TGIF 3/5/21

Can you believe it's Friday again, already? 

Let's dive right in with the bad week list, and get that out of the way.

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared his state open - fully, freely, masklessly, crowdedly open - this week, saying that there are vaccines (!!) that will protect his constituents. He did say that people are urged to "continue wearing the mask" but that it was time to have the government stop running their lives. 

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbot also said that "the Biden administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID" into Texas, and that the administration must "IMMEDIATELY end this callous act that exposes Texans and Americans to COVID." That second statement is kind of silly, I think. I mean, if we just urge them to wear a mask, everything's going to be just fine, right? And who says they have COVID anyway? And are they also rapists and murderers and drug dealers, or just virus carriers? 

• Federico Klein, a former Trump campaign worker and later, a "special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs" in the State Department, was arrested for participating in the January 6th insurrection. Klein was seen on police body cam video "jamming a riot shield into doors at the Capitol," and was "heard on video trying to encourage others to clash with police." He's been charged with assault on police officers, interfering with law enforcement, obstruction, and other charges. MAGA, or something.

• Andrew Cuomo, my Sonofa Gov, has had a horrible week. Pick your favorite search ending and search Andrew Cuomo news, and you'll have an idea. 

Voters had a decidedly mixed week, depending on what you read and, heaven forbid, on your own opinions, should you have them - please say you have opinions on this! Take a look:

• Former lynching target Mike Pence had an op-ed about election integrity, which attacks HR1, the House voting rights act. Mostly, he says, it's full of changes making it harder for all kinds of people - the living, breathing kind I'm fond of, and the other kind, too - to engage in political speech. Not only that, but

Every single proposed change in HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair, and unconstitutional advantage in our political system.

• Compare that "one goal only" that Pence talked about to the goal expressed by the Arizona GOP in a virtual appearance before the Supreme Court earlier this week. When asked by Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett about "the interest of the Arizona RNC " in keeping certain disqualification rules on the books, attorney Michael Carvin was disarmingly honest. 

Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to the Democrats. Politics is a zero-sum game. And every extra vote they get through unlawful interpretation (of the Voting Rights Act) hurts us. It's the difference between winning an election 50-49 and losing an election 51-50.

As the linked article notes, "credit the Arizona Republican Party for at least admitting that these bills aren't about ensuring the integrity of Arizona's elections and they certainly aren't about ensuring democracy." 

• There are over 200 bills under consideration in red states that will, at least in the eyes of the opposition, suppress voting rights. That includes changes to Georgia's election laws that will, among other things, make it a misdemeanor  to hand out food and drinks to voters standing in line to vote. That's taking the 'zero sum game' to a whole nother level, don't you think?

I'll have a separate post on HR 1, which was passed by the House without a single Republican vote. There's a ton of stuff in it, some good and some bad - and the chances for it to make it out of the Senate, scathed or unscathed, are less than stellar.

Now, for the good week list.

• In a really cool use of technology, a 300-year-old sealed letter was 'read' after it was virtually opened. The letter, from 1697, was found in a postmaster's trunk. Historians and techies are both excited by the prospects.

• A townhouse development that didn't happen in an Atlanta neighborhood  allowed for something better: a 7-acre free 'food forest" which contains 2500 edible and medicinal plants, in an area where the nearest grocery store is a half-hour bus ride away. The article notes are there are 70 free food forests in the country now.

• Let's end with a good news story about the pandemic, to help wipe out the foolishness from Texas. Dolly Parton, who donated $1M to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to help fund an early trial of the Moderna vaccine, got her first dose of the vaccine this week. And, to encourage others to do the same when it's their turn, she updated one of her classic songs. 

That's it for today - TGIF, everyone.

The Update Desk: The Sonofa Gov on Sexual Harassment

Everyone knows that my Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo, has been accused of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, and of making three accusers very uncomfortable. He issued a couple of apologetic statements the other day: an official one on his website, and a more personal one at the end of his COVID press conference. I've got links to both statements in this week's  Wondering on Wednesday, if you haven't seen them yet.

Some people may have forgotten about another sexual harassment case with ties to Cuomo; I addressed them in this Meanwhile Back in Albany entry from December 2017. 

It's everywhere, the insidious scourge of sexual harassment. 

That was the opening sentence. And, it continued by explaining that 'everywhere' included, we were told,  in the administration of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City, Lisa Marie Cater alleges that William (call me Sam) Hoyt, who worked as head of the Empire State Development Corporation, repeatedly made unwanted advances, and further that the harassment was reported to and ignored by Cuomo's office, which is why Cuomo is a named defendant in the suit. The governor's office  denies ignoring the complaints.

It was against that backdrop that the governor found himself on the receiving end of a question from Karen Dewitt, an award-winning, long-time journalist with New York Public Radio, on this issue 

and it's safe to say that it didn't go well for the Sonofa Gov.

Dewitt noted the Hoyt allegations and asked Cuomo what he could do differently, and here's how he responded.

You have it going on in journalism. What are you going to do differently?

OK - sure, that's true, but this is a reporter talking to a governor who is a defendant in a sexual harassment case involving an appointee of the governor. There was some exchange after that comment, including a different reporter pointing out that the question was about state government. That didn't sit well.

No, it's about you and journalism (pointing his finger at the other reporter). And it's about you and journalism (turning to Dewitt and pointing again). And it's about state government. And it's about carpentry and it's about training forces... (Note: that last one may not be accurate, it was hard to understand what he said.)

Again, Dewitt asked if there was something that Cuomo could do differently. Apparently, his only option on that was to lecture Dewitt, using his best professorial intonation, especially at the end of this exchange.

We will have policies in state government, obviously, that affect state government, but I think you miss the point. When you "it's state government" you do a disservice to women, with all due respect, even though you're a woman.

Um... what the hell is that?

It went on like that, with him trying to change the subject, deflecting the questions about him, and talking about some bigger, "this has nothing to do with me" issue. At one point, Cuomo lectured the reporters on the need for them to see the bigger picture. In the emphasis I've added below, you can hear his voice, if you're at all familiar with how he speaks.

It's not government. It's society. It was Harvey Weinstein in the arts industry. It's comedians. It's politicians. It's chefs, right? It's systemic. It's societal. It's not one person in one area. It's not just Charlie Rose, right? It's not just Matt Lauer. It's not just journalists. It's societal.

Finally, slowing down the pace of his answer to something slower than a school closing chyron, he finished his lecture.

Understand. The. Breadth. Of. The. Problem

Which, frankly, is exactly what Dewitt and the other reporters were hoping Cuomo would do, specifically as it relates to him, not as it relates to anyone else. 

Importantly, the lawsuit against Cuomo and the SECD was dismissed in 2018, with the judge giving several reasons for doing so, including that there were no allegations that Cuomo knew about or participated in the harassment. The case against Hoyt was dismissed in 2019. 

Still, several questions remain, including a big one: Does Andrew Cuomo Understand. The. Breadth. Of. The. Problem? 

Quick Takes (v58): Why is This So Hard?

I often chuckle at how the concept of 'unity' is being interpreted by politicians, and how it seems the only thing that unites them these days is their dismay that 'everyone else' isn't going along with their definition of the word. 

On the right hand, the Rs seem to think unity means doing whatever they want, even though they're now the minority in both the House and the Senate, and they lost the White House.

On the left hand, the progressive Ds seem to think it means doing whatever they want, even though their candidate (not a Dem, you remember) lost to a more moderate choice.

In the middle of it all? People like me. The moderates, the fiscally conservative, socially liberal (FCSL) folks, wondering why the two parties seem hell-bent on getting everything they want, and only everything they want, no matter what. We want them to unite in our best interests, while they seem to only care about 'winning,' whatever that means. 

If macaques can figure out how to negotiate, why can't the humans we send to DC? Seriously. Take a look. 

I would never compare our elected officials to monkeys - someone got in trouble for doing that recently, I think. And I certainly wouldn't compare macaques to people - I'm sure someone would yell at me for that.

I'm just saying, if monkeys can learn to negotiate with people, can't we get our elected representatives to negotiate with each other? Is that too much to ask?

Wondering on Wednesday 3/3/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

So, are you wondering about the agreement between President Biden and moderate Dems in the Senate, the one that'll tighten the income requirements for the next stimulus? Honestly, I think it's a good idea, and I don't care if that puts me in the minority. 

The House bill would give the full $1400 payment to individuals who make up to $75K and married couples making up to $150K, a lesser amount for folks earning between $75K -$100K and couples earning between $150K-$200K, and nothing for folks over those higher thresholds. The new plan for the Senate version is the same as the House, except that individuals earning over $80K and couples over $160K wouldn't get anything.

To me, that's progress - and it bodes well for them taking a closer look at other parts of the bill that seem excessive, or that have a razor-thin tie to COVID. 

Also not really drawing wonder from me? Comments by AOC, of the Squad of progressives in the House. Here's what she said, according to the same article above

I don't understand the political or economic wisdom in allowing Trump to give more people relief checks than a Democratic administration. People went far too long without relief last year - if anything, we should be more generous, not more stingy. It's also an insensitive compromise for the roughly 80% of Americans that live in urban areas, which are known for higher costs of living.

Here's the thing I do wonder about, now that AOC is on record with concerns about being sensitive to people in high cost of living areas. How can she be such a proponent of a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour? If you want to talk about being "insensitive," imagine convincing yourself and countless millions of others that it's acceptable to have the same minimum wage in Mississippi, where the 2021 cost of living is 86.1; Arizona, where it's 97; and in New York, where it's 139.1?

Sticking with sensitive people, the poor people at Fox are beside themselves with the insensitivity of Dr. Seuss Enterprises in deciding to stop publishing six books. Here's a chart from the Media Matters gang showing the absurd imbalance in the network's coverage yesterday of three topics: Seuss, COVID vaccines, and testimony about the insurrection on January 6th. 

Now, we know exactly why they're doing this - it's to get our attention away from things that are, you know, actually important - including the ongoing pandemic and anything that might put the network and their conspiracy theories in a bad light - which is exactly what FBI Director  Christopher Wray did.

We have not to date seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th," he said. "That doesn't mean we're not looking, and we'll continue to look, but at the moment we have not seen that.

Wray also noted that there was no evidence that there were "fake Trump supporters" in the mob that stormed the Capitol, as Johnson and others have insinuated.

Now, back to the folks at Dr. Seuss Enterprises; the reason they're choosing to stop publishing the books is because they "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong."  

In And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, for example, a character described as Chinese has two lines for eyes, carries chopsticks and a bowl of rice, and wears traditional Japanese-style shoes. In If I Ran the Zoo, two men said to be from Africa are shown shirtless, shoeless and wearing grass skirts as they carry an exotic animal. Outside of his books, the author's personal legacy has come into question, too — Seuss wrote an entire minstrel show in high school and performed as the main character in full blackface."

Oh - in case you're wondering, it's not "cancel culture" when a company, after a couple of years of review and reconciliation, decides to do something like this. It would be cancel culture if I were a million times more famous than I am, and I called on my millions of followers to, say, stop shopping at Macy's, like Dear Leader did.

Finally tonight, here's the official statement from my Sonofa Gov's website on the recent allegations that he sexually harassed three women, and here is the statement he gave in person today at his COVID press conference.  The second one - the live version, if you will - started out this way:

Now, the lawyers say I shouldn’t say anything when you have a pending review, until that review is over. I understand that; I’m a lawyer too. But I want New Yorkers to hear from me directly on this.

I'm wondering if Gov. Cuomo talked with his daughters about how they would feel if someone his age talked to or acted towards them the way it's alleged he spoke or acted.

If he didn't, I hope he does.

What are you wondering about tonight?

Sidebar: It's My Party (or not)

A Poll Watch entry last week touched on how people feel about the two major political parties (we're not happy with them), GOP loyalty to Trump (it's high, and almost a necessity for potential candidates), and on chances we'll see a new party emerge from the carnage of the last election (62% of us are that disappointed with our current party). 

And, my TGIF post included these notes on CPAC 2021.

... the former president will be speaking to his minions on Sunday. Given his post-presidency comments, there's some speculation that he'll be announcing his next insurrection run for the White House in 2024. According to the oddsmakers in Vegas,

...Trump is more likely than not to declare himself for the Republican nomination...during his CPAC speech... As of Friday morning, the odds were 4 to 5, suggesting a 55.6% implied probability that Trump declares during his speech.

And will he do that as a Republican, or as a Patriot Party member? Well, there's only a 4-to-1 chance that he'll do it as anything other than a died-in-the-wool RINO. 

Ye, I called him a RINO. He's not an ideological Republican - he's an opportunist. His ideology is whatever the most outrageous person in the room thinks, coupled with how he thinks any kind of action will help his image and his personal bottom line. Similarly, I don't consider him a patriot. But I digress. Trump made a few pronouncements at CPAC, but before we get to that, a little history. 

According to this Politico article from January 13th - smack dab in between the insurrection and the inauguration - only 40% of Rs and R-leaning independents said they'd vote for him if he ran in 2024. That's a significant drop from the 53% who said he'd be their guy in November's version of the same survey.

In mid-February, the same question was asked by the same pollsters. Trump was back up to 53%, with Mike Pence (12%), Nikki Haley and Donny Jr. (6% each); 'would not vote' (5%); and Mitt Romney and Ted Cruz bringing up the rear (4% each).

So, what happened at CPAC? Here are the results of the 2024 nominee straw polls. One included Trump; he won with underwhelming support, taking only 55% of the votes. Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis finished second with 21% and South Dakota Gov. Kristi 'Let's put Trump on Mount Rushmore' Noem was a distant third, with 4%.

When Trump is out of the picture, DeSantis gets 43%, and Noem claws her way to 11%. After that? Donny Jr. (8%), and Mike Pompeo and Cruz (7% each). I don't know about you, but if I were polling worse than the son of the president, I'd wonder if there's a need to invest the time or money making a run. 

One thing to keep in mind? The CPAC straw poll isn't very reliable. This Vox article includes a tweet from Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News. Take a look.

Perhaps they should call it CPAC's Grasping at Straws Poll? 

Now, did Trump announce a run? Not quite; here's what he said.

... But who knows? Who knows, I may even decide to beat them for a third time, OK?

And there was this.

With your help, we will take back the House. We will win the Senate. And then a Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be? I wonder who that will be. Who, who will that be? I wonder.

One thing that's certain? CPAC attendees are the Trumpers of the GOP. They hang on his every word, fawn over his golden statue, and bask in all things 45. As noted in this NY Times article,

The party’s viability in the future, these people suggested — some as they proudly displayed their well-worn Trump 2020 T-shirts — was entirely contingent upon its members’ willingness to remain fixed in the past.

Sunday School 2/28/21: Extra Credit

In yesterday's Sunday School, I gave you excerpts from five of the seven senators who were in the classrooms. There was nothing surprising in any of those interviews, and I suspect the other two - Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) - were equally unsurprising. You can check out their interviews on Fox News Sunday. 

Today, I want to focus on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chat with Chuck Todd on MTP. President Biden and Trudeau had a virtual meeting last week, in which Trudeau spoke highly of the state of things in the world, according to this article in The Guardian. 

Among other things, he said that "US leadership has been sorely missed over the past years," and added, "And I have to say a we were preparing the joint rollout of the communique on this, it's nice when the Americans are not pulling out all the references to climate change and instead adding them in." 

Chuck asked Trudeau about the 'leadership vacuum' he alluded to, and the PM said the issues the two countries are facing are things that "we naturally have to work together on," and he sees there being an active engagement between our two countries - and he's happy to see us re-engaging.

I think certainly there were things that were more challenging under the previous administration in terms of moving the dial in the right direction on the international stage. But, at the same time, you know, we all have democracies that go in different directions from time to time. And the, the sweep of the work that we need to do together as, as allied nations in the G7 and elsewhere, continues to be really important.

Chuck wanted specifics on global policy initiatives that Biden can help move forward. Trudeau pointed to COVID, saying the Biden approach is more in line with the Canadian approach - science, and protecting the people "as the best way to protect the economy," and supporting people as we move through it. Other things he mentioned? the US rejoining COVAX, rejoining the fight to address climate change, and on "the tremendous economic opportunities" linked to clean energy and clean jobs, and how those will help the middle class "and those working hard to join it."

Trudeau was asked about what's behind the low number of Canadians being vaccinated, compared to our equally unimpressive numbers.

Obviously, it's not going as fast as, as everyone would want. We all want this pandemic to be over yesterday and to vaccinate everyone as quickly as possible. But we're confident that in the coming weeks, hundreds of thousands of vaccines every week, millions into the coming months. We are going to have everyone vaccinated probably by the end of the summer. And that is something that we're, we’re very positive and excited about.

He also said they have contracts with multiple vaccine makers, with three now approved in Canada (Pfizer, Moderna, and now Astra-Zeneca) and hopes to approve more of them in the coming weeks. In the meantime, he said, they must "just keep hanging on" like everyone else is doing. 

Where we've got a slightly less warm and fuzzy relationship is on the Keystone XL pipeline, which was shut down by Executive Order on January 21st. Chuck asked Trudeau to make the environmentalist case for the pipeline, to help those of us who are against it. He said we probably haven't noticed how much Canada has done in fighting climate change, even as they recognize that "the world still relies on fossil fuels right now." But it's about balance, and transforming the energy mix to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible. So, while he KXL decision was disappointing, there's a lot than can be done.

So, Chuck asked, does this mean it's now a done, and done dead, deal? Trudeau said they're more interested in making sure we're moving forward "in ways that are good for both of our countries."

I think there's so much we can do together that I don't spend too much time worrying about the tension points. It'll always come up in our relationship, but we'll work through them, particularly given the alignment on so many things that we're able to bring with this new administration.

Two last questions, the first of which was about Trudeau's reaction to seeing the Capitol riot back in January. 

Dismay. A reminder of the fact that democracy is something we need to keep working at. A reminder that none of us are immune from polarization and anger and frustration. Certainly, there is -- there was a real sense that we all need to be careful about what we say and how we, how we lead as a way of trying to bring people together and unify people. But that was a, that was a scene that Canadians watched with consternation and horror and, and real concern.

As did I, and almost everyone I know. I say almost everyone, because some people have made no comments at all about it - and I'd hate to assume that they were fine with it, as were a very limited few to admit that. I don't want to project that on anyone. 

And the final question: What's the metric for reopening the border? 

 I think there's an awful lot of different metrics we need to look at on, on border and on keeping Canadians safe from Covid-19. Obviously, case counts, presence of variants, hospitalizations -- all these things factor into the expert analysis. Our public health experts telling us what the right measures are and how concerned we have to be about, about variants. Obviously as vaccinations increase, we’re all hoping for good news and to get through this. But we'll continue to engage with the, with the White House and with the administration on the best times to start releasing border measures. But, for now, we all need to keep safe, and that means keeping them in place.

I can't wait for them to be safely relaxed - it'll mean both countries are in a better place with the pandemic, and with vaccines, - and it'll mean that we can make trips across the border for photography and other adventures. 

Masks up - and I'll see you around campus.

Sunday School 2/28/21

Seven senators made classroom visits today; with the House passing the stimulus package, and Dem plans to use reconciliation to get the minimum wage through the Senate being shot down, attention will turn to them, so that's where I'm focusing, too. 

Here are highlights of a few of them, starting with Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who spoke with George on This Week. Hirono was first.

• She's supportive of anything that will work to get the minimum wage increased, noting that it's mostly essential workers who are earning the $7.25 hourly wage, which she called "poverty level."
• The appropriate response to sexual harassment allegations against my Sonofa Gov is to listen to the people who come forward, "and then to do the appropriate investigation and corroboration of the allegations." The NY AG "would be the independent entity to conduct such an investigation."
• The Biden administration is showing leadership on anti-Asian hate crimes, having issued an executive memorandum requiring the new AG "to work with state and county officials and community groups to prevent and prosecute these kind of hate crimes."

Next? Sen. Portman, who voted to pass the Trump tax cuts and repeal Obamacare via reconciliation, but says trying to do COVID relief that way "would poison the well of bipartisanship." 

• He thinks what Biden should do is "...to start off with more bipartisan measures, so that we don’t poison the well, so that we can continue to work together. And in this case, it would be very easy to get Republican support for a COVID relief package."
• He poo-pooed the idea that Republican voters are in favor of the bill -"if, you know, checks are coming out to people's homes, that's going to be popular, but that doesn't mean that this is the right bill." He gave a list of things in the bill he says are not related to COVID.
• Working together "is not difficult. We can work together on this one and then continue to work together on infrastructure and retirement security and supply chain issues with China and so on. So my hope is that they'll change their mind before this over." 
• He doesn't think Biden has gone far enough on Saudi sanctions vis a vis MBS and Jamal Khashoggi, "although you have to give him credit" for increasing sanctions and travel bans on the people directly responsible for murdering Khashoggi - but he thinks there needs to be something directly targeting MBS. 
• He says former president Trump is "very popular" with the Rs, but policies are more popular - in fact, "there are a number of things we can talk about from a policy perspective that I think will help to move the party forward. And that's where we ought to focus."

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was in the Meet the Press classroom; here are highlights.

• Brown's statement about not waiting for Rs to grow spines but having the Dems show Americans they don't have to "settle for a government that's set up to fail" was not defiant, but prescriptive. 
• He always wants to be bipartisan - he's a Dem in conservative Ohio, after all - and says the COVID bill is a bipartisan plan, will broad support, and "Just because Senate Republicans don't support it doesn't make it partisan." 
• He says " -- it's become a Trump party. It's not a party of reason. It's a party that has turned its back." He referenced Sen. Mitch McConnell doing nothing about COVID relief for months, the Rs failing to raise the minimum wage, and more. 
• He says they'll find a way to solve the problem somehow, noting "The corporate elite, the far-right elite in Washington have blocked it year after year after year after year, and we're going to make it happen."'
• We're not done yet on Saudi Arabia, he says, saying "We need to hold any foreign authoritarian, like the royal family, some of the members of the royal family, we need hold them accountable."

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Chris Coons (D-DE) talked with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union. Here are excerpts, with Cassidy up first. 

• He said the Rs "have got to win in two years, we have got to win in four years. If we do that, we will do that by speaking to those issues that are important to the American people." That's more than "putting one person on a pedestal and making that one person our focal point."
• He also said that "CPAC is not the entirety of the Republican Party... we lost the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency. No president -- that has not happened in a single four years under a president since Herbert Hoover. "In order to win, they have to listen to all voters, not just the Trump fans. "That is a reality that we have to confront."
• He doesn't think Trump will be the nominee in 2024, and whether or not Trump is fit (Cassidy didn't answer), he said, "The point is, I don't think he is going to be our nominee..."
• He has "no clue" how the COVID bill will come out of the Senate, and that the Rs haven't been involved. He "started laughing" listening to press secretary Jen Psaki saying the Rs have been listened to, saying "that is such a joke."
• Bipartisanship isn't dead, though; he's working with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) on a privacy issue, and, "Republicans remain willing and are working on issues that require bipartisan cooperation. We have done five on a COVID relief package in the past. It could have happened here. They made a conscious decision not to include us."

And, here're excerpts from the interview with Sen. Coons, a close friend of President Biden.

• He hasn't seen the details of Sen. Ron Wyden's Plan B proposal to tax companies that don't pay $15/hour. More importantly, "And if I'm someone who is always willing to negotiate with Republicans, I'm willing to negotiate with Democrats as well." Everyone - Ds and Rs alike - agree the minimum wage is too low, they just need to find a way to agree on a number and a path. 
• As do most Dems, he pointed to polling overwhelming support (76% of all Americans, and 60% of Republicans), so they should listen to the voters. And he's glad to hear Cassidy is still willing to work across the aisle, noting they've done that together in the past.
• He also said ..."Biden and the Democrats in Congress gave several weeks for there to be a serious negotiation that came close to the scope and range of this challenge. The proposals that came forward weren't anything like" what we're up against. "And so, frankly, we're moving ahead with a bill that probably will get no Republican votes in the Senate, but will have broad Republican support in the country."
• He said the Dems shouldn't "throw up the white flag and say, well, there's no way that we can work with Republicans, when this is literally the first major piece of legislation to come through. We will have other chances to pass bold legislation in this Congress, in this year, but we have to give bipartisanship a chance."

Dr. Anthony Fauci made four classroom appearances today (This Week, MTP, FTN and CNN SOTU), so I'm going to leave you on your own for those interviews.

See you around campus. Follow the COVID guidance, please, or I'll have to excuse you from class and assign additional homework. 

In Case You Missed It (v75)

Miss anything last week? Don't worry - I've got you covered. 

Sunday School brought us interviews with the slimy Rep. Steve Scalise, with too-progressive-for-me Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; she spoke with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Weingarten was talking about getting schools reopened, something her union is being blamed for slowing down, or blocking. She disagreed with that portrayal.

She said 85% of her membership "have said that they would be comfortable being in school," with the right protocols in place. It's happening in different places around the country, and

... I think the issue is, if the NFL could figure out how to do this, in terms of testing and the protocols, if schools are that important, let's do it. And my members want it, they just want to be safe.

She's got a point, you know. Other people who had a point? The Texans who were making classroom rounds. They were the focus of our Sunday School Extra Credit. Houston's Mayor Sylvester Turner, Rep. Michael McCaul, and Fort Worth's Mayor Betsy Price all talked about the failures that happened when the power grid went down and the pipes burst, and how Texas failed to learn a lesson from a decade ago, when winterization was recommended, and ignored. Here's a snippet from the conversation with Price.

I admit I was surprised to learn from Brennan that "the majority of the ERCOT board, the energy grid operator, the people on the board don't even live in the state of Texas." She wondered if they were "in touch at all" with what's happening. Price said she was surprised to learn that, too.

I certainly hope they're in touch, but it doesn't appear that way. And I think that's what surprised more people than anything is that they are not Texans who have not been living here. Most people didn't realize that, including myself. I didn't realize that. And, of course, now you've had the perfect storm, a state-wide storm that's tested our system. And we just have to -- we went through this ten years ago.

And speaking of being out of touch, my Wondering on Wednesday topics included on Biden Cabinet confirmation hearings, mean tweets, and hypocrisy - you know, Republicans. I also noted that Louis (kill)DeJoy, the Postmaster General, was more than slightly full of himself when he testified about the mess he's made at the USPS, and his plans to fix it. He

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

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

Notably, I delivered the WoW post on Thursday, a tip of the hat to (kill)DeJoy, who's been doing the same thing with the mail since he was put in charge.  

I provided some info from a couple of recent public opinion surveys in the first of two posts on Friday. The Poll Watch entry focused on the growing sentiment, especially among the Rs, that their party ain't worth much and doesn't give much of a hoot about them, and maybe it's time to try something different. Here are a couple of highlights from the two polls; the first comes from a Gallup poll.

• 62% say the major parties are doing such a poor job that a third party is needed; only 33% feel the parties do an adequate job. In 2003, when the question was first asked, 56% said the parties were doing an adequate job, with 40% saying a third party was needed. 

And, from a CBS News/YouGov poll?

• 73% of Republicans think it's important (46% saying it's very important) that their guys are loyal to Trump.
• Women (75% total, 49% very important), folks 65 and older (79% total, 59% very important) and those without college degrees (78% total, 52% very important) are the most focused on Trump loyalty.

Also on Friday, I tossed out a few candidates for the good week/bad week lists, but didn't pin a label on any of them, I left that up to you. That said, regular readers would have no trouble figuring out who I'd put where. Here's a snippet from the TGIF post, talking about options the Senate Dems have now that Senate Parliamentarian parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the $15 minimum wage can't be done via the reconciliation process.

If they have any patience, the Dems can wait and see what happens to Plan B, a proposal from Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

As chair of the Finance Committee, I’ve been working on a ‘plan B’ that would make big companies pay for mistreating their workers. My plan would impose a 5 percent penalty on a big corporations’ total payroll if any workers earn less than a certain amount. That penalty would increase over time. 

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that's going to fly any higher than the original proposal. We'll have to wait and see. We'll also have to wait and see about this, too - but not for long. The former president is the headliner for today's CPAC closing day, and

...Trump is more likely than not to declare himself for the Republican nomination...during his CPAC speech... As of Friday morning, the odds were 4 to 5, suggesting a 55.6% implied probability that Trump declares during his speech.

And will he do that as a Republican, or as a Patriot Party member? Well, there's only a 4-to-1 chance that he'll do it as anything other than a died-in-the-wool RINO. 

There you go - last week, in review. See you later for Sunday School. 

TGIF 2/26/21

Ready to pick your good week/bad week winners? Here are a few stories that might help you decide.

The $15/hour minimum wage took a direct hit late yesterday, when the non-partisan Senate parliamentarian determined that the increase does not meet the requirements to be included in the Biden COVID stimulus package under the reconciliation rules. Those rules are being applied to the stimulus package to avoid the need to get 60 senators to approve the bill. 

There are options for the Dems, including dropping the wage increase from the package, redoing the bill, or even trying to override parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough's decision. 

If they have any patience, the Dems can wait and see what happens to Plan B, a proposal from Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

As chair of the Finance Committee, I’ve been working on a ‘plan B’ that would make big companies pay for mistreating their workers. My plan would impose a 5 percent penalty on a big corporations’ total payroll if any workers earn less than a certain amount. That penalty would increase over time. 

The plan also would incentivize small businesses by giving tax credits to help offset the wage increase, and penalize companies that replace employees with contractors who are paid less. This, too, would be up to MacDonough to decide.

And, of course, because it's the Dems, there's another option, one suggested by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Abolish the filibuster. Replace the parliamentarian. What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable. 

And lest you think this is some cockamamie idea, don't - the Rs did it twenty years ago, in another 50-50 divided Senate. We'll see how the Dems handle it, but I'm sure if they try the same thing, the hypocrisy will be flowing deep, and wide.

Speaking of hypocrisy, we learned today that a few House Republicans have submitted requests designating others to vote for them today, saying they're not able to be present in person "due to the ongoing public health emergency." The group includes a number of the usual suspects: Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL), Paul Gosar (AZ), Jim Banks (IN), Madison Cawthorn and Ted Budd (both from NC). 

Sadly, the "ongoing public health emergency" they're referring to is the one happening in Orlando, which goes by the name CPAC 2021. Maybe it's not as catchy as COVID-19, but it's probably as dangerous, given the collective fealty to Donald Trump. And it's way up there on the hypocrisy scale, given that the Rs in the House sued to prevent proxy voting in the first place.

Sticking with CPAC, the former president will be speaking to his minions on Sunday. Given his post-presidency comments, there's some speculation that he'll be announcing his next insurrection run for the White House in 2024. According to the oddsmakers in Vegas,

...Trump is more likely than not to declare himself for the Republican nomination...during his CPAC speech... As of Friday morning, the odds were 4 to 5, suggesting a 55.6% implied probability that Trump declares during his speech.

And will he do that as a Republican, or as a Patriot Party member? Well, there's only a 4-to-1 chance that he'll do it as anything other than a died-in-the-wool RINO. 

Finally, there's Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, Jared Kushner's WhatsApp BFF, commonly referred to as MBS. In a declassified report released today by Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, everyone got to see with their own eyes what's been presumed since October 2018: that MBS approved the operation in which US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered.

So - who's on the good week list, and who's on the bad week list? 

TGIF, everyone!

Poll Watch: It's My Party (or not)

We all know that it took a broad coalition of voters to elect President Joe Biden. As this Global Risk Insights article pointed out, support came from former GOP elected officials, long-time GOP operatives who voted for Trump in 2016, and from progressive Dems (who probably held their noses when voting). 

Now, some of the Rs who voted Biden/Harris in an anti-Trump move may be open to forming a "fiscally conservative but socially liberal" party - FCSL, I'll call it. And we know that  the former president suggested he might just start a new "Patriot Party," a misnomer, for sure. So, what do we think about the idea of new political parties? 

There are a couple of insightful polls on that, starting with a Gallup poll from earlier this month. First, the small print: randomly dialed phone interviews occurred 1/21- 2/2/21, with minimum quotas of 70% cell/30% landline... 906 adults 18 and older, from all 50 states and DC (412 R/leaning R and 420 D/leaning D) participated; the sampling error is +/- 4% overall, and +/- 6% for party-specific responses. 

Here's the BLOT (bottom line on top), excerpted from the article. 

...appetite for a third party has never been greater in Gallup's nearly two decades of polling on the subject...a majority of Republicans are joining the usual majority of independents in wanting that option... The possibility still exists that a pro-Trump or anti-Trump third party will splinter off...

And, some highlights:

• 62% say the major parties are doing such a poor job that a third party is needed; only 33% feel the parties do an adequate job. In 2003, when the question was first asked, 56% said the parties were doing an adequate job, with 40% saying a third party was needed. 
• All age groups believe a third party is needed, with 77% of the 18-34 group and 55% of the 55+ cohort as the extremes. 
• Ideologically, Independents (70%) who don't really have a home with either party lead the way. Equally unsurprising, more Rs (63%) than Ds (46%) feel left out of their party, and the unhappy R population is up 23 points since September.
• Respondents of all ideologies - conservatives (63%), moderates (63%) and liberals (61%) - aren't feeling the love. That's an interesting challenge for Dems, I think.

Notably, the survey was taken before the start of the president Trump's second impeachment trial, and before there was open talk of officials from previous administrations were talking about forming an anti-Trump party. 

Let's turn to a more recent CBS News/YouGov poll. Small print first, though: a nationally representative sample of 2,508 U.S. residents was interviewed 2/5 - 2/8/21; it was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey... the 2020 presidential vote and registration status. The margin of error is +/- 2.3%.

Here's the BLOT for this one, from the article:

...most still broadly value loyalty to Mr. Trump. Many current Republicans say they might even join a new party headed by Mr. Trump if he were to start one. 

First, here's what folks think about their parties:

• Only 37% of Dems think their party represents them most or all the time; 36% say it almost never or never does. It's even worse for the Rs, with 25% feeling represented most or all the time, and 44% saying almost never or never.
• Republican men and women are united in not feeling the love from their party (42% and 46%, respectively), while Dems are more divided along gender lines. 40% of women feel represented, while 39% of men don't think they are.
• Rs without degrees think better of the party than do those with degrees; 32% of the former feel represented most or all the time, compared to 26% of the latter. It's closer for the Ds: 38% without degrees, and 40% with degrees, think the party represents them most or all the time.

And now, to the fun stuff: 

• 73% of Republicans think it's important (46% saying it's very important) that their guys are loyal to Trump.
• Women (75% total, 49% very important), folks 65 and older (79% total, 59% very important) and those without college degrees (78% total, 52% very important) are the most focused on Trump loyalty.

Loyalty to Trump is important, but it's only motivated 15% of all respondents to go with him if he left the GOP; 20% said maybe, and.65% said no. 

• Conservatives (32%), whites without college degrees (21%), whites (18%) and the 65+ cohort (16%) are the most pro-Trump; that's been the case all along.
• Among the 'maybe I'd join him' cohorts, in addition to the ones above, men (23%), 45-64- year-olds (21%), and Hispanics (20%). Males are the fifth of the pro-Trump groups.
• Least likely to join him? Liberals, of course (8% combined yes/maybe), Blacks (15%), and women, whites with college degrees, and the under-30 crowd (all 31%).

Will Trump loyalists have a new home with him? Will there be a home for FCSLs like me, from the moderate part of both major parties? Trump's speaking to his devotees at CPAC on Sunday - maybe he'll make an announcement that'll give us some insight on all of this. 

I'll leave you with some thoughts from conservative columnist George Will, who's talking about the Trumpian wing of the GOP in his last sentence.

An essential conservative insight about everything is that nothing necessarily endures. Care must be taken. The Republican party will wither if the ascendant Lout Caucus is the face it presents to this nation of decent, congenial people. 

Drop a comment with your thoughts about a new party, or about what the parties can do to more represent "this nation of decent, congenial people."

Wondering on Wednesday 2/24/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you wondering about?

Sunday School 2/21/21: Extra Credit

For your Extra Credit, I wanted to spend time with a least some of the Texans who were in the classrooms yesterday.

For starters, Margaret Brennan had Houston's Dem Mayor Sylvester Turner and Fort Worth's GOP Mayor Betsy Price in the Face the Nation classroom. Turner said that President Joe Biden was welcome to visit any time and he wouldn't be a distraction or a burden, and, as far as what his city needs, plumbing supplies, licensed plumbers and water are high on the list.

Brennan asked him why the water utility - which reports up to him - wasn't better prepared for the cold, and his plans for fixing things. He said "the power outages and the water system are all interconnected," and that they brought in extra generators to try and keep the water system afloat, if you will. He thinks maybe as soon as Monday or Tuesday, they'll be good to go.

He noted that when he was a legislator a decade ago, he submitted a bill to require adequate reserves be maintained to prevent blackouts; it didn't even get a hearing. The grid is built for hot summers, not cold winters - and, "climate change is real. It is real, and these major storms can happen at any time." That's why they need reserves, and why they need an open grid, connected to the grid outside Texas.

Turner said the bill needs to go to the state, not the consumers, and he said Houston has a "huge rainy-day fund" and 

...for people in... this city or in other cities, when they're getting these exorbitant electricity bills and they're having to pay for their homes, repair their homes, they should not have to bear the responsibility of paying a thousand dollars a day, or two thousand dollars a day. 

He said they're back on track already with vaccines; some started up this past Saturday, and a big FEMA site will open Monday; that one can handle an added 6000 shots a day for several weeks.  

In addition to our normal supply, I suspect that this coming week we'll probably vaccine more than a hundred thousand people in the city of Houston. The people are resilient. I'm very proud of the people in the city of Houston, how they've come together. 

Moving to Mayor Price, Brennan noted that the Rs have been in charge of Texas, and the energy system, for years and wondered if anything needed to change. Price said local leaders will demand answers from the state - "solid answers and solutions" - because "the citizens are depending on their local leaders to insist that we get answers." 

I admit I was surprised to learn from Brennan that "the majority of the ERCOT board, the energy grid operator, the people on the board don't even live in the state of Texas." She wondered if they were "in touch at all" with what's happening. Price said she was surprised to learn that, too.

I certainly hope they're in touch, but it doesn't appear that way. And I think that's what surprised more people than anything is that they are not Texans who have not been living here. Most people didn't realize that, including myself. I didn't realize that. And, of course, now you've had the perfect storm, a state-wide storm that's tested our system. And we just have to-- we went through this ten years ago.

She said back when Mayor Turner put his solution on the table, "Texas was coming out of an economic downturn and they just didn't want to spend the money to do it." Now - even with COVID - the economy's strong enough and they have to take care of it, Price said.

Price also said while her attention is focused on getting "power, water and food delivered to our citizens," they'll look to partner with the feds, perhaps for grants for folks without insurance who have broken pipes and flooded homes. And, like Turner, she said they'd be starting vaccinations right back up, by Tuesday at the latest.

Finally, GOP Rep. Michael McCaul chatted with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union. Bash asked if what he and others have gone through with this storm isn't really "exhibit A of why some regulation is needed when it comes to protecting people's health and safety." He said it would have been helpful if they could have shared power with other grids, and he referenced the report from 2011 that recommended they winterize operations. Now, they have to look at how to implement those recommendations, "so this never happens again."

McCaul said he hoped that the emergency disaster declaration will help people with their outrageous electric bills, as well as with repairs to their damaged pipes and cleaning up from the water damage.

Bash asked him about the criticism and "some downright anger" at Rs in Texas, including Gov Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, and the "high-profile" Dems - Beto O'Rourke, who ran against Cruz in 2018, and AOC, all the way from Queens - "organizing phone banks, distributing supplies, raising millions of dollars for Texans in need." McCaul thought it was great that the two "are crossing party lines," and said the Rs "need to be helping as well." And that's the way it should be. As to folks taking heat?

Look, when a crisis hits my state, I'm there. I'm not going to go on some vacation. I know Mr. Cruz called it a mistake, and he's owned up to that. But I think that was a big mistake. And, as for me, I was on the ground trying to help my people out and my constituents. And that's what we should be doing in a time of crisis, just like we did during the hurricane season as well.

He appreciates the irony of Texas, "probably the energy capital of the world," literally powerless against a winter storm.

Houston, and Texas in general, we have more energy in this state than any other state in the United States, and arguably more than any in the world, and yet here we are without energy. How does that make sense? And we can blame it on wind and solar, but that's about 25 percent of the grid; 75 percent is natural gas and coal. They were all frozen in their operations. So, this winterization idea that I talked about that was set forth in the 2011 report is something that I believe we need to strongly move forward and make the investment that they failed to do in the past.

It's also ironic that it's likely going to take federal dollars to fix the grid they built to not have to deal with the federal government, isn't it?

See you around campus.