The hidden Biden vote

 A few days ago New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote a column on the “hidden Trump vote.”  He said there were some Trump voters who were reluctant to make public their choice because they lived in liberal areas.  

In Carbon County, Pennsylvania, I believe there is a hidden Biden vote.  I now wish I had kept a record, but I know of at least five Biden supporters who would not put out a yard sign because they were afraid of retaliation from their neighbors.  One lives in a remote area and thought Trump supporters were not above setting fire to his barn.  All of those people will be voting for Biden, just not publicizing it.

On a completely different note, my friend Tom wanted me to analyze the debate last night.  OK, here is my best political science opinion.  Biden kicked Donnie’s ass.

The debate and night vision

 You were expecting me to write about the debate, weren’t you?  OK, I’m not watching much of it, but it was playing while I was canning pickled beets.   I saw enough to know that Biden won.  Trump has been pushing that Biden was senile for months now, so all Biden had to do was come out and appear normal and coherent.  He did that.  Trump, in the meantime, seemed unhinged.

What I really wanted to post about was that the Pennsylvania Game Commission just approved the use of night vision and infrared optics in the hunting of fur bearers, animals trapped for their pelts. 

Those animals include raccoons, foxes, coyotes, possums, skunks, weasels, bobcats, and porcupines.  I wonder how many of you have ever seen a bobcat.  How about a porcupine other than maybe a dead one on a road.  And possums?  Are we really that desperate for furs that we need to kill possums?

You might want to drop the Game Commission a line about this.  The address is 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.

Roads in Alaskan Wilderness

 Last Friday the Trump administration completed a plan to open up 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest to logging and road construction.  The U.S. Forest Service said that logging and roads would not significantly harm the environment.

I have a feeling that most Americans, had they known about this proposed change, would oppose it.  I really believe that in general Americans have respect for the environment and want to preserve it.

The problem is, how many people know about this?  Where would they get this information?  I wouldn’t expect it in the Times News or on local newscasts.  That really isn’t their job.  

I doubt if the Hazleton Standard Speaker or the Allentown Morning Call would ever carry a story like that.  (I could be wrong about the Standard Speaker, but I know it was not covered in the Morning Call.)

MSNBC and CNN are too busy reporting the same stories over and over.  I don’t believe the evening news shows covered it.  Fox News wouldn’t touch it.  It won’t be on anyone’s Facebook page.  

How can the average citizen learn about this?  The Trump administration is making these significant changes all the time, under the radar, quietly wrecking America.

Trump's taxes

 It turns out that I paid more income tax in recent years than than blowhard “businessman” paid.  A lot more.  Thousands more.

When the tapes were uncovered during the Watergate investigation, Nixon said they would prove his innocence, but we couldn’t hear them.  If you were accused of a crime and had tapes to prove your innocence, you would pipe those tapes over a loud speaker.  You would run to the police station with those tapes.

When Trump refused to release his income tax forms, it was the same thing.  We all knew he was cheating.  Really.  We knew that.  And now, thanks to the New York Times, we have the proof.  

What a sleaze.  What a cheat.  What a consummate jerk.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I own ten shares of stock in the New York Times.

Hillary lied, 4 died

 Yesterday we stopped behind a pickup truck with a bumper sticker on the tailgate with that message.  I wasn’t able to talk to the driver, but I really wanted to tell him he needs an update.  “Donald lied, 200,000 died.”  He’d need a longer bumper sticker, of course.  Perhaps he could get one of those signs that gas stations have where you can change the numbers.

Library cards

 The Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s most recent newsletter reported on library use in rural counties.  43% of all Pennsylvania residents have library cards, which puts us behind West Virginia and Mississippi.  

In Carbon County 22.1% of the residents have library cards.  I am suspicious of these numbers, however.  The data include libraries that reported information in both 2008 and 2018.  In Schuylkill County 32.1% of residents are said to have library cards.  There is no way the Skooks are ahead of Carbon in library cards.  Can they even read?  And Cameron County, even more in the sticks than Carbon, is listed as 98.4%.  That makes me distrust the whole article.  98.4%!  No way.

If I were an investigative reporter, I’d be making some phone calls.  But I’m just a blogger, so I won’t.

National Security Threats

 National security threats were at one time seen as external and mostly military, but Americans in recent years have taken a more expansive view, feeling that a national security threat is anything that kills or harms large numbers of Americans.

Susan Rice recently discussed a reputable poll that asked what Americans ranked as the top critical threats to U.S. vital interests.  Here is the overall list from one to seven:

the Covid-19 pandemic

domestic violent extremism

China

global economic downturn

political polarization

international terrorism

foreign interference in U.S. elections

Rice pointed out that the list itself reflected polarization.  While the overall list did not mention global climate change (I would have put that first), 75% of Democrats deemed it a critical threat, second to the pandemic.  Republicans and Independents didn’t include it in the top seven.

Republicans ranked China #1.  China did not make top seven for Democrats.  

Rice pointed out that this kind of polarization, even in a listing of critical threats, makes it very easy for hostile countries like Russia to sow dissent and increase divisions.  And I can tell you who to blame.  Fox News, Trump, McConnell, Rush Limbaugh, Facebook, Twitter.  I’m sure you can add some of your own culprits.

See Susan E. Rice, “A Divided America Is a National Security Threat,” New York Times, (Sept. 23, 2020), p. A27.

Uber and Lyft

 The Labor Department announced a proposal to define employees of Uber and Lyft as contractors, not employees.  Companies that rely on contractors don’t have to pay the minimum wage or overtime.  They don’t need to pay a share of Social Security taxes.  They don’t have to contribute to unemployment insurance.  They are not required to provide workers’ comp insurance.

While the Labor Department seems to be targeting Uber and Lyft, the proposal would most likely also affect janitors and construction workers.  

This administration has millions of workers convinced that it is on their side.  If they only knew.

For the full story, see Noam Scheiber, “Proposed Labor Rule Could Aid Gig Giants,”  New York Times, (Sept. 23, 2020), p. B-3.

Dry Lake

 One of my poems has been published!  It’s entitled “Dry Lake,” and it is in The Sandy River Review, an annual published by the Humanities Department of the University of Maine at Farmington.  

Of course you want to read it, so here is “Dry Lake.”

On 50, east of Skull Rock Pass,

A trace of shoreline runs along

The hills above the valley floor.

Waves washed against that shore

in the Quaternary epoch.

People walked along that shore.

I visualize the lake above

This sand and realize 

I’m driving under water.

Will he go?

 That is the title of a book just out by Lawrence Douglas, subtitled Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020.  The book, reviewed in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, discusses a number of scenarios under which Trump could challenge the election results.  

The reviewer, Pamela Karlan, adds a number of her own scary possibilities.  For example, let’s say the electricity goes off in Detroit, a stronghold of Biden voters, about 3 p.m. on election day.  Perhaps the Russians have hacked into the electrical grid.  Michigan is crucial to Trump winning the presidency, but it is obvious that Michigan would have voted for Biden except for the power failure.  

There is no precedent for a do-over in the Presidential vote.

Folks, we have to beat this man overwhelmingly.  We have to beat him so badly that there can be no question that he lost.  He will still claim fraud and cheating, but he will look ridiculous.  We need to kick his ass and show the world just what a loser he is.

Abolish ICE

 I sincerely believe that most police officers are decent and thoughtful people doing their best to protect and serve us.  Nonetheless, what we have seen in the last few years shows that many police forces need better recruitment, better training, better supervision, and more community involvement.  

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, is so unAmerican, so corrupt, so vicious that it can’t be reformed.  It must be abolished.  

ICE stopped its raids for a time because of the pandemic, but the raids have resumed.  ICE is not going after people who have committed crimes, but people who are status offenders.  The only thing they have done wrong is live in the U.S. without proper papers.  

Example:  Alicia Flores Gonzalez dropped her little girl at day care and went to work at a winery in Sonoma Valley.  When she parked her car, she was surrounded by armed men.  “What happened?  What did I do?” she asked them.  

“Hands up!  Turn around,” one of the men shouted.  She was shackled, taken by six men in three unmarked vehicles, and deported in 24 hours.  She is 43.  She had lived in the U.S. for 27 years.  She has four children.  The oldest one is trying to get custody so the kids can stay together.

ICE is not targeting criminals.  It is picking off law-abiding citizens because they are easy.  Since mid-July ICE has taken 2000 people into custody and deported most of them.

How does this help our country?  This is cruelty for the sake of cruelty, worthy of Stasi or the KGB.  And please, please don’t give me that “What part of illegal don’t they understand?”  Have a little empathy for that little girl who was dropped off at day care by her mother, now gone.

See Miriam Jordan, “After Monthslong Pause for the Pandemic, ICE Resumes Deportation Arrests,”  New York Times, (Sept. 20, 2020), p. 29.

In just one day!

On Sept. 18 the following items were reported:

The Postmaster General Louis DeJoy apologized for a mailer sent out by the Post Office that was full of misinformation.

Trump again talked about his great new health care plan, one which he has never been able to produce.

The CDC announced new guidelines for testing to people exposed to Covid 19 carriers after it was revealed that the previous guidelines were issued by  political appointees, not scientists.

Emails released described a monthlong effort to muzzle scientists at the CDC.

The Justice Department backed using sedition laws against protestors.  Sedition is when you try to overthrow the government.

Trump called for “patriotic education” for children.  “Our youth will be taught to love America.”  To me this sounds awfully North Korean.

Princeton University’s vow to fight racism will be investigated by the Trump administration.

If you support Trump for President, you do not love America.  You don’t understand America.  I don’t care how many flags you wave, you are undermining the values of this country. 

"Disgusting" people

 Trump said the was glad that the virus had arrived in the U.S. because it meant he would no longer have to shake hands with people he considered “disgusting.”  

That would be his base.

This was reported by Olivia Troye, a former top homeland security aide to Mike Pence.  She personally heard germaphobe Trump say this during a meeting.

Ms. Troye has announced she is voting for Biden.  Pence said Trump never said that. 

Who do you believe?

Close elections

 I once heard a political consultant tell an audience that the worst kinds of losses are those that are close.  If the election is a blowout, you shrug and say there was nothing we could have done to change the outcome.  No need to lay awake at night thinking about it.

If the election is close you can come up with of all kinds of things you could have done differently.  After Clinton’s loss in 2016 whole books were written on what Clinton should have done to pick up those votes in Pennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin.  

I remember an election in CA when Tom Bradley, the mayor of L.A., was running for governor.  I was doing GOTV in my precinct in San Jose, and there was one woman on my list who hadn’t voted yet.  I thought about bagging it; I wasn’t sure if I could get her to the polls in time anyway.  Nonetheless, I picked her up and we made it with less than a minute to spare.  The next day I learned that Tom Bradley had lost by fewer than one vote per precinct.  I cannot tell you how glad I was that I picked up that woman.

Tomorrow I am taking a break from the campaign and driving to Kutztown to pick up a reconditioned saddle.  If Biden loses Pennsylvania by less than one vote per precinct, I know I will remember the day I took a break.  And I know the rules.  You do everything you can, and then you do more.

The Mideast Peace Deal

 It really is progress.  Trump can’t take too much credit–the Administration proposal pretty much gave the Israelis the green light to annex more Palestinian territory.  When the United Arab Emirates gave a choice to Israel of either annexation or normalization of relations, Netanyahu opted for normalization.  

Netanyahu wants Trump to win, and he also wants to crack the Arab solid wall against him.  The United Arab Emirates not only got normal relations with the most prosperous state in the middle east, but they also will get American F-35 fighter jets, Reaper drones, and Growler jets.  

Saudi Arabia, that bastion of liberal democracy, also gets a boost in its rivalry with Iran.  Planes flying between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates must fly over Saudi airspace, so the Saudis had to approve the deal.

The Palestinians may have even gotten something.  The fact that Netanyahu has given up further annexation efforts may mean increased pressure to do more for the Palestinians in order to get more Arab states to normalize relations.  

I doubt if the Trump administration actually had much to do with the deal, but if it makes him feel good, that’s fine.  It is a step forward.

Teaching old people about fake news

 MediaWise for Seniors is offering free on-line courses on how to detect and combat online misinformation.  The program was started in 2018, funded by Google, and aimed at teenagers and college students.  The program is now directed toward seniors, mostly because of the misinformation about Covid-19.  

Seniors are especially vulnerable to misinformation because many of them came to the internet late, and because they tend to be more trusting.  

In what has to be one of the biggest ironies of all time, the two free MediaWise for Seniors programs are funded by Facebook.

If you wondering whether or not I will take the courses, why would I?  I’m not on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat (is that a thing), Tik Tok, Tok Tik, or any of that other time-wasting crap.  I never get taken in by Russian bots, although I am tempted to send money to that Nigerian prince who says I’ll get a big payoff in the end.

For the report on the program, see Paula Span, “Wising Up to the Dangers of Fake News, New York Times, (Sept. 15, 2020), p. D-7.

Global warming and changing residential patterns

 As the earth gets hotter, we will soon see some changes in the way we plan housing developments.  I doubt if many insurance companies will be willing to continue to take risks along the Gulf Coast.  Warm water is conducive to hurricane development, and the Gulf is starting to resemble a bathtub.  Rising sea levels, rain events, storm surges, and wind will force development inland.  

At the same time, we will see changes along rivers and in forests.  About two miles from our home is a development built in the forest.  While Pennsylvania forests do not resemble California forests, they do get dry in the fall and the spring, our fire season.  All we need is the right combination of drought, high wind, and a spark, and that development is gone.  In the northern part of Carbon County in Penn Forest and Kidder Townships, hundreds of homes have been built in woodlands.  I don’t think people realize how fast a fire can travel.

Book Report: Too Much and Never Enough

 Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, has been accused of trying to take Trump down because of personal slights and a doctored will that cut her and her brother out of a legitimate share of her grandfather’s inheritance.  Certainly she is bitter, but that doesn’t change the inside look at what has to be one of the most dysfunctional, greediest, and ugliest families in history.  Maybe the Borgia family was worse, but I doubt it.

The four main characters in the book are grandfather Fred, a man who made millions by milking government contracts and cultivating ties with public officials while cutting corners and cheating on his taxes.  Mary’s father and Donald’s brother Freddie was never able to live up to his father’s expectations, but instead of cutting ties and living his own life, he continued his attempts to satisfy his father, ending up a drunk and dying at age 42.  Mary herself had a bad childhood, although she doesn’t tell us too much about the details of her life.  (She mentions marrying and divorcing a woman and raising a child in a few sentences.)

Finally, there is Donald.  What was interesting to me was that she really doesn’t tell us much that we didn’t already know.  He is cruel for the sake of being cruel, he demands loyalty but will screw over anyone whom he finds lacking, he is a bigot, sees women as inferior, lies, cheats, is ignorant, is anything but a self-made man, and can’t stand the kind of people who cheer him at his rallies.  If you didn’t know that, you haven’t been paying attention.

Dr. Trump, a psychologist, traces this back to his childhood and his relationship with his father.  I don’t buy that.  I believe you can blame your parents for your shortcomings up until you are about 18.  After that it is your life.  Father Fred Trump may have been a complete ass, a mental abuser, a cheat and a liar, but Donald is his own man.  190,000 people are dead because Donald killed them.  Kids are in cages because of Donald’s policies.  Racial relations are worse because Donald thinks he will benefit from upheaval.  Harry Truman had it right.  The buck stops here.  In the court of history, it will be Donald Trump who is guilty.  

Too much and never enough

 That’s the title of Mary Trump’s book on Donald, which I just bought today at a neighborhood book store in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  The book is subtitled How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

Dr. Trump has taught courses in trauma, psychopathology, and developmental psychology.  She is also Trump’s niece.  I’ve only read the first chapter so far, but the book is far better than I thought it would be.  You’ve probably already heard the highlights in the press, but I’ll do my own book report tomorrow night.

Stuffing envelopes

 Many years ago I was part of a group of volunteers stuffing envelopes in a political campaign.  One of the group, a woman who ran campaigns and was amazingly good at it, told us, “The longer I’m in politics, the more I just want to sit at a table and stuff envelopes.”

So that’s what I’ve been doing tonight.  I had this bright idea to send applications for mail-in ballots to area Democrats in senior housing and board and care homes along with a postage-paid and already addressed envelopes and instructions on how to fill out the applications.  

That is three pieces of mail to stuff–application, envelope, and instructions.  Each of the envelopes I’m stuffing also has to be addressed, and there are hundreds.  

I understand exactly what that campaign manager meant.  You don’t have to think, don’t have to worry about policy.  All you have to do is address, fold, stuff, stick on the stamps, and drop them off at the post office.

Speaking of post offices, I wrote to Sen. Toomey and Rep. Meuser about DeJoy and the slowdown.  Both replied today with long letters that were boiler plate nothing burgers.  Toomey even referenced a “conspiracy theory” that the Post Office was deliberately being slowed down.  I think by this time we have enough proof of the slowdown, and we also have enough proof to know that Toomey is a useless tool who cares not one whit for American democracy.

The politics of humiliation

 According to Thomas L. Friedman, much of Trump support is a result of his followers feeling humiliated and demanding dignity.  Friedman quotes political philosopher Michael Sandel:  “Trump was elected by tapping a well-spring of anxieties, frustrations and legitimate grievances to which the mainstream parties had no compelling answer.”  These grievances are “not only economic but also moral and cultural; they are not only about wages and jobs but also about social esteem.”

The idea is that if you go to college and work hard, you will rise, but if you don’t go to college you aren’t very much.  According to this analysis, many of the Trump voters (two thirds of white voters without a college degree voted for Trump) felt that liberal elites were looking down on them.

I have no doubt that this analysis is correct in large part.  Thus it doesn’t matter what Trump’s policies are, but rather that he sticks it to experts and scientists and college grads.  His treatment of science in the pandemic, his disdain for global warming, his trusting his “gut,” his appointment of unqualified people all speak to this.  

Personally, I do not think I look down on people who don’t have college degrees.  My dad quit school in the eighth grade, and I worked in an auto parts warehouse for years while I taught.  I was a goddam Teamster, for heaven’s sake.

On the other hand, as I explained in last night’s post, I do look down on people who voted for Trump.  If they voted for Trump because they felt humiliated, they picked the wrong guy.  Look at his opinion of American soldiers–losers and suckers.  Look at how he has contempt for the people who rent his apartments, cook his meals, or die from his mishandling of the pandemic.  Look how he wants to surround himself with rich people, and how he cringes when the common people get too close.  You don’t need a college education to see that.  You need to open your eyes.

Friedman’s column is in today’s Times, p. A26.

Trump yard signs and their effect on me

 It has been said that when people hear a British accent, they automatically add ten points to that person’s IQ.  On the other hand, when they hear a southern accent, they automatically deduct ten points.  

I find something similar when I see a Trump yard sign in front of an acquaintance I once thought was intelligent and reasonable.  I can’t help it.  I immediately make a harsh judgment.  I think, “Wow, I never realized that person didn’t care about the environment, didn’t care about democracy, didn’t see that this president is a self-serving clown who cares nothing about America or its people.”  I don’t think Trumpists are necessarily racists, but they are supporting a racist.

I can still talk to them, still be civil, but I can’t feel the same way I once did.  And whether Trump wins or loses, I don’t think I will ever have the same relationship or the same trust.  I don’t feel good about that, but I don’t think I am over-reacting.

Congressman Steve Scalise

 Scalise, a Republican Representative from Louisiana, released a a video clip of Ady Barken asking Joe Biden “Do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding for police?”  Mr. Biden responds, “Yes, absolutely.”

Mr. Barkan has something called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  He communicates with the aid of a computerized voice.  His question did not include the words “for police.”

Scalise spliced in those words.  Biden supports an additional $300 million for the police.

Here is what Mr. Barkan said about the changed video:
“These are not my words.  I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts.  You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain.  Please remove this video immediately.  You owe the entire disability community an apology.”

Scalise said he had merely “edited” Mr. Barkan’s statement.  We expect this kind of manipulated propaganda from Russia.  Now we are getting it from a Republican congressman in a leadership position. 

The House Ethics Committee issued a memo early this year warning against “intentional use of audiovisual distortions and deep fakes,” but what does a man like Scalise care about ethics?

Chernobyl

 I’m watching a five-part HBO series entitled “Chernobyl,” about the explosion and fire at a nuclear power plant in 1986.  The film is riveting.  We learn about the attempt of government officials to shift blame, use propaganda instead of facts, and deny scientific evidence.

On the other hand, we also learn about the heroism of volunteers who carried out dangerous and life-threatening jobs to prevent further explosions and release of radioactivity.  We learn about nuclear physicists who defied the KGB to get at the truth, and we learn that some government officials did their best to avert an even worse catastrophe.  

As I watched the program, I kept thinking how close we came to a similar accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979.

I know many environmentalists are considering that nuclear power might be the best alternative to petroleum-derived energy sources.  Perhaps if they reviewed what happened at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, they might have second thoughts.  

Wind and solar power are still the way to go.