Gun Battle in Lehigh County

 On Thanksgiving Day a guy was driving in Lehigh County when another motorist passed him and almost collided with him.  The guy, who had four passengers including a child, then followed the car that had passed him, keeping his lights on high beam.  The first driver and the second driver ended up next to each other at Grape Street.  The first guy had a gun, so the second guy pulled out a gun, and they fired at each other.  

Did you get that?  The two drivers shot at each other.  A child in the second car was hit in the leg.

The Republican legislature in Harrisburg is trying to pass a bill that any Pennsylvanian could carry a concealed weapon, no permit needed.  

Did you get that?  Any Pennsylvanian could carry a concealed weapon, no permit needed.  

What a collection of idiots.

Access to voter lists

 If you have ever wondered why the Republican and Democratic parties have such a lock on the American electoral system, consider this example.

The state of Alabama gives a free list of registered voters to qualified parties (Reps and Dems), to state legislators, to the state administrative office of courts, and to election officials of other states.  

Let’s say you are a Libertarian Party activist trying to get enough signatures to qualify as a political party in Alabama.  You can also get the list of registered voters, only you have to pay $35,913.

This info is from the Dec. issue of Ballot Access News, the best newsletter in the country for 3rd party news and information.

"I did my own research"

 That was the message on some of the tombstones that people put in their yards as part of their Halloween decorations.  This brings up the question–should we troll the people who urged others not to get the Covid vaccines and then died of Covid?

According to an article in today’s Times, this has been happening with some regularity to people who use their social media messages to urge others not to get vaccinated or to spread misinformation and then die of Covid.

The ethics of this are questionable.  It is true that people who are urging others not to get a life-saving vaccine are culpable in the deaths of those who takes their advice.  Nonetheless, people who spread misinformation and then die usually have relatives or friends who are grieving their loss.  

I do have to admit a certain amount of schadenfreude when I hear about one of these cases.  It is hard not to celebrate when selfish people get their comeuppance.  Nonetheless, my advice would be to keep your “I told you so” to yourself.  

See Dan Levin, “Draping the Dead With Their Scorn,” New York Times, (Nov. 28, 2021), p. ST10.

Black Friday in Albany, New York

 We spent yesterday in Albany, first visiting the State Museum of New York.  The cafe and the gift shop were closed, but all of the exhibits were open and worth the visit.  Also, who knew New York had so many fantastic gems and minerals?  The 9/11 exhibit is excellent (and tear-inducing as well).  The museum is free; parking only $10.

In the afternoon we stopped in at the Art Institute, less than a mile from the State Museum.  The current shows include art from the Hudson River School (approximately 70 paintings), art of the Wyeth family (N.C., Andrew, and Jaime all featured), and a show of frocks from the 1920s (not my favorite).

Visitors in both museums were masked, and nobody was making a fuss about it.  New York has a much higher vaccination rate than Pennsylvania.  Refreshingly, we didn’t see one Trump sign, confederate flag, or rattlesnake flag asking people not to step on it, which seems unnecessary.

The Thanksgiving Holiday

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, we are driving to Albany, N.Y.  We plan to visit the Capitol on Friday as well as the State Museum of New York, returning on Saturday.  We will miss all the football, all the feasting and cooking and dishwashing that usually goes along with the holiday.  Last year we had a picnic in the car after hiking at Rickets Glen State Park; the year before that we went to the Utica Art Museum and a Revolutionary fort.  

I am taking my IPad, but don’t be surprised if I don’t post anything tomorrow or Friday night.  I often have trouble with WiFi.

Two thoughts:  Al Sharpton is a publicity hound who detracts from any event he is part of.  He was at the trial in Georgia mugging for the camera.  Never get between him and a tv camera, or he will run you over.  If you need an explanation of why I can’t stand the man, I will be happy to expound in a future post.

Secondly, NASA’s attempt to nudge an asteroid is simply amazing.  I can’t wait to see if it works.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

Judicial elections in Pennsylvania

Lehigh County is in an uproar about 250 mail-in ballots that came in without a date on the back of the envelope.  First of all, the law that mandates a date on the back of the envelope is silly anyway.  As long as the ballot gets to the Registrar before the election, what does it matter if it was sent on Oct. 22 or Oct. 24?

Since Democrats vote by mail more often than Republicans, the Republican judicial candidate doesn’t want the ballots counted.  The Democrat, however, thinks they should be counted.  A judge will decide, and his decision will be appealed by the candidate who loses in court.

The problem is bigger than 250 ballots, however.  The problem is that Pennsylvania elects its judges in partisan races, with Democrats running against Republicans, and with both sides accepting money from PACs and wealthy donors who expect “their” judges to issue opinions in their favor.  

It taints the whole process.  In the Lehigh County case, the opinion of the judge deciding the fate of the ballots will be suspect whichever way he rules.  Is he a Democrat or a Republican?  Even if that judge is neutral and tries to issue a judicious opinion, his decision will be suspect.

Most other states do not pick judges this way.  Pennsylvania, however, is always mired in the past, unable to reform judicial selection, school funding, legislative district drawing, marijuana laws, or the transportation system.  On the other hand, the legislature is working on a  bill to allow anyone to carry concealed weapons without a permit. 

Envoy Sage

 The Republican legislatures have picked a company to do their “forensic audit” of the 2020 Presidential election.  It is unclear to me if the company will also investigate the Republican legislative results.  

Envoy Sage is a new company, formed last year.  It has no experience with elections.  It was founded, I’m told, with funds from a Republican donor.  It will acquire personal information about Pennsylvania voters.

The worst part of this is that Republican legislators know there was no fraud.  They are doing this to continue the Big Lie.  It is a cynical ploy to throw red meat to the Trump bozos who still can’t get over the fact that Trump lost.  

The audit, by the way, will be paid for by Pennsylvania taxpayers.

Fake guns

 The Pocono Record published a story about a man in an East Stroudsburg Walmart parking lot who fired at least twice at Stroud Area Regional Police officers who had come to arrest him.  No one fired back.  

He was firing an “airsoft gun” with plastic and nonlethal bullets.  An officer close enough to the shooter heard the sound of the gun’s CO2 cartridge and radioed immediately to other officers that the gun was not real.

The Pocono Record had a photo on the front page of three guns and asked readers to pick out the two fakes.  To me they all looked real.

Here is one of those problems that confounds me.  Why can’t legislatures require air guns or pellet guns to be bright orange or be given some other distinguishing mark?  Surely this wouldn’t violate the Second Amendment.  Why is this country no longer solve even simple problems?

(The story and picture appeared on Nov. 17.)

Japanese Barberry

 Japanese Barberry was originally brought to the U.S. from Japan to be used as an ornamental shrub.  Deer don’t like it, and it is hardy.  Too hardy.  It is thorny, has red berries spread by birds, and is almost impossible to eradicate.  If you walk down Christman Trail in Beltzville State Park, you can see quite a lot of it.  (Oh yeah, the kind of ticks that carry Lyme disease seem to like it.)

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has finally gotten around to banning it, although the sales will phased out over the next two years so that nurseries can sell existing stock.

Any nursery that is still selling this plant should not be given any time to sell any of it.  It should have been banned 50 years ago.  Every environmentalist knew this plant was a disaster.  Here you had an obvious problem with an obvious solution, and the government, the nursery owners, and individuals who planted the damn thing did nothing until now. 

Info for this post is from “Pennsylvania Phasing in Ban of Invasive Japanese Barberry,” Lancaster Farming, (Nov. 20, 2021), p. A10.

Winning elections

 It’s fairly easy.  The Carbon County, Pennsylvania, Registrar of Voters released a list of 41 races in Carbon County that were won by write-in votes.  They included Borough Council seats, constables, judges of elections, inspectors of elections, auditors, and a tax collector.  A number of those offices were won by candidates with one vote each.  

I wrote my name in for Constable of Towamensing Township.  I have no idea what a Constable does, but I’m assuming from the name I’d be allowed to carry a gun and maybe shoot people.  I didn’t win.  Somebody named Beth Ritter Guth received nine write-in votes.  Next time I’ll have to campaign.

Professor or Comrade

 Here is a copy of a letter I am sending to Sen. Kennedy of Louisiana.

Dear Senator Kennedy:

I watched a clip of you questioning President Biden’s nominee for Comptroller of Currency.  I heard you ask her if you should call her Professor or Comrade.

I have the same problem.  I mean no disrespect, but should I call you Senator or Dipstick?

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

A contrast in Tamaqua

 On Tuesday evening the Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, school board expelled a student involved in a “hazing” incident.  Earlier the football team had forfeited a game because of the same incident.  

A Tamaqua area school district parent named Angela O’Donnell complained about the way the school district handled the issue, accusing the the board of a “coverup.”  She said bullying at the school was “getting out of control”  She even organized a walk-out of students.

On the other hand, here is what the father of the victim of the hazing incident said at the school board meeting, “I will tell everybody in this room right now, from the time I reported this incident, I had nothing but support and absolute transparency flowing from that school board as to what is occurring.”

The father pleaded with people to “slow down.”  He went on, “I trust this borough police department, I trust this school board, I trust these administrators.  The lines of communication have been open...people are doing their jobs, and they’re going to make sure this isn’t swept under the rug, and the kids responsible are held accountable.”

Do you realize in this age of Facebook accusations, anger, vitriol, and attempts to gin up rage, how reasonable and responsible that father is?

We really need more of that.

Quotations and information for this post are from Justin Carlucci, Times News (Nov. 17, 2021), pp. 1, 2.  

Pennsylvania School Funding

 This post won’t get many views.  It sounds boring, arcane, wonky.  What it involves is discrimination against kids from poor districts.  Panther Valley, which serves Summit Hill, Nesquehoning, Coaldale, and Lansford, has a very high property tax rate.  It doesn’t mean much when the properties have a low value.  The school district is starved for resources, teachers and administrators take higher paying jobs in other districts, students don’t have resources, and they have a tough time getting into good colleges (and their parents probably can’t afford good colleges anyway).  According to a column by Bruce Frassinelli in today’s Times News, the Panther Valley School district doesn’t even have a librarian.  No librarian!

The court case brought by a number of low income districts, including Panther Valley, is finally being heard after seven years.  There is an expression: “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied.”  Why does a case take seven years to be heard?  What is wrong with this system?  

Why didn’t the state legislators, who run every two or four years promising to do something about the property tax, never do shit?  Why are non-issues that are either silly or stupid, like worry about “critical race theory” (not taught in Penna.) or mask wearing endlessly debated while kids in poor districts are shunted into dead end lives?  This has got to be changed, and soon.

Trump signs and property values

 A friend of mine sent me an item on Trump signs and property values.  She said she thought it could be a scam, since she was not able to verify it.  It sounds correct to me, although I’m suspicious that a person would so lightly dismiss losing that much value on his home.  True or not, I want to believe it.  I hope this gets spread.

An unpublished study commissioned by a national group of realtors found that neighborhoods that still retained their Trump signs months after the 2020 election tended to have lower property values by as much as 20%.  Evidently the type of young college-educated suburbanites who have been moving out of cities during the Covid epidemic feel that people who continue to display Trump signs would not make good neighbors.

According to one potential home buyer quoted in the study, “Don’t these people know the election is over and Trump lost?  What kind of people live here?  It’s certainly not a place I want to live.”

The researchers asked a number of people with the Trump signs if they were concerned about their property values being depressed.  One resident who had a large “Fuck Biden” sign in an upscale neighborhood said, “If my home loses a hundred thousand in value as the price to own the libs, so be it.”  His house was surrounded by three homes with “for sale” signs.  

"A source of shame"

 Earlier this month a military jury sentenced Majkid Khan to 26 years in prison.  Mr. Kahn, a Qaeda recruit pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges.  He delivered $50,000 from Pakistan to finance a bombing in Indonesia that killed 11 people.

After the military jury sentenced him, a member of that jury, Navy Capt. Scott B. Curtis, wrote a two-page letter condemning CIA torture and then read it to the other jury members.  He said, “Anyone who wants to sign this is welcome to do this, you’re under no obligation at all.”  Seven of the eight jury members signed it.  

The seven who signed the letter, which called the torture Mr. Khan was subjected to “a stain on the moral fiber of America,” included a Marine lieutenant colonel, two Army lieutenant colonels, two Navy commanders, and a Marine major.  

Information for this post is from Carol Rosenberg, “Military Jury Shows Its Disgust Over C.I.A. Torture,” New York Times, (Nov. 7, 2021), p. 18.

The Kyle Rittenhouse case

 Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He took a gun which he was not legally allowed to carry into a volatile situation and ended up killing two people and wounding a third.  He drove across state lines to reach Kenosha.  He claims he acted in self-defense.  After shooting the people and with his gun strapped to his body, he walked past police without the police stopping or arresting him.  He is now on trial.

Now let’s suppose that Kyle Rittenhouse were a black 17-year-old carrying an illegal weapon who had just shot and killed two people and wounded another.  Imagine him then walking toward the police.  What do you think would have happened?  What would Fox news commentators be saying?  Would the people who are helping the white Kyle Rittenhouse on a “GoFundMe” page be as willing to defend the black 17-year old?  Would Rittenhouse even be alive?

You know the answers to those questions.  That is what is known as white privilege.

The Eternals

I don’t think it will win any Academy Awards, although a Bollywood actor named Harish Patel who plays a valet to the Kumail Nanjiani character should be nominated for best supporting actor.  As is the custom in recent superhero movies, all the characters have psychological issues and wax philosophical more than they need to.

The film also has a good mixture of nationalities, races, and genders.  It features a deaf main character (and I understand that already there are many requests to learn ASL since the movie was released) and the first gay kiss in a Marvel film.  

It is way too long with interminable battles, but at least some humor creeps in now and then.  I’d give it a lukewarm recommendation.  (Keep in mind I also get the senior discount.) 

Sen. Jake Corman

 Every now and then a little ray of sunshine breaks through the clouds.  The leader of the Pennsylvania Senate Republicans, gubernatorial candidate, and cheerleader for a “forensic audit” for the 2020 presidential results in Pennsylvania, has tested positive for Covid.

Unfortunately he’s been vaccinated, so his case will be mild.

Is it wrong of me to say things like this?  Of course it is.  You know what?  I don’t care.  People like Corman don’t give a damn about democracy, fair play, or decency.  I don’t like him.  I wish him ill.  I’m no longer turning the other cheek unless it is to moon him.

Sign suggestions

You may remember that a Democratic activist asked me why the Democrats didn’t have signs to counter the pro-Trump signs, many of which are left over from the 2020 campaign and still say “Trump/Pence” [would someone please tell these people Trump now loathes Pence] or “Trump 2024” or “Trump 2024” or “Don’t blame me, I voted for Trump”  or “Fuck Biden.”  We have nothing similar.

I asked readers to email suggestions.  I stipulated that the signs shouldn’t be vulgar.

Here are some of the best suggestions.  I have eliminated the vulgar ones that people sent in anyway.  I’ve also eliminated the ones that used Trump’s name, such as “Trump’s done” and “Trump who?”  I do think that last one is good, but I’d like to look past him.  Here are some of the suggestions:

Never again.

The end is past.

Enough already.

Get over it.

You lost, get over it.

Science  Democracy  Common sense

Democracy = choice; Dictatorship = no choice/Choose while you still can.

Patriotic Americans pay their taxes.

Law and order–jail the insurrectionists.

Take a civics course.

We support the Capitol police.

We support American values.

Snap out of it.

Let me know what you think.  You can email me at <hiramc@ptd.net>.  I personally am leaning toward “Enough already” or “Snap out of it.”   You can also make more suggestions.

Old school

Our daughter was walking home from a Black Lives Matter rally in Chico last year when she passed a shoe repair shop she sometimes patronizes.  The owner gives off kind of a hippie vibe with ponytail and attitude.  He told her she could put the Black Lives Matter sign in his window.

She stopped by again last week, and he told her he may have lost some business, but the sign was still there.  He said a short time ago he was in the back of his shop; when he came out he saw a former Chico councilman skulking away from the store, but his wife was waiting by the counter.  She told him she thought all people mattered.  He said, “When black babies have the same life expectancy as white babies, when black people don’t get pulled over and shot, when black people can move into the same neighborhoods as white people, and when this is true for all minorities, then I’ll put an “All people matter” sign in the window.

She said, “Well, I’m a Christian.  I believe all people matter.”

He said, “You’re no Christian.  If Christ were here today he sure wouldn’t be voting Republican.”

She huffed out of the shop, and he followed her to finish his argument when he spotted her husband down the block.  He shouted at the husband, “And you are a pussy, sending your wife into the shop while you sneak off.”

In the meantime a 20-something was standing in front of a restaurant being remodeled next door.  He said, “Wow, an actual political argument right here in the street.”

The repair guy said, “That’s right.  None of this fucking Facebook.  We’re old school.”

Bobwhite quail

 When I was about ten I could do a fairly good imitation of a whippoorwill or a bobwhite quail.  I have not heard either of those birds since I returned to Pennsylvania in 2002.  Now the Pennsylvania Game Commission is attempting to reestablish wild populations of bobwhite quail in the state.  The first effort will be made at the Letterkenny Army Depot in Franklin County beginning in 2023.  

Why did they disappear?  The Game Commission thinks it is because of habitat loss and changes in agricultural practices.  I know that hay-making procedures do not resemble those used when I was a teenager.  And I can show you many rural areas on Towamensing that now grow only houses.  

I wish the Game Commission well, and I hope they don’t forget whippoorwills.

Cognitive test

 Nicki Haley thinks Biden should take a cognitive test, implying, of course, that he is pulling a Ronald Reagan and going senile.

Perhaps she would like him to repeat a five word string, like Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV.  If you remember, Trump said by repeating that string, he proved he was fine mentally.

I would be in favor of this is all elected officials took it, including Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, with this caveat.  (For Trump supporters, that means a warning of specific stipulations.)  Each test taker would also given exams in the structure of American government, the Constitution, American history, and ethics, along with a five-page essay from the Federalist Papers to test reading comprehension.  

Or they could just take the U.S. Citizenship test.

Linwood Holton of Virginia

 Linwood Holton, who died last week, was governor of Virginia in 1970 when the courts ordered the city of Richmond to use busing to integrate the public schools.  This was the time of “massive resistance,” when many white parents sent their kids to all-white private schools.  To illustrate the lengths to which some whites would go to in order to prevent integration, the schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, shut down for five years.

On the court order Gov. Holton said “It’s always hard for a child to change schools.  They don’t want to leave old friends.  But my children go where they are assigned.”

A photograph of him accompanying his 13-year-old daughter to her new integrated high school ran in papers across the country.

Holton was a Republican.

The election was stolen

All four Democratic statewide candidates running for appellate court positions lost their elections.  This was in spite of the fact that there are many more Democrats in Pennsylvania than Republicans.  

There is only one explanation.  The election was stolen.  I don’t know how, but I think that is the new normal when your side loses.  From what I gather, you rant and rave and announce the election was stolen, some how.  And you keep repeating it.

Maybe we could get those Ninja guys who recounted the votes in Arizona to check.  Or the Republican legislators in Harrisburg who are planning a “forensic audit.” 

The election results

Since I am speaking to the Palmerton Area Democratic Club next week about the election results and what they mean, I don’t want to give too much away.  I’ll just say that sometimes it does get discouraging.  I have been doing this since high school, if you count driving around with my Mother, a Democratic committeewoman in Towamensing, to take Dems to the polls.  In 1960 we picked up an old farmer who told my mom, “I never voted for a Catholic.”  I thought uh oh, but then he added, “I never voted for a Republican neither, and I ain’t gonna start now.” 

Yesterday’s election left us with a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice who took hundreds of thousands from a right-wing fanatic, a Lehighton School Board that ran as a bloc with the financial support of a millionaire from Bucks County who favors charter schools, a governor of Virginia who admires Trump, and a race in New Jersey still too close to call.  Will I quit?  What do you think? 

And how about that Boston Mayor!