Biden is defending democracy

      Unlike his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden and his administration has walked the walk when it comes to defending democracy abroad.   Assuming his ask of 33 billion dollars to aid Ukraine passes Congress it will put Zelensky's government in position to punish Russian aggression and set the stage for a lasting peace.   

     Unfortunately, Biden is not matching his foreign defense of democracy on the domestic front.   As Republican controlled state governments become ever more repressive of marginalized populations we need to see more support for the principles of democracy in our own country.   We seem to be fine with defending people's rights with bullets and bombs.  We need to use words to defend them in America today. 

It's the stupid economy

         I'm pretty sure it's like this in most of America today.   Many if not most of the people I see in this area are driving late model cars, the restaurants in Plattsburgh are full most nights and jobs are going begging.   However, if you ask the same people who are driving these cars how the economy is doing, they point to high gas prices and moan about inflation.

       Maybe inflation is a problem for some, but most economic indicators show a booming country with job opening outpacing lost positions by a healthy margin.   Fox news and other right wing outlets scream about inflation as if it were out of control.   Having lived through the 1970s, I can tell you from experience inflation today is a pale shadow of what it was then.  

      Democrats can crow all they want about legislative victories and laws that help the middle class, but if they don't change people's perception of the economy they are going to be in the minority in the next Congress.

tRump and the conspiracy driven right

         The right wing in American politics has been  conspiracy driven for many decades.  The kidnapping of the Lindberg baby comes to mind as perhaps the earliest example of the phenomenon.  Fluoridation of the water supply was a staple of the John Birch society in the 50s and 60s as well as the threat of communists in government.  The thing is, only a tiny percentage of even the right actually believed in these conspiracy theories.

       The fever swamp was enlarged with the advent of Fox News in the late 90s, but the network still paid lip service to reporting facts which undermined many of the fantasies their prime time hosts trafficked.  This dynamic changed with the advent of Donald tRump and the Q anon phenomenon.   Suddenly it became semi-respectable to spout absurdities such as Hilary Clinton drinking the blood of small children and running a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor in Washington.   When asked to disavow Q and the conspiracies he peddled, tRump professed to know nothing about it.  With a wink and a nod, his followers were off to the races.

      The unholy confluence of tRump and Fox News has led to an exponential growth in followers of conspiracy theories.   Of course, the biggest of all being the big lie the 2020 election was stolen.   Democracy as we know it may or may not survive this axis of disinformation.

Running like a Democrat

        A local radio news director from rural Iowa was given a column in today's NYT to make the point the Biden administration has already done more for his state's rural economy than tRump's ever did.  Why he thinks Democrats should run on these accomplishments is no mystery.   The problem is the political fever which has gripped much of the hinterlands.  More than 50% of Republicans believe national Democrats are involved in child sex rings and the percentage is higher in rural areas.

      The other night while at the local grocery store we saw a new electricians truck with a professionally painted  "Let's go Brandon" logo on the rear panel.   This is the actual state of rural politics in America today.

Hope springs

       Although as usual, the American media's response to an important foreign election was a huge, collective yawn, Macron's win over Le Pen by a landslide margin is easily the biggest story of the week.   President Zelensky of Ukraine can heave a huge sigh of relief.

     What to say about Le Pen besides the fact she is an unredeemed fascist  and race baiter who would have dragged France out of NATO and plunged France into internal conflict over immigration.  The specter of a nazi France allied with Putin's Russia is too dystopian to speculate.  Fortunately, the French were smarter than we were in 2016 and saw the danger to democracy represented by Le Pen.  Having lost their freedom several times since 1789 their institutional memory is better.  

Who is more cynical

         Thanks probably to Liz Cheyney, it has been proven Kevin McCarthy is a serial liar and a cynical coward who would probably soil himself if tRump shouted at him.   The talking heads on MSNBC treated the story with the seriousness it deserved last night.  After all, we know politicians shade the truth all the time, but this time there is an actual recording of McCarthy telling other members of the Republican leadership team he was going to advise tRump to resign the presidency in the wake of the 1/6 insurrection.   He hotly denied the NYT story of this event, obviously not knowing there was a recording of his words.

       Lo and behold, this morning an Axios reporter told the outraged eponymous host of Morning Joe that McCarthy would pay no political price for lying to the nation.   the reporter noted McCarthy represents a safe MAGA district in California and would undoubtedly be re-elected no matter the lies.   I'm not sure who is more cynical about our democracy; a politician who lies and counts on his constituents to overlook this fact or a member of the press who considers Republican voters rubes who would vote for the liar.  I'm afraid both of them are right. 

the MAGA, Putin alliance

        The Florida legislature is currently considering stripping the Disney corporation of special tax privileges on its Disney World property in Orlando.   The special 40 square mile tax district has allowed Disney World to be a nearly independent self regulating entity.   The reason for this punitive legislation which Gov. DeSantis has said he will sign is Disney's opposition to the "Don't say gay" bill recently passed and signed into law in Florida.

        Like Putin, DeSantis and other Republicans have decided to cast their political futures with the tRumpist white, ethnonationalist wing of the party.  Playing to a rabid base which represents approximately 30% of the population, these politicians, most of whom should know better, are playing to the worst angels of our nature.  I'm sure many if not most of these wannabe strongmen would love to emulate Putin's trashing of democracy.

Time for Ludovico

       The "Big Lie", that tRump actually won the 2020 election is believed by 2/3 of self identified Republicans despite the mainstream media's attempt to set the record straight.   In some cases, the more vehement the defense of the fairness of the election, the more respondents cling to the lie.  Asked if they have seen any evidence, some say it just doesn't "smell right".

      Of course, many if not most of these people watch Fox news 8 hours or more per day.  In many areas of the country Fox is the default programming for every business from barbershops to airport waiting areas.  Fox and other right wing media outlets have effectively brainwashed  a sizable minority of the population.   In a recent experiment, a number of Fox news viewers were paid to watch CNN for  7 hours per week.  There was an equal number in a control group who continued to watch Fox.   After a month of CNN, the former Fox viewers were open to fact based reporting.  The control group resisted the same facts.  

      As one wag put it, it's time for the Ludovico technique.   This refers to the movie "A Clockwork Orange" where a homicidal delinquent is strapped down and his eyes taped open and forced to watch acts of extreme violence  while classical music (which he adores) is played loudly.   I  could name a Fox news host or two for an experiment... 

Truth is stranger

         So, according to reports in the media, Vladimir Putin is awarding medals to the Russian soldiers involved in the atrocities in the suburbs of Kiev.    There, the Ukrainians found dozens of civilians with their hands bound and shot, execution style.   

       If true, this news is of a piece with Putin's ongoing propaganda war with the nations supporting Ukraine.    Black is white, up is down, freedom is slavery, etc.   I'm sure the tRump camp is taking notes for Boris and Natashas' next run for the White House.   

       Increasingly, authoritarian states around the world as well as the Republican party here in the US are betting scare tactics and misinformation will allow them to control enough of the population to ensure they will control the levers of power.    Behind this blizzard of lies is a small group of billionaires who are spending handsomely to acquire a majority of the media.   Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, the NYT is controlled by the Sulzburger family, Elon Musk is supposedly trying to buy Twitter.   No matter their protestations, the control of the media is a prerequisite for political domination.

       Distracting the rubes with culture war issues like abortion, CRT and gun laws will allow further concentration of wealth and with it, the power to make or break nation states.    In the long run, very little will separate the kleptocracy that is the government of Russia and the 2nd administration of tRump and the US oligarchs who will benefit from its policies. 

       President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are showing us how to battle against the barrage of disinformation from the Russian side.   I hope we learn the right lessons from their struggle.

Not so springy

      With temperatures in the low 30s this morning and a snowstorm forecast for tonight and tomorrow it would seem spring is taking a late vacation this year.    Normally, by now we should have had a few days in the 70s to start warming the soil.   Instead, we are topping out in the mid to upper 40s most days and any rain that falls is cold.   The Divine Mrs. M is tired of this weather and aside from a few ski resort owners so are the rest of us.

same as it ever was

        Another day.   Another unarmed black man shot to death during a traffic stop.  This time it was a Congolese immigrant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who was shot dead for trying to prevent himself  being tazed by an officer.  

        If you look at it from the standpoint of the police, it's just another day in the life.   Police are trained to be the ultimate authority figure in any interaction with the public.   If their shouted commands are not immediately obeyed, the average cop rapidly escalates the situation, first to tazers or batons, then to lethal force.  This often occurs in a racist manner.  However, hundreds of whites are killed each year by police in similar situations.

      What is needed is reform of the training which right now turns an ordinary person into an authoritarian killer if his authority is in any way questioned.

Beating the same drum

       I know it is hard to focus on tRump with so much else going on in the world, but even the remote possibility of him running and winning the presidency in 2024 is enough to beat the drum again.

      The problem the mainstream media has when it comes to covering the twice impeached failed former president is that a tsunami of scandals swirl around the man and his inner circle and it seems impossible that they should not bring him down.   Consider for a moment the 2 billion the Saudis are investing in Jared Kushner, tRump's son-in-law.   If Hunter Biden were to cash in on his proximity to power in such a manner, right wing media would  be covering it 24/7.  In Kushner's case not so much.    Even the mini-scandal of tRump horning in on his official White House photographer's book project would have received constant play on Faux News if Obama had done the same.

     If tRump runs in 2024, we and by extension the media need to keep our eyes on the steady stream of scandal which follows the ex president as surely as night follows day.

Full reverse

        It looks like sometime in June, the Supreme Court will finish Roe vs. Wade as a constitutional protection for women's right to abortion.   It is a cautionary tale of how precarious many of our supposed "rights" are and how a determined minority can overturn established precedents.

      The right was not originally seriously opposed to Roe.   There were a few anti-abortion activists, but they got little traction with most people.  That changed when the unholy alliance of evangelical protestants and the republican party united around the "evils" of slutty women and their  use of abortion to lead a wanton lifestyle.

      Opposition to Roe comes down to punishing women for their sexuality.   In a patriarchal society, men's control over women's reproductive capacity is key to controlling them.   Many women are fine with men in charge, but there are fewer with each generation.  The problem is most people support women's rights, but it is not the overriding issue when they vote.  This needs to change if real gains are to be protected. 

The Bogeyman rises

       For those of us who came of age in the late 60s through the late 70s, the bogeyman of high inflation was a generational scourge.   Now, members of my generation are freaking out over an inflation rate of 8.5% year over year.  The pressure is on the Fed to raise interest rates to tip us into recession in the name of controlling inflation.

  I remember thinking my grandfather was a lucky man.  He retired and sold the farm and although his Social Security check was microscopic, he was making 18% interest on his savings and living a comfortable retirement in Florida in 1968.

     Now we face a similar crisis, but without the high interest rates.   Although they have gone up some, interest rates are still near historic lows.  However, we have been accustomed to rates near 0% for many years, so even minor increases are liable to induce panic in the investing public.   Meanwhile, interest paid by banks on savings are so anemic you may as well stick your savings in your mattress, except inflation will make your cash worth less by the day.   What to do?

The next tipping point in Ukraine

        The climate in Ukraine seems to be very much like what we experience here in the north country, in other words,  a cold winter followed by a short spring, a hot summer and a fairly short fall, followed by a long, cold winter.   Farmers in this are are getting ready for spring planting.   They should also be doing that in Ukraine.

      The fact farmers will probably be unable to plant in many areas of Ukraine due to military activity may have catastrophic consequences for those who depend on Ukrainian grain.  The world market will reflect this shortfall with steeply rising prices.   This will be especially true if climate change impacts another growing region, causing an even bigger shortfall.  There are vast areas of the planet where starvation is an ever present specter. 

       Despite the nearly endless chatter about the geopolitical struggle going on in Ukraine, agriculture is barely mentioned.   I think as spring unfolds, more and more people will begin to realize the importance of farming in the grand scheme.   We are balanced on a knife edge and the situation is precarious in the extreme.

All or nothing

       Like a jilted suitor who kills the object of his desire, Russia is obliterating towns and villages in eastern Ukraine in order to supposedly remake them.   From the pictures in the NYT and Wa Po, it looks more like total destruction with little thought as to what comes next.  Besides, the medieval brutality of the Russian army is probably going to alienate even the Russian speakers in the area.   Unless Putin intends to use Russians to repopulate the territory he has seized, he is creating a fifth column of Ukrainian nationalists who will resist any attempts at colonization.  

      Putin's seeming ultimatum is just the type of ham handed policy you would expect of an out of touch authoritarian.   Ukraine has seen the same thing happen time and again over its long history, but especially during its inclusion in the USSR.    Stalin caused the starvation of millions by forcibly collectivizing vast areas of the country.   Those who didn't agree were either killed or deported to the Siberian gulag.   It didn't work in the long run.  Putin is in the process of learning an expensive lesson and the Russian people are paying for it.

Centerfield

         If not for a persistent low pressure system bringing rain to the NYC area, the Yankees would be celebrating opening day today.   Now it looks like I'll be asking Alexa to play John Fogerty's iconic ode to baseball, "Centerfield", on Friday.

       

The infamous laptop

         Hunter Biden's laptop is once more in the news.  I should say the story has been picked up by the mainstream media in an attempt to "both sides do it" in relation to tRump's attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.   I guess you go into battle with the story you have, not the story you wish you had.

      My guess is the younger Biden will eventually be convicted of tax evasion and perhaps influence peddling.   He will embarrass his father, but no connection other than the filial will be found.  What Faux News and the right wing are looking for at the very least is a Hilary Clinton email type scandal.   Something that means little or nothing compared to Donald Trump's dirty laundry but allows pundits to pontificate on the evils of power and those in its proximity.  

Little signs of sanity

        The pro-union vote at  an Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island is either a harbinger of what could be the greening of the labor movement or a one off which Amazon will quickly snuff out.  I prefer the former scenario.

       Taken along with the "fight for fifteen" by fast food workers and the unionization of several Starbucks stores in Buffalo, there seems to be juice in labor these days.   This is in some part caused by the Biden Administration's encouragement of unionization efforts.  After previous administrations' outright hostility to labor or in the case of Obama, indifference, Biden's cheerleading is refreshing.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) can be a positive force as it was during the New Deal.   But much of the newfound assertiveness of the labor movement can be traced to the militancy of a new generation of organizers willing to put themselves on the line to advance solidarity.

      With some help from established unions, the movement could increase the number of union members from the present 6% of workers to perhaps something like the 24% in the 1970s.  The time and the terrain is right.

Doomscrolling the climate apocalypse

        If you read the paper of record today, prepare to be depressed by stories of the coming environmental collapse.   From a worsening of the western drought to the decline of the ash tree on the Eastern Shore due to the emerald ash borer, there is something for everyone to cry over.

      Meanwhile, spring is coming ever so slowly to the north country.  While we have had a few days in the 60s, the soil is abnormally dry, so farmers on sandy soils are already plowing and getting ready to plant.  Of course, a couple of inches of rain or a  snowstorm could quickly alter the equation.  In my own garden, the garlic is pushing through the straw mulch, but it has been a slow process.   Normally, by now I would have put in a bed of spinach, but with soil temperatures abnormally low, it would be a fool's errand.   Maybe next week....

Nationalism and the turn inward

        As the Ukraine War grinds on with no clear exit policy, more and more pressure will be brought to bear on leaders in the West to do something about the economic problems confronting the average citizen.  Many of these problems have to do with our far flung supply chains which depend on a peaceful world to keep trad humming.

       Some economists worry that the globalization of trade which has made possible the rise in living standards in many poor countries will cease if we pull back to a system where each nation eschews trade for a go it alone stance.    This sort of nationalism will  fail in the long run, although demagogues will attempt to make it attractive here and now.   

      Putin may have started the deglobalization of trade, but the US must exert leadership to prevent trade from becoming a political wedge issue.