Adult diapers

It’s not exactly “filial obligation,” but in most economically developed countries, younger workers provide a retirement income for the elderly population.  Social security in the U.S., for example, is not something you  build up like your Individual Retirement Accounts.  The money I was paying into Social Security was used by my parents’ generation, and I’m now collecting from contributions from the younger workforce.

This system works as longer as a young workforce exists.  What happens if the number of old people keeps increasing, but new workers don’t show up because of demographic trends or automation?  

That is what is already happening in South Korea and Japan.  In Japan the sale of adult diapers now outpaces the sale of diapers for babies.  The population is shrinking.  The U.S. and China are not there yet, but they are approaching that point. 

I think it is wonderful that the increase in the world’s population has already slowed.  Just be prepared for some new problems we haven’t thought much about. 

Ginni Thomas and the "stolen election"

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told the Jan. 6 Committee that she believes the 2020 election was stolen.  At this point in time two types of people claim the election was stolen.  The first is people who are not very bright and willing to believe lies on Facebook or Fox News or from Donald Trump.

The second group knows damn well the election was fair and honest and knows that Biden won but is willing to claim the election was stolen to make political points, curry favor with Trump, or feed red meat to the not-very-bright “base.”  This second group is cynical and calculating.

I don’t believe that Ginni Thomas is stupid, although I might be wrong.

Why some Trumpists believe the election was stolen

In 1982 I was canvassing for Tom Bradley, former Los Angeles mayor and candidate for Governor of California.  My precinct was in downtown San José, a few blocks from San José State and just south of San José’s Japantown.  The precinct was amazingly diverse, even by California standards.

My next door neighbor was a middle-aged woman unsophisticated in politics but very enthusiastic for Bradley.  She volunteered to accompany me on the canvass, and she was good at it.  The day after the election, in which Bradley was defeated, she told me she thought the election was rigged.  She said, “Almost everyone we talked to was for Bradley.  How could he lose?”  She was taking one liberal precinct in one liberal city and extrapolating to the whole election.

Trump supporters do something similar.  They don’t speak to many people who oppose Trump.  They don’t read newspapers.  They watch only Fox News.  They go to rallies where thousands of fellow Trumpists shout out their support.  They don’t see many yard signs for Trump’s opponents, who also don’t fly flags from the back of pickups.  

How could he ever lose?  It must have been rigged.  

Rule of law?

Eighty percent of Republicans, according to a recent poll, said they believed in the rule of law.  I heard that on MSNBC, and the commentator seemed quite happy with that number.  

The problem is what do the other 20% believe?  Rule of force?  Rule by fiat?  I am also aware of something called “response set bias” where respondents reply to a poll question the way they think they should reply rather than saying what they believe.  

I think that 20% is much higher.  After all, eight Republican U.S. Senators and over 150 Republican House members voted against certifying Biden’s election.  Those are men and women who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.

The official Space Force song

We’re the mighty watchful eye

Guardians beyond the blue

The invisible front line

Warfighters brave and true

Boldly reaching into space

There’s no limit to our sky

Standing guard both night and day

We’re the Space Force from on high

“Guardians of the Galaxy” comes to mind.  Are Groot and the raccoon part of the Force?  “Warfighters” is weird.  And “from on high”?  Will they be launching from the moon?  Can a “watchful eye” be mighty?  Sounds sneaky, maybe more like the CIA.  

Morality police

Thousands of people are demonstrating in Iran after a young woman was killed in the custody of the "Morality Police."  The young woman was not wearing the clothes prescribed by religious authorities.  In Iran the government is under the control of religious fanatics.

That sounds familiar.

The not-very-bright Justice Alito

The Sept. 22 issue of The New York Review of Books features an article by constitutional law professor Laurence H. Tribe on the Dobbs decision permitting states to outlaw all abortions.  Tribe dismantles the Alito opinion, pointing out with precedents, analyses, and careful arguments why the decision is an ideological screed with no basis in law or previous decisions.

I have no idea why Tribe has not been nominated to sit on the Court.  He has been writing on legal issues for years, and he is always clear and concise.  He exposes people like Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Alito for the intellectual pygmies they are.

Flu shot and Covid booster

I got them both today, flu shot in the right arm, Covid in the left.  The nurse who gave me the shots asked me if I was right or left-handed.  After I said right-handed, she gave me the Covid booster in the left.  Tonight the left arm is sore; the right arm feels ok, except when I press it.  (My mom would say, “Then don’t press it.”)  

When I came out of the room after getting the shots, a man and a woman were waiting to get theirs.  I said, “Wow, that was really painful.”  They looked concerned.  My conscience got the best of me, and I told them I was kidding.

Cult v. political party

I don’t like the Biden plan to roll back the debt on college student loans.  It feels like an insult to those students who sacrificed to pay off their debts, and it lets parents who didn’t help their kids bypass their parental responsibilities.  

I am aware that some of the loans are the same type loan sharks make, where the interest payments insure that you never can pay off the principal.  The program could have been tailored better and presented better.  The timing was also terrible, right before the midterms.

Notice that I can disagree with Biden’s policies, even though I am a Democrat.  That’s because I am in a political party.  Have you ever heard a Trump supporter disagree with any policy, action, or statement of Donald Trump?  Of course you haven’t.  His followers support absolutely everything he does.  

And that is the difference between a political party and a cult.

Fear of Ghost Peppers

At one time ghost peppers were considered the hottest pepper variety.  Today that status is given to the Carolina Reaper.  Nonetheless, ghost peppers are definitely hot–far hotter than habaneros.  I decided to grow some this year, but in the potting, repotting, and planting, I completely lost track of which pepper plants are the ghost peppers.  Unfortunately, they look a lot like the habaneros.  Now I’m fearful that if I cut up a pepper for my soup, it will be one of the ghost peppers. 

I consider myself an aficionado of hot peppers, but I am not a masochist.  So why did I grow them?  Because I occasionally do stupid stuff.

Hate your neighbor

While on my rounds distributing yard signs I met a guy in Jim Thorpe who said his neighbor and he were both long time Jim Thorpe residents and had always been friendly.  Until Trump.  Then his neighbor, enamored of Trump, became downright hostile.  

He said that the residents of Jim Thorpe pre-Trump were people who would pull together in a crisis.  Now that is no longer true–the Trump supporters loathe anyone who does not support their cause.  

On reflection I realized that is true nation-wide.  Trump, instead of trying to unite the country, understands that the only way he can maintain a hold over his followers is by division.  He stokes that, and you can see the results down to the neighborhood level.

Ride 'em, Cowboy

Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican from Centre County, was on a junket to the Cheyenne Frontier Days.  Four other legislators were also on the trip sponsored by “Pace-O-Matic,” a company that makes gambling equipment like slot machines.  The company is hoping for a legal presence in Pennsylvania, although casinos are opposed to that kind of gambling competition.  

In the meantime the legislators rake in money from both sides.  

Benninghoff and another legislator say they reimbursed Pace-O-Matic for their costs.  The company says it will report all of this on its expense form, which is due out in May 2023.  

The legislature has refused to a gift ban to reduce the influence of PACs.  Why would it?

This information is from an article in today’s Morning Call provided by Spotlight PA, an organization that continues the wonderful tradition of muck-raking by the press.

Should Fetterman debate?

Allentown Morning Call columnist Muschick has criticized Fetterman for agreeing to only one debate with Oz.  Muschick should know that candidate debates are useless.  If you are swayed by something said in a debate–a gaffe or a mistake–you probably are too dumb to vote.  If you don’t know by now whether you are voting for Oz or Fetterman, you need to pay more attention, and if you are depending on an hour “debate” to decide, you really need to think about your duty as a citizen. 

I will admit the Lincoln-Douglas debates had substance.  There were seven debates around Illinois.  Each debate featured one candidate speaking for one hour, then the second spoke for an hour an a half, followed by the first candidate for half an hour.  That was 21 hours of speaking.  I doubt if the Fetterman/Oz debate will be anything like that.

Incidentally, Mastriano, the “Christian Nationalist” candidate who thinks abortion should be illegal with no exceptions, not only won’t debate, but he also  won’t talk to reporters.  That’s ok.  I know how I’m voting in that race.

Growing paw paws

About 15 years ago we bought a small paw paw tree.  Paw paws are edible and grow wild in the southern part of Pennsylvania.  

Our tree did not bear fruit, and we were told we needed at least one more tree to cross-pollinate.  We bought two more, but still no fruit.  Then our friend Tom, an orchardist, told us that bees do not pollinate paw paws, flies do.

We hung bacon on the trees to rot and attract flies.  It worked, and last year we had our first paw paws.  They are a large fruit with giant seeds and kind of mushy.  You also shouldn't eat too much at once, since for some people they act as a natural laxative.

If this sounds like a fruit you could do without, I agree.  Rotten meat, flies, large seeds, and digestive issues.  I wish we had planted peaches.

A reminder of what a jerk Trump is

Tonight I watched the documentary “Hell of a Cruise” detailing the response–or lack thereof–by the cruise ship industry to the Covid epidemic.  Cruise ships acted as petri dishes, helping to spread Covid around the world.

The documentary showed Trump’s response as well.  Over and over he kept announcing, “This will disappear” or “This will go away” as the virus spread and thousands died.  Over 400 died in the U.S. in the last two weeks.  It still hasn’t “gone away.”  If only Trump would.

Putin and Xi Jinping

The leaders of Russia and China are holding a summit.  This is not a good development for either Ukraine or Taiwan.  Both leaders have proved to be brutal autocrats, and they both have interests in seizing land, righting what they see as old wrongs, and they are willing to sacrifice lives to gain their objectives.

Ordinarily the United States would act as a brake on Russian and Chinese expansionism, but the United States is no longer united.  Because of Trump and his foreign policy, U.S. status in the world has declined.

This doesn’t mean all is lost.  I heard a Taiwanese admiral this morning say that Taiwan would fight like Muhammad Ali:  “Float like a butterfly, strike like a bee.  They can’t hit what they can’t see.” 

I know that the correct phrase is sting like a bee, but the admiral has the right idea.  Dictators often overestimate their power.  My money is on Ukraine and Taiwan.

Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth

Gorbachev, who died last month, changed the face of Europe, freeing countries that had been under Soviet domination for nearly half a century.  His attempt to bring democracy to Russia failed, but we now have the Baltic countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and a unified Germany.  And Ukraine.  The former SSRs to the South are also independent if not democratic.

Putin, former member of the KGB, hated Gorbachev, thinking him weak, although it is becoming clear which leader is the weaker.  Few men and women accomplish so much to make the world a better place as Mr. Gorbachev.

Oh, yeah, and Queen Elizabeth died.  It's been on TV.  And on TV.  And on TV.

Yard Signs

It is a firm belief among some political consultants that yard signs are not important.  The mantra is “signs don’t vote.”  These consultants tend to emphasize television ads and social media contacts.  A prime example of this type of thinking was during the Clinton campaign of 2016, when we were painting homemade signs for Clinton in our shed because the campaign didn’t provide any.  On a trip home that fall from State College we saw hundreds of Trump signs and maybe five or six for Clinton.  Believe me, signs matter.  In rural areas that is the main way to campaign.

This year we do have signs for Shapiro, who is running for Governor of Pennsylvania, and Fetterman, the U.S. Senate candidate.  We also have yard signs for Susan Wild, our Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives.  We don’t have any for Richard Kost, our Democratic candidate for the PA House seat, but that is because we don’t have the money.  Campaigns these days cost money.  Lots of money.

I am one of the volunteers trying to get the signs in people’s yards.  Yard signs along the road are less meaningful.  Any fool can put those up.  Signs in people’s yards show commitment. 

Debating political issues

Today’s Times featured a column with advice from Bo Seo, a two-time debating world champion.  I have no idea who decides who is the world champion, but Mr. Seo offers some excellent advice, including asking yourself before you get into a debate–is this something worth arguing about?

He also says that once you decide to argue, know what it is you are arguing about.  Determine the fact or the judgement you would like someone else to accept.  

He notes that a coach told him that tearing down the other team is not the same as proving your point.  In the coach’s words, “No amount of no is going to get you to yes.”  

I get all of that.  I also know that some topics are easier to debate than others.  If I think the best way to reduce inflation is for the Fed to raise the interest rate, while you think the Administration should cut spending, we could probably have a reasoned debate, especially if each of us could cite examples and past experience.  

On the other hand, suppose your debating partner says the 2020 presidential election was stolen.  You say, “Where is your evidence?  He says, “I know it was stolen” or cites some bogus claim that Biden votes were brought into Detroit in suitcases.  Your best strategy there is to walk away.  You can’t fix stupid. 

Biden's MAGA speech

In his recent speech in Philadelphia Biden certainly was correct that what is happening in the U.S. today is not normal.  I agree with him that the MAGA movement is a threat to democracy.  People who reject election results because they lost have no clue about how a democratic system is supposed to work.

Nonetheless, I wish Biden had not said it.  Immediately Republicans, including “moderates,” jumped on the speech as “divisive” and a critique of all party members, even though Biden took pains to differentiate normal Republicans from MAGA Republicans. 

The problem is that Biden accomplished almost nothing with the speech.  No minds were changed.  MAGA Republicans will follow Trump no matter what he does.  Moderate Republicans will retain their Republican identity and even vote for MAGA candidates because of a misguided sense of party loyalty.

What Biden needs to do is to remind Democrats to remain vigilant, to defend fair and free elections, and to vote.

Isolated Americans

A common theme among sociologists studying American polarization is that our social fabric is fraying.  An early example of this was Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone,” which pointed out that community groups like the Moose or the Elks were dying out.  Mainline churches are sparsely attended, and people no longer share the experience of a movie in a theater.  

Institutions that once brought together people from different social groups (the army, the public high school) no longer perform this function.  Private or charter schools siphon off the wealthy, while the armed forces are drawn mainly from rural areas and the bottom half of the population.  

Facebook and social media also share the blame for the lack of face-to-face interaction.  People insult each other on Twitter and Facebook in a way they would never do in an actual conversation.

I see another problem.  We seldom interact with each other in our daily commerce.  Notice how many people use a card at the pump to purchase gas.  Think about all of the goods that are bought on-line.  Look at the number of meals that are delivered rather than eaten in restaurants.  Consider the number of banks that are closing because people do their banking on-line.  Our grocers, waiters, gas station attendants, tellers–gone. 

Small interactions help us connect.  I don’t know the names of many of the people who brightened my day, but those contacts were important.  Years later I remember the Vietnamese lady at Pete’s Gas Station in San José who set aside the chocolate pops for me.  I miss the tellers at Key Bank in Kresgeville.  Every year there are fewer and fewer of these contacts.  It isn’t just Covid, either.  Those interactions were decreasing long before Covid, and the trend will continue.

The purpose of a queen

Americans, although fascinated by royalty (e.g., the Princess Diane cult), often fail to see the point of having a king or queen.  There is a good reason.

Democracies have a head of government and a head of state.  The head of government is the political head, often called a prime minister or a premier.  She or he makes appointments to departments, usually controls the ruling political party, proposes programs or policies, and determines the direction of the country.  In the U.S. that is Biden.

The head of state is the symbolic head of the country.  She or he presides at the opening of the legislative branch, visits wounded troops in hospitals, gives speeches on patriotic occasions, and is the mother or father figure for the people.  In the U.S. that is Biden.

You see the problem.  In Japan people can love the Emperor and hate the prime minister.  In Israel they can love the President and hate the prime minister.  In Germany they can love the President and hate the Chancellor.  Almost every country does this except the U.S., and it makes Americans schizophrenic.  How could I respect and revere Trump as head of state while I loathed and distrusted him as head of the government?

We need a queen.

Stealing documents from your employer

Suppose you are working for a company that is developing a more efficient electric car battery.  Unfortunately you are lousy at your job, and you are fired.  You then, just before you leave, take boxes of engineering reports out of the office.  

This is why you often see fired employees given a small container for their personal items and escorted to the door by security guards.

That’s how Trump should have been escorted from the White House.  

Keith Olbermann and Jim Thorpe

Podcaster Keith Olbermann recently reviewed Path Lit by Lightening by David Maraniss.  Olbermann wrote this:

The last of his three wives–in what Maraniss decisively shows was a cross between a final publicity grab and a full-fledged grift–effectively spirited away Thorpe’s body hours before its intended burial in sacred ground in his native Oklahoma, and sold it to two small towns that were willing to merge and adopt as their new name “Jim Thorpe, PA.”  There are many in sports who believe the this macabre ending was righted a long time ago, but sadly Maraniss has to dispel this by confirming that the court ruling sending Thorpe’s remains home was overturned on appeal.

This is wrong on a number of levels.  First of all, the recent court ruling overturned an attempt by two Oklahoma tribes that were trying to get Jim Thorpe’s body back so it could be interred next to a casino as a tourist draw.  

Secondly, a number of Jim Thorpe's close descendants supported the town in the recent lawsuit.  They were pleased with the way the town honored Thorpe.  For just one example, the high school sports teams are called the Olympians, not the “Indians” or the “Redskins.”

Finally, the town of Jim Thorpe has treated Jim Thorpe’s remains with great respect.  Interpretive signs at the tomb detail his life, and the tomb itself is simple and dignified with statues of Thorpe as a young man.  I have never seen visitors who weren’t respectful.

Third, when the town celebrates Thorpe’s birthday, local Indians participate.  Evidently they do not find this situation “macabre.”

Doing their best to heat up the planet

In August the Treasurer of West Virginia announced that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo would be barred from government contracts with West Virginia. 

The reason?  Those banks are reducing their investment in coal.  

Louisiana and Arkansas have pulled investments from BlackRock, an investment managing firm they believe is too focused on environmental issues.  Republican state treasurers have organized to pull investments from companies they regard as too “woke” on the environment.

These officials ignore droughts, floods, species extinction, and costs to agricultural as long as they can make a political statement.

This planet is doomed.

See David Gelles, “G.O.P. Treasurers Work to Thwart Climate Actions,” New York Times, (August 6, 2022), p. A1, A16.

Paddling kids

I sometimes work as a docent in the Kibler School, a one-room school museum located in Carbon County, Pennsylvania.  Occasionally when I show the two paddles we have in the school, a visitor, usually older, will say, “Those were the good old days when teachers were allowed to punish kids.”

I was a student in one-room schools when teachers were allowed to paddle kids.  “Paddle” doesn’t sound so bad compared to say, whipping or beating, but it could be traumatic.  I saw a teacher take a kid’s head, bend the kid over, and bang his head on the floor.  I saw a girl so scared at the blackboard that she urinated, the urine forming a pool at her feet as the entire class sat there, stunned and silent.  I saw my sister complain of frequent “tummy aches,” trying to get out of school because she was afraid her teacher would paddle her.

In August a Missouri school district announced that it was resuming the practice of corporal punishment in its schools.  Nineteen states, mostly in the South, allow corporal punishment.  Nearly 4,000 schools reported using corporal punishment during the 2017-18 school year.  If an adult hit another adult with a wooden board, that would be assault.  When an adult hits a kid in 19 states, that’s called discipline.

See Michael Levenson, “Paddling Makes a Comeback in Missouri,” New York Times (Aug. 29, 2022), p. A19.

Another nutty Republican candidate

In New Hampshire Don Bolduc, a retired Army general running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, has called for the the repeal of the 17th Amendment.

The 17th Amendment was adopted in 1913.  It was supported by the Populist Party and by the Progressive movement.  Before the adoption state legislators selected the U.S. Senators.  The Senators, as you might expect, were invariably from the party that controlled the state legislature.  

Popular opinion was sometimes consulted, but then ignored.  The Republican ticket in Illinois in 1858 received over 50% of the statewide vote, but at the same time enough Democrats were elected to the legislature to send Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate rather than Abraham Lincoln. 

State legislators do not reflect the popular will.  In Pennsylvania, as in many other states, the party in power gerrymanders the districts.  Republicans get fewer votes statewide but control the legislature by large majorities.

Prior to the 17th Amendment state legislatures were also dens of corruption.  Senators were bought and sold.  Of course that problem no longer occurs, he said with a wink.

And now this goofball in New Hampshire wants to repeal the 17th amendment, making an already undemocratic institution (compare the populations of CA and WY) even more so.  He seems to be leading.  The Republican primary is September 13.  Stay tuned.