. 

There was a lot, as I mentioned in my Sunday School post, but I want to focus on a very specific issue for your Extra Credit this week - bad guys. We'll start with MTP, and a question from Chuck Todd to Minnesota's AG Keith Ellison. 

The set up for the question was a video clip of SnittySnittyBillBarr talking about violence in the protests. Here's what Barr said.

Many places it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic and left-extremist groups, far-left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence. 

Todd's question to Ellison, in a nutshell? "What do you know about who's behind this?" Ellison mentioned video and photos of "very suspicious" people and "cars with no license plates." He specifically mentioned the AutoZone window breaker as one of the bad actors. That's the guy who supposedly was a Minneapolis cop, which the police have denied.

But the real point is we do need to investigate it because the truth is nobody really knows. I've talked to people who are demonstrating, some of them say they think some of those folks are from Minnesota. And they also say some people have come from out of town. What the exact political motivation is, is unclear at this point. We need to investigate it...

He also pointed to failures of the Trump administration in terms of seeking justice change in police departments, doing away with the 21st century policing plan from the previous administration, and more, and added. 

...making incendiary comments about who's to blame here as opposed to actually investigating it isn't helpful. We need their help to be more constructive and less assigning, you know, blame on matters that actually we don't know the truth of yet.

Good luck with that, right? Especially since investigating things fully is not the forte of the administration, where every call, comment, and tweet are perfect, and there's little to no accountability. And we shouldn't expect anything different on this, if the This Week with George Stephanopoulos interview with National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien was any indication. Let's take a look. 

O'Brien ignored George's question about Rep. Ilhan Omar's comment on the president's failure to lead, his comments and tweets, etc. Instead, he echoed what the president said about the murder of George Floyd - "that our hearts and prayers are going out to the Floyd family. We mourn with them and we grieve with them..." He said what happened was "horrific" and agonized over the pain the family must feel with each playing of the video.

Trying again, George referenced the specific tweet below, with its dog whistles and racist language, and other presidential comments. (The tweet was also sent out by the White House Twitter account, and flagged there as well.)

George wondered if the president should take accountability for his comments and tweets. O'Brien said "I think what the president said about those tweets is that he wants to de-escalate violence and doesn't want people looting."

Um, huh? That's the president trying to "de-escalate violence" - by talking about shooting looters, using a particularly racist comment that (of course) he didn't know was racist? 

O'Brien went on to say (that's my emphasis added from here on out)

It's the violent Antifa radical militants that are coming out, under cover of night, traveling across state lines, using military-style tactics to burn down our cities. And they're especially targeting the most (vulnerable) parts of our cities, George....

And the president's outraged by that. And we all are. And that has to stop. And we're calling on the FBI to investigate Antifa and -- and get to the bottom of these -- these violent rioters. And I don't want them confused with peaceful protesters that have every right to go out to the streets. That's -- that's what makes America different from -- from any other countries around the world.

George then asked about reports from the Department of Homeland Security - part of O'Brien's portfolio - "warning that domestic terrorists from the far right and the far left are both looking to exploit the protests. It's not just Antifa and the left. They're saying they are worried about the far right as well.  O'Brien's response? It's a beauty, for sure. Remember, DHS reports to him. 

Well -- well, listen, everything I've seen in -- and that were being reported were -- the reports we're receiving is that this is Antifa. They're crossing state lines. And we've seen this happen before. We saw it in Portland ( in 2019). We saw it in Seattle. We saw it in Berkeley (in 2017). 

So, look, we'll keep our eyes open for anyone else that wants to take advantage of the situation, whether it's domestic or foreign. But right now, I think the president and Attorney General want -- Barr want to know what the FBI has been doing to surveil, to disrupt, to take down Antifa, to prosecute them...

So the FBI has got to come up with a plan to deal with Antifa. This is not the first time that they've engaged in this activity. It needs to stop. I mean they're throwing bricks at park police and -- and uniformed Secret Service officers...

There was an officer, a federal protective service officer was shot in Oakland. And our hearts and our prayers go out to him and his family, Patrick Underwood. This Antifa violent activity has to stop and we need to get to the bottom of it. We're calling on law enforcement to do it.

He's right - this activity has to stop. I can't agree more.  But George - who also can't agree more - pressed O'Brien on saying he hadn't heard about anything coming from the right.

But the DHS warning that went out this week noted specifically that the white supremacist, extremist Telegram channel was inciting the violence as well. They are saying it is both sides that are inciting violence from the outside.

O'Brien started with the word "Yes" and everything after that was, as were his previous answers, deflection. 

Yes, I think the actual perpetrators of the violence, the ones that are on the street, that are burning down minority-owned businesses and restaurants, who have already suffered through this terrible COVID situation and -- and are at risk of losing their business and now they're seeing them burn to the ground, those are Antifa radical militants. And we've seen them before in other protests and we need to get to the bottom of it.

Look, I condemn all extremists, on the right or on the left. But -- but the ones who are out on the streets throwing the Molotov cocktails and attacking our police, who are acting with -- you know, for the most part, with restraint, and heroically, you know, that has to stop.

So, allow me to paraphrase: I condemn those alleged right-wing extremists, as I ignore reports from my own team that they exist and are fomenting violence at this very moment. But we're not seeing them, because, you know - because Barr and Trump want me to ignore those reports and focus on just the lefties. Stop asking already! Sheesh! 

O'Brien also said that "it's an absolute outrage" what happened to George Floyd, saying he wanted to know where the investigation stood, including the three who did nothing, point to their "lack of humanity" - not just as first responders, but "just as human beings." He also said he can't imagine them not being charged, although he was careful not to prejudge. And again, any - every reasonable person would agree 100% with what he's saying - no ifs, ands or buts on that, at all.  

They also talked about "foreign adversaries" on social media "actively stoking and promoting violence and confrontation," a point raised by Acting Senate Intelligence Committee chair Marco Rubio (R-FL). O'Brien initially pointed to both China and Zimbabwe as the bad actors, but shifted attention only to China, saying he had "seen a number of tweets from the Chinese" taking pleasure in the rioting. He made clear the difference between America and those countries., saying that the officer who killed George Floyd will be prosecuted and will have a fair trial, and that Americans

that want to go out and protest peacefully, they're going to be allowed to seek redress from their government. They're not going to be thrown in jail for peaceful protesting...  And this wasn't done on behalf of the party or on behalf of the state...

When George said "We also know that Russia has been actively trying in the past to spark racial unrest" and asked if they were one of the countries trying to exploit the situation, O'Brien seemed to be pretty careful in how he answered.

Yes, there -- there -- there may be Russian activists who are doing that, but the difference that I've seen so far is that, for example, we saw a Chinese foreign -- foreign ministry spokesman trolling the State Department about this. So it's -- it's open. It's coming straight from the government.

And then there was some adroit deflection about cool rockets and Americans going to space in an American rocket. George didn't fall for it asking O'Brien "what are we doing right now" in regard to the other countries trying to promote unrest here, specifically mentioning China, Russia, and Zimbabwe. 

O'Brien added Iran into the mix, saying it's "certainly been active in this...realm as well." And, he said he's talked with our allies; "the democracies will stick together" and that "we've got a number of tools in our tool kit." And, then, as if a bell rang somewhere that only he could hear, we're back to China - but on a different topic now.

We've got a series of measures that we're going to deal with China and the way that they've choked out freedom in -- in Hong Kong. The president made a very important announcement on that front on Friday and -- and the -- the U.S. government is looking at all of our relations with Hong Kong and China.

So there will be a response and it will be proportional, but this is not something that -- that our adversaries are going to get away with for free.

At least, it's clear, China won't be getting away with anything "for free." And Antifa. It won't either. Russia, Iran and the right-wing crazies? Not as clear, is it?

So. there you have it -- your Extra Credit for this week.  And you can give yourself even more extra credit by (you know the drill) keeping your social distance, covering your face in public, waving meticulously clean hands to make your points in discussions, and whatever else you're asked or required to do in your neck of the woods to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

See you around the virtual campus. 

Wondering on Wednesday (v182)

Ready for some wondering? 

Let's dive in!

I wonder what the handful of states that are  cancelling their Republican presidential primaries are thinking. I can't imagine the president not wanting to show how loved and popular he is by crushing his opponents in a primary, can you? I mean, everyone talking about him is exactly what he lives for, right? 

Is it, as has been suggested by former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, that the president's party faithful support, hovering around 90%, may be a mile wide, but only an inch deep? Are the states afraid of letting that particular cat out of the bag?

Given that one of the reason why the cancellations are happening, we're told, is because it's expensive to hold a primary, I wonder if the RNC will cancel their convention? I know, that's silly, but a woman can hope, right? 

Staying with presidential politics for a bit, I saw a headline today that began "Sanders supporters cry foul..." and my first thought was, I wonder why that's not a bumper sticker? I mean, that could be every headline from 2016, and they're just piling on the foul-crying this time around too. Which is one reason why many people don't like him. You know, people like me. And I wonder if that's why Sanders is in third place in four of the five national polls since the debate?

I'm also wondering what the Democratic presidential candidates have to gain by calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

I get it - I believe he lied in his confirmation hearings, I believe he did make unwanted sexual advances, of varying degrees, on multiple women, and that he has no business being on the court. But on the court he is, and there he will stay, barring forensically verified proof of his lies or the sexual activities, and I don't know that such evidence exists. And honestly, if the NY Times reporters had not been writing a book, but instead were working solely to get to the bottom of the accusations against Kavanaugh, I'd feel better about that. 

More important, though - under even the weakest of normal circumstances, the nomination of a potential SCOTUS justice with even a hint of what he's accused of never would have seen the light of day. And I wonder if we'll ever be close to that kind of normal again.

Finally, tonight, the president has named Robert O'Brien as his fourth National Security Advisor. O'Brien was most recently the 'Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs' at the State Department, and according to Trump, his record is 38-0. 

I wonder if anyone knows who those 38 'hostages' were? Because to me, a hostage is someone like Terry Anderson, kidnapped on the streets of Beirut and held for over 2450 days, from the mid-1980s until 1991, or the 52 American diplomats held for 444 days in Iran before being released. 

A hostage is not someone convicted of a crime in another country and held in jail. You know, like A$AP Rocky, for example, who was arrested after getting into a fight on the streets of Stockholm. 

Keep in mind that Trump send Robert O'Brien to intercede in the case of A$AP Rocky - and wonder about that.