Bye Bye, Benny

It may seem a little weird to usher in the New Year by saying goodbye, but that is the circumstance we find ourselves in with the news that Pope Benedict XVI (or I guess I should call him “Pope Emeritus” to be precise) passed away as the sands of time, as it were, slowly departed for 2022.

There is what I guess you could call the typical amount of praiseworthy news coverage and commentary currently being generated for the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, particularly from conservative media since Benedict is, truth be told, the pope they prefer as opposed to Pope Francis, who espouses his own brand of what you could call “liberation theology” on behalf of the poor, particularly in the third world. Benedict, on the other hand, was more palatable to conservative Catholics, particularly in the U.S.

However, I don’t believe any summary of Benedict’s papacy is complete without also noting the following (and by the way, a lot of the sourced content links have expired – just warning you now):

• He once said that condoms weren’t the answer, or something, in dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Africa (maybe not the 100-percent solution, but using them inhibits the transmission of the disease as we know by now – here).
• He also lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, though to be fair, Benny realized his mistake and admonished the bishop to publicly recant his views (here).
• He also once said that Orthodox churches were “defective” because they didn’t recognize the primacy of the pope, called for a return to the Tridentine Latin rite mass which advocates the conversion of Jews to Catholicism, dismissed the Vatican’s chief astronomer for correctly pointing out that “intelligent design” isn’t science, issued a “Ten Commandments For Drivers” – “thou shalt not swear while signaling for a left turn”?? – and once called Bob Dylan a “false prophet” (he may have “found the nut” on that one, I’ll admit), and went out of his way to criticize Islam…all are noted here.
• He spoke on protecting the environment here (which is good), but he also denied climate change science here (which is bad).
• Benedict also condemned former President Obama’s repeal of the ban on U.S. funding for foreign family planning aid groups who offer abortion services here (and yes, I know that’s pretty much right out of the Roman Catholic playbook, as it were, though such bans overwhelmingly harm women and families in poverty around the world).
• In addition, he once traveled to the U.S. and visited Washington and New York, but ignored Boston, which, at the time, was the epicenter of the abuse scandal (here).
• He also excommunicated a 9-year-old child for having a life-saving abortion after her stepfather raped and impregnated her with twins; Benedict also excommunicated her mother. Guess who he didn’t excommunicate? The rapist stepfather (here).
• Benedict also mishandled four cases involving the sexual abuse of minors while he was an archbishop in Germany (noted in a “grab bag” kind of article with good and bad stuff about Benedict’s papacy here).

For a time, Pope Benedict XVI was the vicar of Christ, which carries a lot of weight for yours truly and millions of others I know. However, like everyone else, I believe he deserves to have a full accounting, which to me is particularly true for people in positions of power and authority. This is owed to everyone I believe, even the most humble among us who (if the Bible is to be believed) will be the first to be welcomed into eternal life.

May that be true for each of us when the time comes (but hopefully not for a good while yet :-).

The Island We Know And Love

I’ve become accustomed to all kinds of vitriol being aimed at Martha’s Vineyard, MA from people who don’t know any better, but the story of the human trafficking by Flori-DUUH’s utter mistake of a governor, Ron #DeathSantis (with the willing collaboration of Greg Abbott, Texas’s equally useless figurehead in that role) has really ratcheted up the wingnut propaganda to the stratosphere (I think this is partly to deflect from the Rethuglican Party’s war on women through Dobbs and Huckleberry Graham’s attempt at a nationwide abortion ban after 15 weeks, though I know that’s a wholly other discussion).

And I guess one way this misinformation campaign is evident (though there are many) is in this New York Times report of the incident where #DeathSantis tricked these undocumented immigrants into thinking, apparently, that they were being transported to Boston for jobs, when in reality they were being flown to the island without any notice given to the local officials, though the residents stepped up to the point where there was so much assistance offered, that some of it actually had to be turned away (I know I saw that but I can’t link to it at the moment…I’ll keep looking). The Times story does note the likely illegality of what happened, though the first paragraph refers to Martha’s Vineyard as an “elite vacation island” (which I suppose is correct). And in case we hadn’t gotten the message that MVY is full of rich snobs (which is language you could use to describe all kinds of places in this country), the third paragraph refers to “tony Martha’s Vineyard.”

OK, enough already. If the Times had done some, y’know, actual research, they would have discovered what Joe Conason found out here, and that is that the annual income for year-long island residents is about $77K a year.

Gee, how “elite” and “tony” can you get when you’re comped like that? And you want to talk “tony”? I visited Marco Island in Florida over 10 years ago, and MVY doesn’t come close to that, which is part of the appeal of the island to me actually.

Now before I say anything else, I guess it’s full disclosure time. I am not what you would call an “islander,” which is someone who was born on MVY and has lived there all his/her life or lived the majority of their life there. However, my family and I have vacationed on the island 7 times. And as someone from the suburbs of Philadelphia, I can tell you that you can get a week rental on the island in high summer for about the same amount of money (or less, actually) that you would pay for comparable lodgings at the Jersey shore. Yes, you have to drive about 6 ½ hours from where I live to get there (through I-95 in Connecticut, which is often a crapshoot around Hartford and New Haven especially), but once you get to MVY, hell, there’s beach everywhere (because, of course, it’s an island). You can mostly pick and choose from the public beaches (Katama in Edgartown, Lobsterville Beach, Bend-In-The-Road near Vineyard Haven, and a few others, including Squibnocket near Chilmark, which is public after 6PM I believe), though there are plenty of private ones for “the elites” (the family of David McCullough, family of Walter Cronkite, same for Mike Wallace, the Kennedys, Art Buchwald…and yes, even Alan Dershowitz).

The aforementioned folks likely reside in compounds in Chilmark, West Tisbury, Lambert’s Cove, and elsewhere. If you see a dirt road leading into a woods marked by a mailbox with no name, then that may very well be one of their residences. However, since everyone is there for vacation purposes including us (and also because I’ve never wanted a run-in with island law enforcement), I know enough not to bother anybody (I guess the closest I came to a brush with someone famous was when I saw Spike Lee about a block away coming out of the Mad Martha’s ice cream shop in Oak Bluffs, which has a prosperous African-American community…the section of beach where these families go for vacation was traditionally referred to as the “ink well”).

We’ve stayed at rentals in West Tisbury, Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs, which are nestled in the midst of what I guess you could call middle-class neighborhoods. Many of these places are populated by people in service industries and building trades (Morning Glory Farm is nearby one of our rentals outside of Edgartown…absolutely have to have a Morning Glory muffin or a blueberry scone after arriving from the MA Steamship Authority vessel and setting ourselves up in our accommodations). And it should be noted for the benefit of those bashing the island that many “islanders” work multiple jobs as needed to keep businesses running on MVY year-round (they get help from a summer work force of teens and twenty-somethings from Ukraine, Czechoslovakia and other countries, particularly at the Vineyard Vines clothier and the Among The Flowers restaurant, both in Edgartown, as well as working at other island locations, such as the Menemsha Blues clothing store…at least, they did when we were last there a few years ago). I would venture a guess and say that, if Cancun Cruz, Troy Nehls and others attacking MVY tried to put in a fraction of the work that islanders do to keep the vineyard running in any kind of efficient manner (especially with diminishing revenue unless they have a big summer), they would bitch and moan and give up. As far as I’m concerned, the island residents embody what you could call Yankee ingenuity and a bedrock work ethic better than anyone I know.

The island also has a sizeable Portuguese population, which is featured in the island cuisine and also in selling of traditional artifacts, particularly at shops in Aquinnah. The island was also settled by the Wampanoag Indian tribe (also selling their wares at Aquinnah, often referred to as Gay Head), which has tried to preserve the land for farming purposes (and no, I don’t know what the latest is on their attempt to partner with the Chickasaw Nation on an island casino…I think that’s in the hands of the commonwealth of Massachusetts). And of course, when it comes to tourism overall, there are folks from all over the east coast and beyond who make stops such as the view of the Aquinnah cliffs, the Edgartown lighthouse, the gingerbread houses and promenade in Oak Bluffs (near the marina…and yeah, you can get an idea of the dough of the vacationers from their docked crafts – not making a judgment, but just pointing out a fact), and other places.

When it comes to stuff we’ve often enjoyed…gee, where do we begin? We’ve taken brief trips on the Mad Max sailboat at dusk, journeying to the edge of Vineyard Sound (best to bring a sandwich and a drink – again, I’d recommend Among The Flowers). If you plan to picnic on a beach not quite up-island, one place you might want to go is the Chilmark General Store. For dinner we’ve enjoyed the lobster roll at the Square Rigger Restaurant on the way to Edgartown out of Oak Bluffs, or something “on the go” from Porto’s Pizza (Murdick’s Fudge is also a periodic indulgence…we do a lot more on MVY besides eat and drink, I should add). Vineyard Haven has the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, which is a favorite destination, as well as C.B. Stark Jewelers and Nicole Friedler Photography. Edgartown has a few kitschy places too, along with the whaling museum, lighthouse, a walk up North Water Street, etc. Also, one of the distinctive (you might say) places on the island is the five-way intersection from Beach Road near the ferry dock and the Black Dog Restaurant in Vineyard Haven, also near Larsen’s fish market and the Art Cliff Diner. The intersection doesn’t have a traffic light; indeed, there are no traffic lights on the island at all, which can be exasperating at times I’ll admit, though everyone manages to make it work (you can circumnavigate the whole island by car in about 25 minutes or so).

Yes, it costs more for gas and other amenities on the island than you would pay at, say, Woods Hole (a steamship ferry departure point – notable for other reasons I know), but then again…we’re talking about an island. Stuff has to be transported across the edge of the Vineyard/Nantucket Sound from Woods Hole and also from Hyannis at the tip of Cape Cod. And the cost of transporting those items gets passed off to the customer, in the best capitalist tradition.

There’s probably more I could add, but this is all I can think of for now (and, like everything else at this site, I should note that I’m not getting a penny in remuneration from anyone to plug anything). I just thought it would be best to present another side of the island, and hopefully I’ve been able to communicate that (just realized that I didn’t say anything about the older fishing part of the island in Menemsha…in “Jaws,” that’s the real-life location of Quint’s fishing shop – also, the island has WMVY, a kick-ass public radio station). We also once enjoyed taking the catamaran from the Outermost Inn, also near Aquinnah, over to Cutty Hunk Island. The Inn was run by Hugh Taylor, James’s brother (not sure if he’s still in charge or not).

I know it’s impossible to capture the spirit of the island, if you will, in this post, but I hope this helps to orient you a little better than all of the raging wingnut propaganda about Martha’s Vineyard. We’re talking about a location that is near and dear to our hearts, in case that wasn’t apparent already. And if those impugning the island were to take a fraction of the time criticizing it and visit it instead, they might profit from doing so in ways they can’t imagine (or maybe not I suppose). The experience stays with you and endures, unlike any other place I’ve visited in my life. And when somebody tries to put it down…well, you’re going to have to go through me to do that, you might say.

Is Bri-Fi Still The One For PA-01?

So now, we find ourselves performing our every-other-year ritual of looking at some critical votes by our PA-01 wingnut-disguised-as-moderate Repug U.S. House Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and trying to determine from that if he rates another two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Without further ado, let’s get started:

• We might as well begin with Bri’s No vote on President Biden’s Build Back Better bill (here), which the Dems stupidly de-coupled from the corporate spending infrastructure bill; when that happened, the bill was virtually guaranteed to fail, which was predicted by Dem U.S. House Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others (here). As noted here, in its original form, Build Back Better “aim(ed) to dramatically reduce childcare costs, provide(d) universal pre-kindergarten for children, lower(ed) the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, expand(ed) Medicare to cover hearing aids, extend(ed) work permits to millions of undocumented immigrants and provide(d) the largest-ever investment in efforts to combat the climate crisis.”
  
  And along with every other congressional Republican (and Dem Jared Golden of Maine somehow opposed it also), Bri-Fi voted No.

• Oh, and speaking of AOC, remember when that idiot Paul Gosar of Arizona made that ridiculous (and legally actionable IMO) “snuff” video of the NY-14 Dem U.S. House rep? And remember how Gosar was removed from his committees and censured by the House (here)? Well, Bri-Fi was apparently fine with a depiction of violence against one of his colleagues (with the 1/6 insurrection still fresh in everyone’s minds of course), because he voted No on that resolution also (Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were the only two Republicans who supported the resolution).
• I know it was noted earlier that the Build Back Better bill (in its initial version) was opposed by every U.S. House Republican and aimed to reduce child care costs. That chiefly came in the form of a child tax credit that would have been fully refundable permanently, benefitting roughly 9 in 10 children across the country (and quite a few in PA-01, I would estimate) and leading to historic reductions in child poverty. This also included an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, boosting the incomes of an estimated 17 million working adults. Again, Bri-Fi and his pals voted No (here).
• Bri-Fi and every other U.S. House Republican voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, passed in the shadow of the infamous Dobbs decision by the “shadow docket” SCOTUS of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and his buddies (here). As NARAL Pro Choice America noted here, “This legislation would protect the right to abortion throughout the United States at a time when extremist lawmakers in multiple states are enforcing total bans on abortion.” Oh, but “half a loaf” Brian somehow found it in him to support the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act (here), which (as noted here),”prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person’s ability to access out-of-state abortion services’ (sooo…if you’re a woman of age, you’re not allowed to get an abortion, but Bri-Fi thinks you should be allowed to cross state lines to get one anyway…??? And I couldn’t find an explanation for these mystifying votes on his congressional web site, by the way).
• Br-Fi (as noted here) also voted No on the Consumer Protection and Recovery Act. The bill (an amendment to the FTC Act) restored a key piece of the Federal Trade Commission’s Section 13(b) power, which the FTC previously used to obtain restitution and disgorgement for wronged consumers until the Supreme Court recently limited this authority in AMG Capital Management v. FTC.  The White House also expressed support for the bill. (The Electronic Privacy Information Center) has long called for greater protection of consumer privacy through FTC enforcement and the imposition of financial penalties against companies who engage in unfair data practices (here).
• Oh, and just as a reminder, I should note also that Fitzpatrick joined every other U.S. House Republican last December and voted against funding the government until February of this year (here). According to Politico (here), the reason why is because they were afraid of the noise made by the head of their party against those Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was separated from Build Back Better (Adam Kinzinger voted in favor of a related bill, the lone Republican vote it should be noted – Fitzpatrick was one of those who commendably voted Yes for the infrastructure bill, though that really shouldn’t have been that hard of a decision – here).
  
  So…that’s just great, isn’t it? By voting No to fund the government, Bri-Fi said he was OK with delays for Medicare/Social Security/SSI payments, SNAP benefits, shut downs of our national parks, federal employee furloughs as well as cutting back on food inspections, ensuring we had clean air and water, and on and on and on (everything that we rely on from the feds). Oh, but he’s a “moderate,” isn’t he…ugh.
• Here’s another item from last December…remember those text messages that were sent to Trump from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows related to the January 6^th insurrection? And remember how Meadows received a subpoena to testify before the 1/6 Commission and ignored it, and was held in contempt (I mean, if it were you or I, we’d be in jail by now)? Well, Bri-Fi voted No on the contempt vote, along with every other U.S. House Repug except, again, for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, as noted here (this really isn’t surprising I guess since Bri-Fi voted No on both Trump impeachment resolutions – more here. Bri-Fi also voted against the 1/6 Commission altogether as noted here…I guess he’s fine with a treasonous insurrection against our government).
• In addition, the America COMPETES Act (HR 4521) passed the U.S. House last February by a vote of 222-210 (here). The Act “includes a historic investment to surge production of American-made semiconductors, tackles supply chain vulnerabilities to make more goods in America, turbocharges America’s scientific research and technological leadership, and strengthens America’s economic and national security at home and abroad” as noted here. I cannot imagine why Bri-Fi would vote in opposition to this bill, but he did.
• Another No vote from Bri-Fi came over the MORE Act last April (here), a cannabis decriminalization bill with three main components: 1) Cannabis would be removed from the list of drugs regulated by the Controlled Substances Act (pot would no longer be a  “Schedule 1” drug, designated for far more dangerous substances such as heroin…more background on that is here); 2) Criminal penalties for federal cannabis offenses would be eliminated; and 3) Past federal cannabis convictions would be expunged. Additional background is here…and while I’m not sold on legalization for recreational use, it’s way past time to decriminalize it, prescribe medical marijuana, and let dispensaries run like regular businesses IMO (and I haven’t been able to find much data on where our beloved commonwealth of PA stands on legalization…I have a feeling that it will be one of the very last places in the U.S. where that eventually happens).
• Oh, and just to remind everyone, in the prior session Bri-Fi voted for a 20-week abortion ban as well as a bill granting legal rights to fetuses (the first step on the way to prosecuting health care professionals for performing services related to abortion), and he also cast a No vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would have enshrined into law the protections granted by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade (all that and more is here).
• Also in the prior session, he voted against giving asylum detainees diapers, soap, toothbrushes & timely medical checks…what a humanitarian! (here).
• In addition, did I mention that Fitzpatrick opposed COVID relief (returning to the current session), which in part included funding for law enforcement (here, and page 2 from here)?
• Also (and this may be one for the books), Bri-Fi co-sponsored the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (here), but voted against the bill’s final passage. In the interest of fairness, I’ll present his response on that here, but it should be noted that the markup of the bill was indeed changed. And the reason why it was changed was because of the Buffalo mass shooting that month (as opposed to the other mass shootings in this country, which are just about weekly anymore sadly), in which the suspect specifically targeted African Americans (here). So yes, the bill was changed in light of the threat of domestic terrorism (Bri-Fi may not care about the domestic terror threat, but his old agency does as noted here…and don’t forget that Director Chris Wray was appointed by #45, the de facto head of Bri-Fi’s party).
• Along with every other U.S. House Republican, he voted No on a bill to investigate price gouging by our dirty energy criminals in this country (here).
• And in keeping a bit with the prior No vote on the Domestic Terrorism bill he co-sponsored, Fitzpatrick voted No (along with every other U.S. House Republican) on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would require white supremacists, Nazi supporters and extremists to be removed from the military (noted here…I’ll grant you that it’s a bit of a slippery slope in that it’s a well-intended bill that could boomerang for legal reasons, but the alternative is our thoroughly detrimental status quo where another treasonous insurrection could spring up from those serving our country…given that the 1/6 revolt has happened once, it definitely could happen again).
• Also (and as kind of an obstructionist “bookend” if you will to his original opposition to Build Back Better), Bri-Fi, along with every other U.S. House Republican, voted No to the Inflation Reduction Act (a scaled-back version of BBB – here). Fitzpatrick’s Democratic opponent in the general election, Ashley Ehasz, responded here.
• And as bad as all of this is (and it definitely is that), in my opinion, it actually gets worse. As noted here (according to the Bucks County Beacon, which is doing great work), Fitzpatrick supports a so-called Article V Convention to rewrite the United States Constitution…and if you think Bri-Fi and his pals want to do this to help anyone BESIDES the one percent (a fraction of that, actually), then you truly haven’t been paying attention. This is basically the end game for Charles Koch and the crazed glibertarian plutocrats who want to turn this country into some kind of religio-fascist corpocracy (Thom Hartmann gives us all the “stuff of nightmares” details here – a corporate-media-sanitized related story is here).

This may seem hard to believe, but as awful as all of this is concerning Bri-Fi, there is actually more that you can read from here. However, I for one have had enough. It is long past time to dispense with Brian Fitzpatrick and support Ashley Ehasz as our new Democratic rep for PA-01 in the U.S. House. To join the campaign and help elect her in November, please click here.

Update 1 8/22/22: A good bit of this was covered already above, but I still think it bears repeating.

Update 2 8/22/22: I’m not sure how I neglected to mention Fitzpatrick’s opposition to the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, but somehow I did (here)…apologies.

Update 3 8/22/22: Here are 3 more No votes from Fitzpatrick:

• HR 7606 – Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022: As noted here, the bill increased enforcement of competition laws and boosted USDA’s resources to investigate abusive market practices. “It will force packers to play fairly. It will improve the markets for producers. It will make it more competitive. It will also lower the prices for consumers. This is going to be a win-win,” according to Walter Schweitzer of the Montana Farmers Union (vote is here).
• HR 963 – FAIR Act of 2022: As noted here, “The FAIR Act…prohibit(s) corporations from forcing working people and consumers into pre-dispute forced arbitration agreements and class action waivers, which are hidden in many non-negotiable employment and consumer contracts. These agreements allow large employers, insurers, lenders, and financial services companies to consistently tip the scales in their favor at the expense of everyday working people and consumers by forcing individuals to give up their right to access to the courts if they wish to begin a job, open a credit card account, obtain a loan, receive nursing home services, use a cell phone, or access other critical goods and services.” (vote is here).
• S 610 – Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act: Of all of the myriad failures of our corporate media, one of the most glaring ones as far as I’m concerned is the failure to explain the effect of the still-ruinous “sequester” (in which former Repug House Speaker John Boehner once infamously claimed that he got “99 percent of what he wanted”) on the operation of the federal government (more on that is here). Basically, the sequester mandates cuts to designated spending categories of the federal government, and one of those cuts had to do with payments to Medicare providers. As noted here...
  
  The bill would extend the 2% Medicare sequester moratorium through March 31, 2022, and adjust the sequester to 1% between April 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022. It would also increase Medicare physician payments by increasing the physician fee schedule conversion factor by 3% for calendar year 2022. In order to eliminate the potential for an additional 4% Medicare sequester in 2022 due to statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirements, S. 610 also contains a PAYGO scorecard waiver that would take effect after adjournment of the first session of the 117th Congress. The (Association of American Medical Colleges) urged Congress to eliminate these cuts in a December 2 statement [refer to Washington Highlights, Dec. 3] and upon release of the legislation, issued a statement supporting the bill and urging Congress to pass the legislation quickly. “Alleviating these devastating cuts is crucial to ensuring that the nation’s teaching hospitals and faculty physicians can continue fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting access to care for the patients and communities they serve, and meeting the nation’s health needs,” the AAMC stated (vote is here).

Once more, to help Dem Ashley Ehasz running against Fitzpatrick, please click here.

Update 8/23/22: For all of the reasons previously noted, I stand by my opinion that Brian Fitzpatrick should not be returned to the U.S. House. However (and again, in the interest of fairness), I should note that he was one of 3 U.S. House Republicans to vote in favor of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 over 6 years, along with the highly unlikely combination of Francis Rooney of Florida and Chris Smith of New Jersey as noted here (which makes Fitzpatrick better on this issue than 7 alleged Democrats and 1 Independent in the U.S. Senate).

Update 9/29/22: I have to be honest and give Bri-Fi credit for this, but as usual, he negates good work by associating with contemptible political clowns like Mike Pompeo (here).

Whose Party Is It Anyway?

This Op-Ed column in the New York Times (sorry – I know it’s behind a pay wall) discusses what passes for “strategy” by the Democratic Governor’s Association, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and other affiliated organizations. Basically, it turns out that the alleged “brain trust” of the Democratic Party has decided to fund the campaigns of Trumpist lunatics to promote these frauds with the expectation that they’ll be easier to beat in the general election. The column tells us that doing this helped to drive out Kelly Shultz in Maryland (supported by outgoing Republican governor Larry Hogan, who admittedly is more moderate than the usual crazies, though he’s been wrong also a few times) at the expense of Trumper Dan Cox, who won the nomination in the gubernatorial contest. This move is also the main reason why Repug U.S. House Rep Peter Meijer lost his primary in Michigan by 4,000 votes to Trumper John Gibbs (Meijer was among the handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Capitol insurrection, as the Times tells us). In another example, Repug U.S. Rep David Valadao narrowly won his primary even though Democratic dough was apparently spent to prop up Trumpster Chris Mathys, who said that he wanted to represent the “Trump Conservative/ Businessman” party, whatever the hell that means.

You know, there are times when I feel like smacking myself in the face for actually supporting this thoroughly wretched and bought-and-paid-for political organization, and this is one of those times. Yes, I’m totally aware that the other side is run pretty much by brown-shirt fascists, and that has a lot to do with me maintaining my allegiance to the Democratic Party. However, like you I’m sure, I should point out that I get DELUGED on a continual basis with phone calls, Emails, texts…you name it, from seemingly EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT RUNNING FOR NATIONAL POLITICAL OFFICE as well as PA, with EVERYBODY putting the bite on me for money. And yes, there are plenty of good Dems who deserve our support…Ashley Ehasz, Perry Warren, Steve Santarsiero, John Fetterman, Josh Shapiro, and more than a few others…but they represent a political organization that has a leadership that is run by THOROUGHLY COMPROMISED FRAUDS who are products of the D.C. political/media/industrial complex, and TAKE EVERY CONCEIVABLE OPPORTUNITY TO ACT LIKE IT. And as a result of this utterly brainless move to bankroll the opposition, I and everyone else now have to wonder whether or not my donation will actually be used by the candidate I support (though I suppose the damage has already been done to a large degree if the goal was to impact primary contests) or if it will go to some “oppo” move like the one the Times is talking about (I’m picturing a circus clown wearing a DNC logo smearing grease paint on his or her face and tripping over a pair of exploding, oversized shoes!). And yes, I’m looking at you, Nancy Pelosi (for that “glass of water” comment about AOC if for no other reason), as well as Senate Majority “Leader” Chuck Schumer who apparently is completely unable to keep both President Manchin and Vice President Sinema in line to pass legislation that would enable Democrats to hold Congress after the fall elections. And what’s worse is that we had that horrible SCOTUS ruling overturning Roe gift-wrapped by “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and his pals (the human consequences are catastrophic, but the political benefit could be “the gift that keeps on giving”)…and THIS is what the Dems decide to do with it! Imagine being an actual or potential Democratic Party voter realizing what has transpired on the critical issue of women’s bodily autonomy and believing that you have no choice but to support Democrats because the other major political party in this country is certifiably nuts, so you contribute your hard-earned dollars…and then find out that your money was used to support some demented Republican as part of some weird and wrong-headed calculation that could backfire all over the place!

Apparently, one of the contests that was affected by this idiotic oppo funding move was that of Doug Mastriano, the Trumper running for PA governor (noted here). And I suppose whoever came up with the bright idea to fund Mastriano thought, “oh, there’s no way he could be elected. He’s waay too extreme.” Well, guess what? I thought the same thing about Former President Fergus Laing running against HRC in 2016, but then I experienced a bit of a revelation. About six years ago this month, I attended a funeral for the father of a family friend in Lawndale, which (for those not familiar with the area) is an older row home community in Northeast Philadelphia mainly composed of retired individuals, single-parent-female households with kids, families of varied ethnicities…pretty much America in our current times, notwithstanding Fix Noise propaganda. I parked my car and got out to go to the funeral home and pay my respects…and immediately saw Trump/Pence signs on home lawns everywhere. My first thought was, boy, have we got a problem. And, as it turned out, we did (I mean…you would THINK there wouldn’t be that degree of support for someone as nutty as Our Ochre Abomination, but yeah, when you’re down on your luck and destitute and think the system is hopelessly rigged and nobody has an answer…well, you’d be tempted to “break the glass” and do anything to wreck the awful economic status quo you’ve been conned into accepting). And who’s to say Mastriano wouldn’t have that utterly wrong-headed perception going for him this fall?

Also, here is another ridiculously simple political axiom that even someone like your humble narrator can comprehend; when it comes to politics (as well as sports), winning often begets winning. And in politics, that means campaign dollars (as in, everyone wants to be part of a winner, which often gets reflected with small-dollar donations). And a political campaign that knew what it was doing would put that money into the best possible “ground game” to do canvassing, phone banking, putting up yard/highway signs…basically, the whole “nuts and bolts” stuff to Get Out The Vote (including newspaper Op-Eds as well as the social media stuff) that often leads to victory in November. Cutting to the chase, I have no idea where Mastriano is on that score, but his party never seems to have a problem with funding (and even though their ideas are completely detrimental to our well being, his party knows what to do to get out their base). Also, I have no idea what the current polling is on the PA governor’s race (with November still being a long way off, though time will race by I’m sure). To put it in fewer words, Mastriano, Trumpist lunatic and insurrectionist, treasonous fraud that he is (and don’t give me this “Christian nationalist” shit – there’s nothing “Christian” about him!) COULD ACTUALLY FREAKING WIN! AND YOU’VE HELPED BANKROLL HIM, DNC! HECKUVA JOB!

(Update: I believe the funding came from the Shapiro campaign, but I’ll try to find better sourcing on that.)

Mastriano has gone on record as saying that, if he were elected governor, he would have electors of his choice seated to certify PA’s votes in the 2024 presidential election and beyond (here). He would also require voters in this state to re-register (here), and would no doubt find a way to purge Democrats in the process. He has also said that he would unilaterally de-certify election results (here). THIS IS THE SORT OF LUNATIC WHO COULD CONCEIVABLY BE OUR NEXT GOVERNOR!

(I’ve often wondered what would have happened if, God forbid, Scott “Stomp On Tom Wolf’s Face With Golf Cleats” Wagner had managed to win election as governor in 2016. Well, at a minimum, I’m sure we’d have twice as many people dead in this commonwealth from COVID that we’ve had already, with much more ruinous consequences I’m sure that we can only imagine. And we’d be buying into that and a hell of a lot more with a Mastriano win in November.)

It would have made A HELL OF A LOT MORE SENSE to use that money to build the campaigns of congressional Democratic U.S. House and Senate candidates as well as congressional and gubernatorial candidates in state elections, to say nothing of city and municipal contests. Somehow, Republicans have learned how to build organizational capacity form the ground up (school boards, county and municipal supervisor boards, etc.) and Dems seem to struggle with doing that. And don’t even get me started on social media, where what passes for the DNC, DCCC and DSCC YouTube “presence,” for example, is truly laughable, to be kind (I even checked “Bold Progressives,” and the most “current” video was a year old!). Even though social media is relatively cheap, do you honestly intend to tell me that the DNC somehow didn’t have the dough to spend on THAT also?

I believe (and hope and pray also) that the party can recover from this insanely ridiculous calculation since the primaries (to the best of my knowledge) are nearly over (and of course, we all need to do our best to achieve the best possible result). However, the person or persons responsible for this clownish decision should be summarily fired at the earliest conceivable opportunity and should never be able to exert any influence whatsoever in a political campaign ever again.

Update: And as if we needed further proof regarding this idiotic strategy, I should note that, in yesterday’s Dem U.S. Senate primary in Missouri, Lucas Kunce (a veteran with great progressive bona fides) lost to Trudy Busch Valentine (here), who didn’t even know what the issue was regarding Citizens United (here). Gee, ya’ think some of that “oppo” dough could have gone to Kunce instead to make sure a better Dem won for the general election?

Update 11/18/22: The point of this post was to sound off about what I thought was the total idiocy of supporting Trump candidates by the Dems instead of using those funds to support Democratic candidates. I thought that was a doomed strategy, and I thought people like James Carville were nuts to be cheering on such an idiotic plan.

I was completely and totally wrong. With the exception of J.D. Vance winning in Ohio (and I have a feeling there were other factors in play, though I don’t know exactly what was happening “on the ground”), every one of the Trumpers lost, as far as I know.

To be honest, this is why I do this sort of thing as a hobby as opposed to earning an income with it.

How To Lie Like A Republican

Every now and then, I feel like I need to remind anyone who cares to read what I say in the matter of what movement conservative Republicanism/glibertarianism is really all about. And I think the recent interview that CNN’s Dana Bash conducted with Repug U.S. House Rep Chris Jacobs gives us an opportunity to do that (from here).

A lot has been made of the fact that Jacobs was one of the few members of his party to support a gun control bill that recently passed the U.S. House and, thanks to that death eater Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao more than anyone else, stands zero chance of success in the U.S. Senate (Update 9/20/22: I just realized that I never updated this post for this – apologies). And to be fair, I should note that our own wet noodle PA-01 rep Brian Fitzpatrick voted for it as noted here (the only one of 5 Republicans voting for it seeking re-election…though before we rush to congratulate Bri-Fi, it should also be noted that he supports so-called “gun reciprocity,” where someone from a state with weaker gun laws, such as Texas, could basically nullify PA law, so Fitzpatrick is at best a mixed bag on this issue).

The part about Jacobs doing the right thing and voting for the House Bill is noted in the discussion with Bash. However, we’re also treated to the following from Jacobs:

BASH: Do you regret voting (to reject Pennsylvania and Arizona’s electors when the 2020 election results were certified on January 6^th, 2021)?

JACOBS: No, because, unfortunately, those two states did violate the Constitution by overturning election law without going through the legislative process, which is a violation of the Constitution. Those would not — my — the electoral votes those added up to would not have ever turned any election over — this election over. But I do believe election integrity is a legitimate issue and needs to — we need assurance going forward for this democracy to work.

I’m sure it won’t come as a shock to learn that Jacobs is lying.

As most of us know by now, there were approximately 60 lawsuits over the 2020 election, and virtually all of them lost. The one that actually won (I’m pretty sure) had to do with counting PA mail-in ballots where voter information was improperly written on secure envelopes that were supposed to remain blank (I’ll admit I’m a little fuzzy on that at the moment, but the point is that IT MOST DEFINITELY DID NOT AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THE DAMN ELECTION).

Again, Jacobs is lying. He’s purposefully spreading disinformation. He knows he’s spreading garbage, but as far as Jacobs and his party are concerned, it’s all about message discipline. It doesn’t matter if the “message” has nothing whatsoever to do with verifiable truth and reality.

All that matters is the ultimate goal of the message. And in this case, it is to overturn the independent function of election administration and to turn it over to a state legislative body, which is often run by Republicans. Because, if somehow our 45^th “president” disappeared from the face of the earth tomorrow, the political organization he is in charge of (and let’s have no misunderstanding about that) would STILL be doing all it could to turn our elections over to legislatures favoring his party (to me, this is another awful consequence of the Bush v. Gore decision giving primacy to the Florida “lege” in that disputed contest, though I’ll admit that legal scholars can debate that point better than I can).

This thoroughly corrupted message in the service of a cause utterly destructive to democracy is, of course, the origin of the “zombie lie.” As we know, that is the lie that can never be killed once and for all. This is so because Jacobs and people in his party continue to propagate it no matter what.

Often (and I’m definitely speaking for myself here), when I feel like there’s an “A-HA!” moment of proving a liar to be wrong (often a Repug, but not always), the temptation is great to say, “See, I’ve done it! I’ve defeated the BS from this person” and call it a day. That, of course, is a big mistake.

That is because the “party of Lincoln” lies so brazenly, so contemptuously, and often so stupidly that it requires seeming eternal vigilance. And if we let our guard down, the “zombie lie” finds its way into the corporate media bloodstream, to the point where one day, months later, we may hear Dana Bash say (in an interview with, say, a Democrat…and there are some of them guilty of this too),”Senator, we had U.S. House Rep Chris Jacobs on our show months ago saying that legislatures should decide our elections. Would you care to comment on that?” without realizing that the gambit of propagating the zombie lie has worked and a politician who may not be wise to the game may end up validating the lie. All of a sudden, the next thing you know, Fox “News” has a headline all over the place saying “Joe Manchin Supports Legislative Control Of Elections” and that has given the zombie lie the cover of alleged corporate media legitimacy.

The Republicans most definitely know how to play this game (with our corporate media tending to be conservative anyway). They know how to push the buttons of the voters of this country.

And it continually makes me want to scream knowing that the Republicans have a much better strategy for communicating their often nonsensical policies and legislation, opposed by the majority of this country, than the Democrats do for communicating their often-sound policies and legislation, which is frequently favored by about the same margin.

Update 12/6/23: I would say that this also proves my point.

A Matter of Allegiance and Fortitude (Updates)

There’s a question I’m compelled to ask, given the right-wing radicalization of The Supreme Court, with “Almost Silent” Clarence Thomas refusing to recuse himself from cases involving his Trumpist activist wife Ginni (here), to say nothing of Amy Coney Barrett appearing in front of “The McConnell Center” (here), as well as Neil Gorsuch speaking at a conservative gathering in Orlando (here).

I feel that I have to ask it also given the attempted criminalization of women’s health care by the states of Texas (here) and Mississippi (here), though similar bills are in Republican-run state legislatures across the country (here…more here). I also want to speak up given all of the legislation out there to ban teaching of a myriad of subjects that apparently make an elderly, conservative segment of the white population in this country uncomfortable (here). And oh yeah, we of course also have had no federal action of anything approximating common-sense gun legislation in this country. And don’t even get me started on Republican anti-mask, anti-vax propaganda in response to the COVID pandemic (here).

I also feel the urge (not unlike a case of acid reflux) to ask about this given the open adoration of Vladimir Putin in Russia by any “influencer” in Republican-friendly political and media circles, not withstanding the fact that this tin pot dictator may yet launch a war against a country not seeking combat in any way that could yet kill and maim thousands of people (a country that we quite rightly support through NATO – Update: It’s now underway unfortunately – more here and here…and oh yeah, there’s this too). And there was that little example of “legitimate political discourse” on January 6^th last year to remind us of how the “party of Lincoln” supposedly supports free and fair elections also (here).

I think I reached a bit of a breaking point when I heard about this alleged 11-point plan from congressional Republicans as articulated by Flori-DUUUHHH! Senator Lex Luthor Scott (here), which basically promises nothing except more hardship for people who can barely afford to exist as it is, as well as ever-more-luxurious benefits to the “donor class” who have held sway in our politics for easily the last 40 years at least.

With all of this in mind, here is the question I believe I need to ask:

Where the hell is the goddamn Democratic Party while all of this is going on?

I mean, it’s not like you have a dearth of targets. If anything, you’ve got too goddamn many! There are SO MANY WAYS for you to craft a message that resonates with your base (and, dare I say it, enough of a segment of independent voters) to drive turnout this fall (for yet another mid-term election, where you often get trounced).

You want to get people excited and motivated not just to vote for Democratic candidates but to work for campaigns too? Start getting your goddamn messaging act together on social media and crank out some videos to protest all of this insanity!

And THEN put the bite on us for money! Enough of these bogus, STOO-PID polls asking us how we feel on certain issues and trying to find out the ones that are most important.

HOW ABOUT ALL OF THE FREAKING ABOVE!!! (and I didn’t even mention climate change, the most important one of them all – more here).

Do you REALLY want to know what depresses turnout (and yes, people should just vote “D” anyway, but I know the reality and I’m sure you do too)? It’s when voters don’t know what the hell you stand for, that’s what!

So try showing a spine for a change, OK? And if you want an example of what I’m talking about, watch this.

And P.S… if anything I’ve said here somehow alienates or pisses off rural voters who somehow feel antagonized by Democratic populism (on the same issues affecting people in, say, Baltimore or New York City as well as Butte, Montana…and yeah, I’m looking at you, Steve Bullock and Jon Tester), tell them that’s too goddamn bad! If you’re dumb enough to actually think you’ll get a better deal from a Republican, then have at it and let us know later all the ways you got sold down the river.

@harrisonjaime

@DNC

@DCCC

@DSCC

Update 2/25/22: This.

Update 3/20/22: At least Karen Berg got the memo, to her great credit (here).

Update 3/29/22: And as is so often the case, AOC gets it (here – and please spare me this business of “Oh, but we can’t get moderate, independent voters mad at us by embracing an ‘urban socialist’ like her”…I’ve got news for you – if you abandon messaging altogether about what the party should be all about, which is economic populism first and foremost regardless of where you live, YOU WON’T GET THOSE PEOPLE ANYWAY!).

Update 4/20/22: All respect to Mallory McMorrow (here).

Update 4/30/22: Glad to know it’s not just me (here).

Update 8/10/22: I know I’ve spent a lot of time bitching about Dems and lousy messaging, and rightly so I think, so I think they should be given credit when they do this the right way (here).

My 2020 Election Postscript (Updates)

OK, as I type this, it’s all but done for Biden/Harris, now that they’re leading in PA and GA, thank God (and by the way, I was dismissive in the past of Stacey Abrams for being this almost ubiquitous presence on MSNBC about any center-left issue that existed without having won an election, even though by rights she should be Georgia governor now, but boy, was I wrong – it turned out she worked her ass off to GOTV for Biden/Harris and definitely should be rewarded in the new incoming administration – my apologies and congratulations to her for her efforts).

The White House was, of course, the big prize that we absolutely needed to win, though I’m sure there will be subsequent legal stuff for the foreseeable future (I remember how much the Repugs fought Al Franken getting seated in the U.S. Senate from Minnesota, and you can expect them to do that at a minimum for the White House). However, at this point, you would really have to wonder about any judge or politician doing anything whatsoever to reward a Trumpster, since, electorally, they’re “dead men walking,” and could only end up staining the reputation of anyone who could still help them at this point.

What does it tell you that it was so close? Well, for starters, it’s incredibly hard to knock off an incumbent politician unless they utterly self-destruct (which the Gropenfuhrer most certainly did, basically causing the worst health crisis this country has faced in over 100 years as well as an economy on the verge of collapse). There are many on my side who have claimed and will continue to claim that Biden was a little too chummy with Republicans. Well, that may be. But a win is a win is a win is a win is a win, and that’s what matters at the end of the day, not some damn Dem/liberal/progressive purity test.

I guess I need to remind our side of this again…in 1964, the Republican Party was flat on its back, having been decimated in a presidential and congressional elections. However, they incrementally worked their way back to power (partly by “working the refs” as always) to the point where they were positioned first in 1976 for their movement conservative guy (The Sainted Ronnie R), who actually showed up 4 years too early and caused the Republican split that led to Jimmy Carter winning. By 1980, though (with the internal fight going on between Carter and Ted Kennedy…I vaguely recall a white-haired guy named John Anderson too), they were poised to return to power, which they did with disastrous consequences. It took 16 years, but they pulled it off. And we’ll need to do something like that to accomplish the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, electoral and tax reform, common-sense gun laws, and on and on (though I realize we don’t have 16 years when it comes to the health of this planet).

The moral of the story is that you have no choice but to play the long game. Like many of you I’m sure, I saw people online like Peter Daou absolutely losing their minds, railing against “corporate Dems.” Yes, I most definitely don’t like them either. But to build a winning coalition (especially for our side), you have to bring a lot of folks to the table, including them. And if you don’t have the political inclination for the sort of “horse trading” and deal-making you need to engage in as a politician to pull off that feat or something like it, then why the hell are you bothering to run in the first place? That’s just the reality, and I don’t know what else to say about it.

Any by the way (speaking of politicians adept at “horse trading”), how about giving Nancy Pelosi a little credit for holding the U.S. House (though apparently Dems lost seats, which will, and should, prompt some self-reflection)? And unfortunately, it looks unlikely that Christina Finello will be going to D.C. as part of the majority, with the PA-01 contest very nearly settled in Brian Fitzpatrick’s favor. However, as far as I could see, Finello ran the best campaign I’ve seen a Dem run for that seat in a long time. I thought Steve Santarsiero acquitted himself admirably in 2016 – Scott Wallace has a great progressive lineage but not much else for my money two years ago, and Kathy Boockvar worked hard and ran well (I always felt the best Dem for that was Patrick Murphy, who managed to win twice), but I loved Finello’s combativeness and the fact that she NEVER let up on reminding everyone just how wedded to Trump Bri-Fi really is. Also, Finello expertly used social media to advance her campaign. The biggest factor going for Bri-Fi, though, is that he does have a bit of a record of some votes that are actually sane, though I believe his terrible votes far outweigh that. Also (and this is something else I’ve said before), never forget how Repug-friendly this district truly is. That sliver of Montco may be a little “swingy,” but Bucks County is red to its core. I honestly don’t know how you make enough of an inroads on that to effect a different electoral outcome, but we have a couple of years to go back to the drawing board and try to come up with a new strategy for next time (also, congratulations to Perry Warren, re-elected for another term in Harrisburg from PA-31).

And speaking of self-reflection on the U.S. House Dems, I thought this was an interesting thread on Twitter from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Yes, I realize the country overall doesn’t share the same demographic composition of her district (not yet, anyway), but I thought she made a lot of good points about the people who are really the core for a lot of the party (African Americans, poor working class…and that’s not a pejorative comment by the way…various other demographics including LGBTQ and non-whites) and how their issues need to be addressed. This was spurred a bit by recent comments here from “centrist” Dems like Conor Lamb and Abigail Spanberger, who all but blamed “the squad” for their harder re-election prospects and the House Dems losing seats. And in response, I would say that there needs to be give-and-take on both sides. Lamb, for example, who has championed fracking in PA, could say that we also need to watch out for children’s health issues that have been linked to fracking, and that affects Lamb’s district too (Will Bunch recently noted this on Twitter also along with AOC), and the NY-14 rep could say that, yeah, I support resolutions to local issues for my constituents, but these people also go out and work in districts that are more centrist than where they live, so issues related to their well-being impact there also (and stuff like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, again, could be beneficial to the whole country if the party could finally get its messaging together on that – a big “if” I know, unfortunately).

Now to the Senate…

To say I’m relieved that Gary Peters won another term in Michigan is an understatement (though, in typical Trumpian fashion, Peters’ opponent John James is apparently refusing to concede). However, part of me seriously wants to email Peters and say, “Congratulations on your victory. Now, announce to the entire world that you’ll serve your term until 2026 and never seek re-election to the Senate again.”

When you’ve been connected to this stuff for as long as I have (not that I’m a big deal, I hasten to emphasize), a lot of different candidates from all over the place are going to put the bite on you for money. And the Peters campaign was easily the worst at that (or best I guess, depending on how you look at it). I would get easily 3-4 emails every day (“Just got off the phone with my team,” “Outraised again,” “I was the only Democrat for the U.S. Senate outraised this cycle,” “No path to the Senate without Michigan”…true, I know, but DAMN, did it get tiresome).

So I thought, well, maybe I can find a somewhat current video from the campaign to include at this blog. Yeah, well, good luck with that. I was able to find a couple of clips from years ago, along with a testimonial from former President Obama…and that was it. Also (for some reason), Peters and James couldn’t work out some way for the two of them to debate, and all the while, I kept thinking to myself “This could be Claire McCaskill and Joe Donnelly all over again, BUT THIS IS FREAKING MICHIGAN!” And yes, I know the dynamic was also altered by all of the crazy militia garbage going on along with the DeVos family throwing around stupid money to try and get James elected. In a nutshell, I thought Peters’ social media presence (tying into the AOC post earlier) left much to be desired.

So I also thought, if I’m going to focus my contributions on one Senate race in particular, it had damn well better be this one. And after I made my donation, what was I rewarded with? A video of Peters riding a motorcycle.

Ummm…why the hell am I supposed to actually care about that (and as long as I’m on the subject of U.S. Senate Dems having to “get the memo,” someone had better let this guy know his time is about up also. The Repugs ran that stiff Bob Hugin in NJ against him last time, but they won’t make that mistake again.). As for Peters, though, he sure as hell ought to make campaign finance reform a big issue after a performance like this (which it should be for all Dems anyway). Just to show how out-of-hand the money situation has gotten, his office sent out a tweet yesterday saying “Let’s congratulate Gary Peters on his re-election – click here to make a contribution.” HE’S ALREADY FREAKING WON! WILL YOU STOP WITH THE PANHANDLING ALREADY??!!

Update 12/16/20: OK, fair is fair – kudos to Peters for going after that disgusting fraud and utterly repellent human being Ron Johnson here.

Also, it is beyond discouraging that, of all the U.S. Senate races where Dems challenged, so far, we have only ended up with 2 pickups (even though I know that, yes, it’s hard to knock off an incumbent as already stated). One pickup was Mark Kelly in Arizona, who had all kinds of built-in name recognition and was lucky enough to run against the weakest of all Republican Senate incumbents in Martha McSally (not trying to detract from Kelly’s campaign when I say that). The other pickup came in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper had even more built-in name recognition as former Governor, and was running against the second-weakest candidate in Cory Gardner (I was hoping that would work for Steve Bullock in Montana, but it didn’t of course). People like Cenk Uygur have been going nuts over the Dems not running enough progressives, like Daou, and that’s why they didn’t get pickups, which is partly true but also partly wrong. Hickenlooper is most definitely NOT progressive, but it would have been insanity to name another Dem to go against Gardner.

I know you have to put a bit an asterisk next to anyone running in the South (with all due respect to Southern Democrats, fighting a truly lonely and uphill fight, f*ck the South right in the ear – I’ve learned NEVER to trust them in elections, though that doesn’t mean we should throw in the towel either of course). What the hell else was Jaime Harrison supposed to do in South Carolina, for example? Also, this didn’t help Cal Cunningham either – dumb. And even someone as thoroughly corrupt as David Perdue in Georgia is going to a runoff with Jon Ossoff only because the libertarian candidate kept Perdue from 50 percent of the vote (last I saw, Perdue actually was leading Ossoff by about 100K votes, even though Ossoff totally owned Perdue in that last debate). And I have to admit that, deep down, even though I supported her in my way of course, I never took Amy McGrath seriously as a candidate. Yes, we know what Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is, but he hasn’t lasted this long in his job by being a fool or somehow forgetting how to count. McGrath ended up spending her own stupid amount of money in this campaign and was still beaten by about 20 points. Even if she’d reached out to Charles Booker (who spent a fraction of that money in the Dem primary and very nearly beat her), could she have won working with Booker? Maybe not, but I don’t think Mitch McConnell would have cleaned her clock either.

As far as I’m concerned, there were at least a couple of winnable races out there that we could have captured with a little more imagination and better strategy (and no, I wasn’t “on the ground” in those states). And the pattern was always the same…some social media posts or information getting out there that, say, Texas or Kansas was going purple, or “oh, the Dem has a lead…it’s narrowing, but still leading”…and the Dem ends up losing by double digits. I’m talking about Theresa Greenfield in Iowa and Sara Gideon in Maine (Are you seriously trying to tell me that you couldn’t find a way to knock off somebody as thoroughly compromised as Susan Collins? That being said, I thought this was a very interesting post; again, if there is no message of economic populism – apparently because you don’t have the people on the ground to canvas your electorate and motivate them and independents somehow based on proposed solutions to issues they care about, or don’t understand how to make those kinds of inroads because the political terrain is tougher than you thought – well then, isn’t that the fault of whoever it was who allegedly came up with your strategy? And to be honest, I’d forgotten how red Maine really is also, having elected that brainless oaf Paul LePage as governor for not one but two terms).

Update: And speaking of Greenfield, who raised a ton of dough (though that isn’t an automatic indicator of success as we know), I thought this was interesting.

(Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire presented a recent clip of how quickly voters forgot about Collins and “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh…we’re dealing with easily distracted, low-information voters..and no, I’m not a lib looking down on anybody; I’m just pointing out a fact – I get it that they’re trying to hold everything together with themselves and their families, but it’s just that, for a variety of reasons, the David’s in this country end up firing their slingshots at other David’s instead of the Goliath like they’re supposed to, and I think that’s the biggest obstacle we’re up against. And I overwhelmingly blame Fox News, local news coverage which is more and more conservative, and AM talk radio which is ALL conservative, to say nothing of right-wing social networking and related sites, but that topic is a discussion for another day.)

And yeah, about Sara Gideon in Maine…I went to her web site, and what did I see? Beautiful sweeping vistas of the Maine woods…and oh look, there’s Sara Gideon talking to somebody on a small town street corner in front of clean streets and well-manicured grass surrounding main street shops…and Sara Gideon talking to somebody else on a small town street corner in front of clean streets and well-manicured grass surrounding main street shops…and why the hell am I even at this web site again? I forgot.

Hey, alleged DSCC geniuses…you have literally SECONDS to grab the attention of someone navigating to a web site, especially for candidates like Greenfield (where I saw something similar) and Gideon who have ZERO NATIONAL NAME RECOGNITION! Where the “elevator pitch”? What’s the value proposition for me in giving you my support?

So, given all of that, let’s talk about what that alleged political maven Chuck Schumer, Senate Dem Minority Leader, actually DID DO this cycle. Well, I must say that I just LOVED the hectoring popups to videos with Schumer saying, “Hey YOU. Yes YOU. We have a MAJOR fundraising deadline coming up.” As if I’m supposed to goddamn care when you people GIVE ME NO REASON AT ALL TO VOTE FOR YOUR CANDIDATE!

Here’s something to consider: I hate to use The Lincoln Project as an example (yeah, I know they’re basically Republican grifters), but they would run their good ads, then show a quick video afterwards about how to make a contribution. Maybe Schumer and the Dems should try something like that instead. Stop assuming people will automatically support you because you’re not Republicans. Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

This election cycle made my physically sick with stress (I’m sure you can relate…and don’t get me started on the texts and phone calls), and that should NEVER happen! To me, this is even more of a reason for a progressive version of Americans for Prosperity to pretty much indoctrinate Dem/progressive candidates so they can speak intelligently to issues particular to their state and present common sense solutions, and explain the benefits to voters “on the fence” (and DON’T rely on our corporate media for that, which is worse than useless on this stuff…if you need help with crafting policy recommendations, talk to Bernie Sanders…and yes, if Democrats ever got serious about this, I would support such an organization with a recurring contribution). Aside from basic common sense, maybe, if Schumer and the Dems did that MUCH EARLIER in the election cycle, then they wouldn’t fall prey so much to the negative ads when the dark money descends at the very end (something else Schumer and co. continually hectored me about, as if they’re somehow surprised by that). Hell, it’s worth a shot, because what they’re doing NOW isn’t resulting in any pickups (unless you have the situations in Arizona or Colorado as already noted).

Regardless, this should absolutely be the LAST election cycle with Chuck Schumer as the point person in charge of running elections for the DSCC. His track record absolutely stinks. And yes, as noted already, I know all about the “oh help us…dark money has created a lot of last-minute attack ads against our candidates and we’re losing ground” appeals. Maybe if you spent more time cementing in the mind of voters the populism you’re supposed to be all about and had fewer pictures of candidates on farms posing in front of tractors, the last-minute negative garbage wouldn’t be so effective!

Well (as noted previously), at least we still have two opportunities in Georgia, which is a blessing, even though they’re definitely long shots. And I sincerely hope the DSCC makes the ads not really about Perdue or Kelly Loeffler, but McConnell. Drum it into the heads of GA’s voters that they have NO SHOT AT ALL of relief of any kind for the COVID-19 plague with McConnell as Senate Majority Leader, which of course is the God’s-honest truth (and by the way, I commented on Alabama and Doug Jones/Tommy Tuberville elsewhere).

We have no choice but to continue the fight. Let’s try a different, more intelligent strategy. And stop getting the vapors over what centrist Dems may think (and don’t get me started on “socialism,” though, as I’ve often said, “defund the police” is terrible messaging). People like Conor Lamb and Abigail Spanberger, for example, are no more or less important than anyone else in the “big tent.” We all need to find a way to work together, or we will surely sink separately.

Update 1 11/8/20: I think this supports AOC’s argument even more, and confirms what I always suspected about the DNC.

Update 2 11/8/20: I thought this was an incredibly interesting interview with AOC (if you can get to it behind the NYT paywall). Some of what we learn is as follows: she reached out to Democrats running U.S. House campaigns to help with strategy, and 5 took her up on her offer, and all 5 won (and they were in swing districts). Also, she expressed a great deal of frustration with basically being vilified by some members in her caucus, to the point where she doesn’t even know whether or not she’ll even remain in politics 5 years from now, let alone take a run at the U.S. Senate, for example. If she were to get so exasperated to the point where she would walk away, it would be an incalculable loss for the country, let alone the Democrats and her constituents. But, if her frustration reached that point, I wouldn’t blame her one bit if she said the hell with it and gave up.

Update 7/2/21: When it comes to election strategy, advertising, use of social media and all that, I think there’s a ton of good advice in this post. I actually haven’t made my way through all of it, but I definitely intend to.

Bursting the Bri-Fi “Moderate” Bubble (Updates)

A huge hat tip goes out to Kierstyn P. Zolfo of #Indivisible on Twitter for compiling this list of the 10 worst votes by our allegedly “independent” PA-01 U.S. House Rep Brian Fitzpatrick (and by the way, the pic is a nod to his behavior towards his Dem challenger Christina Finello for the PA-01 seat during the most recent debate)…

1)

H.R. 6800 – Fitzpatrick voted No on the HEROES Act (here).

For a refresher on the HEROES Act, please click here.

2)

H.R. 7301 – Fitzpatrick voted No on protecting homeowners and renters from pandemic-related evictions and foreclosures (here).

This bill was sponsored by Dem U.S. House Rep Maxine Waters of CA, a frequent Trump critic, which I’m sure had more than a little bit to do with why Bri-Fi voted against it, not that that’s actually a good reason I hasten to add (here).

Oh, and speaking of Waters, apparently this Repug-come-lately named Joe Collins who is running for Waters seat is talking a lot of smack about her (here). And the fact that Collins is a Navy vet doesn’t give him a pass here either.

3)

H.R. 4617 – Fitzpatrick voted No on the SHIELD Act to enhance the security of our elections (here).

This bill was the third attempt by U.S. House Democrats to shore up the security of our elections; of course, all of those bills ended in the U.S. Senate legislative graveyard of Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao.

According to the article from The Hill…

The bill, sponsored by House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), would require campaigns to report any illicit offers of assistance by foreign governments or agents and would take steps to ensure that online political advertisements are subject to the same rules as TV and radio ads.

“The 2020 federal elections are fast approaching. Public confidence and trust in our elections is of the utmost importance,” Lofgren said on the House floor before the vote. “Free and fair elections are at the core of what it means to live in a democracy like ours. … It is our solemn duty to defend them.”

I guess Bri-Fi doesn’t care about the security of our elections. Figures.

4)

H.R. 3239 – Fitzpatrick voted No on a bill to provide humane treatment for detainees at our border, establishing minimum standards such as providing diapers for babies as well as food and toilets for adults also (here).

More on the bill is here (I truly cannot imagine what could be controversial about supporting this bill, except for the fact that it made the head of Bri-Fi’s party look like the unfeeling sociopath that he truly is as shown here).

5)

H.R. 1644 – Fitzpatrick voted No on a bill to restore Net Neutrality (here).

This bill was authored by Dem U.S. House Rep Mike Doyle of PA, and it would have codified a 2015 FCC policy that ensured that internet providers treated all data requests equally and did not throttle traffic to less-favored sites. Of course, Trump’s handpicked Commission chair Ajit Pai pushed through a repeal of the policy in late 2017 (more here).

This probably isn’t surprising given that one of Bri-Fi’s biggest bundlers is Comcast (here).

6)

H.R. 3624 – Fitzpatrick voted No on a bill requiring companies to disclose their outsourcing practices (here).

As noted here…

The law would also require employers to report a percentage change in the number of employees, by state and country. That way, if your employer laid off 1,000 employees in your state, and hired 1,000 employees in India, the issue would be apparent to the American people.

“In order to recognize companies that hire American workers, we need more information on where workers are based,” said Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “It’s not enough to say you’re dedicated to employing American workers – this will hold companies to the promise to keep workers and business here at home.”

More on the bill is here.

7)

H.R. 3621 – Fitzpatrick voted No on a bill to protect consumers from bad credit reporting practices (here).

This bill, introduced by Dem U.S. House Rep Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, is actually pretty broad-based in terms of providing relief to all sorts of credit applicants, as well as strengthening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (here…see what happens when you elect Dems who look out for you, as opposed to people like Bri-Fi?).

More on the bill is here.

8)

H.R. 1423 – Fitzpatrick voted No on a bill to protect abused employees from forced arbitration (here).

Dem U.S. House Rep Jerrold Nadler said the following about the bill here…

“Nearly a century ago, Congress enacted the Federal Arbitration Act to allow merchants to resolve run-of-the-mill contract disputes in a system of private arbitration that would be legally enforceable. The system that Congress envisioned was to be used voluntarily and only between merchants of equal bargaining power.

“However, the Supreme Court over the past 40 years has issued a series of decisions that have expanded the use of arbitration far beyond Congress’s original intent or a fair reading of the text of the Arbitration Act—creating the unjust system we see today.

“Private arbitration has been transformed from a voluntary forum for companies to resolve commercial disputes into a legal nightmare for millions of consumers, employees, and others who are forced into arbitration and are unable to enforce certain fundamental rights in court

..

“H.R. 1423, the FAIR Act, reverses this disastrous trend by prohibiting the enforcement of forced arbitration clauses in consumer, labor, antitrust, and civil rights disputes. Importantly, this legislation does not preclude parties from agreeing to arbitrate a claim after the dispute arises, which will ensure that arbitration agreements are truly voluntary and transparent.

“It does, however, prevent unsuspecting consumers and employees from being forced to give up their right to seek justice in court.

More on the bill is here.

Don’t worry; I’ve saved the two absolute worst votes for last:

9)

H Res 755 – Vote to Impeach President Donald Trump for High Crimes and Misdemeanors (here) – Fitzpatrick voted No of course.

More is here (and here).

🔥🔥🔥 #PA01’s Indivisible group left a message for Trump crony @RepBrianFitz at his office.@GOP: you may have forgotten what your oath means. But we haven’t.

Nice job, @BucksCoKierstyn & team!pic.twitter.com/HvR4m12vuM

— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@NickKnudsenUS) December 21, 2019

And finally (even though it took place in the prior Congressional session)…

10)

H.R. 1 – Fitzpatrick voted YES to the utterly ruinous GOP tax scam bill in December 2017 (here…more here).

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities did a much better job of giving this piece of legislative garbage the treatment it so thoroughly deserves; the best thing to do I think is to block out as much time as you can and read their post here. However, I’d like to put up the following graphic from their post which tells the story as far as I’m concerned.

This should prove beyond any doubt that there is nothing “moderate” about Bri-Fi. And to do something about him which is long overdue as far as I’m concerned, please click here to support Christina Finello (and for PA-31 folks, please click here to support Dem incumbent state rep Perry Warren).

Update 10/13/20: And support from the Proud Boys too, huh (here)? Bri-Fi sure keeps interesting company.

Update 10/27/20: I have a couple of late additions to this post:

H.R. 36 – Fitzpatrick voted YES on a bill to restrict abortion even if the mother’s life is in danger and in most cases of rape or incest, and said he would “absolutely” vote to defund Planned Parenthood (here).

This has to do with some legislative monstrosity called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act sponsored by Bri-Fi’s former fellow House Repug Trent Franks of Arizona, which sought to “(amend) the federal criminal code to make it a crime for any person to perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the probable post-fertilization age of the fetus is 20 weeks or more” (here). As nearly as I can tell, this bill died in the Senate (last action is that it failed to proceed to a vote, fortunately).

In response, 23 different medical organizations wrote in opposition to the bill (here).

And by the way, if the name Trent Franks sounds familiar, it should. As noted here, he resigned from Congress when the House Ethics Committee announced that it would investigate allegations of sexual harassment against him for supposedly asking two female staffers to bear his children as surrogate mothers, with Franks allegedly offering one of them $5 million to carry his child, and retaliating against her when she declined.

Also, as noted here, Scott Wallace, who ran for Bri-Fi’s U.S. House seat and lost in 2018, claimed that Fitzpatrick supported an amendment by Fitzpatrick’s fellow House Repug Fred Upton of Michigan to “decimate funding for pre-existing conditions.” I’m merely presenting what Wallace said here – I have not been able to find a link to a roll call vote on that one (thought it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it turned out to be true).

Update 10/29/20: And let’s not forget Fitzpatrick’s utterly incorrect claim that the World Health Organization basically blew the call on COVID-19 (here).

Update 11/1/20: Oh yeah, I also forgot that Bri-Fi supports nullification, if you will, of PA’s gun laws ,which sounds better from a marketing perspective than “concealed-carry reciprocity,” though it’s the same damn thing (here).

Completing a PA Mail-In Ballot

I realize there has been some confusion about completing a mail-in (or absentee) ballot in our beloved commonwealth of PA, so based on a recent mailer we received, I’ll try to clear up some of that right now.

What follows are instructions that appear on the mailer about completing a mail-in ballot:

Kind of self-explanatory I guess.

Next is where it starts to get a little tricky:

The so-called “secrecy” envelope has no information on it to preserve the anonymity of the voter. You must put your ballot in the secrecy envelope.

This is what to do after putting the ballot in the secrecy envelope:

Again, we should be OK with this part (and don’t forget to put the secrecy envelope with the ballot in the larger marked envelope of course).

And finally:

To get to iwllvote.com/PA, please click here.

Update: Mail-in ballots will be sent out across Bucks County, PA beginning on 10/7/20. Also, the registration deadline (for online, mail or in person voting) is October 19th.

My 2020 U.S. Senate Voting Guide

What follows is my list of contested U.S. Senate contests for 2020; this table will be updated given that some primaries have been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

State	Republican	Democrat
Alaska	Dan Sullivan*	Dr. Al Gross (I)
Alabama	Tommy Tuberville	Doug Jones*
Arizona	Martha McSally*	Mark Kelly
Arkansas	Tom Cotton*	Dan Whitfield
Colorado	Cory Gardner*	John Hickenlooper
Georgia	Kelly Loeffler*	Rev. Raphael Warnock
Georgia	David Perdue*	Jon Ossoff
Idaho	Jim Risch*	Paulette Jordan
Iowa	Joni Ernst*	Theresa Greenfield
Kansas**	Roger Marshall	Barbara Bollier
Kentucky	Mitch McConnell*	Amy McGrath
Louisiana	Bill Cassidy*	Adrian Perkins
Maine	Susan Collins*	Sara Gideon
Michigan	John James	Gary Peters*
Minnesota	Jason Lewis	Tina Smith*
Mississippi	Cindy Hyde-Smith*	Mike Espy
Montana	Steve Daines*	Steve Bullock
New Hampshire	Corky Messner	Jeanne Shaheen*
New Mexico**	Mark Ronchetti	Ben Ray Lujan
North Carolina	Thom Tillis*	Cal Cunningham
Oklahoma	Jim Inhofe*	Abby Broyles
South Carolina	Lindsey Graham*	Jaime Harrison
South Dakota	Mike Rounds*	Dan Ahlers
Tennessee**	Bill Hagerty	Marquita Bradshaw
Texas	John Cornyn*	M.J. Hegar
West Virginia	Shelley Capito*	Paula Jean Swearengin
Wyoming**	Cynthia Lummis	Merav Ben-David

* – Incumbent
** – Open Seat (Retirement)