Sunday School 7/12/20

What's better than spending time in the Sunday School classrooms with the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos?

First up, her interview with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union,which was a head-shaking session to be sure. Bash tried her best to get answers to real questions, and DeVos provided fortune cookie phrases over and over and over. Here are some examples.

On whether DeVos can assure everyone that schools can reopen safely and protect teachers and students from getting the coronavirus. (The emphasis is mine; you'll understand why as we move along.)

Well, the key is that kids have to get back to school. And we know there are going to be hot spots. And those need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. But the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall. They have been missing months of learning. Many of them are going to be so far behind, difficult to catch up. And we know that this is a matter of their health in a multitude of factors or multitude of dimensions. We know that their emotional well- being, their mental well-being. And particularly for kids from low-income and vulnerable populations, this is devastating to be out of school and not learning for months on end.

On having to ask the question again to try and get an answer.

...And, again, there's -- there is no -- nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is -- is dangerous to them. And, in fact, it's -- it's more a matter of their health and well-being that they be back in school. And we have seen this in countries, other countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world, where students have gone back to school and have done so very successfully. That should be the goal.

On there being proof that kids can spread the virus and even the CDC guidelines reflect that

So, it really is a matter of paying attention to good hygiene, following the guidelines around making sure we're washing hands, wearing masks when appropriate, staying apart at a bit of a distance socially, and doing the things that are common sense approaches to ensuring that kids can go back to the classroom and can go back to learning.

(We have a president who can't even commit to wearing a mask but we're gonna have first graders do that?)

On whether she is "compelling schools to reopen regardless of what's happening"

No, what we're saying is that kids need to be back in school, and that school leaders across the country need to be making plans to do just that. There's going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall. And where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school-by-school or a case-by-case basis. And there's a -- there ample opportunity to have kids in school... But the -- the goal needs to be that kids are learning full-time again this fall.

On whether there is a plan from the Department of Education (DoE) to get kids in school, learning, safely

Far too many kids didn't have any kind of a learning experience. Going into the fall, we need to ensure -- education leaders need to ensure that kids are going to be able to be learning full-time, no matter how that looks. If they're in an area with high incidents of virus, then they need to be learning remotely full-time.

On whether the federal government (DoE  and CDC) is on the same page as far as recommendations for reopening

It's very much on the same page. Kids -- kids need to get back to school. They need to get back in the classroom. Families need for kids to get back in the classroom. And it can be done safely. There are guidelines that are very clear and also -- and also -- also very acknowledging that situations are going to be different. But the rule has got to be that kids go to learning full-time.

On how to get this all figured out 

...many schools... have been working hard to put together their plans for moving ahead. And we want to see every school district, every state doing the same thing... to say not what we can't do, but what we're going to do and what we can do. We're -- we're a country of action. We're a country of doers... We have education leaders who can work hard and figure this out.

On what constitutes a good plan

...It's a -- it's a wide variety of approaches to -- but with the expectation that, if you have to move to a remote instruction situation, that you have full-time learning going on for all students at all times ... four days a week, either four days a week online and the fifth day not...or two days a week in person. These are not valid options and choices for families. And it's not full-time instruction."

We want kids to get back to school. We want them to be learning full-time, full-time...not just a part-time, not just an episodic situation. But kids have got to be learning full-time...and have the expectation that the next school year is going to give them at least a school year's worth of learning, if not more because so many of them fell behind.

On how DeVos can't have it both ways - say it's a local decision and at the same time say that schools must reopen and that CDC recommendations need to be followed. 

I am urging all schools to be re -- to open and to be providing their students a full-time education. We all acknowledge that that could and may well look different in a certain area that has a flare-up of the virus. But the -- but the go-to should be that schools are opening and fully functional and operational and giving parents and families the flexibility that's necessary, so if there is a situation where a child is a vulnerable... is a -- has a vulnerable underlying condition, that the parents could have a choice to be able to -- to educate their children...

On whether a school can revert to remote learning if there are virus flareups:

I think the go-to needs to be kids in school, in person, in the classroom, because we know, for most kids, that's the best environment for them... If -- if there's a -- if there is a short-term flare-up for a few days, that's a different situation than planning for an entire school year in anticipation of something that hasn't happened. That's a very different thing... Kids have got to be back in school. They've got to be back in -- in the classroom. And working families have to have their children in school and knowing that they're continuing to advance in their learning.

On the estimated nearly 1.5 million teachers who are high risk due to age or underlying medical conditions and whether they should go in or stay home if they are uncomfortable. being in the classroom

Well, first of all...I feel for a teacher that has a vulnerability or an underlying condition and know that this is...concerning...there are ways for those teachers to be able to continue to do what they do. And every district, every state has the real opportunity to work with and figure out the best scenario for those teachers. Maybe younger teachers are in the classroom, and an older teacher... But it -- again, that's the exception, not the rule. The rule needs to be, schools need to get open. Kids need to go back to school. They need to be learning. Teachers want to be there. They want to be in the classroom with their kids.

On how it helps withholding funding during a pandemic:

There's no -- no desire to take money away. In fact, we want to see schools open and have been committed to ensuring the resources are there to do that...The -- the reality is, we are committed to ensuring all students and all schools have the resources necessarily for kids to be able to continue learning. And where schools don't follow through on that, parents should have the opportunity and the option to find a school that is going to open and is going to serve their children.

Say that last part again?

We are committed to ensuring students are in school and learning. And parents need to have...the flexibility and the resources to be able to take their kids to a school that...If their school refuses to open or doesn't serve their students.

BINGO - there it is. Take the money out of public schools and send it to private schools, religious schools, for-profit schools. That's been her goal all along.

On Fox News Sunday, it was much the same, including many of the same questions and pat answers, so I'll only focus where Chris Wallace pushed on specific issues. 

On what we know about how children spread the virus: 

Well, that is something that is obviously continuing to be looked at and studied, and there's -- again, a lot of data that suggests that kids are not spreaders. But the point is that kids have got to get back to school and we can do that safely. And every community, every school, can look at what their actual physical circumstances are and figure out ways to do this safely. We're doing it in many other areas of life. If we can get back in other areas of life, we certainly need to get back to schools. Kids cannot afford -- to not continue learning. Our nation can't afford to have kids not learning and preparing for the future.  Because it's our future. 

On what authority are Devos and Trump going to unilaterally cut off funding, and whether it makes more sense to increase funding, not cut it:

Look, American investment in education is a promise to students and their families. If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise. 

On the fact that, while DeVos supports vouchers, she has to work through Congress to make that kind of change: 

Well, we're looking at all the options because it's a promise to the American people, to students and their families, and we want to make sure that promise is followed through on.

And speaking of following through on stuff, wear your mask. Keep a safe social distance. Wash your hands. And while you're doing that, try and picture a room full of four, five, and six year olds, or a school hallway full of four-, five- and six-year olds, trying to do all of those things.

And then, call or text or DM a teacher you know, and let them know how much you appreciate what they do. If you don't know a teacher, call your local school district, talk to an administrator, and tell them how much you appreciate what they do. You'll feel better, and so will the person on the other end. 

Just don't tell them Betsy DeVos sent you.

See you around the virtual campus.

Sunday School Extra Credit 7/12/20

I'm still exhausted from the Sunday School two-fer with Betsy DeVos, but I'm suiting up and going back in for this week's Extra Credit.

To balance things out, I'm focusing on other folks who were in the classrooms yesterday who also had something to say about getting kids back into learning mode.

First up? Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS, who was in the This Week classroom with George Stephanopoulos, who asked first if Giroir agreed with the president that the CDC guidelines on reopening schools are too tough and too expensive.

Giroir thinks the guidelines "are really right on target" and that the entire task force worked on them together, all the medical folks and agency folks, and "we feel they're pretty strong." And, as a pediatrician, he said

We have to do this safely but kids not being in school risk their social and emotional health, risk many people with nutrition, the recognition of child abuse, child sexual abuse, it's really important to get kids physically back in school. But we have to do it safely and the first thing we need to do is, we need to get the virus under control. 

As did DeVos, he pointed to other countries, Sweden, Finland and Japan, as places they're looking to find out how to do this safely, and from them we learned that children don't seem to spread the virus.  He also said

the guidelines aren't changing this week. These are more guidelines that are amenable to school districts actually implementing them - the CDC guidelines tend to be a little more academic and long, these are going to be much more concise so people can really follow them and understand them.

He also noted, tangentially to schools reopening, that "we were hopeful that (the virus) would diminish in the summer, but we didn't count on it. And yes, there's a possibility it could be worse in the fall and we are all continuing to increase everything we do.

...we're going to need tens of millions of more tests a month and we're planning for that, because we have a lot of respiratory viruses like flu circulating. Very critical that people get their flu vaccines because we don't want flu circulating with COVID.

So, I'm guessing we might see some flu vaccine requirements for schools that do reopen, and we know that's going to cause yet another uproar.  So much to look forward to, don't you think?

Next up? Chuck Todd's conversation with Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on MTP, who was asked about the CDC guidelines being too strict or too costly.

Carvalho said some of them might be costly, but they're using the guidelines to inform how they develop their reopening plan, in conjunction with state and local health departments. He spoke about social distancing specifically, and how they're looking at using "non-traditional spaces, like cafeterias or media centers or gyms" - in effect, making more classrooms.

Carvalho said some of the money to pay for this coming from the CARES Act, but there's going to be need for more. So far, $15B has been made available, but back during the Great Recession, over $113B "had already been invested nationally to protect K-12 institutions.

So, I think that for the purchase of PPEs, additional disinfection cycles, the electrostatic disinfection of schools, alteration of schedules, may need more bus routes to achieve greater social distancing between the riders, more than likely we will need additional resources earmarked specifically for local governments and school systems.

He talked a bit about his multi-option plan, which "relies on a five-day-a-week schooling experience in-person across all of Miami-Dade" but also offers remote teaching and learning opportunities as well as a hybrid model, with one group of kids in school some days and another group in school on alternate days. But, he said,

One of the elements that we keep looking at is... younger children, perhaps students with disabilities, to a certain extent English language learners, you know, some of those that by virtue of age but also by virtue of the greatest possibility for learning loss since last fall need to re-engage quickly in the best possible way of teaching which is face to face with a caring, professional teacher.

I think everyone agrees with him on that, as long as it can be done safely.

Down the hall to the right, Chris Wallace had Dr. Tom Inglesby of Johns Hopkins, in the Fox News Sunday classroom and the first question was on what Inglesby thought of the presidents push to open schools and his complaint about the guidelines being "too tough, too expensive and too impractical." After saying that it's not "even a matter of debate" that pretty much everyone wants to open schools safely and as soon as possible, he said

I do think there are going to be many challenges to opening schools safely and just kind of asserting that just because they want to open safely doesn't make it so. It's going to be pretty -- pretty difficult for many schools. States around the country have been preparing for this. 

Wallace wondered what we know about the risks of kids getting the virus, and spreading it. Inglesby said "we do know" that kids have a much lower risk than adults, "but not zero," and we have have children die from COVID. It's less clear, he said, "how efficiently kids will spread the virus in school" but he did note

there are examples such as in Israel in the last couple of months, there have been a large -- there was a large outbreak in schools when they reopened. And so, I think there still is uncertainty that we're going to have to live with. We probably won't know all the answers when we started in the fall but we'll have to watch very carefully and react to what we find.

And his thoughts on cutting funding, as the president and DeVos suggest? "Yeah, no."

I think issuing an ultimatum for schools opening is the wrong approach. I think guiding schools and helping schools with financial support and encouraging schools to follow CDC guidance and state health department guidance is the right way to go. I think our incentives are all aligned in the sense that everyone really does want schools to open safely, but mandating it under a very tight timeline such as what happens in Florida this week where they're required to open schools five days a week in 30 days, before the state has really even had a chance to review school plans, seems really like the wrong approach to me.

And, checking in with Margaret Brennan in the Face the Nation classroom, Surgeon General Jerome Adams was also asked about the CDC guidelines and which parts are too tough and too expensive. Adams wants his own school-aged kids back in class, and he noted that the CDC guidelines "talk about best-case scenarios," and gave the example of school lunches. The guidelines say every child should bring their own lunch, but, he said

We know that in some school districts and many school districts, over fifty percent of kids are eating lunch at school and don't have the ability to bring their own lunch. So that's one case where we need to work directly with local school districts and help them figure out, okay, 'if you can't do what is the gold standard, best-case scenario, can you do something that's a compromise to safely reopen?'

He said that's the kind of thing they're talking about with new, "more specific recommendations" that can be looked at by individual school districts. And each district needs their own plan, even though, as Brennan mentioned, lots of people are looking for a national plan.

And finally  we hear from  former FDA head Scott Gottlieb who was asked by Brennan whether we have 'definitive data' that kids don't spread the virus, given DeVos' urging that kids get back in the classroom five days a week.

Well, look, the data isn't definitive, but it's certainly suggestive. And what we've learned from this virus is it has surprised us. It has both- we've both underestimated it and overestimated it at the same time... I think it's important to give discretion to local districts to take steps to try to de-densify schools and protect kids so we don't have outbreaks. Everyone should be working to reopen the schools. It's critical. And when I talked to Republican and Democratic governors, they are, in fact, doing that. But I think districts need discretion to try to put in place measures to keep kids safe.

Gottlieb also said that, other than maybe Sweden, no other countries reopened or kept schools open with so much spread of the virus like we're trying to do here, so "we do face a unique risk." Not only that, but 'less susceptible' doesn't mean 'not susceptible."

And sometimes-- some of the studies show that they (children) can compensate for their decline in susceptibility by their propensity to spread infection, by their behaviors that are more likely to propagate infection.

He mentioned the 2018-2019 flu season, with 11.3 million symptomatic kids and 480 deaths. We haven't seen that with COVID yet, he said, because

 we've largely sheltered the children. And we don't want to see it. We've got to take measures to make sure it doesn't become epidemic in children in the same way that flu becomes epidemic in children because we don't know what the impact's going to be on kids. Right now, the kids have been sheltered...

So - while everyone agrees that the goal is to get kids in school as soon and as safely as possible, no one seems to be chomping at the bit to get things opened back up. Everyone seemed open to some kind of hybrid plan, either out of caution or out of necessity. And, notably, no one was talking about implementing school vouchers.

Stay safe.

The Update Desk: Random Thoughts

Earlier this week, I posted some Random Thoughts on how we convolute logic when it comes to who (or what) gets blamed when things go wrong. The solution I proposed was extreme, to say the least, but it seemed to make sense in context..

The driver of the random thoughts was the most recent school shooting, the one at Santa Fe High School in Texas, and the reactions from both sides on a 'solution' to the problem. I realized, as I wandered through my most recent Sunday School post, that generally when we have a choice between blaming people or blaming inanimate objects, our logic is based on how much we like or dislike the inanimate object.

You know, guns don't kill people, people do. Plastic bags don't pollute, people do. In those examples, we like the inanimate object, its usefulness, its convenience, its  je ne sais quoi  - and so we'll blame the people.

In other examples in the post, such as solar panels or 'smart' assistants  and 'smart' appliances, we are more apt to blame the objects than we are to blame the people who use them. I could have included Facebook as another inanimate object we're more than happy to blame, rather than blaming the people who don't understand how (or refuse) to take control of their own privacy settings. Where we are to blame, it seems, we blame the object.

Yesterday, another example reared its ugly head, one that confirms the logic: seat belts on school buses.

As you probably heard, there was a horrible, tragic accident in New Jersey last week involving a school bus and a dump truck; a ten-year-old child and a 51-year-old teacher were killed, and it's simply heartbreaking, as it is anytime anyone loses a child or any family member under such totally random circumstances.

This is not the first tragic school bus accident, and it will likely not be the last - we know that. As the investigation into the recent crash continues, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released some recommendations stemming from their investigation of two previous accidents.

The investigative panel issued the recommendations at a Washington hearing during which staff presented the findings of their probes of two school bus crashes that occurred in 2016, killing 12 and injuring 37. One was in Baltimore and the other in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The NTSB's recommendations certainly won't prevent accidents like the one that happened last week. And we're learning more about the bus driver, as noted below:

The bus driver, Hudy Muldrow, 77, of Paterson, has had his license suspended 14 times since he began driving in 1975, said Mairin Bellack, a (NJ Motor Vehicle) Commission spokeswoman. Muldrow has eight speeding tickets on his record, as well as one careless driving ticket and a summons for unsafe operation of a motor vehicle, from 2003 Bellack said. 

Six license suspensions were due to unpaid parking tickets, including Muldrow's most recent which lasted from December 20, 2017 to January 3, 2018. The state also once suspended his license for administrative reasons, Bellack said.

So, did the NTSB recommend that people who have sketchy driving records over a forty year period not be allowed to drive school buses? That 77-year-olds shouldn't be driving school buses? Nope - instead of addressing their recommendations to the person, they addressed the inanimate object.

• all new school buses in the US should be equipped with lap and shoulder belts
• automatic emergency braking systems should be mandated, to help prevent or mitigate frontal collisions if the driver doesn't apply the brakes.
• NY, FL, LA, and NY should upgrade their requirements to lap and shoulder belts from the current lap belt requirement.

Now, these are just recommendations, meaning that absent legislation at the local, state or federal level, school districts are going to have to decide whether to follow the recommendations when they put new bus proposals up for discussion. And, district voters or school boards will have to decide whether they're willing to pay the extra $10,000 per bus cost, or if they're willing to play the odds.

After all, from 2007 - 2016, only 58 school-age occupants of buses and other 'school transportation vehicles' were killed - so the odds are pretty good that it's not going to happen to anyone from their school, right?

Yeah. Just like another school shooting isn't going to happen.

In Case You Missed It (v38)

This has been a challenging day, as  I've been without my computer for over 12 hours, and not really able to respond to what I was seeing when browsing news and social media sites, and without being able to off you both of our usual Sunday features.

So, Sunday School and any Extra Credit that catches my eye will come tomorrow. But, I can offer you your week in review, in case you missed anything last week.

First up? Sunday School, and Dana Bash's interview with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on CNN' State of the Union. In addition to talking about masks (he trusts the American people to do the right thing, silly man), voting by mail (Florida can do it, because they do it right), and church services (We have a Bill of Rights here, you know), they talked about funding for states to help with pandemic costs and what not. Bash pointed out that red-state Florida receives $25B more in programs than it sends to Washington in taxes, whereas blue-state NY pays $22B more in taxes than it receives in programs.  Here's how Scott talked about that.

Well, first off, the -- the government of New York has never sent a dime while I have been up there in D.C. to the federal government. They don't do it. What happens is, their citizens, while they're working in New York, pay into Social Security and Medicare. And they get sick and tired of all the taxes up there and move to Florida and receive those benefits. That's not the government of New York sending a dime to the federal government. So, that's exactly what's happened. That is -- that has nothing to do reality.

We moved on to a Sunday School Extra Credit entry, which included Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) talking about race, and Papa Joe Biden's "you ain't black" comment and about potentially being Biden's veep. Let's look at the race question, and whether Demings though the comment was out of line.

...look, the vice president went on the show. I'm so glad he did, because these are the conversations that we really need to be having. And one of the things I said in a statement on Friday was that, look, we know we have some serious issues that we're dealing with in this country. And if we're going to be able to address them effectively, then we have got to hold everybody accountable, even those that we do support.

Look, the vice president shouldn't have said it. He apologized for it. But I really think the gall and the nerve of president Trump to try to use this in his campaign, he who has, since day one, done everything within his power, of course supported by his enablers, to divide this country, particularly along racial lines?

And then it was time for some Ranting and Raving about the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and about white privilege. Here's how I ended the post.

If you think it's OK that George Floyd and the others are dead at the hands of the police, you can't think it's OK that I'm still here. 

If you think it's OK that I'm still here, then you can't think it's OK that George Floyd and the others aren't. 

You can't have it both ways: Wish me dead, or be angry that they are. 

Continuing the discussion about race, last week's Wondering on Wednesday brought us examples of black people doing things that white folks like me just 'do' without having people call the police on us, or question our 'right' to do things - work out, ask someone to leash a dog, and so on.  And then, there was a police officer in Louisiana who was fired for making racist comments on Facebook, and the police chief's really low 'higher standard" comments.

He was fired, Aucoin was, for making comments that were "not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook," said Chief Joshua Hardy. And, "the department is moving forward and making sure this will never happen again" and the social media policy has been updated and officers have been notified about that.

But here's something else Chief Hardy said.

We're held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say. You can't just go and post anything you want on social media.

What?  Huh?

We had another Email of the Week, in which I took excerpts from several Dems, including a former president and some of the people who wanted to be the next president, but won't be. My take on all of it?

Every day Trump has the stage alone is a day wasted. Every Sunday with no Dems in the classrooms is an educational opportunity wasted. Every time a talking head is talking about who's going to be Papa Joe's VP, instead of talking about why Trump has to be defeated, is a vote wasted. 

All of them need to become scrappy kids from Scranton, and they have to do it quickly.

I closed the week out on Saturday with a Trump in Transition entry, which was really just four of the president's tweets about protests at the White House. I was disgusted with the joy and anticipation he showed as he salivated on what would happen if protestors breached the fence. And here's how I interpreted what he was saying.

"I watched the protests. I could have been in danger

from the people I was chosen to lead."

"I was saved by virile young men."

"I could have been a virile young man,

but for the bone spurs." 

It was a rough week, for sure, and now you're up to ate with the veritable pastiche. 

See you tomorrow morning for Sunday School, and get ready for what's apt to be another long and difficult week.  

In Case You Missed it (v45)

Got your cuppa? It's time for last week in review.

Here's how I opened my Sunday School post:

What's better than spending time in the Sunday School classrooms with the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos? 

In the draft I listed several things, including eating rare liver with a succotash garnish, but I thought that might turn people off, so I edited that part out. Would that I could have edited out DeVos herself. She's not good at interviews, really - she can only repeat, over and over and over, her talking points - at least until she gets to the voucher stuff - she can probably talk for hours on that. 

Anyway,  in her discussion with Dana Bash on CNN's SOTU, here's how we're going to keep kids from spreading the virus, which even the CDC admits can happen:

So, it really is a matter of paying attention to good hygiene, following the guidelines around making sure we're washing hands, wearing masks when appropriate, staying apart at a bit of a distance socially, and doing the things that are common sense approaches to ensuring that kids can go back to the classroom and can go back to learning.

(We have a president who can't even commit to wearing a mask but we're gonna have first graders do that?)

To counter the DeVos interviews, I offered up some Extra Credit from others - school officials, politicians, and medical experts - on what could or should happen. One of those experts was Dr. Tom Inglesby from Johns Hopkins, who talked with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. Among other things, he shared his thoughts on cutting funding for schools that don't fully reopen as five-days-a-week in-person learning.

Yeah, no.

I think issuing an ultimatum for schools opening is the wrong approach. I think guiding schools and helping schools with financial support and encouraging schools to follow CDC guidance and state health department guidance is the right way to go. I think our incentives are all aligned in the sense that everyone really does want schools to open safely, but mandating it under a very tight timeline such as what happens in Florida this week where they're required to open schools five days a week in 30 days, before the state has really even had a chance to review school plans, seems really like the wrong approach to me.

But what does he know, right?

Tuesday was a blur of unfulfilled good intentions, and then it was time for Wondering on Wednesday. There was quite a mix of stuff in the post, ranging from political primaries to political attacks on the good Dr. Fauci, and  the feds rebooting executions, and finally, we learned that the Rose Bowl Parade has been canceled.

Here's an excerpt from a statement making the announcement.

While the parade itself is more than five months from now, the preparation for such a large event typically begins in February. “In addition to the advance planning required by our band and equestrian units, the construction of our floats takes many months and typically requires thousands of volunteers to gather in ways that aren’t in compliance with safety recommendations and won’t be safe in the coming months,” said David Eads, Executive Director/CEO. “While we are extremely disappointed that we are unable to host the parade, we believe that not doing so will prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as protect the legacy of the Rose Parade for generations to come.”

I had to scratch my head on that one, certainly, given the timing vis a vis all of the back-to-school conversations.

I was inspired to reboot the Email of the Week series, which highlighted Dem presidential candidate emails. It's been a while, but when the president decided to use the Rose Garden for a political rally, full of lies, I felt I didn't have much of a choice.

... the "these newfangled lightbulbs make me look orange" guy suggested that Joe Biden would eliminate windows from buildings if he gets elected. Take a look.

Mandate net-zero carbon emissions for homes, offices, and all new buildings by 2030.  That basically means no windows, no nothing.  It’s very hard to do.  I tell people when they want to go into some of these buildings, “How are your eyes?  Because they won’t be good in five years.  And I hope you don’t mind cold office space in the winter and warm office space in the summer, because your air conditioning is not the same as the good old days.”

OK, so we know that's ridiculous, right? I mean, everyone knows that there will still be windows, and people will be able to see, just as we can see that the president is a particularly unnatural shade of orange whether he's inside under LED, fluorescent or incandescent bulbs, outside in the Rose Garden, or in the White House bunker. He is orange, and he's bound to be lying, of that we can be sure.

When Friday rolled around, there was more than enough stuff for the TGIF post, way more than I could fit. Highlights? A couple of mayors responded to stupidity. One threw policy ideas,  the other simply threw shade. I liked both of the responses, even though the second one wasn't really necessary.

There was also this.

Staying in the south, let's go to Kentucky, where 87 protesters were arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors - and a felony for sitting on the lawn at the Attorney General's house, wearing matching masks and t-shirts, chanting "Breonna Taylor, say her name!" and refusing to leave when asked. According to a police spokesman,  in addition to the misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct,

Due to their refusal to leave the property and their attempts to influence the decision of the Attorney General with their actions, each person was charged with Intimidating a Participant in a Legal Process.

That's right: intimidating a participant (the Attorney General) by trying to influence him into making a decision (about the murder of Breonna Taylor).  What's also in the post are references to two other protests, one about the 2nd Amendment, one about COVID, where no one was charged, with anything - including beating on the windows of the governor's mansion or hanging the governor in effigy.  Apparently those acts are less threatening than a bunch of people sitting on the lawn...

So, that's it - your full and veritable pastiche for last week. I'll be back later with Sunday School.

2018 Year in Review

I wasn't going to do a 'year in review' post this year, but then, I wouldn't be able to use the meme at the end of the post, and that would be a shame.

So - I did it. I took a look back at the top posts from the year, to help me understand what interests you most so that I can make veritable pastiche a more meaningful read. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll pass on certain topics - instead, I think it gives me an opportunity to communicate better, and hopefully write better, too.

Several of the most-visited posts of the year fell under the Wondering on Wednesday theme; here's a sampling:

• v117, which focused on words, how they're used (and by whom) and the First Amendment;
• v119, which included comments about USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar;
• v121, which looked at 'school shootings' and some misleading statistics;
• v125, primarily about the special election in Pennsylvania and what Dems might learn from it;
• v146, which talked about patriotism in the age of Trump and Colin Kaepernick, and threw in a great 'pearly gates' question; and
• v148, which included a NY Congressional race, Mafia references, and the president acting badly (a common theme)

The Sunday School theme also attracted your attention, including this one from the Sunday after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Parkland students were interviewed, as were Rush Limbaugh and Mark Kelly, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband. Another Sunday School post that caught your eye was this post touching on immigration.

There were a couple other popular themes, including Thank Goodness it's Friday, or TGIF.  This post from May would have been a TGIF, except we had another school shooting, which sort of shoved my original post ideas to the side. This edition talks about the government shutdown we were facing back in January, and how Republicans were trying to distances themselves from the president and some new nasty comments he had made.

And finally, we had some fun with presidential poetry, under the OrangeVerse theme. Throughout the year, these posts were pretty consistently popular, although I don't know if it's because you're fans of free verse, or if it's for some other reason.  A series of poetic posts (part 1, part 2 and part 3) arose from Trump's Mar-a-Lago interview with NY Times reporter Michael Schmidt as we entered 2018, and set the tone for what was to come.

As we close out the year, I want to thank you for reading, commenting, subscribing, and for sticking with me in the 4th quarter, where posts were a little less frequent, and (to me at least) some were not up to par.

That was a time of change (and distraction) for me, as I prepared for the next chapter in my life.

This week, I leave a great company - where I started as a temp over 29 years ago - to tackle the retirement 'honey-do list' my already retired husband has been working on for me. Assuming I can clear some things from the list, I'm looking forward to more time for writing, reading, volunteering, and visiting places both red and blue across the US.

Best wishes to you and yours for a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

In Case You Missed it (v78)

Time for a cuppa and a recap of the week that was March 14th - 20th. 

It's rare that we start with something other than Sunday School, but that's what happened on Sunday, the first two-fer of the week. 

I offered up a Noodling Around post on how the people we elect seem to be working their agenda, not our agenda, and how that messes up opportunities for bipartisanship. Here's part of the post that sets the stage for what's coming this week in Part Two.

The folks at Pew Research did a poll last summer, the results of which are shown here, to see what issues registered voters thought were "very important to their vote" in the 2020 election. 

Looking at the chart, I can't help thinking how most of the issues could have been identified by people from both parties, and from the officially unaffiliated middle, which is where you'll find me. And while we don't know why these issues are very important, we know that they are, and that there's a lot of common ground here; nine of the twelve garnered at least 50% mention.

More to come on this one. 

For your Sunday School, I focused on the classroom discussions about my Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo. Jake Tapper, host of 'State of the Union' on CNN, offered some commentary at the end of the show; here's an excerpt.

Tapper had a lot to say, including that Cuomo is entitled to due process. Still, he said,

By now he has to know there is a chasm between how he perceives how he talks to women on his staff and how some of those women perceive it, as in some of them perceive it not only as inappropriate but as pressure to sleep with him...Only he knows what other names and incidents might come forward as he digs in. One wonders if that is even a remote consideration.

The last two sentences are even more important now, given the news we got at the end of the week.

Staying on the Sonofa Gov, Monday was another two-fer. First, I had a Sidebar countering one of the key classroom proclamations: that Cuomo should resign, because that New Yorkers want him to. A Siena College Research Institute poll suggests that the people of NY aren't as keen on him resign as the politicians of NY are.

In a survey of 805 registered New York State voters, 57 percent said they were satisfied with how Mr. Cuomo had addressed the allegations, while 32 percent said they were not. Fifty percent said he should not resign, while 35 percent said he should. Nearly half said they believed he could continue to do his job effectively as governor, with 34 percent saying he could not.

The Sunday School Extra Credit post, on the non-Cuomo stuff, included excerpts from Stacey Abrams and Chuck Todd's conversation about the boatload of anti-voting legislation around the country, including in her home state of Georgia. They also talked about HR 1, the House's 'For the People Act,' that the Senate will take up soon.

She said "the whole of our democracy" needs to be defended and protected, and that 

the Senate has to believe it has the responsibility and the ability to act. And that is why my focus is on making certain that the exemption to the filibuster be the necessary front and center conversation, so we can get something done to protect our democracy.

She doesn't think much of the bills in Georgia, as you'll see in the post. 

Next up? A Poll Watch on that SRCI survey; again, I focused on the non-Cuomo stuff (although I did recap those highlights at well.) Among the findings? 

• Upstaters show higher favorability ratings for both the Assembly (42%) and Senate (44%) than I expected; Independents (35% and 36%, respectively) are less happy with both chambers. 
• Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have extraordinarily high Don't Know/No Opinion ratings (71% and 68% respectively), given they're not new in their roles. That may have to do with them being in Cuomo's shadow, until recently.

Five posts before we hit mid-week? Maybe that's why your Wondering on Wednesday took a different turn - because it surely did. Here's how the post started.

Today, we're playing a fill-in-the-blank version of our wondering game. You're free to complete the answers any way you want. 

1. Someone suggested Meghan Markle might run for president in 2024. I wonder, will this really make Former Guy more likely to _______?
2. I wonder how many people have learned a new skill, such as _________, since the pandemic was declared a year ago this week?

I'll publish my answers to the questions this week. And I'm still open to yours, if you want to share.

Thursday's Meanwhile Back in Albany addressed the struggles and missteps the NYS Assembly's having trying to get an investigation of Cuomo off the ground, and whether it was an impeachment investigation or just an investigation. It's the latter, I guess.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee's investigation "will focus on three different things: the seven women who have accused the governor of assault, the nursing home deaths and the mounting questions about" the Mario Cuomo Bridge project. As one Assembly member said, “He’s got three major buckets of shit going on here,” referring to Cuomo. 

An apt description, I'd say. 

Friday was the third two-fer of the week. First, I dropped Democratic Overreach: HR 1 Edition. As Stacey Abrams pointed out, the voting rights stuff is a big darn deal - but that's not all the House put in HR 1. There's SO MUCH STUFF in the bill, which is at least partly why it passed without a single Republican's support. Here's my take on that.

Are the ethics, oversight, and transparency provisions important? Of course they are, from an overarching, lofty goal perspective. Should we be concerned about political appointees, lobbyists, and foreign influence? Of course we should be. 

But do those have the same immediate impact as do admittedly partisan restrictions and limitations on voting? 

My answer's in the post. 

We closed the week with a TGIF  that meandered around some fun subjects, including this one, about a house fire in Wisconsin.

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."

There's at least one other thing mentioned in the post that should be kept under wraps. You'll know it when you see it, I'm sure. 

That's a wrap on your week in review - I'll see you later for Sunday School. 

In Case You Missed it (v32)

Miss any of last week's posts? Not to worry - here's your week in review.

In our Sunday School classroom visits, I had the opportunity to listen in on Chris Wallace's conversation with Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a bit of a maverick himself, on Fox News Sunday. They talked about the administration's desire to be back and open for business come May. Cuban doesn't seem convinced.

Will it be open 24 hours a day? No. Will we open some doors and take some baby steps? Yes. How will I decide? When the scientists say it's safe for my employees to come back to work, that's when I'll feel confident enough...

Others making the rounds? The FDA's Dr. Steven Hahn and the WHO's Dr. David Nabarro on Meet the Press.

Our Sunday School Extra Credit this week included interviews with three governors on CNN's State of the Union, and Margaret Brennan's interview with the former Trump FDA head, Scott Gottlieb, talking a lot about reopening, which include him saying

he doesn't think "anyone's optimized really right now" to handle a rolling reopening, and he acknowledged the pressure not just on the administration, but on governors as well. Gottlieb expects a "slow reopening" through May, which could include older people staying home longer, under-staffing shifts, limited face to face meetings, and so on - decisions that will likely fall to local politicians and governors.

I don't know about you, but that gave me pause.

When it was time for Wondering on Wednesday, in addition to the good news stuff that's so much fun, I was wondering about the Economic Impact Payment, commonly referred to as the stimulus checks. Among other things, there was this.

Staying on the stimulus, there are multiple memes floating around wondering if #NeverTrumpers like me are going to refuse the stimulus checks because "they're from Trump" - which of course, they're not - as noted above, it's our money. Because that's where the government gets money -- from us. But now I have to wonder, will the Trumpeters keep the check, you know, frame it or something, like businesses do with their first dollar? 

This week's TGIF was focused completely on the thank goodness part, and included my thanks to everyone involved in helping fight the pandemic, including all the regular folks.

 doing their level best to do what we're being

asked to do, to help protect others, and maybe even ourselves, and to anyone I missed.  

And things wrapped up with an emptying of the laundry pile on the Irony Board. There's so much irony out there, related to the pandemic, and how people are reacting to it, and what things are coming to light and lighting fires under people in a way that would never light a fire under them under anything close to normal circumstances. Which led me to think about the lessons in the irony, and what we can take away from it all.  Among the takeaways?

• Irony is everywhere.
• What we don't want today we might need tomorrow, so when we get what we want, we may come to regret it. 
• Our elected officials are human - and imperfect - as are we.
• Many times, the ideas of one party are the ideas of the other party.
• We'd probably be better served if we focused more on the ideas and less on the people.
• 'We' includes me. 

There you have it - last week's veritable pastiche, ready whenever you are. Don't forget, you can subscribe safely, without a mask, by entering your email in the Instant Gratification box on the right sidebar. 

I'll be back later with today's Sunday School. 

In Case You Missed it (v27)

Too busy last week trying to find toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and other supplies, leaving you with little time to read blog posts?  No problem - I've got you covered.

Last week's Sunday School included conversations with some of the administration's Coronavirus Task Force, including HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. Being a doctor and all, I thought maybe he'd be able to provide some helpful information. I think George Stephanopoulos thought so too, but that wasn't what happened. The excerpt below is just one example of Carson either not being able to answer, purposefully ignoring the question he was asked and babbling about something else, or refusing to answer.

Switching gears, George wondered about the plan for the Grand Princess cruise ship (with 3500 people on board and at least 21 who've tested positive).

The cruise ship personnel and -- as you know, the vice president met with the CEOs of the major cruise ship companies yesterday, and they are coming up with a plan within 72 hours of that meeting --

But, George said, "the ship’s docking tomorrow."

The plan will be in place by that time. But I don’t -- I don’t want to preview the plan right now.

Because Sunday School was saved for the administration, our candidate feature was pushed to the Extra Credit post. That Guy from Vermont was all over the place, while Papa Joe was absent from all of the classrooms.  Here's an excerpt from TGFV's conversation with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

On how he and Biden debate without cutting each other up and making it easier for Trump?

Well, Chris, that's the right question... So, Biden and I, no matter who wins this thing, will be together in defeating Trump, but now that it is a two-way race, it is important for the voters of this country to ask themselves two questions. Number one, which candidate is stronger in terms of being able to defeat Trump. And number two, what are the differences in a record.

We'll here more about that in tonight's debate, I'm sure.

Wondering on Wednesday? Why yes, yes I was, thank you very much for asking. One of the things that got me wondering was a crazy statement from someone at the NSC. Take a look.

And I wonder how it is that an NSC spokesman could make the following statement without snickering?

"From day one of the response to the coronavirus, NSC has insisted on the principle of radical transparency,” said the spokesman, John Ullyot. He added that the administration “has cut red tape and set the global standard in protecting the American people under President Trump’s leadership.”  (Emphasis added.)

Need an example of how we have NOT "set the global standard" under the president's leadership? Let's not try and wrap our arms around the entire response to the virus here in the US, let's wonder just about testing, OK?  Because testing, much more than hand-washing, is the key to identifying and dealing with the virus.

Finally, it was TGIF time, and with all of the churn stemming from all of the messages, mixed or straight up, it was nice to see what happened in a country that's been hugely impacted by the coronavirus.

On the plus side? All of Italy was singing today, it seems, or playing instruments and generally coming alive after being under lockdown for the past several days. From Sicily to Siena to Naples to Turin (all videos you can see in the link above), it was like a country-wide flashmob, and an act of beautiful fist-shaking at the virus which has infected over 15,000 and killed over 1,000 of their countrymen.

Also on the plus side? Americans will have lots of time to spend together, now that there aren't any sporting activities to attend or watch on TV. Maybe we'll develop a new-found appreciation for public displays of music...

So, that's last week's veritable pastiche. A bit of a slow week, mostly because I started more posts than I finished. Will try and clear the drafts folder this week.

See you later for Sunday School. Hopefully the guests will all be worthy messengers in the 'radical transparency' mode, no matter what the topic.

In Case You Missed it (v80)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you next week.