"One Love"

I finally saw the Bob Marley biopic entitled “One Love.”  I have the T-shirt and a necklace with the lion, and now I’ve seen the film.  Brad Pitt was a producer, and the main actors were very good. ”Let’s get together and feel all right.”

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki

Name three prominent Republicans who have the integrity to defy Trump.  I said three because I can only think of two–Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney.  They both paid a price for their opposition to Trump.  Cheney lost her re-election bid, and Romney is not running again.  On the other hand, they retained their integrity and can sleep with a clear conscience.  Two.

Now name 20 Republicans who are fully aware that Trump is incompetent, a danger to America and the world, and should never be allowed near the Oval Office.  The 20 Republicans you name should also be reasonably intelligent, are familiar with Trump’s actions, and must know he is a charlatan.  They may have been critical of him in the past, like J.D. Vance or Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, but now, for their sheer self-interest and cowardice, they suck up to him.  You can go down the list of Republican governors, Senators, or Representatives.  The list will grow long.

And now Nikki Haley.  I feel like the newsboy who confronted “Shoeless” Joe Jackson of the Chicago “Black Sox” after the World Series cheating scandal.  “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”  I’m that little boy:  “Say it ain’t so, Nikki.”

Unfortunately it is.   

The Wild West (in Columbus, Ohio)

So, here’s the scoop.  Mr. Keys and his wife were getting into their car after a Father’s Day visit with Mrs. Keys’s grandparents.  A 72-year-old neighbor came out carrying a rifle.  He believed that Mr. Keys had let the air out of his daughter’s tires and poisoned his lawn.  That’s the first gun.

Mr. Keys was carrying a pistol in his waistband.  That’s the second gun.  His father-in-law tried to disarm the guy with the rifle and knocked him down, but in the meantime another relative ran into the house to get a .22 rifle.  That’s gun number three.  

Mrs. Keys ducked behind the car to call 911 when she heard gunshots, multiple gunshots.  Some ex-marine across the street had opened up with a ghost gun assault rifle, gun number four.  He hit Mr.Keys five times and killed him.  

Trump wants to eliminate all the paltry gun safety measures that the Biden administration enacted.  I’m not sure that would make much difference in any case.  While I’m on the subject of Trump and his proposal, why are attendees at his rallies not allowed to bring their guns in?  What’s with that?  Is the Trump campaign willing to trample on the 2nd Amendment?

Info from the shootout in Columbus, Ohio, is from a page one article in the May 21 issue of the New York Times.  In another indicator of life in our times, somebody had filmed the entire episode.

Not On Our Dime

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed a bill that would strip New York nonprofits of their tax exempt status if their funds are used to support settlement activity on the West Bank.  Right-wing fanatics are building illegal settlements on the West Bank, committing atrocities against Palestinians, and doing their best to drive out the inhabitants.  One of those right-wing fanatics sits on Netanyahu’s cabinet, and Netanyahu depends on the parties backing the settlements to stay in power.

The West Bank Jewish settlers, some of whom won’t even serve in the Israeli Army, are a main impediment to peace.  Secretary of State Blinken said the settlements in Palestinian territories are “ inconsistent with international law.”  The U.S. has imposed sanctions of some of the settlers accused of violence against Palestinians. 

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee opposes the Not On Our Dime bill.  Of course it does.

I do not want to be behind this guy in the checkout line

We were in Schuylkill County today.  Just east of the town of Schuylkill Haven a guy has a sign in his yard that says “I’m paying out the ass for Joe Biden’s policies.”

Now I can’t get this image out of my head.

Pronouns

I’ve been a member of the American Civil Liberties Union since I was an undergraduate at Ursinus College in the early Sixties, although I did quit for a time after the Santa Clara County Chapter defended the right of prostitutes to work in our neighborhood near San Jose State.  Would-be customers would cruise the streets and proposition female students.  Eventually I did rejoin ACLU, and I’ve been a member for decades.

The latest newsletter just arrived, and it has pictures and descriptions of some of the volunteers along with their desired pronouns.  Since there is little reason to ever contact these people personally, and since no one will remember their names anyway, what is the reason for listing their desired pronouns?  It is to show how “with it,” how sensitive, how caring ACLU is.

When I am introduced to someone, I sometimes have trouble remembering his or her name five minutes later.  Now you want me to remember pronouns as well.  This is why people make fun of “progressives.” 

Union busting in the South

Workers in the Mercedes-Benz plant outside of Tuscaloosa are voting on whether to join the U.A.W.  Southern politicians, depending on low-wage workers to fill their factory jobs, are in an uproar.  Republican governors of six states (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee) issued a statement in April criticizing unions as “special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.”  

The values they live by evidently include keeping workers at the mercy of large corporations and forbidding them to bargain as a group.  Alabama’s Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives called the U.A.W. “leeches” and pushed through a law that denies funding to any company that voluntary recognizes a union.  

Mercedes has already fired workers who supported the union.  

Information for this article was taken in part from Jack Ewing, “Turning Point As Auto Union Eyes Alabama, New York Times, (May 17, 2024), pp. A1, A20.  Anger and disgust with the South are my own personal views