Ramblings

• The more that comes out about Kentucky AG Cameron's Breonna Taylor grand jury, the more it's obvious that it was a sham. And then he lied about it.
• I almost never watch presidential debates and one big reason is that they aren't really debates. They exist mostly to give the media something to talk about.
• I am glad someone was finally able to get ahold of Donald Trump's tax returns, but we really didn't need them to know that he was never as successful a "businessman" as he pretended to be. The evidence was always there, the media just never said the words.
• And to be fair, the tax code that produces this kind of BS is the responsibility of the Dems as much as the Repubs.
• Based on anecdotal evidence, my estimate is that 70-80% of Chicagoans are wearing masks outdoors and basically 100% indoors.

More Court Stuff

• I am tired of the term "Borked" being dredged up every time we have a SCOTUS nomination. It has become a truism--and not just on the Right--that the craziness of today has its origins in Bork having been Borked, and that Bork was treated unfairly. Bullshit. Robert Bork deserved a hearing and a vote, both of which he received. (Six Republicans voted against his confirmation.) He was entitled to that; he wasn't entitled to the seat. He was judged by the Senate to be unfit or unworthy of the seat. You can disagree with that, but he received a public hearing and a public vote. To somehow say he got the same treatment as, say,  Merrick Garland is utterly laughable.
• I think I agree with Bhaskar Sunkara here. There's not a lot to be gained by Biden having the Supreme Court as the focus of his campaign. Those for whom it's important are already on board. Don't run on culture war issues. That tends to make it a binary choice and to many conservative types--as Sunkara says--the importance of a conservative Court outweighs any misgivings they might otherwise have about Trump. (I, for one, have always felt that these "misgivings" are quite overrated.) Running on the old clichéd bread-and-butter issues is more productive. We can fight the culture war stuff after Biden is elected.
• Originalism in practice is just another term for "I can get to any decision I want." Originalists try to present themselves as more highly principled and intellectually disciplined that other jurists. But in practice they have pretty much pursued a political and cultural agenda, not really a legal one. A true originalist would never abide anything like Bush v. Gore, and yet Scalia was an eager participant. There's nothing originalist about money=speech or corporations are people, but here we are. So don't let the mainstream media fool you about these people. They know where they want to get and get there any way they can.

More on Breonna Taylor

The non-indictments for BreonnaTaylor's murder reinforce what I said here a few days ago about police unions. It wasn't the union that failed to indict, it was a guy in a suit and tie who manipulated the grand jury to get the result he wanted. Ferguson revisited. You can get rid of the union if you want, but it won't matter if you don't get rid of the enablers who find excuses for murderers.

Here's an excellent piece (if you aren't stopped by a paywall) by Radley Balko in The Washington Post, detailing the discrepancies and half truths put out by Attorney General Cameron. First, you manipulate the grand jury, and then you go "public" with only those "facts" that bolster your inaction. This is very bad.

So go after the police unions, by all means. But don't think that it will do away with this kind of injustice.

Quote of the Day

 "A part of the bourgeoisie is desirous of redressing social grievances in order to secure the continued existence of bourgeois society."

        --Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto

This is the fear many on the left have of a Biden presidency. The donor class definitely wants to push in this direction: some reforms around the edges but not changing the fundamental weaknesses of capitalist society. Perhaps it will not turn out that way. I am hopeful, but not optimistic.

Black Lives Don't Matter As Much

Another case of: this is a tragedy but the officers were "justified". I don't know what that means anymore. Trayvon Martin shouldn't be dead, but his death was nonetheless "justified". Tamir Rice shouldn't be dead, but his killing was "justified". Breonna Taylor did nothing wrong, but she is dead and it was "justified". Ho-hum. Sandra Bland shouldn't be dead but no one did anything wrong. Michael Brown shouldn't be dead, Freddie Gray shouldn't be dead.

People take tortuous paths to get to where these are "justified", but there are lots of dead people who shouldn't be dead. Something is wrong. When will we find the will to change that?

 

Life without RBG

How does one deal with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the fact that it's likely that a Trump-appointed replacement will be confirmed? I suppose there is at least some chance that four Republicans will not support filling the seat. So far, two have said they oppose doing so, but two more could be difficult, and I don't trust Susan Collins would actually come through.

Another way of asking this question is: how do you deal with something over which you have no control? Despair? Hardly helpful.

What if you back up and look at the situation? Is a 6-3 majority really the end of the world? Is the Supreme Court really the center of the universe? It's a bad thing, especially when some members of the Court are clearly pursuing a political agenda. But also recall marriage equality never happened under a more liberal court. So the question is, what positive things can be done to pursue a progressive agenda in spite of the conservative SCOTUS?

For the sake of argument, let's assume Biden wins and brings along a Democratic Senate. (If Biden loses, we get a sixth conservative anyway, so it doesn't matter.) I will start by stating that--although I am in favor of it in principle--expanding SCOTUS would not be the first arrow I would fire from my quiver. I think it might be better as a threat hanging in the background. Instead, the first tactic is to pass a lot of popular progressive laws and dare the Supreme Court to strike them down. The Court's reputation is already on shaky ground, and if they are seen as going too far in legislating from the bench and that they are just another political branch of government, then public sentiment could turn against them even more, and court packing becomes a more palatable option.

The list of possibilities is long. Medicare for All, a new Voting Rights Act, aggressive environmental and climate change laws, student loan forgiveness, progressive regulatory laws for banks and other corporations, a new campaign finance law, etc.

One thing is for sure: there is nothing to be gained by trying to work from the center as the Never-Trumpers would have it. There is no future in compromising with the "reasonable Republicans" because there aren't any. It's time to pursue a truly progressive agenda.

Random Thoughts on a Friday Afternoon

 

• I will take it as a non-coincidence that the countries with the highest incidence of Covid-19 cases--United States, India, and Brazil--are led by three of the biggest autocratic bigots--Trump, Modi, and Bolsonaro.
• If I hear the word "iconic" one more time today, I think my head might just explode.
• I have officially become a "dog grouch". I am lucky enough to live in an apartment that overlooks a Lake Michigan beach in Chicago. There are no dogs allowed on the beaches anywhere in Chicago. But every morning, it's overrun with dogs, unrestrained and running wild. I can't leave my apartment without running into dogs. I can't go for a walk without dogs everywhere.  I can't go to Starbucks or an outdoor restaurant without dogs. I can't even go to Home Depot or the grocery store without frickin' dogs there. Can't I at least have the beach? Or somewhere? Thanks for listening.
• George Will had an op-ed piece today telling Biden that he should make Chris Coons his Secretary of State. There are at least two things that should disqualify him. (1) His anti-free-speech position on the BDS movement. And (2) The fact that George Will recommends him.

Abolish ICE

 This Washington Post article is just another example of why we should abolish ICE.

Alexandra Petri Nails It Again

Alexandra Petri's column today , as usual, requires no commentary.

On Police Unions

Interesting letter to the editor in the September 14 issue of The New Yorker. It has become an article of faith among some liberal circles that getting rid of police unions is the silver bullet for police reform. But in some ways, the problem with police unions is the result of--rather than the cause of--bad policy. I 100% agree that police unions need to be brought into line, but as this letter suggests, there are equally bad actors in all layers of local and state government which enable and defend police misconduct.

Many of these bad actors can be voted out of office, as people have done in Philadelphia, Ferguson, and Chicago. So, by all means, we should do all we can to curtail the power of police unions. But if we don't also do something about this entire infrastructure of corruption, it will all be for naught.

Here's the letter:

I was impressed by William Finnegan’s cogent article about the New York City police unions (“The Blue Wall,” August 3rd & 10th). I have been following N.Y.P.D. issues for nearly thirty years, first as an executive at the New York City corporation counsel’s office, and then as a civil-rights lawyer suing N.Y.P.D. officers.

 

Unfortunately, police unions are not the only problem—just the loudest. Many governmental agencies have worked for decades to protect police officers from public scrutiny and accountability. Among the worst enablers are the New York City Law Department, led by a cadre of hard-liners whose super-aggressive tactics have prompted several federal judges to rebuke or sanction city lawyers; city comptrollers, who routinely approve millions of dollars in settlements against the police but never condition that approval on discipline of the officers; the City Council, which has failed to enact the stiffer disciplinary penalties demanded fifty years ago by the Knapp Commission; the state legislature, which has not repealed an outdated law, in place since 1940, that gives hearing officers controlled by the police commissioner sole jurisdiction over disciplinary proceedings; the city’s district attorneys, who regularly dismiss cases on the basis of false police reports but never indict the officers who lied in those reports; and the civilian complaint-review board and the office of the inspector general, agencies that are weak and ineffectual.

As for the unions, at least their power has waned, owing to the changing demographics of the city. Today, the police unions have very little electoral strength; their political influence is limited to a smattering of voters in certain areas of Staten Island. And, with the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, they can no longer cling to power by throwing money at Republican state senators. One must hope that the diminishment of their electoral strength will result in the elections of mayors, comptrollers, City Council members, state legislators, and district attorneys who will call for genuine N.Y.P.D. accountability and transparency.

Joel Berger

New York City

More on the Religious Right

Whenever I discuss right-wing religious groups, I try to avoid using descriptors like "Christian Right" because in the context of most discussions, Christianity isn't really involved. That's why I use the term Religious Right (which can also be a misnomer), since it really is far removed from Christian beliefs. On the contrary, the Religious Right is a business, and a big one at that.

I came across this article in The Guardian which is a good case in point. This particular article is about a group of "Christians" who have decided that disenfranchising voters is a "spiritual battle" for "control of the free world". It's not only Trump who hates mail-in voting. Apparently God does, too. One leader of the movement has apparently been "anointed" to do this important work of voter suppression because--and I quote: "We know that this [voting by mail] is from Satan".

This is only one example. Others on the Religious Right claim that Biblical Christianity demands gun ownership and Second Amendment "rights", low marginal tax rates, lots of military spending, and laissez faire capitalism. Oh, and also no masks. One thing to note here is the Americentrism of this brand of Christianity: God is mostly looking at and worried about America, not so much the rest of the world. God "chooses" America's leaders (at least the Republican ones), but not the leaders in the rest of the world (nor ones named Obama).

The irony is that the more conservative Christians claim they adhere to Biblical literalism and/or inerrancy. And yet, most of the political positions that they claim are demanded by their religion are not even remotely Biblical. They are simply human political causes and beliefs (and bizarre ones at that) which they try to shoehorn into the Bible. It's really quite extraordinary, and almost blasphemous.

Alternate Realities

I have been puzzled as to how Conservatives who were reluctant (so they say) Trump voters have been converted to all-in Trump supporters, and in particular QAnon conspiratorialists. I base this partly on friends and family that come across my wife's Facebook feed, as well as crazies I have seen in other social media.

There really were many people who didn't particularly like Trump because he wasn't a true Conservative, or they disapproved of his grab-em-by-the-pussy morality, or some other reason. They actively supported one or another of Trump's primary opponents. These people ended up voting for Trump--I think--largely because of their anti-abortion beliefs.* The problem arose for them because Trump turned out to be so much more awful that even I expected. So, in order to justify their vote for this psychopath, they have to create an alternate reality where Trump's opponents are even more evil than he is. As Trump got worse and worse, it required them to create more and more devilish opponents.

No longer are we just tax-and-spend liberals and soft-on-crime radicals. Now the Dems are just a cover organization for organized pedophiles hiding their evils in the (nonexistent) basements of pizza parlors. Or some other satanic cabal. It really is an alternate reality because they actually believe this shit and even run Congressional campaigns based on it. They really don't even defend Trump so much. It's more like he is our only choice against the Devil incarnate.

This is why it is impossible to engage these folks in any kind of dialog. We live in different worlds.

* The twenty-first-century conservative Christian church (to the extent that it is Christian or a church) has become a two-sin church: abortion and homosexuality. All other "sins" (i.e., the ones committed by conservative Christians) are secondary and less serious. Conveniently, it is now pretty easy to justify all sorts of judgment on others while overlooking one's own transgressions.

Main Stream Media Has Learned Nothing

In the last few days The Washington Post has treated us to two stories that illustrate how the press has failed us the last four years. One of them (in typical Annie Linskey fashion) tells us that it's a bad sign that the Dems are getting along so well, because there may be some disagreements later if Biden is elected.  Of course, if the Dems were bickering we'd get a story by Linskey that the Dems are arguing again and doomed. I guess if there isn't a story to be had, you can just create one.

In the other story we get to see the "let's-interview-some-everyday-folks-in-a-diner" model of modern journalism. This time--because it's Wisconsin--the "Everyday People" are in a bar, but same result. Another story about how people of color, progressives, and others are forcing these nice people to vote for Trump. Thanks a lot.

We got these stories when Trump was letting 2,000 of our fellow Americans die in Puerto Rico. And when they hardly covered the depth of Paul Manafort's relationships with foreign dicatorships. There are real stories out there that warrant more than superficial coverage. Instead we get this.

Merkel vs Trump

A good article in the Washington Post

In 2015, Angela Merkel did the right thing by allowing tens of thousands of desperate refugees into Germany. As every reasonable person could have predicted, there was no increase in Islamic terrorist events. Quite the contrary, just as in the USA, there has been an increase in fascist-related violence.

Merkel is a right-of-center politican. Speaking as a socialist, we in the US should be so lucky.

Fascist in Chief

For the sake of this post, I define fascism as the seizing of the power and machinery of the State for the sake of furthering one's personal or other nondemocratic purpose. By that definition, Donald Trump is a fascist.

I have avoided using the "f" word. Also, for those who know me, I believed in 2016 that Donald Trump would be a better president than he is. I even have some receipts. In this very blog I wrote a post that ranked Donald Trump exactly in the middle of the fifteen or so Republican contenders at the time. Let's not forget that that list included out-and-out dangerous people like Ted Cruz and intellectual lightweights like Scott Walker and Marco Rubio. All fifteen of them were clowns. My mistake was believing that Trump might stop the tweets and other ridiculousness, and actually govern. Some "proposals"--if you could actually sort through them--were markedly non-conservative.

I was wrong, of course. The depth of his cruelty and narcissism has turned out to be bottomless. If there is one quote that has been worn out since January 2017, it is Maya Angelou: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." I plead guilty to not heeding that.

Every branch and agency of government has been converted to serve the personal whims of the President, with willing accomplices everywhere (both active and passive). DOJ, FDA, US Postal Service, Department of Education, State Department (the Secretary of State actually spoke at the Republican Convention), Department of Labor, CDC. By my definition, then, we are being governed by a fascist. [It is of interest to me--as a child of the 1960s when we distrusted the military completely--that the one place where there is at least a modicum of integrity and resistance is the active military personnel, as opposed to the civilians in DOD.] This is particularly of concern because who would trust this FDA if they said in October that there is a safe Covid vaccine available?

This has happened because Donald Trump is a sociopath. But it has also happened because Trump has been actively abetted by the most political Supreme Court of my lifetime, the Republicans in the US Senate, and a press that mistakes both-sideism for objectivity.

There is an other aspect of this that has some personal dynamic for me. The Religious Right is fully on board. Our family belonged to a religiously-conservative church body for many years. While we had problems with some of the teachings, the fact that we agreed with many of the core beliefs and that the church assiduously stayed out of politics allowed us to stay there longer than maybe we should have. We left the that church four or five years ago when it started becoming overtly political in ways with which we disagreed. Since the election of Trump, this church body has become just another part of the Religious Right, another arm of Trumpism and the GOP. In fact, based on some of the members we used to consider friends, a significant portion of the church membership has gone full QAnon.

I bring this up because it resonates with me that I can see how the fascists obtained power in Europe. It may not have happened as easily without the support and/or acquiescence of religious and moral leaders of the time, much like we are seeing here. American institutions seem to be much weaker than most of us thought, not up to the task. It is for this reason that I am not necessarily optimistic that we will find a way out of this.

I hope and pray that I'm wrong.