Maus

 The McMinn County Tennessee school board banned the graphic novel Maus because it contains “rough” language and nudity.  Maus was written by Art Spiegelman about the experience of his parents in Poland.  Nazis are portrayed as cats and Jews as mice.  Evidently the school board wants a more sanitized version of the Holocaust.

As stupid as this sounds, the school board could point to past efforts to eliminate a New Deal mural in Washington High School in San Francisco because it portrayed a dead American Indian at the feet of George Washington and made students uncomfortable, or the demand for “trigger warnings” for passages in readings that might upset students, or demands that Huckleberry Finn be banned because of Mark Twain’s language.

Let’s all take a deep breath and let people read what they want to read and allow teachers teachers to teach and librarians to stock their shelves.  And no, I’m not advocating that we stock school libraries with child porn.  I’m advocating common sense.

Breyer gets it wrong

 Sometimes it is painful to see someone who believes doctrines that are no longer true.  She or he may be idealistic, or naive, or both, but it is difficult to watch.

Here is what Justice Breyer said about Supreme Court justices in his recent book:  “Once appointed, a judge naturally decides a case in the way that he or she believes the law demands.  It is judge’s sworn duty to be impartial, and all of us take that oath seriously.”

You gotta admit:  That is sad.

Fake Electors

 Six states, including Pennsylvania, prepared documents for fake electors in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.  I have thought one reform of the Electoral College that everyone might agree upon would be to award the electoral college votes without having actual electors.  That would eliminate the possibility of a “faithless elector.”  Those are electors who are pledged to vote for a candidate, but then jump ship to vote for a different candidate.  That happens rarely, but it has occurred.

I never considered that a presidential candidate would try to subvert the entire process.  Many Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen.  Now we learn that the Trumpists attempted to subvert the Electoral College vote and steal the election.

Breyer makes the right move

 Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a wonderful Supreme Court Justice, but I really wish she had done what Breyer did, and that is to resign in the middle of a Democratic administration.  By waiting too long she gave Trump an opportunity to appoint Amy Comey Barrett, and that has been a disaster.

Biden now has the opportunity to appoint a reasonable (and young) justice.  

Contribution to Ted Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz visited Pennsylvania yesterday campaigning for possibly the worst Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, a hedge fund operator who doesn’t even live in the state.  I can see why they would get along very well.

I don’t usually make contributions to Republicans, but I will buy a one-way plane ticket to Cancun for Cruz if he would promise to stay there.  I’d even spring for first class. 

Ordering seeds

 It is always fun to order vegetable seeds in January when the temperature is near zero and snow covers the garden and the raised beds.  Everything always looks so healthy and vibrant in the catalogs; no blight, no insects, no rabbit-chewed lettuce or aphid-chewed bean.

Gardeners like to compete–who has the first peas, who has the first radishes, whose tomatoes ripen first.  I have this neighbor on Station Street who invariably beats me every year in every category except maybe in okra, which I don’t think he grows.  So this year I am throwing in the towel.  I’m not competing.  I’m planting late.  I’m done.  The heck with it.

I’m talking to you, George.

Upright Republicans

Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague have a published book entitled The Steal:  The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It.  The authors detail some of the many Republican poll workers, Secretaries of State, and even Mike Pence who did the right thing.  These were honest people who did not bow to demands from the President or his congressional allies.  They did their duty in the face of enormous pressure, and they are still being attacked by Trump and his lying sycophants.  We owe them a debt of gratitude. 

Cawthorn, Insurrectionist

 Sen. Sam Erwin, Chair of the Watergate Committee, always carried around a copy of the Constitution.  I don’t go that far, but I keep one on my desk right next to the keyboard.  Let me quote Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.  But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

It turns out that Rep. Madison Cawthorn from North Carolina is being challenged under this provision.  He was active in the run-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection.  Cawthorn has dismissed this as a political stunt, but the North Carolina Board of Elections is creating a five-members panel to investigate.  That is just the first step.

There are other members of Congress who may be caught up in the provisions of the 14th Amendment as well.  I am pretty sure that if they are found culpable, the Congress will not reach the 2/3rds vote to “remove such disability.”

See Harry Litman, “Disqualifying a Republican From Re-election,” New York Times, (Jan. 23, 2022), p. 2(SR).

P.S.  For all you gun nuts, there are quite a few amendments other than the 2nd.  Just saying.

Bears Ears

 We were staying at a motel west of Salt Lake City when we read the headline that the Trump Administration had drastically reduced the Bears Ears National Monument and also had opened the entire monument for extractive industries.  I was so angry.  

Now Bears Ears is back to its original boundaries, thanks to the Biden administration.  Suits by Indian tribes had delayed any mineral extraction in the meantime.  

Do any of these rabid Trump supporters ever think about national monuments, or clean water, or climate change?  I’ve often wondered about that.  They only seem to care about issues like guns, or abortion, or “critical race theory.”  It’s such a narrow outlook.

What World Do These People Live In?

 Biden’s poll numbers are down.  Many of the respondents said Biden promised to reduce the polarized atmosphere and bring Republicans and Democrats together.  

Really?  Do they think Republicans in Congress have any wish to be “brought together”?  The Republican Party is loaded with legislators willing to let people die with a virus so they can say, “See, Biden didn’t cure Covid.”  The worst thing is that the strategy seems to be working.

Drilling for oil in Big Cypress

 The highest point in Florida is 345 feet.  You don’t need much mountaineering skill to scale that hill.  Much of the state is just a few feet above sea level.  Florida is the state that will be (and is) most affected by rising sea levels.

Nonetheless the DeSantis Administration may allow the Burnett Oil Company of Texas to drill in Big Cypress National Preserve.  That is the area that adjoins the western boundary of the Everglades National Park. A “preserve” allows some activities that are not usually permitted in a national park, such as hunting if it is not considered detrimental to the preserve.  Under Trump, the EPA handed over the administration of Big Cypress to the DeSantis Administration.

Seven groups, led by Earthjustice filed suit a year ago to stop Florida from administering Big Cypress, claiming that the EPA’s action was illegal.  I think they will prevail.  I also think DeSantis is a tool of oil companies and hopes for campaign contributions for his presidential run.

Democratic Senate candidates

 In the first half of 2020, one of my friends said the problem with the Democratic presidential candidates was that they were all good.  It was so difficult to decide which one to support.

I feel the same way about the Democratic Senatorial candidates in Pennsylvania.  Connor Lamb, John Fetterman, Malcolm Kenyatta–all excellent, all deserving to be a U.S. Senator.

Then I look at the Republican candidates and realize that not one of those candidates is fit to sit on the borough council of Weissport.  What a difference in our parties.

Butters the Squirrel

 Some guy in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, wants to put a plaque in the borough park in memory of a squirrel.  Evidently the squirrel ate peanuts out of people’s hands, and somebody started a Facebook page dedicated to the rodent.  Then, according to a story in today’s Times News, Butters suffered the fate of numerous fellow squirrels and was run over by a car.

I would urge the Palmerton council to hold firm and reject this proposal.  Otherwise the park will soon be inundated with plaques dedicated to deceased dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, horses, chickens, ducks, raccoons, pot-bellied pigs, 4-H steers, snakes, parrots, and goldfish. 

Politicizing the Census Bureau

 A newly disclosed memorandum from Census Bureau officials shows how the Trump Administration and Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tried to bully the Bureau into separately counting non-citizens from the population count.  The Administration was hoping to exclude the noncitizens from the congressional reapportionment.

The resistance by Census Bureau bureaucrats was admirable.  Bannon and Trump supporters would call this interference by the “deep state.”  The real interference, of course, was attempted by the political hacks appointed by the Trump administration.  Thank goodness there were people with integrity willing to fight back.

See Michael Wines, “Census Memo Cites ‘Unprecedented’ Meddling by Trump Officials,” New York Times, (Jan. 16, 2022), p. 21.

A NOTE TO MY READERS:  If you search for Dr. Roy Christman’s Blog on Apple’s Safari, you won’t find it.  For some reason Safari has put some kind of lock on the blog.  If you look for it on Google Chrome, it will pop right up.  I have no idea why this happened or how to fix it.  My computer guru Debbie is currently in Florida and will be back on the 22nd.  I’m hoping she can find a solution.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

 Tomorrow is a federal holiday to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  I wonder what he would say if he came back and saw the United States Senate in the so-called “greatest democracy on earth” unable to pass a bill to ensure that American citizens could vote.  

Speciesism

About two weeks ago a guy in Florida stuck his arm in a tiger cage, and the tiger sank its teeth into his arm.  He was screaming, and a security guard came up, yelled at the tiger, banged on the cage, and ended up killing the tiger.  

I believe it was the zoo director who said something to the effect of “no animal is worth the life of a human being."  I’ve been thinking about this a good deal and have come to a one-word conclusion–bullshit.

First, a guy who sticks his arm into a tiger’s cage is too dumb to live.  Second, the guy’s life was not in danger.  His arm may have been in danger, but that is not his life.  Third, there are about eight billion human being.  The last white tiger in the wild was shot in 1958.  All the white tigers remaining are in captivity.  I do not believe that a human is more important than a tiger.

The idea that some species are more important than others is called speciesism.  I am not a member of PETA and I am not a vegan, but I do believe that we can make better judgements about what is important.  If feral cats are killing endangered birds, then the feral cats, a species in no danger of extinction whatsoever, need controls. 

New Deal post office murals

 During the New Deal unemployed artists and writers were hired by the Federal Government for public projects.  Hundreds of artists painted murals on post offices around the country, and many of them are still on display.  Today we visited two in eastern PA, one in Bangor and one in Nazareth, both in Northampton County.  

The one in Bangor depicts representatives of the various immigrant groups who came to work in the slate industry.  It is the only mural in the country that is painted on slate slabs.  The one in Nazareth features the cement industry.  We thought both murals were excellent examples of Thirties New Deal art.  Both are open to the public during regular post office hours.

Tired of Republicans

 Why do we have to keep fighting to uphold democracy?  Why is the Supreme Court full of partisan hacks?  Why can’t a few Republican senators support legislation to guarantee voting rights?  Why are Pennsylvania Republican legislators so bent on re-writing the state constitution to ensure a one-party state?  Why don’t millions of Republican voters quit the party, or at the very least, move to form a new party?  Why do millions of those voters repeat the lie that Trump won the election?  Why are people like Marjorie Taylor Green or Matt Gaetz even get  elected?  Why don’t the Republicans in Congress propose policies they think would benefit the nation.?

I am just tired of it.  I really am.

Cyber Ninjas

 Remember the Cyber Ninjas, the Florida group hired to find voter fraud in Arizona?  It failed to find any.  A Superior Court judge fined the firm $50,000 a day for failure to turn over its records after a Freedom of Information request.   Now the firm is bankrupt.

The firm’s review of the Arizona vote cost $5.6 million, covered 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County, and found nothing.  Biden won by a larger margin than originally reported.  

Will Trumpists now conclude that the vote count in Arizona was accurate?  What do you think?  

Not impartial, not a citizens' commission

The Pennsylvania Republican state legislators are angry that the redistricting this year was not gerrymandered to their taste.  To counter, they have introduced HB 2207, claiming that they want to set up a “citizens’ commission.”  

The legislation would allow party leaders to influence the people who draw the lines.  The proposed commission would be a partisan commission.  The legislation proposes to do this with a constitutional amendment that would give one party complete control over legislative redistricting.  

They really don’t like democracy, do they? 

An anti-vaxxer looks at smoking

First of all, how do we even know that smoking is dangerous?  The cigarette companies say it is ok, and they are big companies that have been around for decades.  Why would I trust some so-called scientist who probably never smoked a day in his life, and, by the way, who paid for that research?

Secondly, I know a lot of people who smoke, and they are doing just fine.  None of them have lung cancer.  My mom smoked when she was pregnant with me, and I don’t have any problems.

And why is the government making the cigarette companies put labels on their packages saying that smoking is dangerous?  This is a free country with free speech.  Forcing companies to tell consumers that smoking can be harmful is federal overreach.  Besides, I read on Facebook that smoking can actually benefit one’s health.

My own freedom is impinged upon when you tell me I can’t go into a crowded bar or an airplane and smoke.  I have a right as an American to blow my smoke on other people.  It is not my responsibility to look out for these whiners.  I can do what I want.

What voters really think

The New York Times hired a firm to select focus groups of Democrats and Republicans and have them discuss the “state of America.”  The Democrats, at least to me, sounded normal.  They were worried about the future of democracy, about the lies, about Trump running again in 2024.  They all thought the state of the country was worse than a few decades ago.

The Republicans agreed that the condition of democracy was poor, but they were irritated with mandates and lockdowns and the federal government “taking over.”  One said the reason that Democrats were always talking about Covid was because they wanted to push mail-in ballots.  One hoped that future historians would include “both sides” of the January 6th insurrection, and another said historians should also mention “How the Democrats invaded the White House.”  When asked how many believed that Trump had really won the election, five of the seven Republicans raised their hands.

The polarization of the country is bad.  We need to reach out.  But how can we reach out to people who are so entrenched in their beliefs that Trump won an election and that there were two sides to the Jan. 6 insurrection.  That is like trying to reason with crazy people.

The report on the focus groups was in the Jan. 8 issue, p. A21. 

Advising Matt Gaetz

 Yeah, I know.  I'm getting obsessive.  But here is my letter to Congressman Gaetz of Florida.  I never hear back from these guys.

Dear Congressman Gaetz:

What I don’t understand is why someone who obviously hates the American democratic system and the constitutional order as much as you do would want to serve in the U.S. Congress.  

It is time for you to resign and slink away.

Chastising Sen. Lindsey Graham

 It has occurred to me that some Senators and Representative need someone to steer them in the right direction.  Like me.  So here’s a letter going out to Sen. Graham of South Carolina in tomorrow’s mail.

Dear Sen. Graham:

You were quoted in our newspaper as saying that Biden’s speech yesterday was “brazenly politicizing” what happened on January 6 2021.  I’m afraid that bus has already left the station.  We have a troll in Florida who has been driving it away for a year with a big “Stop the Steal” banner on the side.

When I consider that you are in the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and John McCain, I wonder how you are able to sleep at night.  You need to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “What am I doing to preserve our democratic form of government?”  You need to act in a responsible manner.  You need to love this country, and you are failing to do that.

I still have hope that you will see your way clear and act, even if it means you are shunned by the likes of Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Green.  You are better than those people.

A Year Later

 A democracy in which one of the two main parties is in thrall to a man who has no respect for law or the Constitution and is willing to lie, cheat, and ignore common decency is on the brink of losing that democracy.

When people like Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski and the Minority Leader of the House and the Minority leader of the Senate are afraid to speak out, what examples are they setting for the rest of the country.  When state legislators in Pennsylvania call for a “forensic audit” for the presidential election but are quite happy to take office as a result of that same election, the cynicism drips off their slimy fingers.

When half or even more than half of a political party’s adherents think an election has been stolen, even though Biden won by over seven million votes, those people are either sheep following their leader or stupid or willing to trade common sense for power.

If anything, we are worse than we were on January 6, 2021.  I no longer have much hope for this country, but I will not give up, and I will continue to speak and vote and write and fight back to the best of my ability.  I hope you will to do the same.

The Tamaqua Borough Council

 Our local newspaper, the Times News, ran a number of photos and stories about the newly elected borough councils in Carbon and Schuylkill Counties.  The Tamaqua Borough Council members all looked respectful of the office to which they were elected.  The men wore coats and ties; the women were well-dressed and dignified.  I bet that council will continue to behave in a reasonable and polite manner.

On the other hand, some borough councils looked like they had just come in from cleaning the garage.  I am guessing those officials will treat each other like they treat the office–with minimum respect.

I could be wrong, of course.

Nadia Popovici and Brian Hamilton

You may have already heard about the fan in the hockey arena who spotted a mole on the neck of an assistant equipment manager of the Vancouver Canucks, told him she thought it might be cancerous, and probably saved his life.

Even if you’ve heard it, it’s worth repeating.  It is so wonderful in an era of Covid, Facebook lies, and an almost continuous stream of bad news.  The 22-year-old woman, Nadia Popovici, a volunteer at a hospital as a nursing assistant, knew what cancerous moles looked like.  She spotted one on Brian Hamilton’s neck, put a message on her phone that said, “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous.  Please go see a doctor.”

She got his attention, put the phone up against the plexiglass, and held it there.  When the mole was removed, it was indeed cancerous, and Mr. Hamilton learned that if he had not acted, the cancer would have spread, and he would have soon been in big trouble.

The Canucks and the Seattle Kraken teams invited Ms. Popovici to meet Mr. Hamilton.  The teams provided her with a $10,000 scholarship to use for medical school expenses.  It’s a ray of sunshine in these dark times.

See Eduardo Medina, “Discovering Cancerous Mole From Stands, She Saves a Life, (New York Times, (Jan. 4, 2022), p. B9. 

"Click Bait"

I just watched an eight-episode Netflix series entitled “Click Bait.”  It’s a murder mystery set in Oakland.  I watched it mostly because it was fun to see Oakland landmarks, like the Tribune Tower or Lake Merritt or the Alameda County Courthouse.  Almost every TV drama set in the Bay Area is set in San Francisco.  

San Francisco isn’t a real city.  It’s a large motion picture lot.  I worked in Oakland for years.  Our daughter went to elementary school in Oakland.  Oakland has the best California natural history museum and the best collection of California art of any city, including L.A.  Oakland has the best ribs.  It’s a bit gritty, but there are those of us who love it. 

I seldom watch anything more than 15 minutes because of a limited attention span, but I stuck with this one until the end. 

New Year's Resolution

I found the best New Year’s Resolution in a new novel by Louise Erdrich entitled The Sentence.  It isn’t exactly a resolution; I’ll categorize it as “a timely reminder.”  Here it is:

“You can’t get over things you do to other people as easily as you get over things they do to you.”