Claims And Issues

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DRAFT EXECUTIVE ORDER DATED DECEMBER 16, 2020.

The most glaring takeaway from the draft Executive Order of December 16, 2020 to my mind is the assignment to the Secretary of Defense of seizing voting machines used to elect President Biden.  Download Draft Executive Order dated December 16 2020.

         Why the Secretary of Defense and not the Attorney General?  Why order the Secretary of Defense to seize voting machines and not not the Attorney General, who is more involved with elections than the Pentagon, after all?

           Because they did not think the Attorney General would do it.

          The Attorney General at the time -- remember that this document is dated "December 16, 2020" -- already showed that he was not inclined to seize voting machines, we now know.  The Secretary of Defense at the time was a protege of TFG, appointed as recently as November 2020.

          The goal was to seize voting machines, so the goal had to include picking someone who was likely to perpetrate the seizure of voting machines rather than oppose it.  This first question has a simple answer.  That's why the Attorney General was not included here.  He wouldn't be likely to go along with it.  Someone else had to be the choice to perpetrate the scheme.

          Really, in the end, simple as that.  But why mobilize the National Guard, and why not the Army?

To be continued .... For more of an "inside baseball" look at this problem, see today's post at Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog, https://insuranceclaimsbadfaith.typepad.com/insurance_claims_badfaith/2022/01/questions-raised-by-the-draft-executive-order-dated-december-16-2020.html.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

NEIL GORSUCH, THE ONCE AND FUTURE CHIEF JUSTICE?

Neil Gorsuch notoriously does not wear a mask at oral arguments, even though the Chief Justice reportedly asked him to.  And even though he knows that the person he sits next to at oral arguments, Justice Sonja Sotomayor, is seriously at COVID risk because she is a diabetic.

          This story tells on Neil Gorsuch, of course.  The biggest takeaway from it is that he's a lousy person.

          It's in his genes.  His mom was indicted for her contempt of Congress.

          But there's more to take away.  John Roberts, the person with the Chief Justice title, does not even have the authority to get Neil Gorsuch to wear a mask among his colleagues during a pandemic.

          Neil Gorsuch.  What a mensch.

          John Roberts, once the Chief Justice, but no more.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WE MUST PROTEST. BUT REMEMBER WE ARE NOT THE RESISTANCE.

We are the present becoming the future.

We must protest.  Each person in their own way, Dr. King said, but we must protest.  Racism, militarism, making and keeping people poor, and more, the evils of our world.  We must protest.

          Recently another observation has been spoken:  We must remember that we are not the resistance, we are the present becoming the future.  The cascade of legislation designed to make it harder and not easier to vote, those are acts of resistance.   Resistance to a present in which the people who vote will vote for people and things that are not necessarily like you.  The present in which people who vote will not necessarily vote to perpetuate your past privilege in the present, nor in the future.

          We must protest.  We must remember that even as we protest, we are not the resistance.  We are the present becoming the future.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

BISHOP TUTU'S TURBULENT FLIGHT.

Bishop Desmond Tutu was amazed how apartheid changed all of the people of South Africa, psychologically.

          He boarded an airplane in Johannesburg sometime shortly after apartheid ended.  When he boarded, he rejoiced at seeing that both pilots in the cockpit were Black.  How far we have come, he thought.

          The plane encountered extreme turbulence during the flight.  Bishop Tutu and other passengers thought that this might be the end.  At that moment, Tutu had an uninvited, unexpected thought:  There were no White men in the cockpit to handle this situation.

          As Bishop Tutu pointed out when he related this anecdote years later, the pilots got through the turbulence and the plane and all its passengers landed safely, or otherwise he would not be telling this story of course.

          Worth thinking about when we reflect on the years of the former regime.  During those years we were indoctrinated with lies that were told to keep the regime in power over us.  Lies like those are still being told.

          Worth thinking about.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MERRICK GARLAND IS BOB MUELLER ALL OVER AGAIN.

We were told for years that Bob Mueller and his Special Counsel team would save us.  Then we finally saw Bob Mueller ourselves when he testified on national television.  The Bob Mueller who testified in 2020 was not the Bob Mueller who we were told would save us.  This Bob Mueller did not save us, in any event.

    Now we are being told that Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice will save us.  Merrick Garland is Bob Mueller all over again.

    Both Merrick Garland and Bob Mueller built solid reputations for integrity over the years.

    Both were relentless in the past in their investigations of potential crimes and criminals, regardless of where the investigations led.

    Both grew into old age believing that, in the end, the Department of Justice stood for justice.

    Mueller issued a report that he could not prosecute certain potential criminals.

    Mueller also wrote in his report that even if he could prosecute all the potential criminals, they didn't commit crimes -- except that the facts he laid out in his report reflected that crimes had been committed.

    Garland gave a speech.  I predict that soon Garland will deliver reports as well.

    Garland did not and will not name names, nor give specifics about any potential crimes beyond those we saw for ourselves on TV, but he did give us a flurry of statistics more numerous than the snowflakes that have also paralyzed Washington, D.C. this week.

    Garland gave us lots of statistics about numbers associated with the people who actually did walk down to the Capitol on January 6, 2021.   He did not give us any statistics about numbers associated with the people who sent them there; no statistics about them, zero, zilch, nada.

    Garland and the DOJ are floating a suggestion that the prime movers of this coup did not commit crimes when they acted at any time including when they ultimately sent what some call their "foot soldiers" to the Capitol on 1/6.

    If that suggestion is believed, that makes it easier when the time comes for Garland and the DOJ to declare that they are not prosecuting crimes.  If there are no crimes to prosecute, in other words, that would explain why no criminals are being prosecuted.

    Personally, I intend to look at whether conduct being reported a year after the fact involves potential federal crimes.  I am not a criminal lawyer.  I invite others to look at the conduct that took place at least since the election results in November 2020, through at least January 6,, 2021 and not just at what took place on 1/6.  If we can highlight potential crimes, perhaps it will be more difficult for Garland and the DOJ to pretend that there weren't any crimes committed by people who have dinner and attend parties at the same places they do:  people who worked at the White House, people who worked at DOJ, people who worked at DOJ then and who still work at DOJ now, people in government generally.

    The failure of Garland and DOJ (which includes the U.S. Attorney for D.C. for present purposes) to move on crimes is related to their failure to prosecute contempt of Congress charges, or at least it is related to dragging their feet before time forces them to do something, anything at all.  It may be difficult for people at DOJ now and who worked at DOJ then, to prosecute contempt charges against people who also worked in government then or who they perhaps knew and socialized with at the time.

    In future articles, I intend to take a look at the pretty clear lack of stomach at Merrick Garland's DOJ for all of this.  I invite you to do the same.  Between us, we may be able to see at least some of this more clearly before we are finished.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WE ALREADY HAVE TRIAGE IN HOSPITALS. WE NEED A BETTER POLICY.

Triage is a word well-known to hospital Emergency Departments:  "In the emergency department 'triage' refers to the methods used to assess patients’ severity of injury or illness within a short time after their arrival, assign priorities, and transfer each patient to the appropriate place for treatment."  Modern Triage in the Emergency Department, a review published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine of how Emergency Departments across the world define "triage."

          According to another study published by the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, many Emergency Departments (ED's) take the position that "Triage of critically ill patients that may limit individual patient and physician choices is justified when (1) the policy is aimed at achieving benefits for individual patients, the health care institution, or society and (2) the policy is announced in advance to notify the public."  Access it here.

          Triage is really often a choice between who lives, and who dies.   Triage is only practiced when emergency services are overwhelmed.  When Emergency Departments cannot treat everybody who shows up for treatment, ED's must choose who gets treatment and who doesn't get treatment.

          That choice is a fact known to ED's all over the world.  It is understandable that hospital Emergency Departments do not mention that fact in their descriptions of the triage they practice.

          Hospital Emergency Departments already practice triage, there is no doubt.  The prevailing policy at the present time in the United States seems to be First Come, First Served.  See the article posted here on December 30, 2021.    ED's in the U.S. practice triage by choosing to treat the first people that present themselves as patients.  Others who come later have to stand in the back of the treatment line, assuming they ever get in.

          As things stand at the dawn of this New Year, people who need immediate treatment may never get it in time.  If they did not need immediate treatment,  they probably would not have gone to the Emergency Department.  We have a catalogue of records from 2020 and 2021 to show the nation what this means in the pandemic.  It means that some of us who got all the vaccines, were boostered, and practiced all the measures recommended to fight Covid, still die from conditions unrelated to the pandemic because people who chose not to get vaccinated are taking up all the beds with Covid infections.

          Corporate media report that entire health systems are overwhelmed and that others are getting there in this country.  The media also report that hospitals, nurses, and doctors are overwhelmed because so many unvaccinated people are infected and assigned to beds in the hospitals, crowding out everyone else.

          However corporate media are not reporting the unpleasant fact that people who chose not to get vaccinated in a pandemic are becoming infected at such high rates that the triage procedure of First Come, First Served means that some people who desperately need treatment will be turned away, and others will die because the ED's choose First Come, First Served triage.

          So far, we have anecdotal reports to prove that this is happening.  A man in Alabama "died of a cardiac emergency in September after he was turned away from 43 hospitals in three states."  A man in Iowa was vaccinated, boostered, practiced social distancing and masking; in short, he followed all the best practices in the pandemic, but he had a very hard time finding any hospital that could treat his sepsis condition.

          The man from Iowa finally found a small hospital that would admit him, but it lacked all the resources needed to treat him.  He was finally admitted to a hospital with the necessary resources, but it took 15 days before they had the room to admit him.

          It was too late for him by then.   The man from Iowa died.

          Triage involves hard choices but that is what triage is all about:  Triage only applies when a health care system is overwhelmed and so hospitals, nurses, and doctors simply cannot treat everyone who needs treatment.

1. Overwhelmed.
2. The health care system cannot treat everyone who needs it.

These two things have to happen before hospitals reluctantly practice triage.

          I am loathe to suggest, even now, that anyone should be turned away from the medical treatment they need but some things are crystal clear:

• Hospitals are practicing triage already. By default, they are treating the patients who First Come, and who therefore become the patients who are First Served.
• Patients First Come for treatment because they are infected with Covid and the overwhelming majority of the infected became infected because they chose not to be vaccinated.
• People who need medical treatment are dying already because they did not receive the medical treatment they needed in time.

          These things are happening even though people are afraid of a word like triage.  Good public policy needs to get beyond fear.  If we are going to survive, we need to start thinking and talking about how we are going to survive and about how we want to look as a country after we do.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED IS NOT A GOOD HEALTH POLICY.

Hospital Emergency Departments are overwhelmed with patients in 2021.  Patients have been coming since 2020, or maybe it was late 2019, when the coronavirus pandemic began.

          Nurses and doctors stop practicing because there are too many patients for the care. 

          There are not enough hours in the day to treat everyone who needs treatment for Covid infection, let alone to treat everyone who needs treatment for anything else.

          If these things remain unaltered, "untreated" if you will, the patchwork of health care systems in this country will collapse from the sheer weight of so many patients who need care all at once in a pandemic.

          We can change this.  We can treat this.  We need to stop fearing this first, then change it and treat it.  We can, if we choose to.

          Here's to a Happier New Year in 2022!

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HERE'S THE OTHER THING. ASK THEM WHY.

When you hear stories that the Russians are simply defending themselves with 175,000 soldiers on the Ukraine border, ask them why.

          You don't have to tell them why this is ridiculous, you know.  They should shoulder their burden of proof and tell you why this is reality, if they can.

          When some people say that they are not getting the COVID-19 vaccines, ask them why.

          You aren't the one to tell people who aren't getting the vaccine why they should.  Not unless it makes you feel good to tell them what they already know.  They already know why they should.  They still think they shouldn't, even though they know why they should.

          So ask them why.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

JUST SAY "PROVE IT."

  IT'S A LOST ART.

Some people get away with saying the most ridiculous things.  Make them prove it.

          Some people say that elections were stolen.  Instead of trying to prove to them that elections were not stolen, make them prove to you that the elections were stolen.

          Other people, maybe many of the same people come to think of it, say that Medicare and many other things they don't like is or are "socialist" or God forbid, "Communist," and that wealthy people will take care of the rest of us anyway.  (Are there any Communists left outside of China and Cuba?  That's probably rhetorical.)

          Just say this instead of trying to debate what is "socialist" and what good if any the wealthy people do:

          Prove it.

          It's a lost art.  It used to be a part of our culture.  Engrained deep within us.  Tell someone who says something to just "prove it."

          Let's bring that back.  Try it the next time you want to reply to one of these people.  Just say:

          Prove it.

          Among other things, you'll feel better about it all.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS: JABS IN PANDEMIC PROFIT-TAKING.

Nondisclosure agreements provide for secrecy.  One party has a secret, and the other party or parties agree to keep that secret.  We have become used to seeing nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, as a part of financial transactions, deviant sexual demands made almost always by men, and settlements.

          Current reporting brings another set of demands for NDAs to our awareness:  Public Citizen just issued a report written by the research director with Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Group based on a review of "Pfizer's COVID-19 business practices," which reveals that among other things Pfizer contracts with sovereign nations responding to the coronavirus pandemic include NDAs that nothing will be said about these contracts with Pfizer "without Pfizer's prior written consent."  The Public Citizen findings were reported on by Adam Taylor in THE WASHINGTON POST online on October 19, 2021.

          Nondisclosure in profit-taking during a pandemic with taxpayer monies paying for the profits.  Keeping secrets seems essential to that business model, and NDAs in the pandemic are apparently as important as the anti-coronavirus drugs themselves.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

Writing to a Prompt For My Writer's Club on November 22.

 

I wrote this piece to a prompt from a writing club that I belong to.  I call it writing to a prompt 58 years later in Florida on November 22nd.

 

Prompt:  "The small comforts of life."

This prompt has made my mind wander.  I have thought of turning the water faucet on and having water that a person can drink without coming down with something.  Or turning on the faucet for hot water and getting hot water.  (Who hasn't had the experience of turning on the hot water faucet and getting cold water?)

          I also thought about putting books on hold at the public library.  Recently I swore a vow that I would never put another book on hold.  The library was a half-hour away one way, I had to put a mask on in a pandemic to go inside the building, my glasses fogged up as they always do when I put a mask on, I can't see very well and I have this desire to breathe less often because then I won't fog up my glasses so much, etc., and the book was not worth it that time anyway.  I wished I knew how to pick up books at the bin or whatever where they put books out for patrons so that we don't have to go into the building, but I didn't know how to do that and I didn't see any receptacles where I went to pick up my book on hold.  That is how that hold began and it didn't end any better.  I still don't know how it works exactly.

          That sounds like I'm addressing a different prompt, more like "Things I take for granted in life."  Like many other people, without realizing it I have changed the question to a question I prefer to answer rather than answering the question that was asked.

          I would like to begin again.  Back to the prompt:  "The small comforts of life."  One of the small comforts of my life is the ability to put holds on books at the public library.  The process is dependable, the books become available, and I get to read them.

          My most recent hold was for the new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, "Peril."  The first 1/3 of the book was based on sources and focused on events that either I did not know before, or that I recognized from national reporting about the book and I said to myself, "oh, yeah, that's what they wrote about this person or this event."

          The last 2/3 of the book was focused on events that either I already knew about from other reporting or that I had already figured out from other reporting.  In other words, there was not much new there and not much that was news, either, for that matter.

          The sources for the last part of the book were not very revealing so far as I could see or read.  They did not say anything to Woodward or Costa, apparently, that was not already public.  (And if I knew about it, trust me, it had to be right out in the open.)

          Still one of the small comforts of my life is the ability to put holds on books at the public library.  This time, the book I put on hold generated a lot of interest so this particular hold lasted about a year (I exaggerate, but only slightly), but in the meantime I put two other books on hold and they became available within the week, so I was able to pick up all three of them at the same time.  I will be sure to let you know how the other two books go, but being able to pick them up and read them all is still one of the small comforts of my life, regardless of how reading them turns out in the end.

WISCONSIN JURY ACQUITTED VIGILANTE, NOW JUSTICE UNDER FEDERAL LAW.

(Gridview_imagefull/FDACS)

This article follows a prescient post here on Wednesday night, November 17, 2021,   As this article is written, it is Saturday, November 20, 2021 and as expected, the Wisconsin jury acquitted the chubby little terrorist who came from Illinois to commit deadly acts of self-defense with an assault rifle in Wisconsin.

          They let him go back to Illinois where he came from before he killed two people and tried to kill a third human being in Wisconsin.  Or perhaps they let him go to national headlines.  Who knows.

          Now that the Wisconsin jury has acquitted the little vigilante, he can still be tried in Federal Court.  To say again as was said before, back in the day when civil rights workers were routinely attacked and often killed, and their murderers were often acquitted by White juries especially in the South ("Them good old boys was singin' 'This'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die'"), justice did not leave town.

          Rather, the Department of Justice stepped in for justice.  The defendants in those cases were charged in Federal Court with things like deprivation of civil rights because they murdered the person.  That is why 42 U.S. Code Section 1983 was written in the first place:  People were lynching other people and by killing them deprived them of their civil rights under Federal law.

          Section 1983 applies now.  People are killing other people and by killing them deprive them of their civil rights under Federal law now.  There will be more to come. 

          Justice is a vision, they say.  We can dream, can't we?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

UNAUTHORIZED KILLING IN 2019. WHEN WAS THAT? WHO? WHY?

Newspapers report that bombing strikes in Syria were directed by a shadowy U.S. Special military unit in 2019.

          When was that?  2019.

          Who?  A shadowy U.S. Special military unit.

          Why?

          Say, wasn't The Former Guy the 'Commander in Chief' in 2019?

          Just askin'.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SELF-DEFENSE BY A VIGILANTE LOOKING FOR TROUBLE. SERIOUSLY?

Only a lawyer could argue with a straight face that a person who travelled over 20 miles from his home to a different State and a different City from where he lived, for the purpose of looking for trouble when he got there, committed self-defense when he killed two people and nearly killed a third one after he got there.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

OR, JOE TO PROGRESSIVES: NO BBB, SO BIF.

The members of the House Progressive Caucus did not vote for the Infrastructure Act because they thought Build Back Better (BBB) would pass.

          They voted for it because President Joe Biden told the Progressives that the Build Back Better Act would not pass.

          Let me explain.  After being told for months that the two bills, the BBB and the BIF would pass together if at all, I believe that last week the House Progressive Caucus was told that the BBB would never pass the Senate because of Manuchin and Synema who for their part have never  committed to much of anything.

          If this is what happened, then Joe told the Progressives, begged them, to vote for the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Act a/k/ Corporate Infrastructure Act to replace the prevailing negative propaganda with a new narrative, one that says that the Democratic Party is in charge, can get things done, and so on.

          Joe told them that, or something very much like it.  Nancy told them that.  Pramila told them that.

          So the Progressive Democrats voted for the Infrastructure Act even though they do not like it.  They voted for it because their President asked them to, begged them to.

          With their votes, Joe has a win.  But he does not have the BBB.  And it bears repeating:  It is not likely now that he ever will.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HOUSE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS VOTED TO GIVE THEIR PRESIDENT A WIN.

 

The members of the House Progressive Caucus did not vote for the Infrastructure Act because they thought Build Back Better (BBB) will pass.

          They voted for it because President Joe Biden told the Progressives that he needed a win, any win.

          During all of the months leading up to last week's vote, the House Progressive Caucus was told that the two bills would pass together if at all.

          Joe told them that.  Nancy told them that.  Pramila told them that.

          Then last week Joe told them that the BBB would never pass the Senate because of Manuchin and Synema. And he told them then that he needed a win, any win.

          So the Progressives voted for the Infrastructure Act even though they do not like it.  They voted for it because their President asked them to, begged them to.

          Joe and Nancy and Pramila still say that the BBB will pass.  They don't really believe it.

          The House Progressive Caucus is still told that the BBB will pass.  They don't really believe it, either.

          But the House Progressive Caucus alone made Joe's Infrastructure Act law.  Without their votes, Joe would not have had a win, any win.

          With their votes, Joe has a win.  But he does not have the BBB.  And it is not likely now that he ever will.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FIFTH CIRCUIT, VACCINES, AND HOPE REGARDLESS.

On Friday, the State of Texas and others representing the Republican Party sued to stop the Federal Government from vaccinating the workers of the United States.

          On Saturday, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (there was no U.S. District Court involvement that I know of) issued a stay to prevent the United States from vaccinating its workers.

          The response in corporate and legal media to this decision within 24 hours of when the complaint was filed, has largely been the usual response to judicial decisions, which is that we don't know what these judges have in mind, and courts are inscrutable.

          That is ridiculous, in this case and in many other cases.

          Here is the real story in this case:  Two of these three judges on the Fifth Circuit panel were appointed by The Former Guy.  The third was a lawyer for the Republican Party of Texas.  (She is famed not so much for knowing the law as inventing it when she wants; for example, she overruled a Mississippi District Judge about Mississippi insurance law in a case which the Mississippi Supreme Court has rejected by name because it does not represent Mississippi law.)

          That is the panel and what it is likely to do in this vaccine mandate case is not inscrutable.  We can make a reasonable guess what these judges have in mind, based on experiencing what they have left behind during their careers.  Do you really think that the odds are that Republicans will fail with them?

          We cannot truly hope for justice until we know the odds against it.  We cannot know where we are going until we know where we are.  It is my hope that justice will prevail nonetheless, even at the hands of these judges in this particular case.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved. 

DEFLECT, DISTRACT, DESTROY: MORE.

The corporate media are trumpeting the mantra of corporate Democrats that "progressives" are responsible for Terry McAuliffe's loss in Virginia.  (They do not seem to know that McAuliffe got the same 48% of the statewide vote this time as he did last time, when he won in a three-way race.)

          The races yesterday that are in the headlines today did not involve progressives.

          The races that the Democratic Party lost yesterday or in some cases, almost lost, involved corporate Democrats.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

DEFLECT, DISTRACT, DESTROY.

Look for who they blame.

          The corporate media are already trumpeting that "progressives" are responsible for Terry McAuliffe's loss in Virginia.  (They do not even seem to know that McAuliffe got the same 48% of the statewide vote this time as he did last time, when he won in a three-way race.)

          Look for who they blame for the supply chain slowdown next.  It will tell you a lot about who is afraid of losing power, and of whom they are afraid (or who they are afraid of).

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

VIRGINIA, GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTE CAN CHANGE COUNTRY. GOVERNOR VOTE WON'T.

 

 

(Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin are tied for second-worst candidate for office in American history.  (Their former bosses tied in 2016 for the all-time worst candidate for office in the country's history.)

          If Mr. McAuliffe loses his repeat race for governor this year, it will not be the end of the Republic.  Despite what the corporate press and cable outlets are chanting.  In reality, then, this governor's race instead shows a very different story.

          When Terry McAuliffe won the governor's election in Virginia in 2013, he got less than 48% of the vote.  There was a third-party candidate in that race who got 6.5%.  The remaining candidate, Ken Cuccinelli, did not do well, either, to say the least; he got slightly more than 45% of the vote.

          So no, if Terry McAuliffe loses this year for governor in Virginia it won't signal the downfall of democracy or anything like that.  If Virginia voters find it hard to vote for one or the other candidate this year, it's pretty clear that it's because the choices are so bad.

          On the other hand, how Virginians vote for their Members of the General Assembly can change the country.  Since the change in power in the legislature in Virginia a couple of years ago, the Old Dominion has changed lanes.  Now in the passing lane, the Commonwealth may well be on its way to leading the nation.

          So yes, the reality is in the General Assembly elections this year in Virginia.

          Personally, my bet from afar is that the voters of Virginia will stay in their lane in their legislature.  Whatever they do with their governor won't affect the rest of us in the U.S. nearly as much.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

VOTING MACHINES AND THE GERRYMANDERED OLD PARTY.

(Common Ground Project)

A Satire in One Act hopefully.

Meadow Lark Oldkin knew that something was wrong with the voting machines.  For years they had registered fewer votes for the Gerrymandered Old Party in the State of Old Dominion.

          Oldkin was running for governor in Old Dominion.   So it is understandable that he was concerned by this.  He was the nominee of the Gerrymandered Old Party, which everyone who lived in the Sixties called the Party of the Gerrymandered Oh.

          Oldkin paid for a video to show the problem.  In the video, a voter voted for the Gerrymandered Oh but the voting machines did not show that the Gerrymandered Old Party had been the winner for 10 years.

          This campaign ad was filmed in a state of hints and allegations (not to be confused with Old Dominion, not that kind of state).  The video was offered as proof that the voting machines are against them.

          Oldkin did not say that the video was filmed 10 years ago.

          Oldkin did not say either that the voter filmed in the video is now a lawyer working for the Gerrymandered Old Party.

          Much of the corporate media did not say these things either.  They never asked Oldkin about the video.  Instead, they said that the video showed the problem.

          Oldkin counted on that.  He bet that the video would be the message regardless of the truth.

          Oldkin's bet may have paid off.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CAPITULATION, NOT COMPROMISE?

Voting Booths Have Consequences.

  (Image by Common Ground Project)

To rephrase one person's commentary on the current nearly lifeless version of the Build Back Better Bill, 'No-one got anything they wanted, except Mitch McConnell, Manuchin, and Synema.  But that's what capitulation is.'

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

JOE, EVEN KYRSTEN SINEMA KNOWS YOUR GAME PLAN.

Candles at the Grotto.  (Peter Ringenberg / University of Notre Dame)

 

Reports this morning put President Joe Biden on the way to the Capitol.  He is delaying his trip to the Climate Conference in Scotland to make this trip.

          Joe Manuchin and even Kyrsten Sinema know why.  Mr. Biden needs SOMETHING.  He needs to take something with him to Glasgow.  I am betting on something being some form of the climate initiative Biden originally proposed, whatever is left of it.

          The reason I am guessing that the President is headed to the Capitol is to tell the House Democratic Progressive Caucus to vote for whatever, so that Mr. Biden has SOMETHING to take with him on his trip.  It has been the Progressives of course who have stood behind the President's Build Back Better Plan even though it means that they will have to hold their noses and vote for the corporate or so-called 'bipartisan' roads and bridges infrastructure plan arranged by corporate senators like Manuchin and Synema.

          Joe Biden has a history of turning on people who support him if it suits his purpose in the current moment.  This looks like just such a moment.

          This has all the feel of a set-up.  Mr. Biden, I predict, will tell the Progressives what corporate Democrats have told Progressives for decades:  It is better to have a corporate bill than no bill at all.  Even if the bill is not progressive.  Even if the bill does not benefit the people.  Even if the bill mostly benefits the corporations.  Otherwise, the corporate Democrats will say that the Progressives are blocking 'progress,' that Progressives cannot get things done.

          The truth of the matter is that corporate Democrats like Mr. Biden cannot get the Build Back Better Bill done.

          When Mr. Biden turns on the Progressive Caucus in the House, it will be interesting to see how they respond.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE CHARLOTTESVILLE ACCOUNTABILITY TRIAL.

(Gridview_imagefull/Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

A trial began on Monday in Federal Court in Virginia.  The purpose of the trial is to hold the neo-nazis, white supremacists, and violent bigots accountable for the damage they did at and organizing the uprising in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

          I call it the Charlottesville Accountability Trial.  The testimony and other evidence of what happened to Charlottesville in 2017 will expose many of the things that happened to the country since.  We can expect lots of headlines from the trial over the next couple of weeks. 

          If anyone has information to share from the Charlottesville Accountability Trial, the Comments are open and so is my invitation to share information.  For my part, I will follow the trial pretty closely but if two heads are better than one, so are many heads better than one and I appreciate sharing with anyone who has information, a piece of the truth, about what happened.

          The official name of the Charlottesville Accountability Trial was not easy to find.  It is the case of Sines v. Kessler (Western District of Virginia Case No. 3:17-cv-00072).

          Thanks for listening.  Thanks for sharing.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEY DON'T HAVE CONTROL OF THE U.S. SENATE.

(Black Hole.  Image by NASA)

           The Democrats really don't have 50 Senators.  They have 48.

          The Democrats really don't have control of the U.S. Senate.  That does not mean the Republicans do.

          (Blue Moon Over D.C.  Image by NASA)

         

          But the reality is that the Democrats don't have control of the U.S. Senate.

          (Senator Joe Manchin.  UPI)

No-one can seriously contend at this point that the Democrats control Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema.  Chuck Schumer is the only one seriously contending that he is the Majority Leader 'cause he wants the perks including the office.

          The Democrats have 48 Senators in their Party.  They do not have any realistic influence with any of the remaining 52 Senators.

          (Supermoon Eclipse Over Washington, D.C.  Image by NASA)

         And that's the reality.  To borrow a phrase that fits, "And that's the rest of the story."

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, GO" ALREADY, JOE MANUCHIN!

Reports are circulating from associates of Sen. Joe Manchin that he is thinking of switching parties.  As this story goes, Joe will leave the Democratic Party and become a Republican.

          Whether this is another political ploy designed to test drive it and see how it runs, or whether it is serious, we can only say Good-bye, Arrivederci, So long, See ya, Don't let the door hit you in the Joe on the way out.

          Bye!

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHEN RIGHT TO WORK REALLY MEANS RIGHT TO WORK!

The subhead on this NYT article this morning describes the situation of U.S. workers empowered:  Economic Gains Hobbled as Labor Market Shrinks / Wielding Rare Leverage to Push Demands, Workers Are in no Hurry to Return, by Ben Casselman, NEW YORK TIMES, Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at A1, published online with the headline and subhead, The Economic Rebound Is Still Waiting for Workers / Despite school reopenings and the end of some federal aid, many people are in no rush to land a job. Savings and health concerns are playing a role.

.          The pandemic has made many things clear.  One of them is that the anti-union movement a/k/a "right to work" movement has spawned so much unhappiness on the job that employers cannot deal with it.

          More to the point, their employees no longer feel the need to endure it.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SAVED FROM HOMELAND INSECURITY. ARMY REFUSED WAGING WAR INSIDE U.S.

And not for the first time.

News is circulating today of how the Steve Miller Band, with a gig sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, went outside the chain of command to ask the Army how many troops it would need to keep people from coming into the U.S. at the Southern Border.  The answer:  250,000 or more.

The part of this story that is not getting as much attention, yet, is that the Band went outside the chain of command to see if they could use the Army.  When the Secretary of Defense at the time found out, he reportedly confronted the Band and ended the scheme.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was also left in the dark.  The Band made sure that General Mark Milley did not know what was going on.

This puts in perspective why General Milley would have instructed all of the military commanders to refuse to launch nuclear weapons unless he was included in the decision to make war.  This was not revolutionary.  This was necessary.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

JOE, DON'T STOP THINKIN' ABOUT BUILD BACK A BETTER TOMORROW!

President Biden   -- the #BuildBackBetterAct needs to honor your goal to cut climate pollution in half by 2030. Keep fighting for a bold #BuildBackBetterAct that includes a CEPP, eliminates fossil fuel subsidies and passes the Climate Test #NoClimateNoDeal.

Please read the disclaimer.  This blog article ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE MANUCHIN! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!

President Biden: Keep fighting for a bold #BuildBackBetterAct to address the interlocking crises of mass unemployment, public health, racial injustice & climate crisis. It should honor your goal of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030. #NoClimateNoDeal #HoldTheLine.  Tell Joe Manuchin to Build Back Better for ALL OF US!

Please read the disclaimer.  This blog article ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.