Miscellaneous political stuff - Part 11

Good riddance...

A spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has announced that the governor will be "boycotting" NBC and MSNBC, over remarks that Andrea Mitchell made about his education policy during an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to The Daily Beast.

"'This will be the standard response from our office until @mitchellreports apologizes and your track record improves,' DeSantis' Press Secretary Bryan Griffin tweeted Wednesday, urging others to pass his message along," reported Matt Young. However, Young noted, this is unlikely to mean much in practice because "DeSantis has never been a regular on the NBC circuit."

DeSantis' point of contention is a moment in the speech in which Mitchell asked Harris, “What does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?”

DeSantis has not, strictly speaking, made it illegal to teach the history of slavery in Florida; rather, he rejected an Advanced Placement course in African-American Studies, a high school course that goes beyond standard Black history topics to discuss prominent Black thinkers, including queer and leftist figures, on a variety of other issues.

***
"DeSantis accused unnamed evil forces of 'trying to act like somehow we don’t want books.' (Well, actually, he named one force of evil — 'the school unions' — while providing zero evidence that unions are behind the missing books. I’ve seen none either.)" wrote Joan Walsh. "'You hear people talk about felony charges' for having unauthorized books in classrooms, DeSantis scoffed. In fact, his own Department of Education confirmed to The Washington Post just weeks ago that educators who shared improper content could, yes, face felony charges."

www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-office-announces-boycott-of-nbc-after-andrea-mitchell-s-criticism-of-him/

DeSantis better check the crime stats..

Many red states top the list ..

Watching the Talking Heads news analysis last night, and they referred to TFG's White House Counsel, Pat Cipollone. Closed captioning called him "Patsy Baloney." Snicker.

Lovely. With such thoughtful, community-minded folks around these days, look to see the re-emergence of Polio soon.  As a friend of mine once said, "Stupid should hurt," to which I replied, "But only the stupid, themselves."

Mark Follman
@markfollman
·
Follow
The US government apparently still has no clarity as to how the pandemic originated, and news reporting should make that clear at the top. A big reason the US response was such a failure in the early going was because Covid was quickly politicized.

And that puts the blood on the hands of TFG, as far as I'm concerned. And I mean the human and economic suffering, both of which are ongoing.

Another misstated resume by a republican newly elected lawmaker..

A newly-elected Republican congressman has admitted to misrepresenting his college major during his congressional campaign, The Washington Post reported Monday.

"Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who is facing allegations of embellishing his résumé, acknowledged Monday that he misstated the degree he received from Middle Tennessee State University, claiming he learned of the discrepancy only last week after requesting an official copy of his transcript," the Post reports.
***
"Ogles said he mistakenly stated that he received a degree in international relations. In a statement Monday, he said his degree was for liberal studies. That is a general education degree typically for those who cannot settle on a major."

“At the time it was my understanding I had completed my course of study in Political Science and International Relations,” Ogles said.

"At the time it was my understanding I had completed my course of study in Political Science and International Relations,” Ogles said.
***

Earlier this month, a report found a number of discrepancies in Ogles' claims about his background. He has repeatedly described himself as an "economist" despite having no degree in economics and only having worked in an administrative position at a right-wing economic think tank. He has also claimed to have a background in law enforcement fighting international sex trafficking; in fact, he flunked out of serving as a volunteer sheriff's deputy, and briefly held a part-time job at an anti-trafficking nonprofit.

www.rawstory.com/andy-ogles-2659473401/

Well, perhaps, to a point Biden might have weighed race/gender while choosing, but as a single factor among qualifications. BUT I actually think he just chose qualified people and his entire cabinet isn’t a bunch of old, straight, rich, white men so people have their undies in a bunch over it. I can’t recall a single cabinet pick of Biden’s that isn’t qualified for the post. Perhaps Pete Buttegieg wasn’t specifically overly qualified for Transportation specifically but he is no less qualified than the previous person in that post. I have no qualms with the cabinet.

Sometimes when people who have previously had advantages & privileges and they are now considered equally with many others they can’t feel begrudged about it. Get over it.