Roseanne and me

I cheerfully admit to never watching an episode of Roseanne Barr's TV show back in the 80s and early 90s.  I never thought much about the choice, but maybe it was just the feeling that All in the Family had covered much the same ground in a more thoughtful manner.  Be that as it may, I will not watch the second incarnation of Ms. Barr's exploration of American working class angst.   Her outing herself in both real life and on the show as a tRump voter was not the deciding factor in my decision not to participate in this cultural phenomenon, but it played a part.  From what I have heard, the show is smart, funny and it check's all the boxes in contemporary sociology.  The Conners have a mixed race grandchild, another who is gender non-conforming and Roseanne's sister is still a democrat.  She says she voted for tRump because he mentioned jobs and was going to "shake things up".  For these two sentiments she and millions of others were willing to entrust the awesome power of the presidency to a serial sexual assaulter, bankruptcy filer and all around low life.   Despite the portrayal of Roseanne as salt of the earth working class heroine, she is in real life an extremely rich woman who continues to distort the real life experience of ordinary people. 

Slowly it turns

Spring is approaching, but the pace remains glacial (pun intended).  Stubborn piles of snow remain and the temperatures still fall below freezing most nights.  The local golf courses could still support cross country skiing, but there are signs of the coming season.  I watered my pepper and snapdragon seedlings in the basement this morning.  I have covered the cold frames to warm the soil so I can start planting lettuce seeds this weekend and the garlic beds nearest the south facing barn wall are starting to sprout.  It's not much evidence of spring, but I'll take it after a long and sometimes brutally cold winter.

Moving the goalposts

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote an Op-Ed in the paper of record yesterday advocating the repeal of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, the ambiguously worded "right to keep and bear arms".  Of course many on both sides of the issues needed a fainting couch after reading Steven's argument.  The right counted it as rankest heresy and the left as a classic overreach.  Personally, I think Stevens was trolling the opponents of gun control and in a table turning gambit was using the gun nuts own strategy of moving the goal posts in the direction he wishes the argument to be fought.   Of course we will never, at least in my lifetime repeal the 2nd amendment.  But with even a hint such a thing might happen, all of a sudden, things like assault weapons bans and stringent licensing and insurance regulations become possible.  Instead of absolutist positions, compromise becomes a possibility.  The right has been doing this for years.  It's time the rest of us use the same tactics for progressive causes.  Justice Stevens is on to something.

Cage rattling

Judging by the attacks on the March for Our Lives movement by conservatives and gun nuts, the kids are on to something.  The five demands they are making are all sensible, easily doable check-offs, with the exception of an assault weapons ban and buyback program similar to Australia's.  I warmly applaud these well informed young adults and their can do spirit.  It helps that they are obviously nurtured and supported by loving parents who are proud of their efforts.  Like previous generations, this cohort of young people are being challenged, in this case by senseless gun violence.  They are responding like heroes and picking up the mantle of activism once worn by Viet-Nam protestors and before that by those who fought and won World War 2.  They face a united front of those who profit by gun sales and the carnage that results.  I believe they will not be deterred and will continue the fight into the voting booths across the country for the next few cycles until the most pro NRA congressmen are retired.

Likewise, I'm sure

The March For Our Lives, an heroic event organized by the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a little help from the nascent gun control movement was by all accounts a huge success in that it showed the breadth of the movement.  Now we will find out the depth of said movement.   It would be a fitting tribute to the latest victims of senseless death due to the availability of weapons of mass destruction if assault weapons are banned and like Australia there is a real buy back program to get the millions of these weapons out of the public's hands.  However, unless the marchers are willing to become one issue voters in the same way the NRA devotees are, there will be little progress on the legislative front.   As long as the average congressman perceives gun nuts as more dangerous to his/her reelection than gun control enthusiasts there will be no action.  The millenials and their children will be the ones who will eventually move this issue, but it will take sustained action and exercise of the franchise to make it happen.

A tiny tempest

So, Stormy Daniels' supposedly bombshell interview finally aired on "60 Minutes" last night and based on what I saw, the rest of the nation probably uttered a collective "So What?".   That tRump cheated on his wives is nothing new.  The part about Ms. Daniels spanking him with a copy of Forbes magazine was also known ahead of time, although it sounded a bit kinky when she told Anderson Cooper about it.  But without documentary evidence that she was threatened by an employee of the tRump organization to induce her silence, there seems no reason for Stormy's 15 minutes of fame.  Her lawyer hyped the televised interview as something more than what actually happened.  Unless he or she can come up with something else, this whole thing will blow over in a matter of a few weeks.  After all, we'll probably be on a war footing by May.

Fasten seat belts

It looks like the *president finally has his diplomatic dream team; Mike Pompeo at State and John Bolton as his national security advisor.  Pompeo is widely expected to practice bare knuckled diplomacy with friend and foe alike.  Bolton on the other hand has no use for talks.  To him every dispute is a nail and a military response is his hammer.  Both advocate scrapping the Iran deal, despite the fact it was negotiated with our European allies.  Our renewal of sanctions against the Iranians is a toothless threat because our allies will never follow that lead, leaving Bolton free to propose the military option.  Likewise, a blustering threat filled summit with N. Korea will likely lead to increased tension and fear in Asia.  It's like these idiots will be playing the board game Risk*, only with the lives of hundreds of millions at stake.