Biden's error

Recently I posted that President Biden did the right thing by telling China that the U.S. would come to the aid of Taiwan if it were attacked.  I said that sometimes ambiguity in foreign policy was a bad thing when clear signals are needed.

Now I understand that Biden has told the Ukrainians that the U.S. will not provide weapons that can be used in Russian territory.  Here is a case where ambiguity would be a good thing.  Now Putin can proceed with confidence that he will not be in danger from U.S. weaponry.  Why tell him that?  Why give him the green light?  Make him nervous.  Make him guess.  Make him afraid.

I don’t usually pull rank, but my Penn State Ph.D. is in International Relations.  I’m a damn expert on this stuff.

Remembering Hazel Henderson

Memorial Day seems more about  picnics than remembrance, but I want to remember Hazel Henderson, who died this week at age 89.  You know that slogan, “”Think globally, act locally.”  It was coined early in the 20th century, but she made it popular, and–bless her heart–kept the adverbs.

In 2004 she founded a media company to promote capitalism’s evolution “beyond maximizing profits for shareholders and management to benefiting all stakeholders.”  That one was a failure.

Her most famous book (she wrote nine) was The Politics of the Solar Age, advocating use of renewable energy.  We’re getting there, but oh so slowly.

She told a newspaper reporter that she remained self-employed because “I would have been fired off any job for insubordination.”

Ms. Henderson’s obit can be found in the Times, May 29, 2022, p. 23.

N.R.A. says "evil" is the problem

The N.R.A. convention in Houston, Texas, featured a group of speakers who were horrified about the massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde.  None of them blamed guns or took any responsibility.  They said schools should be hardened targets.  They said the problem was “evil” or mental illness or lack of police training.  Biden was blamed for not providing money to protect schools.

You probably know there is a legalistic theory used by some Supreme Court justices called the “originalism” theory.  It holds that laws should be interpreted in light of what the Founding Fathers meant, what they experienced, how they saw things at the time.

Ok, I’ll buy it.  The only guns you may have are muzzle loaders.  You have to use black powder.  You have a ball and a ramrod.  And you have to be in a well-regulated militia.  Otherwise, no gun.

Republican NRA toadies

The Times asked Republican Senators for their opinions on gun safety legislation.  The Times also printed their ranking by the NRA and the money they have taken from the NRA over their careers.  Mitt Romney, for example, was given $13.6 million over the course of his political life.  Thom Tillis of North Carolina has received $5.6 million.  

Almost all of them ranked either A or A+.  Two that surprised me were Sen. Toomey of PA and Sen. Scott of Florida, both of whom only received Cs.  

Almost all of the Senators were either non-committal about legislation or deflected their answers.  Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said she needed to better “understand the circumstances” of the shooting before she would back any bills.  James Imhofe of Oklahoma said “I hadn’t thought about it.  You’re the first one to bring it to my attention.”  Tom Cotton had no comment.

I understand the U.S. Senate was at one time called “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”  I’m thinking now, not so much.

See “Where Senate Republicans Stand On New Gun Safety Legislation,” New York Times, (May 27, 2022), p. 10.

Carbon County Election Statistics

In the May 17th election in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, the voting turnout for Democrats was 31.97%, or 4,979 voters.  2041 voted by mail; 2917 voted on election day.  (21 ballots were provisional.)

The Republicans, who had tight races for governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. Representative, did better.  The Republican turnout was 39.76%, or 8,444 votes.  Only 763 Republicans voted by mail-in ballots, or approximately 10% of the total Republican vote.

It is clear why the Republicans hope to eliminate mail-in ballots.  It has nothing to do with fraud; everything to do with suppressing the Democratic vote.

By the way, Linda was elected to the Democratic County Committee.  I voted for her.

Biden on Taiwan

Biden was absolutely right to make clear to China that if it invaded Taiwan, the U.S. would come to the defense of Taiwan.  China, of course, says Taiwan is an integral part of China, and an invasion would be legally justified.  The people of Taiwan obviously disagree. 

In 1950 it was unclear if the U.S. would come to the aid of South Korea if South Korea were attacked.  An actual map of areas that the U.S. would defend was released, and South Korea was conspicuously left outside the line.  North Korea may have been encouraged by that omission.  Sometimes ambiguity in foreign policy is not a good thing.

Uvalde

The governor of Texas has been issuing statements to the press.  If that governor had any sense of decency he would shut the fuck up.  He is part of the problem.  So are the candidates for office in Pennsylvania who announced proudly that they were pro-wall, pro-life, pro-gun.  So are the thousands of gun shops that sell automatic weaponry.  So is the N.R.A. and the local gun clubs that operate with its support.

I am tired of it.  Tired of little kids getting shot.  Tired of do-nothing politicians and swaggering would-be tough guys with their weaponry.

You know what will happen after this latest shooting?  Nothing.  Nothing will happen.  This is the United States of America where craven legislators don’t act except to pass “open carry” laws.

Nothing will happen.  I shouldn’t say nothing.  There will be “thoughts and prayers.”  Always thoughts and prayers. 

A load of scrap metal

About once a year I take a pickup load of metal to a scrap dealer near New Ringgold.  For some reason when you live on a farm you accumulate piles of scrap metal.  Yesterday’s load was “tin,” the catchall name for anything from potato chip cans to the wires used in political yard signs to rusty nails to metal fence posts. 

Compared to prepared iron or copper or aluminum, tin is not very valuable.  In the past I generally received about $15 to $20 for a load.  Yesterday’s load netted me $52.  Wow!

Unfortunately, it takes about that much to fill up the gas tank in the truck.  I blame Trump for this for not doing enough to encourage alternative fuels.

Did Mastriano cheat on the election?

I’m not saying this to be funny.  I think he probably won.  However, I don’t think he won by the margin he is claiming.  I have reasons why a neutral party should do an audit.

First, it is a well-known phenomenon that people often do the very thing they accuse others of.  Mastriano was one of the leading Trumpist “stop the steal” organizers.  It must have occurred to him to fiddle with the count in his own election.

Second, there is no way he won by that big a margin.  Establishment Republicans knew that he would make a lousy candidate against Shapiro.  A number of fellow candidates dropped out and threw support to Barletta, who was well-known and also a Trumpist, but slightly less crazy.  Where did all of those Mastriano votes come from?

Third, even if Mastriano didn’t cheat, it would go a long way toward assuring voters that the count was honest.  Right now there are questions in the minds of many people.  I’ve heard people question the results.  If Mastriano didn’t cheat, he should welcome an independent audit.

Update on "No Mow May"

You may remember that I decided to emulate hundreds of towns in Wisconsin that have adopted a policy of encouraging their residents not to mow lawns in the month of May as a way to help bees and wasps, some of which are endangered.

So far it has worked fairly well; at least three types of wild flowers, a.k.a. weeds, grew up in addition to the dandelions.  Now I’m concerned that the grass is so high that I won’t be able to mow it come June.    And today while mowing around the one-room school next to our house, the mower belt kept coming off.  I need to take it in on Monday for repair, but evidently the repair shop is having supply chain problems.  This could be bad.  

Added bonus item:  Movie review:  This evening Linda saw “Downton Abbey” while I saw “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.”  We give high marks to both of them.  In “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” Jim Carrey plays the villain, and he is excellent.  

J. D. Vance, candidate for U.S. Senate

A few years ago J. D. Vance rose to fame on the basis of a book he wrote describing how he overcame poverty and culture in the Rust Belt.  I read a number of reviews and thought he sounded like a self-important jerk.  Talk about prescient.  Vance is now running in Ohio as a Trumpist, attacking immigrants and any aid to Ukraine and parroting the MAGA line.

Bret Stephens, a moderate, summed up Vance in an opinion piece in the New York Times (May 10, p. A22).  It is such a good description of Vance that I will quote it all.  I wish I could write like Stephens.

As for Vance, he’s just another example of an increasing common type:  the opportunistic, self-abasing, intellectually dishonest, morally situational former NeverTrumper who saw Trump for exactly what he was until he won and then traded principles and clarity for a shot at gaining power.  After Jan. 6, 2021, there was even less of an excuse to seek Trump’s favor, and still less after Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Democracy:  You’re either for it or against it,  In Kyiv or Columbus, Vance is on the wrong side.

Poor Lou Barletta

He endorsed Trump early in 2016, recognizing a fellow racist.  He worked on the campaign.  He gave speeches for Trump.  He defended every Trump policy.  And then Trump didn’t endorse him.  And he can’t understand why.  And he lost.  

And we all feel sorry for Lou.  Boo hoo.

The stolen Pennsylvania primary

The Republican race for the nomination for U.S. Senate is still too close to call.  I do know this, however.  If Oz lost, the election was stolen.  If McCormick lost, the election was stolen.  If Barnette lost, the election was stolen.  That’s how it works in Republican elections.  If you win, the election was fair.  If you lose, the election was stolen.  

It should be a fun day tomorrow.

Should Finland join NATO?

Yes.  Finnish soldiers invented the Molotov Cocktail in the 1940 war with the USSR.  (Molotov was the Soviet foreign minister.)  The Finns fought the Soviet Army to pretty much a standstill.  The Finns learned that the grease in the Russian tank treads would burn, and gasoline-filled bottles with a burning wick were a good weapon.  

The Finns should be in NATO for that reason alone.  And why not Sweden as well.  Putin needs to learn that his worst fears are now being realized.  

Here’s another question.  Why don’t all those Trumpists who have their signs “F### Biden” now add a sign that says “F### Putin”?  Maybe they don’t know who Putin is.

Buffalo

You are probably tired of hearing me rail against Facebook and “social media,” but I have to ask:  Where do you think that guy would have posted his “manifesto” if there were no social media?  Where do you think he got those crazy racist ideas?  

I might also ask where he got his license to possess a firearm?  Where did he take his gun safety course, and did he pass the test?  Oh, I forgot, we don’t have to take a course or get a license.

The pastor of Linda’s church pointed out that when he does a funeral there are usually about 35 people who attend.  Relatives, classmates, friends, co-workers all show up and are affected.  Multiply 35 times ten and you have 350 people whose lives have been affected in a negative way.

Susan Wild event

Carbon County is currently represented in the House of Representatives by Dan Meuser.  Meuser can best be described as furniture.  He’s a rich guy who moved into the district and bought a seat in the House.  He has no new ideas, is not bright, supports Trump, and thinks the election in which he won office was rigged.

The good news is that the reapportionment places Carbon in a district represented by Susan Wild.  Ms. Wild is everything you’d want in a member of Congress–caring, intelligent, competent, fair.  Two Republicans are vying to run against her in the fall.  Neither is qualified.

Today we had a “meet and greet” for Rep. Wild in Lehighton.  The venue was packed with voters who will do our best to see Ms. Wild re-elected next November.  She deserves re-election, and we deserve a member of Congress who will actually represent us.

Fetterman vs. Lamb

The Times ran an article today about the Democratic race in Penna. for the U.S. Senate seat.  The gist of the story was that while the Party establishment favored Lamb as the “safe” candidate, Fetterman was way ahead in the polls.  In a candidate debate, Lamb brought up an incident in which Fetterman heard gunfire and chased a guy.  Fetterman held the guy until the police arrived.  Lamb and the third candidate, Malcolm Kenyatta, pointed out that Fetterman had a shotgun and the guy was black.

I think this gained Fetterman votes.  Here’s a guy who cares about his town.  (He is mayor of Braddock, where this occurred.)  He has a shotgun.  He’s not afraid to get involved.  

I do like Lamb.  He would make a good U.S. Senator.  So would Kenyatta.  Any Democrat is so much better than the clowns running on the Republican side.  “I’m pro-gun.  I’ll stop illegals.  Biden is terrible.  I shot people in Iraq.  Trump likes me best.”  It is really pathetic.

Teaching assignment on township history

Tomorrow I’m teaching a lesson on Towamensing Township history to a group of 6th graders.  Am I nervous?  Just a little.  I’ve done this before pre-Covid, but I don’t know how well I relate to students that age.  On the other hand, it’s been my experience that most students are reasonable and polite.  

I also have a bunch of props and a handout.  It should go ok, he said, fingers crossed.

Ithaca, N.Y.: A report

We spent yesterday in Ithaca, a wonderful town at the south end of Lake Cayuga, the longest of the Finger Lakes.  Ithaca is the home of Cornell University, an Ivy League campus with an excellent reputation and about 25,000 students.  The town and campus not only have amazing architectural wonders, but Ithaca is also bisected by a number of deep gorges that contain spectacular waterfalls.  We saw two of the falls (Buttermilk and Ithaca), had lunch at the town commons, hiked on the trail at the ornithology lab, and drove around the campus. 

Unfortunately the paleontology center museum was closed.  Who closes a museum on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?  I’ll have to go back.

The world they are born into

I don’t think I have ever heard an anti-abortion activist talk about the world into which children are born.  You would think this would matter to them.  Those children will face global warming, species extinction, population migrations, authoritarian governments, and so many other issues.  Why does their concern end with birth?  This seems to me to be awfully callous.  On the other hand, the anti-abortion people also don’t care about women.

Note:  Tomorrow we are headed to Ithaca, NY, to see Buttermilk Falls, the Cornell Ornithology Lab, and the Art Museum.  I’ll have my Air Book, but I probably won’t be able to figure out how to post.

Mayor Koch was lonely

Really?  Today the New York Times printed a long front-page article about former New York Mayor Ed Koch, discussing his sexual orientation and the fact that he kept his sexual preferences a secret.  Mayor Koch died in 2013.  

Why is this in the New York Times?  On the front page?  How is this worthy of the ink it took to print?  Surely there are more important news stories.  Standards are in decline everywhere.

Reevaluating Jimmy Carter

The Carter Presidency is often thought to be a “failed” presidency.  It ended on a sour note with the Iranian hostage crisis, and Carter lost to Reagan by an overwhelming margin in 1980.  

Maybe it is time for a re-evaluation.  Carter avoided a crisis in Latin America with the treaty turning over the canal to Panama.  He pushed a human rights policy that helped the global rise of democracies.  He achieved full diplomatic relations with China.

Through his personal diplomacy he managed to get Egypt and Israel to agree to the Camp David accords.  The cabinet departments of energy and education started under his presidency.  He appointed more women and Black judges to the federal bench than all previous presidents combined.  He stopped environmentally disastrous dam proposals of the Bureau of Land Management and the Army Corps.  There’s more, but that should at least indicate that he wasn’t the failure he is often accused of being.

"Destroy the drug labs"

Trump really is nuts.  According to Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump asked if the U.S. could launch missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs and wipe out the cartels.  Trump thought the launches could be kept secret.  

Esper’s conclusion on Trump:  “”He is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service.”

Somebody needs to tell the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in PA.

State courts on gerrymandering

While the Republican U.S. Supreme Court has refused to interfere with state legislative attempts to gerrymander electoral districts (are you surprised?), a number of state courts have been willing to act.  In April the New York supreme court and the Kansas supreme court rejected districts drawn by the legislators.  The North Carolina court has imposed some limits.  Pennsylvania’s court has required new district lines.  These decisions affect both Democratic and Republican gerrymanders.

This is important because state supreme court justices, while not bound by each other’s rulings, do read the papers.  Every time a state court says no to gerrymandering, other state courts will be encouraged to act.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Norman Mineta, 1931-2022

Norman Mineta’s parents were not American citizens.  They weren’t allowed to be; the Immigration Act of 1924 did not permit Japanese immigrants to acquire citizenship.  Norman, born here, was a citizen.  The 14th Amendment says if you are born in the U.S., you are a citizen.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Norman was ten, he and his family were forced to live in a race track stable and then in the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming.  The Japanese internment was one of the most shameful acts ever perpetrated by the American government.  Incidentally, the Japanese roundup and imprisonment was approved by the Supreme Court.

In the internment camp he met a young Wyoming Boy Scout named Alan Simpson.  They remained friends even when Mr. Simpson, a Republican, served in the Senate when Mr. Mineta, a Democrat, served in the House.

When I moved to San Jose in 1973 Mr. Mineta was the Mayor, the first Asian American mayor of a large city.  In 1975 he was elected to Congress from Santa Clara County and served 21 years in the House of Representatives.  George W. Bush later appointed him as Secretary of Transportation.  

It is difficult for us to imagine that at one time Republicans and Democrats were able to see past party lines and work together.  

Demonstration in Allentown

Linda and I participated in a pro-choice demonstration in front of the Federal Courthouse on Hamilton Street in Allentown this afternoon.  I was amazed that less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court decision was leaked, there were demonstrations across the country.  

The one in Allentown was attended by about 75 people, mostly women but at least one old white guy.  The main speaker was Rep. Susan Wild.  The mayor of Allentown was there, as well a number of Democratic state legislators.  

It was noted that 26 states have already passed “trigger legislation” banning abortions once Roe v. Wade is overturned.  Heartbeat is used as a standard.  I don’t know what will happen to people on life support who have left instructions to “pull the plug” in cases of terminal illness.  I assume as long as the heart can be kept beating, it will be illegal to terminate their lives.

I also think that the next step will be attempts to overturn Griswold v. Connecticut, the case that said states could not ban birth control products.

Roe v. Wade overturned

It hasn’t been officially announced, but it has happened.  Alito wrote the opinion.  Now the battle will be state-by-state, with an underground of people who can send pills to women in states where abortion is illegal or pay for transportation to states where it is legal.

I also think we should demand legislation that men are responsible for children they have fathered.  DNA testing should make this easy.  They will be required to pay child support until that child turns 18.  If they do not, they are subject to a court order seizing their wages or any assets they possess.  

Tucker Carlson is a bore

Some people are inherently boring.  I’m thinking here of Tucker Carlson.  While I have never listened or watched Mr. Carlson, I know who he is, and I also read that he has a tendency to repeat the same crap about “replacement theory” and other racist nonsense.  Why somebody would spend their time being bored with this claptrap is beyond me.  Don’t people have better things to do with their time?  I certainly do.