TGIF 2/23/24

Let's get right to the good week / bad week lists, shall we?

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a 55-year-old guy running for president as a Democrat, thinks Sen. Amy Klobuchar (also D-MN) shouldn't be running for re-election in November. It's not because of her age (63), it's that this is her 18th year as a senator, and if she wins re-election, she'll serve at least 24 years.

Turn it over to other Americans who wish to serve the public. We're precluding other generations of Americans from participating, and what do they do? They kind of give up. And that's what's happening all around our country right now.

He's not wrong - I mean, if folks never leave, what chance do we have for new people, new outlooks, and new ideas to come forward?  I'm all for term limits, I really am. And if Phillips wants to make a point, he'd call out these House colleagues who have declared for re-election: James Clyburn, 83, first elected in 1992; Nancy Pelosi, 83, first elected in 1987; Steny Hoyer, 84, first elected in 1981; Eleanor Holmes Norton, 86, first elected in 1991; Bill Pascrell, 87, first elected in 1996; Hal Rogers, 85, first elected 1981; and Maxine Waters, 85, first elected in 1990. 

I'm giving voters in Wisconsin a shout-out: the Republicans in the state opted not to fight the latest redistricting maps, not out of the goodness of their heart, but because they were afraid if they took the maps to court, they'd end up looking even more fair for voters than they did in the redrawing. And now, a bipartisan ethics group has referred former president Trump's Save America PAC and a host of Republicans for prosecution for their role in trying to skirt campaign finance laws in the 2020 election.

 

There's a measles outbreak in Florida, which is really sad, especially since there's a highly effective vaccine that's been available since 1968; it's so effective the disease was declared eliminated from the US in 2000.  The outbreak is only a few cases now, but time will tell how long that'll be the case, thanks to the state's Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo. Per the Miami Herald, Ladapo sent a letter to parents acknowledging the common practice -- keeping unvaccinated kids home from school - but  

Ladapo, then, however, wrote that, “due to the high immunity rate in the community,” the Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

It's too hard, I guess, to follow the science.

Remember the My Pillow Guy, and his "Prove Mike Wrong" contest, offering to pay $5M to anyone who could prove he didn't find evidence of election fraud? Yeah, a guy named Robert Zeidman proved it and asked for the $5M. Feet were dragged, arbitration ensued, and a judge ordered the payment, plus interest from last April be paid within 30 days. 

Beyonce has her first #1 single on the Billboard Country chart, the first Black woman with that achievement in the history of the chart. And some folks don't seem happy about it.

Sure, if a Black woman either native to country music or coming up through the country music ranks would have achieved a similar goal, it would speak to the opening up of the genre to women of color. But that’s not what’s happened here at all. Instead, Beyonce is leveraging her global superstar status earned in the pop and R&B/hip-hop world, the enthusiasm of her Stan army the Beyhive, and the coercion of country music’s institutions to ensconce herself atop the genre.

On the other hand, people are line dancing all over the place to the song - including the Savannah Bananas - does that mean this whole thing is a wash?

Who made your lists this week?

Let's Fight This - TOGETHER!

A Special Message from

the Twice-Impeached 

45th President of the 

United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then they said other stuff was missing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We Love You. 

And we will fight this together.

Rush your Generous Donation to the

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

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

right away (you can just ignore the highlighted box

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

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

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

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

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

you could win tickets to his next rally. 

And remember to vote against

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

Thank you for your support. 

You're a helluva Patriot.

Guess What: You Live in a Bubble, Too

Like many, I've seen lots of articles and news stories and videos and memes and celebratory posts and agonized posts about the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. 

Many of them suggest that people like me are idiots. We're a bunch of poor, hated, misguided libtard snowflakes blah ditty blah blah blah because we have an opinion that disagrees with the opinion of the people who are "right" about the trial. 

 

According to the folks I'm referring to, I live in a leftist bubble, and I'm incapable of forming an opinion; all my thoughts are being spoon-fed from the mainstream media. This message is for them.

You may not agree, but you live in a bubble, too. 

The news media that you follow, the pundits and talking heads you pay attention to, the memes you read, the posts you share, say that Kyle Rittenhouse didn't do anything wrong, and that anyone who's outside your bubble simply hasn't been paying attention. 

They say that he was only defending himself, and that he had every right to be there, and that him wandering around with a gun fortunately long enough to keep him from being charged with a gun crime was fine, and no one should have thought twice about that. They say he used his gun with skill and responsibility.

They say that no one should have been concerned about this baby-faced teenager, in his blue gloves for "helping people" and his gun slung over his shoulder, running around during a riot that started as a protest because people were angry because a black man, once again, was shot by police, who were found to have done so righteously, once again.

They say that the fact that he was "appreciated" by the police, for helping, or for whatever it is they thought he was doing, means that whatever it was he was doing is OK. They say that a good guy with a gun is as good as the police, because the police can't be everywhere at the same time. They suggest that you can be Kyle Rittenhouse, if you want, and that there shouldn't be consequences if that's the choice you make.

They say that he brought the gun to the riot not for self-protection, but to protect businesses, and that his carrying the gun signaled no intent to use it, and that he only killed two people and wounded a third because they 'came at him,' a kid - a child - carrying a rifle in a riot. 

They tell you that it's perfectly OK for a judge to say that the men Rittenhouse shot could not be called victims, because that was prejudicial. They tell you that it's OK to be prejudicial to the victims, but it's not OK to be prejudicial to the defendant, the only person on trial for what happened, the man-child of the hour. 

They tell you that his two dead victims had criminal records, and they therefore deserved what they got. The third, the one who lived, also had trouble with law enforcement, and he deserved what he got, too. Those criminal charges have nothing to do with Kyle Rittenhouse, and nothing to do with the riot, but that doesn't matter, because they were bad men and, honestly, who cares about them anyway?

They tell you that anyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong, biased, drunk on the lies fed to them by the mainstream media. They tell you that anyone who disagrees hasn't been paying attention to the trial, because if they had, how could they reach a different decision? 

They tell you we need more Kyle Rittenhouses. Elected officials suggest that Rittenhouse should be in Congress; one very famous resident of your bubble suggested that we need Rittenhouse in the Oval Office; another said we should have a national holiday called Kyle Rittenhouse Day, celebrating his freedom and what he did. 

They tell you that Kyle Rittenhouse was a hero and that everything he did that night in Kenosha was fine. That he did what needed to be done and that if he hadn't had acted, bad things could have happened. 

You know what? They'd tell you the same thing if Kyle Rittenhouse had killed your son, your daughter, your grandchild, your niece or nephew, your neighbor. They would turn on you, your family, your community, in a heartbeat, if it served their purpose.

I don't hear you talking about that, and I don't hear you talking about this stuff, either: 

What about Kyle Rittenhouse? He's not going to prison. He can run for Congress, or be a nurse, a career he might pursue, or be a cop, something he thought he wanted to be when he was growing up. The world is his oyster, as they say. 

He will be in his own personal hell, though, suffering for who knows how long, as he says he does now, from PTSD. At some point, I hope he realizes that it is his decisions, his actions, that caused his personal hell. And I hope that he gets whatever help he needs, when he needs it.

He won't have the luxury of having a private hell, though, because he's been adopted by the right-wing bubble, by the Former Guy's lawyers, the stolen-election crowd, by the lunatics, by the pundits, and they will use him, as they've been doing all along, for as long as it serves their purpose. 

He'll have his memories, the picture of him in his Free as F*** t-shirt, and the posters and the videos and the articles and tapes and the reporting and all the rest of it, to remind him forever of how he was their hero. And I hope he realizes how he was used by a bunch of people who, honestly, don't have half the cojones he has - people who wouldn't even think about making the kind of commitment Rittenhouse made when he went to Kenosha.

I hope all the people who are cheering him today remember him in the future. And I hope people realize that we all lost something with this case. 

TGIF 3/19/21

Here's your random recap of good weeks and bad weeks. Note that all of this isn't from this week, but it's recent stuff. I'll let you figure out who goes where.

One Republican Congressman from Texas voted in favor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and no one was more shocked than the man himself, Rep. Lance Gooden. In a since-deleted tweet, Gooden clarified that he 

accidentally pressed the wrong voting button and realized it too late. I have changed the official record to reflect my opposition to the partisan George Floyd Policing Act.

Sticking with issues about police, a recent USA Today/Ipsos poll shows that only 18% of Americans support "defunding the police," but 43% support re-allocating police funding to social services, proving the point that words matter - especially when you're trying to sell a country on a fairly new - and potentially beneficial - concept.

People have said that the pandemic made everything different. Apparently, that applies to dating preferences, too.

• A new poll from Dating.com revealed that only 15% of the website's members prefer a "Barbie- or Ken-like" body type, while nearly 75% said they're fans of the "dad bod" - a less chiseled figure, if you will. Not only that, but guys who think they have a dad bod are adding #dadbod to their profiles.
• All that preference stuff aside, 38% of members say they've joined a gym to get in shape - but haven't started working out yet, while more than 70% of the site's say they're working out already, with summer just around the corner. 

My brain's getting a workout on that math, I think. And something else entirely is getting a workout with this next item - here's the eye-catching headline:

You'll never wash your pants again if this pioneering US company has its way

That's right - the company, HercLéon, sells underwear with the name Kribi, made from bamboo, eucalyptus, beechwood, and copper, and says it doesn't really need to be washed, just aired out every now and then. 

Whether you're planning on going for an all-day hike, weekend camping trips, or even just going to the gym and then the bar to grab drinks with friends; your Kribi underwear will keep you feeling fresh & smelling good.

I'm reminded of the old, Gee, your hair smells terrific! commercials, and I'm not happy about that. 

A couple of numbers for you, starting with a report from CNN on robocalls. If you think you're getting more of them lately, you're right. February's robocall volume was up 15% from January - over 4.6 billion calls were made, or more than 159 million of the annoying things a day. That's the highest in a year, and we're on track to exceed 51.5 billion robocalls this year. And, in case you were wondering. your car's extended warranty is about to expire, or may already have expired. 

If you're tempted to grab your crystal ball and see if there's a way you can avoid future robocalls, a word of caution. According to the fire department in Delton, WI a homeowner's crystal ball started a fire that caused over $250,000 in damage.

Shortly after 4:00PM on the day of the fire, the owner arrived home, discovered thick smoke throughout the house, and immediately called 911. An investigation determined the fire started on a couch in the living room and the cause of the fire was determined to be from a glass "crystal ball" ornament. The crystal ball had been located on a table near the couch and in direct sunlight. When sunshine came through a large set of windows and through the glass ball, it ignited the couch.

It seems some things should be kept under wraps and out of direct sunlight, including "crystals, mirrors, glass ornaments, and even bottles."

No word on whether that's necessary for your Kribis, but I'd consider it, just in case.

TGIF, everyone.

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.

Quick Takes (v54): How to Steal an Election

The eight justices of the US Supreme Court have been plowing through election-related cases at a fast and furious clip, announcing decisions almost exclusively without comment over the past several weeks. 

All that changed yesterday, and it's frightening what will happen now that Justice Amy Coney Barrett has been sworn in at a socially-distanced ceremony at the White House.

In Democratic National Committee vs. Wisconsin State Legislature, decided yesterday on a 5-3 vote (Justices Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor dissented, with Kagan writing for the three), it seems to people more knowledgeable than me that the Court has started laying the foundation for putting now sixty collective fingers on the side of restricting votes, rather than counting them - and that they've done it blatantly, and shockingly. 

In the lower court, the judges decided that mailed-in ballots could be counted for up to six days after Election Day, provided that they were postmarked before Election Day. The decision, of course, was based on issues caused by the pandemic and by concerns about the US Postal Service's ability to process mail timely. The Supremes disagreed.

Here's an excerpt from Vox, talking about the majority decisions from Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, with a focus on the concept of 'dual sovereignty' - the premise that the SCOTUS should defer to state court decisions on issues of state law, and that the SCOTUS has the final word on issues of federal law. 

If the Supreme Court of the United States had the power to overrule a state supreme court on a question of state law, this entire system of dual sovereignty would break down. It would mean that all state law would ultimately be subservient to the will of nine federal judges... They also sent a loud signal, just eight days before a presidential election, that long-settled rules governing elections may now be unsettled. Republican election lawyers are undoubtedly salivating, and thinking of new attacks on voting rights that they can launch in the next week. (emphasis added)

And from the Washington Post, which began its analysis by pointing out that, according to Wall Street Journal map, it took an average of 10 days for a first-class letter to be delivered in Wisconsin back in September, we learn that Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence included this ridiculous and irrelevant statement.

Voters who, for example, show up to vote at midnight after the polls close on election night do not have a right to demand that the State nonetheless count their votes...Voters who submit their absentee ballots after the State’s deadline similarly do not have a right to demand that the State count their votes.

He further argued

For important reasons most States, including Wisconsin, require absentee ballots to be received by election day, not just mailed by election day. Those States want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election. And those States also want to be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter. States that require absentee ballots to be received by election day still have strong interests in avoiding suspicions of impropriety and announcing final results on or close to election night.”

In the dissent, Kagan hit back on that argument.

Justice Kavanaugh alleges that ‘suspicions of impropriety’ will result if ‘absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election." But there are no results to ‘flip’ until all valid votes are counted. And nothing could be more ‘suspicio[us]’ or ‘improp[er]’ than refusing to tally votes once the clock strikes 12 on election night. To suggest otherwise, especially in these fractious times, is to disserve the electoral process.

And that, of course, was the majority's intent. It's the president's intent, it's the GOP's intent, it's the Republican National Committee's intent, and it's the intent of Republican-controlled legislatures, perhaps especially where the governor is a Dem.

Back to the Vox article, this time to look quickly at the implications of what Justice Neil Gorsuch had to say in his concurring decision. He focused on the Constitution, which says that

the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”

And in his "hyper-literal" interpretation, the word 'legislature' means exactly - and only - the body referred to as the 'state legislature, because the legislature - "not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules.” 

The problem with that?

State supreme courts may lose their power to enforce state constitutions that protect voting rights. State governors may lose their power to veto election laws, which would be a truly astonishing development when you consider that every state needs to draw new legislative maps in 2021...

This is our future: uncounted votes, emasculated state courts, and more. Gerrymandering to rig state legislatures? Check. Other voter suppression tactics, such as restricting hours in urban areas? Check. Closing polling places that are accessible via public transportation? Check. 

We ain't seen nothing yet, folks. 

We ain't seen nothing yet.

Sunday School 10/18/20 Extra Credit

For your Extra Credit, I bring you Margaret Brennan's Face the Nation interviews with current DNC head Tom Perez and former RNC head and former Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Perez was up first; Brennan wondered about the polls, and more importantly whether the Dems had done enough to drive the kind of voter turnout, whether by mail, or early voting, or voting on Election Day.

Perez said he cautions people to "never get on the 'poller-coaster'," and that they're not taking anything for granted - and he pointed to enthusiasm "all over the country." He said Dems turning ballots in, including a whole lotta Dems who didn't vote in the last two elections.  And they're still focusing on the battleground states.

Brennan mentioned polling from Arizona showing 56% of likely voters blame the Dems more than the Rs for not getting a stimulus bill passed, and wondered if holding out for a big bill might backfire on them. Perez had a bit of an issue trying to answer this one, starting out by pointing to the Amy Coney Barrett SCOTUS nomination, and the bill the Dems passed back in May that the Rs ignored, and what not, eventually landing on how the Dems have been fighting and that this is a "health care election." Brennan pointed out that "fighting, talking and doing are two different things," and that the 'not doing' is why people were pointing fingers at the Dems. 

She moved on to a recent court loss, where the Rs won on a ruling that mail-in ballots must be received by 8PM on Election Day in Michigan, and wondered how that might impact things. Again, Perez meandered around, talking about what happened in Wisconsin back in April, and energy, and early voting and what not. But, when Brennan asked, "so, you don't see this as damaging?" here's what he had to say.

Well, I would rather-- I-- I believe democracy works better when everyone can cast their ballot and every ballot is counted. We're in an unprecedented pandemic here, and courts in other states have allowed votes that were postmarked by Election Day to be counted as long as they're received within a short period of time after Election Day. This court did it differently. I disagree categorically with that ruling. But we are moving ahead in Michigan. We're moving ahead everywhere. And again, the pandemic in Michigan-- the pandemic everywhere. This is a crisis. People understand this President has no plan. His closing argument in Michigan is "lock her up." He's fanning the flames of division. He doesn't have a plan for the coronavirus. He doesn't have a plan--for the economy. He's divisive. Joe Biden is bringing us together...People in Michigan remember that it was Joe Biden and Ba-- Barack Obama who saved the auto industry--when Republicans were letting it die.

 And that was that. Let's see how Priebus did during his turn, starting with the first question: is he concerned about the president's chances, as was reported in the Sunday paper?

No, not at all. In fact, I'm not concerned about that at all. I'm-- I'm-- I'm concerned about early vote. I'm concerned about absentee ballot voting, but I'm always worried about early vote and absentee ballot voting. I haven't reemerged. I have always been helpful to the President, helpful to the RNC. But, look, you know, early vote and where we're-- we're at in a pandemic and having five times more people vote in Florida than ever before, these are unprecedented times. The polling is all over the map. This is something that's going to come down to the wire, and I hope and expect the President to win.

About battleground states, he said poling is tough, and talked about the demographics, "working class white voters, suburban women... rural parts of the country" and how the president is winning, and

pushing thirty points ahead in rural America with enthusiasm off the charts. Yes, it's a little bit down in the suburbs. But the hard thing for these pollsters, Margaret, as you bring up, is that they can't measure this kind of disparity between the rural parts of this country and what's happening in the suburbs.

Brennan asked if he thought Trump was going to win Wisconsin, and Priebus seems to think that's the case. He compared Trump winning in 2016 after being down six-and-a-half points on average in the polls, plus the Libertarian Gary Johnson got over 100,000 votes, so it sounded like he thinks so. 

And when Brennan pointed out that Trump's base, the white, non-college-educated voter that turned out in droves for him shrinking, at current polling anyway, Priebus said 

I mean, you know, clearly, I think one of the things that you're going to see over the next couple of weeks is that the President's going to be pivoting, talking about the economy. I think this upcoming debate is going to be really important that the President is that, you know, likable, fun, have a good time. Let Joe Biden speak, and let Joe Biden defend the Obama economy. Let him defend why ISIS was running wild and burning people in cages...

They agreed it's hard to predict what's going to happen, particularly with the pandemic looming large, and that it's hurting the president with voters. In response, Priebus fell back on the go-to talking points, the China travel ban, the task force, the CARES Act, and added

Well, look, I mean, granted, Margaret. Sure, no one likes what's going on in this country. No one likes that their kids are at home and no one likes that a lot of these states are shut down by Democrat governors. That's all true-- but the question is would this person over here, Joe Biden, have done things better or differently?

He also said he thinks Thursday's debate will make a difference for the president. 

"We'll be watching," Brennan said. I'll try again, but how long I last all depends on which ring of the circus we're facing.

See you around the virtual campus. And if you submit your comments to me after the debate on Thursday, you'll really get some extra credit!

TGIF 9/4/20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What else? Oh -- 

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

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

TGIF, everyone.