New Reality

The near universal condemnation of Donald Trump's call to exclude all muslims from the US is heartening, but the fact he was cheered by a crowd while making his outlandish declaration of bigotry is also a reminder of the racist history our country struggles against with varying degrees of success.  The fact Trump felt he could make his proposal with impunity is merely the logical extension of the dogwhistle politics Republicans have engaged in since Nixon's "southern strategy" pried racist southern Democrats away from their traditional allegiances and made them permanent Republicans.  Reagan continued and George H.W. Bush embellished the appeals to racism with Reagan's "welfare queens" and Bush's Willie Horton ads.  Trump merely says out loud what his competitors whisper, namely it is all right to discriminate against those whose customs and color don't match your own.  How far he gets with this strategy will be a measure of our maturity as a nation.  Unfortunately, H.L. Mencken's observation that you can't go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American public will probably be borne out in the selection of the ultimate Republican nominee.

through the looking glass

Were Lewis G Carroll alive today, he would probably conclude the entire concept behind Alice in Wonderland was outmoded.   Donald Trump is the true Alice and he is taking us all on an excursion to a new Wonderland where weakness is strength, rational thought is fantasy and 300,000,000 million people need to cower before a couple of radicalized  Muslims.  The idea we should deny entry to the US based on the religion of the applicant is beyond parody.  As many have pointed out, Trump is now probably the biggest recruiter in the country for ISIS.   I remember in the aftermath of 9/11 how Sikh truckers delivering Canadian produce to the US were vilified and attacked because they wore turbans.  Fear of the "other" is a powerful force.  Beware anyone who advocates discrimination based on fear.   

Economics and Terrorism

Once again, the news which really affects most Americans; trade, jobs, climate change and local news is being crowded out by the ephemeral, non-stop 24 hour obsession with terrorism and what the President is doing or not doing to keep us safe.  Not the 80-100 people who die from gun violence every day.  There is nothing we can do for them, since it would interfere with our 2nd amendment rights.  No, we should turn our country into an authoritarian nightmare to stop terrorists who may kill us where we work, play or live.  Republicans are falling all over themselves to criticize the President for not proposing some fascist daydream to deter someone like the San Bernadino shooters, but if he had suggested we take away Joe six pack's assault rifle as part of a sensible plan to reduce the supply of death sticks, there would be howls of protest.  Meanwhile, the Fed is raising interest rates although the economy remains sluggish and much of the rest of the world is doing even worse.  This action will probably have far more impact on the country than radicalized Muslims, but you would never know it from the media coverage.   In more mundane news, the garden continues to produce with kale, nappa cabbage and carrots harvested over the weekend and golf continues to be played, albeit not very well.  The Divine Mrs. M's Champlain Valley Voices concert was a great success and we are looking forward to more holiday music from her other singing ensemble in the near future.

Reality and proportionality

In a rational, logical world, the horrors of the San Bernadino shooting would never occur.  Instead of 24/7 coverage of everything related to the tragedy and its aftermath, most news coverage in the US would be focused on the Paris climate summit.  The 14 people who lost their lives are emblematic of the dysfunctional world brought to us by a deranged political party.  The republicans in the Senate voted down a bill which would have made it harder for anyone on the terrorist watch list to obtain weapons.  The same stupidity was on display when the majority leader in the House of Representatives stated his party's opposition to any pledge the President makes at the Paris conference on behalf of the US.  The problem of gun violence is pernicious and deadly to thousands of citizens each year.  The problem of climate change can potentially end human civilization as we know it.  Virtually every country at least acknowledges both challenges.  Only the US and to a lesser extent, Australia have no coherent policy to at least work towards solutions.  Even Australia has tackled the gun problem.  That leaves one political party in one country with the awesome responsibility of addressing the most pressing issue in human history and so far the Republicans are failing in a most spectacular fashion.  I hope the 2016 elections are a referendum on guns and climate.   A pretty large majority of Americans acknowledge climate change and feel we must have sensible gun control measures.  Let's hope they all make it to voting booths around the country next November.

Another Day, another mass shooting

Even as the national media obsesses about the dead and wounded in San Bernadino, 4 more people were shot in Georgia overnight.  We are on track to record 1 or more of these massacres every day this year.   The hand wringing continues, even as it is now suggested that football fans should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to games!  There are solutions to this problem, but seemingly no one with any authority feels empowered to offer them.  If we treat guns with at least as much care as we do automobiles it would go a long way toward slowing the slaughter in the streets.  Register every firearm and license all gun owners.  Neither of these actions will impinge our so called second amendment rights, but will at least give criminals and the mentally ill some pause.  Background checks and perhaps advanced psychological testing for those seeking the right to wield firearms would be another check.  Something needs to be done before death by gunshot overtakes disease and vehicular accidents as the number one cause of death in America.

Global warming chickens coming home to roost

As made clear by a NYT article on the plight of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean due to rising sea levels, climate change will be costly to the US beyond the amelioration of its effects on the homeland.  Due to treaty obligations to the Marshallese, we will probably have to resettle the entire population in the US if the seas continue to rise.   This may be the tip of the proverbial iceberg of refugees demanding haven.  Meanwhile, the GOP is renouncing in advance any obligations the country may incur at the Paris Climate Summit.   It is increasingly ironic that aside from an occasional weather event like Superstorm Sandy or the ongoing drought in  California, most of the US has not experienced wholesale destruction due to climate change.  For the rest of the world, especially many countries in the Third World, the rising seas, catastrophic drought and super typhoons which regularly ravage their citizens, the changing climate is an ever present reminder their troubles are largely caused by the superpowers of polluters, the US, China, Europe and developing countries like India and Brazil.   Of the aforementioned, most are trying to do something about the problem.   In America, however, denial of climate change is more common than plans to do anything about it.   If Paris is the last, best hope for the human race, I despair of our congressional leadership doing anything substantive.

Climate Luddites

We will soon be treated to the spectacle of the US House of Representatives voting to not support anything President Obama commits the country to do to mitigate climate change at the Paris conference.  While this will not surprise most people it is deeply embarrassing for anyone who values our standing in the world.  After 8 years of the Shrub's jingoistic foreign policy which unilaterally declared we will do whatever we feel is best for us and to hell with everyone else, Obama's initial approach raised our reputation.  Between drone strikes and the Arab spring, we have lost some of that luster, but by thumbing our noses at the rest of the world on the climate change issue, we risk becoming a pariah, instead of a leader.   The ignorance on display in Congress on a daily basis is breathtaking as well as mendacious.  I have a feeling even a Republican president would have trouble wrangling this pack of know-nothing jackasses.   The fate of the human race may very well hang in the balance and we have to listen to the likes of Ted Cruz tell us the accumulating evidence of disaster ahead of us is a conspiracy of scientists!   To do what?  The mind reels at the stupidity of such statements.