Religious exemptions for measles vaccines

Spartanburg, South Carolina, is experiencing the largest measles outbreak to hit the U.S. since 2000.  One of the reasons is that people are getting “religious exemptions” for vaccinations for their children.  I’d say this was really Darwinian natural selection at work, except that it is happening to children who have no voice in the matter.

Let’s get something straight.  You do have freedom of religion.  You also have the right to be stupid, as many voters demonstrate far too often.  On the other hand, your religion may be restricted if it harms children or other people.  

Yes, if you are an adult, you may handle poisonous snakes in church.  If God loves you, maybe the snake won’t bite, although my advice is not to carry this too far by pinching the snake’s tail.  On the other hand, if you are a believer in “spare the rod and spoil the child” and then beat your kid with a bull whip until his back is lacerated and running with blood, you will be arrested for child abuse.  And you damn well should be. 

Let’s take this to its ridiculous limit.  Child sacrifice may have been permitted, even mandated in Mayan times, but NOT TODAY.  You can be cited if your kid is not in a proper seat belt, no matter what your religious belief.  You should not have a legal right to put your kid in harm’s way by denying that kid life-saving medical treatment.  I don’t give a damn what your religion says.

Kristi Noem and the Arrival of Spring

 Yesterday the first red-winged blackbirds of the season were feeding in our back yard.  The snow is almost melted.  A warm rain is falling tonight.

And Kristi Noem is no longer head of the Department of Homeland Security.  Now there’s a breath of fresh spring air.

Abusing women online

Germany, as you may know, has tough social media rules.  J. D. Vance has called those policies “Orwellian” and “lunacy.”  The Trump administration thinks that rules against antisemitism and racial slurs undercut free speech.

Now Secretary of State Rubio has banned two women from the group “Hate Aid” from entering the United States.  The group helps women demeaned on the internet. 

Rubio says the women are part of a “global censorship-industrial complex,” whatever that is, and if the women entered the U.S. it could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

This is the same administration that tried to get Jimmy Kimmel off the air, that put out a list of words and phrases like “transgender” and “climate change” that could no longer be used in government documents, that wants to remove certain books from schools and libraries, and that went after college students who carried signs in support of Palestinians.  Yeah, that group, so quick to defend free speech as long as it involves demeaning women.

I was about to write “amazing,” but it isn’t.  It’s the Trump administration.

See Adam Satariano, “Barred over Helping Women Abused Online, New York Times, (Mar. 4, 2026), p. B1, B6.

Preview for November's election

Because of a screw-up in the election procedures in Dallas, a judge in Texas extended the polling in Dallas for two hours after the official quitting time.  The ruling, as I understand it, only affected the Democratic primary.

Then Texas Attorney Ken Paxton, who is also a candidate for the U.S. Senate, went to a Texas Supreme Court judge and appealed the ruling.  That judge then said the votes of anyone after seven o’clock would have to be segregated.  There is a good chance they won’t count.

Republicans, who are constantly crying that the elections are rigged, rig elections.  I have yet to hear any Republicans complain when they win.  Elections are only rigged when they lose.

Hey Bro, THAT’S CALLED LOSING.  

Wait.  They will try all kinds of subterfuges in November.  We must be on guard.  That’s their motto:  “If you can’t win legitimately, cheat.”  It’s part of their mission statement.

The California Top-Two System Backfires

In 2011 California adopted the “top-two” system.  In the primary election the top two voter getters run in November with no possibility of a write-in.  I thought this system was un-democratic.  It meant that third parties like the Greens and Libertarians would never be on the fall ballot.  Many Democratic legislators, however, supported it, thinking Democrats would benefit.

This is what happens when you put short-term partisan interests above fairness and democratic values.  On June 2 the state holds its primary.  Polling shows five Democratic candidates for governor in a range between 14% and 10%.  No other Democratic candidates has more than 5%.  Undecided is at 10%.

What all that means is that the top two candidates will most likely be two Republicans.  Remember–no write-ins.

So liberal California may end up with a Republican governor.  FAFO.

See “Ballot Access News,” (Mar. 1, 2026), p. 1.

Did we win?

My New York Times was not delivered today.  No magazine.  No book reviews.  No Metropolitan section.  No Opinion section, which I really miss.  No Style section, but I really don’t care about that one or the section on real estate. 

But the front page–the news:  I depend on that.  So what happened?  Did we set up a new government in Iran?  I heard that the President, or whatever they call their Supreme Leader, was killed, but is there a functioning government?  Are we planning to install one?  Did we get all the oil?

I’d like to know.

A day that will live in infamy

That’s what if felt like this morning when I heard the news.  An attack right after negotiations.  No warning.  Except this time it kinda feels like we are the Imperial Japanese forces.