The Screaming Moderate

Dribs, drabs .. or drips? You make the call

3/7/2023

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Trump on the stump. Former President Trump appeared on home turf this weekend when he spoke for two hours(!) to his homies at CPAC, an organization that has morphed from conservative Republicans to crazy people. The two hours consisted of riffs we’ve all heard before and a couple of new ones. ("I am your retribution!") But, according to CNN’s ace fact-checker Daniel Dale, Trump was up to his old tricks/lies (read for yourself: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/03/06/exp-fact-checking-donald-trumps-cpac-speech.cnn). And he visited the site of the Ohio train derailment. While he didn’t toss bottles of Trump-branded water to the citizens, of course he promised he would send some. (Reminder: He never misses a commercial opportunity.)

Dirty little non-secrets. The Fox News channel was exposed via discovery in the Dominion billion-plus dollar defamation lawsuit when a bunch of texts were uncovered showing that the talking heads at Fox (Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and others) knew all along that the Trump camp was lying about the “fixed” 2020 election. In text after text it was clear they didn’t believe any of it but they still talked about it nightly to ensure good ratings. Of course, Fox is apparently not covering that lawsuit on air so its viewers, dominated by Trump voters, aren’t hearing the facts from Fox so they aren’t believing them. And with the new majority on the Supreme Court there are efforts being made to have the court override New York Times v Sullivan which has guided libel and defamation claims for nearly 60 years. Plus, Carlson last night started airing some of the thousands of hours of Jan. 6 tape Speaker of the House McCarthy gave him exclusively. Of course, what you saw, according to news reports, was people inside taking pictures like tourists. And none of them injuring law enforcement or doing millions of dollars of damage to federal property. Nor, I’m guessing, much mention of the hundreds charged with crimes from that day. Plus, Tucker has much more to come. (Fox: News You Should Lose.)

Newspapers continue suffering. The above item regarding the Sullivan case is particularly scary because local newspapers keep going out of business or are cut to the bone by venture capitalists. As regional and local papers die, the readers are the real losers because many of the issues closest to them are not covered. Transparency and accountability disappear.This was dramatically demonstrated in a kind/sorta good way last week. The last New Jersey reporter on Capitol Hill was laid off by the Newark Star-Ledger’s owner, NJ Advanced Media, which cited cost savings. As a tribute to his decades of fair reporting, his layoff was protested when New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and 12 more in the state’s congressional delegation sent off a letter asking the news organization to change its decision. That’s a tribute to the reporter, Jonathan Salant, a veteran of more than 40 years, and his fair-handed coverage. As more and more politicians outright lie about things and there are fewer local and regional reporters around to shed light on them, the country loses big time. One more institution targeted to end.

Not to mention, but let’s .. Ron DeSantis. Florida’s governor, and soon -to -be presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is on a national tour promoting his new book which is a best seller, likely, similar to other politicians’ books, because a political organization spent thousands of dollars to buy copies to give away to donors. DeSantis’ presidential campaign kickoff includes not just a national book tour (which takes him – surprise! -- to several important primary states) but a planned session by the Republican-dominated Florida legislature which is on the cusp of passing much legislation DeSantis wants primarily so he can point to his “success” as a non-MAGA MAGA Republican. The legislation includes many education measures aimed at things like gender studies and diversity programs in state universities, expanding a prohibition on teaching sexual orientation and gender identity through the 8th grade and banning the use of preferred pronouns in K-12 schools. (opponents call that last bill the “don’t say they” bill.)

All that, and more is so DeSantis can campaign to the MAGA faithful that he is governor of the “wokest” state in the country and what he did to Florida, he can do to the entire country. By the way, there is one more bill about to be voted on in Florida and that would repeal the “resign to run law.” If passed that means if DeSantis shouldn’t become president, he can campaign without stepping down as governor.

Talk about rigging an election!

Is Biden too old to run again? I don’t know. For me, yes but if he’s the Democratic candidate and DeSantis or Trump lead the GOP side, I’m voting for age. I think a lot of people are in that category, in fact. Biden could announce he’s not running again and that would set up Vice President Kamala Harris as a leading Democratic candidate. Many don’t think she’s up to the job, though she has many attractive positives to offer as a candidate. She did give an excellent speech on Ukraine and Putin, and clearly put the time into practicing it because her delivery was the best seen from her. Problem overall with Biden not running is it doesn’t leave a lot of candidates who can take on Trump or DeSantis successfully. (Crazy and totally unlikely idea: Biden announces he's running and is allowing the Democratic convention to select the vice presidential candidate and, because he needs to demonstrate his loyalty, endorse Harris as that candidate.)

In Florida, don’t say bad things about the governor. Disney was taught that lesson some months ago when it came out against DeSantis’ efforts to remove rights from the LGBTQ community. The two latest moves are noteworthy: An appointee to DeSantis’ new oversight board in control of Disney’s special tax district called homosexuality “evil” last year AND passed along a (need I even say) baseless conspiracy theory that tap water could be making people gay. Plus, there is a bill making it through the Republican-led legislature that would require bloggers who write about elected officials to register with the state – a violation of the First Amendment that even the current court (I think) would find unconstitutional. Even Newt Gingrich called it “insane” and said it was an “embarrassment” that a Republican introduced it. For the record, the state senator who is sponsoring it is Jason Brodeur, who represents the Orange County area.

Finally, a third party?? Let’s hope not. Donald Trump benefited from a GOP primary including as many candidates as possible in 2016. His supporters are hoping the same develops this presidential cycle. It’s pretty much a given that Trump has a solid 35 percent or so of the Republican vote. The more candidates, the stronger that 35 percent is. Now there are battle lines forming, also, among those who think the time is perfect for a third-party candidate. The argument there is, who would that candidate siphon votes from? Trump? Biden? Since Trump has that assumed 35 percent of the Republican base, any votes siphoned from Biden helps Trump or whoever the GOP candidate becomes) Also, Trump won the presidency in 2016 without a majority of the popular vote. He could do that again with a third party involved.

(Sensing an anti-Trump vibe? For the record, I oppose vehemently another Trump presidency, as I did his first. The man, whether he planned it or not, is in position to, with another term in office, destroy the country by stomping on the Constitution and eating away at the rights it give us all. No question he would become the fascist leader he aspires to. DeSantis promises to do for America what he did in Florida – another danger because he, too, has limited rights for citizens, not expanded them. Both put our country’s future at risk.

And that’s just how it is.)

Was it her or me?

2/17/2023

Stick with me on this.

We have our morning routine here. Whoever is up first prepares breakfast.

For me, Cheerios with fruit. For my wife, fruit with oatmeal or granola. Then, we each have a cuppa. She stays upstairs to read the papers and eat; I go downstairs so I can have music (classical in the morning) and a fire, depending on the temp.

When I go to get my second cup, I add yogurt to my cereal and return downstairs to read the papers and eat. Typically, after two cups and cereal, I then go get ready for the day. When ready, I return to the coffee pot and have a third cup, if there’s enough left over.

Still with me? Good, because I think it’s worth it. But you be the judge.

So, I go into the kitchen to pour my third cup and … no coffee pot in the coffee maker. This is a bit unusual to say the least because there are only two of us in the house. So, though this would be totally out of the ordinary, I figure Chris took the pot with her for more coffee. Which she never does.

I look around more carefully. I think, maybe I put the pot in the sink to wash it. But nope, no pot (coffee). I think, “if I were a coffee pot where would I go?” Yes, I honestly had that thought which I admit is an odd enough thought to have (and admit) but that's what I thought.

So, I open the fridge and there on the top shelf is the half and half I use and put in the fridge after each use. (I know you're a step ahead but let me at least get to the punchline.). Next to the half and half -- the coffee pot! (I do not drink iced coffee).

I go to Chris and I say, “Something odd just happened and, I’m sure I know who did it, but I figured I’d check.” I tell her about the pot in the fridge. She laughs. I say, there are only two of us in the house, and I think I know who did it. She laughs more.

Yeah, I couldn’t lay it on her because we both know that I’m Mr. Magoo, especially as I get older.

She said, now that's a blog post.

And, it is.

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We've got a lot to cover

2/8/2023

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For the one or two readers who may have noticed, I haven’t posted in a while. Seems, every time I was about to post something Cong. George Santos (R-Never Never Land) told another lie or there’d be yet another round of voting for Speaker of the House, making whatever I was going to say inoperative. So, as CBS News anchor Nora O’Donnell annoyingly says every night, “we’ve got a lot to cover”:

Best Meme of the State of the Union. Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene cupping her mouth as she screamed “liar” in the middle of President Biden’s State of the Union Address. Also, for wearing a white fur coat, as she continues to show her ever-day woman image to the country. The cyber-universe universally said she was dressed like Cruella de Vil. Also, as her debut as a candidate for Vice President on a potential Donald Trump ticket?

Best Trap Laid at the State of the Union. President Biden for sucking in the “ready to attack at any opportunity” caucus of Republicans when he said some in the GOP caucus want to cut Social Security and Medicare. The Taylor Greens and others jumped out of their seats to exclaim they didn’t want to do that nor have they said they would!!! Biden smiled, and said he loved a good conversion and was glad that issue was settled.

Most Uncomfortable Seat at the State of the Union. New House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose face ranged from stoic to smug to shushing members of his caucus, as he tried to figure out his post-speech spin to explain their rude outbursts in a positive way.

Best Spin Post-Speech. McCarthy for calling his out of his control caucus “enthusiastic” in their beliefs.

Best (and Only) Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders who parried Biden’s speech by focusing on the culture wars, not policy. She called Biden “the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.” Another tryout for Number 2 on a Trump ticket?

Most Annoying Word to Creep into the English Language. Woke. I get it. I get the meaning. When I hear it, though, it’s like fingernails on a glass window. It’s also a short cut to having anything to back up what you’re saying. But, get used to it, it’s one of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ favorite words.

Best Balloon Pop Ever. The United States blowing China’s spy balloon out of the sky.

Funniest Reaction to the Balloon Popping. Chinese Leaders saying it was their property and the United States should return it!!!! Wonder if they would then reimburse us for the plane, pilot time and bomb?

A few “do you ever wonder or imagine”:

Did you ever wonder if certain Republicans put Cong. Santos up to make themselves look better?

Did you ever wonder if DeSantis looks good to many because he isn’t Trump?

Did you ever imagine Biden or former Vice President Pence would get caught with classified documents they shouldn’t have had?

Did you ever wonder why Biden doesn’t give as his reason for having the classified documents that he’s the President (now, anyway)? (Can you name any President who would have used that excuse? Right.)

Did you ever imagine we’d be wowed by podcasts? I mean, we did (do) have radio which pre-television was the primary electronic entertainment system. For those younger folks not familiar, radio has existed for decades and you listen to it but don’t watch it. Remind you of anything?

Did you ever imagine former President Trump would get caught having classified documents he shouldn’t have had? (Oh, wait…)

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House GOP in turmoil

1/6/2023

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(This is being posted prior to noon on January 6th when the House is scheduled to return to the business of electing a Speaker. Anything can happen anytime.)

The multi-day debate and voting over electing a Speaker of the House could be destined for failure for Kevin McCarthy no matter how many days he delays pulling out of the election.

The nuttiest right-wingest folks, who number five, don’t seem to want him under any conditions. Yet, the House remains in session heading into even more unsuccessful votes today.

Those people who really oppose McCarthy do not want a solution. They just want to “make a point,” and, more importantly, appeal to their supporters and raise money. They don’t really care if there is a functioning House. They don’t even care about governing. Their aim is the most limited government possible.

So, whether it’s McCarthy or someone else, who isn’t one of them, they aren’t likely to vote in favor of anyone.

Already, they apparently have negotiated McCarthy down to a place he claimed he wouldn’t go --- that it will take only one person to make a motion to vacate. They already have apparently won at least two seats on the all-powerful Rules Committee but they are holding out for more.

That motion to vacate has been used once in history, in 1910. when it failed. If such a motion - which is a vote to fire the Speaker - is made it would take, if all members are present, 218 votes to pass. If this should happen, crazily (but we’re in crazy territory already), and if it passed, it would put us right back where we are now. Where are we?

Constituents are not being served as they should be and what’s at stake may be their Social Security checks and other matters that literally are key to their survival. I haven’t heard a word mentioned about that on the floor so far, though maybe I missed it.

Also, there is one Republican member whose mother passed away and the funeral is Saturday. Another GOP member's wife gave birth and he hasn’t been home to visit. And, already, there is at least one GOP member who will be going home to Colorado after today for a non-emergency medical procedure, which will lower the majority vote needed to elect a Speaker.

Any way – McCarthy doesn’t have the votes. Five in his party say they will never vote for him and it only takes five to stop him. The media makes a lot over the fact that he has lost nine times in votes this week. Temper that by the fact that for a while they didn’t even have the votes to adjourn and the only business the House can take up is electing a Speaker. They can do nothing else until that is resolved. So, they keep doing it.

My guess is they won’t elect him today either, unless lightning strikes somewhere or someone. The deal being discussed reportedly will not satisfy the five, so they need to be dealt with.

This is the ugly part of politics. Members operating for only personal, not substantive reasons. McCarthy has never been the ideological type. He has been easily swayed when it’s in his personal interest to sway.

Interestingly, one might argue that he may be the “best” among the GOP to be speaker for that reason. Maybe a President can sway him too? Doubtful if it's not in his personal interest to be swayed. And I mean personal interest.

If for some reason McCarthy can’t nail down the votes really soon – and that seems unlikely – and he pulls out, those five will still need to be dealt with. And while McCarthy’s number two -- Steve Scalise – reportedly is liked by the various factions in his party, it’s hard to imagine we won’t be in the same predicament again.

Those five still will want rules changes that make them more powerful.

There is another way – that will never be taken – and that’s for moderate Republicans to join with Democrats to elect a compromise candidate. And that candidate can be someone not in the Congress to take (some) of the politics out of it.

Let’s believe that can happen for a second. Wow! That simple act might possibly be the one to end the ugly partisanship and the Congress can return to doing the people’s business, not their selfish business.

Okay, second's up.

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He'll be Congressman, not congressman-ish

12/27/2022

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Congressman-elect George Anthony Santos (R-Fantasyland) “embellished” his resume as he was seeking election, he has admitted. Better that he admitted what he truly did – flat-out lie on his resume and about his life.

For example, he said he graduated from Baruch College. But he didn’t. He never even attended Baruch, according to the school. That, Santos says, is an embellishment, not a lie. I once worked at Yale University. It means I went “to” Yale every day to do my job, so I guess I could say I “attended” Yale because I was there every day?

His campaign web site stated, “George Anthony began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm.” The next paragraph mentioned that “George Anthony was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he anticipated.”

A Goldman Sachs spokesman said they had no record of him being employed there and Citigroup said it could not confirm his employment. More embellISHments.

I capitalize “ISH” because another whopper of exaggeration by Santos during his campaign was that he was Jewish. But a check of genealogical records and other sources shows no family history of Judaism in the family’s background..

When Santos admitted his “embellISHments” this week he said he meant he was “Jew-ish.” Which is like being goy-ish, or successful-ish.

But the one true thing is based on his background and, I’m sure, other factors, Santos was elected in his New York district to be its congressman starting Jan. 3. And, he says he has no intention of resigning the job he has not even been sworn into yet. Nor has the Republican House leadership, or followers in fact, criticized Santos for his embellishments, let alone his flat-out lies.

Reports are that Santos is going to vote for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy for Speaker, and the Leader ain’t casting off any votes because he hasn’t yet reached the 218 he needs to accomplish his long-sought goal.

Not only that, Market Watch has reported that GOP leadership aides say they knew about Santos’ “embellISHments” during the campaign and did nothing.

Whatever happened to leadership among the House Republican leaders has been disappeared. And that is no embellishment. It’s a statement about the integrity of those folks.

So for McCarthy, it's win at any cost. And there ain't no "ish" at the end of that word.

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If Trump is waning, what are his options?

12/7/2022

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As his “brand” starts to diminish, there are three choices left for former President Donald J. Trump:

1) Maintain his current posture that he is a candidate for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination and see if he can win (doubtful)

2) Decide that the way to take over the country is to convince his followers that they and he have been wronged and that the Constitution must be done away with and then wage a full-blown insurrection in an effort to take the country by force (unlikely and will not succeed)

3) Decide to withdraw from his decision to run for president (more to come)

Each option is fraught with huge downsides for Trump.

To take them one by one:

First, Trump’s path to the nomination is a possibility if enough candidates join the race to oppose him and he keeps a strangle-hold on his base. With enough candidates in the race, his 20 to 30 percent of the party can win (as it did in 2016). If he wins, it seems nearly certain that he cannot beat President Joe Biden or any Democrat in November 2024. Last time he ran, he was defeated with authority.

Since then, his brand has been diminished and there are clear cracks in what some see as his Superman powers. He took a drubbing in the mid-term elections ending in dramatic fashion when his hand-chosen candidate to win in Georgia turned out to be a horrible candidate with big-time baggage, came close but didn’t make it and actually gave a somewhat classy concession speech.

Second, Trump certainly has the potential to lead an(other) attempted coups. Still, democracy won out, the mob was defeated, the electoral ballots were counted and Joe Biden was sworn into office. Still, that episode improved Trump’s image as a martyr.

Third, and the option I think he will take, is to withdraw from the race at some point before the first primary or caucus, claim his reason is because he is being attacked by everyone outside of his base for potential crimes including attempting to change the results of the 2020 election, to his company’s drama over illegal acts by two senior executives, to the January 6th committee’s likely referral of Trump to the Justice Department for indictment, to his taxes, which are in the hands of the Congress which apparently hasn’t decided what to do with them yet.

Certainly there is enough in that list, which could even be expanded, to give Trump a reason to pull out of the race yet keep his base with him for whatever nefarious reasons he may have. Playing the martyr has been a Trump trait. Trump cannot lose, as evidenced by his whining since 2020’s election, that he was robbed and he is the president.

But, his cover can be that the “establishment” needs to be taken on and he can best do that by fighting the various lawsuits and charges he may be facing. For some reason, he thought announcing his candidacy would make those issues go away, but he still doesn’t understand the Constitution nor the concept that “no one is above the law.”

His brand has taken hits and some senators coming out and criticizing (gently, but criticizing) his Truth Social post that the Constitution should be “suspended” and he should be inserted into the presidency, Which ain't gonna happen, plus once Trump saw the comments criticizing the statement, he saw the whole party may not always be afraid of him. And won’t be silent much longer. But his base is with him.

On top of that, Republican National Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who has been a loyal Trumpee throughout the last six years, said in Georgia last night that Republicans must get better at early voting if they want to succeed. She never mentioned Trump’s name but he was the leader of the effort to get Republicans to vote only on Election Day. A tactic that hurt Herschel Walker in the run-off yesterday, and that closed down some voting during his election. For McDaniel to even make that statement is a big deal.

His magic has been reduced and we are seeing some, but not a lot, of evidence the last week or so: his dinner with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, an anti-Semite, and Nick Fuentes, an anti-Semite and white supremacist, clearly was not supported by a lot of (unnamed) Republican leaders, some of whom did issue mild criticisms of him. As if it is even a decision whether to criticize breaking bread with white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Let’s just say Trump is no longer invincible and as his former supporters (Chris Christie) and Administration appointees (Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley) inch closer to announcing their own presidential candidacies, he likely will see former Trump insiders begin to admit their negative experiences with him during his time in the Oval Office.

The emperor may be on the verge of realizing he has no clothes.

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Post-election thoughts

11/10/2022

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President Biden had it right when he said yesterday that democracy won Tuesday’s elections. The pundits, pollsters and press had it wrong when they say Democrats won the election.

Clearly, Democrats won the expectations game because they did way better than those same pundits, pollsters and press said they would Still, the Democrats definitely have lost their majority in the House and are on the verge of losing the Senate.

If that’s winning politically, give me losing.

What the pundits, pollsters and press got wrong was dealing with abortion as if the immediate aftermath of protests when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade had gone away. Talking heads kept saying in the last couple of weeks of campaigning that inflation was the top issue voters were concerned about and the GOP had the advantage on that turf. Women’s right to control their own bodies was always a not-that-distant second. though.

Plus, this election proved – again – that American voters can chew gum and walk at the same time. Yes, they hate the inflation everyone around the world is facing right now. Gas, food, pretty much everything is way up in cost plus that supply chain hasn’t caught up with demand yet. We’d be crazy not to be worried about inflation. And, we’d be nuts not to worry about the Supreme Court taking back rights Americans have.

After most every election, but especially this one, the media need to rethink not only how they cover lies splattered all over the place mostly by MAGA Republicans but how they report on polls and who’s up and who’s down.

Network exit polls showed that almost 3 in 10 voters nationally said abortion was the most important issue in their vote, and that about 4 in 10 said they were “angry” Roe was overturned. Motivated voters, for sure.

There were winners and losers, of course, Tuesday from a 10,000 foot perspective. My view:

Democracy. Clearly our democracy is more resilient than it gets credit for, as the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks said. The “guard rails” protected the country through the Trump presidency and did again Tuesday. Those founders were onto something, eh?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: Is a winner because political talk immediately began focusing positivelyon him as the leading GOP candidate in 2024 because of Trump losing (more in a moment). The other side of being the front-runner to defeat Trump for the presidential nomination is he gets more attention. His weaknesses and any skeletons in his closet will be tastier snacking for reporters. Plus, maybe those (predominantly) retirees and Trumpers living in the Villages and other areas are happy with their governor. Just as clearly Gen Zers are unhappy and voted Democrat. (Politics is demographics, as my wife tells me)

The USA’s worldwide reputation. Winner because this should cool, a bit, our allies concerns about our democracy and the threat posed to it by some within our borders. Our leaders can be more confident in meetings around the world now.

Biden. Biden is more not-a-loser as much as a winner. He and his team now get credit for focusing on the threats to democracy and the strategy to keep him out of states he was most unpopular in. Result? More Democrats won than expected. And his speech(es) on democracy and the threat it faces were spot-on.

Ex-President Trump. While he will crow about being a winner – because he will blame others talking him into backing certain losers and because he likely has a more than impressive overall win count Tuesday – any normal observer would say he at minimum got hit with an inside pitch to back him away from the plate. His won/lost record of endorsements will be fine because he mostly backed candidates in safe places. But he lost in most all his high-profile races. Should Herschel Walker wind up winning in Georgia, Trump will be back on a victory tour. Meantime those investigations into Trump by some states and the Justice Department now will be more tempting fodder to his Republican opponents to explain why he’s the wrong candidate in 2024. Notably, certain Trump loyalists were giving reporters excellent quotes s on- the-record, showing Trump’s image is sullied more politically and that it’s safer than it was Monday to criticize him. Plus, Twitter is unavailable to him and its spotlight is fading.

House conservatives. They now are the Joe Manchin of the GOP. Their minority of votes can control what Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy can achieve.

McCarthy. McCarthy, who has been craven to be Speaker of the House seemingly since birth, is on the doorstep of officially achieving that goal. Problem is, he now has to do that job. That will be made tricky by those pesky House conservatives and Trump, who will now have McCarthy as their whipping boy. He’ll challenged to put together his caucus’ votes and to fight off the desire by a minority of Republican members to impeach Biden or anyone who has come into contact with him.

If Tuesday’s elections lead us back to some sense of normalcy, as voters seemed to be screaming, you and I are the actual winners of the election, as we should be.

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Goodbye Elon goodbye

11/2/2022

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I decided to quit Twitter.

I don’t expect the Earth to stop because of that nor do I even expect the few likes my posts used to (sometimes) get to miss me. But, finally, Twitter got me.

Honestly, it’s not like I even looked at it every day. I didn’t.

It took a buildup, I confess.

First, it was the phony information that made Twitter all atwitter.

Then, it was tracking ex-President Trump’s tweets. Why, I’m not sure, because they always made the news in nanoseconds anyway so I couldn’t fall behind by much.

Twitter finally started suspending accounts for distributing false or threatening information. Unfortunately, they didn’t suspend accounts for just being stupid (I guess because then Twitter would get far fewer postings plus, SENATOR Herschel Walker may be on his way).

Of course, there were those many irrelevant ads. I’d click to not see them anymore and other uninteresting ads took their place.

And, now, there’s Elon!! No thank you. I have to draw the line somewhere.

I did follow some interesting people – like Liz Cheney; White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Piere; Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a New York Times correspondent; Prof. Peter Hotez dean of the Baylor School of Medicine and star TV explainer about pandemics and vaccines.; Broadway's Seth Rudetsky; Tess Gerritsen, a favorite mystery writer; Chasten Buttigeg, husband of the Transportation secretary; a whole bunch of political reporters and, one of my very favorites, Room Rater, which rates room set ups of people being interviewed on TV via Zoom or Skype.

There were, of course, the occasional brilliant tweets. Like when Colm Flynn, Vatican correspondent for EWT news, tweeted:

“For the past 20 years I’ve received a Valentine’s card from the same secret admirer. So I was pretty upset when I didn’t get one this year. First my granny dies, now this.”

Well, I enjoyed it.

One of my favorites that I posted was:

“Just for the record, you don’t have to ‘take a listen;’ You can simply listen.”

That was in response to the annoying phrase TV news people have adopted to get you to pay attention to a video clip. “Take a listen,” they say, and I wonder where I should take it.

Then again, I don’t think any of my paltry number of followers "liked' it, so maybe it wasn’t as funny as I thought. Or, maybe nobody’s truly following me. (Though what about all those beautiful young women whose profile pics that show them in scanty outfits who didn’t know me but followed me?)

The main thing I used Twitter for was as one more “platform” to distribute this blog.

I’m going to suspend Twitter today. As I understand it, it stays suspended for 30 days and then, unless I sign in again, it deletes itself (I always think of Mission Impossible when I see that).

So, for all my blog followers on Twitter, this is the last post you’ll see here. If you want to continue reading it, though, I direct you to other places I post it -- LinkedIn, Facebook and Medium. On Medium you actually can subscribe to it and Medium will send you an email including the post right after I publish it.

Of course, there always is the modestly named “bjaycooper.com” where the blog resides.

So..goodbye Twitter goodbye. Good bye Elon, don’t cry!

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Of strokes and pillow talk

10/27/2022

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Two news stories caught my eye in the past couple of days. The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate debate and the story about the My Pillow Guy and Trump supporter, Mike Lindell.

First, Pennsylvania. I won’t even begin to try to dissect the response Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz gave on abortion. That’ll be torn apart enough but let me just say, as a man, I don’t want “local political leaders” involved in a decision on whether a woman gets an abortion. It’s not only wrong, it’s icky to even think about -- I picture a local politician in the room with the doctor and the woman. I trust the woman making the decision, with medical advice from her doctor.

What caught my eye more in that debate is the criticism Democrat John Fetterman is getting for his "awkward" performance, brought on entirely by the after-effects from the stroke he suffered earlier this year.

Let me get personal, I’ve had two strokes, one when I turned 50 that caused no noticeable damage but was a warning about the second stroke, which came five years later. That one, while far from as serious as the one Fetterman suffered, did come with after effects that required speech therapy. I, and any other stroke sufferer I’m sure, can empathize with what he’s going through.

In my case, after a couple of days in the hospital to be monitored, I was released and told I needed speech therapy. I wasn’t sure why since my thoughts were clear as they were the day before I had the stroke. My thinking and thought process were exactly the same. But, I was told I wasn't articulating my clear internal thoughts well to others.

I stumbled over words, forgot words and, when shown flash cards of a horse or a house, in some cases I couldn't pull the word from my memory to identify it. Separate from my speech, I also got exhausted mid-day, so tired I needed to rest and couldn’t work.

I didn’t go back to work for about six months as I recovered and did the speech therapy. Six months. And I had what is called a mild stroke. It could have been far worse and I’m grateful that even today, almost 20 years later, the only remnants I have from my stroke is a weaker than it was right hand, and difficulty sometimes swallowing.

Fetterman’s was more serious than mine but he looks good and is keeping up a busy campaign schedule. I hurt each time I saw him struggle or repeat words when he responded to answers the other night. But he told us that would be the case. And, clearly, it was the case. Fetterman is a big man physically and a clear presence when he enters a room with his size and his tattoos.

I have no doubt his struggles with clear and easy speaking these days is frustrating to him. It sure was for me. But, after my speech therapy and recovery, I was fine. With work. He’s doing his recovery work in full view and and he is being judged by it from voters and pundits.

So, disagree with his positions on issues, but don’t doubt that his mind is clear and thinking well even though, temporarily, he has difficulty clearly speaking his thoughts sometimes.

The other story that caught my eye is a New York Times piece today on the My Pillow Guy and his continuing not only to spread conspiracy theories especially about the 2020 election but other crazy thoughts. Oh, and continuing to sell pillows.

Let’s remember, Lindell is a very good salesman and marketer, just like his BFF Donald Trump. He is also an equally effective liar. But that’s another story. There was a time that My Pillow advertised itself as being able to cure insomnia and other health conditions. The company was sued over the claims and ultimately settled a lawsuit for misleading advertising.

In those days it was mainly through one of those late-night infomercials, starring Lindell, that his product was sold. You remember them. A pitchman (Lindell) in front of an “audience” that ooo’s and ahhh’s over his pitch and video inserts showing, of course, very happy customers.

Consumer Reports tested the pillow. It found that it was a good pillow but also learned that “our panel of sleep testers noted that they could feel the foam chunks when sleeping on the pillow, a somewhat unpleasant sensation.”

It also found of the premium and regular versions that “after we placed an evenly distributed 225-pound weight on each of these pillows in a room set to 98.6° F (to mimic body heat) and 80 percent humidity for 96 hours, neither one was great at regaining its shape, which means you may have to replace a My Pillow often.”

Don’t get me wrong, it sounds like it’s a fine pillow, but not unlike other pillows you can buy for less. If you bought one and it works, great! Mostly, though, it’s marketing.

My Pillow sells for $49.95 but, good marketer that he is, Lindell offers “promo codes” that can reduce that to $19.95.

Lindell also sells conferences around the country not on pillows but on politics where conspiracy theories are shared, and I’m guessing, expanded on. These sometimes are broadcast by niche networks.

In one such presentation, the Times reports, Mr. Lindell “bounded on stage and said, 'by the way, if you’re watching from home use that promo code: Truth45.'”

That wasn’t political talk, it was Pillow talk.

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It's not your daddys's GOP anymore, and never will be again

10/7/2022

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If you ever entertained any notion that the Republican Party will endure in a democracy, tell me what you’re smoking, please.

As an example, Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s most recent embarrassing issue to cope with is twofold:

A woman claimed to have an affair with him and he paid for an abortion despite saying he is anti-choice no matter what. Walker denied both claims in strong terms, kinda.
After his denials, the woman (unidentified by Daily Beast which broke the stories) said, in effect: Oh yea? Well I also had his baby. Walker denied this too and leads questioners to believe he has no idea who the woman is.

(If I were advising Walker I would tell him: If the allegation is untrue, ask for a DNA test. That will prove who's being honest here.)

It is only the most recent example of the Republican Party rather than seek the truth, accepts his denials as facts. Now, maybe he’s correct about the abortion and the child. DNA would tell us.

The Republican Party’s response: We believe Herschel!!!

Translation: We really want the Senate majority and he is key to that goal.

There is a series of examples of the GOP’s drifting, uh, running away from its traditional views. The biggest one is former President Donald Trump’s claims that the last election was stolen from him. Most Republican elected officials – and GOP candidates for federal, state and local offices in November –either buy into that lie or say they do to stay in Trump’s good graces and to not alienate his base voters. Polls show, too, that rank and file Republicans think the election was stolen. Trump's election fraud lie is real to a vast majority of Republicans, despite dozens of court cases (some decided by Trump-appointed judges) and recounts showing Biden did win.

Now, you may think that once Trump is gone, however that happens, from the political discussion, the party will return to the Republican Party of old – one whose policy positions you may have disagreed with but you felt was honestly reflecting those core beliefs.

Core beliefs have disappeared from the party. The only core belief is that Trump won the election and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. Trump and his troops have been so good at pushing that lie that 70 percent of Republicans have bought into it.

Some may find it hard to believe that democracy (lower case) is at stake in the next election and the one after that. But, it is. All Trump-endorsed candidates this year support his lie about the election. Many of those candidates are running for governor or secretary of state, offices that, depending on your location, can affect the denial of legitimate election results.

Democracy truly is on the line and that’s not hyperbole.

If you study autocrats in history, their path to power is the same one Trump is travelling – he is the leader of a push toward destroying American institution including free and fair elecdtions.

Even if you never were concerned about the integrityu of the Supreme Court, that belief has to be rattled, at least, now.

That belief is in question these days by many people after the court's reversal of the 50-year-old precedent of saying abortion is a choice that women can make.

It no longer is a choice and some states already have gone so far as to restrict abortion even more and impose penalties on medical professionals helping a woman through her decision – which may put her life at risk.

This is the America we live in and it can, and likely will be a more restrictive America over time. Not only is the right to choice in the past, they are banning books too.

And no Republican leader is speaking out against those things. None. And you know damn well many of those leaders, in their heart, don’t agree with banning abortion or books. But they do because they say nothing in opposition, fearful of Trump’s wrath and the base of voters he truly controls.

The Republican Party not only doesn’t exist today, and I don’t see how it comes back in the future. Among the leaders of the party are Florida Gov. (and potential presidential nominee) Ron DeSantis, Senate GOP election chairman Florida Sen. Rick Scott, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and, though he has no formal party role, Tucker Carlson of Fox television.

The phrase “craven politician” truly describes these “leaders.“ They do not portend a return to traditional Republicanism in the future.

Indeed, they portend a further diminishing of the old Republican Party long after Trump disappears.

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He'll be Congressman, not congressman-ish

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Goodbye Elon goodbye

Of strokes and pillow talk

It's not your daddys's GOP anymore, and never will be again

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