Chronology

On a morning when we’re already finding the list of “What’s Wrong With America” way too long, we get an update from Ted Cruz.

Seems the Cruz was feeling the blues for having to deal with doing ordinary things like ordinary people do. Lyin’ Ted has introduced an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would keep Ted and his fellow Congress critters special.

In an article in “View from the Wing:

“Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, and federal judges who have received any threats (and they almost all receive threats at some point) are to receive an escort for their entire journey through commercial airports and won’t be required to go through normal screening – instead receiving private screening.

TSA has estimated the cost of letting politicians, their families, and two accompanying staff members opt out is public security and providing them VIP secure escort throughout their airport experience.”

TSA has estimated the costs to be between $11 – $55 million per year if undertaken by TSA, or $112 – $527 million per year if undertaken by federal air marshals.

 Let’s look at a little Lyin’ Ted Cruz history and think about that Al Franken quote: “I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.”

The Donald gave Cruz the Lyin’ Ted moniker in the 2016 Republican debates and the Cruz has done absolutely nothing to distance himself from the label. Professional prevaricator pundits will long argue whether Lyin’ Ted was lying at the Republican convention, or lying on 01/07/2021. It seems to me that you can’t have it both ways. Does the pot call the kettle black?

In the Cruz’s own words: “I’m going to do something I haven’t done the entire campaign. I’m going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology text book, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”

Doubling down, the Cruz added: “Donald Trump is a serial philanderer and he boasts about it. This is not a secret, he’s proud of being a serial philander. I want everyone to think about your teenage kids. The president of the United States talks about how great it is to commit adultery. How proud he is, describes his battle with venereal disease as his own personal Vietnam. That’s a quote from the Howard Stern show. Do you want to spend the next five years with your kids bragging about infidelity?”

This quote becomes more interesting when we learn that the National Enquirer had accused the Cruz of having at least five different affairs while married to current wife Heidi.

Anyway, I am not aghast that the Cruz would feel like his staff members were supposed to handle every job he handed them, no matter how odious. I am aghast that there were five members of the female sex willing to allow his advances, six if you count his wife. Honestly, if you put the Cruz on one pedestal and Jabba the Hut on another pedestal, I could see women flocking to Jabba as their first choice.

There is something so slimy and smarmy about the Cruz that I can’t imagine that the more sensitive sex doesn’t pick up on it at first sight. I can only imagine that the five alleged trysts had a high dollar amount attached to them. I’m not putting the women down for charging, it’s the right thing to do. After all, I don’t expect the fellow that cleans septic tanks to do it for free, and the Cruz is less charming than a septic tank.

Where the story has a bit of a twist is that the head honcho at the Enquirer is supposed to be an old buddy of the Donald. Would the Donald have a friend print a salacious story about an opponent to gain an advantage? Of course. What’s weird is that after someone trys to damage you in the most horrible way possible, the Cruz is not only able to turn the other cheek but has been tripping over himself to give aid and comfort to the Donald ever since.

To be honest, I worry less about the Cruz’s frailties as a human than I do his belief that he is the anointed one from God. I knew he was a big Bible thumper, but when I heard his speech after the Iowa caucus stating that the polls weren’t going to determine who the next President was going to be, that God was, I started taking notice of his words more.

It’s one thing for the Donald to say every mean, hateful xenophobic thing he can to gin up his base, it’s another to think that God is talking directly to you. The fact that Cruz’s dad was out on the Evangelical circuit preaching that his son was the “anointed one” and that the righteous are poised to take back the wealth of the country to give to the priests is past scary to me. It is almost a call to revolution……

Which brings us to the revelation that the Cruz was up to his armpits in the 01/06 attempted coup. How a man can go from defending his wife’s ugliness to becoming a fawning sycophant is a serious deep dive into pathological behavior. I don’t have the tools to plumb those depths, but I can deep dive on the allegations that Biden started the Ukraine war. He didn’t .

Lyin’ Ted Cruz.

Those of us of a certain age will remember the confirmation hearings of one Clarence Thomas back in 1991. Many of us of a liberal persuasion perceived the scrutiny to be so extreme as to be another example of subtle racism. Offseting the outrage of watching a black man having to be judged by a group of white guys was the scandalous testimony of some of the witnesses. It was absolutely must see TV.

The testimony of Anita Hill was as compelling as any soap opera. You didn’t dare change the channel or you would miss some other salacious fact about Thomas’ abusive treatment of women in the workplace. In addition to Anita Hill other women offered to testify in support of Ms. Hill but were not called. Republicans were hot to push through the candidate that would be the anti-Thurgood Marshall. Too much scrutiny would undoubtedly disqualify their candidate. Clarence Thomas has now worked diligently on the court for 32 years to repudiate the social justice of his predecessor and to reward the Republican party for their faith in him.

How did a poor boy from Georgia whose ancestors were slaves become a stalwart for the privileged? A cheeky answer might be that he looked around and saw who held the lash. It’s easy to be the Judas goat when you realize that you have been spared while the others that look like you suffer. I think Thomas’ pathology goes deeper.

Raised as a Catholic, attending Catholic schools until graduate school baked in a conservative mindset that was not tempered by family. Nuns and priests have a very narrow worldview and it was this environment that framed Thomas’ formative years. I’m sure he learned early as many of us did, if you don’t want to get whacked with a ruler, or worse, you get on the program. Get on the program he did.

Denying his roots, he once ruled that slavery didn’t create any loss of dignity. I guess we’ll just have to take his word for it and ignore the billions of words written to the contrary.

Giving opinions that seem to fly in the face of common sense has been Thomas’ trademark. Even his most conservative peers have referred to him as a nut. Perhaps it’s been this type of rebuke that has led to his moniker as the “silent justice“. Early in his tenure Thomas decided it was better “to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Though silent, Thomas never lost sight of who had allowed him the privilege of dispensing justice as they saw fit. Rulings like convicted domestic abusers should be able to own guns and that states can gerrymander districts to the detriment of his people are but two in a long list of Thomas opinions kowtowing to the man. His acceptance of the stay indicating that he would let Trump maintain control of all of his records in direct conflict with the Presidential Records Act is but another example of the man who identifies with his oppressor.

Of course, Thomas is not oppressed. He leads a very good life married to a very successful lobbyist. So successful that she dares to call on the ouster of Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger from Congress for their work on the 01/06 committee. Thomas’ wife is so inside that she was invited to a meeting that included the Oath Keepers.

Her interest in the coup has tainted Thomas in an untenable way. What happens if there is a case brought before the court that Thomas knows will lead to jail time for his wife? Can we count on him to recuse? I think we’ve got 30 years of examples to know he won’t do the correct thing. He may do the “right” thing, but it won’t be the moral thing.

A man that can deny his own benefit from the affirmative action that he received but wants to deny others, has no sense of self. Retirement for Uncle Clarence can’t come too soon.

Christian teachings command that “we turn the other cheek” when struck. Rather than strike back with as much vigor as we can muster, we should forgive the injustice and move ahead. I pretty much adhere to that philosophy until I’m confronted with the reality that some people will just continue to strike you because they are “right” and you are “wrong”, “different” or “just don’t know the facts”.

A while back I posted a piece on the Kenosha shootings, and got quite a bit of negative feedback from my Facebook friends. I use the word “Friends” because that’s what Facebook calls them. I’ve never met them, never broken bread with them, never shared stories about my children or theirs, we are just people that have some shared link that Facebook thinks we can explore, or Facebook can exploit.

I liken the feedback from my Kenosha article as akin to stepping on a yellow jacket’s nest. Suddenly you’re being attacked by a swarm of drones that only know to lash out when they are confronted with something that threatens their world. In this case, their world is the belief that society at large is empowered to walk into crowds with military weapons and provoke others with their presence.

They argue that Kyle Rittenhouse had the “right” to be there. He had the “right” to be armed. He had the “right” to defend himself from the crowd that was trying to detain what they saw as an active shooter. He had the “right” to not render aid, even though he purported to be a medic. He had the “right” to not turn himself in to any of the police scattered about the area.

The judge in the case had the “right” to withhold the evidence of Kyle beating a girl a couple of weeks before Kenosha. The judge had the “right” to withhold the tape of Kyle telling a friend he would shoot looters. The judge had the “right” to instruct the attorneys to not refer to the victims as victims, but they could be described as looters or arsonists although none of the victims had been arrested for a crime.He even had the “right” to throw out the weapons charge which was clearly a reach of jurisprudence.

The jury had the “right” to set Kyle free if they didn’t believe in his guilt, in fact they had the obligation to do so. I just wonder how some of the jurors feel after seeing this:

No, it’s not Lemon Heads.. it’s the burning hole in my pocket thanks to a Joe Biden presidency.. ???????? pic.twitter.com/UpPvfHEjRv

— Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) March 18, 2022

If the link is still working you’re seeing a paste up that Kyle did on his Twitter feed of his crocodile tears over gas prices. These are the same crocodile tears that he used to convince America that he was just a poor little misunderstood do-gooder who was trying to do “right” and help the fair people of Kenosha maintain control of their town.

I don’t know what shocks me more, his temerity or his lack of judgement. Clearly his lack of judgement has been documented, but it would seem like some sort of primal survival instinct would take hold that would flash red when Kyle attempted to act in a manner inconsistent with what all of the “right” people believe him to be. Maybe his handlers gave him some free time to be creative and this is what he came up with. The video certainly shatters the idea that he is remorseful for taking two innocent lives and maiming another.

Marjorie Taylor Green nominating Kyle for a Congressional Gold Medal, joining the ranks of other honorees like Mother Teresa, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela does not absolve him of his crimes. It is just another example of the insane running the asylum. We’ve got to do better than this.

Kyle’s lack of judgement puts me in mind of a quote from Nicole James, “You finally figuring out that being right isn’t nearly as important as knowing when to shut up.” I think the quote could fall into the category of “words to live by” for a lot of folks. Looking at you Facebook friends.

 Gone but not forgotten, his ideological decisions destined to keep the “right” people feeling safe in their homes and on Rodeo Drive, we just celebrated the 8th year of Antonin Scalia’s passing a couple of weeks ago. I remember when I heard the news that he had died in Marfa, Texas I wondered if he was another victim of Dick Cheney’s friendly fire. Being reminded of his passing, I used commercial breaks to Google items of interest on Scalia. I figured that there had to be more to the man than my own lowly opinion of him. In fairness, if I was going to write about him, I should at least try to bring up his good features. You know, like he didn’t kick dogs, stuff like that.

At the time of his passing, I’m sure that all of the smart money was on his best friend on the court Justice Ginsberg being the first to go. Justice Ginsberg was 83 and barely able to keep herself awake during the first few minutes of the State of The Union address that year. Not that being put to sleep by a State of the Union address is any indicator of vitality, it’s just that Justice Ginsberg looked so weak at the time that it was a shock that Scalia preceded her. Her frailty and Scalia’s passing underscores the proposition that appointing people to life time positions is a bad idea. People are not like wine, we don’t improve with age. We get cranky, close minded, uncompromising and generally just hard to deal with.

Justice Scalia was the first Italian-American Justice, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986. He was part of the Reagan Revolution, in which Reagan elevated Justices to the court that were far more conservative than even his own views. Scalia cloaked his bigotry and misogyny under the guise of Federalism. By turning back every challenge brought to the court that impinged on human liberties as being a matter for the individual states to decide, Scalia reinforced his disdain for the Declaration of Independence. “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” were just words to be determined by the state where you reside, unless you are a corporation. Corporations are given special powers in a Scalia court, like unlimited campaign spending and ignoring provision of the Affordable Health Care Act.

Scalia was exactly what every Republican talks about when they use the phrase “legislating from the bench”. The Republicans never complained about Scalia’s legislating, though. Scalia made law or struck down laws, without benefit of Congress or the President. He was the “decider” and he bullied all of the other Justices to support his view. In fact, Justice Clarence Thomas gave up long ago having an opinion. Uncle Clarence would just point at Scalia and say, “what he said”.

Thomas has since aligned with the other really right wing Catholic on the court, Justice Alito. Since we know “birds of a feather, flock together”, maybe it’s time to stop nominating Catholics to the court. Prior to Scalia’s death, they were a 6 to 3 majority, they are now a 7-2 advantage. Not that all of Scalia’s bad decision’s were based on morality issues. Just the ones involving, race, sexual orientation and women’s rights.

Scalia could also wreck havoc in areas other than human rights. He was instrumental in the Supreme Court forcing George Bush in as President, over Al Gore. Scalia didn’t even have enough of a conscience to recuse himself from the Bush suit, which was brought by the law firm where Scalia’s son worked. Scalia was convinced that his “moral majority” on the court had the right to decide who was going to be President, over the millions of us ignorant voters.

Scalia also refused to recuse himself from a Supreme Court case involving Dick Cheney, even though he and Cheney were hunting buddies. It was Scalia’s belief that the Constitution was not a living growing document, but could only be interpreted through the eyes of someone like Scalia who saw the world as how it was in 1776. To that end, Scalia could make determinations favorable to friends, political parties, corporations or others that were based on his insight to the founding fathers minds, not any sort of legal precedence.

Scalia believed in the devil, and I’m sure Scalia is with him today. While Scalia is arranging the chairs in Hell to his liking, I’m sure he’ll be looking in on how we mere mortals will handle his departure. Battle lines are being drawn, and it looks like it’s Scalia’s favorite battle, good versus evil.

Sadly, my research didn’t uncover whether Scalia kicked puppies or not, so the jury is still out on that one.

You listen to the news every day hoping to hear that one kernel of good news that will restore your faith in humanity. These are sad times, desperate times, and a lot of times it doesn’t seem like the good guys are winning.

A blurb about Alex Jones reminded me about the little sliver of good news that poked through when the Sandy Hook families were awarded $73 million for their loss on December 14th 2012. That news was compounded when the courts awarded the families $1.5 billion from the mendacious broadcaster for defamation. I can say for a certainty that each one of those parents would gladly refuse the money to have their child back. I think we can all agree that there are some things that money can’t compensate. Society’s only hope is that the punishment is strong enough to deter the guilty from repeating their behavior.

The manufacturer of the AR-15-style weapon that killed the children, Remington, has come out of bankruptcy and reformed as two companies, one of which is located in LaGrange, Georgia. We Georgians love our guns so much that we even give the manufacturers tax abatements as well as utility and infrastructure improvements to locate here. According to our Governor, “Georgia’s firearms industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in our communities”, which I guess is the only consideration for encouraging a new business. The Peach State is also the “proud” home to Glock, another dispenser of indiscriminate death.

What makes the Sandy Hook settlement a big deal is that gun manufacturers have hidden behind a federal law since 2005 that protected them from lawsuits based off of liability. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act basically insulates the arms manufacturers from any suit other than outright manufacturing malfeasance. It is like Congress conspired to say what is the bare minimum these manufacturers can be held accountable for, and we’ll lower that bar a little. Fortunately, the Connecticut Attorney General opened a legal path to holding the arm manufacturers accountable for some of the carnage their products cause.

I hear a “hold on there little cowboy” in the audience. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” True enough, but guns make it way too easy to kill people, especially children. “Every day, 22 children and teens (1-17) are shot in the United States”. That can’t be acceptable, not for one second. In my mind, the wounded children are the result of bad policy coupled with the insatiable greed of the armaments people. Even the association founded to promote gun safety bears a tremendous amount of liability for their part in the slaughter.

There are many things that can be done to make gun ownership safer. Sadly, in this article the NRA is promoting the idea that a lighter trigger pull is always a good thing. Ironically, in this article we can see that the necessary strength to pull a trigger exists in a four year old. I recall the story about a three year old that shot his mother to death in a parked car. Clearly gun manufacturers should be held responsible for making their products child safe. My God, even the pill bottle manufacturers can do that and their products cost pennies. It’s ridiculous to think that the manufacturers of weapons that cost thousands of dollars can’t make their products child proof.

One area that the Sandy Hook settlement did seem to provide a way forward is a way to hold gun manufacturers liable for their advertising. Romancing the idea of gun ownership is morally repugnant. I hope that going forward we can be spared any more tragedies committed by wannabe Rambos. Teenagers have enough to sort through without a gun manufacturer telling them that they have the solution to all of their problems.

Hopefully the Sandy Hook settlement will provide a way for everyone touched by a gun tragedy to get some some vengeance on the death dealers. Maybe there will be a class action suit. I can’t wait. The lawsuit / settlement would be enormous. It seems to me that if we can put a man on the moon we should be able to prevent a toddler from shooting his Momma.

As audacious as this sounds, I have a solution. It’s not often one can say that, maybe just once your life, but I really have come on a plan that will ultimately lower the proliferation of firearms in our society.

Ready? Every gun must be insured, just like we do for our cars. Let’s explore the genius of this proposal.

First, it doesn’t infringe on anyone’s 2nd amendment rights. You can own as many guns as you can pay the insurance premium on. Second, there will be some financial accountability for the random violence that a laissez faire gun ownership policy allows. Third, it will impose some order on a situation that is clearly headed towards the old west with permitless open carry popping up everywhere. Insurance companies will bring order and no politician has to take the hit for being “soft on guns”.

Am I overstating the problem? Not in the least. When it is more likely to be a victim of gun violence if you are an elementary school child than a police officer on duty, we have gone down the rabbit hole.

The Gun Violence Archive tracks deaths by gun of all types across the United States. The statistics are just staggering. Look at the numbers posted each year for children 0-11 and police. The numbers are far too close for what we as a society should expect. The police have a dangerous job, which, in my opinion, would be helped by some form of gun control. Elementary school kids are just trying to go to school. Do ads for bulletproof backpacks not scream enough is enough?

Why the insurance companies? Because the federal government won’t do it and the insurance companies are the only industry big enough to take on the gun industry.

Think about the industries that insurance companies have moderated in society. Automobiles and tobacco are a couple of huge, huge industries that were made to modify their behavior because of the insurance industry. All cars are tested now for crash-worthiness. Smokers pay higher premiums and are actively encouraged to quit by PSAs. What if gun owners had to at least buy liability insurance in the amount of one million dollars for each gun they own?

Obviously there would be a sliding scale on the weapons. The premium for an AR15 with extra magazine would be significantly higher than a 410 shotgun. Just like an 18 year old driving a Corvette paying more than a 35 year old driving a Honda CR-V, the insurance companies will develop the strategies that will keep them from paying out rewards. We can trust the actuaries to work it out, they’re good at that stuff. It worked for cars and tobacco.

Let’s talk about the upside for state and local governments. Just like proof of ownership and liability insurance for cars is required by law, so would gun ownership. Thinking about walking around downtown with your Uzie, fine. The police have the right to ask you for your registration and insurance. No insurance, no problem. Big fine and confiscation until proof of insurance is secured. Just like with your car.

Want to buy a gun because you’re really ticked off at your neighbor and something needs to be done? No problem, you can pick up the gun when your insurance has been secured. Society will rely on the insurance companies to do their due diligence and your neighbor will be happy they did.

Is my proposal crazy and farfetched? No. The city of San Jose, California has already enacted such a plan. I’m not going to quibble with them over who thought of what first. “There’s no good idea that can’t be improved on”.

One would think that the state of Alaska would want to be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. They lead the country in firearm mortality according to the CDC. Of course the south comes in a close second. We do love our guns. I just hope we love our children more.

President Biden gave his State of the Union address last night. Even if I wasn’t the bleeding heart liberal that I am, I thanked my lucky stars that the 2020 election went as it did. My guess is there are some people with a more right wing bent that are glad too. There’s nothing like having someone the people can look up to in a time of crisis.

I watched the President and I saw a man who projected, “I’m here for all of you, not just the one percent. I’m not here for just the Democrats, or just the people that voted for me, but for all Americans.” With all of the uncertainty going on in the world, and at home, it was reassuring to hear the President say to everyone, “It’s going to be ok”.

As I watched, I was struck by the joy that Kamala Harris exuded from her spot behind the President. At one point she jumped up so fast and high to applaud that she almost slipped off the podium. The V.P. wasn’t the only one energized by the President’s words.

Republicans have been told to sit on their hands and voice their opposition to any plan the President proposes to better the life of average Americans. The Repubs couldn’t even rise to support stopping fentanyl at the border or the President’s actions against Russia in defense of Ukraine. Strange times indeed.

Speaking of the idiot Putin, and the invasion of Ukraine, how much better off is the world now than it would have been if the former guy had a return to duty? The Donald had publicly stated that he wanted the U.S. to pull out of NATO. It’s clear from his current fawning after the invasion that there is no wish that the Donald would have denied Putin. “Want to roll the tanks into France, no problem. Just don’t salt the earth. I might want to put a golf course up there someday.”

Of course President Biden doesn’t just have the threat of WWIII hanging over his head, he’s still got mop up duty with the worst pandemic in over one hundred years. Seeing the Congress without masks was a reminder of how lucky we are that Biden took over when he did. I forgot how old some of those people are. Just kidding./s They are old, really old and seeing them without their masks reminded me how desperately we need to enforce a retirement age.

Even so, wasn’t it great to see them acting social and friendly? Maybe being able to see each other smile will encourage congress critters from both sides to work on the President’s agenda. There’s still plenty to do even though Biden illuminated a healthy list of accomplishments so far. With that said, here’s some of the list:

* $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. Those pot holes aren’t going to fix themselves, or haven’t in the last couple of decades. Twenty years of kicking the can down the road has resulted in failing bridges all over the country. Biden has brought both sides together to finally fix them.

* The $1.9 trillion Covid relief deal. It’s hard to imagine what the vaccination program would have been like if left to the pharmaceutical companies. How many people would have gotten vaccinated if the shots were $500 a piece? The fact that the program provided financial relief for people affected by the crisis economy shows what a truly compassionate man Joe Biden is.

* Ended the war in Afghanistan. Was the withdrawal completely without issues, no, but we’re done with that hell-hole. No more American lives lost in vain.Trillions of dollars of American taxes will be freed up to pursue the challenges that need immediate attention like climate change.

* The American rescue plan. In Biden’s first year in office, the economy grew at the strongest rate in nearly 40 years. From beating back COVID to creating over 14.8 million new jobs, Biden has given the average American a path forward. The national unemployment rate has dropped to 3.7 percent from 6.3 percent when Biden took office.

* Appointment of federal judges. Biden has appointed 181 federal judges, the most since Ronald Reagan. He has also placed a moratorium on federal executions, reversing a policy that the Donald drug out of the closet.

Well, that’s just five off of the top of my head. I guess I could go on for days, but I won’t. Let’s just say that I think President Biden will be viewed very well by history, particularly with a look at the lack of cooperation he has received.

The State of The Union is stronger than it ever has been and will continue to get stronger, thank you President Biden.

While we wait for the next mass shooting, and, I hear one was averted by a traffic stop in Indiana, I wonder what form of tragedy is it going to take before some people’s humanity is finally awakened.

We learned about the RWNJ headed to Washington with an AR15 and a hit list during the testimony of Dr. Fauci before Congress this week. Rand Paul, one of the two Senators from Kentucky that could effectively be replaced by door wedges, took an aggressive stance with his opportunity to question Dr. Fauci during the hearing on the pandemic. Instead of using his time to glean insights into Dr. Fauci’s specific knowledge of the facts, Paul chose to expound on some of his favorite conspiracy theories. Thankfully Dr. Fauci shut Paul down with the revelation that Paul was using “Fire Fauci” as a fund raiser on his Facebook page.

History bears out that there’s never a time so dire, a national emergency so acute that some people won’t bend the facts to their advantage. Dr. Fauci summed up this exchange with another Repug lawmaker so well that I can’t really improve on it. “What a moron” is a phrase that could be used universally against the current crop of Republicans.

How on earth did we get here? How did the country turn its back on the universal truth, “we just want our politicians to be smarter than we are”? Democrats at all levels are calling on their counterparts in the Republican party to act with courage and defy the RWNJ elements of their party. Seriously, which one of the 5 G’s is smarter than the guy that changes your oil?

Of course the Repugs won’t change their ways. Courage is the first thing removed from a Republican candidate, along with the will to serve the public. Meanwhile, the press has to blame someone for our fall from grace in standing with the rest of the world, so they ask the question, “Is President Biden too aloof?”

Too aloof, well I guess so. I know I prefer a leader that runs through the woods like his hair is on fire every time somebody pushes the hot topic button./s I guess in that regard the press will love having the Donald president again, until he bans the free press once and for all.

Speaking of another term in office for the great lurker, how is it that the sentient members of the Republican party, and I do think there are a few of them left, haven’t just decided to bathe in Clorox and get the stench of the Donald off of them forever? Some of them are safe in their districts no matter how much the misinformation machine attacks. It makes me wonder if physical threats aren’t thrown in with the Donald’s fealty oath. One speculates if the old veiled threat “nice family you’ve got there, it would be a shame if anything happened to them” is getting a lot of work these days.

Speaking of threats, and aloofness, I’m more than amused by President Biden’s welcome in Atlanta this week. Some black groups chose to not represent because they felt that Biden has been “aloof” to their needs. The threat by some black leaders to not keep strong with the Democratic party is madness in my opinion. I’m not sure how much sympathy blacks will get from the descendants of the “Back to Africa” movement. The old adage, “you got to dance with the one that brung you.” comes to mind. It might have been a Republican president that freed the blacks, but this is not the same Republican party.

While I totally agree that the future of America as a democratic country is truly on the line, it’s not like the President isn’t dealing with an existential problem 24/7. As near and dear to my heart as voting rights are, I can see where voting rights might not have been front burner for the President in his first year. 839,000 Americans have died due to Covid and the hospitals are bursting at the seams again with the sick and dying.

So, aloof, I don’t think so. Busier than a one-armed paper hanger is more like it.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant” is a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis‘ book “Other People’s Money.”

Brandeis served on the court from 1916 through 1939, a time fraught with social and fiscal change. Prior to his nomination, Brandeis was known as “the People’s Lawyer” and frequently took cases pro bono against some of the biggest players of the day. Whether he was taking on railroad monopolies, or defending the American worker in the workplace, Brandeis acted as a legal Robin Hood for many. His efforts helped to create the Federal Reserve System to oversee the banking industry. He also presented ideas for the formulation of a Federal Trade Commission.

Nominated by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 for the Supreme Court, he went through a bitter confirmation contest. In writing about the confirmation, Justice William O. Douglas wrote, “Brandeis was a militant crusader for social justice whoever his opponent might be. He was dangerous not only because of his brilliance, his arithmetic, his courage. He was dangerous because he was incorruptible”.

“He was dangerous because he was incorruptible”. Holy Guacamole! What does that say about the highest court in the land? How does Brandeis’ incorruptibility stand up to the current standard as presented by one Clarence Thomas? More about that in a later post, but do mull over the fact that our highest officials are virtually unaccountable for acts that send most of us to jail. Hyperbole? I think not.

Approached by the idea that congress people should not be allowed to be playing in the market, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi pooh poohed the idea. Subsequently, Tik Tokers have found that Pelosi’s “husband” is prescient when making investments. Now I love Nancy Pelosi and I think she has been a great speaker. I also think she is dead wrong on this issue, as does about 75% of the country. I think most Americans figure if you’re sitting on the Armed Services Committee and you learn that we’re about to invade Grenada, you’d call your spouse and mention that “perhaps an investment in Boeing” might be a good idea.

I’m not saying that 90+% of Congress will act on the impulses that got Martha Stewart sent to jail, I’m just saying, why tempt fate? I think we’ve all learned first-hand that asking people to voluntarily exercise the highest ethical and moral standards is a non-starter. Some do, but it does seem like a lot of people are able to find the “grey areas”. In my mind the only solution is to take away the grey. I’m calling for full transparency.

Before a public official from legislative through judicial takes office they should be fully vetted. Their tax returns for the past ten years should be made public. Their current stock holdings along with their net worth should be revealed. Then their stocks would be placed in a public index fund or mutual funds (their choice). Then the elected official/judge would be concerned with the overall health of the market, not worrying about when to short a stock.

As far back as 2018, Elizabeth Warren has been calling for a ban on congress people owning individual stocks. Recently she has paired with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Congress to promote legislation that would do just that. In spite of her early reluctance, Nancy Pelosi now seems to be on board. Let’s hope she throws her full weight behind the legislation. Maybe they can include my idea about full disclosure of wealth before entering Congress. We’re all wondering how a job that pays $174,000 a year can sustain a yacht and Masesrati lifestyle.

I live in a state that sent a crook to Congress and then when he was asked to leave by the ethics committee, turned around and got elected as Governor. So you can see why from my point of view I think the public needs to know in depth about these people before they gain the first foothold in public trust. Drag ’em out into the sunlight and see which ones can stand the exposure.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the old saying goes.

I find that the older I get, the less likely I am to venture into “new things”. I’ve also noticed that I become more frustrated and irritated when my ventures don’t turn out as planned. That’s one of the many reasons I wonder how in the world Bernie Sanders and his followers ever thought he was going to make it into the White House. People criticize President Biden for being “polarizing” and he’s about as an accommodating human being that ever walked the planet. Bernie Sanders is not shy about delivering his opinion to one and all.

Don’t get me wrong, I love everything the senator from Vermont is saying. He is “speaking truth to power”, as they say, and I love him for doing it. I just see that he’s never really had a snowball’s chance in Hell of pulling off a win in a presidential election. Even with the youth demographic behind him, he would never be able to pull enough progressive voters together to offset the “he’s a socialist, he’s a socialist” crowd. It’s sad that the label defines the man, but there it is.

I see Bernie not as a power broker but more of a conscience for the party. Perhaps it’s quotes like this that rope the young people into Bernie’s corral: “What being a socialist means is… that you hold out… a vision of society where poverty is absolutely unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed… but on cooperation… where human beings can own the means of production and work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire.”

I particularly love the fact that the young people are so energized by him, and that they turn out in droves to support him. Someone needs to energize the youth of our country and the fact that an 80 year old is doing it is totally cool with me. I just hope that Bernie’s Brigade is not a part of some bizarro hipster movement that will turn it’s attention elsewhere when they get bored with the old guy. I hope they continue to “Feel the Bern” long after Bernie has left politics. I also wonder where the Bernies-in-training are. Katie Porter maybe?

History/memory informs us of another totally left candidate who played very well to the youth demographic, George McGovern. It was a very different time, one when the youth of our country were out marching in the streets every day to put an end to foreign excursions, civil rights, empowering women and other social issues. The presidential election of 1972, left the Democratic candidates George McGovern and Eugene Shriver crushed in a 61-percent to 37-percent defeat to Richard Nixon. The Electoral College total was 520 to 17, for Nixon. At the time, this was the second biggest landslide in American history. I’m not saying that I don’t think that a totally Progressive movement would have the same results today, I’m just offering up a recollection from the past. After all, “those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it”, as the saying goes.

So, as excited as I am to see the progressive ideas expostulated by Bernie take hold with the American people, I know that the realities of his age have got to be catching up with him. At what point will some dip ask Bernie some dumb question, and Bernie lose it and go total octogenarian Rambo on them? I know it’s a possibility I deal with everyday, and Bernie’s got a few years on me. What if Bernie calls a fool “a fool” on the Senate floor and is censured for his truthfulness? Will he continue to try to serve like a Supreme Court Justice until the last functioning brain cell gives way? I hope not, he has meant too much to too many of us for his legacy to become tarnished in that way.

I hope that when when Bernie’s last race has been run that those of us who call ourselves Democrats will keep this Bernieism in our heart: “Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent – a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice – that struggle continues.”