Lean Left PAC

Lean Left PAC is a Republican front group that is hoping to turn Democrats against one another so that Republican candidates can win in the general election.  The PAC recently sent out hit pieces claiming that candidates Brooks and Crosswell were pro-MAGA, and urged people to vote for Lamont McClure.  Obando-Durstine, the 4th candidate in the race, was not mentioned in the mailer

McClure, Crosswell, and Brooks have all condemned the ad.  Under federal law and Supreme Court decisions, independent PACS can say anything they want to as long as they are not in contact with a candidate.  The candidates have no power to stop them.  Think about how ingenious this ad is.  If you are a Democratic voter and you believe the ad, you may vote for McClure.  If you don’t believe the ad and think McClure had sponsored it, you will be angry at him.  It will create rancor within the party and make it less likely that the Democrats will unite to oppose the real MAGA candidate in this race, Republican Ryan Mackenzie.

Primary elections are low turnout elections.  Most Democrats will not investigate Lean Left PAC.  This is the kind of scurrilous campaign activity that turns people off and creates division within the party.  You can blame our campaign finance laws or the Supreme Court.  You can also spread the word about what is happening.

A Warning to Democrats

I am getting very tired of CNN and MSNOW repeating how Trump’s popularity has dropped.  It has not dropped very far.  After all the family enrichment schemes, a rather stupid war, Cabinet officials who couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if directions were written on the heel, and economic pain for farmers, drivers, and just about everyone else, Trump still has the support of approximately four out of ten Americans.  After ICE murders and $4 gas and ballooning deficits, Trump still has the support of about four out of every ten Americans.  It doesn’t matter how bad it will get–these are people who continue to worship Trump, and worship is the correct word.

They are concentrated in certain places.  The South, the middle of the country, Texas, rural areas.  They will do well in November.  And if the economy rebounds, if tankers are moving from the Middle East, if Democrats continue their usual infighting, the Republicans may do very well come November.

Remember also they are cheating like crazy.  MAGA followers will do everything in their power to game the system.  That’s their motto–if you can’t win fairly, cheat.

Tomorrow:  A warning to Republicans

Kind of like a guide to ticks

If you live in Pennsylvania you have seen warnings about ticks.  You probably know that you can’t get Lyme disease from dog ticks, which are about twice the size of deer ticks.  That doesn’t mean you don’t need to worry about dog ticks, since they can infect you with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  The best thing you can do is avoid ticks.

It has occurred to me that we also need a guide to help us avoid people with irrational or absurd political opinions.  Let’s say you are reading a letter in the Times-News.  You don’t want to waste your time on reading drivel or nonsense.  If you come across any of the following terms or phrases, stop.  No need to read further.

I did my own research:  Turn the page.  They didn’t.  Or they might have, but their info was from a Florida podcaster making shit up.

Vaccines cause autism:  Run from these people.  They did their own research.

George Soros:  Mr. Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary, became incredibly rich, and has given away billions to strengthen democracies around the world.  Fascists hate him.

Millions of illegals vote:  No, they don’t, but you will never convince the bigots.  Don’t try.

Trump really won the 2020 election:  I have yet to hear how that election was stolen, but not the 2016 or the 2024 elections.  Did we forget?  

Remember, you will not change or convince these people.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.

The "Free Birth" Movement

We were watching the hospital drama series “The Pitt,” and a pregnant woman in distress came into the emergency room.  She didn’t want any invasive treatment for the pregnancy, just something for her headache.  The attendants ran some checks, and she needed all kinds of medical intervention to save both her and the baby.

She fought that idea, saying she was part of the “free birth” movement.  That is a new fad for pregnant women which involves having your baby with no other person aiding in the birth.  No doctor, no doula, no midwife, no husband in the kitchen boiling water.  

The theory is that these other people interfere with the natural process of birth.  The fact that midwives and helpers assist with births in the most primitive of tribes is ignored because of some internet fad.  

I can take you around Big Creek Cemetery about five miles west of our house.  The small tombstones, often decorated with lambs, are the graves of infants.  You see a lot of those from the 1800s and a few from the early 20th century, but none from recent years.  If this free birth movement takes off like the anti-vaxxer movement, we should soon start seeing them crop up again.

Cinco de Mayo

 When I moved back here from CA I overheard someone at the grocery story ask “When is Cinco De Mayo?"  My jaw dropped, and I thought, I got to go back, I got to go back.  

It’s better now.  Carbon County now has Mexican restaurants.  You can buy flour and corn tortillas at Mallard Market in Lehighton.  Now all we have to worry about is the Secret Police, a.k.a. ICE.  

Here’s a meme for you.

Israel and Max Makoka

Those are two boys18 and 15 years old from the Republic of Congo who were seized by ICE when they came out of their guardian’s home in Diamondhead, Miss.  They were here legally on F-1 student visas.  They changed schools last year, but nobody at the new school knew that would affect their immigration status.  One of their guardians, Gail Baptiste, tried to show her guardianship papers to the immigration agents.  One of the agents told her:  “This is worth nothing.”  

Israel, the oldest student, was weeks away from graduation.  Both boys were active in the local church.  They were on the Hancock High basketball team.  

I got this info from Christina Morales and Hamed Aleaziz,”On Way to School Bus, but Grabbed by ICE,” New York Times, (May 1, 2026), p. A 17.  

I mailed copies of the article to my representative Ryan Mackenzie and my two Senators, John Fetterman and David McCormick, asking them to find out what happened to the boys.  Below is a copy of the letter.  I’ll let you know if I even get a reply, but I am not holding my breath.  We really have become an evil country.

Here’s the text of the letter:  

I have enclosed a copy of an article from the New York Times detailing an action by agents of the U.S. government.  Both of the boys discussed were admitted to our country legally.  Neither has committed any crimes.

On this 250th anniversary celebration of our founding we should also be aware that we have terrible blots on our historical record–Trail of Tears, “No Irish need apply,” Japanese internment, and “Operation Wetback”–to name a few.  Now our country is repeating some of the ugliest policies of our past.

Can you do something about these boys?  Is there a private bill you could introduce to bring them back to their school?  Could you at least check on their status and current location?  If we lived in Russia or Iran, I would say there is nothing to be done, but this is the United States of America.  We must stop this.

Democratic Party leaders continue to mess up

Many of the readers of this blog probably think Robert Kennedy, Jr., is a vile man whose actions have already resulted in people dying.  I would agree.  Nonetheless he was a Democrat who had a right to run for the Democratic nomination in 2024.  Evidently the Democratic Party leadership did not trust its voters and went all out to stop him.  According to the latest issue of “Ballot Access News,” they bent the rules and made it impossible for him to compete in the run-up to the Convention.  Kennedy had no chance to win the nomination, but the high-handed treatment from the party caused him to throw his support to Donald Trump.  In some states the margin of Trump’s victory can be traced to Kennedy’s followers moving into the Trump column.

In 2016 when Bernie Sanders was running for the Democratic Presidential nomination, the Party leadership did everything it could to knock him out of the race.  Rules were tweaked, steps were taken.  Many of Bernie’s supporters resented the treatment Sanders received, and in the November election they had no enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, who lost by a razor thin margin in key states.

They are doing it again.  In the 7th PA Congressional District (where I live), we have four candidates in the Democratic Primary:  Bob Brooks, Ryan Crosswell, Lamont McClure, and Carole Obando-Durstine.  The winner will run against MAGA tool and ICE supporter Ryan Mackenzie, who has a bromance with Trump.  

The leadership, not trusting the Democratic voters of the 7th district to make our own choices, have anointed Bob Brooks as their favored candidate.  Mr. Brooks may be ok, but he is not my first choice, or even my second or third.  They brought in Bernie Sanders (!) and Pete Buttigieg to endorse him.  Governor Shapiro has made it clear he thinks Brooks is the guy we should support, evidently deciding we need his advice.

Hey, I’ve listened to, shook the hands of, spoken with, and read the literature of all four.  I’ll make up my own mind, thank you very much. 

Postponing an election in Louisiana

We held a presidential election during the Civil War.  We held presidential elections during the Korean War and during the Vietnam War.  But by god if we can postpone an election in Louisiana to ensure that white Republicans can shut out Black Democrats, we are jus gonna do that. The S’preme Caught said we’all could.

Comrade Jesus

 a poem by Sarah N. Cleghorn, 1876-1959

Thanks to Saint Matthew, who had been

At mass-meetings in Palestine,

We know whose side was spoken for

When Comrade Jesus had the floor.

“Where sore they toil and hard they lie,

Among the great unwashed, dwell I,–

The tramp, the convict, I am he;

Cold-shoulder him, cold-shoulder me”

Between the twilights of his end,

He made his fellow-felon friend:

With swollen tongue and blinded eyes, 

Invited him to Paradise.

Ah, let no Local him refuse!

Comrade Jesus hath paid his dues.

Whatever other be debarred

Comrade Jesus hath his red card.

    

                                                        This is a photo of Ms. Cleghorn

I’ve left out four stanzas, but you get the idea.  This is in honor of May 1, a traditional day for lefties all around the world.

Racial Gerrymandering and the Supreme Court

I actually don’t have much problem with the Supreme Court’s decision to do away with congressional districts drawn to ensure that they will be “Black” districts.  If a non-partisan group of experts drew lines fairly, some congressional districts would be Black. 

However, and here is where the Supreme Court’s insincerity and role as operative for the Republican Party is so glaringly evident, the districts are being gerrymandered for the political advantage of the Republican Party.  If that hurts Black voters, and it will, so be it.  Drawing to provide Black districts is illegal, drawing districts to split the black vote and benefit MAGA Republicans meets with Supreme Court approval.

The Supreme Court had a chance years ago to outlaw gerrymandering to benefit a specific party.  It did not do that.  It said political gerrymandering was fine, and the legislators in Republican state after Republican state drew the districts to pack Dems into districts into a few districts(called packing) or fracture them into many (called splitting).  This has increased polarization and resulted in a disproportionate number of Republican House members.

The Supreme Court is a handmaiden in the MAGA attempt to install authoritarianism in this country.  It is happening very fast.

Killing Wind Projects

We are in the midst of a world-wide problem with energy right now because of the Iran war and data centers.  We are also seeing the global temperature rise even faster than scientists predicted.  We know that burning fossil fuels creates all kinds of air pollution.  And we know that the U.S. government is spending far more money than it is taking in.

So why, why, is the U.S. government paying $885 million to kill wind projects that have already been approved?  That is what the Interior Department is doing.  It is absolutely batshit crazy.

See Maxine Joselow and Brad Plummer, “U.S. to Pay $885 Million to Kill Wind Projects," New York Times, (29 April 2026), p. B-6.

The Buddha in the Attic

Sometimes I read a book and ask myself, How did I miss that book when it first came out?  I just finished The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.  It begins with the Japanese “picture brides” on the ship sailing to America to meet their new husbands and follows them and other Japanese immigrants through their lives in California.  Their relationships with their husbands, their Americanized children, their Anglo neighbors–all are covered in a style of writing that is close to poetry.

The second last chapter on the beginning of World War II, the fear in the Japanese community, the rumors, the round-ups, the abandonment of pets and friends and farms and homes and businesses–the loss of everything that resulted from years of toil and sweat.  It was hard to even comprehend.  And it was impossible to read and not reflect on the same thing happening today across America.  

I recommend the book with this “trigger warning.”  It is among the saddest and most wrenching books I have ever read.

The Myth of the General Strike

Georges Sorel in the first few decades of the 20th century wrote about “The Myth of the General Strike.”  He felt that it wouldn’t work and wouldn’t happen, but that it should be held out there to keep the workers engaged and hopeful.

Now we get a call from the “No Kings” people for a general strike on May 1, the traditional holiday for lefties across the globe.  The problem with a “general strike” is that there is no way to measure its success.  This is the first major failure of the anti-administration organizations.  It is also a slap at all the working class people who are struggling to make ends meet.  If you are a fire fighter, are you really going to skip work that day?  If you are a kitchen worker at Wendy’s, will your boss understand?  It’s great if you are retired, but how will this involve younger people?

I’m not supposed to drive, but if I have a doctor’s appointment, I am keeping it, and I will hope the doctor will also be there.  

At our previous “No Kings” demonstrations, you could count the participants.  You could get aerial photos from drones of people filling the streets.  What are you going to get now?  “It was a success because no one showed up.”  That just doesn’t work. 

Damage beyond repair

The first two years of the Biden administration were consumed with fixing the harm that Trump had done to environmental laws, educational policy, and overall governmental functioning during his first term.  In the case of immigration Biden made the problems worse, but overall the feds did manage to put things pretty much back to normal.

I am hoping that a sane, intelligent, and reasonable candidate will be elected in 2028.  That leaves out almost all of the potential Republican frontrunners (Rubio, Vance, DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson), although almost any of the Democratic frontrunners (Beshear, Shapiro, Newsom, Buttigieg, and many more) would be fine.  

This time I’m not optimistic that we can repair the damage.  A kid born in 2012 will be 16 in 2028.  That means from age 4 to age 16 she will have grown up in the “Trump era,” with slanted news, daily chaos, A.I. development, a trashed environment, and a world in which over half the people live under authoritarian governments.  She will have experienced an ineffective Congress, a supine Supreme Court, and an Executive branch staffed with clowns and incompetents.

Just today, in one day, I read that European countries are thinking about alternatives to NATO, the independent newspaper that covers news for American service members fired its advocate for independent journalism, the negotiators trying to end the Iran war were recalled, the President launched a tirade against Indian and Chinese immigrants, the plan to deport Afghans who aided American forces to the Congo continues, the federal government now says the death penalty may be carried out by firing squads, a new agency has been set up to fast-track offshore drilling and seabed mining, Trump wants to paint the bottom of the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln memorial blue, and historians are trying to prevent the destruction of Trump’s social media posts.  

That is in one day.  I’m not sure this can be fixed.  And the MAGA base still runs to about 40% of the population.  That means four out of ten people think what is happening is acceptable.

Happy 250th anniversary.  Or is it a wake?

Triple Crown Winner "Justify"

In 2018 the horse Justify became the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown.  Like many sports heroes, Justify was invited by President Trump to the White House.  He turned down the invitation, issuing this statement:  “If I had wanted to see a horse’s ass, I would have come in second.”

My friend Bill sent me some classic memes from the past, and this was one of them.  I thought you might appreciate something light for a change.  I’ll be back to more depressing subjects tomorrow.

 

7th Congressional District Debate

The Carbon County Democrats sponsored a debate among the four candidates running in the May primary for a chance to beat the incumbent, millionaire MAGA toady Ryan Mackenzie, supporter of ICE and the debacle in Iran.  

The debate was televised and lasted two hours.  No clear winner emerged, but an informal poll of watchers thought that Lamont McClure and Ryan Crosswell both did well.  Carol Obando-Durstine received kudos for her discussion of data centers.  Most watchers agreed that Bob Brooks, favorite of the Democratic establishment, turned in the worst performance.