Hard to listen

       As Joe Biden's legislative agenda threatens to go off the rails this week bcause of Democratic infighting and the US government hurtles toward defaulting on its debts due to Republican obstruction it is increasingly hard to pay attention to the news.   It is too depressing.

      Instead, I have allowed a long time obsession to distract me.   I have been watching the NY Yankee season unspool for the last several weeks and feeling the rush of the pennant race.   Realistically, I know the team has relatively little chance to hoist the championship trophy, but the leisurely pace of the baseball season allows for an extended adrenaline rush as each game becomes more significant.  

       In politics, you are never quite sure if the Senator or Representative who professes allegiance to the administration's programs is sincere or a sellout to the lobbyists who throng the Capitol.  Baseball players, whatever their politics play their hearts out between the lines and you can count on an honest if not necessarily great performance.   Go Yankees!

The stupid still hurts

         The media and politicians who frequently guest  as talking heads continue to refer to the Biden administration's human infrastructure legislation as "the $3.5 trillion bill".   Please, just stop it.   The 3.5 trillion is spread over 10 years, so it is really 350 billion per year.   Based on the current federal budget, that is an increase of about 7% in spending.  

        That 7% increase will go a long way toward repairing and extending the social safety net to an approximation of what most wealthy countries take for granted.   Universal pre K, lower prices for prescription drugs, free community college tuition and increased child care tax credits should not be controversial in the 21st century.  But here we are. 

       It all starts with the framing of the bill in question as an extravagant gift to the working and middle class.   The media, controlled by the 1%, wants us to think we can't afford nice things for the majority of the population.   The concentration of wealth at the very top has distorted the way people think of basic fairness.   Although few of us will ever experience Jeff Bezos' level wealth, the framing by the media is it is possible.   Therefore, we must protect the wealth we will never have for those that do have it.   As I have said numerous times, the stupid continues to hurt.

Personal responsibility and mandates

        The day of decision for many state and local employees is fast approaching.   Vaccine mandates for the aforementioned will be kicking in over the next few weeks and a sizable minority of them have said they will resign their relatively well paying jobs rather than be forced to get the jab.  The most vocal minority is state troopers in various jurisdictions.   I hope many if not most of them put in their papers and promptly take up residence in emergency rooms across the northeast.   Culling the herd never made more sense.

Stupid kills

        Too anyone who believes in science, reports that Covid patients in hospital are actually denying they have the disease or alternately demanding treatments including horse worming paste it would seem the silly season is in full swing.   If the results weren't so dire, the spectacle would be funny.   Welcome to the post tRump, post truth era.

        It now seems owning the libs is more important than life itself to the average tRumpista.   At another rally in Georgia on Saturday, the twice impeached failed former president spewed lie after lie about the presidential election  he lost.   Even the Cyber Ninja fraudit in Arizona failed to uncover any voter fraud in Biden's win in Maricopa county.   Yet the faithful continue to believe in the Big Lie and seemingly nothing will move the opinion of nearly 30% of the electorate.   The stupidity continues to hurt...

Shining the light

        In today's NYT, Paul Krugman attempts to answer the mealy mouthed opposition to the Biden administration's human infrastructure bill.   He points out most of the opposition arguments are recycled right wing agitprop from the Reagan era.  The centrist, so called Democratic moderates are either ideological hostages of Republican nonsense or active believers in the "can't do" motto when it comes to actually improving the lives of the average voter.  

 Tiny Denmark manages to rank high on the list of countries whose citizens are actually happy.  It has a high percentage of union membership.   MacDonalds pays their workers the equivalent of $22.00/hr.  Yet, somehow the country is not the hellhole conservatives consistently believe it is.

     Most of the moderates in the Democratic party are actually running for safe seats which will probably not be impacted if the party falls in the 2022 elections.  They need to step up and prove to all of us that liberal governance can improve the average voter's life.  

It's hand wringing time for Democrats

        As the entire Biden agenda threatens to fall into the abyss, the pundit class expresses little or no opinion as to the content of the bills in question.   The argument is  always framed as moderates vs. progressives, or that hoary old cliche, "Dems in disarray".  

      Some on the progressive side are finally pointing fingers at the so-called moderates and asking what part of the bills in question are they prepared to cut.   The three moderates killing  the clause enabling the government to negotiate with big pharma on drug pricing are sucking up millions in contributions by the drug companies.  Likewise, Joe Manchin's donors include many fossil fuel companies.  What is wrong in shining a light on these transactions and watching the cockroaches scurry for cover.

     Without an overarching dogma to fall back on, the Democratic caucus in both the House and Senate are fractious to a degree that Republicans, with their devotion to tax cuts for the rich and white supremacy never approach.   Now is the time for Dems to unite around the cause of the 99% and legislate like the existence of representative democracy is on the line.  Because it is.

Optimistic pessimism

       If you believe in small d democracy and the ability of humans to band together and solve the existential problem of climate change, then as Molly Ivins might have said, bless your little heart!   

     If on the other hand you believe we have already squandered our last, best chance to solve climate change and are about to hand our government over to an unholy alliance of oligarchs and fascists, then you are a hard eyed realist.

     I prefer to believe we still have chances to save democracy and the planet, but we need to embrace the moment and call for humanity to assert itself in the 11th hour.   I'm an optimistic pessimist, but I still believe in possibilities and the innate goodness of a significant chunk of the population of the planet.

Death by a thousand cuts

      Trying to enact the "build back better" agenda of the Biden administration is like dying a slow death by a thousand paper cuts.  In this case, each cut represents a lobbyist getting in the face of vulnerable members of congress.   These congresscritters are being reminded they serve not at the pleasure of their voters, but their real paymasters.   To cross the corporations which control the national legislature is to invite severe financial repercussions including banishment from lucrative jobs in the private sector following their "service" to the country.

      The men and women from swing districts who voted for Obamacare in 2009 knew they were signing their political death warrants ahead of the 2010 elections, yet they voted in favor of expanding health care to millions.   What is now at stake is the future of the human race and yet Joe Manchin would seemingly stand athwart the pages of history and yell "enough" and kill perhaps the last, best hope of staving off planetary disaster.   

Birth and death in Alabama

     For the first time in its history, in 2020, deaths outnumbered births in the state of Alabama.  A majority of residents in the state still consider the Covid epidemic a hoax and it still has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.  Despite the lyrics to Lynyrd Skynyrd song, it is hardly Sweet Home Alabama  these days.   Racism, misogyny, and now antivaxx sentiment will continue to define one of the most backward states in the union.

the Maga among us

        I took my new puppy for obedience lessons yesterday.   For the most part, Maggie is a sweetheart, but playful puppy nips today can turn ugly and teething on chair legs i a definite no no.  So off to a trainer.   While obeying the trainer's injunction to stay in my car with the pup until it was time to start my hour lesson, I had to listen to him and the previous customer lament the political situation and sympathize with the loser of the last election.   

      The trainer hauled out the "some of my best friends are democrats" chestnut before agreeing with the other man's opinion these Democrats were hell bent on imposing their views on everyone.  Personally, I believe everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions, but failure to agree with the facts on the ground disqualifies one from a rational argument.   The trainer self evidently loves dogs, so I won't let his political views deny Maggie Mae a good doggie education.  I just hope our society is not one step away from allowing political views to dictate our economic and social decisions.

The conundrum

       Charles Blow in today's NYT makes a valid point; that black and brown men, while overwhelmingly loyal to the Democratic party are drawn to the regressive, patriarchal tendencies of the Republican party.   According to blow, nearly 50% of hispanic men and a quarter of black men voted to recall Gavin Newsom as governor of California.

      Blow's prescription is to treat men of color with the same solicitude Democrats accord working class white men.  Crafting policies and voting for them to produce concrete results which make their lives better is a more effective way of garnering enthusiastic support than merely holding up and ridiculing the destructive policies advocated by Republicans.  The fact that in a patriarchal society even black and brown men have a higher standing than almost any woman is the seductive lure of the GOP.  

     Unfortunately, we also live in a racist society which denigrates people of color.   As long as this is the norm, there is only one party which stands for equality and in a binary choice, black and brown men must hold Democrats accountable when they don't live up to the party's credo.   

Covid and recall politics

     Democrats realized last night they have a potent weapon in upcoming elections; Covid sanity.   In the much ballyhooed California recall election yesterday, the lucid members of the electorate voted overwhelmingly to retain the services of Gov. Gavin Newsom at least until the next election.   They firmly rejected to politics of ignorance and hate exemplified by the leading Republican candidate, Larry Elder.

     Obviously, Democrats can't export Covid competence and tRump aversion to a state like Alabama, but in purple states like Arizona and even Ohio, there is a longing for expertise and competence whih bodes well for Democratic candidates in the mid terms next year.   Newsom showed the way to handle extremism and the Republicans wrote a primer on how to exploit the fear and ignorance which is part and parcel of their strategy.   Last night's results show this combination appeals to a shrinking minority of Americans.

Why we can't have nice things

      Even as I write this, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema are dictating which parts of the Biden Administration's $350 billion/year over 10 years budget reconciliation bill gets enacted.  Most media reports refer to the bill as "the Democrats' $3.5 trillion dollar" bill, neglecting to add it stretches over a 10 year period and is fully paid for by new taxes.  Manchin, cheered on by Republicans says the plan is too ambitious and the tax rate hikes fall too heavily on the wealthiest among us.

     It doesn't help the bill's prospects when the majority of our congresscritters are millionaires or well on their way to being so.   In contrast to the New Deal era, congress has come to represent the interests of the 1% far more than the rest of us.   As one op-ed title opined, our congress is hard wired to pass tax cuts and (non military) spending cuts.

     Unless and until we elect more ordinary Americans as out representatives we will not have nice things.

Tired of the piety

      Let me be clear.   The various attacks on the US by Muslim extremists on 9/11 were horrific and call for censure by all thinking people.   But they should never have given rise to the surveillance state under successive administrations since 2001.  If we had pursued the masterminds of the attacks as law breaking terrorists and used the rule of law to bring them to justice we might have reached a state of closure regarding 9/11.   Instead, we insist on this public hair shirt repentance each anniversary.

     I particularly hate the way Americans reacted to anyone professing a religion even vaguely associated with Islam.  I personally knew a Canadian Sikh truck driver who feared for his life when delivering a load of produce to Pennsylvania in the aftermath of the attacks.   Most of us are better than that, but there is a significant minority of our fellow citizens who allow themselves to fall into the cesspool of hate and intolerance which seems to motivate our worst impulses.  

      So, I say, let us not forget the events of 9/11, but also, let us not be consumed by it.

The whimper

      As many pundits and historians have put it over the years, American democracy will end with a whimper in the night.   Instead of a full on insurrection, a nation which was built on the rule of law will see respect for the law fall away under a thousand cynical assaults.   The Texas abortion law is a case in point.   Instead of a full throated affirmation of a woman's right to sovereignty over her own body, the majority of justices on the Supreme Court chose to de facto uphold a blatantly unconstitutional law banning all abortions in the state after 6 weeks.

     Various laws enacted by Republican controlled legislatures around the country are putting roadblocks up against the exercise of the voting rights of many citizens, especially if they are minorities, women or young voters.   The excuse is "election security".  In reality it is suppression of voters who don't support the authoritarian party the GOP has become.

     Many of us will wake up in the not too distant future and realize too late that democracy has been hamstrung by a minority party which celebrates tyrannical rule for the benefit of the billionaire class and its sycophants.   It is not too late to turn the tide, but the Democratic party must realize it no longer has an opposition party which believes in the Constitution.

Baseball history

      I grew up a dyed in the pinstripe blue of Yankee lore.   My grandfather was proud of Italian-Americans like Tony Lazzeri, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto.  I grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle and the players on the great teams of the 50s and early 60s.   I suffered through the late  60s and early 70s .   

     I remember my eldest daughter's crush on a rookie Yankee shortstop in 1995.  She would watch games just to get a glimpse of #2 as he batted and played the field.  I was ambivalent about Derek Jeter, telling her he would have to put up some awesome numbers to be mentioned in the same breath with Mantle, Gehrig and Ruth.   

    Yesterday, Alicia's intuition regarding Jeter was validated as he was inducted into the  Hall of Fame in Cooperstown along with Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller.   Jeter was a first ballot hall of famer who was the first choice of all but one voter from the baseball writers of America.  His valedictory address was of a piece with his career; an impeccable summation of a career for the ages.   He may not have been the greatest defensive shortstop of his era, but he was the heart and soul of five Yankee championship teams.   I stand corrected Alicia.

Yes, we are divided

        We are a divided nation.   I agree with the premise.  However, the nature of the division is what I dispute.  Up to 40% of the electorate identifies as Democrats, 36% as independents and around 24% as Republicans.  On most issues, a majority of independents agree with Democrats, which means 20% of the population or less agrees with the Republican stand on the issue of masks and Covid vaccination.  So please, media, the next time you trot out the hoary "both sides" journalism which implies the division is a 50-50 split, I hope you show the math behind the split.  It's more like 80-20.

Back to school

       In the year 2021, the phrase, "back to school", has a different meaning than it did in the dim mists of pre Covid history.   Where once it heralded the search for new school clothes and supplies, it now means searching for masks that fit 1st and 2nd graders and worries about them contracting the disease and winding up in a hospital instead of homeroom.

      Parents of young children have every right to be concerned about the possibility of their children becoming infected by the Delta variant of Covid.  One of my grandsons was exposed to Covid at his day care center and as a result must quarantine for a week.  He will not participate in the ritual first day of 1st grade and while his mother will be disappointed and her day disrupted, she will still have an entire school year to deal with.   It's a lot tougher out there than it was a mere 2 years ago.

Labor Day and the American worker

      As more and more Americans work the "gig economy", the entire premise of celebrating the dignity of work on the first Monday of September becomes more and more problematic.   From driving for Uber to taking short term contracts with few or no benefits to two tier labor contracts in the auto industry which pay new workers at a lower rate, the average worker is being screwed over by our corporate overlords.

      For many workers who came of age in the immediate aftermath of WW2, there were plenty of jobs available and companies competed for workers, offering higher wages, generous pensions and health insurance.  The labor movement was respected by most people and the future looked bright.  A high school education was a ticket to lifelong employment.

      Fast forward to the 1980s and the entire dream began to unravel with Reagan and the destruction of the air traffic controllers union.   This was followed by the outsourcing of many good paying jobs to third world countries.   The elites promised to retrain workers for the jobs of the 21st century, but it turns out a small minority of college educated people took the many fewer jobs available, leaving mostly low paying service industry jobs for those with high school education.

     Here we are, celebrating another Labor Day as most of the country falls further and further behind.   That's where the seductive vision of tRumpist populism comes into play.   Joe Manchin and other conservative Democrats who seek to derail programs helping most Americans looking for a better life are playing into the hands of those who either by design or serendipity are involved in the creation of a permanent underclass who will vote against their economic interests in favor of an ideological nihilism.   We can do better.

The summer of our climate discontent

      42 dead in the NYC area and counting.   800.000 customers without electricity in steamy NOLA  this weekend.   Probably over a trillion dollars in damages attributed to just one storm in a relatively active  hurricane season.   Climate change is here with a vengeance, and as with Covid, there are still a fair number of deniers.

     As Paul Krugman notes in today's NYT, there are a number of corporations lining up against the Biden administration's 3.5 trillion dollar human infrastructure and climate change battling initiative because it would raise taxes on their profits to help pay for some of the bill.  Krugman names the Walt Disney corporation as one of those publicly saying the right things while actively working behind the scenes to oppose the Build Back Better bill.   As he says, these actors should be named and shamed.  We are approaching the zero hour in which we can do anything to slow and reverse the worst effects of climate change.  

The dog finally caught the car

        When Roe vs. Wade was decided in the early 1970s, it was only controversial among a small coterie of activists on either side of the issue.  The vast majority of Americans had no opinion one way or the other.   Fast forward 50 years and abortion rights is lightning rod among a large minority of citizens.  

      Those who favor a woman's right to control over her body are diametrically opposed by those who say human life begins at conception and the unborn fetus has rights which trump all other rights the putative mother may claim.   While many who hold the latter view are whole hearted in their advocacy, many are cynically encouraged to demonstrate by so called "culture warriors" who are overwhelmingly Republican office holders and operatives.

       Forbidding women to abort and forcing them to bring unwanted pregnancies to term is the hold grail which the GOP has encouraged, much like a dog chasing a car.   Neither the Republicans nor the dog ever expected to catch the car and I don't think they really have a plan if the impossible should happen.  

      The decision yesterday by the Supreme Court to not enjoin the Texas law which prohibits abortion after six weeks hands a major victory to one side.  It will, however, create a firestorm of opposition on the part of women who believe in empowerment and the men who support them.  The dog will be having second thoughts in the very near future!

Servicing those mortgages

      Pity the poor defense contractors and lobbyists.   The cost of living in the DC area is among the highest in the country and the cost of those golf club memberships!  How will they recoup their share of the $300 million/day spigot of government spending President Biden just shut off.   That's how much America spent every day for the past 20 years in Afghanistan.

     It amazes me the same people who advocate "forever wars" and its attendant military spending say we can't have nice things in this country, including universal health care, maintaining infrastructure and child care.  I think a majority of my fellow citizens agree with Biden it is time to bury the Bush doctrine and focus instead on our own country and its needs.