Growing optimism

Every evening I call people from old lists of volunteers.  Some of the lists go back as far as the second Obama campaign in 2012.  I tell people I am the “sign guy” with the Biden campaign and ask them if they want a yard sign for Biden.  They almost always say yes.  At this rate in a few days we will have to order more.  Every day Linda and I drive around Carbon County and stick them into the yards.

The Trump signs are bigger, often with flags, but we are winning the sign wars.  This is in big contrast to 2016, when many people were reluctant to put up Hillary Clinton signs.  The other problem in 2016 was that we had to manufacture most of our own signs for the Clinton campaign.  

I’m starting to feel growing optimism.  

The funeral of John Lewis

It was so refreshing to see three former presidents together, two Democrats and one Republican, obviously respecting each other, not tweeting insults, there for the common purpose of honoring John Lewis.

And here is Trump, still botching the virus response, still trying to incite racism, and even talking about a need to postpone the election.  In case you are wondering, no, he can’t do that.

What he can do he’s doing already.  Getting help from the Russians, whipping up racist hatred, sowing doubt in mail-in ballots, lying about Biden’s positions, screwing with the Post Office.

Trump is right about one thing, however.  Trump supporters should take hydroxychloroquine.  That will ward off the virus.  It should be taken in large doses, and it will have no side effects.  (Trump has said so.)  Injecting bleach is also effective, as is drinking bleach.  Trump supporters also can gather in large groups without masks.  No need for a mask.  Ask Herman Cain.

Leadership vs. whining and stupidity

“We are not condemned to accept the spread of this virus as an inevitable fact of life.  We thrive not because we are forced to do something, but because we have knowledge and encourage active participation.  Success depends on each and every one of us.”

  ––Angela Merkel

“And yet, they’re highly thought of–but nobody likes me.  It can only be my personality.”

  ––Donald Trump, discussing Dr. Fauci and Dr. Brix at his briefing on July 28 at which he again pushed hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid 19.

Signs don't vote

This is a mantra of professional campaign consultants when people ask for yard signs.  They argue that it is silly to spend money on signs; campaigns need to focus on direct mail, television ads, and on-line messaging.

Those consultants are wrong.  I am on a mission to get as many Biden yard signs up in Carbon County as possible.  I know from the 2016 Clinton campaign how discouraging it was to see Trump sign after Trump sign with no Clinton signs.  

Today, when we were on Gilberts Hill Drive we saw a Biden sign, and it was a psychological uplift.  What we were doing on Gilberts Hill Drive was delivering signs to a resident in East Penn Township.  We delivered yard signs to two residents in Polk Township in Monroe County, and to East Penn Township, Mahoning Township, Summit Hill (2), Lehighton (2) and Franklin Township.  This was after we replaced the large “This is Biden Country” sign across from MacDonalds that had been stolen.  

I’ve been calling Carbon County residents pushing the signs.  Tonight I got five more orders.  We are going to beat the Trumpists like a rented mule.

White and black presidents

Let’s say you are an 18-year-old white woman.  You first became somewhat aware of politics when you were about six.  Since then you have experienced Obama from age 6 to 14 and Trump from 14 to 18.  

I’m guessing you have a rather bad impression of white male presidents, and you are probably demonstrating for Black Lives Matter.  I understand completely.

Overwhelmed by evil

Really, I am.  It just keeps coming, too fast, too often.

In Turkey the nationalist government opened the Hagia Sophia as a mosque.  It had been a World Heritage site, important to both Muslims and Orthodox Christians.  It was also the main tourist destination in Turkey.  Now it is a mosque for one religion.  Erdogan is pandering to his right-wing religious base.  (That has a familiar ring.)  Why any tourist would go to Turkey now I do not understand.

In Hungary the government moved to take full control of the most widely-read news site.  The site had often been critical of the government.  Can we now quit calling Hungary a democracy?  It hasn’t been one for years.

In the U.S. the Trump administration:

•  ended an Obama program combating housing discrimination;

•  announced that it was allowing homeless shelters to exclude transgender people people from facilities that correspond with their gender identity, in violation of a recent Supreme Court ruling; and 

•  decided to sell large armed drones internationally, bypassing part of an international weapons agreement that the U.S. helped to implement.

But wait.

In Grenoble in France, six people caught a three-year-old child who was dropped by his 10-year-old brother from a burning building.  The 10-year-old then jumped into the waiting group.  Two of the men broke their arms catching the children.  The children were not hurt.

and...

In Iran victims of Covid 19 are buried in a separate cemetery.  Ok, that’s dumb, but one of the dead was an Orthodox Christian.  People aren’t allowed into the burial area, but one of the grave diggers made the sign of the cross as the body was lowered into the grave.  I don’t know if he did it correctly, but he did it.

Trump's kid and your kid

Trump wants your kid to attend school this fall.  He is evidently not concerned about your child getting Covid 19 or passing it on to her or his teachers.  It would be good for the economy to have the schools reopen.

Trump’s own kid goes to St. Andrews Episcopal School, a private school in the Washington suburbs,  The school is still deciding whether to go for limited in-person education or hold all classes online.

The Millton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, where Ivanka Trump sends her children, has not yet decided how or whether to reopen in the fall.  

But your kids should definitely go back to school.

Info for this post is from Peter Baker, “Trump Calls for Schools To Reopen, but the One His Son Attends Won’t, New York Times, (July 24, 2020), p. A18.

Kidder Township Distribution Center

Kidder Township is located in the northern part of Carbon County.  It is situated  in the Pocono Plateau and is mostly woodland, although it has a ski resort, Lake Harmony, and hundreds of homes built in recent developments.

Now a developer has proposed to build a 739,000 square-foot “distribution center” on approximately 117 acres of land.  Supposedly 250 people would be employed.  

The Weatherly School district and Kidder Township have already signaled their approval, because tax money (?) will roll in. 

This is an example of bad land use planning on so many levels.  Where will the workers live and how will they get to the “distribution center”?  (No public transportation in that area.)  How will the “distribution center” affect the local environment?  What exactly will be “distributed”?  Why are local school districts  still relying on property tax after all the promises by the Republican-controlled state legislature to reform this system?  Why is Pennsylvania giving tax breaks for a “distribution center” in the middle of the Poconos?  Why can’t we do public policy in a rational and reasonable manner?

Why can I actually get sued under Pennsylvania law for opposing this development?

ACLU pulls a bonehead move

I am a proud card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and I support their efforts to end voter suppression in the U.S., but ACLU is now wants the government to pay for stamps for mail-in ballots.

The article in today’s Morning Call calling attention to this move notes that a woman named Delinda Bryant says that paying for this years mail-in ballot will be a struggle because she doesn’t have $10.00 for a book of stamps.

Would somebody please inform Ms. Bryant that you only need one stamp.  One stamp costs 55 cents.  You can buy one stamp at the post office.  I have seen people at the Kresgeville Post Office do that many times.

Voter suppression includes reducing polling places, moving polling places, demanding impossible forms of I.D., and cutting hours to vote.  The cost of a stamp is not going to keep people from voting.  If you can’t afford a stamp, I’m pretty sure you can find a supporter who agrees with you who would provide one.  If you live in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, Montana, Utah, or Wyoming, and you can’t afford a stamp, and you are a Biden supporter, please let me know.  

See Julie Carr Smyth, “Stamps a sticky issue in Nov. elections,” Morning Call, (July 22, 2020), p. 9.

Agreeing with Doyle Heffley?

In a front page article in our local newspaper, the Times News, our state representative Doyle Heffley called for restrictions on the number of visitors to Beltzville State Park.  He pointed out that large numbers of people were gathering at the park, usually without masks or social distancing, and that this huge number was having a negative impact on the park and the residents of the area.

He’s right.  The Wild Creek Falls area, formerly a lovely area what was once part of our farm, is the site of literally hundreds of people swimming, and partying.  There are no toilet facilities, no dumpsters, and no lifeguards.    Litter is everywhere and parking is both illegal and dangerous.

Heffley wants the park shut down to out-of-state visitors, at least until the pandemic is over.  I’m not sure how this will even be possible with the limited number of rangers and staff at Beltzville.  State parks and their parent agency, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, have been underfunded for years.  There is no way the small staff at Beltzville can even enforce existing rules.  

Unfortunately, this underfunding can be laid at the feet of the Republican-dominated state legislature.  Doyle Heffley is a part of that.  So, while I agree with him about the need to deal with a problem, I would point out that the problem is in part his responsibility.

Goya Foods

When I was a student at Penn State, one of my roommates discovered that the owner of Schick Razors was an extreme right-winger.  He immediately threw his razor away.  I pointed out that it was a useless gesture, since he had already paid for it.  He said he didn’t care; he didn’t want the razor touching his face.

We have some cans of Goya pink beans and black beans in our pantry.  I have already paid for them, and I am not throwing them out.  At the same time, I can’t understand how the president of a company which sells largely to Mexican-Americans and Central Americans can praise Trump as a wonderful leader.  Has he not been following the news?

So I won’t be buying any more Goya Foods.  Trumpists, hearing about the boycott of Goya Foods, have jumped into the breach, filling their shopping carts with Goya foods that they’ve never before eaten.  What they don’t know is that Goya Foods have a secret ingredient, and if you eat more than three cans you will start talking Meskin.  

Adios, Amigos.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Today I saw an ominous chart.  At the time George Floyd was killed, more white Americans disapproved of the Black Lives Matter movement than approved it.  After Mr. Floyd was killed by a cop who should have been kicked off the force years ago, the tide turned.  Each week after that, support for Black Lives Matter rose.  

Until recently.  Now the trend is moving the other way.  Too many demonstrations.  Too long.  The unfortunate slogan of “defund the police.”  The rise in homicides in some American cities.  And a president who will take every advantage to appear with police, praise police, and paint even peaceful protestors as terrorists and scum.  He is taking advantage, will continue to take advantage, and could even ride this into a second term.

Many white Americans have had their consciousness raised in the last few months.  The change in the atmosphere in such a short time has been unprecedented.  Even Mississippi got rid of the Confederate symbol on the state flag.  Mississippi!

Now it is time to do the hard work of registering voters, organizing precincts, getting the mail-in ballot applications.  Demonstrations really don’t take a lot of work.  Write something on a sign and show up.  Political change in state legislatures and congress and especially the presidency is a lot harder.

If you can't win, cheat

Both houses of the Pennsylvania state legislature have Republican majorities, and those Republicans will do anything, including changing the electoral system and the state constitution in order to retain power.

Gov. Wolf has done a reasonably good job in containing the pandemic.  If you want a comparison, look at Texas or Arizona or Florida.  Are the legislators happy?  No.  They want to amend the state constitution to allow the legislators to override any emergency declaration.  The governor may take advice from medical personnel, but guys like Heffley and Yudichak evidently know more.

The PA Supreme Court, elected in state-wide elections, is dominated by Democrats.  The Republicans want a constitutional amendment to elect judges by districts.  That way they can gerrymander the court districts just like they do the legislature.

A constitutional amendment to set up a nonpartisan and independent citizens’ commission to draw district lines for the legislature and end gerrymandering?  That one they couldn’t pass.

And then they bleat about  “law and order” and “patriotism” and the flag.  What a bunch of slimy hypocrites.

Signs don't vote

That is the mantra of the campaign professionals who pooh-pooh the need for yard signs.  They will point out the importance of social media, direct mail, and door-to-door contacts.  I understand their reasoning, but this year door-to-door contract is largely dead, social media is over-rated (fewer than half of the people my age have a smart phone), and direct mail is incredibly expensive.  

Signs matter.  In 2016 it was disheartening to see all the Trump signs and no Hillary Clinton signs.  It left Clinton supporters with the feeling that she had no support in Carbon County or other rural Pennsylvania counties.  We were reduced to making our own signs–our friend Rene set up a sign-making assembly line in our shed, but it was obvious that the Clinton campaign thought signs were not important.

We learned a lesson from that.  Today Linda and I drove around Carbon County delivering Biden signs.  The county party purchased them, and my goal is to have more of them in the county than the Trump signs.  The Trump signs are bigger (Trump benefits from the money supporters pay to get them), but a plethora of Biden signs will off-set the number and make Biden appear relentless.  I am calling all the Democratic and liberal activists I know to urge them to take signs.  I will even place them in their yards.  

Signs don’t vote, but they certainly give supporters hope and encouragement.

Lehighton Indians

I am collecting materials to send to teachers in the Lehighton School District urging them to change the name of their sports teams.  Right now they call themselves the “Indians.”  They post signs of Indians in full headdress (from tribes in the Plains) and put up tomahawks.  I doubt if more than one in ten Lehighton students knows the name of the original Indians who lived in this area.  I doubt if one in one hundred knows what happened to them after European settlers took their lands.  

I know people will say the Indians should not be offended.  They are being too sensitive.  Wrong.  We are talking about a culture that was destroyed, a people who were moved, first to Ohio, then to Oklahoma.  We are talking about a group that is barely able to keep its language alive.  And we are treating them like mascots, as a nickname for the football team?

Why not the “Lehighton Poles” or the Lehighton “Pennsylvania Germans” or the Lehighton “Bohunks” or the “Lehighton Farmers”?

If the Lehighton school district really wants to keep that name, members should contact the remaining Lenni Lenape in Oklahoma and ask how they could help the tribe.  They should ask tribal members how they could teach about the history of the tribe, and how the high school students could best learn about tribal members today. 

How about “Lehighton Tree Frogs"?  I like that one.

Penna. Republican Legislators Want You To Die

At least that is the impression I get.  Pennsylvania was doing fairly well, thanks to the policies adopted by the Wolf Administration.  We were locked down, we re-opened in an orderly fashion, and we flattened the curve compared to states like Texas and Florida.  

After what I saw on Memorial Day weekend (people not wearing masks, people crowded together), I am not surprised we are seeing an uptick in virus cases, but that is the fault of stupidity, not the Wolf administration.

So what do the Republicans in the state legislature want?  They want to allow counties to end Wolf’s restrictions and allow the counties to determine which businesses remain open.  They would also give themselves the power to end a disaster emergency after 21 days.  Evidently they think guys like Heffley and Yudichak know more about emergencies than doctors and scientists.  

It is a typical Republican response.  If Democrats have a policy that works, wreck it.  Lives are not important.  Partisanship is.  We see it at the national level, and now, unfortunately, at the state level as well.

Lauren Boebert, congressional candidate

Lauren Boebert is crazy.  She might sue me for saying that, but remember that truth is always a defense in a libel suit.

She is a follower of QAnon, the far right conspiracy theory group which still believes that Hillary Clinton was involved in a child sex trafficking ring operating out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor.  

Boebert won the primary, upsetting five-term Rep. Scott Tipton in western Colorado.  Tipton was a conservative Republican, but most people consider him sane.  Since she is running in an overwhelming Republican district, she will probably be elected to Congress.

She is not the only crazy person running.  There is another one in Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and a U.S. Senate candidate in Oregon named Jo Rae Perkins.  Perkins will lose, but the other two stand a chance to be elected.

This is where American politics is today.  The state party in Colorado will be backing Boebert.  The head of the House Republican campaign group said this:  “This is a Republican seat and will remain a Republican seat as Nancy Pelosi and senior House Democrats continue peddling their radical conspiracy theories and pushing their radical cancel culture.” 

So, the national Republican Congressional committee is willing to back a person who obviously should be institutionalized.  That’s where American politics is at today.  

Gerrymandering reform in Penna. is dead

Fair Districts Pennsylvania ran an amazing campaign to rid Pennsylvania of gerrymandering.  Tabling, rallies, visits to local government bodies, letters to the editor, mailings to legislators, personal visits to legislators (I made one to Doyle Heffley), editorials–it was a full court press that went on for three years.

And we lost.

It is incredibly difficult to get legislators to change the system under which they have been elected.  It is incredibly difficult to get incumbents to end a system which almost always benefits incumbents.  It is incredibly difficult to push legislation against gerrymandering when the average voter has no idea what gerrymandering is.

The fact that gerrymandered districts result in one-party elections (Doyle Heffley in the PA 122nd is running as a Republican and a Democrat, just like the Stalinist system), increased polarization (very left safe Democratic districts and very right safe Republican districts), very little turnover (over 90% of incumbents win election) doesn’t matter to legislators.  They are interested in one thing.  It is not democratic government.  It is election and re-election.

So I am somewhat bitter.  However, I am not surprised we lost.

Trump in a mask

I hate to admit when Trump is right, but he was right to resist wearing a mask.  I thought he should set a good example and wear one, but he was right.  It was not a good look.  He looked like a frightened little boy.  He looked like he was taking orders from Dr. Fauci.  He looked like a loser.  Let’s put it in caps like he does in his tweets and all say it together.  LOSER!

On another note, today I wrote letters to Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey thanking them for speaking out against the commutation for Roger Stone.  They will get some heavy flak from the Trump cult, so it is a good thing to give them some backing.

Debating Trump

Rick Wilson was a Republican political operative known for his hard-hitting campaigns.  He has come to believe that Trump is destroying American democracy.  His first book on Trump was entitled Everything Trump Touches Dies.  His most recent book, Running Against the Devil, explains why Trump is such a threat to win a second term, and how the Democrats can once again blow it.  He says the 2020 race is not Trump’s to win, but the Democrats to lose.

He notes that Trump never talks about policy.  In the debates, he always knows where the camera is, what will work with an audience, how to gain attention.  He insults, acts out, dominates the stage.  An opponent who tries to be reasonable, discuss policy, act like a statesman (remember Clinton in 2016) will lose big.  

Obviously, I’m worried about Joe Biden.  Joe Biden is too nice.  He won’t hit back.  He won’t make fun of Trump, insult him, make him angry.  And I know what all the Democrats are thinking who are reading this.  You are thinking Biden shouldn’t be mean, should discuss policy, should be calm and reasonable, should act “presidential.”  When they go low, we go high.  

Screw that.  Call Trump overweight.  Walk over and pat him on the shoulder.  Ask if he needs a drink of water, and offer to hold the glass.  Ask him why he has to pay for sex.  Tell him you pity him.  Humiliate him.  Make him lose it.

Trump loses bigly

Supreme Court decides President's power not without limits.  (Amazingly, two judges, Alito and Thomas, seemed to think it was.  Did they not take American govt. 101?)

Indians have reservation rights in half of Oklahoma.  Thank you Gorsuch.  (Trump, who appointed him, goes bananas.)

Roger Stone pardoned. Of course he was.  This is further evidence that Trump will do anything to protect his cronies.  If Trump thinks this will help his re-election, he is dumber than I thought, and I thought he was dumber than a box of rocks.

Tulsa Covid 19 cases see big uptick 10 days after maskless Trump rally.  (I feel guilty taking delight in this, but I simply can't help myself.  I'm so ashamed.)

Biden gives great speech.  Biden talked about "Buy American" and increasing U.S. manufacturing. 
This is something Donnie pushed when he ran, then forgot about.

What was that thing that just rolled past me.  Oh, I know.  It was one of the wheels that fell off of the Trump campaign.

Fresh Summer Garlic Scape Pesto

I’ve done thousands of posts on this blog, but this is the first time I ever posted a recipe.  It appeared in the Times News, but I’ll give you some modifications.  Linda made it today, and it was nectar from the gods.

One cup of garlic scapes, roughly chopped.  (As the garlic matures, it gets these buds on the end of the stalk.  They eventually turn into flowers, pretty much like onion flowers.  Get them before they bloom.  If you google “garlic scapes,” you can see what they look like.)

1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  (You don’t have to use that specific cheese; Linda used a mixture of Parmesan and Romano cheeses.)

3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.  (I’m not sure why it needs to be kosher, but we keep some on hand.)

1/3 cup of pine nuts or Marcona Almonds, raw is best.  (Pine nuts are expensive; Linda used almonds.  Marcona?  Not necessary.)

3 ounces of olive oil.

3 ounces of a seed oil.  (Linda used sesame seed oil.)

1/2 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice.

In a food processor mix all ingredients together, except for the oil.  Slowly pour in the oil and process until the consistency desired.

You can then mix it with pasta, or you can use it like a dip.  Be prepared to smell like garlic after you eat it.  Also be prepared to eat way too much of it.  It is soooo good.

An Intolerant Climate

On Tuesday “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” appeared online, signed by 153 prominent artists and intellectuals.  The letter stated, “The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted.”  The letter cited “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”

“We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other.  As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes.”

I’m certainly not in the company of people to asked to sign a letter like that, but if I were, I would be proud to sign it.  I am really intolerant of intolerance.  I like to think that I’ve always marched to the beat of a drummer that only I can hear.  

Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation

Houses are going up less than 1/2 mile from our house.  It’s on Norm Strohl’s old farm, bought by a developer, and subdivided into 34 lots.  The large, new, and unnecessary St. Luke’s Hospital is being built seven miles to the west in Franklin Township, and with it will come increased demand for housing.  These houses are being built miles from any store with no public transportation.  Each has its own well and septic system, a long-term recipe for disaster.  Suburban housing adds to pesticides, impervious surfaces, and lawns that are environmental deserts.  Residents will demand more services, create more garbage, destroy more natural habitats.

Our 23 acres will never be developed.  When our daughter inherits it, she will also not develop it.  Our farm is part of the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation program, and it will be farmland (or open space) in perpetuity.  We have one of the 5,700 farms that have been preserved.  1,400 farms are on the waiting list.

Unfortunately, while the state is doing well on farmland preservation in comparison to other states, housing has eaten up 244,000 acres between 2001 and 2016.  This is not good land use planning nor good policy to mitigate global warming.  It is, however, good for making developers rich.

Statistics are from Dick Wanner, “Farm Preservation Report Marks State’s Progress,” Lancaster Farming, (June 20, 2020), p. A10.

"Defund the police"

When I heard the slogan “Defund the police,” my first thought was what the heck does that mean.  Later I read a number of explanations, almost all of which started out, “We really don’t mean that the police should be defunded, but...” and then went into a long explanation.

So guess who is using this useless slogan to his advantage.  Here is something for Millennials to keep in mind.  Any slogan that requires a long explanation is not a good slogan.  “Black lives matter.”  Good slogan.  They do matter, and it makes its point.

“Defund the police.”  Not so much.  And now we are stuck with it.  I can come up with others, like “They are our police,” “Serve and protect,” or “Fight crime, not us.”  Ok, they might not be great, but they are better than “defund the police” that has now made its appearance in an effective Trump ad.  

I want my side to start thinking strategically.  Or just thinking.

Beltzville Park problems

We live across the road from the trailhead for Christman Trail, one of the nicer trails in Beltzville State Park.  In the last two days the park has been inundated with visitors; yesterday and today the Wild Creek Falls area was incredibly full of people, many of them wearing swim suits, although swimming is not allowed in the Wild Creek area.  The Park, evidently, makes no attempt to enforce that policy.  Since many people who spend hours swimming also need a restroom, and since none are available, I have a feeling that the e coli count must be fairly high at the upper end of Wild Creek Cove.

A number of Park visitors, seeing the parking lot at the Falls overwhelmed, parked at Christman Trail and walked to the Falls area, almost half a mile away.  I guess I should be happy that quite a few of those visitors actually wore masks.  Good for them.  I am less pleased that some of those mask wearers ditched their masks in the parking lot before they left.  I try to keep that parking area clean, and tonight I picked up plastic bottles, cans, masks, clothing, orange peels, and other assorted junk, including a plastic bag that I think may have contained dog poop.  Nice of them to pick up after their dog, but not so nice to leave the bag in the parking lot.  (I wrote “may” because I didn’t investigate.)

I like that people are getting outdoors and using the park.  I just wish they weren’t such slobs and rule breakers.

Mt. Rushmore and Trump

I don’t mind that Trump went to Mt. Rushmore to give a speech.  In fact, I think the contrast between Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt looking large and the little man at their base was beyond irony.

I don’t mind that his audience didn’t social distance and didn’t wear masks.  In fact, I look forward to the whole shebang coming down with the Coronavirus in about two weeks.

I didn’t mind Trump trying to stir up hatred.  It’s his M.O., and it is getting really old.  In fact, he’s become boring.

What I did mind is that we, the American taxpayers, paid for this farce.  How was this not a campaign event?  Why are our hard-earned tax dollars used to pay for this idiocy?  That I mind.