The Sunday School classrooms were full of talk about the ongoing protests, and about the ways the establishment can or should respond to them. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who's leading Senate's efforts on police reform, sat down with Chuck Todd; here's a bit of their conversation on holding police accountable, and on how we take care of bad cops.
I would be interested in decertification of officers, the left says that's a union issue that's kind of hard to get at. Qualified immunity on the right, that's an issue that most Republicans don't like at all, to include myself. So the question is, is there a path forward that we take a look at the necessity of eliminating bad behavior within our law enforcement community? ... I think we'll find that. I'm not sure that it's qualified immunity.
Also covered in the post? Martha Raddatz and Seattle's Police Chief Carmen Best.
For this week's Extra Credit, I covered HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson's chats with George Stephanopoulos Chris Wallace. I had hoped for a little more meat from both of these interviews, and for an ABC - Fox perspective opportunity, but Carson doesn't really lend himself well to that type of thing.
Here's an excerpt of the part of the interview where George tried to to get him to talk about stuff Trump says - in this case, his comments about dominating the streets.
George, never one to drop a bone, asked again if Trump's talk of dominating the streets, or saying he'll send in the troops - which admittedly seem 'combative' - were "appropriate right now." Carson dodged again, saying there are lots of ways to express things, and then he did what everyone does - explain what the president meant with his inflammatory remarks. Trump was talking about not submitting to anarchy, see? And we all agree with that, right?
We might not all express it the same way, but we would all agree with it. And so we've got to begin to look at the big picture, what is the thing we're aiming to do, not what someone said this day or that day.
He was equally obsequious in his Fox News Sunday interview.
In a Shots Fired entry, I took a look at some comments people have made lately on systemic racism, which in reality extends far beyond the issue of law enforcement - that's a deadly example, but it's only a part of the problem. There was little surprise, really, that white folks saw little indication of systemic racism, but the explanations? Those were, um, interesting.
Well, I don't believe in systemic racism. I think the American system is the best system ever devised for mankind, for history. We are liberty, we are equality, we are fairness, we have come a long way in this country...Here's a thought: President Obama, the first black president was elected twice, and he got 79 million white votes - 79 million in two elections. Now therefore, I find it hard to understand something called 'systemic racism. ~ Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor, June 2020.
I still can't even with that comment, and I've read it dozens of times.
Moving on to the weekly Wondering on Wednesday - and I'm so grateful that there's a day set aside for wondering, aren't you? - I looked at the concept of ignoring things to make them go away. There are lots of real examples of that - the pandemic and now racism being two - I tried to think of other things to which we could apply this concept.
How about poverty... Can we ignore that? I mean, we've been talking about it to some degree for quite a while, just like we've been talking about racism in some way, shape or form for some time. Maybe with a concerted effort, we can ignore the living daylights out of it, and make it go away?
Or cancer... Let's ignore that, instead of trying to treat people into remission, instead of spending all that money on research and trying to drill down into treating various cancers based on genetic markers and what not - we can just stop that, and we'll stop cancer, right?
Ignorance is powerful, for sure, but curative? Probably not...
Next up? I played the #throwbackThursday game and reposted a 'four years ago today' entry saying Donald Trump should resign. I based the post on the same logic used by a Fox guy who said that Pope Francis should resign - he's an outlier, does not toe the party line, and so on. I was pretty smart back then, with my logic, but unfortunately Trump did not listen to me.
Lincoln, Reagan and Goldwater are rolling in unison in their graves; I suggest there are Republicans wishing they too were dead, so as to avail themselves of the same opportunity.
He does not care how he defies, and defiles, the Republican party and the believers. While the party’s authority rests on their ability to promote their message, their beliefs, their positions, and to have those supported by any who would wear their colors into battle, Trump has turned that on its head, to the party's peril. He simply does not care.
His words and actions demonstrate a lack of faith in the party and its believers. He’ll take their money, and their endorsements, yet he treats leaders and followers alike even more poorly than he claims to have been treated by the rest of us. In doing so, he has brought the party’s very legitimacy into question.
Too bad the Rs didn't take advantage of the impeachment to take back their party, right?
On Juneteenth, I turned to self-reflection, and examined My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective on racism, and privilege, and on myself.
I've talked about some of that in this blog, in the past, and I'm not proud of some of the posts I've written - because I can see my privilege showing, like a slip hanging below the hem of my dress back in the day.
I was too eager to see both sides of the story, and not hold both sides equally accountable.
I was quicker to judge one side and feel myself being dragged kicking and screaming towards a more balanced position, by the time I got to the last paragraph where I'd throw up my hands and wish for something better.
I would not commit to doing anything to make me better, to make things better, even in my own little circle, much less in the larger scheme of things.
I can do better. I need to do better.
And, I closed the week with a rambling-yet-connected TGIF entry, where just about everything flowed really nicely. Here's a segue from John Bolton and his book to Mick Mulvaney and his perspective on 'appropriateness' - fun stuff.
And speaking of John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney - remember him, the acting chief of staff who was exiled to Ireland to serve as chief groundskeeper or something at Trump's golf course? Among other things, Mulvaney said something to the effect that no one else who was in The Room Where it Happened mentioned anything inappropriate. And I had to laugh at that - as if Mulvaney, Pompeo, or others still in Trump's universe would recognize anything as being in appropriate? I mean, they thought an obvious quid pro quo was nothing other than a perfect phone call, for Pete's sake.
So, there it is - last week's veritable pastiche.
Enjoy the day; I'll be back later with Sunday School.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!