Rival conceptions of nationhood in the West

In an article entitled “Continental Drift” in the Aug. 17 issue of the New Yorker, Ian Buruma writes:

Since the nineteenth century, the Western world has been divided between two rival conceptions of nationhood:  the nation as a community of blood and faith, and the nation as a democratic state of citizens of equal rights.

That is one of the best summaries of the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats of today.  Listen to any speech by Trump or Hegseth or Vance, and you will hear the former.  Listen to any speech by any Democratic Senate candidate, and you will hear the latter.  

As the old labor song said, “Which side are you on, boys, which side are you on?”

 

Rounding up the "tonks"

I’ve heard that ICE agents are tired of being called “Gestapo.”  If that is the case, then they should quit acting like the Gestapo.  Agents are now referring to Mexican immigrants as “tonks.”  That is supposedly the sound made when one of those big flashlights is brought down on a Mexican immigrant’s head.  In light of that, Gestapo seems all too apt.

It is obvious that brown people are targets, whether American citizens or not.  And the rot starts at the top, where ICE administrators are issuing quotas of 3000 arrests a day.  And now our local municipalities are signing agreements to partner with ICE in return for funding.  

Hey Dumbass

It’s not your House.  We own it.  You rent it, and your lease expires on Jan. 20, 2028.  We will be inspecting for damages, and you will not only lose your deposit, but there will be additional charges for damage the damage to the East Wing and all that gold crap you put everywhere.

The Court of Appeals finally spelled it out for you, but we always knew it. Many of us have been tenants; some of us still are.  Any renter can tell you; there’s a lease with rules.  You have broken the rental agreement.  You will will be required to pay for all that damage.  Dumbass.

Intelligent parents

When I was looking through some old family records this morning, I found a smallpox vaccination certification dated June 21, 1947.  It was given by Dr. Kenneth G. Reinheimer, who had an office in Weissport, PA.  I was 4, and I don’t remember it, but I’m sure I cried.

We don’t need those any more because parents all over the globe had their kids vaccinated.  Smallpox has been eradicated.

I also found my sister’s and my polio vaccination records.  They were in 1956.  I was 13, and I remember that.  I didn’t cry.  The vaccine was made by Eli Lilly & Co.  Evidently there were three doses; at least that is what the certification says. 

In any case, I didn’t get polio.  I remember seeing those pictures of kids in iron lungs–the ones who didn’t die.  That was scary.

I did get measles.  We didn’t have a vaccine for measles in the 50s.  Or mumps.  Or whooping cough.  The medicine has advanced.  The parents have gotten dumber.

A question for any Republican running for the U. S. House or Senate

I saw an ad for Rep. Bresnahan tonight.  Some constituent was testifying about how Rep.Bresnahan cares.  Not he doesn’t.  He spent the last yer and a half supporting Trump’s every move.  Hold his feet to the fire.  

If you are ever at a campaign event with Bresnahan or any other candidate for the House or the Senate and have a chance to ask questions, just ask:

When Trump was tearing down the East Wing for a ballroom, why didn’t you speak up?

Or, when Trump was appointing people like Hegseth and Robert Kennedy Jr., why didn’t you speak up?

Or, when Trump was gutting the Endangered Species Act, why didn’t you speak up?

Notice that you can do this with literally hundreds of things Trump did or did not do.  Greenland, the war in Iran, the tariffs, the tax cuts for the rich, the pardoning of criminals, the claims of voter fraud, and on, and on.  Literally hundreds of bad things, and each one ends with this question:  WHY DIDN’T YOU SPEAK UP?

Watch the cowards squirm.

ICE agents and masks

Judges have now blocked state laws in both California and New York that would have prohibited ICE agents from wearing masks.  In both cases the courts ruled that immigration polices were federal, and that the feds could decide how to conduct their operations.

The question is why ICE agents should wear masks at all.  The claim is that people will harass the agents if they know their identities.  This, of course, is bullshit.  Our local cops don’t wear masks, and many of us know them, know where they live, know their families.  We do not harass our local police officers.  We support them.

There are a number of reasons why ICE agents wear masks:

*  They are harder to identify when they shoot people down in the street or 

conduct illegal search and seizure operations.

*  They look more intimidating when they are hiding their identities.

*  Some of them are actually embarrassed to be in an organization that is frequently compared to the Gestapo.

Our local police should not enter into partnerships with these thugs, no matter how much money ICE dangles in front of our local municipalities.

Our income tax penalties

We’ve been filing a joint income tax return since 1973, the year we got married.  Every year.  I fill out the return.  I don’t know much about tax policies, so we usually end up paying.  One year in the Seventies we had to sell our car to pay the tax.  We also don’t file quarterly.  Sometimes we get a penalty, but the paying the penalty is worth more than going through the rigamarole of filing four times a year.

A week ago I got a penalty of $160.05.  Not too bad.  The letter was addressed just to me.  Linda also received the exact same letter with a penalty of $160.05.  Since we filed a joint return that doesn’t seem right.  And since we don’t have a tax consultant, I must now attempt to call the I.R.S. to find out if a mistake was made.  

A few days after these letters arrived, I read this headline in the New York Times:  “Republicans Let Trump Keep an Unparalleled Benefit: I.R.S. Immunity.”  The article was by Andrew Duehren in the Aug. 6 issue on page A15.  And I find it very irritating.  I’m thinking of simply photocopying it and sending it along with a note that says, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander” and see what happens.