The Screaming Moderate

A Democratic wake-up call

11/3/2021

While all the votes aren’t counted yet, it’s more than fair to say that Tuesday was a loud wake-up call for President Biden and the Democratic Party.

They lost an election in Virginia that they should have won and, at the writing of this post, the New Jersey election for governor is tipping toward the Republicans.

You can hear the alarms ringing all over the country.

For sure one thing that Tuesday in Virginia proves is that the Democrats are very bad at stealing elections. Maybe it will back off some Republicans from saying our elections are rigged (I know, keep dreaming).

Another sure thing is that while he promised he would do his best to end the gridlock in Washington, Biden hasn’t even been able to end the gridlock in his own party as the Congress still has not passed two of his biggest promises to the American people.

Imagine if his Build Back Better plan had been passed a couple of months ago. Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey could have been touting for months the individual pieces of that bill that are so popular across the country, like childcare, or reducing (some) drug prices .

Instead, the thing many Americans know about that bill is that, thanks to two Democratic senators (one really) that proposal dropped from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. Not a platform to run on – “we’re not spending an extra two trillion dollars!”)

Instead, the Virginia race turned on Republican Glenn Youngkin’s very well run campaign based on local issues (whether they are real issues or not. I’m talking to you critical race theory) and his credentials, while his opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, chose to run against Donald Trump instead of Youngkin.

And those swing voters who went for Biden last year, went for Youngkin Tuesday.

Trump was in his sweet spot Tuesday. With Youngkin keeping Trump at arm’s length but gladly accepting his endorsement, Trump won either way: If Youngkin lost, Trump could say he refused MAGA help which undid him. If Youngkin won, he could take credit for his base winning it for him. Win win. Oh, and Trump did take credit for his base winning the election for Youngkin.

Plus, McAuliffe ran a horrible campaign, especially for a former Democratic national chairman. Youngkin, a newcomer to politics, ran a very smart campaign.

Also, Trump’s ban from Twitter and other social media should be embraced by Republicans. Imagine how this race would have been affected if Trump was still tweeting every day? Hmm…maybe “loser Glenn Youngkin will lose his only election because he didn’t HUG ME IN PERSON!!” Tact is not one of Trump’s talents.

Biden’s numbers are sinking to Trump levels because he promised an end to gridlock, a reordering of American spending, and getting the pandemic under control. Instead he can’t even get his bills passed by Democratic bare majorities in the House or Senate or convince a big chunk of the country to get vaccinated.

Even his infrastructure bill, which passed with a bipartisan majority, still is on life support in the Democratic House as progressives hold it hostage until his Build Back Better bill is voted on. Petty. Stupid.

Add on top of that the sloppy (at best) Afghanistan pullout, the pandemic still here and an economy that can’t decide on its future and Biden’s numbers are gasping for air.

This makes for an interesting political environment until the next election – the mid-terms next year when the entire House and a third of the Senate is on the ballot. And gives those who oppose Biden (even in his own party, it seems) reason to keep opposing Biden.

I wonder if those progressives in the House will wake up and see that they are blowing a golden opportunity for significant change. But you can’t get the whole package. Just as those right wingnuts who did the same years ago to Republican presidents.

Those swing voters that went for Youngkin yesterday and Biden last year? Clearly, no one can count on them.

You still have to earn them.

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Why is the Bannon subpoena important?

10/21/2021

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Our institutions have been under attack for five years, and the attacks continue.

One, now, is the pursuit of charges against former President Trump’s key advisor, Steve Bannon, who, hiding behind Trump’s demands of executive privilege, is refusing to respect a subpoena issued by the committee investigating the January 6th riot/protest/insurrection/”normal day” on the Hill.

Some might say that with all the bigger issues facing our country, the Congress should not be pursuing charges against Bannon.

They key here, though, is if Bannon is allowed to ignore a Congressional subpoena, one more institution will take a major blow. A key purpose of the Congress is to keep the executive branch in check. Hearings and legislation are a couple of the ways Congress does that. Ignoring a Congressional subpoena and being allowed to get away with it, is huge. It sets a precedent that ties the hands of the Congress in future hearings.

If Bannon is allowed to ignore the subpoena, and no action is taken to hold him accountable – what will that do to the next time Congress issues a subpoena? And, while some Republicans are saying the January 6 Commission is not needed, what will happen when they are back in the majorities -- as they will be some day -- and they subpoena a witness? Will they stand back as they are now and accept someone ignoring that subpoena?

More likely, they will subpoena that witness and will need to hold whoever it is accountable for whatever they may, or may not, know.

Bannon clearly knows things, based on his comments January 5 on his pod cast, conversations he had with the President before and possibly during the riot.

If he didn’t mean those comments, but was just doing it to be provocative, then he has nothing to hide.

Those last three words are key when it comes to Trump wanting to protect documents. If he has nothing to hide, why hide information?

Now, Bannon could honor the subpoena and testify (unlikely) but what is likely is that if he takes seriously serving as a Congressional witness – under oath – he still could plead the Fifth Amendment and/or lie in his answers.

One might say, if he can take the Fifth or lie, why demand his presence as a witness?

Well, that brings me back to the first sentence of this post. Our institutions are under clear attack and if that continues and succeeds, our democracy is at significant risk.

If the Congress cannot hold the Executive branch accountable, the Constitution means nothing.

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Will they look good losing?

10/13/2021

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Back when I worked in the Reagan Administration, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, my boss, would say of the then-right wing of the Republican Party: “They like to look good losing.”

That’s because those folks would have rather died on the battlefield clinging to their most extreme beliefs rather than compromise with the moderates in the party, or the Democrats.

Today, the same can be said in the Democratic Party. Progressives are holding any compromise hostage while they cling, at least publicly, to their $3.5 trillion package of spending and programs to revamp American society. Every day we read about the “talks” within the Democratic Party to try to find a compromise on the package that would likely be anywhere from $1.5 trillion to $2.5 trillion. Republicans have opted out of negotiating at all because they want nothing to do in any way with “helping” Democrats. Their eyes are not on legislating but on winning next year’s elections.

Progressives in the Democratic Party were known as “liberals” in my day but changed the label, I guess, because “progressive” sounds more acceptable.

For those of us not inside the Democratic talks, we have no idea what’s really being discussed. We just know that the progressives spokesmen are clinging to $3.5 trillion awaiting on Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona to tell them what they really want to support the package.

You gotta believe both Manchin and Sinema have laid out their needs/wants clearly to at least the White House.

This eventually will get settled, I believe, partly to show that Democrats left on their own, can get things done. Especially before next year’s mid-term election when, at the moment, the odds are they will lose both majorities they hold in the House and the Senate.

What they are succeeding in doing now is helping in the collapse of belief in President Joe Biden to get anything done. He’s down to his lowest approval ratings since he’s been President (also attributable to the continuing too-high numbers of deaths and cases of COVID, a mucked up withdrawal from Afghanistan, a border issue that doesn’t appear to be getting better, etc).

If the Democrats don’t come up with a compromise that helps (1) the people, (2) their own continued majority aspirations and (3) to boost Biden’s numbers, get ready for the country to go Republican in next year’s mid-terms and potentially in the next presidential election, potentially pushing us to the edge of the end of our democracy. And I don’t think that’s hyperbole.

This all while Trump holds rallies where he rails against Biden and lies about the last election (which has Republicans by a vast majority agreeing with him).

Trust me, I can handle Republicans back in power but not Republicans like Trump, or Cruz or Johnson, Republicans who sound like they oppose democracy too often, whether they know it or not. Republicans who refuse to admit how the last election went. If they can succeed while believing the Democrats stole the election, nothing is beyond their capability.

Trump, who continues to have no limits on what he says rails against Biden even for policies he (Trump) established in his administration and Biden continued. Among those: development of a safe COVID vaccine (the last time he mentioned the vaccine at a rally, he got booed. That was the last time he mentioned it rather than take credit for the rapid development of the vaccine to save lives); and, the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Remember when Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David for a signing ceremony? That war needed to be over and Trump set that in motion with Biden finishing the job.

The world, my friends, is upside down.

I am among the millions who would benefit from adding vision, dental and hearing to Medicare, as the progressives propose. I never understood why, when we hit the ages where those three areas are most needed, that they weren’t included.

But, I think most of us on Medicare would pass on those benefits and instead get child care straightened out so mothers can get back to work and help get our economy moving.

There are acceptable tradeoffs in that $3.5 trillion package.

If only people in Washington would work together, compromise and make a deal that actually helps the country.

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Will they raise the debt ceiling or won't they?

9/22/2021

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“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” – The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. (Emphasis added)

Too often, the debate over raising the debt limit (the maximum amount the United States is allowed to borrow to pay its debts) turns into a political football when it isn’t political at all. Some argue the 14th Amendment doesn’t say what it does, but you read it and decide.

This year may be the most political it’s become in history, though, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has pronounced Republicans will not support an extension of the debt limit. The Democrats would need to get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster (they only have 50) the likelihood at the moment is the debt limit will not be extended.

Not raising the debt limit is like you not paying your bills. In the U.S. Government’s case, the “bills” include things like Social Security payments, aid to folks hit hardest by the pandemic or hurricanes, the military wouldn’t be paid nor would federal employees. Anything paid by the federal government could not be paid and we, as you would in your financial life, default.

There are those would say, “Great! Those federal employees don’t do anything anyway." But those employees, among other things, pay our bills. If, as is looking more likely than in past years, McConnell maintains control of Senate Republicans. All that is going to happen.

The debt ceiling was raised 72 times from March 1961 to May 2011, including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and five times under Barack Obama.

You really have no choice but to raise it. The ceiling is raised so the U.S. can pay the money it’s already spent. It has nothing to do with future spending. It forces no control on future spending. Republican and Democratic presidents have contributed to the debt and the Congress has approved every dollar spent that led to us owing trillions of dollars.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also has served as head of the Federal Reserve, wrote in a Wall Street Journal piece last weekend: “Default could trigger a spike in interest rates, a steep drop in stock market prices and other financial turmoil. Our current economic recovery would reverse into recession, with billions of dollars of growth and millions of jobs lost.”

Just the threat of default in the past has had its negative effects.
In 2011, during the Obama Administration, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded from AA+ to AAA because the debt limit was threatened. That was the first time in history Standard & Poor’s downgraded our credit rating. Standard & Poor’s wrote: the “effectiveness, stability and predictability” of American policy-making and political institutions had weakened.

Imagine what would happen today with our political climate what it is, with how other countries are questioning if our democracy will survive. Imagine what Standard & Poor’s might say today.

This is not good. This is not Republican or Democrat, but McConnel is making it so. He wants the Democrats to take the blame if/when the debt limit fails to be increased. It’s politics. It’s about affecting next year’s mid-term election when he hopes to become Majority Leader again. Will he cave? Well, he did flip the "rules" when he stopped an Obama Supreme Court nominee from hearings claiming it was too close to an election, and that's never been done (it has). Then, when President Trump nominate a justice even closer to an election, McConnell's "rule" disappeared.

The federal government will have spent all its cash sometime in the next number of weeks.

Typically there is political brinkmanship played when it comes to raising the debt limit. McConnell’s threat, though, likely cannot be pulled back. He’d look foolish, and he knows it. Though, stranger things have happened.

What will happen? One hopes that somehow the brinkmanship will end. That’s what President Biden thinks anyway.

Biden, though, hasn’t served in the U.S. Senate for years. He’s never been up against the type of “social media driving, base appealing” Republicans that live in the Senate these days.

So what will happen? We’ll see.

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I know. I promised myself. But..

9/8/2021

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My promise to myself was to stop blogging about former President Donald J. Trump because he is the, well, former president and really doesn’t matter anymore. But even after a significant (some would say landslide) loss last year, and the loss of his Twitter account, he’s not the type to fade quietly into the woodwork

His elected people can’t let him fade because, well, they are trying to grab Trump’s still strong base of supporters. Who?

Cong. Matt Gaetz, for one, who is being investigated for obstruction of justice and paying for sex with a minor, who just said Trump will run again at the next election and who went on a country-wide tour with another Trumpie, Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments for being nutso crazy. They went on that tour, that hasn’t been nationwide yet to build support with Trump voters.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott whose spur-of-the-moment response made national news when a reporter asked why the new Texas rape law eliminates rape and incest as legal exceptions for abortion. First, Abbott said it doesn’t eliminate them because, well, a woman does still have six weeks to decide to have a legal abortion (even though for at least four of those six weeks even the woman doesn’t necessarily know she’s pregnant). Then to boost his argument he said that he will eliminate rapists with strong law and order-- in spite of the fact that there are more than 6,000 rape tests in Texas yet to be analyzed. Justice delayed..
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who’s latest way of not ticking off the former president is to say that reports he is running for president in 2024 are “purely manufactured” and “nonsense” even though the world knows he’s running for president in 2024 but trying to not tick off the former president.

Meanwhile, the former president intends to spend the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack by providing color on the Evander Holyfrield vs Vitor Belfot boxing match that night, apparently wanting to reinforce that he still lacks empathy.

Is he running? No one really knows. He’s not one prone to keeping a secret though so I’m guessing he hasn’t yet made his mind up. But he does want to freeze the race as long as he can to stop anyone else from running officially.

My guess: He won’t run. He’s already lost one race and is batting .500 running for president and holds a unique place in history for being the only president to be impeached twice. Does he want to put his record in jeopardy?

Meantime, he is proudly watching as Republican state after Republican state passes legislation that will restrict certain non-Republican voting blocs from voting, which would make his winning a future race a bit more likely. This in response to Trump’s lie that he actually won the last election but Democratic voter fraud stole it from him. Fact Check: well, you know.

For example, look at Texas in 2020. It’s like, you just can’t make this stuff up. Republican legislators in Texas passed and the governor signed what likely is the most restrictive voting law in the country. Why? They claim there was massive fraud in voting in 2020.

In fact, the Democrats inventing votes led to this result in Texas in 2020:

a 52-47 percent popular vote victory for Trump;
Republican incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn won reelection;
Republicans kept their majorities in the state house and state senate.

Damn Democrats and their voter fraud!!! Imagine if there had been no fraud!!! Oh.

If Donald Trump becomes president again, though, you need to think what that will look like. He of course will be emboldened to run his second administration even more self-interestedly than his first.

Who will be in the Cabinet this time? Typically, Congress is one place presidents have pulled people to join their Cabinets. There, of course, is a certain percent of those members he wouldn’t pick because he perceives them as enemies. And, Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first secretary of state, called his boss a “moron” which I’m guessing is not the greatest recommendation for other, competent business leaders to accept a cabinet post.

Honestly, I doubt even Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared, would sign up for another four years.

I could go on, but I promised myself.

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Signs you're getting old(er)

8/18/2021

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Like you, I’ve been getting older for a long time. In fact, since my day of birth in 1950. Lord, am I getting older.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that I’m getting older and I hope I get older for many years to come. But, every now and then I think about what's changed in my life over the years.

For example, yesterday I had my Annual Medicare Wellness Visit.

Annual. Medicare. Wellness. Visit.

(And I hope that appointment is on my calendar for many annuals to come.)

Talking about that appointment, without getting into many details (not because my medical info is private but some just aren't really up for gentile discussion) I just got back from the hospital where I went for X-rays ordered by my nurse practitioner (NP) yesterday. Was for my hands which for a few months now have felt very tight, especially in the mornings, especially the index fingers and wrists.

Originally, I thought it was related to my golf swing and I was swinging wrong. But, no, that is my real swing.

And, no, I didn’t fall or get into a fight with an anti-vaxxer. Actually I was pretty sure I knew what it was before I raised it with my NP. At my age you sense these things. Arthritis. 99 percent positive but the X-rays will confirm. Arthritis, another blessing you get that says, yes, you are getting older.

Parts are wearing out.

Now, that pain doesn’t stop me from playing golf. Or affect it in any way, shape or firm. I played the same before the presumed arthritis arrived. And I can sum up my golf game in three words (golf technical jargon but you'll understand): I’m not good.

I play with several guys in and out of our foursome who are peers, age wise. And, like any older person, I enjoy the camaraderie more than I would playing well. (Okay, that last sentence is a lie. I would trade them for a better game in a nanosecond!)

As I’ve gotten older I have collected a broad array of medical experts, too. And not just a Nurse Practitioner, which didn’t exist back then. Thirty years ago I had a general practitioner and an ophthalmologist because I’ve worn glass since before kindergarten. They served me well.

Along the years, though, I’ve added a neurologist, a dermatologist, a podiatrist, a urologist, a gastroenterologist, a surgeon, and, soon, a pulmonologist. I think that’s it. So far.

My wife’s birthday is today. She is a year younger than I am. So we get to experience the wonders of getting older together.

Not only does she provide all the advantages a good partner brings, but she (up until the pandemic anyway) came with me to important doctor appointments because (and I don’t think this is a function of age, just a function of who I am) she listens and remembers what the doctors say.

For example, yesterday my NP looked at a six-month old test ordered by a different doc and said. this says you have (one of those details you don’t really need to know). I said, hmm, I wonder why he never told me that. Seems he should have. Then I got home and my wife (whose birthday is today and who, among other gifts, I gave a T-shirt that says, “Wicked Smaht.” People from Massachusetts (Massachusettsians? Massachusites? Massachusettsans? Bay Staters? will understand that) remembered exactly what he said.

Which is all a long way of saying, getting older ain’t so bad. And I hope we all get older for a long time.

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Oys! and Yos!

8/4/2021

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(The Screaming Moderate occasionally hands out awards to those who have done good -- Yos! -- and those who have done bad -- Oys. The committee on Yos! and Oys! meets whenever it feels like it.)

The first-ever Potential Yo! goes to former President Donald J. Trump. If Trump were to put out a statement, make a speech or video tape a message urging people to get a vaccination, we would see an additional boost given to the current surge of vaccinations. The political upsides to Trump (typically the way to encourage him to do something): The vaccine was developed on his watch and even Biden gave him a backhanded credit when he recently said the vaccine was developed under a Republican Administration. Trump speaks directly to many of the states far behind in vaccinating their people because they typically are "Trump states." If one wanted to be cynical one might say that there is no doubt Trump would earn some credit even if his speech had no impact because vaccinations are surging as people understand they actually could get very sick or die and as cities, like New York, are instituting bans on those not vaccinated from eating indoors at restaurants, going to to the theater, etc. This would be an easy way for Trump to earn and take credit for even if he had effect at all for a major increase. It would be a win-win. As he once said to a bloc of voters, "what have you got to lose?"

Oy! for being a hypocrite to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. For years Cuomo prided himself on his support for women and changing of laws to strengthen sexual harassment laws. Yesterday, New York Attorney Genera Leticia James issued results of an investigation requested by Cuomo into allegations of sexual harassment against him. The blistering report documents the accounts of 11 women who alleged sexual harassment against Cuomo. Cuomo liked to go around saying "believe the women" when claims of sexual harassment were lodged. Apparently he meant "believe the women except these 11 women."

Oy! to Republicans in Congress. Whatever happened to spending like a drunken sailor? During the Trump years Republicans in Congress shelved their decades-long dedication to not vote for spending increases to please Trump. Now, though, since there's a Democrat in the White House, Republican congressmen and senators are against increasing spending. They are giving one to Biden on infrastructure knowing they'll get much credit back home for improvements that will be made to bridges, roads, etc. Red ink apparently in their minds is a thing of the past as they now revert to what was a Republican long-time value.

Oy! to cancel culure. I gotta tell ya, I'd never heard of cancel culture until recent months when Republicans especially have been complaining about it. Is there a Committee to Cancel Culture? Who's in charge of it? Some think it's the media that gets together secretly among themselves to decide what to cancel today. Conservative talking heads popularized the phrase when things like Mr. Potato Head and some Dr. Seuess books were cancelled. (Want to know where the prhase comes from? It comes for the song "Your Love is cancelled" that appeared on an album in 1981 by Chic, a group that hit it big during the disco era. They prided themselves on songs with double meetings such as "Le Freak." According to Wikipedia, the song original lyrics had a refrain that said "ahh fuck off" after they failed to meet with Grace Jones. The refrain later became "ahh freak out" and a Number One disco song.) I'd love to cancel the phrase Cancel Culture.

A final Oy! to the Committee on Oys! and Yos! for not issuing a single Oh!

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Investigating January 6th

7/28/2021

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Who is responsible for the riot/protest/insurrection/coup that occurred January 6th at the U.S. Capitol? I don't know, though I can name many who have some responsibility.

That’s why we need an objective commission to investigate the facts. It didn’t happen on its own – I’d say spontaneous combustion was responsible but then what about those folks who wore combat gear, carried radios to communicate with each other, moved in military fashion, stole shields from police officers to beat them, and more?

Honestly, I’m not sure former President Trump is organized or smart enough to know how to pull off a coup. He clearly said he thought the certification that day could be blocked. He wanted his Vice President to do it. But he definitely has a large amount of culpability for what happened that day.

But let’s focus for a moment on those four officers who testified before the special committee yesterday. If you could watch that and not shed tears at various points, you have no heart. Whether a protest gone bad or an attempted coup, those officers and their colleagues fought against the odds to protect the Congress.

These men who testified weren’t making stuff up. They definitely didn’t hug or kiss anyone in the mob. They surely didn't roll out the welcome mat. They testified that some in the mob told them “Trump sent us.” If you’ve read about the pre-President Trump, you know that, despite his despot-like character on “The Apprentice,” he seldom gave direct orders, never really fired people. He nearly always gave wishy washy direction that his subordinates then carried out, as they "knew" what he was ordering. That is his style. He doesn’t like leaving fingerprints. Just ask Michael Cohen.

Those officers testified with passion, belief and utter amazement that some elected officials now are trying to say January 6th was a bunch of tourists strolling through the Capitol. If they were that, the Capitol Police would not have reacted as they did. If January 6th was a peaceful protest, there wouldn’t have been a million dollars of damage done to the building, not to mention members and staff of both parties hiding behind barricaded doors in fear of the “protestors.”

As the officers’ testimony was being given, several Republican members of Congress held, or attempted to hold, a press conference outside the Department of Justice where they claimed those arrested in the aftermath of January 6th are political prisoners. Give me a break.

My guess is some of that mob were average citizens, supporters of President Trump who came to Washington to protest what Trump calls, in the biggest lie to threaten our democracy ever, a rigged election. Months before the election he was setting up that excuse as the only explanation if he lost.

Many Republicans are pointing the finger at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, saying she was responsible for the riot, alleging she didn’t have the proper security measures in place.

If you research the chain of command for the Capitol police you won’t find the Speaker of the House in that line. Nor will you find the Senate Majority Leader. The chief of the Capitol police is responsible for security and he or she reports directly to the Capitol Police Board. The Speaker is not on that board, nor are any members of Congress. It's just one more delusion some are using to deflect responsibility.

Fact is, right or wrong, no one anticipated what happened January 6 could ever happen in America. Or could even imagine it.

“I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them (members of Congress)," said D.C. police officer Michael Fanone who suffered a heart attack and concussion from being beaten and threatened with death by his own gun. “… now, (members of Congress) are telling me that hell doesn’t exist or hell actually wasn’t that bad…The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful.”

There is nothing wrong and everything right with having some objective-as-can-be commission investigate what happened Jan. 6 and who was involved in it.

(To my Republican friends who at this moment are saying, “Yeah, what about a commission to study those BLM riots?” For one, they aren’t comparable and if you don’t understand why I can’ make you understand. For example, no one at those protests was trying to kill the Speaker of the House and hang the Vice President. Or stop a constitutionally mandated formality of certifying the electoral votes. But, whatever.)

Republicans rejected a commission, negotiated with Republicans, with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and both parties would had have subpoena power. Pelosi then set up a special committee which, after she rejected two of the biggest flamethrowers in the Republican caucus, was boycotted by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

(To my Republican friends would now claim that a couple of those Democrats are equal flamethrowers, I would just disagree they are in the same league. Adam Schiff is no Jim Jordan. But, whatever.)

January 6th didn’t just happen. It was planned. By whom is the question and Republicans clearly find the answer inconvenient because cooperating would mean the potential of learning that Trump was culpable in some way(s).

I’ve talked to friends who work for GOP Leadership on the Hill. They say this whole thing (the “rigged” election, the deference to the wants of Trump) is all about winning a majority in the mid-term elections. It’s all about McCarthy wanting to be speaker. Not a surprise, I know. Just another confirmation.

Are there politics on the Democratic side? Of course. They want to remain in control. But where there should be no disagreement is trying to find out what really happened on January 6th. And that's why Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger joined the panel. They do want the facts to come out. They know what other Republican members are saying privately while they publicly support Trump in fear of him opposing them in the elections -- that we need to understand what happened January 6h so it doesn't happen again.

An investigation is owed not only to the police who defended the Capitol against all odds but to the American people, to the world which is wondering if our democracy can survive and, if they think about it honestly, to all members of Congress whose lives were saved that day by a small number of police (when compared to the number in the mob), and to those police who literally gave their lives that day. Oh yeah, and they protected our democracy while it was under attack. A strong day at work.

(To my Republican friends who now would say “Yeah, what about Ashli Babbitt,” killed by police when she was at the front of a line trying to break through a door guarded by police, January 6th? I wish she wasn’t killed too. But she was trying to break in. Another sad casualty of a battle that should not have been fought.)

I know there will be a lot of “what aboutism” in response to this post by some Republican friends. The fact, though, is that our democracy was threatened that day. That mob’s aim was to stop the Congress from certifying the electoral vote thinking that would keep Donald Trump in office.

But it did happen, and we need to understand why and who is accountable for it.

Why? Because this still is America.

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Right-wing media coming around on the vaccine?

7/21/2021

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Right-wing media/pundits are beginning to change their tune.

Maybe it’s because now it’s primarily the unvaccinated who are dying from COVID. Maybe it’s because it finally hit them that the more they tell people not to get vaccinated, the more of their own voters and supporters are getting sick and dying (Okay, that’s a bit gratuitous. But it’s also true.) Maybe it’s because some developed a conscience (unlikely as that seems) and decided making this just another of their us-versus-them issues is a deadly mistake.

I don’t know which, or if any of that is true. But the tracking I do of the right-wing media (which is getting one round-up email a morning of what they’re saying) shows a distinct change in tune. For example, yesterday’s email from The Righting showed that Newsmax, a crazy right-wing niche outlet led by Trump good buddy Chris Ruddy, quoted Ruddy as saying:

“I like what Biden has done with the vaccine. At Newsmax, we have strongly advocated for the public to be vaccinated. The many medical experts that have appeared on our network have been near unanimous in support of the vaccine. I myself have gotten the Pfizer vaccine. There’s no question countless lives would have been saved if the vaccine was available earlier.”

Sean Hannity, Fox News’ former top right-wing idol (a title he’s lost to colleague Tucker Carlson), the other night on his show said: “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccinations.” Hannity said he will get vaccinated.

Meanwhile Carlson, who won’t say if he’s been vaccinated (but I’ve got a buck says he is), has been putting a decisive foot in each camp. According to Newsweek, “Carlson has repeatedly said that he isn't against vaccination. Rather, he said, he has been concerned with finding answers about ‘basic questions’ concerning COVID-19 vaccines. His show has repeatedly cast doubt about the vaccine’s safety.”

Whatever their reasons for highlighting their more pro-vaccine positions, I’m glad they’re finally doing it and I hope it’s not too late to save some lives. Ninety-nine percent of the people getting COVID today and dying are unvaccinated men and women. Some are true long-term anti-vaxxers, but many are following the lead of their favorite right-wing talking head.

This follows the defenses being used by some of those arrested in the January 6th insurrection who say they invaded the Capitol because “(President) Trump said to do so.”

The point is these pundits and thought-leaders do influence how many Americans react whether it’s to political news, cultural news or getting themselves vaccinated. The point is not every issue is an us-versus-them issue. Sometimes we’re mostly all on the same side. In this case, we all want to live.

It’s one reason the Biden Administration is trying to engage people key to various ethnic and age groups to push for vaccinations – not because the vaccine contains some kind of mind controlling ingredient, or a chip that controls what you do or think – but because the vaccine works. It protects you from dying. Also, it’s a reason they’ve called for a door-to-door campaign to push getting vaccinated. (And, no, those knocking on doors are not there to give you a shot.) Those who say this isn’t the government’s job are wrong. The government is there to protect us. To accurately inform us.

If former President Trump was a different kind of personality, he could take the lead among his base and lobby them to get vaccinated. The vaccine was created on his watch.

A guest on another Fox program stated the other day: “People are saying, ‘why get the vaccine if you’re not going to return to normal? What’s the use of doing it? Why?"

To which host Steve Doocy replied, “Well, you won’t die. That’s a good reason.”

Exactly. This is not about politics or mind control or a culture war or me-versus-you.

To paraphrase Doocy this “life or death.”

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The first meeting of 'the greats'

6/30/2021

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We scheduled June 20, at first not knowing it was Father’s Day, for the re-gathering of my kids, grandkids and me post-pandemic. The day offered extra joy because, for the first time, I’d be meeting my great-granddaughter, Ophelia, who was born in December.

We drove the two hours to my daughter’s house and upon reaching the deck of her home, I immediately saw my great-granddaughter playing with her father at the picnic table. She was, at first glance, even more beautiful than the pictures I’d been collecting of her from her birth. She also was smiling and clearly a very happy child.

I did not immediately approach her, assuming that babies can be a little apprehensive around new faces. I indeed was a new face as those gathered had all had met her. Her other set of great-grandparents visit her often since they live nearby and they sat close to her.

I made the rounds of hugging my kids for the first time in more than a year and took a seat at the opposite end of the table from Ophelia.

She peeked (I think) at me but it could have been her just looking around at the table full of relatives.
So there I sat, talking to my middle daughter for a bit, occasionally peeking over at Ophelia, anticipating holding her soon.

Eventually, my first daughter, the grandmother (I still haven’t fully accepted that my daughter is a grandmother) carried Ophelia toward me. She approached slowly. Carefully. And tenderly put Ophelia in my arms for the very first time. She took one look at me, scrunched up her mouth in what i thought was going to be her first smile at me. And…she wailed like a dangerous psycho was holding her!

I bounced her in my arms, I rubbed her belly as if she was a genie's bottle and she magically would stop crying. She didn’t. The experience lasted about two minutes before my daughter took control back. Ophelia calmed down.

We all chuckled.

Disappointing, yes, but understandable because, well, I was a new face.

The party went on and eventually my daughter again approached me softly, quietly with Ophelia in her arms. Ophelia looked at me as if she was acknowledging I was no longer a threat. She was placed gingerly in my arms and…she wailed even louder than the first time.

This time, I quickly handed her back to my daughter rather than have the child get even more upset.

My wife took a nice picture of me with Ophelia in my arms for the first time, crying her eyes out. I posted it on Facebook, because that’s what we do these days, right? It has so far gathered 217 likes. I don’t know what the normal total of “likes” average people get is, but for me, that was a record.

Why expose the lovely Ophelia now to the addition of a blog post about her? I mean do the literally tens of people who follow this blog need to know this?

Well, she’s just that cute…and she can’t read yet so I think we’re safe from the wailing.

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The first meeting of 'the greats'

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