January 29-31, 2021
Jan 29 10:40 Brandon Michon vs. the teachers union Jan 29 16:28 Andrew Cuomo vs. Janice Dean Jan 31 07:47 Kamala Harris a flop in WVA Jan 31 08:18 Kate Smith's enduring prayer
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Brandon Michon vs. the teachers union
It isn't surprising to anyone who pays attention to politics that the teachers unions are sabotaging children and schools . Being surprised by that is like being surprised at finding out that Jeff Bezos is rich.
This time it was in the wealthy, New York City-adjacent suburb of Montclair, New Jersey, where Superintendent Jonathan Ponds announced late Friday "with deep regret" that the schools, closed for the past 319 days, wouldn't even be reopening on a hybrid basis (half-in, half-remote), because negotiations with the Montclair Education Association (MEA) broke down. "I realize how unsettling this news is," Ponds added.
The union seeks Plexiglass barriers, millions of dollars in ventilation upgrades, and for teachers to be vaccinated (New Jersey, unlike New York, does not as yet prioritize teachers for vaccines). MEA President Petal Robertson said in a statement, "It is our duty to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for our staff and a sound educational plan for our students."
This issue might've reached a tipping point at the Loudoun County School Board meeting. Here's what happened:
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I don't know this gentleman's name but he's clearly speaking for a significant number of people. With unions playing hardball and the Biden administration taking the unions' side, this issue isn't going away anytime soon.
UPDATE: The upset father's name is Brandon Michon. Thursday night, Tucker Carlson interviewed him. Enjoy:
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Mr. Michon perhaps doesn't realize it but he's a leader. During the interview Mr. Michon said something profound when he said "This country was built on strong leaders." That's right. Joe Biden isn't a leader. He's a panderer and a tough-sounding wimp. Tim Walz isn't a leader, either.
I hope Mr. Michon and a bunch of those parents step forward and run for the school board. Next, I hope they win and throw the do-nothing bums out. The do-nothing bums deserve worse than that but at least this is legal. LOL
Posted Friday, January 29, 2021 10:40 AM
No comments.
Andrew Cuomo vs. Janice Dean
It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat governor of New York, manipulating COVID-19 death information. Everyone who lost parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts or uncles knows that the COVID information was manipulated by the Cuomo administration. Friday, Gov. Cuomo addressed the issue live on TV. In that presser, Gov. Cuomo did what most Democrats do after they botch a major decision. They blame the Trump administration , then hope that the MSM covers for them.
That's what happened today. Gov. Cuomo said "That was mean. Where this starts is frankly a political attack from the prior federal administration and HHS: Michael Caputo." That's disgusting and dishonest. It didn't start there. Gov. Cuomo has frequently said that he just followed CMS and CDC guidelines in his executive order. That's a lie. The CDC guidelines at the time said that COVID-positive patients could be put in nursing homes if the COVID patients were separated from the general population and if the nursing home had the right air filtration system installed.
That wasn't what happened in New York. BTW, those are rather major provisions to intentionally omit in an explanation. Janice Dean, the senior meteorologist with FNC, lost her husband's parents in New York. She's emphatically stated multiple times that she isn't a political person. This incident, though, has caused her to write this op-ed in the NY Post:
I've personally been attacked by the governor's spokespeople as have my family and the other brave people that dared to go against this administration. I was told that I wasn't a credible about anything except the weather and that I was part of a death cult that wouldn't stop hounding Cuomo or his office. I was warned to 'watch my back' and 'be careful.' He was too powerful, both revered and feared by those that covered him and worked for him.
Meanwhile, our grieving families continued to watch the mainstream media outlets fawn over him and never ask the questions we so desperately wanted to know: Why did he write that executive order to bring infected patients into nursing homes, and why was he covering up the total number of seniors who died including those who passed away in the hospital?
First, that sounds like a political attack from Gov. Cuomo's office, doesn't it? Next, doesn't that sound like an attempt to intimidate Ms. Dean? I might be wrong but it sounds it to me. Third, if Gov. Cuomo didn't do anything wrong, why would he need to intimidate a person who isn't a political person?
This article provides the most damning information against Gov. Cuomo:
New York's nursing-home death toll from COVID-19 may be more than 50 percent higher than officials claim - because Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration hasn't revealed how many of those residents died in hospitals, state Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday.
Cuomo insists with a straight face that people infected with the COVID virus in nursing homes but who died in a hospital should be listed as hospital deaths. What BS! Imagine, just for a minute, that you read of a person who hit a patch of black ice that caused his car to skid off the road. Then imagine that the person is taken to a hospital, where the man dies 4 days and 2 transfusions and an operation later. Should that person's cause of death be listed as hospital or car accident?
[Video no longer available]
This interview should get everyone upset:
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2021 4:28 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 30-Jan-21 09:25 AM
The basis the Cuomo family has in New York State politics is a surprise to me, as there seems to be no quality backing up the holding of power. But New York Repubicans?
Bloomberg and Rudy. With that quality of opposition, the Cuomo family dominates. The problem must lie with the New York Democratic Party, its politicians, like the guy AOC ousted, high in House leadership at the time, or Eliot Engle. Schlock politicians, both sides, a badly run State.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 30-Jan-21 04:32 PM
Eric, is AOC planning on primarying Schumer in 2022? That's what it looks like from here.
Comment 2 by eric z at 03-Feb-21 10:09 AM
Gary, your question - how would I know, we both only read a lot, and guess.
Were AOC to primary Schumer, she'd win. Nobody really loves Schumer, being the arrogant compromiser he is. If she gets to be Senator, 2022, she is like Klobuchar was in 2016 - zero political cost to shooting for the 2024 nomination, or using that chance as leverage for more elsewhere.
Amy gets onto Biden's bus and prospers. AOC is bright enough to see that pattern and to see Schumer as vulnerable, and might take the gamble. If she ousts Schumer she wins, if he holds the primary, she can always switch the campaign money and people to holding the House seat.
Bottom line - what's not to try? The House seat is deep blue, and who there would oust her, even if she first runs at Schumer using the House seat as her fall back? Who can Schumer muster to soundly contest that House seat? The guy she ousted? Why would she NOT primary Schumer?
Comment 3 by eric z at 03-Feb-21 10:11 AM
Gary, forgot to say, Schumer's DSCC performance in the 2016 election sucked. His party clout would have been greater if he'd turned seats blue to a majority w/o Georgia runoff elections mattering. He failed. Against Trump!
Go figure.
Kamala Harris a flop in WVA
Joe Biden's message of unity and transparency is spreading across the nation. This week, the Biden administration dispatched Kamala Harris to West Virginia to pitch Biden's "American Rescue Plan." Biden's American Rescue Plan is Biden's COVID relief plan. Apparently, the Biden administration isn't that bright at understanding that Kamala Harris isn't a fantastic fit in West Virginia. (Harris fits West Virginia like Ilhan Omar fits Minnesota's 7th District.)
Harris is as phony as a $3 bill and as likable as a rattlesnake. That being said, her laugh (cackle?) is a winner. Seriously, though, if you want to pressure Joe Manchin into voting for the American Rescue Plan, you might want to do that before ending the Keystone XL Pipeline and preventing energy exploration on federal lands across the nation.
That's as tone-deaf as running for US Senate in Wisconsin after saying that you hate cheese, love the Minnesota Vikings and think that Aaron Rodgers is overrated. This won't help Harris:
A reporter from the station asked Harris why the many Trump supporters in West Virginia should trust the new administration. "Because we have faith in the American people," she said. "We ran as Democrats, but we are Americans and we will lead as Americans. We want our country to be strong, we want our country to be healthy, we want our children to thrive, and that's the bottom line. That's why we're doing this."
The Republicans' reply should be 'We don't trust you because a) you're killing the fossil fuel industry, aka the backbone of the economy, b) you haven't told the teachers' union to get back to work and c) you haven't consulted a single red state/battleground state senator about this relief package.'
With Democrats in charge of the House and Senate and with Joe Biden in the White House, Democrats will try running roughshod over Republicans. If Republicans stand on principle, they'll roll the Democrats.
Posted Sunday, January 31, 2021 7:47 AM
Comment 1 by Nick at 31-Jan-21 01:26 PM
"The Republicans' reply should be 'We don't trust you because a) you're killing the fossil fuel industry, aka the backbone of the economy, b) you haven't told the teachers' union to get back to work and c) you haven't consulted a single red state/battleground state senator about this relief package.'"
Also, they need to hammer the Democrats on killing the airline industry, along with hotels and cruise lines.
Comment 2 by eric z at 03-Feb-21 09:57 AM
As long as the military runs on oil - fuel and petrochemical explosives (made in China) - and now plastic stealth airplanes and drones - the fossil fuel industry will not be dead. It is being scaled down reasonably to save the world from climate crisis global warming. Be a doubter if you choose. But Manchin's thing is the coal industry in his state, not Koch Industries. Not Canadian tar sand exploitation as the dirtiest of oil production. Dirtier than the worse of fracking.
As to Harris, you may have said truth. However, presume Manchin talks to Biden directly, Harris out of that loop and sent to be talking to a Republican governor. Manchin holds the hammer because he can switch parties. So Manchin gets some back room deal for whatever he asks, with no love of tar sand oil, and does not switch parties with Harris consequently holding the Senate tie breaker for as long as Biden and the money folks keep Manchin happy. Does West Virginia have some military base or ship yard part to their economy, that is the question.
Or am I wrong about the WVa Guv's party?
Comment 3 by Chad Q at 03-Feb-21 05:32 PM
Climate crisis global warming. Thanks for the laugh.
Kate Smith's enduring prayer
"It ain't over till the fat lady sings"
By Ramblin' Rose
I was an adult before I heard someone use that expression. Only recently did I learn the history. Let me share it with you. I hope that you smile, too, as you read it.
Patriots sing 'God Bless America' with passion. Some leftists have even sung it publicly when our nation has faced a great crisis - on the evening of 9-11 members of Congress gathered on the steps of Capitol to honor the fallen and our country.
In 1940, America was still mired in a lingering depression and feared entry into a war as Hitler gained power in Europe. Families gathered around radios in the evening for news and entertainment. Kate Smith was a favorite. Her voice was huge as was her 'plus size.' The expression "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" defers to her. She was the biggest star of her time as her voice boomed across the radio waves.
As a patriotic citizen who loved her country and was saddened by the fear and depression weighing upon America, she asked Irving Berlin (of 'White Christmas' fame) to write a song of encouragement for the country. When she described her dream, he had just the song for her. He had written it in 1917 but never published it. He gifted it to her; she refined its rendition with her studio orchestra. Both agreed not to take any royalties from the song, instead designating all profits to go to the Boy Scouts. The royalties have totaled millions for that group.
This video features the initial presentation of the song by Kate Smith:
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The video brings us the big voice and a profound prayer for our nation. At the 4:20 mark of the video, we see a young, patriotic actor destined to become President of the United States - Ronald Reagan. This video also includes the introduction to the song; typically, we hear the part that starts with 'God Bless America.' This clip provides the entire song.
Little did Kate Smith know her dream to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans 80 years ago would be realized across many generations. In 2021, it is a perfect prayer for our country. Now, more than ever, we implore God's Blessings on America. Only He can heal our land.
As long as the 'fat lady' and we sing this hymn, we pray that our country remains.
Posted Sunday, January 31, 2021 8:18 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 31-Jan-21 08:16 PM
My father flew C-47 supply runs in the Pacific in WW II. He said that song - Kate Smith singing that song - told him what he and his crew were fighting for. As a very amateur musician I also marvel at the chord progressions - relatively simple but so suited to the purpose. God blessed America when he gave us the likes of Irving Berlin and Kate Smith.
Comment 2 by John Palmer at 02-Feb-21 10:01 PM
Thanks for the story and the historic recording. The version of the story behind the saying: It an't over until the fat lady sings came from opera. Many of the greatest opera singers in the lead female roles were full figured and opera's often end with female lead singing hit those high notes. Thus the opera was not over until the fat lady sung. I am praying the the American Experiment started in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and confirmed with the ratification of the Constitution is not at an end since I have not heard the fat lady sing. May God bless the United States of America.
Comment 3 by eric z at 03-Feb-21 09:38 AM
The expression was popularized by Yogi Berra. He was referring to Wagner's Ring operas, where the final part of Gotterdammerung was Brunhilda's closing aria, where Wagner suprano proportions were usually stout, to handle the movement and vocal stress. Singing over the orchastra. The entire Wagner Ring series ends with that aria. It was Yogi's way of saying a World Series is not over until the last out, a ballgame is not over until the last out.
As to Irving Berlin's God Bless America, Woody Guthrie hated the song as schmaltz, which is why he wrote This Land is Your Land. Lady Gaga, when she did her Super Bowl halftime show started by singing the start of Berlin's song, shifting to Woody's, before the platform dive.
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-7176,00.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txXwg712zw4
