Friday Potpourri: 21 March 2025
Before the smiles, there's an important piece of information
Before I get to the things that made me smile this week, I have something important to let you know about. We will, however, get to what these two men have in common:
The most important thing I read this week is at this link. It’s a conversation between Ezra Klein and David Shor. There’s a video, and an edited transcript. No joke, it took me a little over two hours to get through the transcript, digest it, dig a little deeper and finally understand it. The video runs over an hour. But it is THE BEST information I have seen regarding how and why we lost the presidential race.
There is not a single conclusion - more a detailed understanding of who turned between 2016, 2020 and 2024, WHY they turned, the issues that mattered, the impact of media changes, and some insight on what we need to message (and how) going forward.
Please take a look — if nothing else, scroll through the charts.
My personal biggest takeaway was that for the Democratic Party to survive, move forward, and win elections, people like me need to go away. Read it, or watch the video, and let me know what you think.
On to smiles…
Getting REAL ID
I took a day off from work to go get REAL ID. It was a really fun experience. Also, a learning experience.
The place opened at 8:30, I arrived at 8:10 and there were already about 100 people in front of me. Struck up great conversations with people in line. One guy had spent 6 hours the previous day at a different site, and then drove from 2 counties over because this location had same-day service. At the places without same-day service, you leave your driver’s license with them, get temporary paperwork and they mail you your new license in about 2 weeks. It took 6 hours at the other place to find this out, AND to find out that in the eyes of the PA DMV, he wasn’t the person he’d been for the past 40 years. So he was back with new documentation, and in the end, he was successful.
A group of us on line discussed what we put on our Take Down Tesla signs. I got some good ideas, and I have a kick-ass sign for this Saturday. I haven’t made it yet but it will say:
Hondas are fast.
BMWs are faster.
But Teslas are fascist.
When you go for real ID, you first stand on line and then someone checks your information. Because it’s an open area, you can hear what’s going on. Despite the fact that a DMV employee had walked the line while we were still waiting outside the building explaining this, there were a number of women who couldn’t get REAL ID because their name didn’t match between their birth certificate and other forms of ID. They will need to go and find their marriage and divorce paperwork and return to prove the path of their name changes. This is what I fear about voter ID legislation. Sigh.
If you pass muster, you get a number and a couple of forms to fill out. Then, when your number is called, you go to a window and your information gets checked a second time. If you get through that process, they make you a new driver’s license - and you have your choice of using your old picture, or having a new photo taken. The man who did my processing loves working for the DMV because his previous job was as a guard at a SuperMax prison.
There’s a lag while people are filling out their paperwork and waiting to be called. We sit at tables, or on chairs, some with desks like back in school. This provides an opportunity to make politics parts of one’s daily life. I spoke with a couple who had moved here from out of state a few months ago, gotten regular driver’s licenses, and hadn’t registered to vote. I got them registered on my phone, and took their email addresses so I can send them important information about both the primary and the general. They had been unaware that in Pennsylvania, both judges and school board candidates could cross-file, and were concerned about how to find out who the real Democrats will be on their ballots. I will help them!
From the Gridiron Club Dinner
This is normally a bipartisan affair, but guess which side didn’t bother attending this year. Here were my two favourite lines:
“The president, unfortunately, he couldn't be here tonight either, but as a favor to Elon Musk, he is at the dealership in Tysons Corner.”
“The Canadians are not as nice as we thought. They've even taken our whiskey off of their shelves, but to ease the loss to the Kentucky distilleries, don't you worry — Sen. [Mitch] McConnell slipped a line into the recent CR that allows bourbon to be part of the school lunch program.”
Mayors
I saw a little piece on the person who’s likely the oldest mayor in the United States, and I’m pretty sure he’s also had the longest tenure. Meet Gerald C. Yob, mayor of Freemansburg, PA. He has been mayor for 44 years, and served for the 12 years prior on Borough Council. He is 95 years old, and he’s running again. If he wins, he’ll celebrate his 100th birthday while in office. If you haven’t guessed, he’s the person on the right of the photo at the top of this post. More information on his fascinating life is here.
This got me thinking about the youngest mayor. Meet Jaylen Smith, mayor of Earle, AR. He was elected at age 18, in 2022, the same year he was graduated from high school. The guy has a really bright future, and yes, he’s the person on the left.
This made me think about my all-time favorite mayor. I never had the opportunity to meet him, or more accurately, them. And I mean no disrespect for the mayors I know currently, and those I have known in the past. These people do great work, and I proud to call them friends and compatriots.
But, well, Mayor Max. There have actually been three of them: Max, Max II and Max III, all mayors of Idyllwild, CA. I’m not going to ruin it for you — instead, even if you NEVER click a link, click this one, and prepare to grin from ear to ear! For more information (and pictures) as well as, um, similar mayors, click here.
Here’s hoping you’re smiling now!
I’ll be back on Monday — have a great weekend.
Loved the sign idea! Might use it. I read the Ezra Klein interview since you sent it to me (yes it took a while) and that would not have been my takeaway at all. It suggests some additions to our approach but not subtractions and more differential approaches which address targeted populations county by county. It also focussed on demographic shifts without taking into account situational shifts like the war in Gaza. The GOP targeted ads to districts with significant Muslim populations describing Kamala as pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian to districts with significant Jewish populations. Dishonest? Of course but also effective. We still need honest people like you talking to people who care about such things but we may also need a propaganda team to level the playing field.
Got my real ID last year. What a pain in the arse!