TGIF 11/20/20

Wouldn't it be fun to blog like the woman in charge of the GAO tweets?  GSA Administrator Emily Murphy's now-deleted tweet from Wednesday (you can see it here) - the first one she had sent since the election - inspired me to compose the following very important and very confusing sentence.  

Had;j aow4ith pa984ty;;o gnz;dkfn.

Maybe someone good at creating codes could make it mean something - you know, like those tattoos on Jane Doe's body on Blindspot all had some deeper meaning awaiting discovery? 

In addition to that weird tweet, Administrator Murphy has gotten attention from members of the House, some of whom sent this request. They're looking for an "immediate briefing" on Murphy's "ongoing refusal" to give the Biden-Harris team the access - and funds - they're afforded under the President Transition Act. And, they're interested in some recent actions by the president, too. 

We also have questions about last-minute actions taken by the White House related to GSA leading up to the election. On September 2, 2020, president Trump issued an executive order modifying the-longstanding order of succession within GAS to place the General Counsel as fourth-in-line to perform the duties of Administrator after you, your Deputy, and your Chief of Staff. 

And then, less than a week before the election, Trump installed a new GSA General Counsel - imagine that! So, it would seem, there is no limit to the lengths to which he will go to interfere in, well, pretty much anything and everything. 

Speaking of interfering, it seems former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon is again more interesting in his post-White House life than when he was there. This time, the FTC is interested in hearing from him regarding the Cambridge Analytica data breach from a while back. 

The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal court to force former Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon to testify under oath as part of the agency's investigation into Facebook's Cambridge Analytica data breach.

Seems they want to interview Bannon as part of a probe into whether he should be found personally liable for his involvement in the breach, for which Facebook was fined $5B and two of the firm's executives settled with the FTC

And, speaking of "only the best people," there's the president's 40th 4th press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, who's made so many recent campaign appearances and 'personal' appearances on Fox News, I'm sort of shocked that she even remembered where the White House press briefing room is. But she did, and she was in full campaign mode today, seemingly trying to convince people that there wasn't an orderly transition of power in 2016. Which is a bald-faced lie, except that it can't be a lie, because she said she'd never lie. So now, I don't know what to think (OK, seriously - of course I know what to think, and you do too, right?)

Also, on the not knowing what to think front, I wonder why we're not :hearing from the folks who are always complaining about bail reform...I mean, Kyle Rittenhouse, who gave someone money to purchase what was described as an assault-style weapon, then got a ride from his home in Illinois to neighboring Wisconsin, where he used the gun to kill two and injure another man, has been released after posting a $2M cash bond.  Why is he out on bail? Why aren't people outraged by that? 

I'd put Bannon, McEnany, and Murphy on the bad week list, but Rittenhouse, with the help of the millions of dollars raised for his legal defense, definitely had a good week.

Also of note this week:

• Rudy Giuliani, who found the right place to hold his press conference, and then wilted under pressure (bad week);
• the president, who claimed (again) that he won the election, boasting of his 74 million votes; too bad he lost (bad week):
• Dolly Parton, who donated a million bucks to coronavirus efforts, and ended up helping to fund the Moderna/BioNtech vaccine (good week);
• BioNtech, the German company I've heard pronounced four or five different ways in the past several days. They've got a bit of an uphill battle on that front, I think (mixed week);
• SpaceX, and NASA, and especially the four astronauts who very smoothly went from earth to the International Space Station (great week); and
• Staff Sgt. Phillip Gray, who wrote 270 notes for his daughter - one for each day he'd be deployed - which his wife put in his daughter's lunchbox. (GREAT week!)

I hope it's easy for you to tell what kind of week you had.

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday 11/18/20

Ready... Set... Wonder!

What's got me wondering tonight?  I'm glad you asked.

At what point, I wonder, will it just be said that the current crop of Republicans is the biggest, weaseliest bunch of scaredy cats that have ever been elected? 

I mean, I could see there being a handful of them who are weaselly and sneaky, and a handful of them who are scared to death that the mean orange man will turn on them and find people to primary them or worse, tweet about them day and night for the next four years, or even worse, sic their uneducated, deplorable constituents on them (the self-identifying uneducated deplorables, of course) and have them storm their maskless town hall meetings and yell at them that they're weaselly scaredy cats, but to have THIS many of them, all being weaselly scaredy cats at the same time, in unison?  What the actual hell did we do to deserve that, I wonder?

Seriously. I mean, I wonder if any one of them would begin to be able to explain to me why they are allowing what's happening to happen? Or, should I say, why they're allowing what is NOT happening to NOT happen? They're not willing to explain it, to me or anybody else -I'd be willing to bet they aren't even willing to be honest with themselves when they look in the mirror in the morning, but I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong on that. 

But pretend for a second that any one of them would offer up anything other than a "he has a legal right to be a baby," what's the explanation for sitting back and being silent as the orange man refuses to allow his administration to participate with the incoming administration? What possible explanation is there for that?  Is it one of these, I wonder?

• We don't want to upset him by telling him he's a loser?
• We don't want him to think that we're happy he's a loser?
• We need him to help us not be losers when they vote again in Georgia in January?
• We don't know what he will do if we tell him the truth?
• We don't actually give a rat's patootie about the country, we're only interested in staying in office?
• He has the nuclear codes?
• He might try and fire us? (Can he do that? He can't do that, can he?)
• No one wants to go first, but boy, once someone does, we'll all fall in line?
• Is it over? 
• We might be able to convince him, but he's got those two boys, and they're worse than he is?
• Did I say he's unstable and scares the crap out of me?
• I'm plotting my place for 2024 and I don't want to screw it up by angering him?
• It's not treason or anything, what he's doing, and he's already been impeached, so what can we do?
• It's not like we're not going to have a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th, so what's the harm in letting him play his little game of keep-away?

What's the harm, you wonder, you scared little weasel? LOOK AROUND! While you're so hell-bent on allowing the orange man to express his ever-loving loser soul, look at what's happening in the world!

There's still a global pandemic; there's still Brexit, the first crack in the EU; there's still Russia and China and North Korea and the Middle East (no matter how many villages or condos they name after the orange man); there's still all of the same problems that there were on Election Day, and the day after and the day after that. And the incoming administration is NOT getting briefings on any of that from anyone still in the current administration. 

LOOK AROUND! We've got vaccines coming, and somehow they have to make it to all the distant and disparate corners of the globe. by the way, but for us here, the incoming administration is not allowed to engage with the current Task Force or the Operation Warp Speed vaccine team. How can anyone think that's helpful? But, boy, don't you forget (because the orange man won't let you), those vaccines were developed on his watch, so it's all good, right? Never mind that the deaths of over a quarter of a million Americans from COVID-19, those deaths happened on his watch, too. And I can't help wondering, how many more will happen that don't need to, because he can't get out of the way and let the people who need to be talking to each other talk to each other?

Look around... All across the country, states are in the worst shape, pandemic-wise, since the beginning of this whole mess! How're things going in your hometown, Republicans? Everyone working? No hardships? Your hospitals still have plenty of rooms?  Your towns and cities all doing great with all of their COVID-related expenses?  Lucky you, if that's the case, but I'm having a hard time here, wondering whether I should believe a word of what you're telling me. 

LOOK AROUND! Just LOOK at the mess the orange man is making, the frivolous lawsuits, the lies, the lack of evidence, the constant assault on our principles, our processes, our people, including members of YOUR OWN PARTY attacking members of YOUR OWN PARTY! What the heck is wrong with you??

And, I have to wonder why you think doing nothing, including doing nothing about the orange man doing nothing about a transition, is more important than doing something about the state of things for the people in your state, your district, your hometown, and people all over the country who are NOT doing as well as you are, and who are NOT interested in your self-preservation - they're interested in their own survival, the survival of their towns, businesses, families, educational system, and more.

I couldn't care less about your self-preservation either, truth be told. I care a helluva lot more about our country and how we move on from a loser to the next guy, and I care about silly traditions like making it possible for the incoming team to be successful, and for the country to be successful. I don't have to like the person who's leaving, although sometimes I have. I don't have to like the person who's coming in, although sometimes I have. I don't have to like our traditional processes for shifting from one president to the next - but we have to have a process and we DO have a process, and we should be FOLLOWING the process, and YOU should be a part of ensuring that we DO JUST THAT.  He's YOUR guy - you've made that clear over and over and over.

Your job? I don't have to wonder about that at all. YOUR job is to make sure that YOUR guy gets with the program, for the good of the country. If you can't do that, then you don't deserve to be in office. You don't deserve the time of day from me or anyone else. You can get your weaselly scaredy cat fanny the heck out of Washington and go back to where you came from.

And hey -- wear a damn mask!  That you're STILL not doing that, at this stage of the game, is reason enough you should pack your bags and go home.

Sheesh.

Sunday School 11/15/20: Extra Credit

In this week's Sunday School, I focused on the Georgia Senate runoffs. For your Extra Credit, I wanted to spend some time with the experts and the pandemic. 

First up: Dr. Michael Osterholm, from the University of Minnesota, now a member of the Biden COVID Advisory Board. He told Chuck Todd on MTP that, at least for the next three weeks, the numbers are going to continue going way up because there are people "in the pipeline, meaning they're already infected." Still, he said, "our future's in our hands."

Right now, he said, the goal is to try and get through to summer when we'll have the vaccines and that we need to "focus on what's going to make that difference" to allow us to get there. And that's going to take a different approach - a national one, to help the state and local officials.

You see the governors struggling right now. They want help. I have actually talked to five governors in the last two days, all of whom said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all at least be on the same page? But right now, you've got -- my state is surrounded by four other states and they all have different recommendations.” That, by itself, is what we're talking about -- standardizing how we're all going to approach this. This virus doesn't care what party you are. It doesn't care where you live. We have to understand that that's what we have to work on right now.

As to how close we are to the breaking point of our health care system, he said his worst fear is we end up like other countries, 

People literally were dying in the waiting room of emergency rooms after spending ten hours just waiting to be seen. That's going to start happening. The media will start reporting it and we will see the breadth and the depth of this tragedy. That, I hope, will not be the way that we finally decide to reduce our risk, this idea of swapping air. We've got to stop doing that. And so, I think it is the health care system’s breaking, literally breaking, that will unfortunately bring us to a sense of reality of what we must do in the short term.

If we have a few more weeks of our current level of activity, that will happen here, he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci talked with Jake Tapper on CNN's SOTU; he hoped that we would double down on wearing masks, hand washing, social distancing and avoiding crowds, knowing that we've got good news on vaccines but it will take a little time to get them. And, he agreed, it's possible we could see another 200,000 deaths in the next four months.

He also said that additional lockdowns "will likely happen" but not a national lockdown.

...I think what we are going to start seeing in the local levels, be they governors or mayors or people at the local level, will do, as you said, very surgical-type of restrictions, which are the function equivalent of a local lockdown. But we're not going to have a national lockdown. But if things really get bad, and you put your foot on the pedal, and yet still you have the surge, you may need to take the extra step that you're talking about.

Having effective vaccines on the horizon - Pfizer is likely asking the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization, and the Moderna vaccine may be even more effective than Pfizer's - is great, but Fauci pointed out,

...we have to get people to take the vaccine. So, if we get the overwhelming majority of people taking the vaccine, and you have, on the one hand, an effective vaccine, on the other hand, a high degree of uptake of the vaccine, we could start getting things back to relative normal as we get into the second and third quarter of the year, where people can start thinking about doing things that were too dangerous just months ago.

But, he cautioned, just wishing those things were so isn't enough. We have to make it happen, and he emphasized, again, we have to do the "fundamental public health things" to get us where we want to be.  

And, on the lack of cooperation with President-elect Biden's team, Fauci was clear.

... it's very clear that that transition process that we go through, that time period of measured in several weeks to months, is really important in a smooth handing over of the information, as well as -- it's almost like passing a baton in a race -- you don't want to stop and then give it to somebody. You want to just essentially keep going. And that is what transition is. So, it certainly would make things more smoothly if we could do that.

As a public health measure, it's "obvious" that it would be better for the American people if the teams worked together. 

Martha Raddatz had Adm. Brett Giroir of the current administration's Coronavirus Task Force, and Dr. Atul Gawande of the incoming administration's Covid-19 Advisory Board in the classroom at This Week.

Giroir was first, and he too expressed optimism about the Pfizer vaccine, saying it "is a game-changer. It will bring an end game to the pandemic," but also noted cases are up, hospitalizations are up, and mortality is up.

We know what to do, he said: physically distance, wear a mask, and said

We're going to have to do things like limit attendance or close bars, close indoor restaurants, because that's very important. If we do these things, combined with the testing that we have, we can flatten the curve. If we do not do these things, the cases will continue to go up.

He also said "we could have 20 million doses" of the vaccine by the end of this month, and a similar number by the end of December.  

Raddatz asked him about getting people to do things we need to do, and he said "we all have to communicate very clearly that the science is clear, the evidence is overwhelming, whether you want to look at microbiological data or you want to look at epidemiology, city by city, state by state, country by country, that masks do work."

So, across the board, whether these are local mandates, whether these are voluntary, whether these are public service messages, we have to have the American people wear a mask when you can't physically distance. 

Raddatz noted there's one person who's not shouting that message, but Giroir wasn't concerned about that, because Pence and other Cabinet members are engaged. And on the transition, specifically on the head of Operation Warp Speed asking to be allowed to contact the Biden team, the only thing that was missing was the chicken to go with his waffles.

I can say, from my point of view, that the GSA controls the transition process. My team, all the docs that work for us, we want to be extremely transparent. We are extremely transparent with the media, with outside experts, with public health experts, some of which are actually on team Biden advisers.

Asked for a simple yes or no, "is it important to be able to talk to the Biden team at this point?"

Look. I want to be as transparent as possible with everybody. This is not a political issue. This is an issue of public health and saving American lives. And I think there's nothing more important than that. 

So, sorta kinda "yes," but definitely not, "Yes, it's critical and I'm going to press the White House to let us do exactly that."  Got it.

Moving to Dr. Gawande, Raddatz started by asking what he thought of Giroir's comments on the transition. He said he could hear in Giroir's voice that he wants to share the info.

Look, working with the (Biden) transition team, they are...ready to go, and are getting all of the information they can. But it's in the nation's interest that the Transition Team get the threat assessments that the team knows about... understand the vaccine distribution plan, need to know where the stockpiles are, what the status of masks and gloves. There's a lot of information that needs to be transmitted. It can't wait until the last minute. 

On stopping the surge, Gawande says first we need "a clear voice from the top backing the national comprehensive plan. And we've lacked that." We'll have that going forward. Second? Wear a mask. And, about the 'freedom' argument?

What I would say and I want to say to those citizens (who oppose masks) is simply that when a person goes into a store and does not wear a mask, when they go to a public gathering and they're not wearing a mask, they're hurting everyone's freedom. They are putting people in danger. Moreover, they are turning people away from shops and stores and that's hurting jobs. That is the critical mix of things. Opposing masks is like opposing washing hands, it's not political. We can pull together. We can do this.  

She asked him to clarify whether or not there'll be a nationwide lockdown (which Dr. Osterholm mentioned last week). He said they're not supportive of it and there's not a scenario that would make that necessary, "because we can get this under control."

The critical parts are understanding what we've learned since we did a nationwide lockdown in early April. And that is, that you can have targeted measures building on mask-wearing to include widespread testing, to include dialing up and dialing down capacity restrictions, and those measures need to happen on a more localized basis.

He pointed to NY's zip code-by-zip code restrictions, which is "quite effective. We do not need to go to a nationwide shelter-in-place shutdown."

So, when you hear the president say it's definitely going to happen, tell him to put it in his pipe and smoke it. And remind your friends that it was the Trump Administration that put in place the nationwide lockdown that we had earlier this year. If you do that, I'll give you even more extra credit. 

See you around campus - mask on, of course.

Sunday School 11/15/20

There was a lot of talk in the classrooms today about Georgia, and about the pandemic, and of course about the election.  I'll tackle some Georgia stuff today, and the pandemic stuff in tomorrow's Extra Credit. Sound good?

Martha Raddatz had Jon Ossoff, one of the two Dems who will be in the runoff elections for Georgia Senate seats come January, in the This Week classroom.  She mentioned that Joe Biden got 100K more votes than Ossoff did, and asked how he'd make up the gap between now and the primary.

Ossoff admitted there was some drop-off but said it was still the closest Senate race in the country, and said

And that really reflects the power of Black turnout here, the determination of Black voters in Georgia to make a change in this country.

He mentioned how hard-hit that community has been because of COVID, and how important affordable healthcare, civil rights legislation, and criminal justice reform are. 

After four years of division that's been corrosive to our national soul, we're seeing record-breaking turnout in Georgia from voters who are demanding change, who are demanding competent, honest leadership out of this crisis.

In response to her question about his opponent, Sen. David Perdue, getting 90K more votes, he said he wasn't worried. He's focused on "organizing and running the largest voter registration and turnout effort in American history," and taking aim at the folks who'll become eligible voters between now and the runoff on January 5th. He also said

The GOP at the national level has no leader, has no message and has no vision other than stopping Joe Biden. But we are in a crisis; we need leadership; we need to make sure that Joe Biden can govern and this administration is successful.

On the election being about an "aversion to Donald Trump or enthusiasm for Biden, Ossoff said there's a lot of enthusiasm for Papa Joe in Georgia, not to mention that his popular vote margin was the highest since Roosevelt beat Hoover in '32.

And that hope that I was just talking about, that feeling that we have the opportunity now to heal our nation's soul after four years of hatred and fear-mongering and division; to empower medical experts to lead us out of this pandemic; to invest in infrastructure and clean energy and economic recovery; and to enact a broader program, a new Civil Rights Act, establishing healthcare as a human right for all people in this country. This is where we're headed as a country. And Georgians are excited to be part of it.

In Case You Missed It (v62)

Let's dive in to the recap of last week's post, starting with Sunday School and Chuck Todd's interview with Mitt Romney. 

Among other things, Todd talked about the confusing logic with the thinking that only the presidential line on all of those ballots was rigged, but all of the down-ballot races, which saw Republican gains across the country, were not. 

Romney acknowledged the point, noting

I think you make an important point, which is a lot of Republicans, a lot of voters, voted for Republicans but did not vote for the president. And that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country.

He reiterated that, with a little more detail, when he said

...I think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that Republicans had in statehouses across the country, in Congress and holding the Senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.

I agree with Mittens on that.

Moving on to last week's Extra Credit, I sat in on the panel discussion in the This Week classroom. Here are a couple of points, from Matthew Dowd, who worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign and is a commentator for ABC, and Chris Christie, former NJ gov and also a commentator for ABC. 

• Dowd, on what people were thinking: I'm tired of the chaos. I want calm. I really don't want to hear from the president every single day about every single thing. I think - a year and a half ago, somebody asked me what the slogan should be for a candidate running against Donald Trump and I said, Make America Boring Again.

• Christie, on how Rs are still sticking with Trump: I'm hoping that more Republicans more in the direction of saying, not that we don't support the president, he's been a friend of mine for 20 years, but friendship doesn't mean you're bling. Friendship means that you will listen to somebody, give them their opportunity, and if they don't come forward with the, with the proof, then it's time to move on.

More agreement with the Rs from me...

I offered a Quick Take on two groups of international observers of our election. One of them was from the Organization of American States (OAS), who spent some physical and virtual time across the country, including in battleground states. Among other things, they offered this in their preliminary report.

While the OAS Mission has not directly observed any serious irregularities that call into question the results so far, it supports the right of all contesting parties in an election, so seek redress before the competent legal authorities when they believe they have been wronged. It is critical however, that candidates act responsibly by presenting and arguing legitimate claims before the courts, not unsubstantiated or harmful speculation in the public media.

And, I agree with that as well. 

When it came to the Email of the Week post, I confess I wasn't as agreeable with a couple of the former rivals who offered post-election 'congratulatory' notes to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. For example, here's part of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's note; this came after her specific references to  what the Biden/Harris administration will bring to the White House and the country.

Warren, a capitalist, makes it boldly clear she's going to be staying in the game and pushing the Dems to not cave to lobbyists and big money.

Yes, our country is divided, but whenever they are asked, voters of both parties make it clear in overwhelming numbers that they don't want a government controlled by giant corporations and their lobbyists. In the past, steps to build unity and consensus in Washington have often meant turning over the keys to those corporations and lobbyists. We must resist this. 

The message I was looking for came via tweet, not email, from the democratic socialist in the race - That Guy from Vermont.  

And finally, the congratulatory note that I was most looking forward to? It wasn't in the form of an email, but rather in a tweet - but I'm still handing this one the coveted Email of the Week award. Not for what it says, but for what it doesn't. 

Unsurprisingly, I don't agree with TGFV on much at all. 

And then it was Friday and time for your TGIF fun and games - picking good-week and bad-week listers.  Which list would you put these folks on?

What else do we have today?  Oh -- Four Seasons Total Landscaping is selling shirts and stickers saying "Make American Rake Again" and "Lawn and Order," capitalizing on its new-found fame after hosting Rudy Giuliani's press conference the other day. Fun stuff, for sure -and good for them. No word yet on whether Rudy will make another appearance, maybe to autograph shirts to raise money for the president's legal fund. 

That's it -- your week in review. See you later for Sunday School.

TGIF 11/13/20

Friday the 13th...  

A great day for transitioning from something to something...  A great day for having a great day by doing the right thing...  A great day for me to keep dreaming, right?  

And that's just what I'll do, after I do a good week - bad week post for you. For the most part, I'll let you decide who goes where, although as always, some of them will be pretty obvious.

There was a report that some digging was going on outside the White House briefing room today, and of course, the Interwebs had a riot with that. Many wondered if maybe it was a moat, harkening back to conversations the president had with advisors about putting such a water feature along his beloved border wall.  

Another suggestion? It's a trench for burning the evidence - but certainly not the evidence of voter fraud or election rigging. We know that, because so far they haven't shown anything that's managed to capture the eyes of the courts.

And speaking of election fraud and losing, the president needs lawyers to help him with this fool's errand, and of course, some of the law firms were taking heat for helping with his attempts to overturn or ignore our democratic principles - and the heat was coming from within the firms, as well as from outside. 

And today, it seems, it might have gotten too hot in the kitchen for one of them, as Porter Wright "reached a mutual agreement" with the Trump team, which will find other counsel - perhaps a firm less interested in protecting its reputation?

A soon to be ex-congressman from Virginia let loose in an interview about the president and his followers, the ones who are sticking by his side (does that make them his next-to-ers, I wonder?). Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Republican who had the audacity to perform a gay marriage (gasp!) and was primaried by a self-proclaimed "biblical conservative" thinks things are getting out of hand, including the conspiracy theories Trump is spreading. 

That really, is, really, I think, the Island of the Misfit Toys at that point. You have crossed the Rubicon, you jumped on the crazy train and you're headed into the cliffs that guard the flat earth at that time, brother.

Speaking of conspiracy theories and what not, Elon Musk is making some noise about "extremely bogue" COVID-19 tests. Seems he took four of the rapid tests, which have a reported accuracy rate of 34-80%, and he had two positives and two negatives, putting him within the range for the tests. He thinks the reason why we're seeing a surge in cases is because there are so many false positives. Apparently he discounts the potential that we're actually under-reporting the surge because there are so many false negatives. 

What else do we have today?  Oh -- Four Seasons Total Landscaping is selling shirts and stickers saying "Make American Rake Again" and "Lawn and Order," capitalizing on its new-found fame after hosting Rudy Giuliani's press conference the other day. Fun stuff, for sure -and good for them. No word yet on whether Rudy will make another appearance, maybe to autograph shirts to raise money for the president's legal fund. 

And now, for real, honest-to-goodness good news, not the kind you have to debate about, I offer these stories:

• Here's a 'Florida man' headline you'll love: Florida man becomes first person with Down Syndrome to finish Ironman triathlon.

• This teenager puts on a different costume each day before logging on to his remote classes, because "to try and bring happiness to people."

• In the week we celebrated Veterans Day, I found this story about a vet who's turned his farm into a healing place, so maybe other vets could feel a sense of belonging and purpose. 

And finally, one last election has been called. There's a new mayor in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, and he walked away with the race. Wilbur Beast, a French Bulldog, took 13, 143 of the 22,985 votes cast in "the most important election that happened this year." Since 1988, the town has elected an animal as mayor; each vote costs a buck, with all of the money goes to the local historical society, which runs the town. I just know we can learn something from this story, I just know it!

That's all I've got for you tonight - TGIF, everyone.

Email of the Week 11/12/20

Even though the election was more than a week ago, the outcome was not projected until Saturday, putting it well within the seven-day window I use for the Email of the Week feature. 

That gave me a chance to look at messages from some of Joe Biden's primary challengers in trying to find this week's winner. For example, Tom Steyer sent me a note saying, in part,

We knew this was the biggest election of our lifetimes... This win was critical.

The vision and leadership that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris projected was exactly the antidote needed to the divisiveness and recklessness of the last four years. The American people made it clear that we are ready to turn the page on Mr. Trump's disastrous presidency and tackle our climate crisis.

In addition to hitting on his pet issue, he also called out a key demographic: young voters, who he said "were a decisive part in delivering this win," and what that means.

We have a new electorate, a new president and a new hope for getting the bold, urgent, equitable economic recovery and climate leadership we need. 

Let's get to work.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's email was short and to the point:

We can now say President-Elect and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris! The American people have spoken. This is a moment of major celebration but I also know that Joe and Kamala understand the major challenges ahead.

Joe Biden is going to be a president for everyone, not just the people who voted for him. We have to come together as a nation, and Joe Biden is the perfect person for this moment.

Thank you for standing with us.

 Also offering congratulations? Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

 It feels so good to say it: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Warren noted that history was made in this election.

And for the very first time, we've elected a woman as our vice president. Millions of little girls who see themselves in Kamala will dream a little bigger tonight. 

After talking about how Biden and Harris will "bring decency and competence to the White House," she turned to our economic situation and the pandemic. "We have a mandate for action on bold plans," she said, and "we need structural change." And she's planning on staying in the game. 

Yes, our country is divided, but whenever they are asked, voters of both parties make it clear in overwhelming numbers that they don't want a government controlled by giant corporations and their lobbyists. In the past, steps to build unity and consensus in Washington have often meant turning over the keys to those corporations and lobbyists. We must resist this. 

In a nutshell, the Dems have got to walk the talk, and rise to the occasion.

Mayor Pete also reached out, looking to ensure that we stay in the fight, and that our wallets were, too, by donating to the Biden Fight Fund. And, contrary to what the Rs have been suggesting, the Ds are looking more broadly at votes.

We know not every vote that comes in from now until the end will be a vote for Joe, but we still believe that all votes should be counted. The hypocrisy we're seeing from Trump's allies across the country is telling - but we will do whatever it takes to ensure voters are protected and all valid votes are counted.

Hear, hear.  

And finally, the congratulatory note that I was most looking forward to? It wasn't in the form of an email, but rather in a tweet - but I'm still handing this one the coveted Email of the Week award. Not for what it says, but for what it doesn't. 

Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want greed and bigotry to rule the day, any more than Sanders does. But would it have killed him to actually offer congratulations to the people who won the election? Say their names, maybe, or say anything about them at all? 

Nah -- it's not about them, those winners, it's about us - the people who didn't win. It's about what we want, not what the people who voted want. 

As usual, color me unimpressed with That Guy from Vermont.

Quick Takes (v55): In the Eyes of the World, Too

I learned today that two different groups of international observers were keeping an eye on our elections. Interesting stuff - I had no idea we had invited them this time around, or  that they've observed past elections, too. 

Their findings, as reported in the Wall Street Journal,  aren't really all that unexpected. 

After the group from the Organization of American States (OAS) observed election-related activities over the course of several weeks, the out-of-towners found what most of us already knew to be true. 

A team of international observers invited by the Trump administration has issued a preliminary report giving high marks to the conduct of last week's elections - and it criticizes president Trump for making baseless allegations that the outcome resulted from systematic fraud. 

The group worked with states that allow international observers (not all states do) and did so within the confines of the various COVID-19 restrictions. They spent time in Georgia, Michigan, Iowa, Maryland and DC as part of their review. 

Again, from the preliminary report,

While the OAS Mission has not directly observed any serious irregularities that call into question the results so far, it supports the right of all contesting parties in an election, so seek redress before the competent legal authorities when they believe they have been wronged. It is critical however, that candidates act responsibly by presenting and arguing legitimate claims before the courts, not unsubstantiated or harmful speculation in the public media.

The other group, a team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), had similar findings. Here's Michael Georg Link, who led that effort.

Baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, notably by the incumbent president, including on election night, harm public trust in democratic institutions.

And, they also noted this:

Animosity and heated rhetoric between candidates negatively affected the focus of campaigns on policies and party platforms. The two leading presidential candidates accused each other of corruption, fraud, working for foreign interests, an inability to lead, and support for extremist groups. The incumbent president’s use of discriminatory and pejorative statements against individuals on the grounds of their gender and origin was of particular concern. The distinction between state and party activities was not always respected, as the incumbent president repeatedly used his official capacity for political advantage. On several occasions, President Trump created an impression of refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, claiming that the electoral process was systematically rigged, particularly in relation to postal voting, without presenting any substantial evidence of systematic malfeasance and contradicting election officials at all levels. Such statements by an incumbent president weaken public confidence in state institutions and were perceived by many as increasing the potential for politically motivated violence after the elections. 

We know this - we all do. There's no news there, really. To me, it's both sad and gratifying, if that makes sense, that international observers see this as well. 

You can read the OAS preliminary report here. The OSCE preliminary report is here.

Sunday School 11/8/20: Extra Credit

It feels like it's been a while since I spent any time with the gang from This Week with George Stephanopoulos, so that's where we're going to for your Extra Credit today.

I sat in on the reporter updates and the roundtable discussion at the beginning of the show; here are some highlights.

ABC's Rachel Scott on the difference between a Biden administration and the one he's replacing:

This is a seismic shift in American politics and the makeup of this next administration will look dramatically different from the current one. Biden has already pledged to have the most diverse cabinet in American history...

Some of the 'day one' priorities include rejoining the World Health Organization, repealing Trump's Muslim ban, and reinstating DACA - as well as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, which he'd previously announced. If needed, she said, Biden will use Executive Orders - that depends on the outcome of the Georgia Senate runoffs, which'll take place a couple of weeks before the inauguration.

Jon Karl, the network's lead White House reporter, said that

Virtually everybody in the president's inner circle, his true closest advisors, including his family members, are fully aware that this is over. There have been conversations, conversations I'm told that include the First Lady, about how to convince him to make something of a grateful exit... and how if he doesn't leave in the right way, he could jeopardize all of that.

And if he does make a 'concession' speech, it's more apt to be a Festivus kind of thing - an airing of grievances "about how they tried to deprive him of his presidency."  Gee - I can't wait! And speaking of waiting, the Trumpeters are refusing to release funding to the Transition Team, because they - the Trumpeters - are a bunch of babies. No surprise there. 

Karl also said we'll see firings - Mark Esper was terminated today, and he was just one of a few we might expect. He also thinks we'll see pardons, although he didn't name names. 

Moving on to the roundtable:

• Rahm Emmanuel on Biden's election: I think Americans were exhausted by the constant pitting against us and they want Washington a little distant from their lives, go back to your work... we're going to get out lives in order, which is why so many people were focused on the pandemic and the economy and a sense of being able to get back to some kind of normalcy.

• Chris Christie, on the election being a referendum on Trump: ...you heard me speaking since the summer that he couldn't win a referendum; not in the middle of a pandemic, not in the middle of an economic recession that was caused by the pandemic and in the midst of real racial issues in our country. You can't win a referendum in that respect. But it was not a rejection of Republican policies across the country.

• Yvette Simpson on the message: ...I do believe in places where we were true to our mission we won. For instance, the progressives who were in swing seats all won. But the moderates who were in swing seats didn't. And I think part of that is we didn't make our message clear enough... go with talking about serving real people. You can do that in moderate districts and it doesn't have to feel extreme.

• Matthew Dowd, on what people were thinking: I'm tired of the chaos. I want calm. I really don't want to hear from the president every single day about every single thing. I think - a year and a half ago, somebody asked me what the slogan should be for a candidate running against Donald Trump and I said, Make America Boring Again.

• Christie, on how Rs are still sticking with Trump: I'm hoping that more Republicans more in the direction of saying, not that we don't support the president, he's been a friend of mine for 20 years, but friendship doesn't mean you're bling. Friendship means that you will listen to somebody, give them their opportunity, and if they don't come forward with the, with the proof, then it's time to move on.

• Dowd, on how the parties did on Election Day: I think ...that the two political parties had a - both had a successful night and a huge amount of warning signs on Tuesday night. Turnout was amazing. There was huge support of each political party... but there's a ton of warning signs for each party and I think they need to look at themselves and introspect on themselves... I think the two political parties need to look at their own tribe first and say, "what is it that we're not doing? Because we're not appealing to huge parts of the country that caused the division within the country."

• Heidi Heitkamp, on problem-solving:  There is a place that you can go in solving these problems that speaks to all sides and does not radicalize important issues in this country. We saw that, with the pandemic, which was incredible, how masks got radicalized and politicized. We need to stop doing that and we need to come together, and both sides have to address the concerns that the other side has on solutions for this country. You know, the unity that we have is really unity about what the problems are.w It's bringing together solutions that can bring everybody together so that we can walk together and solve America's problems. 

Why do I want to drop another huge "damn straight, Skippy" tonight? Heitkamp, a former Senator, nailed it. So did Matthew Dowd.  

So did Christie. And even Rahm Emmanuel at least tacked it, which is almost like nailing it. 

Great discussion, and more food for thought. 

Masks on, distance maintained... you know the drill. Do that, and I'll continue to see you around campus.

Sunday School 11/8/20

For today's Sunday School, we had an interesting cast of characters to choose from. Utah's Sen. Mitt Romney was in three classrooms (I've got one of them); House Majority Whip Rep Jim Clyburn of South Carolina was scheduled for two (I've got him, too); and so was Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. 

Others wandering around?  My Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo; South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem; Stacy Abrams (I've got her) and Sen. Joe Manchin of WVA (I've got him, too). 

Let's start with Clyburn and Abrams and their visits to the CNN State of the Union classroom, with Jake Tapper in the host's chair. Clyburn was asked about the little family feuding going on in the Democratic Party, specifically concerns that the progressives have made it hard for the party by forcing them further and further to the left.

Clyburn noted that he's long not been a fan of sloganeering, and pointed to a conversation he had with the late John Lewis.

John and I sat on the House floor and talked about that 'defund the police' slogan, and both of us concluded that it had the possibilities of doing to the Black Lives Matter movement and current movements across the country what "Burn, baby, burn" did to us back in 1960. We lost that movement over that slogan... and so, we saw the same thing happening here...

We need to work on what makes headway, rather than what makes headlines. 

As they say, "damn straight, Skippy."

In his chat with Stacey Abrams, whom many are crediting with delivering Georgia for Joe Biden, Tapper wondered about Dems and minorities, given that the president made "some inroads" with minority groups himself.

Abrams said, as pretty much every Tom, Dick and Harry has said since last Tuesday, "the Latino community is not a monolith." And while Latinos will be behind Biden's victories in Arizona, Nevada and even Georgia, the key is consistent engagement.

We began early on saying that this is not about black and white; this is about pulling together coalitions of people of color, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalized, and being consistent with our engagement, not waiting for an election to meet them, and certainly not waiting until the end of an election to acknowledge their value.

We have been doing this work from the very beginning. But I also want to acknowledge the very strong work of progressive whites who've been working to help build these opportunities as well. We are not a majority-minority country yet. And that means that this is a coalition that has to be built and sustained across racial lines, across demography, across geography, because our mission should be the protection of our democracy and the action of progress for all.

I'll give her a "damn straight, Skippy" as well. 

I picked Meet the Press for my Mitt Romney interview, where Chuck Todd asked him about alleged 'rigged' voting, which the president is alleging. The question, in a nutshell, since we know it's possible that someone might have voted for Joe Biden for president but chose to vote for a Republican for Senate, does Romney think that if one vote on that ballot is 'rigged,' the others could be too.

Well, I think that's a pretty fair point... I think you make an important point, which is a lot of Republicans, a lot of voters, voted for Republicans but did not vote for the president. And that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country.

On that point, Todd mentioned Romney's 12-point win in Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, which was the same margin Biden won by. So, while maybe there are still conservative values, is there a suburban problem for the Rs?

Romney noted that the Ds have their own problems, too. But he did make an interesting point.

...I think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that Republicans had in statehouses across the country, in Congress and holding the Senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.

Back to the suburbs, Romney admitted the Rs have challenges, that they need to do better with young people and minorities, and that he thinks they can get the suburban women back, but "we've got some work to do."

And on whether it's still Donald Trump's Republican Party, Romney said Trump is the most powerful voice in the GOP.

He will have an enormous impact on our party going forward. I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure his principles and his priorities are pursued. So, yeah, I mean, he's not - he's not disappearing by any means. He's the, you know, the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party.

A very angry 900-poung gorilla, it would seem.  

Finally, let's check in with Margaret Brennan's conversation with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Face the Nation. She asked him about the election being a wakeup call for senators, and what president-elect Biden's first order of business should be. 

Manchin said Biden wants to be a president for everyone, and that's exactly what he'll have to do.

Joe Biden got elected in a very, very contested primary, and all the nuances that were thrown on the Democratic Party is not who we are. He was not for any of this stuff. And I think Jim Clyburn said it best, that was an albatross around us. Basically, labeling every Democrat as a socialist or supporting socialism, that's not who we are. It's not who I am. It's not how we were raised. And it hurt a lot of good Democrats in rural America, Montana, for one. Other places around the country.

Brennan wondered about West Virginia going "ruby red" for Trump and wondered why the Dem's message break through there. It wasn't a good message he said, because the Dems had been tagged as socialists before they even had a chance to "remind people who we are."

Here is the thing, four years ago in rural America, in America in general, voted for Donald Trump because Democrats were mad, independents were mad. They thought they'd been left behind...They went from being mad to being scared in 2020. They were scared of this socialism that was thrown out there by a radical part of the so-called left that was throwing all this out, that basically scared the bejesus out of people and that hung on and hung on strongly. And it's not who we are. It is not who we are and it's not what we're about. And I have fought against that. Joe Biden has fought against that. We're not for New Green Deal. We're not for all the things that he's talked about, Medicare for all. We can't even pay for Medicare for some. We've got to take care of a lot of things.

Manchin took pains to separate Biden from the Green New Deal, when Brennan pushed on that. He said Biden's plan is all-inclusive and that we have to remain energy independent

To have the most powerful nation on earth, we can't be dependent on foreign-- on any foreigners-- foreign countries for our energy sources.

Innovation, not elimination, he believes. And he talks like Biden is on the same page with him.

Finally, Brennan wondered what the Biden administration would be able to get done, and whether the message from the election is that the Dems need to be moderate.

Manchin said he's always been moderate, and that he'd encourage his fellow Dems to "find the middle" if they can. He said they're not going to be able to govern "from the extremes or from the fringes" and, he added, 

... I've always said I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I believe most Americans are, my moderate Republican friends and the moderate Democrats. We've got to govern from that middle, that moderate middle. Joe Biden has always been there. He knows how to work across the aisle. He'll reach out first and make this Senate work and give it every chance he can... There'll be more and more crossing over wanting to work in a more moderate, moderate Senate. I really believe that.

Brennan was skeptical, and she didn't offer a "damn straight, Skippy" to Manchin. But I will. And I'll have more on the moderates vs. progressives stuff as things unfold. 

See you around campus. Keep your sense of optimism, keep your sense of joy, keep your happy feet moving - but listen to me when I tell you, keep your masks on. We're depending on you. 

In Case You Missed It (v61)

Let's dive in to your recap of last week's posts, starting with Sunday School, where Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar joined Chuck on MTP. 

Todd asked her how much patience we'll need.  She reminded him that "elections have never been called election night," mentioning military and overseas ballots having a full week after Election Day. 

So, I just want to set that straight, that this is a process, and we want to make sure that every single vote of every valid voter is securely and accurately counted.

That said, she expects the "overwhelming majority" of mail-in, absentee, and in-person ballots will be counted "in a matter of days" and that, "for the most part," counties are planning on counting 24/7 until they're done. She did say that ballots received by Friday that are postmarked on or before Election day will be segregated, but they will be counted. And, she hopes that people will "Ignore the lawsuits, ignore the hype. Just get your ballots in today."

And we know, of course, that the lawsuits have started pouring in already; several of them were dismissed, although there was a court order addressing that last part, about segregating the late-arriving ballots. 

Next up was the Election Eve post, which I update every year. It always includes a story, told in quotes from thinkers, scholars, religious leaders, and yes, politicians. And it also includes some commentary, because it's my post, after all. This time out, I spoke of the president's efforts to involve the courts - in advance of Election Day - as he set the stage for what I obviously hoped would be his defeat (and I think he was preparing for that, as well).

And, of course, in his rallies, in his tweets, in his constant feeding of his propaganda machine - the talk shows on Fox - the president is both complaining about the Supreme Court deciding in favor of voters, instead of in favor of voter suppression, and he is thanking the Supreme Court in advance for their anticipated rulings against voters - against you and me - and looking forward to them handing him the election. That's why, of course, it was so important to get Amy Coney Barrett on the Court before the election. 

Please, let it not be said of you that you sat back and waited for the Supremes to (again) pick the president for us. They have lifetime appointments, sure - but so you do you and I! We have a lifetime of opportunity to vote, to record our decisions. Don't give your voice, on purpose or out of neglect, to a group of political appointees.

I also offered my Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on why I vote.  Here are a few reasons:

I vote for American ideals. 

I vote because people are trying to take away my right to. 

I vote because I'm a middle-aged white lady, and that's what we do.

I vote because I am a patriotic American. 

I vote because people tell me to shut up.

I vote.

I did not post on Wednesday or Thursday - I was quiet, and staying below the fray as much as possible, while we watched and waited and counted and the the nominees made their wildly conflicting statements. 

But on Friday, I had to share the president's full remarks as his "update for America." His words, only the best words, beautiful words, the best words since Abraham Lincoln, I'm sure he'd suggest, are poetry. Pure, unadulterated OrangeVerse.

Whining for the Litigation and Corruption

There are lots of litigation, 

even beyond our litigation. 

There’s a tremendous amount of litigation 

generally, because of how unfair 

this process was, and I predicted that. 

I’ve been talking about mail-in voting for a long time. 

It’s really destroyed our system. 

It’s a corrupt system 

and it makes people corrupt, 

even if they aren’t by nature, 

but they become corrupt. 

It’s too easy. They want to find out 

how many votes they need, 

and then they seem to 

be able to find them. 

They wait and wait, and 

then they find them,

and you see that on Election Night.

Yep - so much whining, I'm tired of the whining. And I'm tired of this, the fomenting of violence, which is another of his calling cards.

Whining for Unhappy and Somewhat Violent People

In Philadelphia, observers have been kept far away, 

very far away. So far that people are 

using binoculars to try and see, 

and there’s been tremendous 

problems caused. They put a 

paper on all of the windows so

you can’t see in, and the people

 that are banned are very unhappy and 

become somewhat violent.

For last week's TGIF, we have your good week and bad week lists, and it felt like it was pretty easy to allocate folks to the right list this time.  On the good week list? Front-line workers in the fight against the pandemic, and poll workers and election officials, among others. 

On the bad week list? These guys, among others.

Republicans who are standing by the president as he makes a mockery of the integrity and sanctity of our election process, that integrity and sanctity which he's been calling into question almost daily since February. Those who are standing with him have nothing to gain - literally, nothing to gain. He cannot hurt them anymore. He cannot threaten them anymore. He cannot denigrate them, or call their spouses ugly, say hateful things about them, and endorse their opponents instead of them. It's time for them to stand up, to stand up to him, and to help him slink away.

My opinion only, of course, and based on the projection that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election.  And here's the thing: the Rs can walk away from him at any time. All they have to do is get sick of his nonsense, and put the country first. If they don't, they're admitting that their policies and ideology - things that Trump does not believe in - are worth nothing. And if that's the case, they shouldn't be in office in the first place. 

One last note. While I didn't post on Friday, I did add a new countdown to the blog. It's ticking down the days to the peaceful transfer of power in January. I guess I'm an optimist after all.

That's last week in a nutshell. I'll be back later with Sunday School. Oh - wear your damn masks, will you please?

TGIF 11/6/20

Is it really only the Friday after the Tuesday after the first Monday in November? 

It seems like Friday has taken a month or more to get here, right? 

Obviously, if I'm trying to come up with good week and bad week lists, I would have to say the good week list would consist almost entirely of the tireless health care workers who continue to care for our ever-growing list of COVID patients, especially those who are with our loved ones in our absence when they pass from the virus, and to the tireless poll workers and state election officials who are doing their level best to count the votes that are eligible for counting. All of those folks deserve our thanks, and our respect, regardless of where we stand on the COVID battle or the election battle.

Let me assure you, I'm on the side of COVID is real and so will the election outcome be real - neither of these are hoaxes - and I surely hope that you're with me on both of those. If not, let's talk.

Also on the good week side? Assuming things hold, Kamala Harris has to be up there on the list. She's on the verge of being the first female VP, the first African American VP, the first South Asian American VP, and more. And Joe Biden also had a good week, and it could get better before the end of the week, if we see the end of at least some of the counting...

People who exercised their right to vote are having a good week, because votes are being counted. That's what we expect when we vote - we don't expect anyone to steal our votes out from underneath us, and at least so far, we're winning that fight. 

Also, Nevada meme makers.

On the bad week list? Well, pollsters, certainly. Not because, as the president claimed, they were all a coordinated voter suppression effort designed to keep Trump supporters from voting because it was a lost cause. This is patently ridiculous. That the polls were SO wrong, across SO many races, and that this is the second presidential vote in which they were SO wrong should be sending a shudder through the polling industry. I don't want them to tell me what they did right, I want them to explain how they got it SO wrong, AGAIN, and what they have to offer going forward.

Who else? Republicans who are standing by the president as he makes a mockery of the integrity and sanctity of our election process, that integrity and sanctity which he's been calling into question almost daily since February. Those who are standing with him have nothing to gain - literally, nothing to gain. He cannot hurt them anymore. He cannot threaten them anymore. He cannot denigrate them, or call their spouses ugly, say hateful things about them, and endorse their opponents instead of them. It's time for them to stand up, to stand up to him, and to help him slink away.

And of course, the president himself is not having a good week. In fact, he is the personification of a bad week, this week and most other weeks. His tweets are being heavily flagged; his court challenges to the election are so far failing; a few Rs are turning on him and saying publicly that he should shut up and stand down, and he is very, very likely to be less than 75 days away from heading back to wherever he came from. 

As I said last week, there's a picture  0f the president I want to be the one that I remember from his White House occupancy, and I might get my wish. If that's the case, you can be sure I'll be putting myself on the good week list in a heartbeat. 

TGIF, everyone. Stay patient.