Biden Camp Releases Great Sit Down Conversation with Obama

Take 15 minutes and watch this important video. This conversation between former President Barack Obama and his Vice President and current Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

It's excellent.

Four Indiana GOP Reps Vote to Keep Taney Bust, Confederate Statues in Statuary Hall

Dred Scott
Public Domain Photo

The House of Representatives voted by a wide margin, 305-113, to remove the bust of Roger Taney, the Chief Justice who wrote the infamous Dred Scott decision, from the National Statuary Hall. The body also voted to remove several Confederate statues from the Hall.

Unfortunately for those backing the removal, that's only one part of the story. Even with the House's vote, the bust of Taney and the Confederate statues are unlikely to be removed, at least this year. The Senate would also have to pass its own measure, and Donald Trump would have to sign off. Even in the unlikely event the Senate does really anything at all, Trump's been on the record as defending statues of Confederates and folks like Taney.

Both of Indiana's Democratic Congressmen, André Carson and Pete Visclosky, along with Republicans Jackie Walorski, Susan Brooks and Trey Hollingsworth voted in the affirmative to remove the statues. Unbelievably or maybe believably, four of Indiana's Republican Congressional House Delegation voted no and in defense of keeping the Confederates and Taney in the Hall.

This dubious "Hall of Shame" includes 3rd District Congressman Jim Banks, 4th District Congressman Jim Baird, 6th District Congressman Greg Pence and 8th District Congressman Larry Buschon. All four of these men served in the United States Armed Forces. Hoosiers need to ask Baird, Buschon, Banks and Pence why they believe Taney and the Confederates deserve to continue to be honored in the Capitol.

Questions Fair on Delayed Mask Mandate

Eric Holcomb
Official State Photo

A month ago, after seeing a 300+ case one day jump, I raised concerns on Twitter about that jump in COVID-19 cases. The state COVID-19 dashboard shows the precipitous rise since then.

For the last few days, we've seen numbers topping out at or near state records. We've seen hospitalizations jump. We've seen positive case testing rates jump. Things have been rising up up up. It's not new. It's been happening for weeks.

All the way, Governor Eric Holcomb has been going about his jovial way. He dishes up sports clichés and Hoosierisms quickly, but he dithers when it comes time to take decisive action preferring to leave it to the local governments to make the toughest decisions on the pandemic.

But, the numbers don't lie and someone saw that.

Joe Hogsett has been ahead of the Governor on almost every action when it comes to the pandemic, but he's gotten very little credit for his efforts and even has received unbelievable flak for them. That's not to say that Hogsett has been perfect. The idea that the Marion County Fair was allowed to happen boggles my mind, but Hogsett did react to the increasing numbers with a mask mandate on July 2. He made that mandate take effect on July 9.

Many were flabbergasted when the Marion County Republican Party came after him for not instituting the mask mandate immediately. Chair of the Indy GOP, Cindy Kirchhofer asked, "If Joe Hogsett says masks will save lives on July 9, why wait until then?"

Well, Rep. Kirchhofer, if Governor Holcomb says masks will save lives on July 27, why did he wait until now? Furthermore, why did he wait at all?

Ask Governor Holcomb why did he not see what dumb me saw when I saw that huge jump back in June? Why did he ignore as we went from 350 to 450 to 550 to 650 to 750 to 850 to 950 cases per day? It's been a march.

Of course, Kirchhofer won't answer, and she won't press the issue. I'm assuming she'll issue some sort of congratulatory news release praising her party's governor for taking this action.

Since she won't ask the questions, we all should. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians. We should all be mad as heck that it took Governor Holcomb this long to finally make a decision to "mandate" people to wear masks.

I put mandate in quotes in that last paragraph because, like Hogsett's order back in early July, there are technical penalties for not wearing masks. Governor Holcomb said that the "mask police" would not be out to enforce the mandate. It's my opinion that those mandates should be enforced, strictly. The education would be your fine for not wearing a mask. The people that won't comply are happy not to.

I'll praise Governor Holcomb for doing the right thing. I'll just wonder why it took more suffering to do something to try to reverse a trend that's been a reality for a month.

Spartz Campaign Releases Photo with Unmasked Candidate on Trail

Victoria Spartz
Official Indiana Senate Photo

Indiana State Senator Victoria Spartz is in a neck-and-neck battle with, in the interest of full disclosure, my friend, former State Rep. Christina Hale in Indiana's 5th Congressional District.

Because the race is so tight, it's no wonder that the candidates are out and about knocking doors and talking to voters even in the middle of this pandemic. In that vein, Spartz released a photo on Twitter of a particular moment from her campaigning on Saturday.

The photo, which I'll link here, shows Spartz with one of her daughters campaigning on the doorstep of a voter. The Republican and her daughter both have masks, but they are not wearing them. The voter is also unmasked. None of them are demonstrating social distancing.

First off, let's be fair. I don't know the voter. It's possible Spartz may have known the voter and the woman may have been screened somehow before the photo. I also don't know where the photo was taken. It could have been in Hamilton County or maybe even somewhere else in the expansive district, but, if the candidate was in Marion County, she was in violation of the mask mandate put into effect July 9 by Mayor Joe Hogsett.

Plus, it's just not safe to be going around these days knocking doors without a mask. After all, you're coming into contact with a wide variety of people on your journey knocking doors. If you're going to stop and get up close with people, the least you can do, under CDC recommendations, is to mask up when social distancing isn't possible.

City-County Councillor Ali Brown, who represents part of the 5th District, stated in a tweet that Spartz's behavior was unwelcome in her part of Marion County. "Please don't knock in my district if you aren't going to do the most basic thing to protect constituents. I care about the people who live here," Brown tweeted.

COVID-19 is no joke, and it's something candidates and campaigns are going to have to deal with in every action they take not only to keep themselves and their families safe but to keep the people they come into contact with safe. In the same way that candidates take great care to make sure their image is cultivated in the most positive light, candidates are going to have to demonstrate that they are willing to take steps like masking up.

Of course, there's also the possibility that Spartz may not care about masking up and being safe while door knocking. I think it's fair for reporters to ask her that question now given the photo her official campaign Twitter account sent out.

Education On Ballot in 2020 Gubernatorial Race

Woody Myers
Campaign Photo

I rarely post about my day job on this blog because I try to be like the old McDonalds McDLT.

For those of you who might have forgotten, that sandwich was marketed as keeping your cold ingredients on a completely opposite side as the hot burger. I try to keep politics and education apart on this blog because I am a teacher in my day job. Sometimes, though, it's unavoidable especially when the gubernatorial race is making news in our state.

On education policy, I could not disagree on policy much more than the Republicans and Governor Eric Holcomb. Indiana ranks near the bottom in spending per pupil and teacher pay, but teachers in the Hoosier State rank dead last in income growth since 2002. Indiana also has one of the most robust voucher systems in the United States taking money out of the public schools and putting it in the hands of private schools. Indiana is one of the top states for charter school laws as well.

Traditional public schools, especially in Indiana's most populated areas, typically have found themselves struggling. Indiana's major cities have been shuttering traditional public schools and have been trying to make ends meet financially as the money has been squeezed away from them.

Through all this, Indiana remains in the top half in outcomes and school rankings. USA Today placed Indiana schools 18th. US News and World Report ranked Indiana schools 24th. So, despite all the struggles, teachers are doing their jobs.

That's why it was disappointing this morning to wake up and hear Woody Myers, the Democratic nominee for Governor describe Indiana education as "poor" and grading it as a "D+". He made these comments in an Instagram video on his Educators for Woody Myers Instagram page.

Eric Holcomb
Official Indiana Photo

Myers goes on to talk about many of the challenges that I've detailed here in this post, but I find it hard to get past that first statement in his video where he talks about the quality of education in Indiana as poor.

Maybe it's just me being too invested, but I think Indiana teachers deserve better than a D+. There's no question Indiana schools need to do better especially for our most vulnerable students. We do have many challenges, but, in my biased opinion, I believe teachers do what they can in traditional public schools despite the hand their districts are dealt by the Republican-led state government.

Listen, I'm voting for Woody Myers. Eric Holcomb is just wrong on education policy altogether. He and the Republicans that control education policy value State Fairgrounds Swine Barn renovations over teacher pay. Holcomb and his friends put in ridiculous 15-hour externships in as part of professional development and license renewal. Yeah, he isn't right on any of that.

The next Governor will also appoint the next Superintendent of Public Instruction and eight of the 10 members of the State Board of Education. With the Superintendent, that's NINE of the eleven seats. This is critical to understand. The voters, thanks to Republicans, have lost any voice on that board except through the Governor they elect. I know that a Governor Myers Administration wouldn't believe Indiana teachers are bad, but we need to hear more uplifting messages on how are schools and our teaches are succeeding and a clear message placing the blame for where we are right now with funding, teacher pay, and other issues right where it belongs. Imagine how much better we could be doing with a Governor who valued teachers and traditional public schools.

That's on the desk of Governor Holcomb, his predecessors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence and the Republican supermajority.