Weird statement from Ivanka

In his testimony yesterday Michael Cohen said that Trump thought his son Donald Jr. had the “worst judgement of anyone in the world.”

I don’t think Ivanka is far behind.  When talking about a guaranteed minimum wage Ivanka opposed the idea because she felt that all Americans “want to work for what they get.”

Take a minute to think about that.

Bipartisan environmental bill

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed a bill on a 363-62 vote to protect over one million acres of public lands.  The Senate had already passed the bill, and it now goes to Trump.  

The bill designates 1.3 million acres of land in Utah, New Mexico, Oregon, and California as wilderness, which is the highest level of protection.  It defines hundreds of miles of rivers in Massachusetts and Connecticut as wild and scenic, and it adds thousands of acres to the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks.

If Trump vetoes it, there just might be enough votes to override.

For the full story, see Coral Davenport, “House Backs Broad Bill To Protect Public Land,”  New York Times, (Feb. 27, 2019), p. A15.  I apologize to all of the readers who already heard about this on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, NBC, or ABC.

$10 million

In less than a week as an announced presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders has raised $10 million dollars.  That sounds really impressive until you remember that the guy who owns Starbucks can simply write a check for that amount for his presidential campaign.

We really do need to overturn that “Citizens United” decision.

LeBron James, Serena Williams, or Tom Brady?

Which one is the best?  Which one should be labeled “the best athlete of the year”?

It’s a stupid question, right?  How can you compare basketball, tennis, and football?  And that is why the Academy Awards are so stupid.  You are comparing “A Star is Born” to “The Green Book” to “Black Panther.”  All three of them are movies, but basketball, tennis, and football are all sports.  I don’t see how the “best film” or the “best actor” makes any sense, and I don’t understand why people even pay attention to the whole process.

The EPA says toxins are good for you

Toxicologist Ed Calabrese has been writing for years that toxins were good for you.  Reputable scientists thought Calabrese was completely wrong about this, but the EPA has recently adopted Calabrese’s ideas and published them in the Federal Register.

When you think it can’t get worse, it gets worse.

The whole Calabrese debacle was in today’s Morning Call in a reprint from Los Angeles Times reporter Susanne Rust.  So many of these policies are slipping in unnoticed.  I wish MSNBC and CNN would pay more attention to the actual policy changes and less attention Trump, his tweets, and the 2020 presidential race.

A petition to slaughter songbirds

The Times News today ran a story entitled “Petition to stop cat feeding ban grows.”  A Humane Society Officer Donna Crum has started a petition to pass legislation for the protection of feral cats in Pennsylvania.

I am so tired of arguing this issue.  Just in case you missed it, here is a copy of a letter I sent to Bruce Frassinelli of the Times News. 

In a recent editorial you defended a compromise plan in Palmerton involving feral cats.  The plan calls for a trap, neuter and release program.  You said it was a “workable strategy with which everyone can live.”

Everyone, perhaps, except the song birds, voles, salamanders, and other small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians that will be killed by the released cats.  Cats are natural predators, but they are not natural to the ecosystem, nor do they cease hunting even after they are fed.  They are among the leading causes of the decline in bird populations.

The plan ignores other species.  Releasing cats, neutered or not, is not an environmentally responsible policy.  

Trump in Vietnam

He finally got there, 50 years too late.

Let’s hope his bone spurs don’t act up.

Nine-Zip

Rarely do the nine justices of the present Supreme Court agree on anything.  Yesterday, however, all nine affirmed that the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines applies to the states.  

This particular case involved a man who sold $400 worth of heroin, but the police of Marion, Indiana, seized his Land Rover worth $40,000.  The author of the opinion, Ruth Bader Ginzburg said this had nothing to do with either retribution or deterrence.  It was simply seen as a source of revenue.  

Authorities may still seize assets, but the assets must be connected to the crime.  Had the guy with the Land Rover purchased it with money he made from drugs, then the seizure probably would have been legal.  On the other hand, seizure of a grandmother’s car after her adult son borrowed it and was caught with illegal drugs would not be allowed.  In that last example, which happened in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had already ruled it was illegal.

I believe police and district attorneys have been abusing forfeiture for years.  It’s about time the Court stepped in.

See the article by Michelle Merlin and Steve Esack in today’s Allentown Morning Call for the full story.  The Times also ran a front page article on the case.

Lay off Ocasio-Cortez

Republicans have been making fun of some of the statements of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  They need to zip it.

60% of Republicans in the current Congress deny global warming is due to human activity.  That includes Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and Sen. Jim Inhofe, author of a book entitled The Greatest Hoax:  How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.  Trump, as we all know, also denies that global warming is even occurring.  He still does not grasp the difference between weather and climate.

We also have Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana who said that our climate is “just a continuation of the warming up from the Little Ice Age.”

And we have Congressman Mo Brooks, who said that the rising sea levels are caused by the erosion of the white cliffs of Dover and the California coastline.

The Republican idiocies quoted above were from “She’s With Stupid” by Katha Pollitt in the latest issue of The Nation, pp. 10-11.

Reeps and Dems

We really do not think alike.  In a survey about  what people desire when they are buying a home, Democrats emphasized amenities like nearby theaters, cultural attractions, restaurants, and schools.

Republicans emphasized square footage.

Latinos and Montagnards: Two stories

Latinos:  Martha Hernandez and Ana Suda were inside a convenience store in Havre, Montana.  An agent of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection overheard them speaking Spanish and detained them in the store’s parking lot.  He asked them where they were born.  Ms. Hernandez was born in California; Ms. Suda in Texas.  The agent demanded to see I.D.  When they asked him why they were being detained, he said it was because they had Spanish accents. 

If you think this is ok, review the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Montagnards:  They are the indigenous and mostly Christian people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands who supported the U.S. during the Vietnam War.  They were often discriminated against even before they helped the U.S.  After the war approximately 3000 took refuge in the U.S.  Many settled in North Carolina.

Chuh A’s father, after nine years in a Vietnamese “re-education” camp, brought his family to the U.S.  Chuh A was 14.  Mr. A. formed a relationship with another Vietnamese immigrant brought to the U.S. when she was 4.  Mr. A said he later made a bad mistake, and he spent three years in prison for selling ecstasy.  Although this was his first conviction, he was eligible for deportation.  He thought because he was a Montagnard, he would not be deported.

His wife and four children are all U.S. citizens.  Mr. A was picked up by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June 2016.  After 13 months in custody, he was deported to Vietnam.  His wife and children remain in the U.S.  

Next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, really think about what you are saying.

Venezuela and Guatemala

Would someone please explain to me why the U.S. government is so worried about the conditions of the people in Venezuela, yet the people who are fleeing Guatemala and El Salvador and the violence in those countries are considered criminals and rapists who need to be kept out with a wall.  

The U.S. is using food as a weapon to overthrow the Venezuelan government, but it evidently has no problem with corrupt and undemocratic governments in other Latin American countries.  On the other hand, consistency is the last thing to expect from the Trumpists.

National emergency

Today when I went to the gas station on Route 209 about 20 cars were lined up, and people were filling jerry cans with gasoline.  I asked the attendant what was happening, and he said, “Didn’t you hear?  There’s a national emergency.”  

Then, when I stopped for a candy bar at Mallard Market in Lehighton, there was a line of people stretched down the aisle buying milk and bread.  I asked one of the people what was happening, and he said, “You got to stock up.  There’s a national emergency.”

On the way home I went into the hardware store and found people buying sheets of black plastic.  I said to one of the customers, “Isn’t it early to be buying garden covers?”  He said, “This isn’t for gardens.  This is for black out curtains for the national emergency.”

Now I’m sitting by my front door with a loaded 16-gauge shotgun.  I’m ready for the national emergency.  What I can’t understand is why our president is down in Florida playing golf.  Hasn’t he heard about this?

Hissy-fit

I sent a letter to the Morning Call today.  I have no idea whether or not it will be published, but at least this way you get to read it.  Here it is:

Dear Editor,

I’ve read the Constitution carefully, and I could find no reference to the Executive Branch throwing a hissy-fit.  I did find in the first line of Article I that, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

Crossing Guard

My friend George is writing his life story, and he gave me the first installment to read.  He grew up in Lehighton, PA, in the 40s and 50s. 

Many aspects of life have improved since then.  We have less air and water pollution (although that is changing under the present administration), we have better dental care, cancer is often cured, the TV screens are bigger.  If you are an African American or a woman, your life will be relatively better today than it was in 1950.

Nonetheless, in some respects our lives are worse.  George wrote about the Borough of Lehighton blocking off streets so kids could go sledding.  He mentioned he was a crossing guard when he was in school.  At that time crossing guards were students who were given the responsibility to see that their fellow students crossed the street safely.

When he was 12 he wanted to make some money.  He delivered a Philadelphia newspaper, which arrived by train, to over 75 people in Lehighton.  Think of that.  75 Lehighton families were reading a Philadelphia newspaper.  When he wanted to earn more, he set pins in a Lehighton bowling alley.  Then he snagged a job stocking shelves and delivering groceries from a corner grocery store.

Now the sledding wouldn’t be allowed.  Liability problems.  Traffic problems.  The newspaper he delivered went under years ago.  People get their “news” from Facebook.  The pins are set automatically, and not many people bowl anyway.  Kids would never be allowed to act as crossing guards.  The corner grocery stores are long gone

I have no idea how kids can make money today.  Maybe selling meth.

Payday lenders

The Trump administration has a reverse Midas touch.  Everything it gets its hands on turns to shit.  

Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formed during the Obama Administration under the prodding of Elizabeth Warren, proposed to end the rules that protect borrowers from predatory loans carrying interest rates of 400% or more.

These are ”loans” (a better word is extortion) for people who run short of cash before their next paycheck.  Frequently the interest is far greater than the original loan.

The head of the CFPB, Kathleen Kraninger, has now proposed dumping almost all of the rules that helped to protect borrowers.  Nonetheless people wear their red hats and cheer Trump.  It is truly mind-boggling.

Should we go nuclear?

In “A Bright Future” Joshua S. Goldstein and Staffan A. Qvist argue that in order to lessen the trajectory of global warming and still provide the energy needed (and expected) in the modern world, we will be forced to increase our reliance on nuclear power.  Solar and wind power are fine, but they are not increasing fast enough to offset the use of oil, gas, and coal.  

Sweden and France use almost no fossil fuels.  Why?  Because they have turned to nuclear power.  Forty percent of Sweden’s electrical needs are now met by nuclear power, equal to its hydropower.  Wind and biofuels supply the rest.  

I know.  What about the spent fuel?  What about the problems we had with Three Mile Island.  Nonetheless, right now global warming is the most pressing problem.  Maybe it is time to re-evaluate nuclear power.

Hypnosis

The young Muslim congresswoman from Minnesota is being accused of anti-Semitism because she said the Israeli lobby has ‘hypnotized” people.  This is evidently an anti-Semitic trope.  She has apologized.

She said she was unaware.  I consider myself an aware person.  I know what a pogrom is.  I know about the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”  I know about the Spanish Inquisition, the English expulsion of Jews, the Diaspora, the Dreyfuss case, and Theodor Herzl.  I consider myself a Zionist.

Nonetheless, I did not know and had never heard this thing about hypnosis.  Let’s cut this young Congresswoman some slack.

You can be opposed to the settlements, the treatment of Palestinians, and the current Israeli government without being an anti-Semite.  

Amy Klobuchar

On Saturday the Community Outreach Association is hosting an open house at their headquarters in Lehighton.  The invitation to the open house featured photos of four women, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress members Omar and Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Today Sen. Klobuchar announced she is running for President.  She made the announcement to a crowd in a snowstorm in her home state of Minnesota.  Minnesotans are a tough breed.  

The presidential election is almost two years away, and many things can happen, but I think Klobuchar has an excellent chance of taking the nomination.  I’m predicting the Democratic race will come down to Sen. Harris vs. Sen. Klobuchar.  

I would have a tough time deciding on that one.

The mobile, the rooted, and the stuck

Richard Florida, an urban studies professor, has divided Americans into three groups:  the mobile, the rooted, and the stuck.  The mobile move around.  They tend to be coastal or live in cities like Boulder, Lawrence, Atlanta, Austin.  They have good jobs, often in high tech.  They are living large, though often somewhat disconnected.

The rooted live in one place by choice.  Linda and I would fit in that group.  While we live in rural Carbon County, we are part of the community, or at least try to be.  We occasionally visit New York and Philly and identify with the wider world, but we live here because we want to.

The stuck are people who don’t move, don’t have the social networks to move, don’t see alternatives.  They are often employed in low-paying jobs and lack the funds or the experience or the skills to find better jobs in different locations.

Guess which category is growing, according to Dr. Florida.  You got it.  The stuck.

Pipeline victory!

Today PA Governor Tom Wolf announced that he was directing the PA DEP to bar further permitting of the Mariner East 2 pipeline that travels through Berks County and the Revolution pipeline that exploded after it went into operation last year in Beaver County.  The Mariner East 2 pipeline has had four drilling mud spills and a major leak last April.  Wolf’s action is the strongest that he has taken against pipelines since he has been in office.

He is also calling for the PUC to increase safety standards and expand oversight authority for pipelines.  

Thank you, Gov. Wolf.  The next step is to ban fracking.

How hot is it?

Old joke.  It was so hot I saw a dog chasing a cat, and they were both walking.

New joke.  The five warmest years in the 140 years of record keeping have been the last five years, and the President of the United States pushes coal, opposes renewable energy, and thinks global warming is false news.  He really is a joke.

Likable women

Remember when Hillary Clinton was not considered “likable.”  Katha Pollitt recently wrote in “The End of Likability” that the days of “likable women” candidates are over.  What is a “likable” woman?  One who doesn’t talk too much.  Who isn’t too loud.   Who isn’t too sexy.  Who isn’t too dowdy.  Who isn’t “shrill.”  Who doesn’t make too many waves.

Remember when Rashida Tlaib said of Trump, “We’re going to impeach the motherfucker.”  Republicans had a fit.  In 2004 when Dick Cheney on the Senate floor told Sen. Pat Leahy to go fuck himself, Cheney later said it was the proudest moment of his life.  Nobody had a fit.

I suppose I should decry the coarsening of American politics and note that just because Cheney has a potty mouth doesn’t mean Rep. Tlaib should speak like that.  But I won’t.  I agree with Katha Pollitt.  I don’t see why women should “play nice” while we have a misogynist pussy-grabbing president.  Fuck that.

Not Watching Trump

The Washington Post reported that after he became president, Trump watched a recording of a U.S. strike during which a drone operator waited to fire until the target was away from his family.  When the video as over, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?”

To me that is grounds enough for impeachment. 

The drone incident was reported in “The Long Shadow of 9/11” by Robert Malley and Join Finer, Foreign Affairs, (July-August, 2018), p. 68.

Illegal voting in Pennsylvania?

Daryl Metcalfe and Garth Everett, two Pennsylvania Republican legislators, recently issued a statement saying that they had confirmation that 11,198 foreign nationals had registered to vote in Pennsylvania.  

This figure came from the Pennsylvania Department of State, which reported last July that it had identified that number with some indication that they might not be citizens. 

The Department of State then reached out to the people on the list to find out what the facts were.  1,915 responded that they were eligible to vote.  About 300 canceled their registration.  The rest were forwarded to county officials to check.  About 2,550 were in the process of being removed because they hadn’t voted or did not respond to efforts to contact them.  

County officials are still working on the list.  In the meantime it is possible that non-citizens, who, by the way are paying taxes, may have cast a few hundred ballots out of 93 million votes over the past 18 years.

Metcalfe is one of the main architects of Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered districts and an opponent of making absentee voting easier.  He does not believe in government by the people.

The statistics are from an article by Mark Levy in the Pocono Record, Feb. 3, 2019,. pp. 1, 2.

The Israeli occupation

In May 1988 columnist Anthony Lewis wrote how the Israeli occupation was causing a coarsening of Israeli society and the lowering of legal and moral standards.  He pointed out that the voices of Israelis who opposed the government’s tactics in the occupied territories were drowned out by the settlers, the religious zealots, and other right-wing elements.

Today the Times reported that a gang of a dozen or so armed Jewish settlers recently attacked a Palestinian village while soldiers either stood by or clashed with the villagers themselves.  In the melee Hamdy Naasan, 38, father of four was shot and killed.  

Netanyahu wants the settler vote, so the government stays silent.  A left-wing candidate wrote:  “Silence.  Everyone sees the election on the horizon, and the settler lobby is stronger than any moral standard.”  

This is not the Israel of Theodor Herzl or Golda Meir or Menachem Begin.  It is not the Israel the United States should be supporting.

Should Governor Northam step down?

The Governor of Virginia was in a yearbook in a racist photograph, and a large number of people, including Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Julian Castro, have called for his resignation.

He may have already stepped down, but I don’t think he should.

Mr. Northam has been a good governor.  He has done nothing remotely racist, and, in fact, has been a force for comity and tolerance.  We have to recognize the power of redemption, of people’s ability to grow.

I’ve heard people say that he wasn’t a kid.  That he should have known better.  I would ask anyone older than 26, are you the same person you were when you were 26?  Have you always make wise decisions?  Heck, I’m not the same person I was last year.

George Wallace was one of the worst segregationists in history, but he changed.  He gave a speech at the University of Alabama (the school where he once stood in the door to keep a black student from enrolling) in which he said blacks and whites were “all God’s children, and all God’s children are equal.”  The last time Wallace ran for governor of Alabama, he would have lost his election if only white people had voted.  Black people gave him his majority.  

People change.  Can we please think about forgiveness?

Green Book

In the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties, African-American tourists had a tough time finding hotels that would accept them as guests, not only in the South, but across the country.  The Green Book was a compendium of hotels and motels that catered to, or at least accepted, black customers.

The movie “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali and Vigo Mortensen, is about a virtuoso African-American piano player traveling across the country on a concert tour along with his white driver at a time when the Green Book was a necessity.  

The movie has been controversial.  I’m not sure why.  I saw it tonight, and I thought it the kind of film we all should see.  Plus the actors are wonderful.  

Last night I saw the Kevin Hart film, “The Upside,” which is also about a black guy and a white guy who bond.  This movie is also controversial (?), and I liked it.  So did the group of black and white teenagers who were in the theater.

It seems that every film that involves blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, or any other racial, ethnic, or gender group is controversial.  Don’t let that stop you from going to the movies.  See everything.  

OK, maybe not “Serenity.”