Today at the gym I overheard a guy say that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was Biden’s fault, and it never would have happened if Trump had been president. Right now you are probably wondering about two things. First, will the Trump supporters ever stop being stupid, and second, was I really at a gym?
Answers: No, and yes I really was.
I have been amazed when I look at the breakdown of countries where these posts are read. In the past Russia was one of the countries with quite a few readers. I have no idea why someone in Russia would be interested in what I have to say, and maybe it is some kind of hoax, but if you are a Russian reader, I want you to know that I don’t think you are to blame for the invasion of the Ukraine, no more than I was to blame for the stupid actions of Donald Trump.
I also think some of your fellow countrymen and women who have stood up and demonstrated against the invasion of Ukraine are incredibly brave. We are having our own local demonstration in support of Ukraine on Thursday, March 3, at 11 a.m. and the Courthouse Annex in Jim Thorpe. The worst that could happen to us is perhaps a parking ticket. In Russia we could lose our jobs, be entered in a police record, and perhaps be thrown in prison. Demonstrations there take courage.
Until this week Vladimir Putin would have been remembered as an incompetent dictator who was nostalgic for the Soviet Union and dreamed of achieving a “greater Russia.” After this week he will be remembered as an incompetent bully who took his nation down the wrong path, created millions of refugees, and started a long slide into darkness. He’ll be in the group that includes Tojo, Mussolini, Franco and Idi Amin.
Volodymyr Zelensky, on the other hand, will be remembered as a man who stood up to a massive attack on his country. If he is killed, and that is likely, he will be remembered as a martyr to democratic government and human rights.
People like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump, who back Putin, will be looked upon with the contempt they deserve.
Northampton Community College is offering classes on UFOs. They will be taught by Kathleen B. Covalt, who has listened to stories of people who have had UFO experiences and is a believer. The article in the Morning Call on 2/22/22 (whoa, dude, that must mean something) noted that the courses were non-credit.
I should get in touch with the teacher. I’ve had a number of UFO experiences, although all of them have occurred after I had been drinking tequila.
The map of the new Pennsylvania Congressional districts has been approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Carbon County is now part of a district that includes Northampton and Lehigh counties and a sliver of Monroe County. The district is currently represented by Susan Wild.
That means we will be getting rid of Congressman Dan Meuser, a guy who moved twice into the district so he could use his wealth to run for office. He is a right-wing jerk, and good riddance. Now all we have to do is make sure Susan Wild wins in November.
Bret Stephens, a columnist for the New York Times, noted in a crisis like the one in Ukraine, you could ask yourself, “Who are we, with our habitual ignorance, to meddle in faraway disputes about which we know so little?” This sounds exactly like the statements of a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio named Vance and Fox News pundits. After all, sone of our past attempts to fix problems have ended badly. Vietnam and Afghanistan spring to mind.
Our record is poor in other ways. We had a history of slavery and racial bigotry. We pushed around Latin American countries and invaded Mexico, taking its territory in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Our democracy is currently under siege by Trumpists.
On the other hand, Stephens wrote, we once had self-belief. Our political ideals were ideals that all people could share–human rights, individual liberties, rule of law, democratic governance. We often blundered and messed up, but we also defeated the Confederacy, helped to defeat fascists in World War II, saved South Korea and Kuwait, launched the Marshall Plan.
Stephens said the correct question to ask is not Who are we? but rather Who but us? If we don’t step up, who will?
At one time in U.S. history the nation would unite in matters of foreign policy. The saying was,” Politics ends at the water’s edge.” This, of course, is no longer the case. The nation is so disunited that 1/3 of the population refuses to get vaccinated against COVID even though that would help to protect fellow Americans from a disease that could kill them.
It is little wonder that China is emerging as the world’s superpower, that Russia can act with impunity, that other democracies give up on the U.S. One-third of our citizens won’t even accept the results of a fair election. The Republican Party has declared an insurrection to be a normal political protest. The President is attacked for doing too much and doing too little. We no longer lead. We bicker, complain, and swallow nonsense. It’s pathetic.
According to the magazine Science, people with Down syndrome are up to ten times more likely to die from COVID than other people. People who are refusing to get vaccinated and boosted are potentially spreading the virus to our neighbors and family members with Down syndrome.
The anti-vaxxers talk about freedom and rights, but they are among the most selfish people I have ever known, trampling on the right of our most vulnerable populations to live out their lives.
In Texas the most populous counties have rejected approximately 10% of the mail-in ballot applications. Most were rejected because people didn’t fulfill the stringent identification requirements, although they were on the voter rolls. People in the most populous counties are more likely to vote Democratic.
This is the kind of legislation Republican legislators like Doyle Heffley are pushing in Pennsylvania. If you can’t win an election fair and square, cheat. It is the new Republican playbook.
See Nick Corasaniti, “Rejected Ballot Applications Surge in Texas, New York Times, (Feb. 19, 2021), p. 14.
Gitlin was one of the leaders of the “New Left.” He was President of the Students for a Democratic Society and a leader of the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. He spent his entire lifetime as both an activist and an academic. His writing was clear and always reasoned.
He was a radical all his life, but in the 1990s he began to criticize many leftists for worrying about semantics, multiculturalism, and identity politics when they should have been focused on economic justice. He wrote, “While the right has been busy taking the White House, the left has been marching on the English Department.”
Michael Kazin, former co-editor of Dissent magazine, said “He did rub people the wrong way sometimes, but he had made a transition that others had not, from revolutionary and radical politics to a more practical politics, a sort of left wing of the possible.
I admired Gitlin since I was in my twenties. He was a role model.
The quotes are from Gitlin’s obituary in the New York Times.
Today’s Allentown Morning Call featured a front-page article discussing how the Democratic Party has almost collapsed in the rural areas of Pennsylvania.. The Dems are doing fairly well in the urban areas, but in counties like Carbon and Schuylkill they have sunk to new lows in voting and registration.
This may be hard to believe in the United States of America, but in some counties Democrats are afraid to put out yard signs. We ran into this during the Biden campaign when we saw many of our signs stolen, spray-painted, or ripped apart.
On the other hand, I still have my Biden bumper sticker on the tailgate of my pickup, and nobody has ever done anything to it. There may be two reasons, however. First, I have also have a bumper sticker advertising Deer Creek Archery and one that says, “No Farms, No Beer.” It’s kind of a mixed message. Secondly, if someone did key my truck, I don’t think I’d notice, what with all the dents and scratches and blue tape fastening a panel above the passenger door.
The environmental group “Save Carbon County” was formed seven years ago to fight the Penn East Pipeline. A grassroots group, its members testified before governmental bodies, were “intervenors” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, worked with New Jersey volunteer groups,, wrote letters to newspapers, held public demonstrations, appeared on television, became experts on compressor stations and methane releases and liquified natural gas, lobbied legislators, and never gave up, even when the fight sometimes seemed hopeless.
The PennEast pipeline was stopped.
Now Save Carbon County is taking on other environmental issues. Members met tonight to discuss a number of proposed projects that will have a negative impact on Carbon County, its people, its tourist industry, and its natural beauty. These are people who know how to fight and don’t quit. I think they will be very effective. (Full disclosure here–I am a member of the group.)
Congressional Republicans often talk about preserving the Constitution. They should read it. During the debates on the recent voting rights legislation they whined about “the federal takeover” of the election process. The implication was that election rules are the province of the states, not the feds.
Just in case you don’t have your Constitution handy (I keep mine right under the monitor), here is what the first paragraph in Article 1, Section 4 says
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The capitalization is in the original. Spellcheck kept rejecting “chusing,” but that’s the way they spelled it. The places of choosing Senators are the states–each state gets two, and that can’t be changed. Note that Congress can MAKE OR ALTER SUCH REGULATIONS. Read it for yourself.
President Nixon was undone by tapes he himself had made. His crimes were recorded on those tapes, and he was impeached. At one point he considered destroying the tapes, and in order to prevent that sort of action in the future, Congress passed a law making it a federal crime if a President destroyed documents.
So here is Trump, ripping up documents and flushing them down the toilet. Nothing happens to Trump.
Trump commits a crime in Georgia after the election, illegally demanding that officials “find” enough votes for him to win. Nothing happens to Trump.
New York State investigates Trump for illegal business practices. Nothing happens to Trump.
The Special Committee in the House finds evidence that Trump helped to instigate the insurrection. Nothing happens to Trump.
Trump sexually harasses a number of women. Nothing happens to Trump.
When Nixon was impeached, it was said “the system worked.” It was said, “No man is above the law.”
I am so tired of Trump walking around a free man, spouting off, raising money for his personal use, and taking about running for President. Why is he not in prison? Why doesn’t the American system of justice work?
You know how the internet tracks you and can anticipate your desires. The ads that pop up on your screen reflect your earlier buying habits.
I don’t think it works very well. Today I received an invitation from Donald Trump, Jr., to attend a Trump rally. If I gave money, even a small donation, I could possibly win a plane ticket to the event. I am not kidding.
What did I ever do to get on that list?
Niclas Castello, a German pop artist, placed a square hollow golden cube in Central Park earlier this month. He said it took 4500 hours to design and fabricate. The cube weighs 410 pounds, is made of real gold, and has a security team standing around to make sure no one makes off with it. It is said to be art.
This past week a large yellow rectangular box appeared in Central Park with a Velveeta logo painted on each side. If you google Velveeta Cheese Box in Central Park, you can see it. It really looks good–much more interesting than that stupid cube, and it didn’t take 4500 hours to make.
Unfortunately the cheese box creators didn’t have the proper permits, and the Department of Parks and Recreation removed it.
I heard the Superbowl had ads for cryptocurrencies and sports gambling, neither of which I approve, so I didn’t watch it, but I hope the Bengals won. I understand that state of the art stadium cost umpteen millions, and in the meantime L.A. is full of homeless people.
It always bugs me when people say the United States Postal Service is losing money. Does the Army make money? How about NASA, or the National Park Service, or the Soil Conservation Service? Government agencies are expected to perform a service, not make a profit. That is why they are government agencies.
Congress recently passed a bill that will help the Post Office. In 2006 Congress had enacted a policy mandating the USPS to cover healthcare costs decades in advance. The new law deletes that requirement, and that alone will save the USPS billions over the next ten years.
Last week Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, lost about $250 billion dollars, or 26 % of its market value, which was the largest one-day drop for a U.S. company in history. I loved it.
Kara Swisher, the host of the podcast “Sway,” said this about Facebook, founded just 18 years ago:
Privacy violations, foreign interference, harmful impacts on teenage girls, data breaches, voluminous disinformation and misinformation, and the hosting of citizens charged with seditious conspiracy have made the company into the singular villain of this digital age.
Swisher’s article was published in the Feb. 6, 2022, issue of the New York Times, p. SR9.
Mehmet Oz visited Lehighton earlier this week. According to the report in the Times News, Oz
opposed COVID school closures and vaccine mandates,
supported the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to treat COVID,
said China was responsible for COVID, and
opposed gun safety legislation.
Oz said he would win, unless there was fraud. That’s how it works. He wins: fair election. He loses: fraud.
Any Supervisor in Towamensing Township is far more qualified to be a U.S. Senator than Oz. Nonetheless, people at the rally were quoted as liking him. The head of the Carbon County Republican Party actually introduced this guy. Hard to fathom.
As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, the Republican Party last week officially declared the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “legitimate political discourse.” You may not have heard that the Party’s Committee on Nomenclature also redefined a number of other occasions.
The Boston Massacre is now officially “The Boston Snowball Fight.” The Normandy Landing will now be known as “A Day at the Beach.” The attack on Pearl Harbor has been renamed “The Pearl Harbor Fireworks Display.” The proposal to redefine “War” as “Peace” has been put on hold for now.
Today’s New York Times had these headlines:
“Ottawa Protest Stirs Far Right Around World.” That one was about truck drivers protesting the requirement that when they cross borders, they must show evidence of vaccination. I assume that most of them were American truck drivers, but they have become an inspiration for stupid people around the globe.
“Justices Restore Vote Map Said To Dilute Rights.” That was the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld an Alabama congressional district gerrymander on a 5-4 vote.
“India Leaders Do Little as Calls for Genocide of Muslims Intensify.” India, like the U.S., was founded as a secular nation. Now Hindu nationalists are calling for the murder of millions. P.M. Modi is largely responsible for this outbreak of hatred.
Oh, yeah, there was another page one story about the head of N.Y. shelters admitting birbery.
It does get depressing.
Some Republicans are upset because Biden said he would appoint a black woman to the Court. They said he is ignoring possible appointees who aren’t black, and this is just “affirmative action.”
Since its beginning in 1789 a total of 115 justices have served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Of those, 108 have been white men. And how many have been black women? Zero. Nada. Not a single one. It’s time.
Incidentally, one black justice, Clarence Thomas, was appointed after Thurgood Marshall’s seat became vacant. Thomas was not appointed because of his qualifications.
Note: Tomorrow I am taking my computer into Double Click in Bethlehem for a “tune up,” unless the roads are icy. I won’t get it back until sometime next week, so this blog will be on hiatus.
“State lags in FEMA payments for funerals” read a headline in today’s Morning Call. FEMA reimburses up to $9000 for each COVID-related funeral service. Nothing in the article suggested that the families of un-vaccinated victims would be denied payment.
So my tax money is going to pay for funerals of people who decided they didn’t need to take the step that might have prevented them from dying. That’s like paying for the funeral service of someone who had diabetes but refused to take his or her insulin medication. That makes no sense to me.
Television shows come and go. Even the most popular series start to seem frayed around the edges after a few years. The characters have the same shtick, funny the first six or seven times, but then audience tanks and the show is cancelled.
Sometimes the characters come back for a special reunion. Not too long ago “Friends” did one of those shows. I didn’t watch it. Did you?
So it is with Trump. We’ve seen the rallies. We’ve seen the Maga hats and heard the attacks. It’s not even yesterday, it’s last year. Let’s go Brandon. Wow. Clever.
Polling shows a major drop in support for Trump among Republicans. No wonder. They are getting bored.
