TGIF 4/15/22

I'm doing only good-week reports today. There'll be plenty of time for the bad-week folks another day. 

Let's start with talking mushrooms. Yep - that's what at least some scientists are saying. It seems that electrical signals sent fungi to fungi via underground filaments are similar to language. Here's a bit from the article.

The split gill fungus formed the most complex “sentence structures,” and Professor Adamatzky suggested that the most likely purpose for this electrical dialogue is to keep integrity between the parts of the mycelium. Mycelia makes up more than 90% of the total biomass of fungi, and the filaments can stretch for hundreds of feet, connecting trees, other plants, and other fungi, so keeping the mycelia integrated, Adamatzky said, could be similar to the way wolves howl to keep all members of the pack integrated.

Other scientists are not so sure; it could be a case of 'seek, and ye shall find' exactly what you're seeking. 

Here's something that's never happened before: On Tuesday, Alyssa Nakken became the first female 0n-field coach in the history of major league baseball. She got her chance when the 1st base coach for the San Francisco Giants, Antoan Richardson, was ejected in the third. Here's how she looked at the historic moment.

Everybody can just see that there are a lot of opportunities in baseball. Sometimes I think we always limit ourselves to thinking what we could do. At least that’s my experience. I never thought that I could do something like this because I never saw it. So, I think, sure, it’s certainly important for people to be able to see that this is an opportunity and they can see somebody that kind of looks like them going out there and coaching in the big leagues.

Seek, and ye shall find opportunities you never thought existed.

Sticking with baseball for just a moment longer, today is Jackie Robinson Day in the majors, where every player on every team wears Robinson's number 42 in honor of his breaking the league's color barrier 75 years ago today.

This year’s celebration marks not just the 75th anniversary of Jackie’s debut but also the 25th anniversary of then-Commissioner Bud Selig’s announcement that Robinson’s No. 42 would be retired across MLB. Ten years after that landmark 1997 decision, Griffey requested and received permission to wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, and a few other players took part. And in 2009, the practice of every player, coach and manager wearing No. 42 on April 15 became a new tradition.

Seek, and ye shall find a way to change the game.

Moving on, we've got a nine-year-old fashion designer. Kaia Aragon, a third-grader, designs and sews her own clothes, after being taught to sew by her mom when she was five. You can see her designs via a link in the article; she shares them on her mom's TikTok page. 

Now, as a person who had to finish her junior high sewing project during the summer break, in order to avoid taking an incomplete, I can't even comprehend how Kaia does what she does. My project? A denim skirt, in case you were wondering. Which I'm pretty sure I never wore, but at least I finished the darn thing. In August. Ugh.

And speaking of better late than never, 101-year-old Merrill Pittman Cooper of West Virginia was given an honorary diploma recently.

As a high school student, Cooper attended Storer Normal School, taking several college prep courses. While he planned on attending college, life got in the way and he moved to Philadelphia and never graduated. Four years ago, he visited the campus and spoke of regretting not getting a degree. Family members worked with officials to make magic, and Cooper received his degree in March. 

Good for him, and for all involved in making this happen. 

Sticking with making good things happen, there's a new social media platform - and no, I'm not talking about Truth Social, I'm taking about Supernova. 

It is billed as an ethical alternative to Facebook and Instagram, which have been jointly dogged by accusations of ramping up misinformation and damaging mental health. O’Meara wants to test his belief that a growing slice of the population is craving a life- affirming, glass-half-full outlook instead.

What's different about this site? The company puts 60% of its ad revenue in an 'action fund,' and users get to determine how the money is divvied up among several different "causal areas." The target audience for Supernova? Millennials and Gen Z.

And in the end, the likes you give and get mean money for causes you like. Many things could be worse than that.

Speaking of giving and getting likes, I hope you like this one - a doggy tale, with a very happy ending. Duke, a homeless dog, made friends with US Army troops stations in Kosovo. The dog and the troops bonded, with the dog making them feel less homesick, and them making the dog feel loved. 

A sergeant at the base wanted to get Duke off the streets, and worked with Paws of War, charity that helps soldiers bring dogs home. And then, Duke stopped coming by. The soldiers eventually found him, and it was heartbreaking - he had been shot. After emergency surgery and six months of recovery, he's expected to get here this month.

This was a familiar story to me; a coworker went to Florida to pick up a dog that was shipped here from Afghanistan at the request of her future son-in-law, and a friend of mine adopted the mama dog, who also came over. The bonds these kids we send overseas make with these dogs is really something, and so is the love that brings them back together here. 

I'm not a religious person, but today is Good Friday, after all, and so I'll close with the story of the youngest Catholic bishop in the US: Bishop Joseph Espaillat, the 45-year-old 'rapping bishop' from New York City. And why does he rap? 

There was a talent show at this parish, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, and a couple of the young boys wanted to rap, but you know these secular songs and they had a lot of bad words in them," he told Al. "And I said, 'I bet you money, I could come up with a rap song' ... and they were like, 'Oh no, Father, you can’t rap,' and I was like, 'Watch.' I was like, challenge is on, so I took the challenge."

He says he just uses his talents to speak to his community, the same way Jesus did. Which is probably good advice for many 'religious' people these days, and on  this day.

TGIF, everyone. 

Quick Takes (v63): Git Along, Little Dogies

I have to apologize for feeling so pessimistic about the Texas abortion law. I didn't give the Lone Star State a fair shake.

The law absolves the government from having to do their own dirty work, and instead encourages people to spy on, follow, snoop in the trash for sanitary products, and do who knows what else to identify women who might be trying to obtain an abortion more than six weeks after their last menstrual period, and to identify their 'abettors' - friends, family, doctors, clinics, people who give them a ride, and so on.

One of the many complaints about the law is that it has no exceptions for rape and incest. But today, we have reason to rejoice: Gregg Abbott, the governor of Texas, has promised to eliminate rape in the Lone Star State!

While saying that no woman will be forced to carry a rapist's child, because of course they have six weeks to figure out if they're pregnant, and can act at any point during that time (yes, he said that), he also was adamant about rape in general.

Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets. So, goal no. 1 in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person, will be a victim of rape.

Well, alrighty then - the problem is solved!! Rejoice, women of Texas!

Oh, wait.... crappydoodlefart. In order to arrest someone for rape, and prosecute them, there must be a victim, otherwise how would we know a rape has occurred? So, won't women have to continue to be victimized?

Assuming we have a victim, we can maybe, if we're lucky and you know, rape kits don't get thrown out, or sit around for decades while the statute of limitation runs out, AND if police start believing women, particularly on date rape, spousal rape, clergy rape, father-daughter rape, uncle-niece rape, brother-sister rape, teacher-student rape, boss-employee rape, rape where alcohol is involved, sex-worker rape, all the other kinds of rape the Rs have defined, and my favorite, rape where "she was clearly asking for it because of her fashion choices" - we can get a prosecution.

Assuming they prosecute and find a rapist guilty, we can sentence him appropriately and keep that *one* rapist from committing any more rapes. Unless of course he's a politician, or maybe a good athlete and shouldn't have his life thrown away for, you know, 20 minutes of action behind a dumpster or anything... or he's an otherwise upstanding member of the community, church, school, company, family and made "just this one mistake..." or other such drivel.

Per the article, in 2019, 14,656 rapes were reported in Texas, according to the state's Department of Public Safety. About 2,200 people were arrested for rape that same year. And, earlier this year, there were over 6,100 rape kits sitting on the shelves in Texas, according to US Senate Whip John Cornyn (R-TX), talking about his home state back in February.

Abbott's emphatic declaration that the state's Number 1 goal is to eliminate rape is laughable; so is his cavalier toss-off line that rape victims can have an abortion at any time during the six weeks after they're raped. I'm guessing he thinks they'll just sit around every day, eating bonbons and taking pregnancy tests, and putting a bunch of Uber or Lyft drivers on speed dial? Not working, going to school, trying to find a safe place to sleep in their own home, trying to avoid the clawing hands of a respected elder, and so on. Just hanging out, taking pregnancy tests.

Nah, I was right to feel so pessimistic. I can almost hear him and the rest of the Republicans singing as they left their press conference, can't you?

Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies. It's your misfortune and none of my own...

Wondering on Wednesday 7/21/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

A whole lotta wondering going on, going on. Let's dive in.

Billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos separately launched themselves to the edge of space, or actually to space recently, depending on who you listen to. Not surprisingly there's a lot of chatter about how these guys waste their money on stuff like this, rather than on feeding the hungry, or raising wages, or paying taxes (Bezos), or a whole host of other things we'd spend our money on, if we had it to spare. 

But here's what I wonder: is it worse that billionaires spend a few of their own billions launching themselves dozens of miles high, or that cities and countries spend tens of billions of dollars hosting the Olympics, all the while ignoring the needs of their own residents who may be hungry, homeless, sick, unemployed, or otherwise being underserved by their government?

Take Los Angeles, which is set to host the 2028 Summer Games, at projected cost of $6.9B. Additional money will come from the federal government, and the state has committed to cover any cost overruns in case tickets, merch, sponsorships and the like don't cover all of the costs. 

Is there really nothing better that LA, CA, or the US of A could to with that money, I wonder? And, if that's not enough, Salt Lake City is going to be bidding on an upcoming Winter Games, maybe 2034, they say. How much will we spend there, against what more pressing needs?

Can't we just declare permanent spots for the Winter and Summer games, and stop the nonsense? 

Sticking with the Olympics, remember all the uproar over the American sprinter who broke the rules, and tested positive for pot? She would have missed her individual race, serving a suspension for the banned substance, but then she wasn't chosen by the US team to participate in the relay, either, which would have been held after her suspension was served. Instead, her spot went to a runner who didn't have a positive drug test. I wonder why so many people thought that was wrong?

And, one more for you: Becca Meyers, a deaf and legally blind American gold-medal-winning Paralympian swimmer, has withdrawn because she's not allowed to have her mother, who serves as her Personal Care Assistant (PCA), attend the games due to COVID. In a tweet, Meyers said, in part, 

So, in 2021, why as a disabled person am I still fighting for my rights? I'm speaking up for future generations of Paralympic athletes in hope that they never have to experience the pain I've been through. Enough is enough.

The USOC will have one PCA for all 34 members of our swim team, including nine who are blind. In a country where everyone's going to be masked, making lip-reading impossible. Where's the outrage about that, I wonder? Is that really the best we can do, in 2021?

Speaking of "the best we can do, in 2021," there's this:

Athletes on the Norwegian women's beach handball team are being punished for wearing shorts rather than bikini bottoms during a recent game, with the European Handball Federation leveling fines over "a case of improper clothing."

While the men's uniform includes "shorts that fall no longer than 10 centimeters above their knees" the women "must wear bikini bottoms... with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg." And the width of the bikini at that upward angle toward the top of the leg? The same 10 centimeters, or about four inches, as the maximum distance of the men's shorts from their knees.

The fine amounts to about $175 (US) for each of the ten team members. And they don't care - they're hoping to change the stupid rule. Good for them. And how much longer is this absurd objectification going to continue? That's the wondering here. Enough, already! Respect the women as athletes - or, I guess, put the men in similarly-designed bikini bottoms. What's good for the goose, and all.

Finally, we've got Kevin McCarthy, the alleged leader of the GOP in the House of Representatives. McCarthy went to Bedminster to meet with the real leader of the GOP, Former Guy, to talk about the mid-terms he said. But Trump said they had "much to discuss," which undoubtedly included who should represent the GOP on the House Select Committee on Former Guy's insurrection. Five days later, McCarthy named Rep. Jim Jordan and four others to the Committee. 

In response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejecting Jordan's appointment, and that of Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, McCarthy pulled all his people, saying 

This panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility. Pelosi has broken this institution. 

Pretty sure it "lost all legitimacy and credibility" when you trotted off to kiss that ring in New Jersey, Kev. McCarthy, you'll remember, said this, on the House floor, just days after the insurrection.

Last week's attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un-American, and criminal. Violence is never a legitimate form of protest. The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob riot. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts required immediate action of president Trump to accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term. And the president's immediate action also deserves Congressional action, which is why I think a fact-finding commission and a censure resolution would be prudent.

And today, he stands in front of a microphone and says Pelosi has broken the House? I've gotta wonder, how does he say this stuff with a straight face? As someone I know likes to say, we are so screwed. 

Oh wait - that's me. I like to say that. 

What's on your wondering mind today?

Email of the Week (v6)

Thursday is 'Email of the Week' day, when I plow through a hundred or so emails from the handful of Democratic presidential candidates I'm following to see what's going on.

This was crunch time for many of the candidates, and let me tell you, there were an awful lot of emails were filled with 'Donate' buttons and 'could you just send a little something before midnight/before tomorrow/before it's too late?"  That's what usually happens right before a debate -- and then after the debate, there's the 'I just got off the stage' email, which - you guessed it - also asks for money.

I thought about giving a team email award, to whichever candidate's team asked me for money the most; and I thought about giving this week's recognition to Cory Booker's suspension email, but I just did that for Julian Castro. So,I read through all 95 emails, and finally found something that was more than just a bald-faced ask for cash.

So, without further ado, here's the coveted email of the week, which echoed one of the sound-bite moments from Tuesday's debate.

Thank you for being part of this grassroots movement. I hope I made you proud on the debate stage tonight.

One of the most important issues we talked about was how we’ll beat Donald Trump. There’s a question out there: Can a woman win? Let’s tackle that question head on:

Collectively, the men on the debate stage tonight have lost ten elections. There were only two people on this stage tonight who have won every single election that they've been in — and they were the women.

Since Donald Trump was elected, women candidates have outperformed men candidates in competitive races. And in 2018, we took back the House and state houses across the country, because of women candidates and women voters.

Here's what I know: the real danger that we face as Democrats is picking a candidate who can't pull our party together, or someone who takes big parts of the Democratic constituency for granted. We need a candidate who will excite all parts of the Democratic party, bring everyone in, and give everyone a Democrat to believe in. And I’m ready to do just that.

Hope and courage win elections. That’s how I will make you proud, every single day, as this party’s nominee — and as the first woman president of the United States.

We're building a grassroots movement together - and together, we will win. Can you chip in tonight and help power this campaign forward? 

Thank you for being a part of this.

Elizabeth  

I'm going to add Tom Steyer to the mix, I think - but I'm not budging on Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg - at least, not yet. Maybe the self-funded campaign will bring us some new email panache.

TGIF 10/25/19

It's that time again folks...

Ready... Set... Go!

Bad weeks were had by:

• House Freedom Caucus members, who orgasmically 'stormed' the Secure Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, in the basement of the Capitol. Their breathless assault on a room where depositions are being taken in the House impeachment inquiry in front of both Democrats AND Republicans was laughable - at best - and it was played out for an audience not of their constituents, but for an audience of one. They know that, and we know that - everyone knows that. 
• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who was found to be in contempt by a federal judge (in addition to having been found to be in contempt by millions of Americans) and was fined $100,000. Some say the fine was too low, given her resources, but at least someone in a position to do so took a stand. 
• The DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, after a bunch of federal watchdogs said the decision to stop the whistleblower complaint in Trump's impeachment inquiry from getting to Congress was wrong, and not only that, it "could seriously undermine the critical role whistleblowers play in coming forward to report fraud, waste, abuse and misconduct across the federal government."
• And, let's add Rudy Giuliani to the list this week - not for the usual reasons, such as a wacky TV appearance, assault and battery on sentence structure and logical thought, or any of that. Nah -- this time, it's because the founder of Giuliani Security & Safety, which "offers corporations, individuals, and governments a full platform of security, investigative and crisis management services" managed to butt-dial a reporter and leave a voicemail - for the second time in less than three weeks. 
• Democratic presidential candidates; it seems several Dem money bigwigs are unhappy with the choices they have, and might be trying to get others into the race. 

And now, on to the good week, with a World Series focus. My team is spending the off-season trying to figure out what to do next year, but it's still fun to pay attention to the Fall Classic.

• The Washington Nationals are up two games to none, as I write this, against the Houston Astros. That's probably surprising to most experts, it seems, who tended to pick the Houstonians. Sadly, this is also good news for the Baby Shark song.
• Super gymnast Simone Biles had a flippin' good week, too, as she busted a move before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 2.
• And women had at least a bit of a good week. Astros' assistant general manager Brandon Taubman was fired after repeatedly shouting at three female reporters how "(bleeping) glad" he was that the Astros had picked up Roberto Osuna before the playoffs. Osuna was the third player suspended by MLB for violating the league's domestic violence policy.  

Here's to some good baseball, a clean series, and hopefully, a first win for the Nats.

Oh -- one last thing: hey, Freedom Caucus - you KNOW it's a bad week when even Russia is laughing at you.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday (v175)

Right off the bat, I'm wondering where the heck summer colds come from, and I'm wondering why they're so much worse than other colds?
Seriously, I've not been able to string together enough words to make a single sentence in four days.

More importantly, though, I want to do some wondering about the president, and women. Now, I'm not going to go back and relive the 'grab them by the pussy' stuff or the porn stars or the creepy beauty pageant owner stuff, because that's so yesterday's news.

I want to wonder about new news, as it were.  News like this, which I found in a fact sheet issued yesterday on the White House website.

Today, the Trump Administration released a Strategy on Women, Peace and Security, which aims to increase women's meaningful leadership in political and civic life. This Strategy implements the Women, Peace and Security Act signed by President Trump in 2017.

Another thing the fact sheet tells us?

The United States will promote the protection of women and support humanitarian assistance efforts that address women's economic security, safety, and dignity. The United States will work with partner countries to remove barriers, laws and regulations that impede women's access to justice and participation in the peace and security process.

So, I wonder, if we are supporting "humanitarian assistance efforts that address women's economic security, safety and dignity," why have we

• gutted funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), including not only their core family planning activities, but also specific services UNFPA is providing in humanitarian crises in Syria, Iraq and Yemen? And yes, we did that - on International Women's Day in 2018.
• expanded the Mexico City Policy to include "nearly all bilateral global health assistance" including maternal and child health, the WASH program (household-level water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, HIV under PEPFAR, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and global health security, and certain types of research activities?
• dramatically slashed "life-saving financial assistance" in areas of humanitarian crisis around the world?  Trump's 2018 budget, for example, included unprecedented cuts to international humanitarian funding for food, shelter, global health, maternal/child health and international peacekeeping measures, and while funding was restored by Congress, the 2019 budget came back with more cuts for refugees, disaster assistance, food aid, global health programs and more?

How can pretend we are concerned about women's "security, safety and dignity" if we are actively trying to strip away Temporary Protected Status  for folks who were allowed to come to the US from 10 countries, among them El Salvador, Haiti, and Guatemala, to avoid "disease, violence, starvation, the aftermath of natural disasters, and other life-threatening conditions" - including women with American-born children?

And more importantly still, I wonder how it is that we can not just once ($12B), but twice (another $16B), come up with billions of dollars in welfare aid to farmers, in response to a completely manufactured crisis - one caused directly by the president - but we can't figure out a way to finance a fund to take care of 9/11 first responders?

Or, how is it that we can make the United States Postal Service pre-fund decades of benefits - the only agency required to do this, by the way - but we can't figure out a way to finance a fund to take care of 9/11 first responders?

This piece has the long and winding history of getting the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act passed. Zadroga was a NYPD officer and the first whose death was attributed to his exposure to toxins at Ground Zero. The bill only included a little over $4B, and passed despite the best efforts of Republicans who thought it was "too expensive." Funding had been extended only through the end of next year, which is atrocious.

If you didn't see Jon Stewart's testimony yesterday before a congressional subcommittee, you missed a gut-wrenching 10 minutes. It's worth watching, or watching again if you've already seen it.

And it seems that Stewart and the first responders who also went to Washington to plead their case may have made a difference, according to the NY Post.

The bill that permanently authorizes the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund passed out of the House Judiciary Committee unanimously Wednesday...  At the full committee markup Wednesday, a handful of lawmakers were absent, but (Chairman Jerry) Nadler dismissed calls to make the committee vote a roll call vote. 

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), will likely need to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office before it can get a full vote in the House, but it is expected to pass, as the legislation has 313 bipartisan co-sponsors.

Kudos to Stewart, but boy, it's hard to imagine that this needed a hard sell that generated tons of  negative media coverage for Congress as a whole.

I mean, if we can't get this right, who are we?

Wondering on Wednesday (v163)

Taking a look at the president's State of the Union - let the wondering begin.

Here's what he said, according to the written transcript, to open his speech (there were some ad libs throughout the night):

As we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for all Americans. Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as TWO PARTIES but as ONE NATION.  The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican Agenda or a Democrat Agenda. It is the Agenda of the American People.

He also noted

There is a new opportunity in American politics, if only we have the courage to seize it. Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our COUNTRY.

And, there was this

But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution - and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good. Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future.

The decision is ours to make. We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress of pointless destruction...

Members of Congress: the State of our Union is Strong.

Let's look at what he put on the table to entice people to join him.

OrangeVerse XXXVI: Midterms (1)

The president had himself a little press conference Wednesday. It was 90 minutes or so o pure joy, or pure hell, or something purely in between. It's going to take a while to get through it, so bear with me. 

Here's an example; seems like an easy question: What's your message to suburban women voters? 

Well, Ex-cuse Me!

Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.

A fantastic man who was down

on the polls And everybody was

talking about this person that

was so great. 

And I went up there and

I did a rally and

 they have now a 

great governor - you're

going to have a great governor 

in Ohio for hopefully

a long period of time. 

But for four years. And

Mike DeWine is a fantastic person.

Um, the question was, "What's your message to suburban women voters?"  

Why Did I Do It?

And I went up there for two reasons:

because I felt that his

opposition was not a good person - 

and we know a lot about him - 

and I felt that Mike

was a fantastic person.

And he won.

And not only 

did he win

he won easily.

What. Is. Your. Message. To. Suburban. Women. Voters?

I'm Not Opposed to Addition

So add that

to Florida, and add that

to Georgia and add that

to all of the other races

we won - outside even of the

Senate races which were the

biggest of all. Because

these were races

that - and Mike Pence

can tell you, and 

some folks over here can tell you - 

there were races that 

were going to be unopposed.

We were not going to oppose

certain of the people running - 

certain Senators. 

They said they couldn't 

be beaten. They said Heidi

couldn't be beaten. 

"Please don't do it."

Please don't do it. 

Wondering on Wednesday (v153)

I wondering, right off the bat, how anyone could have been unmoved by the president's press conference today, in which he mocked Republicans who didn't win their races, took credit for 'resigning' Jeff Flake, attacked the press, refused to answer questions he was asked, answered questions he wasn't asked, pretended that he was concerned about the environment, suggested that he would work in a bipartisan fashion with Nancy Pelosi, threatened to retaliate against any investigations initiated by the House, lied about why he still is not releasing his tax returns, and more. Transcript is here; video is here.

And I'm wondering how many people watched Nancy Pelosi's presser? For her part, she suggested they'd not investigate the president unless there was a reason, offered to work with the Rs, and so on - - what you would expect her to say. She also said she was the best person to be House Speaker.  And it seems she'll keep her leadership role. In addition to Pelosi, who's 78, Steny Hoyer, who's 79, and Jim Clyburn, also 78, want to remain in the top leadership roles. To which I can only sigh.

Pelosi can probably only sigh as well, as there's no question she was kicked out of the news cycle by the forced resignation of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. That saddens me, the Sessions ouster. He managed to hold on for so long. At least he wasn't dragged out of town to be fired, a la Reince Priebus. I wonder if the first thing he's going to do is go to Disneyland?

I'm also wondering about Chris Collins out in Western NY (or, as Brian Williams allegedly said, the northern tier of upstate NY).  You remember Collins, right? Multiple ethics investigations: a federal indictment for insider trading: tried to get off the ballot, couldn't, and yes - he won.  Well, I should say, he's projected to be the winner. He's up by around 2800 votes, so we'll have to see if there'll be a fight from his opponent. If he wins, does he show up to work with his former colleagues? Or does he fake a pulled muscle or something, I wonder?

And then there's the dead brothel owner who was elected to the State Assembly in Nevada. Dennis Hof, who was a Trump-ish candidate, won with around 68% of the vote. You can wonder away on this one all you want.

Here in New York, our Sonofa Gov won re-election handily; polls in the final days of the campaign showed Andrew Cuomo had only a 13% lead over Marc Molinaro, but in the end he won by over 20%. Three other candidates were also in the race, and in total got under 240K votes - but each had enough to keep their party on the ballot for the next four years.  I wonder what it will take for NYers to boldly go towards a different party, the Libertarians or Greens, or even the new one that just popped up on our radar this year, the Serve America Movement?

Not surprisingly, folks have looked at the electoral map for NY, which shows Cuomo won the cities - Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and NYC - plus Tompkins County (home of Ithaca, one of the most liberal cities in the country), Ulster County, and Long Island. Some are calling for  a new system, so that Cuomo wouldn't be the winner because he didn't win a majority of the counties...  For some, the fact that Cuomo has more than 1.3 million votes than Molinaro apparently is not enough - he has to win the geographical victory as well? I have to wonder about that logic.

How to wrap this all up?  Well, let's go with this: it's expected that by the time is all said and done, over 113 million people will have voted in the midterms. That's 49% of all eligibles. The obvious thing we can wonder is, will these folks stay engaged for the duration?  Will we continue to see women including women veterans and women of color, elected, or is this a one-and-done?  Will Dems leverage their victories from Tuesday into something that's sustainable?

We'll be wondering that at least through the 2020 election cycle, which starts now.

Wondering on Wednesday (v147)

Random noodling around tonight; we'll see where it takes us. There's certainly a lot going on out there to wonder about.

Do you wonder, listening to president Trump talk about Hurricane Florence, whether he's actually taking credit for her being the biggest one ever to hit the east coast? You hear him talk about his thinking, and that of other really smart people, and I honestly sense a little bit of pride there.

HAHAHA, Obama - take that!  My storm's way bigger than any of yours. Sad! Haahaha. And my hands too....hahahaha! It's going to be a fantastic disaster!! 

Sticking with the president, raise your hand if you have any idea what the president must have been thinking about when he gave a double fist pump and an angry sneer upon arriving at the 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania.  Personally I think he's terribly unphotogenic, and I think there have to have been more than a few purposefully bad pics of him published since he started his campaign, but here's the thing: you can't be photographed doing a double fist pump as you arrive at a memorial service if you don't do a double fist pump as you arrive at a memorial service. 

I'm wondering, for all you party-registered NY voters, if your phones are ringing off the hook with recommendations for tomorrow's primary, or if it's just me? For example, I had three phone calls from the Communications Workers of America -- my retired husband's union - in 12 minutes. Seriously. And they're calling me, not him, because he's an Independent and can't even vote in the primary for governor. I've had law firms calling to tell me to vote for a specific judicial candidate, and former judges calling for the same race, but a different person.

I've had calls on the Attorney General's race, the governor's race, my state senator - it's a battle royale I tell you.  Anyone willing to hazard a guess on the gubernatorial primary? Will it be the Sonofa Gov, incumbent Andrew Cuomo, or maybe the angry activist, former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon? Or maybe Syracuse's former mayor Stephanie Miner, who's running as the representative of a new party?

Speaking of Nixon and Miner, should one of them overcome massive odds to win the primary, she would become the 16th woman with the chance to become their state's governor. I wonder who would have thunk that? Even more remarkable, according to the Barbara Lee Family Foundation,

There are currently six women governors, and the most we've ever had serving at one time was nine. Over the course of US history, only 39 women have eve served as their state's governor. Compare that to over 2,300 men.

I wonder if this will be the time the tide turns?

And finally, sticking with politics for the close, NY's 24th congressional district is a mess again, with boatloads of out-of-district money flooding in, like always. The incumbent John Katko is running snotty TV and radio ads during the lunch hour and the dinner hour, daily -- and we've got almost two months until the general election? I don't know about you, but I'm wondering of what he's afraid?

Meanwhile, Back in Albany (v16)

Nathaniel Brooks/NY Times photo

Many of us have been focused lately on Washington's spending bill, which added Carl Sagan-esque billions and billions of dollars to the federal deficit, on top of the tax plan Christmas present we got last year - but then we moved quickly on to 'school safety/gun safety/dammit we're taking ALL your guns!' discussions that have been occurring, honestly and not, since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.

Or  we've been focused on how Congressional Democrats miraculously lost their entire chain of thought on solving the DACA problem, given that they can only argue about one thing at a time, and because they have to focus on winning seats in special elections so they could, assuming they win the majority in November, go back to focusing on stuff like DACA, or finding a candidate to take on Trump in 2020, or whatever else they're thinking.

Meanwhile, back in Albany,  New York's Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo and his handful of men in a room managed to hash out and pass a budget deal, before the deadline, leaving everyone time to get home for the holiday.

Among the provisions in the $163B budget:

• requirements related to preventing sexual harassment for the government and private companies;
• a projected $100M annually from opioid manufacturers to help combat addiction;
• tax credits for charitable contributions for public education or health care programs, and an option for an employer tax to replace personal income taxes;
• new spending on education;
• another commission to figure out how much we should pay legislators and other government officials (see prior posts on the pay issue here: v3, v5, v6, v7, v8 - including my solution, which will NEVER come to fruition)
• funding for water quality issues of various types; 
• prohibitions on police claiming consensual sex with people in custody; and
• a number of items that will help fund activities in NYC including some $415M annually from a charge on cabs, Uber, Lyft and other pay services in certain sections of the city.

Here's how the Sonofa Gov described the accomplishment:

This budget is a bold blueprint for progressive action builds on seven years of success and helps New York to continue to lead amid a concerted and sustained assault from Washington on our values and principles.

We put into place the strongest and most comprehensive anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation...(we) will become the first state to implement new measures to shield families from the devastating federal tax law's elimination of full state and local deductibility... protects New York's future with record funding for education, coupled with...reforms that finally ensure transparency and equality in how that funding is distributed... (it) delivers for the most vulnerable among us, including...tenants who have had to live with mold, lead and no heat.. and those who have had to ensure the injustice that is Rikers Island. 

With this budget, we chart a path forward and ever upwards toward a better future for all New Yorkers. 

Excelsior!

The NYS Senate had a slightly different take on things. According to their web page, the Republican-controlled Senate (with help from the Independent Democratic Caucus, which hangs with the Rs), it was all about keeping Cuomo under control.

The New York State Senate has completed passage of the 2018-2019 state budget that achieves key objectives to promote affordability, opportunity, and security for hardworking taxpayers. The final budget maintains fiscal discipline by keeping within the self-imposed two-percent spending cap and closes a $4.5B deficit, while also preventing billions of dollars in new taxes and fees to protect taxpayers and encourage economic growth. 

The Rs are happy, though, with things like staying within the 2% spending cap for the eighth year, with over $52B in total taxpayer savings since the cap was imposed;keeping brownfield, historic and certain other business tax credits from being deferred, and having $700M available under these programs; adding $13M on top of what Cuomo proposed for farm-related initiatives; job training programs,and so on.

It'll likely take some time for all of the dust to settle on this but at least coming out of the gate, the pols seem expectedly happy with the outcome, which allows all sides to claim victory.  The proof will come when we taxpayers start seeing and feeling the impact of the budget, which will take longer.

It is an election year, though -- so we're apt to see the good stuff fast, and the less good stuff, well, less fast.  I'll circle back around on things as they progress.

The Irony Board:What Month Is This, Again?

president Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month

During National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we remain steadfast in our efforts to stop crimes of sexual violence, provide care for victims, enforce the law, prosecute offenders, and raise awareness about the many forms of sexual assault. We must continue our work to eliminate sexual assault from our society and promote safe relationships, homes and communities.

I moved on her, and I failed. I admit it...  I did try and f--- her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look.

Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability. These heinous crimes are committed indiscriminately; in intimate relationships, in public spaces, and in the workplace.

I've got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab the by the p----. You can do anything.

We must respond to sexual assault by identifying and holding perpetrators accountable. Too often, however, the victims of assault remain silent. They may fear retribution from their offender, lack faith in the justice system, or have difficulty confronting the pain associated with the traumatic experience.  My administration is committed to raising awareness about sexual assault and to empowering victims to identify perpetrators so that they can be held accountable. We must make it as easy as possible for those who have suffered from sexual assault to alert the authorities and to speak about the experience with their family and friends.

Jessica Leeds

Kristin Anderson

Cathy Heller

Temple Taggart McDowell

Karena Virginia

Bridget Sullivan

Tasha Dixon

Mindy McGillivray

Rachel Crooks

Natasha Stoynoff

Jennifer Murphy

Jessica Drake

Ninni Laaksonen

Summer Zervos

Cassandra Searles

Karen McDougal

Stormy Daniels

When victims seek help, responses must be carefully tailored to the context in which the sexual assault occurred and the unique needs of each victim. To better assist victims, the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women has developed the Sexual Assault Victim Intervention Services Technical Assistance Center (SAVIS TAC). This new resource will help community officials and organizations appropriately respond to sexual assault by expanding the understanding of the type of support likely to be effective in each unique circumstance. Participants in the SAVIS TAC initiative will use available funds to provide intensive training and resources to service providers.  With these resources, service providers, including rape crisis centers and other sexual assault and domestic violence organizations can build organizational and staff capacity for providing comprehensive sexual assault victim intervention services.

Together, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves to doing our part to help stop sexual violence. We must not be afraid to talk about sexual assault and sexual assault prevention with our loved ones, in our communities, and with those who have experienced these tragedies. We must encourage victims to report sexual assault and law enforcement to hold offenders accountable, and we must support victims and survivors unremittingly. Through a concerted effort to better educate ourselves, empower victims, and punish criminals, our Nation will move closer to ending the grief, fear, and suffering caused by sexual assault. The prevention of sexual violence is everyone’s concern.

The people of this country, in a decisive election, supported president Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process.  The American people knew this and voted for the president, and we feel like we're ready to move forward in that process.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, president of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2018 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. I urge all Americans, families, law enforcement, healthcare providers, community and faith-based organizations, and private organizations to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities.

Well, the funniest is that before a show, I'll go backstage and everyone's getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure everything is good. You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone OK?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everyone OK?' And you see these incredible-looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.

DONALD J. TRUMP

Wondering on Wednesday (v85)

Tonight, on this Wednesday, let's go wandering through a land of wonder.

In North Carolina, we no longer need to wonder the official price of legislative conviction; it's been determined: no college championship games for five years. Facing a looming deadline from the NCAA indicating that plans for college tourneys through 2022 were going to go through without any opportunity for Tar Heel State bids, a compromise that no one was happy with - not the folks who originally voted the law in, and not the the LGBTQ community - was reached, and the NCAA's deadline was met. A study by the AP estimated the economic loss to be at least $3.76B over a dozen years. Whether it was these two carrots, or the outrage of the masses, we may have to keep wondering.

What we don't have to wonder about, though, is the capacity for NC legislators to press on with restrictive legislation.  This bill, for example, would retaliate against athletic conferences that boycott North Carolina universities for the state's anti-LGBTQ 'orientation'. State universities such as North Carolina and NC State would be forced to leave their conferences at the end of their current media contract should any retaliation occur. Because nothing says "we don't tolerate retaliation like retaliation do" or something like that.

And there was this bill, which sought to defy the United States Supreme Court:

Marriages between persons of the same gender are not valid. The General Assembly of the State of North Carolina declares that the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision of the United States Supreme Court of 2015 is null and void in the State of North Carolina... Marriages, whether created by common law, contracted, or performed outside of North Carolina, between individual of the same gender are not valid in North Carolina.

The House Speaker advised the bill would not be heard, recognizing the law of the land supersedes the law of North Carolina. I wonder, how long will this Republican be in a leadership role? Is he the future, or is he just a temporary distraction from the rest of his party?

Let's move on to Texas, a state where there are virtually no laws too ridiculous when it comes to restricting legal abortions, or harassing women who wish to have them, You know, requiring clinics to meet all of the requirements of to have hallways wide enough to allow two hospital beds to pass unobstructed, when there are no hospital beds in clinics? Or the one that would have required fetal remains from miscarriages and abortions to be buried or cremated, which was blocked by a judge.

The good thing to come out of Texas is a bill that aims to punish unregulated 'self-pleasuring' (wink, wink).

The law, introduced last month and forwarded to the committee Tuesday, calls for civil penalty for unregulated masturbatory emissions that are outside of a woman's vagina (or) medical facility. Any man who does so faces a $100 fine because the act is considered an act against an unborn child and failing to preserve the sanctity of life.

The 'Men's Right to Know Act' as the bill is called, is a breath of fresh air - I applaud State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Dem representing residents in Houston, for her creativity and legislative skill in drafting and keeping the bill moving. I wonder how the men on the legislature are taking this? Are they learning anything, or are the just sitting there while the womenfolk have their fun?

You know, like they're doing in Minnesota, where men will be men but they sure don't like being called out by women. Seems there was discussion around a provision a bill that would fine protesters for blocking highways, and the women of the Democrat - Farm - Labor (DFL) party, including women of color, spoke in opposition to the provision; one quoted an emotional letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. that spoke of sometimes having

no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community.

Apparently, while the women were speaking, the men were in another room, playing cards - which did not sit well with Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, who called the wayward members back to the floor, noting

I hate to break up the 100% white male card game in the retiring room, but I think this is an important debate.

She went on to note that she was "really tired of watching women of color, in particular" being ignored by fellow legislators.  There was no wondering how the men felt, including the one who had submitted the offending legislation. He called for an apology; Hortman refused. She was asked the next day for an apology, and refused again, according to reports I've read.  After the bill passed, including the contested provision, there were even more calls for an apology from Hortman. Not only did she refuse, but then the chair of the DFL party called on the Republicans to apologize for their budget proposal.

I wonder, will other women in state legislatures learn from the Texas and Minnesota situations, and take advantage of their opportunities to protest legislatively, or procedurally, to make their voices heard? And will the 'new' Democratic National Committee begin offering support and encouragement for similar positions to be taken by others in the party, or their affiliates?  

I also wonder how long it will take for North Carolina to get some of these uppity women in their legislature?

50 Shades of Disbelief

After a few days of "boys will be boys" and "it was just locker room talk" and "they all talk like that" and "we know he's boastful and a braggart so why would you believe what he said about women, you know it's just talk" and similar reactions to the 2005 audio of Donald Trump talking to Billy Bush about how he treats women, today my Facebook feed is full of references to 50 Shades of Grey as it relates to the Trump situation. I kid you not, I saw it six times this morning as soon as I signed on.

I could belabor the obvious, that the book is fiction and Trump has said we're living in the real world; that the characters in the book existed in the author's imagination and that Trump is an actual person; that the book is about consenting adults (or so I've been told, never read them) and that Trump says he assaults women without their consent, he just moves in, doesn't wait. 

And that, we know, is not fantasy, because he never lies or makes things up. Or so he has told us.

If I were interested in writing them all down, I could probably list close to 50 Shades of Orange, comments that Trump has made about women, towards women, about his own daughter, about women in the media, women on the Apprentice, women on the Celebrity Apprentice, Rosie O'Donnell, women who have been divorced, women who have small breasts, women who keep their husband's name when they get divorced, women who are not bleeding from their eyes but could be bleeding from other places, women who breastfeed, women who are ugly inside and out, how important is to have a young and beautiful piece of ass around, and on and on and on and on. 

Instead, let's do this. Pretend you were one of the women Trump groped between the legs; is it a funny meme now?

Pretend you've got a son in high school or college. And let's say he's all excited to tell you that at a party he forced some kisses on female students who had not consented to being kissed. Do you laugh it off, Dads? Chip off the old block, is he?  And what about you moms out there? Would you be proud of your son? Is that what you how you want him to treat women?

Are you still laughing when he tells you that he went even further than forcing a kiss, that he grabbed her between the legs? Still laughing? Is this the point where you and your son sit on the couch reminiscing about passages in the 50 Shades trilogy where women enjoy being raped, beg to be raped and so on? Maybe thumb through the pages looking for a really good section, maybe something he can try when he goes back to school?

How hard are you laughing when he gets charged with assault? Thrown out? Registered as a sex offender? Are you going to respond like the father of the Stanford kid, the one who lamented his poor son's life being ruined for 20 minutes of action?  Would you give even a passing thought to the victim (because that's what she would be), or would you think back to the book and say, well all women want that, it was right there in the book and it sold 80 million copies?

Or maybe, it's your daughter, your perfect princess, the light of your eyes. How hard, exactly, are you laughing when SHE comes home and tells you that some star athlete or rich kid tossed back a couple of Tic Tacs, forcibly kissed her, and groped her between the legs? Would you pull the books out then, and talk about how it's OK because all women want that?

The answer is no. You're not laughing.  You are a million times more likely to be crying your eyes out, and then heading for the school or the boy's parents or maybe even the local police than you are to be looking for the books to remind yourself that deep down, she really welcomed the behavior.

Because, all fantasies aside, the last thing you would ever want is for your daughter to be on the receiving end of a person who thinks "because he is a star" that it's OK to sexually her. The last thing you would ever want is to read an article about your daughter's sexual assault and see, in the same article, the athletic statistics of the person who assaulted her. Or, how famous her attacker was, how many buildings have his name on them, or how rich the parents are, or any of the rest of it.

Because at that exact moment you find out your child has been assaulted, nothing else matters.

More than two years ago, I posted about comments Republicans have made about rape, all the different ways they describe it to make it seem like it's OK. At that time, I noted that we are not our sexual fantasies, we don't enjoy being raped. 

The same thing is true, obviously, that we don't enjoy being groped, either. And yet, here we are in 2016, using a sexual fantasy meme to justify not what Trump thinks, but what he said he does. I'm dumbfounded.

I'll close with this last piece of mind-boggling dissonance, which I think is the perfect illustration of everything that is wrong with all of this.

Watch this video and see Scottie Nell Hughes, a mom, a Republican, and a Trump defender, ask the other Republicans on the CNN panel to stop using the P-word, the word Donald Trump used to describe the location he likes to grope.

Because her daughter is watching the show.