The Screaming Moderate

The new nearly normal

6/2/2021

Things are not back to “normal” in this not-quite-post pandemic moment.

While many of us are fully vaccinated, many are not. While new cases are down (thanks to the vaccine), there sill are new cases. While deaths, thankfully, are down, there still are deaths.

That’s why, when I walked into the grocery store the other day, I wore my mask. As I headed to the deli counter, half a big-box store away, I all of a sudden saw people wearing masks – and NOT wearing masks. This was not the normal I’ve been living the past year. When I got to the counter, I asked the fella getting things I requested if we needed masks anymore. He said only if you’re more comfortable that way. Being fully vaccinated, I removed mine.

Then I walked around the grocery just wandering for a few minutes as I took in the new environment of non-mask wearing. I still, of course, wonder if the non-mask wearers were vaccinated or not. There’s obviously no way to tell.

It’s also not back to normal because I still see, every time a TV news story comes on about the pandemic, accompanying video of needles going into arms. Literally. This has been going on since the vaccine became available. Close-up shots of nurses putting needles in arms, the insertion causing an initial depression of the skin. Every time I see it, I react as if I’m being punctured. Seeing the pictures hurts more than the vaccine shot did, which the first time I didn’t know even went in.

I went into our local fish store yesterday, not a huge space. Prior to the “lifting” of restrictions she allowed only four individuals into a store at a time, masks required. I wore mine in yesterday, and asked the policy. Masks required only if you wanted. The store workers still wore their masks. The woman helping me said, “We see more people every day than others” so she was wearing the mask. She thanked me for asking if I needed a mask, though.

Again, that’s not a “normal” question. I likely will be asking it for a while before I feel “normal” again. I need, and I suspect some of you need, some time to remember what was normal before this hideous pandemic arrived.

With most restrictions being lifted, I still worry about more serious outbreaks around the country, with the victims those who refuse to get vaccinated. With bars, stadiums and other venues unlimited in number who can attend, the risk just multiplied many fold.

To try to motivate those not yet vaccinated to get their shots, many states are offering incentives. Like a million dollar lottery or two. I saw one kid, still in grammar school, won a full-ride college scholarship!

What gets me most about those programs to incentivize the unvaccinated is that we even need them. I don’t care that they may get a million bucks while I got nothing – well, except being protected against a deadly disease! That was plenty of incentive for me.

The feeling I got just scheduling the first dose was freeing.

President Biden and others are saying it’s a patriotic duty to get vaccinated. I agree. It’s also a human duty. It protects you and me and that person in the grocery store who I don’t know.

Mostly, it protects you. If you haven’t please get vaccinated. Don’t trust the vaccine? Look around, millions have gotten the vaccine with no ill effects at all.

You can enjoy the “freedoms” I now do without getting vaccinated. But there likely is a limit on that freedom. It isn’t risk-free.

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Oys! and Yos!

5/26/2021

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(The Screaming Moderate occasionally hands out awards for Yos! and Oys!, celebrating those individuals who do good deeds (Yo!) and bad ones (Oy!). The Committee on Yos! and Oys! meets when it feels like it.)

A gigantic Yo! to all those students (grammar, high school, and college) for adjusting and succeeding at distance learning the past year and to those graduates who endured/enjoyed their senior years without the traditional markers (proms, graduations) most of us had. It couldn’t have been easy and it had to take dedication and focus to ignore all the more fun things that surely distracted many from putting in the hours on their computers/tablets. Congratulations!

An equally gigantic Yo! to those first responders, health care workers and scientists who performed above and beyond to save as many people as possible from the pandemic at risk of their own lives. The scientists developed incredibly effective vaccines in an incredibly short amount of time that already is saving lives. Thanks, too, to former President Trump who okayed Operation Warp Speed which dedicated billions of dollars to rush the vaccine development. While he deserves credit for that, he also deserves a huge Oy! for his denial of the seriousness and neglect of pushing for mask-wearing and more to protect Americans. The battle is not over yet as more Americans need to be vaccinated, though. So, get vaccinated!

Oy! and yo! (Depending on your politics) to a group battling for the low ground to fill an eventual void of Donald Trump. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is doing his best Trump imitation not only by closing what should be public events to the press (except to his favored right-wing outlets like Fox or OAN) to trying to pull more and more power into the Governor’s hands and away from local officials.

Then there’s Georgia Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose every utterance is aimed at raising money. She is a money-raising machine as well as a bigot, racist, anti-Semite and more. For her outrageous and hurtful comments, several weeks ago the House (all Democrats and 11 Republicans) censured Greene and removed her from all her committee assignments. She is left to focus 100 percent on making outrageous comments and tweets, and to raise huge amounts of money, which seems to be the reason she ran in the first place.

This week’s mind-bending entry by Greene was comparing wearing masks to protect against COVID to the Holocaust. Yes, she did. Americans, she said, were tattooed with masks not unlike the tattoos forced on Jews in Nazi Germany to identify their backgrounds, and who went to their deaths in to the ovens.

Not much can be said about that. Speaks for itself. Greene, like her role model Trump, never apologizes, though she does take down Tweets (Lord, when did that become the bar?) Greene uses white identity and grievance politics just as Trump does. That’s because there’s a significant number of voters in the Party, or who at least vote for Trump, who agree with that.

Used to be someone ran for office out of ambition or arrogance or an honest devotion to service to his or her country. Now it seems people run so they can a get a big “commentator” cable news contract, to build a brand, raise money and say outrageous things. Another reason our D.C. politics is frozen. To apologize or admit mistake is to hurt your own brand. It’s done by politicians across the spectrum, but the standouts seem to on the right.

There are the runners-up in the “I want to be the next Trump” sweepstakes like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who has buddied up to Trump despite Trump not only insulting Cruz’ wife during the 2016 Republican primary but accusing Cruz’ father of being among a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy.

Then there is Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton who hasn’t smiled since…well, I’m not sure he’s ever smiled and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley who says he never raised his fist in solidarity with the January 6th insurrectionists despite photographic evidence that he indeed did.

Oy! to former President Donald Trump who has fought to keep his tax returns and other financial documents from the public eye (no, that’s not why this Oy!) but a few weeks ago the former President, who has yet to (and never will) concede he lost the 2020 election, had his lawyers argue to a judge, to keep those records private, in an official filing, “While the TRUST Act (key to this case) is not the clearest statute, the best reading is that it does not apply to former presidents,” the argument stated, Voila, clearly the former President will argue against himself when it comes to letting the public know anything official about his finances. But the Big Lie continues.

A big Oy! to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (a front-runner to succeed Trump as the 2024 presidential nominee) who is doing his best to centralize state power in the state capital and shoving Florida from purple to red by fiat (Trump attempted to do this in Washington too). To get there, DeSantis has to stomp on the wishes of local governments (and citizens), which also goes against the grain of the traditional Republican Party which believes (believed?) that power must go to the local and state governments as much as possible. It’s an all-out assault on home rule, from seizing control in health care emergencies to messing around in police budgets to voters’ abilities to launch ballot initiatives.

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RIP GOP.

5/10/2021

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It’s not often you can predict a death with precision. But this is one time:

The Republican Party will breathe its last on Wednesday.

That’s when Cong. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) will be removed from the caucus’ leadership. Her crime: telling the truth.

This is why the GOP is on the brink of death. The House Republican leadership is officially banning the truth Wednesday. The Republican National Committee already has let the party pass on with its chairman, Ronna McDaniel (nee Romney), who long ago pledged fealty to a different philosophy. Well, not a philosophy really. A man.

To coin a phrase, “They can’t handle the truth!”

The truth is (spoiler alert!) that Joseph Robinette Biden won the election last November, was sworn into office on Jan. 20 and is performing his duties as leader of the country and commander-in-chief. Yes, it’s true. And no phony recount in Arizona is going to change it.

But that is not the reality for the soon-to-be-late Republican Party. It now is (and you’ve heard this before many times) a cult. The Republican Party is being reborn, shedding its previous name of the Grand Old Party (GOP) and replacing and rebranding itself as the Cult of Trump (COT).

The Republican Party had a set of values it lived by and an ideology that led its thinking for many decades. The COT has neither. It has … Donald John Trump. Whatever Trump says, the party backs. Even his lies.

If you do not pledge fealty to Trump and his lie that he actually won the 2020 election, you are effectively blackballed from the party. Gone, Kaput. Ironically, you are "cancelled" – yes, the same “cancelling” that many in the COT have pointed fingers at liberals for their cancelling (but not really) Dr. Suess and Mr. Potato Head among other things.

As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (COT-Georgia) said of Liz Cheney, “her first fist bump to Biden was when she voted to impeach President Trump.” The picture of the fist bump Cheney gave to Biden as he headed to the podium to give his first Joint Session of Congress speech, “is just the one that made it public,” Greene said.

And, yes, showing respect to the presidency also no longer is part of the former GOP’s values.

Now, Green and her cohort Matt Gaetz (COT-Florida) are on a countrywide tour to call out Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) because they are not toadying to Trump.

It’s funny they call it a tour to out RINOs because those RINOs include folks who represent past big Republican office-holding families that helped build the party. Folks like Mitt Romney, whose dad was governor of Michigan, and former President George W. Bush, whose family spans political involvement from the 18th to the 21st centuries. And, Ronald Reagan, once considered the gold standard of the modern party couldn’t get the nomination today.

Gaetz, a sitting congressman, makes time for the tour because it distracts from an investigation into his allegedly sleazy sex life involving girls (a female under 18) and other possible crimes.

Greene, a sitting congresswoman, has time because she was stripped by the House of all her committee assignments for her past incendiary comments and support of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

Meantime, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is so craven to be the Speaker of the House that he has buried any self-respect he earned when he first criticized Trump over the insurrection but then made his pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring. As have other COT leaders.

A large part of the party now is promoting legislation across the country to suppress the votes of various constituencies that typically vote Democratic. They are using Trump’s Big Lie to justify those bills. They say they are tightening the security of elections because the last election was, well, it was secure and declared so by Trump Administration officials and multiple judges across the country, including many appointed by Trump.

One might ask of those pols, to coin another phrase, “Have you no sense of decency?”

McCarthy sees riding the Trump train as the way to achieve the Speakership because Trump is spending his first post-presidency months carrying out the Donald Trump Revenge Tour and finding candidates to primary anyone who ever took a stand against him.

Ironically, Cheney has a far better record voting for Trump policies than Rep. Elise Stephanik, who is likely to replace her as the House Republican Conference chair, third-ranking in GOP House leadership, which isn’t really much of a job but the title sounds good.

Cheney's vote ratings also make her among the more conservative of congressmen in the party. But being a conservative is no longer the measurement to be in the party, now it is being wholly dedicated to Trump.

Also remember that Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney who led the charge against those Weapons of Mass Destruction that were never found during the Bush 43 presidency. And his daughter was shoulder to shoulder with him on that. She did not vote for Trump’s first impeachment but did for his second, thus her banishment from leadership and probably from her House seat next election, if not before.

The conventional wisdom is that Republicans have to suck up to Trump so that his supporters stick with the party’s Congressional and Senate candidates, who, if blessed by Trump, have a leg up in most primaries within the party. While primaries aren’t elections, it wouldn’t take many wins to retake the House and the Senate in 2022, which is all McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has not pledged fealty to Trump, care about. In fact, McConnell is another long-time Republican leader that Trump would like to take out.

Then there is that poll, conducted by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), whose mission is to elect Republicans to the House, that shows Trump’s support is weak in “key battleground states.” The poll was presented to Republican House members at a recent retreat.

But that negative information about Trump was left out of the presentation. Why? Because in the COT any informaiton negative to Dear Leader is hidden.

In the poll, Trump’s unfavorable ratings were 15 points higher than his favorable ones in “core districts.” This information was withheld even though a sitting congressman asked that specific question during the presentation. Let’s call it the Littler Lie. And it's information that House Republicans should have been given at that retreat.

The Republican Party once stood for smaller government and against budget deficits. Those were not highlights of the Trump Administration. While Ronald Reagan is famous, among other things, for proclaiming “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Trump is famous for saying nothing ever to get Gorbachev’s successor, Vladimir Putin, upset.

Yes, I know, “what about the sanctions?” But you seldom heard Trump talk about them. He just kept saying nice things about Putin. Not to mention Trump's love letters pen pal, Kim Jong-un in North Korea.

Trump also upended the GOP’s long-held support of free trade by criticizing trade deals entered into before he was elected, most negotiated by Republican administrations. And, he accused our NATO allies of not pulling their weight, putting a huge strain on our formerly strong relationships with our allies. And our hard-earned role as Leader of the Free World.

In short, things the party stood for, for decades, don’t matter anymore. It has lost its policy way. In fact, at the 2020 Republican Convention, the party had no platform – Trump didn’t want one. No philosophy, no ideology, no roadmap for leadership.

It all, though, gets whittled down to the Big Lie, which is that Trump actually won the election he lost, in a landslide according to Trump’s own calculations of what a landslide is (because Biden’s margin was similar to Trump's in 2016).

If you don’t side with Trump on the Big Lie, you can’t belong to the former Republican Party, demonstrated this week by the all-but-certain vote that will boot Cheney from leadership. For those current and former Republicans who don’t agree with the Big Lie, there are limited places they can go:

They can become Democrats and form a true Conservative caucus within that party;
Or, they can create a third party, which likely would strengthen Democrats because that third party would split votes with the Republican Party.

Those are about the only options.

The party that for years called itself The Big Tent is now a Pup Tent.

3 Comments

Tucker Carlson. Seriously?

4/28/2021

2 Comments

When it comes to Fox News’ top-rated entertainer Tucker Carlson, logic, reason and facts no longer exist, if they ever did, during his many hours on-air five nights a week.

He must spend his non-on-air-time coming up with nutty conspiracy theories and other lies. I can’t imagine these dangerous comments just spew forth without forethought.

For example:

He thinks that if you see a parent outside with a child wearing a face mask, you should call children’s’ services to lodge a complaint of child abuse against that parent.
He thinks immigration, legal and illegal, is an attempt by Democrats to increase their number of registered voters to win elections.
He believes the jurors in the Derek Chauvin murder trial voted guilty because they were afraid Black Lives Matter would riot against any other verdict.
He doesn’t believe white supremacists had a role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

In short Tucker Carlson is nuts.

Now I list all the above having not ever even once watched any (can I be any more redundant?) of his shows. But his crazy comments are covered by the media as if he is a real policy expert commenting on real issues. He isn’t. He’s making it up as he goes along. He wants and need eyeballs watching to justify the big bucks he is paid.

In a simpler time he may as well be Pinky Lee (look him up, his catch phrase was “ohh you make me so mad”) doing his TV show. The difference was Pinky didn't get the added audience boost of getting big media coverage.

Just like Pinky, Tucker is in it for the ratings. The moolah. That’s television. TV's goal hasn’t changed in decades.

Tucker’s not alone in his crazy right-wing-conspiracy-I-want-attention-mania though.

I’m sure you’ve read about Sidney Powell, former Donald Trump attorney, who claimed in a nationwide media tour that the 2020 election was rigged, including by a voting machine manufacturer whose machines were programmed to switch votes. After a billion-dollar suit was filed against her by that manufacturer, Powell said “no reasonable person” would have believed her claims of a fraudulent election. Uh, right except for those millions who did and do.

Then there’s Richard Barnett, that fellow sitting with his feet up on a desk in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office suite on Jan. 6 and ransacking papers on the desk, even stealing one. Barnett has been charged in connection with the insurrection.

Barnett also left a note in the Speaker’s office that read, “Hey Nancy Bigo was here b----.” His defense attorneys now argue that the final word in his note wasn’t “bitch.” Rather, it said, “Hey Nancy Bigo was here biatd.” (not a comma to be found in his note).

I guess he figures “biatd” lets him off the hook.

But wait, there’s more. Brendan Hunt, a vocal supporter of the former president, is on trial in New York on charges of making death threats to top Democratic leaders before and after the Jan. 6 insurrection. In court, Hunt now argues that his messages were not to be taken seriously.

When he testified yesterday, he blamed his threats on pandemic-induced boredom and depression. According to the Washington Post report, Hunt also was “confronted by prosecutors with violent, racist and anti-Semitic statements that he argued did not reflect his beliefs.”

Sounds like various Trump supporters are now arguing that what they say is not what they believe. I guess the “biatd” made them do it.

Hunt claimed he was “lonely and isolated” during the pandemic quarantine and turned to marijuana and alcohol use. This all led him, he claimed in a video, to demand that “patriots…put some bullets” in the heads of members of Congress. Specifically he called for the executions of then-Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Pelosi and liberal New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

So, these violent demonstrators at the Jan. 6 riots/insurrections/rebellion were just out of their minds when they broke the law. They were just venting from pandemic-induced loneliness. They weren’t to be taken seriously.

Just like Tucker Carlson.

2 Comments

Tucker Carlson. Seriously?

4/28/2021

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He thinks that if you see a parent outside with a child wearing a face mask, you should call children’s’ services to lodge a complaint of child abuse against that parent.
He thinks immigration, legal and illegal, is an attempt by Democrats to increase their number of registered voters to win elections.
He believes the jurors in the Derek Chauvin murder trial voted guilty because they were afraid Black Lives Matter would riot against any other verdict.
He doesn’t believe white supremacists had a role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

In short Tucker Carlson is nuts.

Now I list all the above having not ever even once watched any (can I be any more redundant?) of his shows. But his crazy comments are covered by the media as if he is a real policy expert commenting on real issues. He isn’t. He’s making it up as he goes along. He wants and need eyeballs watching to justify the big bucks he is paid.

In a simpler time he may as well be Pinky Lee (look him up, his catch phrase was “ohh you make me so mad”) doing his TV show.The difference was Pinky didn't get the added audience boost of getting big media coverage. a

Just like Pinky, Tucker is in it for the ratings. The moolah. That’s television. TV's goal hasn’t changed in decades.

Tucker’s not alone in his crazy right-wing-conspiracy-I-want-attention-mania though.

I’m sure you’ve read about Sidney Powell, former Donald Trump attorney, who claimed in a nationwide media tour that the 2020 election was rigged, including by a voting machine manufacturer whose machines were programmed to switch votes. After a billion-dollar suit was filed against her by that manufacturer, Powell said “no reasonable person” would have believed her claims of a fraudulent election. Uh, right except for those millions who did and do.

Then there’s Richard Barnett, that fellow sitting with his feet up on a desk in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office suite on Jan. 6 and ransacking papers on the desk, even stealing one. Barnett has been charged in connection with the insurrection.

Barnett also left a note in the Speaker’s office that read, “Hey Nancy Bigo was here b----.” His defense attorneys now argue that the final word in his note wasn’t “bitch.” Rather, it said, “Hey Nancy Bigo was here biatd.” (not a comma to be found in his note).

I guess he figures “biatd” lets him off the hook.

But wait, there’s more. Brendan Hunt, a vocal supporter of the former president, is on trial in New York on charges of making death threats to top Democratic leaders before and after the Jan. 6 insurrection. In court, Hunt now argues that his messages were not to be taken seriously.

When he testified yesterday, he blamed his threats on pandemic-induced boredom and depression. According to the Washington Post report, Hunt also was “confronted by prosecutors with violent, racist and anti-Semitic statements that he argued did not reflect his beliefs.”

Sounds like various Trump supporters are now arguing that what they say is not what they believe. I guess the “biatd” made them do it.

Hunt claimed he was “lonely and isolated” during the pandemic quarantine and turned to marijuana and alcohol use. This all led him, he claimed in a video, to demand that “patriots…put some bullets” in the heads of members of Congress. Specifically he called for the executions of then-Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Pelosi and liberal New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

So, these violent demonstrators at the Jan. 6 riots/insurrections/rebellion were just out of their minds when they broke the law. They were just venting from pandemic-induced loneliness. They weren’t to be taken seriously.

Just like Tucker Carlson.

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Justice today...and tomorrow?

4/21/2021

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Just as the Derek Chauvin case seemed open and closed to millions of us around the world – thanks to Darnella Frazier’s video of the murder – it apparently was just as open and closed to the jury. Thanks, no doubt, to Ms Frazier’s video, as well.

The verdict was reassuring, finally, that a successful case can be put together against an arrogant cop whose view is that he is the judge and jury. Chauvin will go to prison for many years, an ex-cop who killed a Black man in a population of men who won’t be very accepting of him, to say the least.

The jury considered three complicated charges in fewer than 10 hours, indicating there wasn’t much, if any, debate about Chauvin’s guilt. And that, too, is reassuring, I hope, to a black and brown population in America who aren’t used to coming out with justice in such cases.

People tend to give cops the benefit of the doubt when someone dies at their hands. This case was different, though. We all watched as Chauvin pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck – for nearly 10 minutes -- until Mr. Floyd stopped breathing.

Chris Stewart, an attorney for the family of George Floyd, said, “Days like this don’t happen” as he pointed out the obvious –- it shouldn’t be so difficult to convict the perpetrator of this crime.

Apparently it wasn’t. And that is thanks to not only a strong case put on by the prosecution but also the key piece of evidence – a 9-minute-29 -second video recorded by Ms Frazier, the 17-year-old witness to the murder and brave young lady who recorded the piece of video viewed ‘round the world.

The verdict not only provides justice for the Floyd family -- though is there any justice when a family member is murdered? -- it also should put in the head of any other bad cops, one hopes, a second thought whenever they are responsible for anyone in their custody, especially black or brown people. When you are taken into custody by law enforcement the last thing you should worry about is whether you will die from the experience, but that is the world black and brown people live in every day.

That’s why those parents have to have “the talk” with their children to not give any cop a reason to be violent with you -- putting the responsibility for courteousness on their children rather than on the cops, and understandably so.

As an attorney who typically represents policemen said, “Without that video, this may have all turned out very differently.” Truer words were never spoken. Especially since the original version of the incident put out by police was far different than the truth.

A nation on the brink of another night of violence and brutality instead enjoyed a night of celebration and joy. Justice indeed was done, for a change.

Chauvin’s lawyer argued that it was a raucous crowd that distracted Chauvin, putting his focus on the crowd rather than on his knee on Floyd’s neck. That raucous crowd Chauvin’s lawyer imagined was a dozen or so people who never threatened law enforcement that day. There is video of them too.

They did beg Chauvin to get off Floyd’s neck. They called for reason and logic.

And, they recorded Chauvin choking the life out of George Floyd. Floyd wasn’t a threat. He was handcuffed and compliant except for that moment the police tried to force him into a squad car and he fought out of fear and anxiety over being in such a small place. As the defense did argue, Floyd indeed was a big man. But he was a big man who was compliant. Who never swore at the officers. Who thrashed out of anxiety when they tried to push him into the car.

He never swore, he only begged.

But whatever imagined “super human” strength Chauvin’s lawyer claimed, apparently wasn’t sufficient to push Chauvin off of Floyd as he lay there dying in the street. Why? Because Floyd had no superhuman strength. Yes he was a big man but he was about as compliant as a suspect could be in police custody. We saw that on the tape too.

The hope is the verdict is a major step in the evolution of social justice. That is the hope. The verdict and findings of the jury give supporters of social justice a big argument in their favor. In normal times (meaning pre- the last 20 years or so) maybe that would lead to significant changes to our laws and mores. With each incident we've lived through, we have always though that though.

Unfortunately it isn’t likely to be a swift change despite a President who wants to see that change and for a huge chunk of the country who agrees with him.

Justice definitely existed yesterday. The question is, will it exist equally tomorrow?

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Customer Service. Um hmm

4/10/2021

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Ok, yes, some places have excellent customer service. Recently I was at my car dealer and they always have not only excellent customer service but also thoughtful and considerate service.

But the two places I have most engaged with customer service in recent months are Amazon (I do love the convenience of Amazon) and Sirius radio (I do love the no commercial, music-I-like aspects of Sirius).

But my issue with Amazon is the streaming music service you get along with your Prime membership. I listen to it every morning when I’m reading the papers (classical), during the day (folk, classic rock, Broadway) and at dinner (usually jazz or classic rock). So I use it quite a bit. I’ll try to make this as brief as possible even though over the past few months it’s taken up hours of my time:

I wasn’t paying the extra money to get “Unlimited” music because the range I already got with my Prime membership was more than sufficient. But I seem to recall it played for longer than an hour at a time without stopping. Then, it stopped doing that.

I began with the online chat version of customer service. I got various answers on different days from: “that’s odd” to “reboot your device, unplug it” to “the problem is on our end, we’re working on it.” A few days after I got that response, it actually started playing for more than an hour at a time! But then it stopped again.

Once, the online chat help person said he’d have to “bump you up” to a higher, more technical level of service. This happened several times. Each time they gave me something to do that I should try for a few days and they’d call me back to check out if it worked. It never worked. And they never called me back.

I told each one that another of their cohort told me the problem was on your end, not mine. But that didn’t seem to matter.

This issue was getting to me so much (let it be the worst problem I ever have) that my wife said I was obsessing about it. I told her “no, I’m not!” As in most things, though, she was right. It was an obsession not so much that I couldn’t listen for more than an hour without making another request of Alexa (not exactly a heavy lift), but because I couldn’t believe there was no answer to why this was happening.

I checked forums online to see if others had the same problem. Hundreds did. Hundreds also got the run around from Amazon. A few kept saying, “This is their marketing plan to get you to sign up for Unlimited.” I thought, Amazon has so much money – almost as much as their owner – that they wouldn’t stoop to that despicable tactic.

Finally, I got a nice young woman who seemed to honestly be trying to help. She gave me something to try for a few days. It didn’t work. And, she actually called me back!

She did not, though, bump me to that mysterious “higher level” of technical support. She said she’d track it down and call me back. And…she did! Finally, after months of time spent online and on the phone, I got the definitive answer: Alexa only plays music for more than an hour at a time if you pay for Unlimited.

I thanked her for telling me that and said I wished the others I’d spoken with were as honest as you. Disappointing but…mystery solved! Obsession ended!

I eventually did sign up for that “one device, $3.99 a month” deal, a deal I’d never heard about before. I really only use one device to play it that long anyway.

Still I’m guessing it took me 17 phone calls to get an honest, simple answer.

Now, Sirius. All of a sudden the radio in my car gets “no signal” or cuts out repeatedly on the same roads I’ve driven for four years without problem. This would be a small irritant but Sirius isn't cheap and I wanted it to play regularly. (Again let this be the worst problem I ever have. There is regular radio, after all.)

I started with the chat line. They’d tell me “refresh your radio” which I have done 18 times in the last few weeks. It never worked.

One fellow bumped me to the “higher level of technical support” who could help me. Once, I actually got through, explained my issue. that fellow put me on hold, came back and said, there that should fix it. I asked what did you do, but he was gone.

It didn’t fix it.

So, I’d wait a few days because some days were better reception than others. In fact, I’d go to the grocery store, about two miles away, and would get “no signal” the whole way there. But, on my return home, the radio worked flawlessly. On the same, local, two-lane road.

I drove to my car dealer which is about 16 miles away and it worked perfectly. On the way back too. And, the next day … it worked flawlessly again! I figured maybe the trip warmed it up and it was cured.

But nope. The next day, same problem. It would get no signal on my way out of my street (a dead end) but when I returned it would play fine on that same piece of road.

Then, the next day, no signal again on my road. And, I’d drive the two miles to the grocery store, all the way with it not working. But, on my return trip, over the same road, it worked perfectly.

Once again to the chat line. Again, they said refresh your radio. I said that doesn’t help. He bumped me to a higher level (one time I was texting with a friend and she was trying to get through to Delta customer service. Would wait literally hours on hold. Got a call back at 12:30 a.m. But after she got out the first two words, Delta’s system went down, ending the call. She also told me she was bumped to a “higher level” once and figured the businesses we were trying to reach used the same answering service. She also experienced, as did I, each place, while we were on hold, telling us we “are special to them….your business is important to us.” Um hmm.)

Then there’s that other thing. The horrible “music” you get on hold stops for a second and you think someone is coming on the line but nope. It just continues playing that godawful music. Or I figure my call has been dropped so I hang up and call again, only to be even further back in line.

Back to Sirius. I was bumped up to “the higher level.” The chat online person said he put a note in my file so I wouldn’t have to explain my issue for the 321st time.

I’ve now tried that “higher level of service” number 15 times and wait on hold for 45 minutes, listening to that godawful music, and hang up in frustration.

Meanwhile my radio does the same thing. In and out. I guess this is to be continued because my radio issue remains.

Have a nice day.

You’re very important to me.

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Trump acts like the future of the GOP. Is he?

3/10/2021

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Former President Donald J. Trump doesn’t need to form a new political party. He already has one, and he is trying to put the finishing touches on his takeover.

Trump, through his lawyers, notified the various Republican election committees that they couldn’t raise money using his name or likeness. He wanted the donations to come to him directly to avoid it going to any RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).

He’s since walked that back a step or two. In drawing back, though, he gained from the Republican National Committee the agreement that he can veto the use of his name on different pleas of theirs for money.

He wants to control the political money raised, using his own political action committee (PAC) as the bank for the money, Doing so would accomplish a couple of things for Trump.

One, control of fund-raising (he who controls the money controls the party); two, the money goes into his own PAC, meaning he can spend it any way he chooses (warning Will Robinson!!); three, hamstrings the party because he then keeps the party (combined with his control the “base” votes of the party) from funding incumbents, some of whom Trump believes are disloyal to him. And he wants them gone. Is that good for the party's long-term health?

In other words, Trump has not gone away nor did anyone expect him to truly enjoy his post-presidency in any traditional sense. After all, there are hides to skin.

Then again, this is the only way Trump would enjoy his post-presidency: maintaining power, stroking his ego, having party leaders make the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to get his blessing. Plus, his businesses are in trouble and he likely will need to sell off various expensive properties. There are those pesky investigations going on into his finances. That PAC could come in extra handy. Lawyers to be paid. Loyalists to keep on the paryoll.

My question to the leaders of the GOP apparatus is: Is his the best path for the long-term strength of the party to elect Republicans?

He isn’t going away. He “controls” millions of votes that aren’t all truly Republican votes, but votes Republicans do need to try to retake the House and Senate in 2022.

Imagine elected officials who not only need to pretend they support Trump but who truly do support him. He wants the full fealty – not just the transactional loyalty he’s seen from some current (maybe most) members of the House and Senate.

Don’t get me wrong. He is using the system to maintain control, which is his right. Will the party let him win? So far, yes.

And/but the party’s job is to elect Republicans. And in many states and congressional districts you won’t win general elections with Trump loyalists. They can win a primary, sure, and likely will. But will those candidates play well in a general election?

Platforms don't mean a lot but they are important to whatever message a party wants to convey to voters. Trump vetoed the idea of any platform in 2020. That made the message: Donald Trump.

To reach beyond its base doesn’t call for the cult the GOP is becoming. It requires policies that appeal to voters.

A more normal approach for a post-presidency, would be to help the party take over the House and Senate – not hamstring it by running primaries against their incumbents who have proven they can win. But once again, this is Donald J. Trump we are talking about and “normal” doesn’t apply. Could his approach to politics be the wave of the future? Banking on his charisma to win elections all over the country?

In a way, you might compare him to The Royals at the moment. The “institution” or “the firm” is trying to survive while Harry and Megan point fingers at its control, deep state and racism. Harry and Megan are fighting up stream, though possibly taking a step that will eventually show up as a major moment in the monarchy’s history.

The same with Trump. Can his message of grievance and "only I can solve it" actually have staying power in American politics? Can having no platform be the wave of the future?

At the moment, it looks like it could work in the short term because of Trump. Post-Trump, though, what happens to the party? How many steps will they have lost? Is there another Trump (not by relation but in cult-like force) in the wings?

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Random(ish) Thoughts

2/25/2021

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Since January 20, I find:

It takes way less time to read the newspaper. During the Trump years, I’d start The Washington Post and an hour later not yet be done with the first section. Today I whisk though it. I’ve always, and still do, love newspapers. But I think this development is a good one.

I spend far less time on Twitter

It’s been weeks since I've blurted out, "did you hear what he just said? Idiot!"

When I started this blog, I intended to write about various topics of interest to me – grandkids, language, and politics. Since Trump entered the political space I’ve had problems writing anything but about Trump! Even I got bored with myself. But, I promised I wouldn’t get used to the crazy Trump times and would not accept him as “normal” in any sense of the word. So, Trumpapalooza in the blog.

I haven't had a cup of covfefe since November.

I've noticed that weather maps from the National Weather Service are no longer highlighted with Sharpies.

Still, though, he’s “gone” at least at the moment, and it almost feels like he never was.

The words I never thought would appear in the same sentence: Donald J. Trump Presidential Library.

We've heard very little about any planning for Trump's library, but it seems improbable that he won't have one. I mean, He can build a building dedicated to...himself, brand it with the Trump name....and it's expected!

He has to raise the money to build it which offers opportunities for him but, uh, I won't get into that because, see above, it’s like he never was.

When I started with this idea (to write about a Trump Library), I figured I'd offer up suggestions for what might actually be in the library since he likely destroyed any paper from his years in office -- which couldn't have been much because he hated having records of anything.

Then, during my research (yes, despite what some may think, I do research for this blog, I ran across djtrumplibrary.com, a parody site for a Trump library. It's pretty funny, though also kind of expected. It made me realize a satire of the Trump Library could get rather juvenile. I won’t try to compete with that. Wouldn't want to raise my standards.

There will be discussion of course about where his library should be located. New York City has pretty much disowned him, and he's abandoned it...so it seems an unlikely choice for the library.

While the government maintains presidential libraries, responsibility to raise funds to build them rests on the former president. Trump has experience, of course, raising big sums of money but the spending of it often is a moving target (remember those funds he raised to pay for his court challenges of the 2020 election?)

Also there was that little settlement a few years ago where he agreed not to lead a foundation in New York after his personal foundation was found, uh, lacking in following the rules. Turned out, it wasn’t okay to use foundation money to buy a huge portrait of yourself! Who knew?

Trump lives in Florida which does seem a good place for the library. For one thing, it will be near a golf course because you can’t spit without hitting a course in Florida.

And now look at that, another damn blog post about Trump!

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About those conspiracy theories...

2/4/2021

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When I was in my third year of Hebrew school, the rabbi asked to see me after class. I wasn’t that good a student in my normal English grammar school and I’m afraid I was that much worse when reading right to left instead of left to right – so I figured I was in some kind of trouble.

I knocked on the rabbi’s door after class and heard him say, “come in, and please close the door.” Fortunately, he said all that in English.

I entered, closed the door and he told me sit in the chair in front of his desk.

“Son,” he began (no one ever called me Son so I figured it was Hebrew and had some other translation). “Son, each year I ask one person and one person only from the third grade to see me on a very important and confidential matter.”

OK, he may as well have been speaking Hebrew now because I had no idea what he was talking about. So, I said, “yes, sir?” (“Yes, sir” seemed to be the thing to say and is understood in all languages.)

“Son,” he continued, “one of the reasons I chose you for this discussion is that I’m told by your teachers and friends that you are bright, even if you don’t demonstrate that in Hebrew school, and can keep something secret when asked and, while you can’t speak much Hebrew, which is another discussion, we have an important assignment for you.”

Totally confused especially wondering who the “we” was (or were), I deferred to what seemed to be working ... “yes, sir?" I said.

He said, “this will not happen for some years but there is some training required which is why I’m asking you this when you’re so young.”

I skipped the “yes, sir” preferring to let him talk.

“Son, unbeknownst to the outside world, we Jews maintain a series of space lasers for our own protection. I want you to be our emissary to the JSF – the Jewish Space Force – and to take on the responsibility of learning all about the lasers so you can operate them later in life, if necessary. I’ve spoken to the GWWSFR – the Global Worldwide Space Rabbis Association – and they’ve agreed that you should be this year’s Chosen One.”

I figured this guy had too many sips of wine at Friday’s services but he seemed serious.

He told me that my training would start that summer but I could tell no one, even my parents. I agreed because this sounded intriguing to me and was apparently quite an honor. Plus I got to away for a month! Maybe there’d be girls there.

That summer, I told my parents that I’d received a grant from George Soros to attend the overnight Camp Shalom for a month, when really I was heading off to JLSC – Jewish Laser Space Camp.
And so my journey began. I kept my mouth shut, and over the next few years was trained in all aspects of space lasery. I was never activated because there’d been no call for using the space laser. But I was always at the ready!

Then, one day, that shiksa – Marjorie Taylor Greene – blew our cover. I don’t know how she knew, but she outed us by saying Jewish Space Lasers started the California wildfires. She was labeled a fruitcake for this and other reasons. Still, she was correct about the Jewish Space Lasers but she was wrong on the California wildfires.

That wasn’t us.

That was QAnon.

Shalom.

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The new nearly normal

Oys! and Yos!

RIP GOP.

Tucker Carlson. Seriously?

Tucker Carlson. Seriously?

Justice today...and tomorrow?

Customer Service. Um hmm

Trump acts like the future of the GOP. Is he?

Random(ish) Thoughts

About those conspiracy theories...

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