I saw the film of the attack of the 65-year-old Asian woman in New York. It is hard to watch-the attacker kicks her head, and again, and again.
What is equally sickening is that three men watched the attack and did nothing. How can you stand by and watch that and do nothing? I do not understand it.
The latest issue of the Atlantic contains an article by Shadi Hamid about the “American Creed.” “Creed,” of course, is a religious term, but Hamid explains that the belief in citizenship in the U.S. is almost religious.
He said that when he recently returned to America from a trip abroad, the customs official at the airport in Virginia stamped his passport and said, “Welcome home.” He quotes a Bangladeshi author, Zia Haider Rahman, a British citizen, who wrote, “If an immigration officer at Heathrow had ever said ‘Welcome home’ to me, I would have given my life for England, for my country, there and then. I could kill for an England like that.”
Other countries aren’t like our country. You can live in Germany for years, learn the language, eat the food, and yet you will not be “German.” On the other hand, you can come from any country in the world, and you can become American, one of us. African, Asian, Muslim, Jew, Hmong, Buddhist, Korean–doesn’t matter. You become American.
That’s precious. That’s wonderful. And anyone who doesn’t accept that fact is, unfortunately, not a real American.
Here is the 8th Amendment in its entirety: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Today I read about a man in Florida who spent 18 years in solitary confinement (no windows, no contact) for a crime he committed when he was 13.
If James Madison came back, I think he would say, “What part of cruel and unusual don’t you understand.” A punishment like that is not what a civilized country does. This is unacceptable.
Let’s say I was angry about the way Georgia was treating its voters, and I wanted to sue the state on their behalf. The courts would throw out my suit because I didn’t have “standing.” Since the law didn’t affect me, I wouldn’t have a legal right to sue.
In the November 2020 election the voters of Orange County, Florida, voted to amend their county charter to grant rights to the Econlockhatchee and Wekiva Rivers. The Right to Clean Water Charter Amendment declared that “all Citizens of Orange County have a right to clean water.” lt also declared that the county’s waterways have a “right to exist, flow, to be protected against pollution, and to maintain a healthy ecosystem.”\
In other words, the rivers of Orange County now have “standing” in the legal system.
If the U.S. Supreme Court can declare that corporations are “people” for legal purposes, why can’t rivers have the same rights?
Information for this post is from Rebecca Renner, “Rights for a River,” Sierra, (March-April 2021), pp. 18-19.
An article in the New York Times today said that the extreme right had moved from “stop the steal” to fighting the vaccine. The right-wing media is explaining how harmful the vaccines are, how they are not effective, how they are a left wing conspiracy. Many are refusing to be vaccinated.
Perhaps I am being mean here, but I think that kind of behavior among the extreme right should be encouraged, especially since I’ve had my two shots.
The Georgia legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to make it illegal to give water and food to people waiting in line to vote. They also charged a state legislator with two felonies for knocking on the door of the office of the governor to protest the bill. Here are more actions they could take if they are really serious about this.
It is illegal to hold an umbrella if you are waiting in line to vote in the rain.
All voters must be fingerprinted before voting.
All voters must submit to a Covid test using one of those long swabs they stick up your nose.
Random voters will be pulled out of the line and strip-searched.
Only people with stage five cancer may apply for an absentee ballot.
Anyone questioning the actions of the Georgia government will be charged with incitement to riot, sedition, and terroristic threats.
Democrats are forbidden from voting.
My friend Tom finished pruning our mulberry tree and the apple tree today. He had already pruned the paw-paws, the apricot, and the quince. Today some daffodils popped open. The grass is getting green. The day lilies by the mailbox have pushed out their green spears. Yesterday we had a female yellow-headed blackbird at our feeder, a rare bird east of the Mississippi. Linda and I picked up four and a half bags of trash along Pohopoco Drive. And tonight the spring peepers began their nightly chorus. It doesn’t get any better.
Actually, the question is moot right now, since no one is getting drafted. Nevertheless, men must sign up for the draft, a fact I did not know. Women do not have to sign up, and some military types think that in an emergency or crisis, we will need all the resources available.
The Supreme Court will hear the case this year. My opinion is that we should bring the draft back, since right now the Armed Forces are drawn from the bottom half of the economic scale. However, I also think that the draft should not only be for the military, but people should be given a choice for military service or some kind of public service. Bottom line, everyone would be required to do something for the country.
Tomorrow at 4 p.m. the Friends of Beltzville State Park are doing a roadside cleanup, although rain is predicted and it might be postponed.
Recently an op-ed piece in the New York Times by Margaret Renki detailed some reasons for hope for the environment. One was that renewable energy is edging out fossil fuels. She also noted that conservation nonprofits are winning in court. Since we have solar panels on our shed roof, and I donate to Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society, which are bringing some of those lawsuits, I’m patting myself on the back.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if it rained tomorrow.
A number of letters in the Morning Call have noted that the Post Office was having problems before DeJoy took over as postmaster. While it is true that the USPS was having financial problems (mostly because of a a requirement on retirement funds that no private company would dream of), millions of us depended on the timely delivery of the mail.
Remember that DeJoy was appointed with the specific task of screwing things up. And today a front page article in the Times said that after DeJoy implements his “reform,” we may never see the Post Office return to its former ability to deliver mail on time.
The article also noted that the Board that oversees the USPS had not even contacted the postal employees’ union for its input. Trump is gone, but his legacy lives on.
My friend Bill, whom I met at Penn State and now lives in North Carolina, sends me a pile of memes every day. Many of them are very funny and some are actually profound. I will post one he sent me earlier today. Evidently Biden slipped on some steps, and the Republicans, as is their wont, are trying to make something of it.
Here is one reply written by a guy named Nupur Gupta. I think it is worth repeating.
The thing about Biden tripping up, some slippery stairs is that last week he signed a bill that cuts child poverty in half and vaccines are WAY ahead of schedule with 72 million Americans vaccinated.
Call me when
he stares directly into an eclipse,
says windmills cause cancer,
or rambles about Revolutionary War airports.
That guy in Georgia who killed those eight people in Atlanta purchased his gun just a few hours before he killed them. There is no waiting period to check on people who purchase guns in Georgia.
On the other hand, if you are a woman who wants an abortion, you have to wait 24 hours.
Howard Stern has a doctor who comes on his show to debunk rumors about the Covid vaccine and answer questions. He also goofs around, which makes sense given that it is the Howard Stern show.
He is Dr. David Agus, a physician and a professor. Stern asked him, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard about the vaccine?”
Agus replied: “There’s this notion that Bill Gates has a plan to take over the country and there’s a tracker in the vaccine, so once you get it the federal government know everything you do and say,” Agus replied. “Which is true, but it’s astonishing that people realize that.”
I love that. The only way to combat the stupidity in American now is to make fun of it.
I’ll admit I have never heard Howard Stern, but I read about Dr. Agus in the latest issue of the New Yorker. See page 15.
Sen. Warnock of Georgia gave his first speech to the U.S. Senate today. He said that the Republican Party was engaged in a nation-wide attempt at voter suppression. He talked about how the state of Georgia was attempting to pass a law making it illegal for churches to bring their congregations to a polling place. He noted that Georgia has introduced a bill making it illegal to give water to someone waiting in line to vote after enacting policies that create long lines.
He said what we are seeing is Jim Crow in new clothes. It was one of the best speeches I have heard, and he got an ovation when he was finished.
I hope it inspires members of Congress to pass legislation to ensure our right to vote. As Warnock pointed out, all our other rights are dependent on that.
There’s a guy named Bell, a candidate for Supervisor in Penn Forest Township, who has been going around urging Carbon County municipalities to declare themselves 2nd Amendment sanctuaries. I wrote a letter to the Times News trolling him by saying we should become 3rd Amendment sanctuaries. The resolutions Bell is pushing are silly, and they won’t have any force of law.
More serious are states like Texas and Missouri that are passing legislation calling their states sanctuaries. In Missouri the state House passed a bill that would allow police departments with officers who enforce federal gun laws to be sued and face a $50,000 fine.
That idea is called “nullification.” It was proposed by John Calhoun as a way for states to “nullify” a federal law they opposed. Calhoun was a racist U.S. Senator from South Carolina prior to the Civil War.
Calhoun’s theory was settled once and for all by the bloodiest war in U.S. history. In case you (and the state House in Missouri) forgot, the United States won that war.
The town of Avon, a small town along the coast on the Outer Banks, is having trouble with its major road washing away. Dare County, where Avon is located, wants to raise property taxes by 50% to keep the ocean from destroying the town. The residents of Avon are upset.
This type of issue will become more and more prevalent as climate change accelerates. Who should pay when rivers rise, when the Louisiana wetlands disappear, when Miami floods? When people live in danger zones, we might say it’s their fault. In a way it is, but as the temperature goes up, more and more of us will be living in danger zones.
Already we are seeing the effects of increasingly stronger hurricanes, more forest fires, more flooding. Climate change is here, and it will only get worse. And we just lost four years of doing anything about it, and we still have one of the two major parties that regards it as a hoax.
The Republicans introduced an amendment to HR 8 that would have required undocumented immigrants to be reported to ICE when federal background checks detect they are attempting to buy a firearm. A yes vote was to adopt this amendment. Meuser voted yes.
What happened to the 2nd Amendment? Obviously this was an attempt by Meuser and fellow Republicans to limit gun ownership, although they didn’t succeed. I’m sure all those “2nd Amendment sanctuary” municipalities are relieved.
Last September when I was calling people to get them to put up Biden yard signs, a friend of mine in East Penn Township told me he was worried that Trump supporters (and East Penn Township was heavily Trumpist) would come by in the dead of night and burn down his barn. I was somewhat annoyed with him and thought he was overly paranoid, but I didn’t insist.
Earlier this month a barn in Reedsville in Mifflin County was burned to the ground. The barn was known as the Biden Barn; it had a huge Biden/Harris sign painted on the side and called for unity. Fire companies were unable to save it.
In one day a social media site raised thousands of dollars to rebuild the barn . The total has surpassed $20,000, and I am sure that some of those contributions are from Trump supporters who are disgusted with their fellow voters. Nonetheless, that is the kind of country we have devolved into. We have become a place where the peaceful advocacy of a cause can bring violence and danger.
I have never understood Americans’ fascination with British royalty. The whole concept of kings and queens is medieval, and even worse, silly.
The king or queen can perform a useful function. Many countries have a head of government, often called a prime minister, and a head of state, often called the President. Israel is like that. In Japan the head of state is the emperor; the head of government is the prime minister. In Germany the head of state is the president; the head of government is the Chancellor.
The advantage of that system is that you can love the head of state and honor and respect him or her, while you loath and oppose the head of government. In the U.S. we have a problem because the head of state and the head of government is the same person. When Trump honored a Medal of Honor recipient, Democrats may have wanted to respect that act, but they were aware it was Trump who was performing the act.
The Queen can be the symbol of unity, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson is roundly booed when he shows up. Unfortunately, the whole royal family is constantly in the tabloids, evidently does stupid things, and costs a lot of money. I really can’t understand why when we have voter suppression, Covid, international conflicts, and a global climate crisis, this is even covered by the evening news.
I watched Biden’s speech this evening. It was a good speech, but he neglected to mention a little known part of the bill. I can understand that–the bill runs to some 600 pages and has quite a few provisions, but this is one you may not know.
On page 433, paragraph 7, a clause states: Anyone who knowing continues to display a Trump flag, yard sign, “Stop the Steal” sign, or “No more bullshit “ banner as of March 11, 2021, shall be ineligible to receive a relief payment.
When the Republicans passed a Covid relief bill, almost every Democrat in Congress believed the bill contained too many tax breaks for the wealthy and not enough money for the people on the bottom. Nonetheless, a large proportion of Democratic congress members voted for the bill because they felt it was important for the country to get some relief, however flawed.
The new Covid relief bill, passed today, received no votes from any Republicans. Not a single Republican member of the House or the Senate voted for the bill. Not one.
Then, in a definition of chutzpah, the Republicans blamed the Democrats for not being bipartisan.
No, not in vaccines for Covid. No, not in equal funding for school students. We lead the nation in the number of residents who have been arrested for the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol building. As the FBI continues to find the miscreants and traitors who stormed the building that day, Pennsylvania will probably increase those numbers. I would not be surprised if some of our Republican legislators who tried to overturn the election results weren’t among them.
Today I saw a clip of people in Idaho, including kids, standing around a metal drum with a fire inside, throwing their Covid masks into the flames. Those kids, of course, are there because of the adults who were with them. The governor of Idaho, to his credit, said people should continue to wear their masks, but for some reason many Americans are acting in a completely irresponsible way.
Eleanor Roosevelt once explained: “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”
Grow up, America.
Microsoft was one of 43 corporations that wrote a letter to President-elect Biden calling on him to enact “ambitious” climate policies. Microsoft then donated to David Perdue in his Georgia runoff election.
Did Microsoft think that a Republican Senate would approve “ambitious” climate policies? How dumb is that?
A number of delegates at a Green Party Convention in Oakland proposed that all decisions should be made by unanimous consent. According to the supporters of this idea, some American Indian tribes decided issues that way, continuing to discuss a problem until all agreed on a solution.
I argued against such a policy, pointing out that it would permit one person to rule over everyone else. It was the least democratic way to run an organization one could imagine.
Unfortunately, the Senate Democratic caucus operates on that system. Because the Republicans are united and hold fifty of 100 seats, any single Democratic Senator can hold the other 49 hostage until they cave to that Senator’s wishes. One Senator, representing West Virginia, did just that on the Covid relief bill.
I suppose I should be grateful that the bill passed, even if watered down, and I hope Speaker Pelosi can keep her team on board, although she also has a small margin to work with. My fear is that this sets a bad precedent for climate legislation, voting rights legislation, and any other bills that come before Congress.
As long-time readers of this blog may remember, “Never shopped at Wal-Mart” is chiseled into my tombstone in the Trachsville cemetery.
Now I read in the Sierra Club magazine that Amazon used enough plastic bubble wrap in 2019 to encircle the globe 500 times. I’d add “Never shopped at Amazon, either,” but it is really expensive to have that done.
Hard to believe, but that is what the U.S. Senate was once called. Now it is “debating” a bill to extend unemployment benefits, fund Covid vaccines, and put money in the pockets of desperate Americans. There is no debate. The 50 Republican Senators voted to prevent the bill from being debated at all. Now a Republican, Rand Paul, is forcing the reading of the entire bill, which will take about ten hours. The bill will most likely pass eventually, which means these shenanigans will simply serve to delay action.
The “greatest deliberative body in the world” title was forfeited years ago. On the other hand, the Republican Senators deserve the title “mean as snakes caucus.”
It is my theory that the statue of Trump unveiled at the CPAC convention was made by a secret Biden supporter. Every time I see it I’m delighted with its silliness. I’m not sure which is better–the little Tinker Bell wand, the flip-flops, the shorts, the truncated body. It’s all so goofy. I love it. I hope they make small replicas.
One of the reasons so many Trump supporters are convinced the election was “stolen” in Pennsylvania was because the initial counts were heavily Trump, but as the mail-in ballots were counted, Biden pulled ahead. This had been predicted, since Biden supporters voted by mail-in ballots overwhelmingly, but Trump voters tended to vote in person.
All of this could have been avoided, of course, if the legislature had allowed mail-in ballots to be counted before election day. R Republicans legislators said no, quite possibly because they wanted to claim fraud when Trump lost.
In the May 18 primary we will see the same kinds of problems with the count because once again Republican legislators are not permitting mail-in ballots to be counted early. They will then use the delay in getting the results as an excuse to get rid of mail-in ballots. The hypocrisy and cynicism of Pennsylvania Republican legislators is truly staggering.
Almost all elections in the United States from U.S. Senator to Township Supervisor are “single member district, winner take all.” If there are three candidates running, and candidate A gets 40% of the vote, candidate B gets 35% of the vote, and candidate C garners 25%, candidate A wins the election.
If you are supporting Candidate C and a poll is taken one week before the election, you’d be stupid to vote for your candidate. You’d pick A or B–whichever one you think would be the lesser of two evils.
There is another reason. Republicans and Democrats agree on very little, but they will almost always make it difficult for third parties to gain a foothold. Petitioning requirements will be onerous and the threshold for gaining official party status will usually be high, whether the legislature is Republican or Democratic.
Anti-third party sentiment extends to the Courts. Here is an analysis from “Ballot Access News,” a newsletter devoted to Third Party legal issues:
Justices appointed by Democratic presidents seem to think that minor party and independent candidates hurt the Democratic Party. Justices appointed by Republican presidents seem to have a strong urge to never rule against states in constitutional law cases.
In some future post I’ll explain why proportional representation is probably not the best answer to this unfair situation, but ranked choice voting may be just the solution.
(The “Ballot Access News” quote is from the March 1, 2021 issue, Vol. 36, No. 10).
