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?

Wondering on Wednesday (9/9/20)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

• Like many people, I'm wondering when the president will roll out his health care plan, which he promised us weeks ago. In fact, on July 19th he promised us "we're signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health-care plan." Time flies when you're having fun, I guess... Or, maybe, time flies when you're never delivering a health care plan...

• I wonder what it must have been like to work for PostWrecker General Louis Dejoy before he started 'fixing' the USPS? On the one hand, he really encouraged employees to donate to Republicans, which is typically not my cup of tea, but on the other hand, if you did, you got a nice bonus that not only covered but exceeded the amount of your donation, if what we're being told is true. So, should I sell my soul for a nice payout later, or do I stick to my guns and not fall for the bribe?  Hmm... Actually, there's no wondering on my decision.  I'll pass on the bonus, thanks.

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

• Another thing I'm wondering about? What on earth possessed the president to talk 18 times with Bob Woodward?  Did he really think he'd be able to talk his way into a flattering portrayal this time out? Is he nuts? Is this what he considers "the art of the deal?" I mean, in addition to having to convince us he never said what he could quite believably have said about American veterans, he's also got to convince us that he lied to us about the coronavirus to protect us, and not to make his numbers look good?  What kind of crap is that? Does he think we're stupid, I wonder? Oh wait - silly me - of course he thinks we're stupid.

• Snitty Snitty Bill Barr is expanding the Justice Department's already huge role as Trump's personal law firm, by moving to take over his defense in E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit.  Barr said it's fairly common for this to happen, and blames the political climate for the kerfuffle we're seeing. And, he said, the White House asked for the DOJ to intervene. I certainly don't wonder about that last part - Trump's more a fan of threatening to sue other people than he is paying lawyers to defend him, so having our tax dollars pay for it is a win-win for him, no doubt about that.

• And finally tonight, it's hard to remember all of the wacky things that have happened in this uniquely weird year, so you might have lost track of those mysterious seeds from Ch-eye-na that we were warned not to plant. Well, is it any wonder that we planted them? Or that we ate them?  

I do have to say, the opening line of the article on the seeds are truly words to live by: 

The same rules apply to a package of mysterious seeds found in your mail as do to a bag of fries discovered in a parking lot: As tempting as it is, don't open it, and most certainly do not eat what's inside.

What are you wondering about tonight?

Sunday School 8/16/20: Extra Credit

In yesterday's Sunday School, we heard from Mark Meadows and Robert O'Brien, the president's 4th National Security Advisor and 4th chief of staff, along with NJ Senator Cory Booker. 

I promised  then that I'd devote your Extra Credit to That Guy From Vermont, Bernie 'I'm Not A Democrat' Sanders, and I'm going to do just that, starting with his appearance in the MTP classroom, where Chuck Todd was very fixated on the US Postal Service, like a stamp on an envelope or something. Here are a few of the questions - there were more. 

• What are we witnessing here, legitimate reform of the USPS, or sabotage?

...what you are witnessing is a president who is doing everything he can to suppress the vote, make it harder for people to engage in mail-in balloting at a time when people will be putting their lives on the line by having to go out to a polling station and vote... Look, I happen to think, as you know, that Trump is a pathological liar. He lies all of the time, but I've got to say, I’ve got to admit that the other day he was very honest. He said, "Look, we want to kill mail-in balloting. We don't want millions and millions of people to be able to cast their ballots through the mail, so we'll destroy the Postal Service. We'll defund it. They can't vote." ...And it is an outrage, Chuck, because this campaign is more than healthcare, it's more than education, it's more than the Postal Service. It is democracy and he is sabotaging our democracy.

• Do you really believe Congress can act to hamstring the president here?

We're going to do everything that we can, in every way that we can. And different states may respond differently, but this is an issue. This really is an issue where ideology should not get in the way. I don't care if you're a conservative, moderate, whatever you are. If you believe that people have a right to vote and in a pandemic should not have to put their lives on the line to go into a ballot -- into a polling station, you know what, you have to support the full funding of the Postal Service and make sure that people can participate.

• And give us a preview of your speech, if you don't mind.

 Number one, what I just referred to, is that this is a campaign about whether or not we maintain American democracy...but I'll tell you what else it is. Right now, as we speak, Chuck, and we don't talk about this enough, with 30 million people having lost their jobs since the pandemic, and since those $600 checks have ceased to come, what you are seeing all over this country is people in economic desperation. You're seeing people who today, in America, the richest country on Earth, unable to feed their kids, worrying about being evicted from their homes. You're seeing people who cannot pay their bills, who have no health insurance. What we are looking at is an absolute horror show...

• How do you feel overall about the party platform? And do you feel like you've got enough of your views represented in it?

Well, Chuck, as you may be aware, I am not the candidate, so my views are not the dominant views. But what I will credit strongly the Biden campaign for is that Joe and I talked about this and he and I agreed that we should have task forces dealing with some of the major issues facing this country, including the economy and healthcare, climate change, immigration, education, etc. And the people on those task forces worked very, very hard. And I'm not here to tell you, as a strong advocate for Medicare For All, that we got everything we wanted. We surely did not. But I think if people look at the outcome of those task forces, they'll find the reality that if those task force proposals are implemented, you know what, Joe Biden will become the most progressive president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And that, in this moment, is what we need. 

• Kamala Harris - is she a future progressive leader of the Democratic party, in your mind?

...all that I can say is that I think what almost all progressives understand, that in this moment we have got to do everything we can to come together to defeat Donald Trump, who in my view is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country, and elect Joe Biden. But as I have said many, many times, the day after Biden is elected, we're going to be working with the grassroots in this country, with working people, with people of color, with young people, to stand up and fight for an agenda that works for working families, not just the 1%. And that most certainly includes Medicare For All. So, we're going to rally the American people around an agenda. And I look forward to doing that the day after Biden is elected.

• I just want to confirm that that is not you, sir, that signed a petition in Wisconsin to get Kanye West on the ballot (Mickey Mouse signed, too).

I cannot confirm Mickey Mouse. That I’m not -- don't know about, but I can tell you I certainly did not sign that petition.

And, here are highlights from his visit with George Stephanopoulos in the This Week classroom, where Sanders did even more to promote his agenda than he did on MTP, even though, as he noted, it was not the winning agenda. That's kind of why, for the second convention in a row, he'll be speaking as the non-winner.

• The party has been moving your way on many of the big issues. So will you declare victory tomorrow night? 

Well, one of the points that I will make is that the progressive movement has been making enormous progress not only in electing candidates to Congress, not only in electing candidates to state legislatures but also electing candidates who are running for district attorney, who are transforming criminal justice in America. And also, George, I think, as you've indicated, on all of the ideas that we have been campaigning, the right to understanding that health care is a human right, the need to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour, the understanding that climate change is an existential threat and that we can create millions of jobs transforming our energy system, you know what, we have made enormous progress in bringing the American people in our direction, especially the younger generation. 

• What's your message to those of your supporters who are not happy with the platform? 

Well, my message is that we're going to continue the fight for Medicare for all. We have a healthcare system today that's dysfunctional; too many people are uninsured; too many people are under-insured; too many people are going bankrupt because of medical bills. We pay almost twice as much per capita as the people of any other country. The function of health care is to guarantee health care to all, not make huge profits for the drug companies and the insurance companies. That fight continues the day after Joe Biden is elected president. 

• Kamala Harris endorsed Medicare for all during the primaries. Do you believe she's an ally in this fight for Medicare for all?  

Well, I believe that Kamala is somebody who is -- I've known for a number of years -- incredibly smart, incredibly tough. And I would not like to be Vice President Pence in a debate with her. I think she's an asset for the Biden campaign, and I think she's going to do great on the campaign trail.

• Your former press secretary says "The contempt for the base here is, wow." referring to the Democratic Platform. What do you say to that? 

Well, I would say that the overwhelming majority of progressives understand that it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated, that we have a president who is trying to undermine American democracy, a president who has turned his back on the working families of this country, a president who has done a horrible job in terms of the pandemic, does not believe in science, is not dealing with the existential threat of climate change... A lot of my supporters are not enthusiastic about Joe Biden, you know why? I ran against Joe Biden. But I think there is overwhelming understanding that Donald Trump must be defeated, Biden must be elected, and that the day after he is elected, we're going to do everything we can to create a government that works for all of us and not just the 1% and wealthy campaign contributors. 

And finally, let's see if there was anything different in his CNN State of the Union classroom appearance with Jake Tapper. 

• Did Mark Meadows say anything that reassures you that the election will be free and fair and the way you want it to be conducted? 

Before we get to the post office, I'm glad that he thinks that Kamala Harris is eligible to run for president. And he dismisses it. He said, oh, sure, of course she is. Then why is the president of the United States engaging in a racist, xenophobic attack against her by suggesting she is not eligible? This is what this campaign is about.   

Jake, what we are fighting for here is not just the post office that I want to talk about. It's not just whether Trump will succeed in throwing 32 million Americans off the health care they have. It's not just whether workers will continue to get the $600 supplementary checks they desperately need, when their unemployment -- or the $1,200 checks. It's not just climate change.  

It is in fact whether we're going to have a pathological liar staying in the White House who lies every single day. I think there have been documented there have been some 20,000 lies that is told that have been documented already.  

So, when Meadows says, oh, yes, Kamala Harris, she's eligible to run for president, then maybe you got to talk to the White House of why they tweet out stuff that is terrible and lying. 

• Are you frustrated that these positions will not be represented on the Democratic ticket? And how do you tell your voters to support a ticket that, in their view, might be more moderate than progressive? 

Well, Jake, two things. Our movement, as I'm sure you know, is doing really quite phenomenally well. All across this country, in New York state and elsewhere, in Missouri, we have elected extremely progressive member -- people who will become members of Congress who are going to stand up and fight for working families and take on the 1% and the greed of the corporate elite. 

We are electing district attorney candidates all over this country, people to the state legislature. So, our movement has real momentum. And we are doing just fine. Now, in terms of disagreements with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, yes, of course we do. I ran against Biden. 

And my message -- my message to our supporters is, we have got to do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump... I view as the most dangerous president in American history. And then what we have to do the day after we elect Joe Biden as president, we've got to rally our people to stand up and fight for an agenda that works for all, and not just a few. And that absolutely includes Medicare for all. I think most working people understand today that health care must be a human right, not simply a job benefit because, if you lose your job, then you lose your health care. That's crazy. That's not what we want. And we have got to take on the pharmaceutical industry... so much higher prices than any other country on Earth, sometimes 10 times more for the medicine that we need.  So, we're going to do everything that we can, A, to elect Biden, and, B, after he's elected, move this country in as progressive a way as we possibly can. 

• If Wall Street breathes a sigh of relief with Kamala Harris being named to the ticket, what does Bernie Sanders do?  

So, what Bernie Sanders is going to do is do everything that I can to defeat Donald Trump, to elect Joe Biden. And after the Democrats have control of the Senate and the House, and Joe is the president, we're going to do all that we can to mobilize people for a progressive agenda. But this is not a complicated issue. Donald Trump must be defeated. Biden must be elected. And after that election, we're going to do all that we can for a progressive -- to fight for a progressive agenda.

I don't know about you, but it sure seems like Bernie Sanders is going to do exactly the same thing the day after the election, no matter who the winner is. He's going to push his agenda, a twice-losing agenda, whether the Democrats like it or not. 

And I guess I'm the dumb one, because I kind of thought that maybe he would realize that his extreme positions are not mainstream positions in the Democratic party, yet. Maybe they will be after all of those progressives take over all of the local and state offices, but they aren't, yet. 

I only hope that he can convince his supporters, who are already whining about the platform, that starting somewhere is better than ending up nowhere, and that they'll make sure they work to pass legislation that moves us in the right direction, rather than holding out for their version of perfection. If not, we're screwed. 

That's your extra credit, and my mini-rant, for this week.  See you around the virtual campus.

TGIF 8/14/20

Last week's TGIF was all 'good week' stuff, but that's not the case this week. The pendulum swings, as they say. 

For example, here's a list of fun things from Fox News, recapping some headlines:

Trump Seeks to Starve Post Office to Limit Mail-in Voting (WaPo): “President Trump said Thursday that he does not want to fund the U.S. Postal Service because Democrats are seeking to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, making explicit the reason he has declined to approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the cash-strapped agency....

Trump tells Barr and prosecutor to bring Biden down quickly (TPM): “President Trump on Thursday issued an ultimatum to Attorney General Bill Barr over the months-long probe led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Barr tapped last year to investigate the origins of the Russia probe... The President added that Barr is ‘great most of the time’ but that ‘he’ll be just another guy’ if he ‘wants to be politically correct.’ 

Personnel office clears Trump acceptance speech at White House (CBS News): “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel confirmed federal law does not preclude President Trump from delivering a speech at the White House to accept the GOP's presidential nomination during this month's Republican National Convention. The president and the vice president are not covered by any provisions of the Hatch Act,’ Erica Hamrick, deputy chief of the office's Hatch Act Unit, told Maloney in a letter Wednesday. ‘Accordingly, the Hatch Act does not prohibit President Trump from delivering his RNC acceptance speech on White House grounds.’”

That last one, though? I mean, the president has multiple properties where he could host his own party - heck, he held an official press conference with hooting and hollering from members of his golf club in the back of the room.

To the delight of club members in pastel-colored polo shirts and golf cleats who, at times, sounded like a sitcom laugh track for the president’s jabs at Democrats and the press, the president put on back-to-back shows in the ballroom of his property.

How about the new birther attacks, suggesting that Kamala Harris is not eligible to be Joe Biden's VP because, you know, she was born in the USA.  Does that sound familiar to anyone, maybe from a few years ago? And now, maybe trying to keep another person of color out of the White House? This is a tried and true tactic of the Trump squad; you can hear Tamara Keith's reporting that it's playing out in living color - again from tonight's All Things Considered.

And speaking of things being considered, it seems that the president's propensity to surround himself with 'acting' officials (he likes them a LOT) may have finally bitten him in the proverbial behind.  Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the top two guys at DHS, are "serving unlawfully in their roles," according to the Government Accountability Office.

According to the GAO, Trump’s installation of Wolf and Cuccinelli violated the law because of the sequence of events following the resignation of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019. The official who assumed the title of acting secretary at that time, Kevin McAleenan, had not been designated in the order of succession, the GAO said. 

Subsequent personnel moves were also therefore illegitimate, and Wolf and Cuccinelli are serving under “an invalid order of succession,” the agency found. The GAO said that it was referring the matter to the DHS inspector general for review and that any further actions would be up to Congress and the IG’s office.

Now, we can almost predict what'll happen next, right? The DHS IG will get the report soon, and then the IG will be demoted and reassigned to working the night shift at some East Podunkian outpost or something, or will be stonewalled by the DHS and or the AG or the Oval, and then Mitch McConnell will suddenly bring these applicable committee back to approve the appointments and blahdittyblahblahblah and no one will pay attention to just another footnote in the annals of the unethical, unprofessional acts that have occurred in the Trump era.

But wouldn't it be nice if these two had to step aside and the rules actually were followed?  A girl can dream, can't she?

Speaking of ethics and golf and Trump, he's said to be visiting his brother in a NYC hospital before heading to his Bedminster property once again. Bedminster, in New Jersey, is where he'll receive the endorsement of the NYC Police Union.

This weekend’s trip to Trump National Bedminster is the president’s 23rd since taking office, and will increase his golf-related taxpayer tab to $142 million in travel and security expenses. Each trip to Bedminster costs taxpayers about $1.1 million, compared to $3.4 million per trip for his visits to Mar-a-Lago, of which there have been 30. Trump has also visited his golf courses in Los Angeles, Scotland, Ireland and Doral, Florida, beside the Miami airport, all on the taxpayer dime.

Trump frequently criticized his predecessor, Barack Obama, for playing too much golf, and promised during his campaign that he would be too busy to take any time off. “I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off,” he said at a February 2016 rally.

I think it's safe to say that he's totally missed the mark on that last statement.

TGIF, everyone.