Indians and Pilgrims

 Many school districts are changing the way Thanksgiving is taught.  Instead of kids dressing up like Indians and Pilgrims, the history of the Wampanoag people is stressed.  Students learn that after the initial harvest feast, conflict ensued. When they arrived, the Pilgrims found the land fairly empty because earlier white explorers had spread European diseases that wiped out well over half of New England natives along the coast.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another state which drove out its Indians, criticized schools that teach about Indians and said it was caused by “revisionist charlatans of the radical left.”  I do not think teaching real history is a radical left idea.

I will admit that seeing first graders in their Pilgrim and Indian costumes performing a Thanksgiving play was fun to watch, and the kids had a good time.  On the other hand, the Lehighton School District with its sports teams known as “the Indians” and its logo using Plains Indians headdresses and its lack of lessons on the history of the Lenni Lenapes is not acceptable.  I will be organizing protests against this in the near future.

Tom Cotton was quoted in Collin Binkley, “Thanksgiving lessons welcome truth,” Morning Call, (Nov. 26, 2020), p. 17.

Republican defenders of democracy

 The New York Times today ran a long article about Republican office holders who held firm against White House pressure to mess with the election results.  They ranged from a clerk in the Michigan city of Rochester Hills to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who defended his state’s election process.  In Maricopa County, Arizona, the Republican chair of the county Board of Supervisors pushed back against claims of fraud.  Michigan Republican legislators met with Trump, and then refused to knuckle under to his demands.  In Pennsylvania a Trump appointee to the Federal Court dismissed Trump’s legal briefs.

I looked through the article for an example of Pennsylvania Republican legislators speaking out in defense of our electoral system.  Strangely, I found none.

I am NOT over this

 Texts were sent to census takers instructing them how to lie on the forms.  They were supposed to mark down one resident for houses they hadn’t visited.  The Trump administration was waging a legal battle to end the census early and wanted to have the results in, even if they were faked.                                                      Morning Call, (Nov. 25, 2020), p. 8. 

Two Category 4 hurricanes, Eta and Iota, have slammed into Central America in recent weeks, creating thousands of refugees.  It is obvious that hurricanes are increasing in intensity because of warmer Gulf waters.  Trump dismisses global warming as a hoax.

   Morning Call, (Nov. 28, 2020), p. 8.

On Friday the Trump administration gutted federal protection of birds, including migratory birds protected under a treaty with Canada and Mexico.  Under the new regulations, companies will be fined only if birds are killed “intentionally.”  Thus, a pipeline company could rip up bird habitat as long as it didn’t “intend” to do the birds harm.  A chemical company could construct a holding pond of toxic waste that ducks landed on as long as the company didn’t “intend” to kill the ducks.  

     Times News, (Nov. 28, 2020), p. 7.

Approximately 48% of my fellow Americans voted for this man who said he would make America great again.  Now they claim the election was rigged.  I am not over this, and I won’t get over this.

The Zombie Party

 Everyone knows that although zombies are already dead, they are really hard to kill.  They continue to roam the earth, looking for brains to eat.

The Republican Party is a minority party and has been for some years, yet it keeps tottering along and wins many elections.  How does this happen?

Republicans cheat.  

They suppress votes.  You can see this happening now with Trump’s attempt to deny the votes from cities with substantial Black populations.  

They gerrymander.  The House would have a much larger Democratic majority except for an incredible amount of gerrymandering.  And yes, both parties do it, but you will find far fewer Democratic gerrymandered districts.

They screw around with who can vote.  After Florida voters approved an initiative giving the vote to prisoners who had served their sentences, the legislature came up with a new wrinkle that they couldn’t vote unless they had paid off all of their debts.  I have no doubt that the Republican legislature in Pennsylvania will try to walk back no excuse mail-in ballots after Biden’s victory in the state.

They screw around with the ballots themselves.  No intelligent person believes that Trump-appointed Postmaster General DeJoy messed up the mail delivery by accident.

They make up false reasons to overturn legitimate results.  I don’t think that needs further explanation.

They make up stuff in campaigns.  Biden a socialist?  Biden too left?  Are you kidding?  Or how about the Q-Anon craziness?

They don’t play by rules.  Do you really think the treatment of Garland by the Senate was in the spirit of a democracy?  Or the appointment of a Supreme Court judge one week before an election?

And the system is rigged.

The Electoral College benefits small states.  As everyone knows, the popular vote did not count in 2000, in 2004, and in 2016.  If the popular vote decided the presidency, Trump would never have been elected.

And the Senate.  Wyoming, with roughly 600,000 people, elects two.  California, with roughly 40,000,000, elects two.  

And the Supreme Court, where five justices can decide that corporations are people and can contribute unlimited amounts of money to candidates.

And so the Zombie Party continues to attack our democracy.  You’ve seen enough movies to know that it is an arduous fight to achieve victory over zombies, but we must not rest.

Something to be thankful for

The facility in McAllen, Texas, where kids were kept in cages, has been shut down.  According to Hope Frye, an attorney who saw the facility first hand, “It was bone-chilling.  Young children were violently ill, separated from their families.” 

At one time the facility, designed for about 1,100 people, held approximately 2000, many of them children.  Some of these children, of course, have still not been reunited with their families.

Supposedly the facility will be renovated and opened again in 2022.  It won’t be the same.  Steven Miller will be gone.  Biden will be president.  Efforts will be made to reunite children ripped from their parents.  We can be thankful for that.

One precinct in Jim Thorpe

Carbon County has 52 precincts.  One precinct gave a majority of its votes to the Biden/Harris ticket.  It was the 4th Ward in Jim Thorpe.  I’m thinking of throwing a party for those voters after the Covid-19 is defeated.  

I will get the boundaries of that precinct and do an informal poll.  Why did that one precinct show good sense, realize that Trump was harming this country, and did not deserve reelection, while people in the other 51 were blind to his faults?  I’m curious. 

The Fragile Republic

 In October a homemade sign appeared near the Turnpike entrance that said, “Democracy is Fragile.”  It is very fragile.  In the Sept.-Oct. issue of Foreign Affairs, Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman wrote an essay entitled “The Fragile Republic.”  They said there have been four major threats to American democracy in the past–polarization, economic inequality, an increase in executive power, and racial conflict.  

They wrote that for the first time, all four threats are occurring at once.  They note that structural reforms might help, but they propose that Americans should “...lean away from their ideological tendencies, material interest, and partisan preferences and instead focus on whether the measure at hand will reinforce democracy or weaken it.  The most important thing Americans can do is to insist on the rule of law, the legitimacy of competition, the integrity of rights, and strong protection for free and fair elections.”

They also note that “...today’s Republican Party has abandoned its willingness to protect those pillars of democracy, despite its legacy of having done so in earlier periods.  The party has tolerated increasingly repressive and antidemocratic behavior as it has sought to maintain and and expand its power.”

They conclude that it is up to the Democratic party to be the champion of democracy.

Biden's team

Isn’t it wonderful to have reasonable people in charge of cabinet posts?  To have competent people running departments?  To have department heads who have experience?  To have a Latino in charge of Homeland Security?  To have John Kerry to work on climate issues?  To have a President-elect who understands that climate is an issue?

No insulting tweets from Biden.  No nasty comments.  Just a calm and steady progression in the transition.  I am loving it. 

PA Republican legislators in a league of their own

 You don’t have to be a climatologist to understand global warming.  Anyone with an 8th grade education can understand it.  Anyone who spends time outdoors can see its effects.  We need to act now

So, the Pennsylvania House Republicans are acting.  They approved a bill by a 132-70 vote to impose fees on electric cars!

The fee would be $75 per year for a hybrid gas-electric car, $175 a year for an electric vehicle, and $275 for an electric vehicle with a weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds, such as a city bus.  Don’t fret–they didn’t leave out motorcycles.  Owners of electric motorcycles would pay a fee of $15.00 a year.

In case you want to call Rep. Heffley of Carbon County about this, his phone number is 610-377-6363.

Info for this post is from Times News, (21 Nov. 2020), p. 8.

Thank you, Senator Toomey

 Today Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the Presidential election.  Ok, it is two weeks late.  Ok, Toomey has said he will not run for re-election nor will he run for governor.  Ok, it is completely clear and has been for two weeks that Biden has won.  

Nonetheless, in this current state of affairs, for Republican Senator Toomey to congratulate Biden and admit that the voters still determine who wins office counts as a profile in courage.

Thank you, Senator Toomey. 

I promise to do better

 I have realized that I’ve been somewhat condescending on some of these posts.  I will work on that.  I promise to be less condescending in the future.

Condescending means talking down to people.

A scary prediction about Trump

 In the November 2020 issue of The Atlantic, which was published well before the election, Barton Gellman wrote this:

Let us not hedge about one thing.  Donald Trump may win or lose, but he will never concede.  Not under any circumstance.  Not during the Interregnum [the period between the election and the inauguration] and not afterward.  If compelled in the end to vacate his office, Trump will insist from exile, as long as he draws breath, that the contest was rigged.

Trump’s invincible commitment to this stance will be the most important fact about the coming Interregnum.  It will deform the proceedings from beginning to end.  We have not experienced anything like it before.

Mr. Gellman explains that only one previous election had an Interregnum which brought the country to near collapse.  That was in 1877 in the Hayes-Tilden race.  Tilden did not concede until two days before Inauguration Day.  He conceded only after a deal that federal troops would be withdrawn from the South where they were stationed to protect the rights of former slaves.  That left us with another century of lynching, segregation, and white supremacy.  Not a good precedent.

Senator Chuck Grassley

 Senator Chuck Grassley, 87, has caught the Covid-19 virus.  In 2017 the Senate wanted to set the amount a couple could exempt from the estate tax at $22.4 million.  Here is what Sen. Grassley said at that time:  “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

If I had saved every bit of money I have spent on booze, women, and movies, and it was a pile, it still would not add up to $22.4 million.

The quote can be found in Paul Krugman, “Republicans Are Coming for Your Benefits,” New York Times, (Dec. 5, 2017), p. A26.

Salting the earth

 That is what Trump is doing before he leaves office.  Driving up Covid deaths.  Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Iran with no long-range planning.  Discussing war with Iran.  Selling oil leases on federal land in Alaska.  Poisoning American democracy with false claims about voter fraud.  

He has another two months to mess things up, and he is doing his best to do just that.  And still the Republican party leadership fails to step up, fails to defend our democracy.  

Nixon on Presidential transition

 The Kennedy-Nixon contest in 1960 was extremely close.  Nixon was urged by some of his supporters to ask for a recount in Illinois, a state which at that time was noted for ballot fraud.  Here is what Nixon said about why he did not ask for a recount.  This is taken from his book Six Crises.

If I were to demand a recount, the organization of the new administration and the orderly transfer of responsibility from the old to the new might be delayed for months.  The situation within the entire federal government would be chaotic.  Those in the old administration would not know how to act–or with what clear powers and responsibilities–and those being appointed by Kennedy to positions in the new administration would have the same difficulty making any plans.

Then too, the bitterness that would be engendered by such a maneuver on my part would, in my opinion, have done incalculable and lasting damage throughout the country.  And finally, I could think of no worse example for nations abroad, who for the first time were trying to put free electoral procedures into effect, than that of the United States wrangling over the results of our presidential election, and even suggesting that the presidency itself could be stolen by thievery at the ballot box.  

Consequently, I made the decision not to support the contest and recount charges.  I know that this greatly disappointed many of my best friends and most ardent supporters–but I could see for myself no other responsible course of action.

Why Trump Lost

 In the past few days a number of people have sought out my opinion on why Trump lost.  They know I have a Ph.D. from Penn State and have taught courses in American Government and Political Parties and Elections at San José State University.  They are looking for answers.

Here is my analysis.  The Trump campaign needed more white guys in big pickups flying Trump flags and banners that said “Fuck your feelings.”  The sad fact is that they just didn’t have enough of those.  Also, they needed to drive by Biden supporters and give them the finger more often and curse at them more often.  They were quite remiss in that.  Finally, they should have attended more rallies without masks.  That would have shown their commitment to their candidate.  It might also have made a difference if they had stolen a few more Biden yard signs.  They stole hundreds, but there were still some out there before election day.  It really is the fault of the Trump supporters that their candidate lost by such a wide margin.  

I know they must be feeling bad, but, of course, you can probably guess what I think about their feelings.

The U.S. and China on Covid-19

 China, epicenter of the pandemic, has 1.4 billion people.  It had a total of 4,634 deaths from Covid19.  Its economy is back to normal.  It has no new cases.

The U.S. has now over 230,000 Covid deaths. It has thousands of new cases every day.  One of them, I just learned, is my cousin Phyllis who has now been hospitalized.

China did not succeed because of coercion, although China certainly has a great deal of that.  What China has that the U.S. does not have is a civil society of people who see themselves as part of a community.  When China called for people to wear masks, they wore masks.  Experts and medical personnel told them it would help.  They listened.  They didn’t turn to social media and crackpot commentators for their information; they turned to their scientists.  In the meantime, our deaths are over a thousand a day.  In a week we will have more Covid-19 deaths than China’s total.  

Our defeated President is living in a fantasy world of denial.  Millions of his followers also live in that world.  Why are so many of our fellow citizens so stupid, so selfish, so uncaring about the community in which they live?

The statistics on China are from Ian Johnson, “How Did China Beat Its Covid Crisis?”, New York Review of Books (Nov. 5, 2020), p. 47.

Digital civics

 A very distant relative of mine says we don’t need to wear masks to protect ourselves against Covid 19 because we already have “herd immunity.”  She also believes that Black Lives Matter leaders were sent to Syria for training.  

How could a person be that stupid?  I actually know the answer to that question.  She read it on social media.

I have a tee shirt with a picture of Lincoln and a “quote” from him that says “Don’t believe everything you read online.”  Unfortunately, that message still has not gotten through to millions of people.

Today Thomas Friedman wrote in an op-ed column,  “...we need to require every K-12 school in America to include digital civics–how to determine and cross-check if something your read on the internet is true–in their curriculum.  You should not be able to graduate without it.”

The sooner the better.

Palmerton Dems meeting by Zoom

 Almost a year into the pandemic, and I finally attended my first Zoom meeting.  I was the speaker at the Palmerton Area Democratic Club, discussing the election and its aftermath.  While I was speaking everyone was muted, and I found it difficult to be facing people whose reactions I was unable to judge.

I should also note that Linda set up the meeting, fixed the lighting, told me what to wear, and did my makeup.  I realized that I really would not be a very good teacher if I had to teach by Zoom, but maybe I’d get better with practice.  Maybe.

Oliver Cromwell;'s Speech to the Long Parliament

 It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!”

Oliver Cromwell – April 20, 1653

Old White Guys

 I will turn 78 this month.  So will President-elect Biden.  

I hope he has more energy than I do.  If both of us are alive in four years, it will be an accomplishment, and each of us will be cheating the actuarial tables.  If we don’t make it, it’s ok.  Linda will take over my affairs, such as they are, and Kamala Harris will become President.  Both of those outcomes are quite acceptable to me.

A Pennsylvania Patriot

 The United States is an imperfect nation.  As a nation we have done some terrible things.  Nevertheless, at crucial times we seem to redeem our promise, rise to the occasion.  We won the American Revolution against incredible odds.  In 1800 we managed to pull off an election in which an opposition party was able to take control of the government after a peaceful election.  We managed to keep the country together after the most bloody war in our history.  We extended the right to vote to half the population in 1920.  We won the war against fascism.  Our Civil Rights movement began the process toward racial equality.  We elected a black man to the presidency in 2008.  

Now we have turned down an incompetent, dishonest, divisive, anti-democratic incumbent and elected a decent candidate who will do his best to unite the country and solve its problems.  Tonight I am so proud to be an American.  I am also proud to be a Pennsylvanian.

(I want to thank our daughter for suggesting this topic.)

Pennsylvania explained

 Some of you are no doubt wondering why Biden is doing so much better on the mail-in ballots than he did on the election day vote count.  In Carbon County we encouraged Biden voters to use mail-in ballots.  My friend René even made two movies for social media on how to vote by mail-in ballot in Carbon County, emphasizing the address of the one drop-off box at the Registrar’s office in Jim Thorpe.  

We did this for two reasons.  First, there were rumors that Trump supporters were planning to harass Biden voters at the polling places.  There was some of that on election day, but probably not enough to deter Biden voters.  The problem was that we did not know that ahead of time, so why take a chance that Trump thugs might make things uncomfortable.  

Second, we were worried about Covid-19.  I sent postage-paid applications for mail-in ballots to every Democrat in every senior living center I could find in the county, and I know from comments that many seniors took advantage of that.  We kept stressing that people should act immediately because of postal delays.

The irony is that the Trump administration’s mail slowdown and the Trump supporters’ threats resulted in a huge mail-in ballot bulge, and that is what is being counted now, and that is why Biden keeps expanding his margin.

Trump unhinged

 He always was unhinged, but did you see that speech he made tonight?  Wow!  He could still win this race, and we would have another four years of this. 

Incidentally, after all the work we did in Carbon County for Biden, Trump still got a higher percentage of votes than he did in 2016, although it was about half of a percent increase.  On the other hand, Biden got more votes than Clinton did in 2016.  Two reasons:  more people registered and voted, and the third parties’ vote total dropped.  Still, I was hoping we would cut into Trump’s total.  

Hillary Clinton was right.  Voters in Carbon County are a “basket of deplorables.”  They are even proud of it.  You have to be really stupid to be proud of your stupidity.  If you think I shouldn’t insult Trump voters, I’ve been given the finger, yelled at, and cursed out many times by Trumpists, so I think I’ve earned the right to be critical.

Wait for it

Wait for it, wait for it....

Am I surprised?

 Not at all.  My friend René said one should never do anything when you are angry.  Wait awhile.  Take a walk.  Calm down.  Then make your comments.  I’m ignoring René.

As I type this, it is apparent that Trump may win.  I hope he doesn’t, but the fact that he may does not come as a shock.  After four years of observing this man, his corruption, and the decline of this country, the voters of the United States may very well have elected him to another term.

Am I surprised?  Not at all.  This country was built on the extermination of the native population. (How many Indians do you know who live east of the Mississippi?).  It was built on slavery and racism.  It was built on the exploitation of immigrants.  It was built on rampant capitalism that made a few people rich and impoverished millions.  It is filled with people who believe in conspiracy theories, know nothing about the Constitution except the 2nd Amendment, think that prosperity depends on the stock market, and would vote for a man who thinks Covid 19 and global warming are hoaxes.  

I hope Biden will pull it out in the end, but the fact that this election is even close shows that my fellow citizens are not the kind of people I want to live with.

Poll Watcher

 Tomorrow I am an official poll watcher.  I have the signatures of three county commissioners to prove it.  As an official poll watcher I can go into the polling locations and check that nobody is messing with the voters.  I also will be watching to see that Trumpists are not harassing voters outside the polls or trying to intimidate them.  

Not that I’ll be confronting Trumpists, some of whom are crazy, some of whom carry guns, and some of whom are crazy AND carry guns.  Each of the polling places is supposed to have a constable, and that’s who I will talk to.  If that doesn’t work, I call 911 and get the cops.  

By the way, voter intimidation is a federal crime.  You heard it from me, and I am an official poll watcher.

Election in Bolivia

 Bolivia held an election on October 18.  The country is divided between indigenous Bolivians and European descendants.  It has had a terrible covid-19 outbreak.  It has been the scene of recent violent protests.

Its election was peaceful and orderly, and approximately 90% of eligible voters voted.  The government presented a plan for voting.  The candidate who was trailing pledged to respect the outcome.  The electoral tribunal in charge of the election ran a campaign that educated voters on how the process worked.  The election was touted as a way to unify the country.  A socialist, Luis Arce, received 55% of the vote and was sworn in peacefully,

The Organization of American States called the election “exemplary.”  Bolivian voters saw their participation as a moral duty and were proud of their election.

A few weeks ago I compared the U.S. election to that of a third world country.  If only.

Info for this post is from Julie Turkewitz,”Free and Fair Vote in a Polarized Nation?  Bolivia Shows How It’s Done,”  New York Times, (Oct. 30, 2020), p. A14.