February 25, 2019--Mitt Who??

Rona said--"Do you remember someone named Mitt something-or-other?"

"You must mean Mitt Romney."

"That could be. I think he ran for president a few years ago and then disappeared only to resurface when he had some tough things to say about Trump and Trump University."

"Yeah, he called Trump a phony and that his promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University."

"I remember that," Rona said, "Romney also said that Trump was playing Americans for suckers. If I have this right, he also said that Trump was getting a free ride to the White House and all we're getting in return is a lousy MAGA hat."

"That's why I thought he'd be a maverick once he got to the Senate. In the mold of John McCain."

"Then, if I have this straight, he ran for the Senate from Utah where I think he won."

"Yes, it's coming back to me," I said, "I remember seeing Mike Pence swearing him in. I assumed they hated each other and I enjoyed, I'll admit, watching Pence squirm."

"It was as if Romney had him targeted in crosshairs. Though I shouldn't put it that way since clueless Roger Stone got himself in trouble last week for threatening his judge when he tweeted about her being in crosshairs."

"It seemed obvious that Romney got himself elected to position himself for another go at the presidency, either running in 2020, if Trump decides not to seek reelection or, if he thinks he can win the nomination, he decides to challenge Trump in the primaries." 

"And of course Pence is thinking the same thing."

"So," I said, "we expected to enjoy watching Romney and Trump going at each other and of course waiting for more Trump criticism from Senator Romney."

"It's all coming back to me," Rona said.

"And?"

"And nothing. Literally nothing. I was beginning to think, since he's been so invisible, that I was hallucinating about Romney winning Orrin Hatch's old Senate seat."

"It is weird," I said, "One would have expected Romney to have a few choice things to say about Trump's bogus national emergency."

"I can't explain it," Rona said. "What kind of power does Trump have over even someone like Romney who has more money than Trump and very few skeletons in his closet that Trump can threaten him about?"

"It's scary. If someone like Romney is too intimidated to speak out, to at least say something, I'm afraid we may be cooked."

Rona said, "My thoughts exactly."

September 20, 2018--Show Up!

Changing votes among Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee is no longer the issue.

All GOP minds are shut tight. Without hearing one word from Dr.  Blassey Ford all are ready this minute to vote to send Brett Kavanaugh on to the full Senate where the weak-kneed and well-named Jeff Flake, the equally well-named Bob Corker, and the ever self-justifying Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins now have all the rationals they need to fall familiarly in line. All four can now feel virtuous. They will even be able to boast that they don't sound as clueless as Senator Orrin Hatch who called Dr. Ford "mixed up."

Even a few Red State Democratic senators can now justify that they too can vote for Kavanaugh and avoid rightwing retribution this November as they precariously seek reelection. 

And all things being equal (which they are not) holding her appearance before the committee hostage in the hope that the FBI will undertake an investigation is appropriate but in the real political world is a fantasy,  Such an investigation would have to be ordered by Trump and he's the last person to have any interest in seeing more accusations and facts surface. He personally knows how that feels and what that can yield. Just say "Stormy Daniels." 

Then no one in the Senate or political class cares much about Kavanaugh's candidacy. At least six Democrats on the committee have their eyes on another prize--the presidency--and see the committee's hearings to be an opportunity to come off looking nominatable and presidential. Thus far they have been so inept at this as to reduce the little stature they have. Even non-committee White House aspirants (Elizabeth Warren comes to mind) can't speak even one sentence about this without making fools of themselves. They are that desperate for power.

Sadly, it does not matter any longer if Dr. Ford is telling the truth. The committee is not a grand jury, it is not a court of law, it is a place where the essence of truth can become manifest. Hers and also, let's be fair, his.

What then is at issue? What's left is for Dr. Ford to tell her story directly to Congress and, more important, beyond that, to the American people. 

Especially to female Americans who have been fighting for decades to have their voices heard.

Forgive me, but thus far Dr. Ford has offered a tease. To tell her story to 100 million is certainly frightening, particularly while being savaged on social media, including having her life threatened. There are all those Trump crazies out there who are not to be ignored. 

But if Professor Ford is changing her mind about testifying (as of this morning she may or may not be), she should have been certain she was willing to show up to testify before beginning to squeeze out her story to her local congresswoman and the Washington Post.

If she refuses to show up on Monday to tell her story the real losers will be women who find her story all too credible and feel from their own life experience that they have been shused and held silent for too long.

The negative example of backing out, not showing up, will be devastating. And will provide cover for the worst kind of gender stereotyping. 

So please pack a bag and head for Washington. It's big person time.

December 21, 2017--4:01 In the Morning

It's 4:01 in the morning and as I do when I wake up so early I turned on the radio to get the news. To see if we're at war with North Korea and how the Knicks did last night. (They didn't play and we're not--yet.)

On all-news WINS, the first thing I heard was Senator Orrin Hatch at the victory-lap celebration President Trump organized yesterday to gather kudos to himself after 100 percent of Republican House members and senators voted for the new tax bill.

Orrin, who needs to retire immediately, said, "You're a heck of a leader [meaning Trump]. You've done everything you promised."

I waited for the list of accomplishments but they were not forthcoming. Just waves of love. Speaking about love I was glad pathetic Lindsay Graham didn't grab the mike. It's not a lot of fun getting nauseous on an empty stomach.

I switched to another station and there was some Democrat leader gushing about how this disgraceful piece of legislation will turn out to be a political blessing in disguise for progressives. Once Trump people see how little their taxes will be cut they will feel betrayed and vote in November to flip both the House and Senate to the Democrats.

Dream on, I thought, which is not an inappropriate way to put it at, now, 4:07 A.M.

I'm not so sure "average" Americans will see their taxes lowered so little. Or actually raised, as some on the left are claiming and hoping. Those of us wishing for this may have a rude awakening. Again, as it's now 4:11, not a bad way to think about this.

Here's how things will play out, noting up front that I see this bill to be a disgrace. Even if some middle-class taxpayers will see some cuts as it plays out it will continue the redistributional process begun during Ronald Reagan time (when Orrin Hatch to that point had never seen such a heck of a leader)--the rich pay less while the bottom half pay more. 

First, as early as February most workers who have taxes withheld will see some increase in their take-home pay. Maybe as much as $50 a week. 

This in part will be because the Trump people who will create the withholding tables will sweeten them by front loading them--these workers will find more in their paychecks than they should in order to trick them into seeing the value of the tax cuts to them. When they file their 2018 taxes in early 2019 they will not get any refunds but likely will have to ante up more. By then, if Trump is still around, he'll blame this on Obama and Hillary. And Robert Mueller, if he's still around.

More ominous for liberals who are looking forward to the Trump tax cuts imploding will be the effect of the doubling of the standard deduction.

For couples that will amount to nearly $25,000 per year. For many of the 31 percent who currently itemize, this bump up will amount to a significant tax cut. And it will be a good deal for many more. Perhaps another 10 to 20 percent will stop itemizing because the standard deduction is better for them. As will be the extended tax credit for children. Using the standard deduction will make it much easier to file and, in many instances, will not require an expensive accountant to do the filing. If the number calculating their taxes this way approaches 50 percent, that's a big political story.

Finally, as with the Reagan and Bush tax cuts, folks like me (professionals, managers  government workers) who are progressives and say we oppose the regressiveness of these previous tax cuts, we were actually great beneficiaries of the lowering of the tax rates and the exemptions and loopholes that were laced into the legislation.

This will be especially true for retired people who vote disproportionately. 

In other words, don't expect a tax revolt. It will not get the political job done either next year during the midterms or two years after that. We need to do what many liberals in Virginia did--get out there and run for school boards and state legislatures. Those of us who can't or won't do that, we need to be consistently activated. We can't sit back and wait for things to get better because, on their own, they won't.

As for me----it's 4:49 and time to try to go back to sleep. No radio, and no more Orrin.