If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, his Main Story was on Monkeypox.  It was an interesting and surprising look at the history of the virus -- considering that there was a small outbreak of it 20 years ago that was easily contained -- as well as problems with how its been addressed since.  All done with sardonic humor mixed throughout.

For reasons unknown to man, I actually watched a lot of CSPAN during its very long coverage of the Senate “Vote-a-rama.”  Unlike their coverage of the House when there are votes, there was not onscreen “scoreboard” for the Senate, so that made it near-impossible to keep track of where things stood.  But it was interesting seeing senators wander up to the front desk and give “thumbs up” or “thumbs down,” and try to recognize them. 
 
I put it on late Saturday night (like in the 11-12:30 range, Los Angeles time) and then Sunday throughout the more.  To be clear, no, I didn’t have it on all that time, but would switch to it periodically – usually after the Republican speeches were over, having spoken on behalf of their amendments and slamming Democrats.  Mainly, I watched the voting – even without knowing exactly what was going on.  But I liked it because it meant that each vote made it closer to final passage of the bill.  And yes, I did make sure I watched that.
 
“The bill, as amended, is passed" was a glorious moment.  Not just for what it signified when Vice President Harris said that – but it also meant that I didn’t have to keep watching.
 
Not shockingly, I had a lot of thoughts about the passage of the Inflation Reduction Bill.  But the one that predominated was very different from what I heard commentators saying.  It related to something I’ve written here, and have written a great deal over the past couple of years on social media.
 
It’s that I hope now everyone who has written “Joe Manchin is a Republican” understands now that he isn’t.  It’s fair to criticize many of his earlier votes and positions, some of which were very hurtful, teeth-gnashing.  But they never made him a Republican, they confirmed what he was – a conservative Democrat from an incredibly conservative state that voted for Trump in 2020 by 40 points.
 
But it was Joe Manchin who brought up revisiting this bill to Chuck Schumer.  And Manchin who negotiated an agreement with, became one of the leading voice on TV pushing its passage, and sat down with Kyrsten Sinema to convince her to vote for it.  No Republican today would ever have done any of that.  Or considered it.
 
And it’s not just this bill.  For all his galling refusal to agree to fixing the Voting Rights Act and changing the filibuster, and doing a turnaround on the Build Back Better Bill – all of which were critical matters – Manchin voted for the American Rescue Plan and the COVID Relief Bill, which zero Republicans did.  And the Infrastructure Bill, which most Republicans did not.  And other bills that only had Democratic support.
 
And it wasn’t just that Joe Manchin was and is a lifelong Democrat – regardless of how many problematic votes he cast along with Republicans – it was that so many Democrats were SO angry at him that they’d cry out that he should just switch parties already and join the Republican Party.  It was a comment so utterly infuriating – and “dangerous” (in case the anger and pressure did push him away from the Democratic Party) that I was always stunned by its pure stupidity.  There are only so many leaks one can try and plug on social media, but I did try – and each time I wrote basically – “Do you not understand that if Joe Manchin voted with Republicans on every single issue, you should still give thanks he’s a Democrat – because Joe Manchin being a Democrat, however he votes, is what keeps Mitch McConnell from being Senate Majority Leader and allows Democrats to control every Senate committee.”
 
The fact that he did vote with Democrats on most issues, including many major ones, is just icing on the cake. 
 
Yes, it is fair and understandable to be furious at some of his actions and to criticize him.  But as I watched this wonderful Inflation Reduction Act pass, my first thought went to hoping that most of Joe Manchin’s biggest critics finally grasp that, for all their justified outrage at him at times, he is not a Republican.  And they should be grateful for that.​

Man, sometimes the gods of Theater Arts really do shine their light down on us and make things perfect.

By the way, politics aside, there are a lot of interesting tidbits about the above song, from the film Cabin in the Sky. It's sung here by Ethel Waters, re-creatiing her Broadway role.  Further, the song was not in the stage show, but written for the film, and ended up being was nominated for a Best Song Oscar.  Also, the actor who plays the "Little Joe" she's singing about is Eddie Anderson, best known from The Jack Benny Program as 'Rochester.'  And even the original Broadway production had a nice, popular culture connection -- the role on stage was played by Dooley Wilson...who played 'Sam' in Casablanca. And it's worth noting that it was written by Harold Arlen and "Yip" Harburg -- who wrote "Over the Rainbow."

So...there's a whole bunch of happiness about a thing called Joe.

​On this week’s Al Franken podcast, his guest is Russian-born journalist Julia Ioffe who gives an update on Ukraine.  Al’s comment is…”It’s depressing.”

Lest anyone think that Randy Rainbow would have little to write about after Trump left office, perish the thought.  He has a new song just out, one of his more scathing, which is saying a lot.  If the song it's based on isn't familiar, it's "Dance Ten, Looks Three" from ​A Chorus Line.

​Yesterday, the Republican's "Invite a Nazi to CPAC" Convention kicked off at the Dallas Beer Hall.  If you can’t quite envision what such a thing is, think of it as sort of the conservative's version of Comic-Con, except the cosplay is Come Dressed as Your Favorite Fascist Brownshirt.
 
Fascist Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, so deeply fascist that his long-time advisor quit a few weeks ago after saying an Orban speech sounded like “pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels, “ was the keynote speaker and came dressed as himself.
 
I can’t tell you exactly what he said, though I’m sure – to quote the great Molly Ivins – whatever he told the cheering crowd, who gave him a standing ovation, it sounded better in the original German.
 
The reason that I can’t tell you what he said exactly is because I don’t have it in me to listen to fascist, authoritarian, racist directives and propaganda.  But commentary made it pretty clear that the Fascist Uberlord would have approved.  And I won’t quite them because spreading the neo-Nazi gospel is not in my playbook.  But hearing him talk about never mixing the races and Christian nationalism to the adoring conservative Republican crowds in the United States was more than enough.  The good news though is that the audience didn't seem to have anyone raising their right arm in appreciation -- although in fairness I didn't see if Laura Ingraham was there.
 
And anyone who tries to tell you that this isn’t the Republican Party, "just CPAC" (which has long been the convention wing of the Republican Party) is trying to flim-flam you and hide who they themselves are.  Here are just some of the scheduled speakers at the Invite a Nazi to CPAC Convention --
 
Donald Trump
Ted Cruz
Marco Rubio
Ron DeSantis
Mike Pompeo
Matt Gaetz
Rick Scott
Marsha Blackburn
Andy Biggs
Madison Cawthorn (yes, really)
Jim Jordan
Lauren Boebert
Ronny Jackson
Kristi Noem
Donald Trump Jr.
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Papa John Schnatter
Glenn Beck
Larry Kudlow
Sean Spicer
Sebastian Gorka
Eric Greitens (yes, really, even he is still showing up)
Ben Carson
Dr. Mehmet Oz
James O'Keefe (of Project Veritas)
And, of course, guest Nazi Viktor Orban
 
So, yes, please, try to tell us that this isn’t today’s Republican Party.   This is the A-List of today’s Republican Party.  It's the Who's Who of the GOP.  And not one of them withdrew when Viktor Orban was invited.  Not one of them even criticized the decision to have him speak.  Not one of them has disagreed with anything he said.
 
I believe that among the seminars at CPAC are such events as –
 
Tips to Keep Your Brownshirt Clean and Pressed After Being in a Mob
 
The 10 Phrases in German You Must Know
 
How to Dog Whistle
 
Book Burning 101
 
Living Your Best Life in an Alternate Reality
 
Memories of Krystalnacht
 
Secret Topic Seminar (special entrance fee of $250) – SOLD OUT
 
Making Your Own Arm Bands
 
All Your Problems are the Fault of Jews and Black People.  And Muslims.  And Mexicans.
 
Finding the Best Assault Rifle for Your Child
 
Screening of Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will”

So, yes, meet today's Republican Party.  Going all out with fun time at "Invite Your Favorite Nazi" CPAC Convention.  There is no separating party, policy, interests and fascist convention.  They are all the same.  It is all fascist, all the time.  This is who they are.  Not a single voice of Republican leadership was raised in outrage and horror at inviting fascist Hungarian leader Viktor Orban -- whose words have been compared to pure Nazi text by his own longtime advisor -- to speak.  Not a single voice of Republican leadership criticized his words.

Because this is who today's Republican Party is.

​So, the Secret Service wiped its phones on January 5-6 and don’t have backups.
 
And the Department of Homeland Security wiped its phones on January 5-6 and don’t have backups.
 
And the Defense Secretary, the Chief of Staff of the Defense Secretary, the Secretary of the Army and other members of the Pentagon had their phones wiped on January 5-6 and don’t have backups.
 
Man, that’s some national security.
 
There’s a saying in politics that “In politics there are no coincidences.”  In fairness, though, this isn’t a case it not being coincidence – it’s more like a completed game of Connect the Dots.  This is like one of those optical illusion things where they ask if you can spot the three puppies in a picture – and everything has been stripped out of the picture except the three puppies.
 
I’m an “On the other hand” kind of guy.  I think there are coincidences in life and politics, and like to give a benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise.  Yes, sometimes it doesn’t take very long for me to feel I’ve been shown “otherwise.”  But here, it didn’t even take me to learn about DHS and the Pentagon wiping their phones on January 5-6 and not having backups.  Just learning that the Secret Service had done so was enough.  After all, wiping your phone and not having a backup is kind of thing they write “Backing Up Your Phone for Dummies” for.
 
You’ll note, by the way, that they do not have a version called, “Backing Up All the Phones of Your Organization for Dummies.”  Because people who run the IT Departments of an organization are not dummies.
 
And this was the Secret Service.  On the days of the Insurrection coup attempt to overthrow democracy.  And the phones were wiped.  And not backed up.  That’s not an accident.  That’s not a coincidence that the supposed “switchover” was done those very days.  Even I didn’t give a moment’s credence to the “explanation.”  And that was without knowing about the Department of Homeland Security.  And then the top members of the Pentagon.
 
Coincidence??  Accident???  The Secret Service, DHS and Pentagon????  Three of the top national security agencies.  All erasing their phones.  All having no backup.  All on January 5-6.  The days of an insurrection coup attempt to overthrow the government and democracy.  Suggesting it was just an accident and merely coincidence doesn’t make you insulting -- it makes you a conspirator.  Believing it was an accident and coincidence doesn’t make you gullible – it makes you willfully ignorant.  It means you aren’t trying.  It means you want to believe the lie.
 
If I didn’t believe that Rosemary Woods accidentally erased the Nixon tape by holding down the wrong combination of buttons with her hand and foot in a contortionist position for 17 minutes, I wasn’t even going to consider believing this.