When Brexit passed in 2016 I began to think that Trump might win. It was such a stupid vote that I thought it could be an omen of what would happen later that year in our presidential election.
Now the incompetent anti-environmental leader of Brazil lost an election in spite of his attempts to rig the vote. Could this be a harbinger? One can only hope.
What kind of candidate takes out an ad on an anti-Semitic social media platform? What kind of candidate talked about “Christian nationalism,” although he now downplays it? What kind of candidate puts a New Testament bible verse reference on his campaign signs.
That would be Doug Mastriano.
Incidentally, Jews make up 2.4% of the population of the U.S. According to F.B.I statistics of 2020, Jews were the recipients of 54.9% of all religiously motivated hate crimes.
Yesterday Exxon, Mobile, and Chevron, largest U.S. oil companies, announced the fourth consecutive quarter of profits. Are the companies investing their profits in in production and refining?
Actually no. They have been giving increases in dividends and engaging in stock buybacks. Amazingly, the income of the world’s oil and natural gas producers will double in 2022 from 2021, to four trillion dollars.
You might remember that the next time you are at the gas pump and hear someone blame Biden for high gas prices.
See Clifford Krauss, “Oil Giants Rack Up Profits and Face Fire,” New York Times (Oct. 29,. 2022), pp. B1, B4.
All reasonable people are disgusted by the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Unfortunately this country has fewer and fewer reasonable people. When even members of Congress can’t bring themselves to denounce political violence, or continue to claim the 2020 election was stolen, or are afraid to offer even a mild criticism of Trump, we can expect the kind of attack that occurred in Nancy Pelosi’s home.
I have admired Speaker Pelosi for decades. I have the honor to be called on the carpet by Ms. Pelosi. I won’t get into details, but at the time I was the Chair of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party and Pelosi was the state Democratic Chair. I was publicly critical of a party policy, and Nancy Pelosi called me and said something to the effect of “Roy, can’t you just keep your mouth shut?” I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I think it was something to the effect of “Yes, ma’am.”
My state representative in Harrisburg is Republican Doyle Heffley. Mr. Heffley was first elected in 2010, running on a platform of property tax reform. He has been in office 12 years, part of that time with a Republican governor and both houses of the state legislature in Republican control. Pennsylvania still has an unfair property tax system, and school district incomes depend on whether the district is located in a rich or poor area.
This year Mr. Heffley is running on a platform of property tax reform. He does that every two years like clockwork. Nothing changes.
His opponent, Richard Kost of Palmerton, has no wealthy campaign donors. Kost also is not beholden to PACs, party leaders, or Trump. He is a regular guy who believes in public service. He is not glib, but he is honest. He graduated from Kutztown University with a degree in political science. He is a NASCAR fan, but I can overlook that small flaw.
I’m voting for Kost. (Actually, I did already–by mail.)
I’m pleased that the Progressive Caucus pulled its letter calling for a negotiated settlement on Ukraine. I am disappointed that the “progressives” wrote it in the first place. Do they really think Putin is interested in compromise, in negotiations? Was he satisfied after he took Crimea? Would someone who separates children from their parents, then puts them up for adoption, be happy to negotiate? Would someone who launches a terror campaign say, “OK, I’m satisfied now. Let’s all sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya.” I don’t think so.
I knew about the Japanese attack on Attu, one of the Aleutian Islands in the early days of World War II. What I didn’t know until I read an article in the magazine American Indian was that 40 natives were captured and taken to Japan, where 16 of the detainees and four of five children born there died before the war’s end.
The U.S. military also took almost 900 native Americans living in the combat zone to internment camps, ostensibly for their protection. Approximately 10% of the evacuees died in those camps.
In 2018, on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Attu, descendants of Attuans, and Japanese and American soldiers met in Anchorage to commemorate the battle.
See William C. Meadows, “Attu’s Lost Village,” American Indian, (Fall 2022), pp. 22-29.
I refuse to watch debates. They tell you nothing new about the candidates. If a candidate messes up in some way (Nixon sweats, Ford blows an answer about Soviet client states, Trump moves behind Clinton to throw off her concentration), those moments decide a race.
If you can’t tell the difference by now between Fetterman and Oz, and you need tomorrow’s debate to help you make up you mind (ooh, a gaffe; oops, a misstatement; ouch, a blunder), you ought not be voting.
I can tell you now for whom I will be voting in the Presidential election in 2024. The Democrat. The parties differ on women’s rights, on voting rights, on foreign policy, on environmental policy, on global warming, on health care issues, on Social Security, and on so many other issues. The specific nominees for the Demos and Reps won’t matter–in two years the party ideology will be roughly what it is now. You don’t need a debate to figure it out.
There are credible reports that Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Mastriano doesn’t like Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate for Senate. This is not surprising. Oz is a Muslim and Mastriano is a self-proclaimed “Christian nationalist” who features a reference to a Bible verse on his campaign signs.
Oz, although running with the blessing of Trump, says that Biden has been elected legitimately. Mastriano chartered a bus on Jan. 6 to overturn the election.
Today we saw a Mastriano sign along the road, and next to it someone had pulled out an Oz sign and threw it down. I am sure that some Democrats steal or destroy signs, but I have a feeling that ripping down an Oz sign and leaving a Mastriano sign smacks more of something a Mastriano supporter would do.
We replaced the signs “Brandon Won–by 7 million votes” we used in the last two Halloween parades with new pink signs that said “Defend Choice–Vote!” We didn’t get as many angry Republicans and cheering Democrats, but the signs were more to the point of what this election is about.
Jim Thorpe is also a friendlier town for Dems, and, in fact, contains the only precinct in Carbon County that gave Biden a majority in 2020. Did we change any minds? Did we get even one more vote? Hard to say, but we did give aid and comfort to all the Democratic spectators. It is always disheartening when your side doesn’t see any support. We provided that support and lifted spirits.
In Pennsylvania you can vote by mail, but you have to put your ballot inside a “secrecy” envelope which you must date and sign. You stick that into another envelope and send it in. If you forget to date the “secrecy” envelope, it’s not supposed to count.
It is not supposed to count even though the postmark on the outer envelope shows you mailed it before the election.
Since more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail, chances are that more Democratic ballots would be tossed. And that is why the date requirement was enacted by Republican legislators.
If you are driving to the Registrar’s office to take in your ballot, and your wife asks you to take her ballot along, and you do that, according to Pennsylvania law, you are committing voter fraud. You can be arrested for that. Since more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail, chances are that more Democrats will be affected by that strange regulation. And that is why the requirement was enacted by Republican legislators.
What do Mr. Bognet, Ms. Schaller, and Mr. Meuser have in common? All three are rich people who decided that wealth is a qualification to represent Pennsylvania in congress, especially since they have enough money to fund their campaigns and buy their seats.
Meuser is already in Congress, where he rails against crime and immigrants and hasn’t a clue about how to make the world, the country, or his state better. He moved twice to be in a district where Republicans routinely win.
Schaller ran a manufacturing plant in Lansford until she decided unionized workers were getting paid too much and moved the operation to China.
Bognet is a nothing burger whose main contribution is to run misleading commercials against his moderate opponent Matt Cartwright. Think of Bognet as Meuser light.
I could add Dr. Oz to this list, and I’m sure you can think of others. And yet people keep voting for these jerks.
I decided to join the 21st century and buy a mobile phone. My friend Debbie helped me activate it tonight. I think crooks call it a “burner” phone. I get 60 minutes to talk each month for $19.99, which seems expensive, although I doubt I’ll need more time than that. I can also take photos and text people, although that seems complicated.
It has occurred to me that if I don’t give out the number, I won’t get many calls, so don’t expect me to give out the number.
According to a new poll, a majority of Americans are concerned about the future of democracy in this country, but well below half rank that as an important issue in the upcoming election.
In the 1956 film “Forbidden Planet” a group of astronauts lands on a planet formerly inhabited by an extinct civilization. We learn that the highly advanced people on this planet had invented a machine that could transform thoughts into real life materiality. Unfortunately, deep down they harbored very human emotions of hatred and revenge, thoughts they had repressed and never expressed.
These thoughts were manifested into monsters, and very quickly the entire “civilization” ended in a wave of violence.
“Social” media is something like that machine. People can spew the worst thoughts that in earlier times might be buried deep in their subconscious but now are allowed to spring forth unfiltered. While this probably won’t lead to our extinction, it just might lead to the extinction of democracy.
Yesterday I drove in the Lehighton Halloween parade; today the Palmerton Parade. In both parades I had large signs taped to the sides of the truck that said, “Brandon Won” and below that, “by 7 million votes.”
The Trumpists sputtered and the Dems loved it. One lady started chanting “Let’s go Brandon,” but stopped immediately when I gave her a thumbs up. One guy did yell “Biden sucks and so do you” at the Lehighton Parade, and today a guy yelled, “I’d be ashamed to drive that truck,” but the response was almost all laughter and approval, no doubt from Democrats.
Remember that “Yankee Doodle” was sung by British soldiers to make fun of the Americans during the American Revolution. The Americans then adopted it as their own. That’s what I’m doing with “Let’s go, Brandon.” It drives the Trumpists nuts.
This afternoon I am driving my pickup truck in the Lehighton Halloween parade. We have netting (for spider webs) and large black plastic spiders for decorations. On the back is a huge two-sided sign with pictures of Shapiro, Fetterman, and Susan Wild. On the doors are signs that say, “Brandon Won” and in smaller letters “by seven million votes.”
We have four walkers to pass out candy and dog biscuits to the kids and dogs along the route. In previous years we sometimes received nasty comments, even curses. This is, after all, Trumpist country. I think the Brandon signs will really irritate them. I certainly hope so.
Campaigning is tiring. And stressful. And scary, at least in Penna.
Saturday is the Lehighton Halloween parade, where I'll be driving my truck for the Carbon Dems. Until then, I'm on break. Back Saturday.
In the Eighties I was upset that Walmart was destroying the fabric of small towns. It would put up a giant store at the edge of town, sell goods cheaper than the local stores could sell them, and drive these stores out of business. Customers decided that they would rather save money than support their local merchants, and soon downtowns all across America were full of vacant storefronts.
I have never shopped at a Walmart. Screw Walmart.
I believe that social media has been a major factor in the decline of democracy in the U.S. Look at what Trump did with Twitter. Look at how the Proud Boys and similar groups were able to organize.
Screw Facebook.
I just read that many people are irritated by giant warehouses built in their towns. I wonder how many of those people are buying packages from Amazon.
If you don’t like something, reject it. You don’t really need it.
The first time I heard of "Indigenous People's Day" was when my daughter was attending Berkeley High. I thought it was such a wonderful way to celebrate the day formerly known as Columbus Day. I wouldn't tear down statues of Columbus, but I don't feel much like celebrating his arrival either.
I took our friend Anne, visiting from Belgium, to a local grocery store to buy some yogurt and a few other small items. I usually take along some reusable bags, but I forgot. When the clerk bagged our items in plastic bags, Anne expressed surprise. "You still allow plastic bags?" Belgium banned plastic bags about four years ago.
It is now 10:20 p.m. The temperature is 40 degrees, and we may have a frost. Not to worry. We picked all of the hot peppers–jalapeños, habaneros, Scotch bonnets, chiles (lots of chiles), cherry, and Hungarian wax. We just cut the whole plants off and threw them in the back of the pickup. No time to pick the individual peppers. Now we can pick them off the plants at leisure in the cellar.
The question is, what will I do with a bushel or more of hot peppers. People in this area are not really into hot peppers. The bigger question is, why did I grow them?
A friend from Belgium is visiting us, and today she took a hike along Station Street. She noted that one of the houses had beautiful flowers in front, and she thought about going up to take a photo, but the lot was plastered with "no trespassing" signs.
How different it was when I was growing up. You could walk across Norm Strohl's, Amos Strohl's, and Harry Graver's fields with no problem. You could knock on their doors with no problem. No doorbell took your picture. No warning was transmitted. No sign said "keep out."
Today those fields have been subdivided. "Developed" is often the word used. Some city slicker moves in and by God will guard that property like a medieval lord protecting his castle.
In today’s Morning Call an Allentown City Councilwoman wrote about a time when she was homeless. She described how bad it was and called upon the city to do more about the problem.
I understand. When we moved to California (with wife, kid, brother-in-law) in 1970 we had no jobs lined up, no place to stay. I immediately began looking for an apartment. What is the first question a landlord asks? “Where are you employed?” I also started answering want ads. What is the first question a potential employer asks?” “What is your address?”
You are caught in a very bad loop. Of course, had we really been desperate and living in our car, I would have appealed to my parents. I also lucked out finding a landlord who took pity on us and rented an apartment even though we were unemployed. Nonetheless, I do understand how it can happen.
Conservative legal scholars have come up with a weird theory on how the Supreme Court should act. It is called “originalism,” and the idea is that the Court must rule exactly the way the Founding Fathers wanted it to rule.
Of the three branches discussed in the Constitution, Article III, discussing the Judiciary, is the shortest. You can read it in a few minutes. Nowhere is judicial review mentioned. Nowhere does it say that the Court can declare a law unconstitutional.
The first time the Court declared an action unconstitutional was in 1803, and it involved the appointment of a minor official. The second time was the Dred Scott decision, in which said African-Americans could never be citizens.
The Court and the conservative “originalists” might want to reconsider their doctrine.
Dave Foreman, founder of Earth First!, died earlier this week. Earth First! was founded in 1980, and its motto, also Foreman's idea, was "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth."
This was the group that slashed logging truck tires, put sugar into bulldozer gas tanks, and pushed a philosophy called "deep ecology." Deep ecology says nature has value whether or not it is useful to man.
The F.B.I. started a file on the group and arrested Foreman for terrorism. The charges were dropped when it was revealed that the agents had encouraged sabotage. Foreman did plead guilty to a misdemeanor for giving the agents his book Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching.
I used that book for one of the readings in my political philosophy class at San José State. My Earth First! tee shirt features a large rattlesnake. Don't tell the F.B.I.
Mud Run flows into the Lehigh River in Lehigh Gorge State Park. It is a long meandering creek that forms part of the boundary between Penn Forest and Kidder townships. Kidder Township, not noted for its commitment to the environment, gave preliminary approval to a developer to parcel out a tract along Mud Run. The property has been held by a fishing club Now it will be converted into large lots with high end houses.
According to an article by Chris Reber in the Times News, the developer is a partnership “committed to conservation focused on low density havens.”
Right. The lots will be priced between $600,000 and $$850,000 each. Builders will have on-lot septic systems. They will have asphalt driveways with impermeable surfaces. They will cut the forest into chunks. They will create run-off. They will disturb a large natural area. The good news is that this will make a developer wealthier and allow rich people to pretend they care about nature.
We bought six large signs, about 4 x 4 feet, with pictures of Josh Shapiro, running for Governor, John Fetterman, running for U.S. Senate, and Susan Wild, running for the House. We put one up on Route 209 between Nesquehoning and Lansford. This is not easy: you need metal stakes, a sledge hammer to drive them in, a step ladder, and plastic ties.
Today when we went by, we saw the sign had been stolen. The metal stakes were still in place.
It would not surprise me at all if two or three Mastriano signs disappeared tonight.
China, having over-fished waters off its coast, is now sending its fishing fleet to oceans around the world. Its market for fish includes endangered species–recently Ecuador seized a Chinese refrigerated cargo ship with 6,620 sharks on board. The fins are a delicacy in China.
I don’t understand why Chinese consumers don’t act to help the sharks. On the other hand, Americans continue to eat octopuses, even though they are among the smartest animals in the world. You can’t kill a feral cat without getting into trouble in the U.S., yet you can eat an octopus. That makes no sense to me.
