TGIF 3/22/24

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

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

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

The media - yet again - had a bad week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

House Republicans - yet again - had a bad week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TGIF, everyone. 

Sidebar: Sunday School 1/15/23

Last week, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd aka What's-his-name (WHN) received a lot of attention from folks on the left for his interview with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson. 

Cheers rang out for how Johnson was 'handled' and how WHN was 'finally doing his job.' The video of the interview was widely shared, too. (Here's the transcript if you want to follow along.)

Give the accolades, you'd think it was a journalistic powerhouse of an interview, right? Well, not unless you think that mocking, laughing, taunting belligerence is the right way to conduct an interview. I don't agree; I think prior hosts of the show would be appalled, and I think WHN is the wrong person for this job.

I'm no Johnson fan; I think he's a partisan hack. Even as I dislike him, I admit he's not wrong on everything. For example, he and I agree, the American people deserve to hear about the bad behavior of government officials, and Congress deserves the chance to provide 'oversight' of the government, even if no criminal statutes have been violated. 

WHN thinks that's ridiculous.

So, I guess the problem that I feel like you run into with that decision is what you're saying is if the Justice Department decides a crime wasn't committed, they're not going to prosecute a crime, it sounds like you still want the information out there because you want to politically damage the person that was investigated?

Or - maybe - we'd like to see bad actors held accountable for their actions? 

Would WHN say that if the subject of the investigation was Clarence Thomas? Brett Kavanaugh? Marjorie Taylor Green? Matt Gaetz? Ron Johnson? Has he ever said that about any Donald Trump investigation?

That leads to another point on which Johnson and I agree: there is a lot of bias in the media, and in politics, of course. We know Johnson and the Rs have no interest in investigating their own guys, or Jared Kushner, or Trump, even as they relish going after the other side; that was clear in this interview. The Dems aren't much different. 

In addition to bias, there's a striking inability by many to discern the difference between a news report and an opinion piece. And a good part of the blame for that belongs to folks like WHN, when they clearly, even eagerly, cross the line between fact-seeking and smoke-blowing in their interviews.

Here's an example; this exchange came after Johnson said the FBI suppressed information about Hunter Biden's laptop before the election. (I clarified which 'they' Johnson was referring to in his comment, and I added emphasis).

JOHNSON: Chuck, Chuck. My concern -- you know, Chuck. You know, part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don't invite me on to interview me, you invite me on to argue with me. 

That's true - more on that in a bit. 

JOHNSON: You know, I'm just trying to lay out the facts that certainly Senator Grassley and I uncovered. They (the facts) were suppressed. They (the facts) were censored. They (the FBI) interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand that. Unfortunately, liberals in the media don't. And that's part of the things that -- part of the reasons our politics are inflamed is we do not have an unbiased media. We don't. It's unfortunate. I'm all for free press.

WHN: Well, Senator -- JOHNSON: It needs to be more unbiased. WHN: Senator, look, this is -- JOHNSON: There's misinformation on both sides -- WHN: Look, go to partisan -- JOHNSON: -- but the censorship and suppression -- WHN: Senator -- Senator -- look, we’re trying to do issues here and facts.  JOHNSON: -- primarily occurs on the left. WHN: Partisan cable -- JOHNSON: It's frustrating. WHN:  Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it's part of your identity. 

Notably, this exchange came after WHN said, "I am a journalist. I have to deal in facts." No one believes a word of that - or, I should say, no one should believe a word of that.

In Case You Missed it (v80)

A busy week in the world, and to a much less consequential extent, at veritable pastiche. Here's a recap of this week's posts, in case you missed them.

In the Sunday School classrooms, we heard from a few of the usual suspects, and from an unusual one: Nadya Tolokonnikova, the Russian activist and founding member of Pussy Riot. In her conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN she was asked what might have led to Putin's invasion on Ukraine. Was it declining mental health, maybe - or was he acting out because he's never been held to account for his prior bad acts? It was clear where she stood.  

...we have heard a lot of loud, big proclamations from the global community, but, unfortunately, it wasn't followed through. And Putin didn't really feel like he -- him and his closest -- closest oligarchs and cronies suffered from invasion of Ukraine. And I think, partly, what we're seeing right now in Ukraine is the result of complacency of the global community about a situation that happened in Ukraine in 2014.

For your Sunday School Extra Credit, there was more talk of Russia and Ukraine, but I also included some discussion on the current state of our union, as shared by the panel on Fox News Sunday. One topic? Recent polling showing that people would rather see Congress under Republican control, to keep Biden's agenda in check, than to have the Dems retain their majorities. Georgetown University's Mo Elleithee said polling like that is generally a bad sign, but that the Dems still had a chance.

Biden's SOTU was a big part of that; he suggested (Biden) was reminding voters why they voted for him - or, for the Biden that campaigned closer to the middle than many of his opponents. And, he added,

I think it was him sort of reorienting the public perception of the Democratic Party, which, for many months now has been defined by a fight between the left and Joe Manchin, you know, and Kyrsten Sinema over the Build Back Better, right? That was what was defining the Democrat Party in the eyes of many voters. And I think Biden said, let me remind you what you got when you voted for me.

Lest you think only the Dems are in a quandary in advance of the midterms, I included a hint of a mess brewing on the Republican side of the aisle in the post as well.

Also stemming from the Sunday School classrooms was a Sidebar on the foolishness of Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio sharing a "nondescript" picture of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the equal foolishness of two network anchors not asking him why he did it. 

I mean, it's not like it was a side-by-side of Rubio's 'resting Intelligence Committee face' and Zelenskyy - it was a solo shot of the Z-man, one that's almost certainly hanging on the walls and ceilings of bedrooms around the world - probably next to one of Andrew Cuomo.

Mid-week, I was Wondering on Wednesday about things like Republicans still taking about trying to do something they tried - and failed - to do for a decade.

Wisconsin's Sen. Ron Johnson wants to obstruct the president's agenda until the Rs take control in the midterms, and then when they take back the White House in 2024,  he wants to see the GOP repeal the Affordable Care Act... I also wonder, how many people wish that Johnson had kept his promise not to run again? 

And, the week's posts came to an end with a TGIF entry all about the state of the state of Texas. There's the vigilante abortion bill, which the Texas Supreme Court pretty much guaranteed would stand (and would spread to other freedom-loving Red states), and there was the now temporarily on hold directive to investigate and, presumably, punish parents who allow certain medical procedures for their trans children. And, there was more.

I don't want you to think that Texas only discriminates against women and LGBTQ kids they're equal opportunity discriminators.

A Texas agency discriminated against communities of color when it denied more than $1 billion in federal relief funds sought by Houston and Harris County to help hard-hit areas recover from Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found.

It's a helluva time we're living in, don't you think?

See you next week.

Wondering on Wednesday 3/9/22

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

It's been a while since we've wondered together on a Wednesday; ready to give it a whirl?

Let's start with something silly - laughter is the best medicine, right? It seems that former Trump immigration guru Stephen Miller has had his phone records subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee. Miller has sued to block their release; among other things, he says private family conversations would be exposed. Now, if someone subpoenaed my phone records, they'd find that I cover my elderly mom and my husband on my family plan. But here's the thing with Miller - he's covered under his parents' plan. I guess that's better than it would be if, you know, he still lived in their basement. But here's what I'm wondering: does he even appreciate the irony of this? The king of family separation has his phone bill covered by Mom & Dad? 

You may have heard about discussions on how friendly European countries could get their Russian-made fighter jets into Ukrainian hands. There was some talk that the US would try and 'backfill' American-made jets to our allies who gave their jets to Ukraine. All of this is fraught with risk, including the risk of an all-out war across Europe. So, it was kind of surprising to learn today that Poland had offered to deliver MiG fighter jets to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, for deployment to Ukraine. Surprising, that is, because it's been reported that the Poles hadn't discussed this with us first. And I'm wondering, how on earth could that be true?

This one's from the "I wonder, will these people ever learn?" file: Wisconsin's Sen. Ron Johnson wants to obstruct the president's agenda until the Rs take control in the midterms, and then when they take back the White House in 2024,  he wants to see the GOP repeal the Affordable Care Act.  You know, the same thing they tried to stop from getting passed in the first place, threatened repeatedly to repeal and replace, and failed, repeatedly - even when they had the majority the Senate, the House, and the Oval Office? I also wonder, how many people wish that Johnson had kept his promise not to run again? 

Turning to wonder-full things in my neck of the woods, my state senator Rachel May somehow managed to have her picture taken with climate activists holding a banner that pretty much everyone thinks is highly offensive - see for yourself. 

She's apologized for the "unacceptable" image, and said she had her picture taking with lots of people and didn't see the what the banner said.

So, what's the wondering on this one? These people have staff - they have aides, and assistants, and interns, and who knows how many hangers-on who follow them throughout the day. Is there not a single person on her team who could have pulled her away from this? Do any of your elected officials get caught up in stuff like this? I can't imagine it's just a New York thing...

And finally, tonight, we turn to my county's District Attorney for life William Fitzpatrick. Fitz is in the middle of a high-profile murder trial - the second one for the defendant, a local physician who's accused of murdering his wife. The doc was found guilty in the first trial, but the verdict was tossed due to juror misconduct; a juror had received numerous texts from her father about the trial, during the trial. Keep that in mind... and follow along with today's events. 

Fitz is a big Syracuse University basketball fan; the team was playing in the ACC tournament today, with a noon start. Fitz talks with the judge and the doc's defense team just before 11:30AM, which leads the judge to pose a question to the jury: do you want to continue testimony, or watch the basketball game? The jurors decided to continue with the trial - so I'm not wondering about them. I am wondering about Fitz, though - he actually thought it was appropriate to ask the jury if they wanted to watch a basketball game in the middle of the day's testimony? 

What's on your wondering mind tonight?

Wondering on Wednesday 9/1/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Where to begin with this week's wondering? Well, how about with a time check?

It's been reported, primarily - but not solely - on the right, that President Biden checked his watch after each of the 11 fallen Americans were transferred from the plane to waiting vehicles at Dover AFB on Monday (two of the 13 transfers were private).  There is video, that has been widely shared, showing him do that once. And, it's been 'fact-checked' by the folks at Snopes that the scene in the video was at the end of the ceremony, after all of the victims of the ISIS-K suicide bomber had been transferred.  

Now, before you go all nutso on me about how Snopes is the Wikipedia of fact-checking and can't be trusted, know that they're not the only ones who have said this isn't true. And, regardless of how you feel about the fact-checkers, don't you wonder why, if this really happened 11t times, no one has video of it?  

And coming on the heels of the false reports that "no one from the Biden administration met the plane" for the dignified transfer on Saturday, when the plane hadn't even arrived yet, how much faith are we to put into a report like this one?

Are you also wondering about the fate of the American service dogs that were left behind in Kabul? I'm sure you've seen the reports from reliable sources such as Donald Trump, Jr., about our leaving crates of dogs at the airport. Other notables also chimed in, like Medicare fraudster Sen. Rick Scott (R-I Took A Huge Golden Parachute and Named it Responsibility).

"Infuriating. Biden stranded Americans. He stranded our allies. Now, he’s stranded our loyal K-9 warriors," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter, posting American Humane's letter.

Sadly, for those who wanted to paint Biden as an animal hater, in addition to all the other stuff he's accused of being, we did not strand our service dogs. 

On Tuesday, the Pentagon denied that any dogs that had worked with the U.S. military were left behind in the country while acknowledging that a series of social media posts about nonmilitary evacuation of Kabul pets caused confusion.

"To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, to include the reported 'military working dogs,'" said Eric Pahon, a spokesman for the Defense Department.

I wonder, if the real news out of Afghanistan is as bad as it is, why do people feel the need to make it worse? 

Speaking of making stuff up, there's the Big Lie, that the election was stolen from Former Guy. There was a fun little recording featuring Sen. Ron Johnson (R- Who Doesn't Love Moscow on July 4th?), who pretty much summed up the fallacy of Former Guy's theory that the election was stolen from him. Speaking about the results in his state, Johnson admitted that

There’s nothing obviously skewed about the results...If all the Republicans voted for Trump the way they voted for the Assembly candidates, he [Trump] would have won. He didn’t get 51,000 votes that other Republicans got, and that’s why he lost.

I added the emphasis for the folks in the back, and I wonder why that's so hard for the Rs to understand?

And speaking of rigged elections, the GOP's latest poster boy, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-Not the Naval Academy) has made it clear he's willing to fight over this. Speaking at a GOP event in his home state of North Carolina, he offered this.

If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen then it's going to lead to one place and that's bloodshed.

Continue to be rigged? There's going to be bloodshed? Huh?

And I will tell you, as much as I am willing to defend our liberty at all costs, there's nothing I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American. 

In case you didn't know,  rising star Cawthorn lies about all kinds of things, including the accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and about being accepted into the US Naval Academy. Given that he'll lie about those things, I wonder why we should think that he's telling the truth about taking up arms against his fellow citizens? 

And while I don't condone gratuitous violence, I wouldn't wonder at all if the bloodshed Cawthorn spoke of eventually happens when someone who finally had enough of his BS hauled off and punched him in the nose.

And speaking of bullshittery and hyperbole, let us not forget about House GOP Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-You Better Watch Out if We Take Back The House, Dammit!), who seems to be in a bit of a snit about every action taken by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. 

The Committee issued a document preservation request to more than 30 telecom companies on Monday, a step taken in advance of a request for specific documents which is sure to follow. And McCarthy wasn't happy about that - at all. 

I'm not wondering about his response, or his threat - I mean, he's a ring-kissing #AlwaysTrumper after all - but I am wondering why he didn't include the traitorous RINOs Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney in his tweet? 

And I'm wondering if the GOP really is like an elephant. What if they don't retake the majority for a few cycles? Will they remember that they have to take out some of these great American companies that support all those great American jobs and help our great American stock market soar ever higher, making America even greater? 

What are you wondering about?

Wondering on Wednesday 2/24/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

In no particular order, here's the stuff that's got me scratching my head tonight.

Neera Tanden, President Biden's choice to head the Office of Management and Budget, seems to be on a fast track to failure, as Joe Manchin (the most important Senator in the Universe, or something like that) is opposed and so are at least a few Republicans, including Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Rob Portman. The primary reason Tanden's nom is not looking good? She was a mean tweeter. 

One of her targets was Manchin's daughter, a pharma CEO allegedly having something to do with the exorbitant price of Epi-pens. Collins thinks that Tanden exhibits the kind of animosity that Biden has "pledged to transcend." Romney can't support someone who's sent "a thousand mean tweets." Portman says the OMB director needs to work "productively" with people on both sides of the aisle. And I wonder, why would the OMB director need to be held to a higher standard than the (former) president?

Merrick Garland, the guy who coulda woulda shoulda been a SCOTUS associate justice, looks well on his way to being confirmed as the next Attorney General of the United States; similarly, the standard for him is higher than for his predecessor, and for the former president. It cracks me up, the hypocrisy. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a staunch Trump supporter, said that Garland met his 'sole' criteria - a promise to conduct investigations "without succumbing to political pressure." Really, Senator? When did you stumble upon your 'sole' criteria, I wonder?

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson? I just wonder about him generally. And Rep. Jim Jordan, too. They could be in the wondering every week.

US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told Congress yesterday they'll have to get used to him because he's going to be sticking around. He offered support for a plan to eliminate the need to pre-fund future health insurance costs, so that's progress. But he also suggested improving service by slowing down delivery of first-class mail, and said something about having the USPS stop using planes to move mail around the country. I wonder if he doing a CBA on a revived Pony Express? That would surely accomplish both of his goals.

At the same time, his longevity is potentially threatened by the pesky Biden administration's efforts to fill seats on the governing board. And they are not all white men, darn those inclusive Dems. I wonder if any of them have sent any mean tweets in the past? Hope not. 

And finally, watch this video of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R Mar-a-Lago) and #3 Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Purgatory) answer a question on whether 45 should appear a CPAC (the 'hug a flag like it's a porn star conference) this weekend, and wonder with me how long the Rs are going to put up with her refreshing honesty.

What are you wondering about?

In Case You Missed It (v68)

What a week las week was...  I only managed to get three posts out of my head and onto the interwebs. Here's your week in review. 

For Sunday School, I highlighted the so-called interview that Chuck Todd conducted with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Meet the Press. As I noted in the post, Todd has a history of going off the rails when he talks with Johnson, especially since he got so much credit for being 'tough' in a previous interview. In this one, he made himself out to be a fool, in my opinion. 

This portion of the interview came after Todd accused Johnson of being one of the arsonists who lit the fire of baseless voter fraud allegations, and Johnson accused Todd of the media being the arsonists because of their bias, and more. Johnson's words are italicized so you can tell them apart. 

So you believe -- It's not quackery -- You believe in -- It's not conspiracy theory ---You believe -- It's what's going to be required. Let me ask you this. Then why didn't you hold hearings about the 9/11 truthers? There's plenty of people who thought 9/11 was an inside job. So you're basically saying is -- I mean, Chuck -- if there's enough people who believe a conspiracy theory -- I could have held hearings on all kinds of things. I held hearings on -- If there's enough people who hold -- what I figured was the most relevant issues -- Are you going to do a -- how about the Moon landing -- And obviously this election -- Are you going to hold hearings on that?

And then he said that, while there are all kinds of things he'd like to have hearings on, but that you have to pick your battles.

Right now, we have this election. We've got tens of millions of Americans that think this election was stolen. We need to get the bottom of it. Again, what's explained, we need to explain it, get that off the table. We also have to acknowledge there were some real problems here --

Yup, we do. This interview being one of them.

I didn't offer you a Sunday School Extra Credit las week - I mean, the whole week was an Extra Credit post, wasn't it? And I sure hope you were - and are - paying attention.

There was more than enough fodder carried over from the week before to give us a Trump in Transition post on his 18th phone call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's Republican Secretary of State. This one, Raffensperger answered, and legally taped. The audio and transcript were released when the president lied about the nature of the call and Raffensperger fought back. 

I had thought about pulling some OrangeVerse out of the transcript, but Trump clearly was in full-blown crime boss mode, so I decided to take it more seriously.  Anyway, here's a slice of that, where Trump responds after hearing Raffensperger's first rebuttal.

"Well, Brad." That's what the president said next. "Well, Brad." And then, after talking about other states, and saying "we have all the votes we need," he went back to his favorite theme: he won. He won, and he proved there's way more votes than needed, but he only had to show one more than 11,779 because that's how many he lost by in the bad count from "Well, Brad."

Not only that, but

...what's the difference between winning the election by two votes and winning it by half a million votes. I think I probably did win it by half a million. You know, one of the things that happened, Brad, is we have other people coming in now from Alabama and from South Carolina and from other states, and they’re saying it’s impossible for you to have lost Georgia. We won. You know in Alabama, we set a record, got the highest vote ever. In Georgia, we set a record with a massive amount of votes. And they say it’s not possible to have lost Georgia.

And I could tell you by our rallies. I could tell you by the rally I’m having on Monday night, the place, they already have lines of people standing out front waiting. It’s just not possible to have lost Georgia. It’s not possible. When I heard it was close, I said there’s no way.

He went on, and on, again. But here's where Well, Brad steps up his game.

Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong. 

That's just one of the president's challenges - they are many.

My last post of the week offered up My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on last Wednesday, and some of what's transpired since. I maintain that what we saw is who we are. The totality of it - not just the incitement and the storming and the violence and the destruction, but also the reactions, the calls for retribution, and excusing and accusing... all of it, whether we like it or not, is who we are.  

Here are a couple of reasons why we were all present on Wednesday.

We are without irony (1). We riot, we storm the Capitol, to "take back our country" and do so carrying a pole with two flags - the one bearing the name of a man above the Stars and Stripes. We riot, we storm the Capitol, to "defend our constitution" and support those who are literally trying to bypass the Constitution. We protest things being stolen from us by trying to steal the same thing from others. We lash out at perpetrators - those who do exactly what we want them to do, what we encouraged them to do - and then vote the way they want us to. What is wrong with us?

We are without irony (2). We saw protests, and rioting, around the country last summer; in some places it went on for weeks. We have a hard time separating protests from riots, and we have a hard time being consistent in our distaste for either or both: it all depends on the reason, the voice, the message. We will tolerate 'protests' if we agree with the reason, but tolerate them much less if we don't. We will tolerate rioting, argue that it's OK if a few people lost their businesses because it's for the greater good, but we won't tolerate rioting if the 'good' is not great enough in our eyes. We appreciate 'our rights' but the rights of certain others, less so. Rights red and blue. Protests red and blue. Riots red and blue. Irony red and blue.

Comments are always welcomed on any post. Have at it. 

And, that's it - you're up to date on the week that was.  I'll be back later for Sunday School, in one form or another.

Sunday School 1/3/21

Want to play a game? It's called "invite a Republican to your classroom." 

It seems Chuck Todd remembers how much fun it was, and how much praise he got for doing his job and stuff that time back in 2019 when he interviewed Trump-loving Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). Johnson is notorious for (a) spending a Fourth of July in Moscow, and (b) being a particularly bad interview. Here's an example of the latter from August when Dana Bash made a valiant effort at trying to get him to answer a question.

Today, Todd and Johnson had another go-round. It started with a question on why Johnson is now on "the side of questioning the results of this election." Johnson said he and the others are not acting to "thwart" our democratic process, they're trying to "protect it."

The fact of the matter is that we have an unsustainable state of affairs in this country where we have tens of millions of people that do not view this election result as legitimate. We've just come off of four years where the other side refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of President Trump. And here we are again. And what we're saying is we need transparency. And you do not -- when you're trying to investigate wrongdoing in elections, you don't have very much time. And so what we're suggesting is let's set up a commission, as they did -- I know it's a long time ago, 1877 -- but let's take a look at it, a bipartisan commission, to organize all the allegations -- certainly what I did in my hearing.

Johnson's hearing was "three-and-a-half-hour hearing" in which they "barely scratched the surface." 

Let's put out -- take off the table the ones that have been explained but also acknowledge the problem areas that have not been explained so that we can restore confidence in our election system. This is an unsustainable state of affairs right now. And that's all we're saying is, as long as someone's going to be objecting to this and we're going to be taking a vote, let's propose a solution in terms of, you know, transparency, investigation with a commission.

OK, so, there are obvious differences, that anyone can see, between Trump/Clinton and Trump/Biden, but the Rs love to pretend that what's happening now is the same as what happened then. And they love to ignore the fact that, by his own words and deeds, Trump proved himself to be an illegitimate president, all on his own.

Todd next suggested that by making an allegation of widespread fraud without evidence, and demanding an investigation, Johnson is "the arsonists."

You've started this fire. And now you're saying, "Woah, look at this. Oh my God. All these people believe what we told them," because you didn't have the guts to tell the truth that this election was fair.

Johnson, though, reached back into the history books, saying that the fire started back when Trump took office when "people like Mark Zaid" tweeted "The coup has started. First of many steps. Rebellion and impeachment to follow ultimately."  (Who is Mark Zaid?  I had no idea - had to Google him. He's a DC attorney, it seems, and I can assure you, no one outside the beltway knows - or cares - about his tweets.)

Who else started the fire, according to Johnson? 

This was started when the mainstream media stopped, dropped any pretense of being unbiased and actually chose sides during this election. This fire was started when you completely ignored, for example, our investigation of Hunter Biden. You know, no evidence of wrongdoing there. And now we find out after the election, no, there is a fair amount of evidence to the point that we have a real FBI investigation. So --

And here goes Chuck, wearing his new "I'm interviewing Ron Johnson" tie or something, getting all up in arms about criticism of the media. Chuck is standard font, Johnson is italicized. 

Senator. All right, I've had enough -- It’s the bias of the media -- of hearing this. All right. No, listen. I've had enough of this, too. No, Senator. It is -- It’s the bias in the media that has created a situation -- You've spent, you have spent the last two years -- where Republicans and conservatives do not trust -- No -- the mainstream media. And that is what, that is what has destroyed the credibility of the media and our institutions and really -- Right, no, the destruction of the institutions -- shaken confidence in this election result. So I didn't start this.

Say what you want about media bias, but literally no Republicans and conservatives - at least, not the kind Johnson is talking about - watch the mainstream media. Just ask the president - he'll tell you. He's the one who told them to stop watching Fox and turn to OAN and Newsmax.

Back to the classroom. Todd suggested that Johnson has been "carrying a lot of this crazy conspiratorial water" - blaming Ukraine for election interference, voter fraud, and what not - and he wondered why Johnson was doing it. 

You're not trying to overturn the election, you just said. Are you simply trying to curry favor with constituents of the president? Is that what this is all about, is this a cynical political ploy?

Johnson said he was trying to be "transparent," and he said (as an example of transparency, I guess) that the allegations of voter fraud "kind of fall into three categories."  Todd interrupted to point out that an allegation doesn't mean it happened. And, he said, "you don't get to make these allegations that haven't been proven true."

Here's what I don't understand. You understand how our government was set up. The reason we have a judiciary is because partisans like yourself weren't going to be trusted by the public to decide who won or lost an election. Let me ask you this: Who carried the state of Wisconsin?

Johnson said that Biden won by 20,000 votes, but that "there are also issues in Wisconsin." He said he didn't criticize the Dems back when they were concerned about voting machines, 

But now it's quackery? Now it's conspiracy theory? That's the problem, Chuck. There's a double standard here, and we are not being transparent, and we are dismissing the concerns of tens of millions of Americans. Again, I didn't, I didn’t light this fire.

Cue the Billy Joel song.  The fire was lit years ago, Johnson said, 

And we've destroyed the credibility, you have destroyed the credibility of the news media by your bias. And of course people like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan destroyed the credibility of the FBI and our justice system as well. We have an enormous problem in this country. It's unsustainable. And the only way you solve it is with information, and transparency, and hearings, and investigations --

Here comes the sparring again.

So you believe -- It's not quackery -- You believe in -- It's not conspiracy theory ---You believe -- It's what's going to be required. Let me ask you this. Then why didn't you hold hearings about the 9/11 truthers? There's plenty of people who thought 9/11 was an inside job. So you're basically saying is -- I mean, Chuck -- if there's enough people who believe a conspiracy theory -- I could have held hearings on all kinds of things. I held hearings on -- If there's enough people who hold -- what I figured was the most relevant issues -- Are you going to do a -- how about the Moon landing -- And obviously this election -- Are you going to hold hearings on that?

And then he said that, while there are all kinds of things he's like to have hearings on, but that you have to pick your battles.

Right now, we have this election. We've got tens of millions of Americans that think this election was stolen. We need to get the bottom of it. Again, what's explained, we need to explain it, get that off the table. We also have to acknowledge there were some real problems here --

There was another splashy exchange.

You've got to ask yourself, when you tell people a million times that something was stolen or something was fraud and then they believe it, I think you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why so many people believe this. Well, Chuck, you need to look at your mirror because you carried the Democrats’ water on - Senator Johnson, I've got to go. I appreciate you coming on -- the whole Russian collusion with the Trump campaign hoax -- I’ve let you, I’ve let you say plenty of -- That is what you did in the media. You carried that water for years. You destroyed the credibility of the press -- You can -- Senator Johnson -- not me.

So, what did we learn in today's interview? That, when it comes to interviewing Sen. Johnson, Chuck Todd brings his A-game, and when it comes to everyone else, he brings his "Both Sides Now' game. But I'm just a Sunday School teacher. What do I know?

See you around campus. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the new masks you all got for Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Wondering on Wednesday 12/2/2020

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

There's much to wonder about today, so let's dive in. 

We know that there are runoffs in Georgia in January, and that the two Republicans are being painted as unethical money-grubbing stock traders, trading on their knowledge and position as senators.  This article, for example, goes into detail on how the two - David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler - made money off the pandemic through what the headline calls their "naked corruption." Perdue is apparently an extremely busy trader; in fact, his nearly 2600 trades in his first term "roughly equal the combined trading volume of the next five most active traders in the Senate." He accounts for nearly a third of all transactions reported during the past six years.  Not only that, but

The data also shows the breadth of trades Mr. Perdue made in companies that stood to benefit from policy and spending matters that came not just before the Senate as a whole, but before the committees and subcommittees on which he served.

I'm wondering how the heck it is that folks in Georgia might actually vote both of these two back in come the first week of January. And I also wonder how calls to boycott the vote, which are coming from the Republicans (go figure), and the president's saying he'll go there to campaign, will impact things. And I wonder how much more of this any of them can take. 

And, speaking of how much more of this anyone can take, I offer these items related to the president's ongoing battle to pretend he wants to stay in office. I say pretend he wants to, because we all know this is about the money he's making through the barrage of fundraising requests - nearly 500 of them since November 3rd - being sent for his (ahem), legal defense fund - $170M since the election.

The surge of contributions has come largely from small-dollar donors, campaign officials say, tapping into the president’s base of loyal and fervent financial supporters, who tend to contribute the most when they feel the president is under siege or facing unfair political attacks. 

Anyway, here's the #AlwaysTrumper, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, making news. He's demanding AG Snitty Snitty Bill Barr produce the evidence he didn't find to prove that there isn't any evidence of voter fraud that will overturn the results of the election.

And here's another #AlwaysTrumper lawyer-not lawyer Sidney Powell, the one who released the kraken and got herself released from official legal responsibilities, is now quoting a prominent QAnon guy in her Georgia election lawsuit. In another lawsuit, she used a person as a plaintiff without his permission. And, there's now apparently a Sidney Powell for President domain. 

As I see, every day on my one social media feed people repeating her baseless claims, I can only wonder when - if ever - they'll come to the realization that this is all a bunch of crap. Every last bit of it.

Powell might not be the stupidest Trump lawyer, though. That honor might go to this guy. 

Joe diGenova, the attorney for Trump's campaign, said during an appearance on "The Howie Carr Show": "Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot."

Which I guess is consistent with what the cultists think. I mean, Steve Bannon called for putting Dr. Fauci's head on a pike back in November.  

I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I’d put the heads on pikes. I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats. You either get with the program or you’re gone ― time to stop playing games. Blow it all up.

Don't you wonder how it is that the president of the United States managed to find himself surrounded by people like this? Seriously...these are the people the president has, or had, in his inner circle. He can't choose the outer ring of his circle the hangers on, the wannabe close to him people, the big donors; I understand that. But he surely picked these people, or people he picked picked them. If you don't wonder about that, I have to wonder about you.

I'll close with this rather interesting take on the White House Christmas decorations from Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post, in which Melania Trump appears before her, saying 

Follow me, and I will guide you among these ominous trees, through a place where you will hear desperate lamentations and see ancient, disconsolate spirits in torment. Would you like a tour of the White House Christmas decorations?

It's an interesting trip, for sure.  And if you haven't seen them yet, here's a video you should watch before you read Petri's piece. Otherwise you might wonder about what on earth she's talking about.

 What are you wondering about?

Wondering on Wednesday 9/23/20

Ready... Set... Wonder!

OH EM GEE -- Didja know that Hunter Biden worked for Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and didja know that it was stupid that he worked for Burisma when his father was the vice president?  If you didn't know those two things, I've no choice but to wonder where you were during the impeachment.  And, today, I have to wonder what the heck Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson thought he was going to accomplish by having a lengthy investigation to determine those two facts?  Well, let him tell you himself.

People need to take a look at this report very carefully and understand what the ramifications are for electing Joe Biden as president.

Well, no -- I mean, we knew all of that before, even if Johnson didn't. Heck, even Republicans have called his investigation nonsense, with Utah's Mitt Romney saying

It is not the legitimate role of government, for Congress or for taxpayer expense, to be used in an effort to damage political opponents. 

And from this article in the NY Times, we learn that Johnson

said he was simply conducting the type of oversight with which his committee was tasked, and suggested that the investigation had been thrust upon him because Mr. Biden had opted to challenge Mr. Trump. The senator said that he “never thought Joe Biden should run for president,” and hinted that the former vice president had cognitive problems, a baseless attack frequently hurled by Mr. Trump.

I don't know about you, but I wonder if the most important thing we'll learn from the report is that Ron Johnson is completely unfit for office - something he was hell-bent on proving about Biden.  

And speaking of people profiting from and benefiting from relationships with politicians, let's wonder about these items:

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave more than $6 million in contracts since September 2018 to the firm where acting Secretary Chad Wolf’s wife serves as an executive.
• Since assuming the presidency, Donald Trump has racked up more than 3,000 conflicts of interest from his refusal to divest from his businesses, according to a report released today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Trump averages more than two conflicts of interest per day, an astonishing rate of corruption... Highlights from CREW’s tracking include:  78 visits by members of Congress to Trump properties; 267 visits by the president to his own properties, each of which costs taxpayers money and makes Trump money; at least 30 visits by Cabinet members to events at Trump properties; 117 events hosted or sponsored by special interest groups at Trump properties, and nearly 80 more by political groups; 13 events held by entities with ties to foreign governments, and visits by at least 134 foreign officials, and of course, the 65 trademarks granted to Trump by foreign governments while he's been in office...
• Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross - "The Trump Official Who Keeps Watchdogs Up At Night" - has lied about divesting his vast financial holdings, and his "inaccuracies and omissions have also prompted serious questions about whether he took official actions that could affect his personal financial interests..."

There are so many more of this kind of thing in the Trump administration, either folks who are still there, or the many others who took their ethical challenges and went home. Are any of them fit for a government job, or fit for office, I wonder? Including Trump? 

What else is going on today?  Well, both the Republicans and the Democrats are actively engaged in sticking their noses in the election.  Let's take the Rs first: according to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 

The Republican National Committee is getting involved in an appeal over absentee ballot deadlines in Georgia, making it the 20th state where the Republican Party is fighting election lawsuits. 

From the Protect The Vote website, which is an arm of the Republican National Committee, 

Is it any wonder that the 20 states where the Rs are involved in lawsuits include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia - are all swing states?  

And the Dems? I don't think we need to wonder why they're fighting to keep Syracuse's own Howie Hawkins, the Green Party's presidential candidate, off the ballot in swing states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin... After all, we know that any vote for a candidate other than Joe Biden is a vote for Trump, right? Particularly a vote for a more progressive candidate than Biden. 

A reporter today asked the president what he thought about Harry and Meghan doing a PSA about voting. I was sure it was going to be the reporter from OANN, but it was actually the Daily Mail UK reporter. Trump's answer was typical - rude and denigrating - so no wondering there. Nope - the wondering is why anyone would ask that question in the first place. And then I saw that reporters also asked Buckingham Palace about the former royals, so I guess maybe that's just the way the UK reporters are. 

And we'll close tonight's wondering with this piece of news about the president's second son, Eric. He's been asked to appear for a deposition in a case brought by NY AG Tish James, but wanted to wait until after the election. After all, his lawyer said, Eric is a "vital and integral part" of his father's campaign, and he's traveling way too much to appear. Alas,

Judge Arthur Engoron has ordered President Donald Trump's son to appear for a deposition by Oct. 7, denying Eric Trump's request to wait until after the election.

Engoron said the argument to delay providing testimony was "unpersuasive" because "neither the petitioner nor this court is bound by timelines of the national election." 

So, what's the wondering on that part? 

• Will he really appear as ordered in two weeks? 
• Will the president's campaign legal team join the case? 
• Or, even better, will Snitty Snitty Bill Barr's Justice Department join the case on behalf of the president, because being deprived of having his number two son on the campaign trail makes this a case about the president?

There's more, as usual, but that's enough for one night.

Sunday School 8/30/20

Let's meander around the classrooms, shall we?

First up: Highlights of the conversation between Dana Bash and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Trump, via WI), on CNN's State of the Union.

Bash asked whether Johnson's "comfortable with the president appearing to inflame tensions" instead of calling for calm, let's look at his entire response:

Listen, I have been urging calm across the board, particularly in light of what happened here in Kenosha. But, as I said in the opening statement, when we had acting Secretary Wolf before my committee, when you encourage disdain for the police, you encourage criminals. When you do little or nothing to stop rioting, you encourage anarchy. So, when you're encouraging criminals and anarchy, people's lives are lost. You have more and more destruction, more and more violence. So, what we need to do is, we need to get control of the situation. And until we -- until we do, we're going to have more violence, we're going to have, unfortunately, potentially more loss of life. So, we need to get control of the situation. We need to encourage calm. 

And here's something else we need to do. We need to figure out what we do all agree on. And we share the same goal. We all want a safe, prosperous and secure America in states and communities. Let's concentrate on those areas of agreement, because that's how we achieve the unity everybody says they want.

Not hearing him mention the president, Bash tried again. Appreciating Johnson saying that "everybody should be calm," but reiterated the president's "agitating and actively encouraging his supporters." and wondered if that was what Johnson wanted to see from the president.

But, Dana, there are people -- there are people agitating all over the place. And what we need to do is get control of the situation.

Again, Bash reminded him she's talking about the President of the United States. Again, he didn't answer, instead talking about Wisconsin officials. So, Bash gave him one last chance, asking, "OK. So, given what you're saying, would you prefer that the president not tweet agitating comments and agitating ideas on his Twitter feed?

Well, that's how you -- that's how you are typifying it. What we need to do is, we need to encourage an end to the violence and the rioting.

Bash allowed as how there's really no other way to see it. And when Johnson again talked about the governor, Bash said AGAIN, "I'm talking about the president."

No, what the president did was, he offered to surge manpower resources, so the violence could end. The governor did not accept that that day. That night, tragically, two people lost their lives because citizens took matters into their own hands. I'm not for vigilantism. I'm not sure that's what was happening. People felt, because the governor and local -- local officials were looking for help. The governor did not accept the help. And so, there was not the resolve to end the rioting. And so, people took matters into their own hands. And that's what ended up happening. People die.

About those people dying? This exchange is absurd, it really is.

RJ: It is a tragedy. DB:  Do you -- do you condemn that? RJ: It is a tragedy. DB: Do you condemn it? RJ:  It is a tragedy. It is -- it's a tragedy. DB: It is a tragedy, but do you condemn it?  RJ:  The entire situation is a tragedy. Listen, I don't want to see any loss of life. It is a tragedy. And the way you prevent these tragedies is, you support law enforcement... you calm the situation. DB: A tragedy could be a car accident or something happening that is not based on fault. Do you condemn this? RJ:  You don't allow peaceful protest to turn siege -- into siege. Listen, I don't want to see anybody lose their life. I don't want to see the violence continue. I don't want to see businesses burned down. I don't want to see economic destruction. I condemn it all.

Honestly, I would have asked a simple question: "Senator, do you have any intention of answering the questions I'm asking? Because if you do, let's move ahead, and if you're only here to get your talking points across, you can send them in writing and we'll take a look at them."

Sunday School 4/28/19

OK, let's see how much ground we can cover today, starting with Andrea Mitchell sitting in for Chuck Todd on NBC's  Meet the Press.  On the show were presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and former Deputy AG Sally Yates, who was fired by the Trump administration. We'll start there.

Mitchell asked what Yates thought about Trump calling the FBI "scum" at his rally in Wisconsin last night. Yates said those were "words we shouldn't be throwing around" about our law enforcement and intelligence folks. Mitchell also asked about the Mueller Report and whether it exonerated the president.

... I think it paints a devastating portrait of a president and a campaign who welcomed a foreign adversary's illegal interference into our election, who then continually lied about it and then used the power of the presidency to try and thwart an investigation into his own conduct. That's not exoneration.

And whether she thought there would have been an indictment on obstruction, absent the "sitting president can't be indicted" position, and whether Trump would have been indicted on the ten obstruction charges if he was just a regular guy? Yates said she's prosecuted obstruction on less evidence, but all ten scenarios might not be prosecutable, just the ones where Mueller found no "significant factual or legal defenses."

Yates pointed out that Mueller "specifically references" the possibility of prosecution after Trump is out of office, but there's a bigger issue, she noted. It's about presidential conduct.

I mean, when the Russians came knocking at their door, you would expect that a man who likes to make a show of hugging the flag would have done the patriotic thing and notified law enforcement. 

And about Rudy Giuliani's comment that there's nothing wrong with taking help from a foreign adversary?

Yeah, that's a shocking statement. And it also just reflects how they have moved the goalpost, when the truth comes out...Surely, that's not what we've come to. 

Sen. Johnson said he personally wouldn't welcome support from the Russians, even given Giuliani's comments. And on the FBI scum comment?  Johnson spent a lot of time talking about "understanding the president's frustration" before finally saying "Probably, I would use different words."

Sen. Klobuchar was asked about obstruction; she supports Congressional subpoenas for administration officials and is looking forward to questioning AG Bill Barr this week. Mitchell wondered if, as a candidate, the senator should say whether or not the impeachment process should be started. Klobuchar noted that the House will make that decision; her interest is in holding Trump  accountable, and citing the Mueller report, noted there are many ways to do that:

One is with the process through Congress, which includes these investigations, which the president is already stonewalling. The second is other investigations that are going on right now, including in New York. And the third is pretty straightforward, Andrea. That is defeating him in 2020. And that's what I intend to do and will do.

Asked about what Joe Biden should say to Anita Hill, who apparently is not happy with her recent conversation with him, Klobuchar correctly noted that was Biden's question to answer. If enough of the candidates not named Biden give that answer, maybe the medial will stop asking them the question. 

There's always hope.