Archive for January 4, 2023

11th Day of Christmas Frank Sinatra

Posted: January 4, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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You might think it odd that a Sicilian like me waited till the 11th day to go with the Chairman of the Board, but I don’t think of Frank as a big Christmas guy myself

My Speaker Suggestion: Raid a Blue State Minority Leader

Posted: January 4, 2023 by datechguy in politics
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I must admit I came into this whole speaker debate an agnostic.

Ideally as I’ve already written you want someone willing to either

  1. Make a deal with the left to advance your most important priorities in exchange for some of theirs as that all you can do with only the house
  2. Hold up everything and do nothing but pass the essential funding bills and do investigations.

But I figured the logical thing was to get McCarthy in there and if he blew it, he blew it.

It seems to me that if McCarthy can’t get his own caucus in line and didn’t have the brains to wait till he had the votes to hold the vote and didn’t have the skill to make a deal within his own party he’s unlikely to be able to do what needs to be done as speaker.

This suggests we are going to need a compromise candidate means we will need a compromise candidate

The problem is apparently nobody in the GOP caucus seems to want the job.

Frankly if nobody who can get the votes is willing to step up then none of them should get the job which means we need to look elsewhere.

The logical place to look would be in the various state legislatures.

Now I suspect people with actual power in a red state will not want to give it up to be speaker when they don’t get a seat in congress to go with it but there are plenty of GOP pols stuck in blue states like Massachusetts who have no prospect of advancement who are wasted where they are and more importantly are likely unacquainted with the existing members which means that they will be able to act without retaliation and might even help in their own state.

This is the logical and rational move that is most likely to provide the results that we want. Which means it’s almost completely unlikely that they will be willing to do this.

We’ll Miss Charlie Baker When He’s Gone and a Belated Thanks

Posted: January 4, 2023 by datechguy in politics
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Candidate Baker on the trail 2010

Charlie Baker is about to end his term as Governor of Massachusetts.

I had covered him in the old tea party days when he was trying to get traction. As the years went by I took issue with several things, his support for buffer zones at abortion clinics and his Never Trump stance jump out immediately but as his days here end let’s point out a few things we shall miss about him.

Baker was and is an able administrator. The primary job of a governor is to administer the state and Baker handed this part of the job excellently, much better than Mitt Romney who while also a good administrator was too interested in the next rung up the political ladder.

Baker was and is a problem solver. Several issues came up early in his time as governor that he handed well. There is a joke going around the net right now that says: “Pete Buttigieg is so bad at his job that people actually know who the transportation secretary is.” Baker was so good at his that you forgot the state was being governed.

Baker was not shy about making appearances for GOP candidates. In a state where Democrats hold supermajorities one has to walk before one runs. Baker was willing to walk and appear and fundraise for several GOP candidates seeking statewide office. It was a nice change from what we saw before.

Baker is good in a crisis: I think he was overcautious on COVID but taken all in all his handling of various crisis from storms to the T crisis to COVID was above average and that gets me to one personal point I’d like to make.

You might remember during the George Floyd insanity there was a march in Fitchburg, one where stores were boarded up and people including myself were prepared for trouble. It was the first march of this type in the state and had the potential for real trouble, even to the point of the palates of bricks suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

However there was also a strong but unobtrusive police and state police presence and I have one eyewitness who talked about guard troops in the COVID area ready to move if necessary.

It was a delicate balance too much or too visible a force could have provoked a violent reaction not enough would have given those looking to cause trouble a free hand but the moves here were so perfect and so subtle that the march took place without the least bit of incident.

This saved my city and kept my wife and son out of danger. I’ll not forget that.

I suspect that if our incoming governor was in charge at the time, that would not be the case.

All of the qualities I’ve listed about Charlie Baker will serve him well in his new NCAA job and all of these qualities are ones the we residents of Massachusetts will very much miss over the next few years.

People have already been leaving Massachusetts at a pretty good clip:

The Bay State checked in at seventh on the list of most moved from states with 57 percent of moves in Massachusetts last year involving people leaving the state, researchers said.

With a radical leftist in charge and a legislature ready to roll over the people in their quest to turn this state into California east we’ll be moving up on that list. Also don’t be surprised if a lot of conservatives who where screaming for Baker’s head that will be longing for the good ole days of his administration soon.