Who will investigate the investigators of the investigators

        It has the cachet of the old saw about big fleas, little fleas, etc. ad infinitum.   Republicans in the House are set to investigate the investigators of virtually every committee from the previous congress.    This, aside from being the very height of hypocrisy, is a very dangerous precedent.  Seemingly unable to find present day corruption to investigate, the house oversight and judiciary committees are set to devour their own, or at least the Democrats on the previous iteration.

    The media will "both sides" this to death, but that is a false equivalence.  Did Democrats investigate the Benghazi Committee?  The Q Anon conspiracists will not settle for less than an indictment of some prominent Dem, if not now than under some future Republican DOJ.   It is all projection, and that is one hell of a drug!

biba

        I resent being told what to think.   Thank you, Peter Baker and the NY Times, but I really know there is a big difference between what Donald tRump did with hundreds of classified documents and what Joe Biden did with a couple of dozen.

      Baker elides the differences with a blanket declaration that it is not the facts that are important, but the perception of the public that matters.   Instead of explaining the lawless nature of tRump's handling of documents and contrasting it with Biden and Mike Pence's law abiding approach, Baker invokes his own interpretation which is a "both sides do it" meme if ever there was one.   He then throws up his rhetorical hands and declares the issue decided.     The NYT does some of America's worst journalism.

Same tune, new lyrics

       It turns out the 5 police officers indicted for murder after a traffic stop wound up in the death of a black man were also black.   What were they thinking?   I was ready to write a piece decrying the white supremacist attitude of police, but the fact all five offenders were black just adds weight to the story that police culture is as much to blame as racism.  The " us against them" mentality is present in militarized police departments across the nation.   It makes a mockery of the motto "to serve and protect".

      White or black, it's not just a few bad apples spoiling the barrel.   The barrel itself is rotten and must be cleaned out in totality.  Many, if not most officers must be reeducated in the mission we expect the police to perform in our society.   If they are uncomfortable with serving the public instead of terrorizing it, they must be removed from positions of trust.  

Living long vs. living well

       An article in today's WaPo about the coming wave of centenarians about to engulf the world in coming decades made me wonder if living to extreme old age is something i would want to do.   It seems to me for every old person in vibrant good health as they approach 100, there is a huge cohort of men and women who take copious amounts of pills and enjoy a very straitened existence.   More often than not they are in "Memory Care" settings as dementia sets in and physical well being consists of sitting and staring out a window.   I believe many of these would be centenarians would trade the last 10-15 years of their present lives for a death while in full possession of all their faculties.   The aging industrial complex enables more and more people to end their lives in a less than dignified manner.   i know this is a topic which makes many uncomfortable, but is something we all need to grapple with at some point.

The Rural vs. Urban divide

      There isn't much going on in the political world at this point unless you consider finding a few classified documents in Mike Pence's home big news.  So, it's time to talk about the rural-urban divide in  America.

     I have a little personal experience in this debate, having lived in what is loosely defined as rural America for most of my life.  From birth through 2001 I lived on Long Island for the most part.  For the majority of that time the area i lived in was sparsely populated and mostly Republican.  Growing up in Suffolk county, it was understood you needed to register in the GOP if you wanted a county job.  In the 70's and 80's, white flight from NYC swelled the population, but most of these new suburbanites were also Republicans, so the balance didn't change.

     Moving to Clinton County in northern NY in 2001, I was struck by its physical and political resemblance to the Long Island of my youth.  Outside of the towns of Plattsburgh, Potsdam and Canton with their hospitals and colleges, the area has voted Republican since the era of the Civil War.  

     The big difference between upstate NY and Long Island is the aging of the population in upstate NY and the brain drain as most of the young people continue to move out of the area, leaving behind an older and sicker population which tends to be more conservative.

     Upstate will continue to lose population and representation and LI will gain both in years to come, but at least in this case it won't change the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans.  I wonder if similar scenarios are being played out across the country or if my experience is singular.

Gonna miss him

       One of the most important and least understood positions in Washington is the President's Chief of Staff.  If the White House policy shop runs smoothly and the COS is not in the news, the press tends to ignore  him.   The work is a grueling 24/7 marathon and they rarely last more than 18 months in the job.

       The present COS, Ron Klain announced he is stepping down in the next month and being replaced by Jeffrey Zients, a former  Obama administration official who presided over the sequestration debacle and other missteps which have not endeared him to progressives.   He lacks Klain's familiarity with Congressional leaders and deals from a position of wealth and power.   I guess we will find out if President Biden's liberal stances on many issues have come from deep seated convictions or were pushed by Klain and his advisors.   Zients is likely to be far more conservative, especially when dealing with Kevin McCarthy's cuckoo caucus.  

     Hold onto your seats.  I think we are in for a rough ride for the next couple of years. 

America and guns

       A 72 year old man went on a rampage in Los Angeles over the weekend.  He killed 10 and wounded as many as 10 more before killing himself.   I'm sure in the days ahead we will find out more about the shooter and the motive which caused him to target 2 Chinese owned dance halls.   

       His age may or may not be significant, since it is nearly 40 years older than the typical mass shooter.   That such statistics are even available is a societal indictment.   Who knows, the next shooter may be an octogenarian in a wheelchair.   

Been a long time Coming

       David Crosby departed this mortal coil yesterday.   He was 81 years old.   It is hard for this boomer to put into words what Crosby meant to popular music and to me personally.  In the late 60s and early 70s, the Byrds and CSN were ubiquitous and their albums were a staple on my stereo during my college years.

      I heard about his various legal problems and his clashes with fellow musicians but rarely paid much attention.   The soaring harmonies were the thing that drew me to his music, along with the counterculture lyrics.   If you asked me in back in the day if Crosby would die in 2023, I would have laughed and speculated he wouldn't have survived the 70s.  He was a long time coming and gone to be a long time gone.  RIP

January Blues

      Facing the prospect of 4-6 inches of new snow during the next 24 hours, I can say with conviction that the first month of the year has lived up to its reputation for winter weather.   The combination of snow, clouds and early sunsets make for a depressing daily grind.   Factor in a lousy head cold and you have a pretty good idea of where I am so far in 2023.

Immigration and the graying of America

       As with many rich, industrialized countries, America is facing a crisis as the boomer generation ages into retirement.  Among the problems already occurring are fears for the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.   With fewer working age people contributing to the programs they face uncertain futures.  There are relatively easy fixes, such as raising the amount of income subject to taxation, but the current Congress will refuse to do so.  Raising the retirement age  is also a nonstarter.   Raising the number of people subject to the tax through immigration would solve the problem.  It would also help alleviate the shortage of workers available to take care of our elderly.

     Alas, the anti-immigrant fever shows no sign of breaking anytime soon.  Most of the would be immigrants are black or brown skinned.  There is no wave of white people clamoring to be let into a country with far fewer benefits than most industrialized nations.  The French, for example have a retirement age of 62 with far better benefits than America.  Ditto for Italy, Germany and the Nordic nations.  

    The most probable outcome of this trap we are in is a combination of raising the retirement age to 70, cutting benefits and turning a blind eye to the southern border and letting in enough immigrants to do the jobs Americans no longer can or will do.   Welcome to 21st Century  America!

The party of lawlessness

 The latest Republican travesty is the determination of the House GOP majority to interfere with ongoing Department of Justice investigations of the January 6  insurrection.   Probably nothing will come of it because it would seem to be unconstitutional, but dangerous precedents are being set.

Of dreams and nightmares

      Once again Martin Luther King day will be the occasion for arguing the meaning of his advocacy for civil rights and his legacy.   Most conservatives point to one sentence in one speech to say MLK was for a "color blind" approach to civil rights.  A closer look at even that speech shows King meant the very opposite of what the right wing would have us believe.

     King believed that civil rights were inextricably bound up with economic rights.   He wanted to make common cause with poor and middle class whites to help everyone to a piece of the American dream.  This is the definition of a nightmare for the 1%.   They have spent the years since King's death trying to drive a wedge between white and black in this country and by and large have succeeded.   The MAGA cult is the final distillation of their campaign.   It's up to us to overcome the message of the hatemongers and celebrate the man and his true message.

Whose your daddy?

       For most of the Republicans in Congress, their "daddy" is the wealthiest  person in their district or their state for senators.   These multimillionaires and billionaires provide the enormous sums required to run for office in the 21st century.  And they expect their pound of flesh in return.    Most, if not all of these supposedly self made Republican donors hate the minimalist welfare state we have in America.   The problem is most voters like it and would like to expand benefits as long as they go to the right people.

     In previous incarnations, Congress would make a show of proposing to cut Social Security and Medicare, but would back down before a final vote.   When they acted on a proposal, like the Shrub's plan to privatize Social Security, the blowback was swift.  Now, however, the inmates are running the asylum and the chances of a successful attack on the social safety net have gotten much more probable.    

     The fringe caucus doesn't really care if they blow up the system an most of the rest of the Republican majority are apparatchiks looking for a career after their "service" is over.  The Divine Mrs. M wants to know how anyone can be so cruel to the nation's seniors.  My reply is because they can.

     

Trusting the data

       Paul Krugman is dithering.   The usually confident  Nobel Laureate can't bring himself to believe his own prediction that inflation is coming down rapidly and the Federal Reserve should moderate interest rate hikes to avoid a recession later this year.  Unlike his more conservative mentor, Larry Summers, Krugman and other liberal economists saw the economy self correcting and reining in inflation.  A couple of bad months of rising inflation seems to have spooked the shrill one and his column is one long apologia.  Come on Paul, trust the data.

Eating their cake

      Having stripped the Office of Congressional Ethics of any real power to discipline them and securing  3 seats on the Rules Committee, the nihilist caucus seems to have all the power in the House for the next couple of years.   This includes a pledge by powerless Speaker My Kevin McCarthy to hold the country hostage in the debt ceiling debate coming soon to a cable station near you. 

     Many pundits feel the Republican majority is planning to tear what remains of the social safety net to shreds by gutting Social Security and Medicare.  this is seen as a prelude to what a Republican trifecta in 2024 can accomplish.   For some reason they think the American public will somehow embrace this masochistic prescription.  The beatings will continue until morale improves.  

The just say no caucus

       Like an angry bunch of toddlers, the far right of the Republican caucus will probably decide soon that governing is for dummies and doing nothing and seeing what happens is the preferred method for running the country.   Under the rules negotiated by Kevin McCarthy to gain support for his Speakership, individual members can offer amendments to spending bills and also call for a vote to "vacate the chair".  Instead of making the machinery of government more transparent, these amendments are likely to increase dysfunction by making every congressman a decider on whether the House functions or not.  Thanks, Kevin.

These cockroaches love the light

        Desperate to report some progress in efforts to elect a Speaker for this session of Congress, some reporters are speculating that if My Kevin peels off enough of the 20 members of his opposition, somehow the rest of the diehards will somehow slink off and allow his election.   What they won't admit is these holdouts love the spotlight, unlike their insect world counterparts.   The brighter the light, the more intransigent they will become.

Can't look away

      The House adjourned last night before the members could subject Kevin McCarthy to a 7th humiliation, but political junkies like myself could not look away.  I spent another aimless hour absorbing multiple hot takes on what it all means.

      The short answer is, very little.   Someone from the clown car that is the Republican caucus will eventually be elected Speaker and then the real travesty will begin as the leopards will begin eating faces and vitally important work will be ignored.   It's very much like a slow motion traffic accident.  You know you should ignore it and concentrate on driving, but it is hard to ignore the sirens and the ambulances.

Thrice more into the breach

       My Kevin was thoroughly humiliated yesterday by the crazies he nurtured and appeased for the last two years.   It looks like he will be back for more of the same today, unless perhaps he offered his firstborn to the shithouse rats' caucus and they accepted.

       Seriously, as McCarthy's lifelong ambition to be Speaker slips from his grasp, the sanest members of the Republican caucus have some soul searching to do and some hitherto impossible choices to make.   They can continue down the road they are on, possibly electing Steve Scalise or the equally execrable Elise Stefanik to the Speakership.   Or, they can make a deal with Democrats and elect a Speaker from outside the House.  If I was the Dem leader it would have to be a non-partisan actor with impeccable credentials.  Otherwise, let the "Republicans in disarray" narrative continue.

Same as it always was...

       I freely admit I'm not much of a football fan these days, but I did tune in to the MNF game featuring the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals as there was little else on TV that interested me.  I saw the play which resulted in Damar Hamlin's injury and was shocked when he collapsed on the field with an apparent injury.  I tuned out for a few minutes and was again shocked when I found the game had been suspended and the injury was life threatening.

     Having watched the NFL since the mid-1960s I don't recall a single instance of a player's injury halting play for more than a few minutes.   Even paralyzing injuries were treated as momentary inconveniences.  The league's motto may as well have been "the show must go on".   The crowd in Cincinnati certainly seemed to think play would be resumed.  The players reaction to Hamlin's injury has indeed overshadowed the injury itself.   

      This is certainly the NFL's worst nightmare.   How many concerned mothers and fathers will prevent their sons from playing a violent sport in the future?  How many fans will switch to watching other sports and give football a pass?   

Brown nosing for fun and profit

        The mental picture of Elise Stefanik's nose firmly planted in tRump's capacious butt is something that is hard to unsee, but it is essential to our understanding of Stefanik's career choices.   The congresscritter from my district seemingly has been all in when it comes to currying favor with those in a position to help her advance.   From the time she was an 18 year old freshman at Harvard, she threw her integrity under the bus forever.

       She won election in my safe Republican district by promising white males she was no threat to them while allowing women to believe she was a Republican feminist.   With this combination of BS, she can win here as long as she wishes to "represent" us.  In reality, we are just like the others she has brown nosed on her way up the career ladder.   However, she may have made a fatal error in choosing the Donald as her ultimate sugar daddy.   He is likely going down under multiple indictments later this year and you can bet he will take anyone associated with him along for the ride.

     I can't see how she can extricate herself from tRump's derriere, but I suppose where there is the will, there is a way.  Stay tuned.