Episode from 12-17-2017

Sometimes, but not often, I use the next blog option to find what other blogs are there. I found one called Silent Mouse or something similar to that. I might have to check out this blog more often in the future as it is a political one and it seems that we might agree on a lot of important things.

В статье «Время в журнале», опубликованной 24 октября 2016 года, Массимо Калабреси рассказывает об ухудшающихся отношениях между США и Россией. Печально то, что хаки были лишь частью проблем, которые происходили в то время. Джо Клейн упоминает позже в том же выпуске, что он рад, что мы узнали всевозможную информацию об Хилари Клинтон из-за взломанных писем, которые раскрывают много хороших вещей о ней. Может быть, я когда-нибудь прочитаю их, если найду их.

Now for the next and currently last election that I care about telling you about: the Wisconsin senate election. The incumbent is Democrat Tammy Baldwin. The only Democrat running against her is Mary Walters, who never held office before. I would vote for Tammy in the primary. The primary is August 14^th of next year.

Let’s get to the Republican candidates, shall we? There is a name of John Schiess who I know nothing about. If he were important, he’d have a Wikipedia page now, right? Kevin Nicholson is another person in the race, but it appears that he has not held any office before. This leaves Leah Vukmir as the only candidate from this side worth voting for.

I think that since this is the last post of the year that this will thus be the last Rams versus Chargers update of the year. The next post should be the last update of the season until next time. Anyways, the Rams are now 9-4. The Chargers are now 7-6. I wonder if the Rams will lose the rest and the Chargers will win the rest of their games. I guess that we’ll see what happens.

Let’s get to the Alabama election results. Doug Jones won! Yay! Now I hope that this means he is way less annoying in his emails. He would always send repetitive emails over and over again. Sadly, Roy Moore doesn’t know when to admit defeat and thinks that God will change the result of the election. I know that I prayed over the election. I prayed that Doug Jones would win. So I can only hope that God answered my prayer with a yes because this doesn’t always happen with prayers.

Now there could be an issue with the election: when does Doug Jones get to serve on the Senate? It would be a real dick move if the Republican’ts wait to seat him until January 3, 2019. Even if they waited until after the tax bill is voted on, it might be considered too late. This points out more of the hypocrisy of the Republican’ts. When the Democrats lost Ted Kennedy and Republican’t Scott Brown replaced him, Mitch McConnell insisted that they wait with the vote on health care reform until Scott was seated. The Democrats were nice and let him on the Senate before the vote happens. Now the Republican’ts are wanting to do the important vote now before Doug is seated on the Senate. At least they are consistent with always wanting a delay in something if it will benefit them. I will never forgive them over the fact that Merrick Garland isn’t on the Supreme Court right now.

Some of you may not know much about the tax bill before the Senate. What I know is that a tax that only affects people who have more than $5,000,000 is something that people want repealed. This estate tax also affects less than 1,000 people in this country. If you repeal it, where would the extra money come from? The tax cut for the rich has never helped anyone but the rich and it is worth reminding people that George H W Bush I accurately described it as voodoo economics. People don’t seem to know just how terrible our country’s debt became due to Ronald Reagan. Why is he loved? Is it because his administration tried selling arms to the people of Iran?

I tune into football earlier than usual tonight. Since FOX is airing a special and ABC is airing a movie, I’ll only be watching CBS tonight. Both of my CBS affiliates are showing the same game: Patriots versus Steelers. The Steelers are winning. My FOX affiliate is showing a Rams versus Seahawks game and the Rams are winning 34 to 0. While I like the score, I shouldn’t get my hopes up as last season, they shut out a team for three quarters and had lost by the end of the fourth. (I just lost the game.)

I switch between the games as I see the Rams increase their lead to 40 to 0. The Steelers are still in the lead in their game, but their lead is shrinking. I stay primarily into the Rams game should both be on commercial at the same time. The Seahawks get a touchdown and an additional point with a field goal. This puts the score at 40 to 7. I also see that the Steelers have increased their lead thanks to an update on FOX. As long as the Patriots lose, I won’t care about the final score.

The Rams are now 42 to 7. Where do you get 2 points in football? I don’t know so much about football as most of the things that the referees say just boil down to this is what’s happening although I don’t really understand why all the time. What’s all these downs and stuff? I should look up more info on this sport, but I’d probably just be confused by everything.

I see that the Patriots are winning their game now through an update on the other channel. And what is a two point conversion and can you get it without having just got a touchdown? I switch to the game on CBS and the Steelers get a touchdown and are winning. I’ve decided to stay with this game until it is over and not just so I know when shows will start on CBS. I can’t tell if the touchdown is valid, but I can only hope that the fucking Patriots don’t get ahead again. Well, the points are taken away. But they could still score again, though, right?

Well the fucking Patriots intercepted the ball after the touchdown was taken away so they look like they might be the winners. And they are. All this happens because a ball slipped at the touchdown line? It was a pretty stupid call. The announcers think that the Steelers should have gone for a field goal and overtime and that would have been a good idea or it could have meant no change in who won. At least this means that the show probably won’t be preempted. Only it switches to a different game.

The Titans are playing the 49ers. The 49ers are winning by a small margin. I have the Titans ranked as a higher team for me right now, although rankings can and will change after the conclusion of each new football season. (Due to my rules, I have the Titans ranked higher than the Rams even.) But both are teams that I like a root for. Only that is what made the Steelers game more interesting as I don’t like the fucking Patriots. There is a field goal and the Titans are now winning. I do wonder if I should go back and check the Rams game again.

What does it mean to spike a ball, anyways? I think that it might relate to field goals, but like I already admitted, I don’t know much about football terminology. At the buzzer, the 49ers end up winning the game for the third time in a row this season. I’m okay with either outcome. Plus, since I know that the 49ers sucked last season, they could use wins this season. The 49ers aren’t in playoff contention so I guess that a win is nice even if it hurts the other team’s chances. Also, I don’t know for sure who won the Rams game, but it couldn’t have been the Seahawks with the huge difference in the score. The game has probably been over for a while now and I didn’t realize it. I see an update later that proves that the Rams won with the score last mentioned.

Today’s episode is brought to you by 38 minute delay. We begin with Daisy’s official return to the show, after the unofficial one last week. There is a special woman’s conference. Daisy needs to tell more of the family of the baby about what happen. This is probably the worst way they’d written a pregnancy onto a show that I can remember. But at least it wasn’t like it Reba where the actress who played Barbara Jean was pregnant and the character got fat. THAT is the worst way I know it has been done.

Elizabeth and others talk in the situation room. Molly, who works with Henry, talks to his team about what all happened since Bo has been arrested. Alex wants to reveal himself to an asset to try to get him on the side of the US. Alex and Stevie exchange text messages. Daisy wants to tell family about what is going on. She then has to ask Elizabeth for more time off. Elizabeth then talks to Henry. She is worried about him and his upcoming trip.

In segment two, Alex thinks of how his life would be different if he hadn’t taken Henry’s class. Daisy then goes to meet her baby daddy’s mother. (I feel that there should be a better term than baby daddy, but I don’t know what a good one would be.) Alex talks to his old friend, the one who might not know him as Alex. Elizabeth then talks to a random person, it seems, although it might not be. Henry then talks more about what had happened so far on his trip.

In segment three, it is decided that Henry has to stay in Afghanistan for now. Daisy talks more to this woman. I need a good name for her, whether it is her real name or not. It could be a mother in law under ideal circumstances. We get more of the normal “the US does not engage with terrorists” cliché that we see so often from time to time. Please tell me that we would actually do that because it seems like a dumb thing to give them more power. Stevie and Alex continue their weird flirty relationship thing that seems weird yet is her best romance thus far and the only one they seemed to have gotten right in the show thus far. Alex notices that a car is following him.

In segment four, the contact didn’t meet up with the people in Henry’s team. When did he see Stevie and leave Afghanistan? There might be some issues there with when things were happening. Elizabeth talks more to the one woman, whoever that is, about whatever the issues are that they are ignoring while trying like now to talk about. Alex says that he was followed. Henry works to get to the bottom of this issue. Elizabeth mentions how to work with the Taliban. I don’t get all this.

In segment five, Conrad has to talk and appease people in the oval office. The people of Afghanistan do not want to give women all the power, but Elizabeth might have a solution even if it might not be the right one for everyone. The people of the CIA were the ones who were following Alex. It was because he was in rehab. But they don’t talk about how Alex and Stevie are dating. Surely they know, right? They meet again and talk to each other. Alex still won’t tell Stevie the full story about himself. This could only end badly, but probably for just part of an episode.

The compromise of the Afghanistan situation has it so that women can have basic rights, but can’t run for office. Elizabeth then does a speech about this guest woman, whoever she is. There are no scenes from next time so I’ll be back whenever with the next new episode, probably sometime next year. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode from 12-10-2017

It is hard to believe that there are all these allegations against Charlie Rose. It’s sad. You’d think that he’d be one of the most trusted names in journalism. You’ve read me writing about some of the sexual allegations against people this year. I’ll try not to make it so that I’m on the side of any notable person that I like enough to defend. I’m sure that we’ll need to confirm every rumor. While it is dumb if people were to make up such things, it does happen, even if it might be more likely if a person never comes forward about what happened to them. I do wonder what will happen to all of the stories he did with 60 Minutes as a result. They’ll have to replace them with something.

Вот вам следующий параграф на русском языке. Простите, это немного позже, чем я этого хотел. Время 10 октября 2016 года рассказывало о том, как Россия пытается повлиять на выборы. К сожалению, в отличие от обложки предупреждали, люди падали за это. Различные вещи, о которых говорилось выше, были важными, заключались в том, что «государства представили доказательства значительного числа новых вторжений в свои избирательные системы» (см. Стр. 32.) Он упомянул о взломе в штате Иллинойс, но ничего больше в этой статье. Конечно, самое важное, о чем он упомянул, также на стр. 32, было «повторное включение Дональда Трампа в историю США и России», которое, по их словам, «тем более поразительно». Люди знают, что русский был за DNC хак. Почему они не принимают это как факт? Это будет похоже на изменение климата?

Now let’s get to the governor race in Iowa. You see, they originally had Terry Branstad as governor. Only he resigned to become part of the Trump administration. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, ascended to the office as a result. I can find hardly any information about her on her Wikipedia page. What has she done thus far in office? I have no idea.

The other Republicans in the race are both mayors, I think. One is Steven Ray, who is a mayor pro-tem, who is from a place that I heard has trains that I might have wanted to visit back when I cared more about trains and before I learned how dumb and unreliable they are. I still like trains, but don’t ride them ever. That’s weird, right? The other person who is certainly a mayor is Ron Corbett. I can’t find much on him either. While Kim has DUIs on her record, I don’t see a reason why she shouldn’t at least win the primary. Do you know of any reason?

Now for the Democrats in the race, two people in it are Cathy Glasson and Fred Hubbell. They haven’t held or run for office before. John Norris has run for office but not won it. He was a chief of staff to a governor. Jon Neiderbach also ran for office and lost. He’s a former school board member. I can’t find much information about Andy McGuire except that she is the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. I don’t know much about Nate Boulton other than that he serves in the Iowa senate. The other person in the race is Ross Wilburn, a former mayor of Iowa City. Out of all of them, I’d have to pick Nate as who I think that people should vote for in the Democratic primary.

There is actually a Libertarian primary to carry about in the race for governor of Iowa. One is a musician named Marco Battaglia. The other is Jake Porter who ran for Secretary of State twice. Between the two of them, I’d go with Jake because he’d at least have experience running for office, if not actually in it. It can be hard to find a third party candidate with experience. As for the date of the primary, I believe that it is on June 5, 2018.

It turns out that the Rams did win the game last Sunday which puts them at 8-3. The Chargers are 5-6 now. Will they keep winning now? I guess we will see. But with twice as many losses as the Rams this season, I don’t know if they will have the chance to move up well.

I realize that some of what is posted here is outdated. There was a week without a new episode, which is to be expected this time of year. I never know for sure when that will happen each week. I can only guess at it sometimes. But since I limit the Rams versus Chargers update to once a post, you won’t see another update with that until then.

Something worth noting is that the tax cut monstrosity has passed the House and Senate. At least it doesn’t end there. More still needs to be done with it. But it is hard to believe that a bill can have all these last minute edits and all but one of the Republican’ts still vote for it blindly. Did they even read the bill? I know that the Democrats did, or tried to, with the brief time they had before the vote. You cannot have an extensive rewrite of the tax code on a bill that’s barely even public to people.

Getting back to the highly sarcastic ad that Bruce Rauner has aired against Michael Madigan, it seems like he brought in people who have barely been in office. The governors of Missouri and Indiana just started their terms this year. Can they really take credit for taking jobs from Illinois? I work in Illinois and Missouri while working for companies in Iowa and Kansas (which is kind of funny if you think about it) and it might have been a decision made by Bruce that explains why I’m not working for a place in Illinois anymore. But I don’t know much about different laws passed during this time. I just know that Bruce cannot seem to accept the fact that he is probably the problem.

There are so many people with sexual harassment or worse allegations against them. It is hard to tell with all of them how serious some are and if some are accurate. I wouldn’t blindly fire someone without first verifying the story, which it seems like some people are doing. Al Franken had to resign from the Senate while pointing out the irony that Donald Trump remains president despite the allegations against him. Trump reminded everyone of the Access Hollywood scandal before endorsing a candidate that was accused of sexual misconduct. It’s so bizarre and ridiculous, you’d think that this was a plot point in the movie The Campaign. Only it is actually happening, proving that truth is stranger than fiction.

Before I stop talking about politics, I should note that Trump seems to enjoy insulting people because that is what a mature adult does. (Oh, wait…) One of his insults is calling Senator Elizabeth Warren the name Pocahontas. This is based on the idea that she made up having Native American heritage. I don’t know much about the story, but if I were her, I’d embrace the nickname. I don’t recall Pocahontas being thought of as a bad person. She helped people who weren’t native to her land. She is thought to be a humanizing and life saving person. Plus, Trump has to worry about setting off anyone to a path to win the presidency in 2020. And that includes members of his own party.

I don’t see any football on one CBS affiliate that I check. I check my FOX affiliate and they are airing a game of the Rams versus the Eagles that the Rams are winning 28-24. But there seems to be problems that come up with it regarding one foul after another. I can’t tell who has the ball right now as I’m not paying as close attention as I would want to normally.

The Eagles get a touchdown and then a field goal making the score Rams 28 and Eagles 31. I check my other CBS affiliate and they are not airing football either. Having checked all that I wanted to, I’ll go back to the game until 60 Minutes starts.

I watch 60 Minutes and I see that the score has changed later to Rams 35 and Eagles 34. I do want the Rams to keep winning, although it wouldn’t hurt too much if they lost every remaining game since they are still winners this season for the first time since 2003. It would suck too if they were losers from this point forward since they are close to qualifying for the play-offs.

I check the end of the game and the Rams have 35 points and the Eagles have 37 points. I don’t see how the Rams can turn this back around again. I get glued to the end of the game and the Eagles end up with a touchdown giving them 43 points. And that’s how the game ends. I think that they crossed the 180 degree line when they did this.

Today’s episode is brought to you by no delay. We begin with a person who seems to be in a minefield who stepped on a mine, it seems. As long as they get the cool sunglasses, then you know everything is good. She is rescued and the team watching a live stream of the rescue. Elizabeth gives a demonstration about land mines and how some are used to blow up a person’s leg and not all of the person. Of course, if they are a demon, then you’d want them all to blow up unless there needs to be more to the episode of Charmed. Elizabeth wants there to be policy made to help get rid of them.

We learn more about Bo Carpenter, the believed turncoat who might have betrayed the US. He is the senate majority leader. Gee, I wonder where they got the idea of a senate majority leader being a bad person? Elizabeth wants to make it her cause to fix the problem, but needs a two-thirds majority. We learn of a person’s death of someone that Russell didn’t like. Elizabeth doesn’t want to be the president. There is more talk about getting the votes they need. A person who Cat immediately butts heads with shows up to the talk. Elizabeth decides to throw the party that people are pressuring her into doing. What’s going on exactly?

In segment two, we get to the party planning of the whatever the crap thing is going on. I’m guessing that this will not be one of the better episodes. Elizabeth wants there to be a ban on land mines in at least the US, even if other countries aren’t on board. Henry’s team does more analysis on Bo and the people close to him. Stevie shows up having been forced, it seemed, into helping with the party in some way. Why is this happening? Elizabeth’s team works more on the mine issue.

In segment three, Stevie wants her family to help with the party thing. Have I said how dumb this is? Oh wait, yes. Yes I have. Anyways, the weird family dynamics continue. We then get to Henry’s team which is tailing a person only too many people leave there to be a problem. There is a meet with Bo who was probably cast to look like Mitch McConnell. Does he know that someone is after him? They still need his vote before they can go after him. Bo is going to the holiday party that Elizabeth is throwing. Why are they calling it a holiday party? Shouldn't it be Christmas party?

In segment four, Stevie has all the plans that they did in short notice for this party which seems to be a way of showing good grace, even if it isn’t to people that they don’t like. Daisy has shown up again. I wonder if the actress really was pregnant. It would explain a lot. Maybe I should do more research into the matter. The party seems to be as boring as most gatherings like that tend to be. Elizabeth needs to keep Bo at her place as long as possible. Carlos is the name of that senator I can’t remember from other, earlier episodes.

In segment five, people went after Elizabeth’s hunch. Bo gets home and the people are out of the house. What will happen with Bo? Will he realize what’s going on? Elizabeth wants Carlos to vote the way she wants to on the issue. It doesn’t look like things will go the way Elizabeth wants. Stevie then talks to Alexander some more after he was in the secret raid on Bo’s house. How much does Stevie know about who he really is? Bo is questioned with the evidence that they have and Henry wonders how Bo can live with himself. Bo wonders what he has done. But he is guilty in some way. Is the land mine thing done for a good cause? It looks like there is good resolution regarding that. But they are making Russia the enemy again, which makes sense.

On the next Madam Secretary, they might have to make a deal with the enemy in the fall finale. I can get kind of annoyed by those if that means the show is gone for a long while. Hopefully it won’t be too long into the next year when the next new episode airs. I wonder if you’ll see a political post next year before the next new episode airs. I’m still trying to figure out when to do those posts. Be on the lookout for them on Saturdays potentially, but not every Saturday. I’ll try to explain in a main post or an added intro to one of those posts. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Politics: Following the Illinois Governor Race 2018

There are different reasons why I would do a political post at some times over another. Be on the lookout for them. I am thinking that if an episode is scheduled to air and doesn’t that I will put one of these in its place. I also might do them on Saturdays at times, but not always every Saturday. If the show gets renewed, I know that I’ll do these during the summer. It doesn’t matter when you’ll see it, just be on the lookout. There are other reasons too. But enough of this transferable introduction. Let’s get to the blog post.

Bruce Rauner is running for a second term as governor. He said that he would not run for a third term. But why give him a second? What has he done for the state? He refused to do a budget for a long time and the legislature had to override a veto of his to finally get one. Now he whines and complains about the tax increase the budget had. What are the alternatives?

Let’s start with the other Republicans in the race. A Republican is running against Bruce. And this guy has no experience, it seems. Another thing he doesn’t have is the money to buy his way into office like Bruce did. He originally picked a running mate who had left Illinois 20 years ago, so maybe he isn’t too smart. Only he isn’t the only Republican alternative to Bruce.

Jeanne Ives is a Republican in the race. I read more about her, but sadly, this source that was supposed to be neutral put her in a negative light. Still, these people might have a point since there is a lot wrong with her. There was an incident of slut shaming, it seems, which you would not expect from a woman. She holds elected office right now so she had more experience than Bruce did four years ago. But she seems like a Trump candidate in the race and we need to avoid a candidate like that having any sort of power. But is that really the case? It was a source that seemed too biased.

Switching to the Democrats in the race, a candidate is running for his second chance at being governor. That man is Tio Hardiman, who lost the primary to Pat Quinn back in 2014. He helped create CeaseFire or Cure Violence. I don’t know what political experience he has so I don’t know why he is running or what good he could do. I would not support him, although I might have in the last election. He didn’t stand a chance then when he ran then as he lost the primary and didn’t even seem to affect the primary, unlike Dan Hines in 2010. I don’t think that he stands a chance this time either.

Sometimes people might just keep running until they can win an election. This might be the case with Robert Marshall. He is a physician and that’s all I can get on him. If you are a person who has not held office before, you are probably not getting my vote for an office as high as governor. I made a mistake when I voted for Bruce Rauner (as did a majority of Illinoisans), but I won’t do that again unless I have no choice.

A random person somehow in the race is a correction officer by the name of Terry Getz. He has not submitted any signatures or even announced a running mate. This is yet another Democrat that I can’t find much information about. I’d be surprised if he is even on the ballot in March.

Let’s say that you don’t want to support a person from Chicago. Well you are in luck. Bob Daiber is from the Metro East. He is the regional superintendent of schools for Madison County. That does seem like a leadership type of job. He doesn’t have any political experience, though, by the looks of it. He is the only candidate in the race not from the Chicago area. But I’m not sure that I would vote for him unless my candidate is out of the race as I don’t think that he even stands a chance of getting elected.

There’s a candidate that I know very little about. And his name is Alex Paterakis. What I do know is that he doesn’t have the experience that I feel he should have as he has never held elective office. Look what Trump has done. At least he doesn’t have the money to simply buy his way into office like Rod Blagojevich did.

Speaking of people who could simply buy their way into office, J B Pritzker may just be another Bruce Rauner. We don’t need a Democratic Bruce Rauner in the race. But he might be the only candidate you know of that is in the race besides him. I wouldn’t not vote for him if he wins the primary. I just hope that I don’t get the change for sake of change thing would get me voting the wrong way a second time.

Yet another person in the race who has never held elective office before is Chris Kennedy. He is the nephew of John F Kennedy. I don’t know what else there is to say about him. In fact, his famous name might be the only reason he is in the race.

I’m saving the best for last here. Daniel Biss is the candidate that I support for governor. Why? Well, for one, he might be the most experienced candidate in the race. In fact, almost no one else has experience. I want someone who I know can do things. If you want to support a person who never held elective office, then you must not have been paying attention to the news cycle and what a president or the current governor without experience has been like. He also has a lot of good ideas and seems like the best choice in my mind.

Well, those are my thoughts on the Illinois race for governor. I urge everyone reading this who can vote in Illinois to choose a Democratic ballot and vote for Daniel Biss. If you can’t bring yourself to vote in that primary, then vote for Jeanne Ives in the Republican primary. I may do other updates on this race later. The primary in Illinois is on March 20^th, 2018 so be sure to vote if you live in this state.