Theresa is a long-time Trump supporter.  I have known Theresa (name changed) for decades.  I wouldn’t have described her as a Republican in the 70’s, 80’s or even the 90’s.  But now, now she is not only a Republican but she also delights in pointing out the apostates who aren’t sufficiently Republican enough. They are RINO’s, Republican In Name Only.  Of course, for those of us who have been following politics for decades, the idea that fealty to Donald Trump is what makes someone a real Republican is both depressing and amusing.

I was talking with Theresa last week.  Somehow we started to talk about Project 2025 and how it could impact health care.  She was quick to note that Trump had disavowed any involvement with Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation.  I laughed.  First, there are plenty of interviews showing the close connection between Trump and the authors of The Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.  Secondly, and more importantly, no one really thinks that Trump spends any real time thinking about policy.  I reminded her that Trump had subcontracting out the selection of judges to the Federalist Society.  His focus is on the money.  Who will ignore the Emoluments Clause?  Who will ignore his Washington Hotel, his self-dealing, his graft?  He and his family got what they wanted while the Republican establishment got a big tax cut and judges, including three Supreme Court Justices.

Theresa still wanted to distance Trump from Project 2025.  I mentioned the 199 times the word “Abortion” appears in the document.  She reminded me that a member of her family was involved in a car ride to New York State in the mid-70’s to terminate an accidental pregnancy.  So wouldn’t this ban on abortion bother her?  “No David”, she said.  “I’m glad that it went back to the states”.  “What would have happened if this was the law in the 70’s” I asked.

“I’m Catholic” she replied.  “I’m against abortion.  And there will always be an option.”

Theresa is a safety valve girl.  She is happy to stand on principle.  She is fine taking away YOUR rights as long as she, her cousin, or even if G-d forbid her daughter needs reproductive care, they will have options.  She or they will be able to hop on a plane or take a long car ride to needed medical care.  Not just abortion, but the full spectrum of female reproductive care would be available to them.  Theresa is positive that the laws may change, but people like her will always have access.

Theresa may or may not be right.  Do you want to live in Theresa’s America?  I think we can do better.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Only Real Safety Valve – David L Cunix

 

My last name is not difficult to pronounce, if your elementary school taught phonetics and you were paying attention.  If you know how to pronounce cucumber, you know how to pronounce Cunix.  I have, of course, had my name mangled by countless people.  Kids in school would tease me with variations of my last name.  Each of them would applaud themselves as if they had created a new insult.  It wasn’t.  The moron in seventh grade wasn’t even a tiny bit more creative than the jerk in second.  Some people have difficulty properly pronouncing Cunix the first time.  Once corrected, they never have a problem again.  Others will never pronounce my name correctly because they don’t care or they don’t respect me.  I’m not cowed by their ignorance.  In truth, a schmuck is just a schmuck.

Our current vice-president is Kamala Harris.  For many years she has been telling people her name is pronounced “comma-la, like the punctuation mark”.  There are people who mispronounce her name because it is uncommon.  That is understandable.  But you will hear people knock her name because it isn’t Jane or Mary.  And you will hear people mispronounce her name intentionally.  She will not be intimidated by this.  She heard these slurs on the playground in second grade.  Why would she be frazzled be a 78 year old second grader using the same slurs now?

We are about 100 days away from the election.  Don’t be distracted.  There are serious issues.  This blog as well as my other blog, Health Insurance Issues With Dave, will be detailing the way Project 2025, the Republican Study Committee, and legislation pending in both Columbus and Washington could impact our lives.   Ignore the juvenile insults.  Focus on the issues.

We’ve got work to do.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – It’s A Race – David L Cunix

 

I enjoyed watching Miles Straw play center field.  Straw came to the Guardians in 2021.  He earned a gold glove for his exemplary fielding in 2023.  Unfortunately, he was as bad at the plate as he was great in the field.  He hit one home run in 2023.  His last one had been two years earlier.

I have enjoyed having Joe Biden as our president.  And I know that he is still more than capable of serving our country.  Does he have four more years in him?  I don’t think so.  And this Sunday Joe Biden formalized his decision that even if he had the ability to hold the office for another term, what he didn’t have was the ability to campaign effectively for the job.  The debate and his subsequent press conferences proved that he was all glove and no bat.

Did you watch his speech?  If you did and you appreciated it, cool.  If you did and you found it lacking, well that is OK, too.  If you didn’t watch the speech, here is the link.  It is only 11 minutes long.  This is history-making.  You have time.  But if you didn’t watch it but are sharing your opinion, then you are only parroting the talking points from Rachel Madow on MSNBC or the disgraced former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, on FOX.  Or are you getting your information from a Russian troll toiling in a meme cubicle farm in Drekestan?

There are people who enter public service to do public service.  Some of them are Democrats.  Some of them are Republicans.  That means that they may see how the government should function differently, but their goals, a successful United States of America, are the same.  Let’s take a moment to appreciate a true public servant, Joseph R. Biden.

We can resume the political fight in 3, 2, 1…

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Numbers Are The Numbers – Sally Cunix

 

I posted pictures of this cheesecake and immediately received several requests for the recipe.  I was also told that no one wants to hear the story behind this creation or even how the cherries at $3.79 per pound were irresistible.  “Just print the damn recipe.”

Cherry Layer:

1.75 Lb.            Cherries

2 t                      Splenda

1/8 t                   Vanilla

1 T                     Potato Starch

¼ C                    Dark Rum

Cream Cheese Layer:

16 oz.                Cream Cheese, softened

2                         Eggs

1/3 C                 Splenda

2 t                      Vanilla

½ t or so           Lemon Zest

Crust:

2 C                     Almond Meal

5 T                     Melted Butter

2 T                     Liquid Sweetener

1 t                      Cocoa

1 t                      Cinnamon

¼ t                     Vanilla

1                         Egg

Butter for 9 inch glass pie pan.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Preparation

1.          Wash and pit the cherries.  Careful with the pits.  Place in big pot
2.          Cook the cherries on low to medium heat.  Stir occasionally.  Goal is to get the juices released.
3.          Mix the dry ingredients for the crust in a big bowl.  Add the egg and liquid ingredients.  Mix with your hands and then put into the greased pie pan.  Make sure that the pie pan is totally covered.
4.          Stir the cherries.  Add the vanilla at the 20 minute mark.  Add the Splenda a few minutes later.
5.          Combine the rum and potato starch. Once enough liquid has been released, take the pot off the heat and stir in the thickener.  This can be dumped into the crust in a few minutes.  The goal is to have a nice layer of cherries.  If there looks like too many cherries, enjoy a couple now.
6.          Put the cream cheese into a big bowl and beat with an electric mixer to get it started.
7.          Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it is fluffy.
8.          Put cream cheese layer on top of the cherries.
9.          Put pie into oven.  Turn temperature down to 350.  Bake for 35 minutes.  I like the center firm.  If you are concerned, check this at the 30 minute mark.

Enjoy!

Dave

www.againreally.com

Pictures – Cherry Cheesecake – David L Cunix

 

 

 

We could have been attorneys.  How many times have you trudged through a day at work and stopped, thought for a moment, and realized that it could have been worse.  You could have listened to your parents’ nudging and become an attorney.  And yes, there are those who might point to the fact that I’m an insurance agent, someone contributing to the bottom line of some heartless insurer, but I didn’t contribute to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer or argue before a judge that a US president could order S.E.A.L. Team 6 to murder a political opponent.  We have to keep things in perspective.

But if you had to be an attorney, you might want to be someone like Michael R. Dreeben, the gentleman who represented the United States (us!) at last week’s hearing about presidential immunity.  Mr. Dreeben was working a tough room, with some of the justices no longer even pretending to be apolitical.  Here is the link to Amy Howe and the invaluable ScotusBlog.  And if you really want to immerse yourself in the oral arguments, here is the link to the transcript.  Mr. Dreeben was masterful in his presentation of both the history and logic of the lower court’s decision.  He reminded the Court that it has “never recognized absolute immunity for any public official”.  The Justices were more interested in conjuring up hypothetical scenarios.  Mr. Dreeben was too polite to call “Bull Shit”.

I had a solution to the government’s presentation issue.  Mr. Dreeben needed another co-council.

Chief Justice Roberts:

Mr. Dreeben

ORAL ARGUMENT OF MICHAEL R. DREEBEN ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT

Mr. Dreeben:

Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court:

The Court has shown a great interest today in hypothetical scenarios.  My co-council, Vincent Gambini, will be addressing these serious concerns and issues.  Mr. Gambini.

Mr. Gambini:

Your Honors! May it please all of yous:

We are asked to think about a President having absolute immunity.  That could be very dangerous.  We have also been told that the President could face some punishment IF, and only if, he was first impeached.  Let’s think about October 2024.

President Biden and Former President Trump agree to a nationally televised debate in October 2024.  Both of them have their own motives.  Trump has a plan.  His goal will be to shake hands with Biden as they enter the stage and to force him to cry out in pain.  They walk across the stage towards each other.  Trump is totally focused on the agony he is about to inflict.  BAM!  Biden sucker punches Trump!  Fat.  Flabby.  Glass Jaw.  The autopsy said it was a heart attack.  Regardless.  Trump is dead before he hits the floor.  The audience is in shock, but Biden is totally calm.  He turns to the camera and says, “That was an official act.  I just protected the country from a potential autocrat.”

Your Honors, there was quite an uproar.  One of Biden’s biggest supporters, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), took to the floor of the Senate to express his anger and dismay.  Here is his speech.  The Republican controlled House of Representatives impeached President Joseph Biden the next week.  Ten Democrats joined the majority for the final vote.  By now the election has occurred and Biden wins easily.  The trial in the Senate is contentious, but there aren’t 60 votes to remove the President.  And when it is over, Senator Schumer (D-NY), who had voted in Biden’s favor, addresses the American people.  Here are his full remarks.

Should a President, any president, have absolute immunity?  Should the political act, impeachment, be necessary to address a criminal act?  That is up to you.

#          #          #          #          #

We live in dangerous times, times when the most cynical amongst us have great power.  I don’t believe that Justice Thomas or Justice Alito would want ALL presidents to have unbridled power.  Perhaps they need an attorney, one who isn’t too polite, to remind them of the consequences of their decisions.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Suits Not Robes – David L Cunix

Vincent Gambini is the title character in the movie – My Cousin Vinny.

My mother and her sister had very little in common.  So when they agreed on something/anything, it got my attention.

Sally and I visited my Aunt Jean in Columbus every other week during her last year of her life.  At least once during each visit she would note that she had outlived both of her parents.  That was important to her.  I never mentioned this to my mother.  Fast forward 8 or 9 years later and my mother would always find a way to include in our phone conversations that she had not only outlived her parents, but that she had even surpassed her sister.  It was the contest she was born to win.

My father died on August 2, 1994, one month and two days prior to his 69^th birthday.  So we can safely round up to 69.  And I am about to turn 69 on February 4^th.  I have no idea what my father thought of such things.  I don’t think we ever had a serious conversation about anything. But I can hear Aunt Jean and my mother.  I don’t feel like celebrating.  I don’t feel guilty.  This is just a moment, the time that I turn 69 years old and officially outlive my father.

I hope to put this moment behind me.  What I have done during my life may have some value.  I certainly appreciate my longevity, but I’m not ready to take a victory lap.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Just A Day In Ohio In February 2024 – David L Cunix

This article is being written on December 26, 2023.  It will be edited for publication on January 5^th, after I have received all of the entries for this year’s contest Everyone’s A Genius In Hindsight – 2024.  I hope that you participated.

This post contains my answers.  20 brave souls entered this year.  Brave in that they won’t be able to pretend that they always knew who would win the presidency in November or just how good, or bad, the 2024 Browns really were.  I truly appreciate each and every participant.  A year from now, in early January 2025, we’ll see how well they did.  Now is the time to go on the record with my predictions.

First, I really hope that most of my predictions are wrong.  I’ve been sitting on this article for over a month.  I don’t wish to be negative, but I had these predictions in my head as I was drafting the quiz.

1. The President of the United States on December 30, 2024 Kamala Harris
2. The Democratic nominee will be __Kamala Harris
3. The Republican nominee will be __Nikki Haley
4. The winner of the 2024 Presidential election will be __Nikki Haley
5. The winner of the Ohio Senate election will be ___Sherrod Bown
6. There will be __9_ justices on the US Supreme Court on December 31, 2024, though not necessarily the same 9 that are on the bench today.
7. The winner of the February 11, 2024 Super Bowl will be ___The 49ers
8. The Cleveland Guardians will win _88__ regular season games.
9. The Cleveland Browns will win _10__ regular season games.
10. The Academy Award for the best picture will go to __Maestro
11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will close December 31, 2024 at _29,000
12. A gallon of milk will be $4.59_ at Heinen’s Mayfield Village on June 30, 2024.
13. Wild Card – The big, unexpected story of 2024 will be _2024 will be a year of state funerals.  A year of darkness.  It will remind us of 1968__.

Tie Breaker: Recorded at the Agora on June 18, 1979, it became a local anthem and was later covered as the theme song of a popular TV show.  __Cleveland Rocks by Ian Hunter_.

The future will be created by our actions, not our predictions.  Let’s all work together to create that better future.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Predictor in Chief – David L Cunix

Of course, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to post Cleveland Rocks!

 

Within days of the horrific terrorist attack of October 7^th, the world’s focus seemed to shift to the terrible plight of the innocents living in Gaza.  We were told how there was no food, no reliable energy sources, no water.  My question at the time was how Hamas could have the resources to mount such an attack, fire thousands of rockets, and built miles of underground tunnels without any money.  Obviously, the millions of dollars sent to Gaza from Qatar and the other Arab countries were either diverted from the needed infrastructure or were mixed, with the donors’ blessings, with the Iranian funded war machine. Well, it was obvious to me.

My friend, Steve, asked a better question.  Yesterday he asked, “What did they do with the dirt?”  What a great question.  No one is denying that Hamas has built hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath Gaza.  Videos show the tunnels are deep, long, and wide enough to store weaponry and transport troops.  One tunnel was wide enough for a tank.  What did they do with the dirt?

His question has haunted me for over 24 hours.  Many of our elected officials as well as the newspaper and television reporters constantly tell us that there is a huge difference between Hamas and the rest of the Gazan population.  It was Hamas, not the Gazans that staged a pogrom. How could the ordinary citizens of Gaza have known about the plans, the weaponry, the tunnels?   We are asking the wrong question.  We have been asking “Who Knew” when we should have been asking “Who Didn’t Know”.

We have been told that Gaza is overcrowded.  Who didn’t see trucks and heavy equipment moving through the streets to the entrances of the tunnel construction?  Who didn’t see the convoy of dump trucks hauling away dirt and rock?  How did none of the doctors or administrators notice the command centers located on/under hospital grounds?  Nor did these same doctors think it odd that some of the hostages were brought to the hospital?  So who didn’t know?

We hope and pray that the rest of the hostages will be returned alive.  And we hope that they receive the long term support they each will need to recover from this terrible ordeal.  But that goal does not negate the important task of destroying Hamas.  Who rules Gaza next?  I don’t know.  An Israeli puppet would not be successful.  Another Iranian surrogate would lead to more attacks.  What lessons have they learned in Gaza?  Have the Gazans learned that leadership like Hamas only brings poverty and destruction?

We can’t begin to find workable solutions until we start to ask the right questions.

Dave

www.AgainReally.com

Picture – There Is No Reason To Hide If Nobody Is Looking – David L Cunix

 

The elderly couple live on a different floor in our building.   As they got into the elevator, they flashed their “I voted” stickers and asked Sally and I if we had, too.   Of course.  We always vote by mail.  They wanted to know our thoughts.  The husband admitted that they had been confused.  They had seen all of the commercials on TV.   I briefly explained the basics and they were both relieved.  He explained that they had been unsure about the truth, but they knew they could spot the lies.  They had voted NO.  I let them know that Issue 1 was going down in flames.

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “overreach” with a picture of the Ohio Republican Party.  Heavily gerrymandered, our state has Republican supermajorities in both the Ohio House and Senate.  That is pretty amazing for a state that is about 55% Republican.  No matter how much power they have amassed, it is never enough.  The citizens of our state had the nerve to challenge the legislatures’ fixation on women’s bodies and sought to amend the Ohio Constitution.  The goal was to restore the rights lost with last year’s Dobbs Decision.   Instead of moderating Ohio’s extreme legislation to find a way to more closely reflect the will of Ohio’s voters, our elected leaders tried to change the rules in the middle of the fight.  That cynical ploy was Issue One.

This wasn’t the first example of Republican overreach.  I reminded my Republican friends of the time the Republicans tried to destroy the public employee unions, 2011’s Senate Bill 5.  In November 2011 the voters of Ohio stomped all over Governor Kasich and overturned the law.   The final tally from this past Tuesday’s vote will rival that of 2011.

Desperate to win, the proponents of Issue 1 tried several arguments:

• It will make it harder to amend our constitution.
• Abortion! Abortion! Abortion!
• We must protect the Ohio Constitution from out-of-state special interests.
• We will lose control of our children and they will all become Trans!

Needless to say, the shrillness of the ads promoting these arguments were very persuasive to the people who already wanted to vote in favor of Issue 1.  When talking with anti-abortion groups, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose claimed that Issue 1 was 100% about abortion.  To the general public he presented a more balanced, if not completely honest, view.  The most amusing was #3.  Protect Our Constitution received $4,000,000 from Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein.

Over 3 million Ohioans casted their votes on Tuesday.  Close to 60%, a clear majority, voted for majority rule.  This won’t impact our gerrymandered legislature, yet, but it will serve as a reminder.  Our citizens aren’t always sure of the truth, but they sure can spot a lie.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – OhiO – David L Cunix