"Alt-Right"

Recently I listened to a course from the Teaching Company on the subject of English in America.  The professor emphasized that new words enter the language constantly.  Every year a group of linguists votes on a “word of the year.”  It would not surprise me if the word of the year for 2016 was “alt-right.”

Fortunately, some new words don’t last.  “Alt-right” is short for “alternative right,” and it is used to describe people like Trump’s White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon.  

Here’s is what Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, a conservative magazine, said about the term.  He explained he was not opposed to using it as long as it was applied to a specific group.  In Lowry’s words, quoted in the New York Times, the term should be reserved for “people who are obsessed with race and, in one form or another, are white supremacists.”

In this blog I will not use the term “alt-right.”  I will use terms like “white supremacist” or “racist” or “neo-Nazi.”  Let’s call them what they are.

A right to be scared

Last night at a meeting of the Executive Board of the Palmerton Area Historical Society, I was handed a picture of the White House with a big Trump sign on top in shiny gold letters.  I think everyone on the board knows my politics, and they assured me it was all in good fun.

I said I was sure it was, but nonetheless I was very frightened.  I said some of my former students and my friends could be deported, and many of the remarks Trump made during the campaign scared me.  A couple of the members scoffed.  “It was just campaign rhetoric,” and “It won’t be that bad.”

Let me quote three front page headlines in the Times today.

“Trump’s Threat to Close Door Reopens Old Wounds in Cuba”

“Fierce Crtitic of Health Care Law Said to Be Pick for Health Dept.”

“Plan to Revive Waterboarding Faces Obstacles:  A Trump Campaign Vow”

Yeah, I’m scared.  I have a right to be scared, as any reasonable person should be.

Hunting with semi-automatics

Gov. Wolf signed HB 263, a new law to allow the use of semi-automatic rifles for hunting.  The law gives the Game Commission the power to regulate “sporting rifles” for various game species.

Some hunters say this will allow them to take a quick follow-up shot to finish off a wounded animal.

Wouldn’t it make even more sense to use fully automatics?  You just hold down the trigger and the weapon keeps firing.  Wouldn’t hunters be much more effective?  Why isn’t the NRA pushing for this?  

RPGs would be even more effective.  You could really blast a deer with a rocket-propelled grenade.  The Second Amendment says you have the right to bear arms.  It doesn’t forbid RPGs, does it?  

Go Back To Your Own Country

On Friday evening my neighbors and their two girls went to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” at the Mahoning Valley Cinema.  The kids in the row behind them kept crinkling their candy wrappers, and my neighbors asked them politely to stop doing that.  

They did, but after the movie the mother of the kids confronted my neighbors and said, “That was very rude of you.  My kids eat candy at the movies, and they can make noise if they want to.”

My neighbor, an immigrant from India, said, “No, that’s why there is an announcement to turn off your cell phones before the movie starts.”

At this the woman said in a very loud voice, “Why don’t you go back to your own country.”  I think she was expecting support from the people around her.

Now, here is the good part.  A woman behind her said, “That is unacceptable.  We are a small community here, and that is not the way to behave.”  Other people stated agreement and apologized to my neighbors for the woman’s behavior.  She left the theater in a hurry.  The manager heard about the incident and offered my neighbor free tickets to another movie.  A local clergyman added his apology.  

All right, Lehighton.  My neighbor said he was quite surprised by the support, and quite touched.  So am I.

Schadenfreude

According to the Times today, quite a few Trump supporters are now worried that they will lose their medical insurance.

If you don’t know what “schadenfreude” means, look it up.  I’m feeling it.

A grant for Weatherly from Heffley and Yudichak

According to today’s Times News, “State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon, and State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, announced today that the borough of Weatherly will receive $1 million in state grant funding.”

Did they get that money personally?  Does that state grant funding come out of their own pockets?  That’s the impression I get.  

Why Weatherly?  Why would some Carbon County boroughs deserve a grant more than others?  The whole grant process is shot through with arbitrary favoritism and incumbency protection.  Does Pennsylvania have that much money that it can dole out a million bucks to Weatherly?

I personally think Weatherly is an interesting town, but so is Summit Hill, or Lansford, or Nesquehoning, all towns in Carbon County that could use a boost. 

Sore winners

My friend Rene coined a new term.  He called this evening and noted that Trump supporters are still angry.  They are angry that Clinton supporters aren’t happy.  They are angry that everyone isn’t praising Donald Trump.  They are angry that Clinton won a plurality of the vote, approximately 2 million more American voters than Trump.  They are angry that Trump is being questioned about his taxes, or his businesses, or his so-called university, or his connections to neo-Nazis.

Rene’s new term is “sore winner.”  We’ve all heard about sore losers, but this election has brought us sore winners.  Sad.

Note:  I won’t post tomorrow night.  It’s a holiday.  I need a break.