May 1 was traditionally considered the beginning of summer, with dancing around a May Pole, feasting, drinking, and the crowning of a May queen.
May Day was also declared to be International Workers’ Day by the 2nd Internationale, a gathering of communists, socialists, and anarchists in 1889. Some radicals still fly a red flag on May Day.
As one word said three times, it has also been a distress signal since the 1920s.
Have a nice May Day.
Stories in the New York Times in the back of the paper are warnings of our earth in deep trouble. While Putin is sending troops into Ukraine and some Republican members of congress think the Democrats are part of a nationwide pedophile ring, we need to pay attention.
20 percent of the world’s reptiles are poised for extinction. That ranges from snakes to lizards. Of course, if reptiles are in trouble, so are animals and birds that live in the same habitats. That story was in the April 28 issue on page A9 and the title was “From Tiny Geckos to King Cobras, 20% of Reptiles Face Extinction Risk.” I’m pretty sure neither Putin nor Trump would see any problem with that, but I hope you do.
Then today’s paper had this headline: “9.3 Million Acres of Old Tropical Forests Lost.” That is a lot of carbon dioxide moving into the atmosphere. Brazil, Congo, and Bolivia led the way. That one was on page A-8.
I get so depressed at the stupidity of the human species. We’re the ones with the biggest brains, but we certainly aren’t using them.
Marine Le Pen, French far-right anti-immigrant candidate who is friendly to Putin, lost by a sizable margin to Emmanuel Macron in the recent Presidential election. She immediately said the election was stolen, demanded recounts, and asked her followers to storm the Capitol.
NO, WAIT.....,
I got mixed up. Ms. Le Pen congratulated Mr. Macron on his victory. What was I thinking?
Dear Senator Argall:
I understand that you will soon be representing Carbon County as our State Senator. Then I read in the paper that you said you wanted to take steps to restore faith in elections. You said you favor a Voter ID law. I wonder if that will be similar to the one in Texas in which up to 15% of votes, mostly in urban areas like Houston, were declared invalid.
Let me get this straight. First you imply that Trump’s election in 2020 was stolen. You call for a “forensic audit.” And once having cast doubt on what neutral observers call one of the most secure elections ever, you then call for steps to restore faith in elections.
You may soon be my new state Senator, but so far I am not impressed.
There is something wrong with an economic system in which a rich jerk can buy a worldwide propaganda media company. That makes no sense, is the antithesis of democracy, and is dangerous to the future of this country’s well-being.
There is also something wrong with people who post messages on that platform. You can’t say anything of substance in 280 characters. Imagine trying to write Federalist Paper Number 10 or the Declaration of Independence in 280 characters.
On the other hand, you would be able to write that the people who wanted us to wear masks are fascists. Mr. Musk was able to do that in less that 280 characters. And in case you are wondering, this post is considerably longer than 280 characters.
Palmerton, Pennsylvania, has two orthodox churches with the onion-shaped domes. I’ve been with visitors who said that driving into town felt like entering an eastern European village. Many of Palmerton’s immigrants were Ukrainian or Slovakian, and the churches reflected that heritage.
One of the two churches, St. Peter and Paul’s, is clearly visible in a painting by Franz Kline entitled “Palmerton, Pa,” on permanent exhibition in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
That church suffered declining enrollment for years. The last service was held there three years ago, and earlier this month it was announced that the church had been sold to a private buyer. I hope that buyer respects what she or he has purchased. I’ve been to services in that church; I thought the architecture was inspiring.
In Chico, California, someone bought a church and turned it into a bar. I would hate to see something similar happen to St. Peter and Paul’s.
We recently bought a Stihl battery-operated power saw. The instruction book is 129 pages long. I’m on page 47, but on every other page has a warning with a large explanation point. The warnings all say that if you don’t follow the instructions, you could “cause serious or fatal injury.” Now I’m afraid to use it.
For Governor, Shapiro. For U.S. Senator, Fetterman, although my heart belongs to Kenyatta, and I think Lamb is fine as well. I think Fetterman is most likely to beat one of the creepy Republicans running for that office, none of whom is fit for the office. For Lt. Gov. I went with Brian Sims. For the 122nd, Richard Kost from Palmerton. For Precinct committeewoman I had to vote for Linda. No choice on that one. (She was the only one on the ballot running for that position.)
Now I’ll have to remember to mail it on on Monday. If the PA Republicans have their way, they will do away with mail-in balloting. It is just too hard for them to strut around the polling places with “open carry” and intimidate people if they mail in their ballots.
The three Republican candidates for the 14th State Senate District are focussing on “election integrity” and “education.” One of them, Cindy Miller, sponsored a resolution in her township condemning mail-in ballots, drop boxes, and the lack of voter I.D. Dean Browning says only in-person voting should be allowed. Omy Maldonado called mail in ballots a “recipe for fraud.”
None of them addressed the role of money in campaigns. They aren’t concerned about PACs funding campaigns. They aren’t concerned that elections are basically bought in this country. But, damn it, let’s take away mail-in ballots.
Election integrity is an issue like “critical race theory” or “defunding the police.” That is, they are not real. They are used by Republicans as shiny objects to distract voters from real issues like global warming and a minimum wage that is below the poverty level.
The U.S. has announced it will take in 100.000 refugees from Ukraine. That is fewer than 2% of the total. Poland has taken millions. In the meantime we complain about the high cost of gas.
I had thought it was the slogan by a candidate for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. “Born and raised, knows and cares.”
Today I read an even better one. It was the slogan of Texas musician Kinky Friedman, who ran for governor of Texas in 2006. His slogan: “How Hard Could It Be?” That is just perfect.
Tonight I received a robo call asking me to vote for Lisa Scheller. It said she was endorsed by Congressman Dan Meuser.
This reminds me of one of those pictures where you are asked to circle the incorrect items.
Dan Meuser is a rich guy who moved into a congressional district and proceeded to buy himself a seat in Congress. His endorsement represents a disqualification by itself.
Dan Meuser is a right-wing idiot who supports the “stolen election” theory and sucks up to Trump.
The robo call was to a Democratic household, and neither voter could vote for Lisa Scheller in the primary even if said voters wanted to, which they don’t.
Lisa Scheller is one of those “self-made” Republican business people who got where she is because of the hard work of her mistreated employees.
Finally, I would sooner voter for a refrigerator magnet than for Lisa Scheller.
The novelist and short story writer Edith Wharton wrote about the nouveau riche of the “Gilded Age.” These were often industrialists and financiers who gained wealth before they gained class. They desired status, but were crude and ill-mannered. They didn’t know which fork to use.
Wharton could have analyzed to good effect many of our modern billionaires who made fortunes in the high tech industry or hedge funds or lucky gambles, but have no class whatsoever. They are simply boors with lots of cash. People like Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Rebecca Mercer, and, of course, Elon Musk. They strive, but they don’t know which fork to use.
Note: I'm taking my computer into Double Click tomorrow. Since a new program was installed (while I was asleep), I can't save any documents. The computer tells me "You don't have permission." I'm not kidding. I'm hoping Double Click can fix this, but I don't know how long it will take.
I’ve always suspected that most of the anti-abortion people were more concerned with controlling women than about saving human life. Now we have hard evidence.
According to an analysis of federal data by the Associated Press, the states which have the strictest abortion laws are also the states with the worst prenatal care and children’s health care. Mississippi, for example, has the largest share of children living in poverty and babies with low birth weights. Texas has the highest rate of women receiving no prenatal care during their first trimester and ranks second worst for the proportion of children in poverty who are uninsured. Indiana, very anti abortion, had the second highest rate of women (18%) who don’t receive prenatal care during the first trimester.
Let’s stop calling it “pro-life.”
Thomas Hobbes published The Leviathan in 1651. Hobbes believed that before government, humans lived in a “state of nature.” In that pre-governmental society, people were born free but violence was everywhere. In one of the most famous lines in all of political philosophy, in that state of nature, you would find ”No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
In order to get out of that state of nature, humans formed a government. The government might be dictatorial and brutal, but it would keep order. No matter how bad it got, it would be better than the state of nature. (See above.)
The day after gangs in El Salvador killed 62 people, the government cracked down. Over 15,000 people were arrested, often based on their tattoos. They can be held up to 15 days with no charges. The arrests were often arbitrary; the confinement brutal.
El Salvador is the source of many Central American refugees. Parents sometimes send their children to the U.S. so they won’t be forced into gangs. Gang members extort money from poor people, often killing those who can’t pay.
Very few El Salvadorians are upset by the crackdown. Very few complain about civil rights violations. If you were the owner of a corner grocery dealing with gangs who threaten you and rob you, and maybe worse, you would very quickly become a Hobbesian. I know I would.
All of the Republican candidates for governor in Pennsylvania are calling for increased fracking, increased pipelines, and increased fossil fuel development.
Sierra Club leader David Brower once said, “All environmental victories are temporary; all environmental losses are permanent.” Once the fracking wastewater is pumped into the ground, it stays there. Once the methane is released into the air, it stays there. And once the climate heats up, it stays hot. In the meantime all of the victories against pipelines and methane releases and fracking can be undone at any time.
A number of Republican Senatorial and House candidates are running ads decrying the “stolen election” in 2020. McCormick and Bognet are among them, but there are probably more.
I don’t think these guys are that stupid. They must know that the 2020 election was well run and secure. If they aren’t that stupid, their cynicism and their pandering to “the base” should disqualify them from ever holding office.
On the other hand, if they are that stupid, their stupidity should disqualify them from ever holding office.
Last Saturday Linda and I walked down to the Wild Creek Falls, located in Beltzville State Park. Wild Creek was running high, and the falls were spectacular. We were the only people there.
I didn’t notice the red circle on my arm until Tuesday. What I did notice were painful joints and the fever. On Wednesday I saw my doctor. She tested me for the flu (negative), examined the red circle, and prescribed antibiotics. She said that tests for Lyme disease were often ambiguous, and that the protocol is to prescribe antibiotics immediately. Basically since Wednesday morning I’ve been sleeping. I think the antibiotics have already kicked in, since the fever is almost gone and my joints no longer hurt.
It never occurred to me to do a tick check after our hike. I thought ticks came out in May and June and were more of a summer insect. I was wrong.
The organization Freedom House notes that the world has experienced 16 years of democratic decline. Last year it reported: “The countries experiencing deterioration outnumbered those with improvements by the largest margin recorded since the negative trend began in 2006. The long democratic recession is deepening”
Now many democracies appear less stable than in the recent past, and many authoritarian regimes appear more stable. The U.S. for example, has moved toward polarization and dysfunction. Authoritarian regimes, on the other hand, have all kinds of new technological tools to keep their population in check and under surveillance.
See David Brooks, “The Culture Wars Have Gone Global,” New York Times, (April 120, 2022), pp. SR4, 5.
Most of us know that almost a million people in the U.S. have died of Covid since 2020. What some of us may not know is how unequally the costs have been distributed. For example, younger people don’t usually die, but one in 75 older Americans has died from the disease. The death rate for Blacks and Latinos is approximately twice that for whites. Residents of long-term-care facilities, 3% of the population, have accounted for about one in five Covid deaths.
Because of the anti-vaccination sentiment, people in red counties have been dying at about three times the rate as people in blue counties. (I lay that at the feet of conservative Republicans, almost all of whom know better). In the first four months of this year another 130,000 have died, and we generally act like the whole thing is past.
Some people think the number is an overcount. It’s not. The lead article in the latest New Yorker points out that since the pandemic at least 100,000 more people have died than would have in normal times. Some of those are the result of missed care for things like heart attacks and strokes. Drug overdoses have risen. Gun violence has risen. Childhood vaccination rates are down.
Get your booster.
The statistics in this post are from Dhruv Khullar, “One in a Million,” New Yorker, (April 11, 2022), pp. 11-12.
Pro-union forces everywhere are celebrating how the workers at the Amazon Staten Island facility won a union vote in the face of overwhelming hostility from the company. Just today I received an email from Dissent magazine praising the vote, and I certainly will admit it is a great thing.
However...there’s always a however. The union does not yet have a contract. Amazon will challenge the vote and use all sorts of delaying tactics to block a contract. The Executive Director of the Lehigh Valley Labor Chapter recently said that sometimes the vote in favor of the union was the easy part. Getting the company to agree to a contract and bargain in good faith may be nearly impossible. I predict Amazon won’t make it easy.
Last week President Biden signed a bill making lynching a federal crime. Similar bills had been introduced over 100 years ago. More than 3000 Black men and women were lynched between 1865 and the present. Lynching was often not confined to hanging, but involved burning, sexual mutilation, and removal of limbs. It was sometimes accompanied by crowds snapping pictures and keeping grisly souvenirs.
Journalist Ida B. Wells did a study of the victims of lynchings and found they were often wealthier and more successful Black citizens, evidently seen as a threat to whites.
When anti-lynching bills were brought up in Congress, the southern members of the House and Senate voted as a block to prevent passage. The bill that Biden signed may seem anti-climatic. It isn’t. It is long overdue.
In their continuing effort to solve the non-problem of “rigged elections,” Republicans in six states have introduced legislation calling for the hand counting of voters. I learned this today in a column by Times News writer Bruce Frassinelli. He pointed out that the hand recount in Arizona took weeks, and that hand recounts have an error rate between one and two percent.
Although Pennsylvania currently has no legislation calling for a hand count, I’ll bet within a month or two some Republican legislator will jump on the bandwagon.
I tell Linda I am stopping by the Post Office to mail a letter. She says, “Oh, I have a letter to mail. Would you drop it off?” I don’t say, “No, drop it off yourself.” That would be rude and make no sense.
I tell Linda I am stopping by the drop box at the Registrar’s office to deposit my mail-in ballot. She says, “Oh, I have my ballot completed. Would you drop it off?”
Under Pennsylvania law, even though her ballot is in a security envelope which is sealed and enclosed in another envelope which is signed, if I drop it off I could be prosecuted for voter fraud.
In Lehigh County Republicans filmed people dropping off more than one ballot and want them punished for voter fraud. As stupid as that is, that is the law in Pennsylvania.
A local television station has a feature on the evening news called “Talk Back.” People call in to complain about all kinds of issues. Tonight a woman ranted about the Ukrainian president’s “lack of gratitude.”
Here is a country that is being destroyed, its people killed by rocket attacks or even executed with their hands tied behind their backs. A country that is battling without air support. A country that is fighting and dying for democracy and freedom. Here, in the U.S. we are complaining about increased gas prices. It is clear to me who should be expressing gratitude.
Appleton, Wisconsin, is urging residents not to mow their lawns for the month of May. It is part of an effort to save not only honey bees, but also native bees like bumblebees, mining bees, and even sweat bees.
Nearly one in four American bee species is in danger because of all the usual suspects–global warming, pesticides, and habitat loss. By not mowing, dandelions, violets, white clover, and other plants can flower.
No Mow May has taken hold in Britain; in Appleton 435 homes signed up. Other Wisconsin towns are also doing this, and it seems to be helping. I’m all in.
See Anne Reader, “No Mow May Is Saving Bees Across Wisconsin,” New York Times, (4 Apr. 2022), p. A16.
Three days ago we received our 2nd booster. I believe the requirements are that you be 65 or older and not a stupid anti-vaxxer.
My arm was sore for about two days when I touched it near the site of the shot. (I can hear my mom saying “then don’t touch it.”)
The day after the shot I was also very tired and took a long nap. To me that’s a small price to pay for not dying of Covid. It amazes me that a life-saving treatment is available free of charge thanks to our government.
The average number of meaningful relationships most people have is around 150. I read this in a column by David Brooks last week. Brooks took this number from a book by Robin Dunbar entitled, appropriately, Friends. How many people are invited to the average American wedding? About 150. How many people were in early hunter-gatherer communities? About 150.
According to Dunbar, there are inner circle friends that you might go to dinner with or maybe invite over to watch the Superbowl. That number is about 15. An even closer group would help you emotionally or financially if you were in trouble. That number is about five.
I don’t stack up all that well. There were nine people at my first wedding; six at the second. If I needed a ride to the airport, I’d have to call Uber. After reading Brooks’s column, I’m somewhat depressed about this lack of friends, and I don’t have anyone to call for emotional support.
I have to get a dog.
A federal judge threw out New York’s heavily gerrymandered maps, ruling that they violated the state’s constitutional mandate that districts be drawn in a fair manner. The new districts heavily favored the Democrats.
I have no problem with that. The more federal judges find that partisan line drawing is unconstitutional, the better, even if they are applying state constitutional rules.
When I spoke to Rep. Heffley, my state representative, on this issue, his answer was, “Both parties do it.” That is the type of answer a 5th grader would use. “He started it.” Let’s get rid of gerrymanders everywhere.
