This week's selections: net neutrality; post-Mosul; the New Hour on PBS; Chinese and North Korea in Africa; your taxes; an immigrant's success story; infamous date this past week; Liu Xiaobo's funeral at sea; a "which" hunt, of course; coal and bourbon; finally, delay, yet again.
Net Neutrality. Nerds Arise! Ready your smartphones! Here is one take on this obscure legislative contention from "The [Capitol] Hill" tip-sheet. "[Last] Wednesday, companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon, along with
lawmakers and other tech groups, will stage a net neutrality “Day of
Action” aimed at stopping FCC Chairman Ajit Pai from scrapping the net
neutrality rules approved by the agency in 2015." The rules were formally known as the Open Internet Order of 2015. Link here
Post-Mosul. David Ignatius thinks there are important lessons to be learned as this ISIS stronghold falls, lessons that will help as the fighting moves on to Raqqa,, Syria.
PBS, health care and Putin's Russia. This past week both topics were covered on PBS.
On health care, there were two segments, one from the western panhandle of VA, the other from WV. VA was one of the states that opted not to expand its medicaid, while WV opted to expand its coverage. These two segments feature thoughts/concerns by both clinical medical staff providers and patients who receive medicaid. Interestingly, one WV clinic lies in a county that voted 83% for Donald Trump. Obvious patient/supporters were very worried about what would happen if Congress were to pass and the President signed a bill cutting their medicaid benefits. Here are the links: VA link and WV link
On Putin's Russia. The News Hour had a six-part series about various facets of Vladimir Putin's Russia, reported by special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin report in
collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. After all, given that Russia remains our most potentially destructive opponent, the series is well worth watching. There are, in my estimation, interesting similarities between Putin and Trump.
On the Russian side. Americans are largely unaware of the immense psychological damage, national and personal, that accompanied the collapse of the USSR: constituent republics fell away, international organizations were restructured, the Russian economy was deeply depressed, virtually all health care indexes spiraled downward, etc. The political and economic turmoil of the Gorbachev -- Yeltsin years were a further denouement. The situation was ripe for change -- any change -- and Putin has simply acted in response to these national traumas. His promises (and actions) have been directed to improving Russia's economic situation and, more importantly, restoring its political standing in the world. Only occasionally have his actions prompted nation-wide protest demonstrations.
The American side. Until midnight, November 8, 2017, most pundits (left and right) and the left-leaning public, were unanimous: Trump would never win. Alas, they all failed to recognize the "Putin-like" dimension of Trump: The Donald spoke to the hitherto unheralded voters who felt abandoned, genuinely upset with the Washington gridlock. "Make America Great Again" and "Drain the Swamp" echoed mightily -- east to west, north to south. The pundits were once again reminded: "it's the electoral college that counts, dummy." He may have lost the popular vote, but..... You perhaps forgot our other four "minority" presidents? 1824 (JQ Adams), 1876 (Hayes), 1888 (Harrison), and 2000 (GW Bush)
Taxes. You know, one of Ben Franklin's two certainties in life. Your taxes are now calculated using a code that now runs to some 4M words. As George Will, Ron Wyden (D, OR), and others on Capitol Hill well know the code described by Wyden as a code that is “a rotting economic carcass,” in need of a total makeover. ("Wyden's wife asked him to stop [using the term and] scaring the children.") If the slow funeral-like procession of the health care bill is any indication, do not hold your breath for a new, streamlined tax revision. Trivia point from Mr.Will: There are more tax preparers in the US than police and fire fighters.
Success, the hard way. Kazi Mannan's success story was not fueled by inherited wealth, but rather by hard work and very, very long hours from his native Pakistan to Washington, D.C. "His two [current] self-started businesses provide jobs for more than 30 people...[and have] enabled him to start a school for
200 orphans in Pakistan and provide more than 6,000 meals a year to the
homeless in Washington." Mannan's is a "boots on the ground" success story.
16 July dates. The infamous, 1945, Trinity Site. The world's first atomic explosion occurred near Alamogordo, NM. The site is open to the pubic two days year, one on the anniversary of the test. The famous, 1969, Cape Canaveral. The Apollo 11 flight blasted off. The subsequent moon landing was the only live TV program shown on AFN during the year I was at Cam Rahn Bay, then South Vietnam.
Burial at sea. Chinese Communist officials, hoping to avoid a permanent gathering site, ordered and orchestrated the at-sea scattering of the ashes of Nobel Laurette Liu Xiaobo, somewhere along the Chinese coast. What they have misread, of course, is that now a visit anywhere along the Chinese coast will provide a place the anyone to reflect on Liu's thoughts and contributions to China and the world.
In the USSR, his books might have been banned, but the Communist government allowed Pasternak to be buried in Peredelkino, the rural dacha retreat of the Union of Soviet Writers. Perhaps it was the Russian public's deep appreciation for their great poets and writers that overrode -- prevented (?) -- any other course of action. Ever since his death (1960) Pasternak's grave (and now his dacha) are much-visited sites by Russians and foreign tourists alike.
The press' "Which" hunt. In a recent Toles cartoon, the press person asks a series of questions that all begin with "Which...." so naturally the president naturally responds, "This is just a which hunt." Indeed!
Delay on Health Care. This article from The Hill is one of the many stories about why majority leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) has had to call yet another delay in the Senate on health care legislation, the Better Care Act. This time the flimsy excuse is that the Senate must await the recovery of Senator McCain (R, AZ) who was hospitalized in Phoenix for a "minor" problem. It is increasingly obvious that Republicans have done little in the past 8 years to write a meaningful proposal. Anti-anything doth not a law make.
At their annual summer meeting in Providence, RI, the nation's governors showed little stomach for the impending legislative proposals advanced thus far. The Senate's last (?) rewrite included expanded funding to fight the opioid crisis. Too little, too late say many health care experts and many county-level officials, especially those in law enforcement and first responders. Did you ever dream your child/grandchild's teacher would have to be trained for something beyond CPR and the Heimlich maneuver?
Again, take your pick of links. The
hospitalization of Senator McCain (R, AZ) gave Senator McConnell a very
brief respite -- it lasted only hours, until two more Republicans
announced they would not support the Senate's compromise.
Coal and bourbon. Whether or not the Trump administration and US coal industry want to admit it, the coal is dying, a natural death brought on by events and conditions over and above increased government regulation. Multiple companies are not even re-investing in expansion, rather they are investing in alternative energy venues. As pointed out in a New Yorker story there is "trouble in coal country. Only the small metallurgical mines are increasing production, due in part to production problems in Canada and China.
On the wetter side, it seems that Europeans are falling in love with the taste of bourbon whiskey. While this might seem good news for Kentucky, there are problems. President Trump's talk about increasing export taxes has the EU investigating ways to retaliate. One low-hanging fruit is American liquor, especially bourbon. Bad news, indeed, for Senator McConnell, whose state produces both coal and bourbon. As one story pointed out, love may well spawn copycat brewers in Europe.
Thank you for reading and, in the midst of the ACA/BCA crisis, I wish you good health.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Topics for this week: Putin and Trump; US withdrawal; North Korean missile test; American leadership; Trump's "west;" Financial Times on G-20; poverty; the new farm;
Putin and Trump. This column is "...a speculative account of a memo that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s national security team would likely send as he prepares to meet with President Trump for the first time this week. It is not a reflection of how we see the issues; it is a reflection of how we think Putin’s closest aides see the issues." It all seems quite probable, but we will await the consensus after they have met at the G-20 meeting.
The US, a leader no longer? Bloomberg News reports that China and Germany are stepping up, adhering to the political reality of the old saw that "geopolitics, like nature, abhors a vacuum." The story opines, "When world leaders meet in Hamburg on Friday, China and Germany will move in to usurp the U.S.’s role." The principal question, then, does "America First" actually mean the world's most militarily powerful, first or second largest economy (depends on the measure used) will retire to its home shores?
What are the future implications for our coming generation(s)? For the daughter of an average 71 year-old American, one not as wealthy as Ivanka's father, President Donald Trump?
Re trade. Economic columnist Paul Samuelson, certainly no radical, left-winger, discusses what he perceives as the president's "trade trap." He says, "The greater objective [of American greatness] was to promote democracy and mixed economies, with power divided between the market and government. To advance this vision, the United States advocated open trade and provided a military umbrella." One an only wonder if the administration clearly thought through long term implication of its trade policy.
North Korea & the 4th. Once again it appears there is a new 4th of July ritual: large fireworks displays in the US and a North Korean missile test. On the "CBS Morning" news program, one former CIA official jokingly opined that it seems that recent North Korean leaders have as their July 4th mission "ruining the holiday" for American intelligence analysts.
American leadership. In this National Journal article, Charlie Cook (Cook Report) looks at the apparent dwindling desire of President Trump to really lead the world's democratic coalition. He said, "...Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote last month, “It is increasingly clear that U.S. President Donald Trump represents a departure when it comes to America’s global outlook and behavior."
Poverty. In last Thursday's column, George Will asks, "But what if large causes of poverty are not matters of material distribution but are behavioral — bad choices and the cultures that produce them? If so, policymakers must rethink their confidence in social salvation through economic abundance." What if there is something to the notion that "...[r]eversing social regression using public policies to create a healthy culture is akin to 'nation-building' abroad, an American undertaking not recently crowned with success."
What if there is something to the notion of a
"success sequence" (high school diploma, job, marriage, family)? Among "...millennials ages 28 to 34, the oldest members of the nation’s largest generation, have found that only 3 percent who follow this sequence are poor...[while f]orty-seven percent who did not follow the sequence are in the bottom third [of family income]."
What if "unfortunate new realities are the result of the disregard of old principles. [Back in the day, Nathanial] Hawthorne recommended consulting 'respectable old blockheads' who had “a death-grip on one or two ideas which had not come into vogue since yesterday-morning.”
Trump's "West." To what, Eugene Robinson asks, did the president refer as he spoke in various venues on this most recent European trip? He said the values of the west would survive, would triumph. Did he mean all non-Isis areas, non-Islamic areas? Did he mean to include the Chinese and other Eastern civilizations/nations?
Robinson notes, "If the president read a few history books, he’d know that for most of the past 2,000 years, China and India were the world’s leading economic powers and Europe was a relatively primitive backwater. He’d know that Europe rose to dominance not by erecting walls but by opening itself to the rest of the world." But, who knows what thoughts were a part of "his West?"
G-20, the European view. Here is a part of the grim assessment from Europe. The Financial Times said,
Confusing civility with comity is a grave mistake in human or international relations. Yes, the G20 summit did agree on a common communiqué after the leaders’ meeting. Some see this as an achievement or an indication that some normality in international relations between the US and other countries is being restored. The truth is that at no previous G20 meeting did the possibility that there would not be a common statement agreed by all participants occur to anyone. Rather than seeing agreement as an achievement, it is more accurate to see the content of the communiqué as a confirmation of the breakdown of international order that many have feared since the election of Donald Trump....In the past month and especially after the G20, it has become clear that Mr Trump’s actions will match his rhetoric.....On the brink of the most important set of international meetings of his presidency so far, he put forward the absurd idea that a main discussion item at the G20 involved Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, making demonstrably false assertions about his role.
It seems especially disturbing that Europeans recognize and see a danger in our president's misstatements and our abandonment of traditional post-WW II leadership.
Farming, container-style. This article explores year-round farming using thermostatically-controlled shipping containers. This may well be a solution for our city food deserts, even future space travelers.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the next week.
Putin and Trump. This column is "...a speculative account of a memo that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s national security team would likely send as he prepares to meet with President Trump for the first time this week. It is not a reflection of how we see the issues; it is a reflection of how we think Putin’s closest aides see the issues." It all seems quite probable, but we will await the consensus after they have met at the G-20 meeting.
The US, a leader no longer? Bloomberg News reports that China and Germany are stepping up, adhering to the political reality of the old saw that "geopolitics, like nature, abhors a vacuum." The story opines, "When world leaders meet in Hamburg on Friday, China and Germany will move in to usurp the U.S.’s role." The principal question, then, does "America First" actually mean the world's most militarily powerful, first or second largest economy (depends on the measure used) will retire to its home shores?
What are the future implications for our coming generation(s)? For the daughter of an average 71 year-old American, one not as wealthy as Ivanka's father, President Donald Trump?
Re trade. Economic columnist Paul Samuelson, certainly no radical, left-winger, discusses what he perceives as the president's "trade trap." He says, "The greater objective [of American greatness] was to promote democracy and mixed economies, with power divided between the market and government. To advance this vision, the United States advocated open trade and provided a military umbrella." One an only wonder if the administration clearly thought through long term implication of its trade policy.
North Korea & the 4th. Once again it appears there is a new 4th of July ritual: large fireworks displays in the US and a North Korean missile test. On the "CBS Morning" news program, one former CIA official jokingly opined that it seems that recent North Korean leaders have as their July 4th mission "ruining the holiday" for American intelligence analysts.
American leadership. In this National Journal article, Charlie Cook (Cook Report) looks at the apparent dwindling desire of President Trump to really lead the world's democratic coalition. He said, "...Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote last month, “It is increasingly clear that U.S. President Donald Trump represents a departure when it comes to America’s global outlook and behavior."
Poverty. In last Thursday's column, George Will asks, "But what if large causes of poverty are not matters of material distribution but are behavioral — bad choices and the cultures that produce them? If so, policymakers must rethink their confidence in social salvation through economic abundance." What if there is something to the notion that "...[r]eversing social regression using public policies to create a healthy culture is akin to 'nation-building' abroad, an American undertaking not recently crowned with success."
What if there is something to the notion of a
"success sequence" (high school diploma, job, marriage, family)? Among "...millennials ages 28 to 34, the oldest members of the nation’s largest generation, have found that only 3 percent who follow this sequence are poor...[while f]orty-seven percent who did not follow the sequence are in the bottom third [of family income]."
What if "unfortunate new realities are the result of the disregard of old principles. [Back in the day, Nathanial] Hawthorne recommended consulting 'respectable old blockheads' who had “a death-grip on one or two ideas which had not come into vogue since yesterday-morning.”
Trump's "West." To what, Eugene Robinson asks, did the president refer as he spoke in various venues on this most recent European trip? He said the values of the west would survive, would triumph. Did he mean all non-Isis areas, non-Islamic areas? Did he mean to include the Chinese and other Eastern civilizations/nations?
Robinson notes, "If the president read a few history books, he’d know that for most of the past 2,000 years, China and India were the world’s leading economic powers and Europe was a relatively primitive backwater. He’d know that Europe rose to dominance not by erecting walls but by opening itself to the rest of the world." But, who knows what thoughts were a part of "his West?"
G-20, the European view. Here is a part of the grim assessment from Europe. The Financial Times said,
Confusing civility with comity is a grave mistake in human or international relations. Yes, the G20 summit did agree on a common communiqué after the leaders’ meeting. Some see this as an achievement or an indication that some normality in international relations between the US and other countries is being restored. The truth is that at no previous G20 meeting did the possibility that there would not be a common statement agreed by all participants occur to anyone. Rather than seeing agreement as an achievement, it is more accurate to see the content of the communiqué as a confirmation of the breakdown of international order that many have feared since the election of Donald Trump....In the past month and especially after the G20, it has become clear that Mr Trump’s actions will match his rhetoric.....On the brink of the most important set of international meetings of his presidency so far, he put forward the absurd idea that a main discussion item at the G20 involved Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, making demonstrably false assertions about his role.
It seems especially disturbing that Europeans recognize and see a danger in our president's misstatements and our abandonment of traditional post-WW II leadership.
Farming, container-style. This article explores year-round farming using thermostatically-controlled shipping containers. This may well be a solution for our city food deserts, even future space travelers.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the next week.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
This week's topics include: the week's Optimist; a momentous date; global disruption; health care; new, old Germany?; a doomed party?; to bake or not; climate change and your pocketbook; Al Jazeera's future; a domestic terrorist; two nations' Independence Days, Washington and Ottawa; minority 4th.
Optimist Uplifting stories for this week. Link here
28 June: On the this day in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip — the act that sparked World War I. Then on this same date in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, ending WW I, was signed at Versailles, the terms of which were factors that led to WW II.
Cyber attack. Another massive cyber attack hit nations/companies around the world, especially in Europe, including Ukraine.
Health Care. Knowing they did not have the votes to insure passage, Republican leaders postponed the vote on their plan until sometime after July 4th. Columnist George Will opines that their sterling plans for R&R (remove and replace) will dwindle to T&MO (tweak and move on). He began,
Two Junes ago, when the Supreme Court upheld, 6 to 3, a challenged provision of the Affordable Care Act, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, vented: “Congress wrote key parts of the Act behind closed doors. . . . Congress passed much of the Act using a complicated budgetary procedure known as ‘reconciliation,’ which limited opportunities for debate and amendment, and bypassed the Senate’s normal 60-vote filibuster requirement. . . . As a result, the Act does not reflect the type of care and deliberation that one might expect of such significant legislation.” Now, however, Republicans run things, so . . .
Seems nothing changed, because "no health-care policy is comprehensive, comprehensible and inoffensive to all interest groups." Once again, the Republicans drafted a bill behind closed doors; so closed, in fact, that one Republican senator among the supposed drafters, said he had not even seen the bill, committee staffers seemed to be in charge. No heed was paid to the Chief Justice's past remarks.
There continues to be no consensus in Washington regarding
I continue to say that I will be happy with my health care when I receive exactly the same benefits -- and at the same cost -- as my US representative, Diane DeGette (D), and my US senators, Michael Bennett (D) and Cory Gardner (R). DeGette and Bennett are on record as firmly opposed to both the Senate and House proposals; Gardner, apparently unsure of presidential retribution, remains "on the fence." We will see what he has "learned" after the holiday recess.
Merkel's Germany. This sure-to-be controversial article from the conservative American Thinker questions whether or not whether Germany has outgrown its past history seeking European domination, sometimes under the guise of continental integration.As British author John Laughland contends, "[A]ll important decisions in a confederation of states can ultimately only be taken by or with the approval of the most important state -- in this case, Germany."
In an unrelated matter, the Germany Bundestag voted to allow gay marriage.
Doomed Democrats? Julian Assange lists six reasons why he thinks the current Democratic party is doomed.
Cake decorating. A legal case from Denver, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, will be heard next term (beginning 2 Oct) by the Supreme Court. Can Jack Phillips, a cake-decorating artist, be required to create a wedding cake for a gay, male couple? Phillips maintains that his religious beliefs hold that marriage is a man-women relationship. Phillips' lawyer asks rhetorically, "could an African American woodworker be required to craft a cross for the local KKK?" Stay tuned.
That tree falling in a forest... The headline for Thursday's Washington Post political cartoon by Tom Toles: "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it matter if the forest isn’t there anymore either?" Link here
John Lewis (D, GA) "Note to self." A CBS Morning segment, another in their continuing series "Note to Self," is by John Lewis, a short, moving memoir of the Civil Rights era. Link here. (Please forgive the obligatory embedded 30 second commercial.)
Climate change and you. On last Thursday (30 June), a Washington Post article called attention to a study by the journal Science which "details how global warming could disproportionately affect poor areas of the US, contributing to widening economic inequality among Americans." The Post's article has an accompanying map where you can check your county's projected future. The darker colored your county, the greater its future economic "hurt."
Al Jazeera. The future of the Arab world's favorite news channel is in doubt. Arab autocrats have a strong distaste for its coverage of their less-than democratic programs. While no one news source gets it right all the time, Al Jazeera's independent stance is infuriating to the many unelected Middle Eastern potentates.
National paralysis. The lead article in this past week's Economist was "Donald Trump's Washington is paralyzed." No matter your take on our current situation, several important questions have to be asked: How did we get to the point where such a headline is even possible? Did the anti-Washington, anti-bureaucracy sentiments override reason?
Our foreign and domestic policies are awash in contradictions. President Trump did the "sword dance" with Saudi princes, blithely (ignorantly?) ignored the fact that their funds continue to support terrorist organizations. He agreed to sell $10B+ military hardware to Qatar, while calling the country a supporter of terrorism and, apparently, did not realize that Qatar's major airbase is home to America's Central Command in the Middle East.
His Republican-controlled Congress produces twin health care alternatives that will eliminate coverage for millions of the president's less well-off supporters, while rewarding his well-off backers with with huge sums. (Though certainly not a supporter, Warren Buffett says he will get some $675,000 under either the House or Senate bills.)
Opioids. Gary Abernathy is publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette and this sobering article discussed the ongoing opioid epidemic in OH. (4,149 inadvertent overdose deaths in 2016) Tragically, there are similar epidemics in other, neighboring states. Abernathy likens drug pushers to home-grown terrorists, whose drugs come largely from Mexico (heroin) and China (fentanyl), noting that this may be one reason why many of his readers see little wrong with Trump's border control measures.
Washington and Ottawa. This past week North America celebrated two national Independence Days. Our own 241st, Canada's 150th. Equal parts "Star Spangled Banner" and "Oh, Canada." Those American's feeling a bit disillusioned might reflect on this historical tidbit.
"...Frederick Douglass stepped up to the lectern at Corinthian Hall, in Rochester, New York, and, in an Independence Day address to the Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, made manifest the darkest ironies embedded in American history and in the national self-regard. "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” Douglass asked, [then answered]...a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
Elsewhere, Douglass reminded his audience. “Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe.” There is yet hope for the “great principles” of the Declaration of Independence and “the genius of American Institutions.” There was reason for optimism then, as there is now.
Independence Day trivia.
Canadian: "Oh, Canada" was commissioned in 1880 by the Lt. Governor of French-speaking Quebec; the first lyrics were in French; the more popular English version was written in 1906; the song was adopted as the official national anthem only in 1980.
American: On our 150th anniversary (1926), the people of Poland sent an understandably late birthday card, one of immense proportions -- 5.5 M signatures, various other salutes, salutations, and memorials, all in 111 bound volumes. Link here to the Washington Post story. Link here to the Library of Congress' digitized collection of all 111 volumes.
A minority's 4th. This Denver Post article notes that not all Americans are wild about celebrating the 4th.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July weekend.
Optimist Uplifting stories for this week. Link here
28 June: On the this day in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip — the act that sparked World War I. Then on this same date in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, ending WW I, was signed at Versailles, the terms of which were factors that led to WW II.
Cyber attack. Another massive cyber attack hit nations/companies around the world, especially in Europe, including Ukraine.
Health Care. Knowing they did not have the votes to insure passage, Republican leaders postponed the vote on their plan until sometime after July 4th. Columnist George Will opines that their sterling plans for R&R (remove and replace) will dwindle to T&MO (tweak and move on). He began,
Two Junes ago, when the Supreme Court upheld, 6 to 3, a challenged provision of the Affordable Care Act, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, vented: “Congress wrote key parts of the Act behind closed doors. . . . Congress passed much of the Act using a complicated budgetary procedure known as ‘reconciliation,’ which limited opportunities for debate and amendment, and bypassed the Senate’s normal 60-vote filibuster requirement. . . . As a result, the Act does not reflect the type of care and deliberation that one might expect of such significant legislation.” Now, however, Republicans run things, so . . .
Seems nothing changed, because "no health-care policy is comprehensive, comprehensible and inoffensive to all interest groups." Once again, the Republicans drafted a bill behind closed doors; so closed, in fact, that one Republican senator among the supposed drafters, said he had not even seen the bill, committee staffers seemed to be in charge. No heed was paid to the Chief Justice's past remarks.
There continues to be no consensus in Washington regarding
- who should be covered,
- for what should they be covered, and
- how should the coverage be paid for?
I continue to say that I will be happy with my health care when I receive exactly the same benefits -- and at the same cost -- as my US representative, Diane DeGette (D), and my US senators, Michael Bennett (D) and Cory Gardner (R). DeGette and Bennett are on record as firmly opposed to both the Senate and House proposals; Gardner, apparently unsure of presidential retribution, remains "on the fence." We will see what he has "learned" after the holiday recess.
Merkel's Germany. This sure-to-be controversial article from the conservative American Thinker questions whether or not whether Germany has outgrown its past history seeking European domination, sometimes under the guise of continental integration.As British author John Laughland contends, "[A]ll important decisions in a confederation of states can ultimately only be taken by or with the approval of the most important state -- in this case, Germany."
In an unrelated matter, the Germany Bundestag voted to allow gay marriage.
Doomed Democrats? Julian Assange lists six reasons why he thinks the current Democratic party is doomed.
Cake decorating. A legal case from Denver, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, will be heard next term (beginning 2 Oct) by the Supreme Court. Can Jack Phillips, a cake-decorating artist, be required to create a wedding cake for a gay, male couple? Phillips maintains that his religious beliefs hold that marriage is a man-women relationship. Phillips' lawyer asks rhetorically, "could an African American woodworker be required to craft a cross for the local KKK?" Stay tuned.
That tree falling in a forest... The headline for Thursday's Washington Post political cartoon by Tom Toles: "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it matter if the forest isn’t there anymore either?" Link here
John Lewis (D, GA) "Note to self." A CBS Morning segment, another in their continuing series "Note to Self," is by John Lewis, a short, moving memoir of the Civil Rights era. Link here. (Please forgive the obligatory embedded 30 second commercial.)
Climate change and you. On last Thursday (30 June), a Washington Post article called attention to a study by the journal Science which "details how global warming could disproportionately affect poor areas of the US, contributing to widening economic inequality among Americans." The Post's article has an accompanying map where you can check your county's projected future. The darker colored your county, the greater its future economic "hurt."
Al Jazeera. The future of the Arab world's favorite news channel is in doubt. Arab autocrats have a strong distaste for its coverage of their less-than democratic programs. While no one news source gets it right all the time, Al Jazeera's independent stance is infuriating to the many unelected Middle Eastern potentates.
National paralysis. The lead article in this past week's Economist was "Donald Trump's Washington is paralyzed." No matter your take on our current situation, several important questions have to be asked: How did we get to the point where such a headline is even possible? Did the anti-Washington, anti-bureaucracy sentiments override reason?
Our foreign and domestic policies are awash in contradictions. President Trump did the "sword dance" with Saudi princes, blithely (ignorantly?) ignored the fact that their funds continue to support terrorist organizations. He agreed to sell $10B+ military hardware to Qatar, while calling the country a supporter of terrorism and, apparently, did not realize that Qatar's major airbase is home to America's Central Command in the Middle East.
His Republican-controlled Congress produces twin health care alternatives that will eliminate coverage for millions of the president's less well-off supporters, while rewarding his well-off backers with with huge sums. (Though certainly not a supporter, Warren Buffett says he will get some $675,000 under either the House or Senate bills.)
Opioids. Gary Abernathy is publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette and this sobering article discussed the ongoing opioid epidemic in OH. (4,149 inadvertent overdose deaths in 2016) Tragically, there are similar epidemics in other, neighboring states. Abernathy likens drug pushers to home-grown terrorists, whose drugs come largely from Mexico (heroin) and China (fentanyl), noting that this may be one reason why many of his readers see little wrong with Trump's border control measures.
Washington and Ottawa. This past week North America celebrated two national Independence Days. Our own 241st, Canada's 150th. Equal parts "Star Spangled Banner" and "Oh, Canada." Those American's feeling a bit disillusioned might reflect on this historical tidbit.
"...Frederick Douglass stepped up to the lectern at Corinthian Hall, in Rochester, New York, and, in an Independence Day address to the Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, made manifest the darkest ironies embedded in American history and in the national self-regard. "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” Douglass asked, [then answered]...a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
Elsewhere, Douglass reminded his audience. “Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe.” There is yet hope for the “great principles” of the Declaration of Independence and “the genius of American Institutions.” There was reason for optimism then, as there is now.
Independence Day trivia.
Canadian: "Oh, Canada" was commissioned in 1880 by the Lt. Governor of French-speaking Quebec; the first lyrics were in French; the more popular English version was written in 1906; the song was adopted as the official national anthem only in 1980.
American: On our 150th anniversary (1926), the people of Poland sent an understandably late birthday card, one of immense proportions -- 5.5 M signatures, various other salutes, salutations, and memorials, all in 111 bound volumes. Link here to the Washington Post story. Link here to the Library of Congress' digitized collection of all 111 volumes.
A minority's 4th. This Denver Post article notes that not all Americans are wild about celebrating the 4th.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July weekend.
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