Wondering on Wednesday 5/1/24

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

During last month's discussion on foreign aid bills, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Burning Down the House) offered an amendment to the Ukraine bill requiring any Republican who voted for the aid package to conscript into the Ukrainian military. No similar requirements for aid to Israel and Taiwan were put forward. I can't help wondering why the bills weren't treated the same. 

Some people pretend Greene is Putin's representative to the House, so we shouldn't be surprised that she'd stick it to Ukraine. Others think we're not responsible for defending Europe, but we are responsible for Israel's defense, no matter the cost. These arguments are symptomatic of the degradation of our policy debates over the past few years, leaving me to wonder what it'll take to get us back to realistic discussions.

Greene also said that, instead of giving aid to Ukraine, we should focus on our 'America First economy.' Hearing that, I had to wonder if she even knew what was in the bill, or if she'd read any articles on how our aid to Ukraine works. She must know that as much as $68B of the $113B that Congress has approved for Ukraine  "is destined to be invested here at home."

U.S. support for Ukraine thus offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to sustain a demand signal to address long-standing weaknesses in U.S. DIB systems generally and ordnance and missile production specifically.

Yep - we send our stockpiled, outdated stuff to Ukraine, and we replenish our stockpiles with newer American-made stuff. If that's not an America First policy, I wonder what would be. I also wonder if Marge ever has a clue, if she's this clueless on our Ukraine aid.

Sticking with Marge for a minute longer, she's announced she'll move to oust Speaker Mike Johnson next week, even as the Dem leadership announced they'll vote table any such motion. Most House Republicans don't want her to move ahead; the RNC doesn't want her to; and even Donald Trump doesn't want her to, and yet, she's going to do it anyway. Is anyone wondering with me what the heck she's trying to accomplish?

Speaking of accomplishments, we know one thing the House GOP would rather be doing than sitting through Greene's antics: "going on the offense by attacking Democrats for insufficiently condemning pro-Palestinian protests on campuses" around the country. 

We've all seen the antisemitic signs and heard the chants at the protests; we'll continue seeing and hearing them, even if they're not the focus of the protests. I condemn anti-Semitism and the October attack on Israel; at the same time, I would love to see a ceasefire, to see Gaza flooded with humanitarian aid, to see an end to the indiscriminate killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and to see a way forward. To me, those are pro-human positions, not pro-Palestine or antisemitic ones. 

But I wonder why we have to see and hear more about the antisemitic actions of a few protesters than we do about the many; members of Jewish Voices for Peace arrested for holding a Passover Seder/protest outside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's house, for example. Or about Jews and Palestinians standing shoulder-to-shoulder, protesting inhumanity together, or about negotiations over divestment issues, especially successful ones. 

And I can't help wondering why two NY Representatives feel anti-Semitism monitors are needed on college campuses. Republican Mike Lawler, one of the two, said, "If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act."

I'll tip my hat to whoever named the bill - it's a gem: the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability, or the COLUMBIA Act.  The bill would give the Department of Education authority to appoint monitors, paid for by the schools, who would "be required to release quarterly, publicly available reports that show what the school is doing to combat anti-Semitism." 

The legislators cite Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the basis for their bill; I have to wonder how giving one type of discrimination special status fits in with the intent of our civil rights legislation? If we're going to withhold federal funding from colleges and universities, shouldn't it be done in the name of protecting everyone from discrimination? 

As I was preparing to publish tonight's post, news broke that the House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Sponsored by Rep. Lawler, with over 60 co-sponsors, the bill 

would require the Department of Education to use definitions of antisemitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) when enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

Other bills dealing with antisemitism are also in the works, according to news reports; we'll see if any of them come to fruition. 

In the meantime, I wonder how people feel about the statements below. Feel free to chime in, if you like.

• "We already have enough laws against discrimination. We need to enforce those laws; we don't need to create new ones."
• "All Lives Matter - why are they demanding we pay attention only to them?"

What's on your wondering minds tonight?

Sunday School 3/21/21

 We'll start your Sunday School tonight with Martha Raddatz and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) on This Week. Chu was the first Chinese-American Congresswoman, and is chair of the Congressional Asia Pacific American Caucus. 

Chu "strongly believes" the shootings in Atlanta which killed eight, including six women of Asian descent. She's not at all convinced the shooter has a sex addiction problem; as she said

This is a 21-year-old white male who chose, as his first victim, a business that was called Young's Asian Massage. Then he drove for 27 miles to another spot where he hit two more Asian spas. If his only problem was sex addiction, then he could have had his choice in those 27 miles of any place that he could have gone to. But, no, he specifically went to those Asian spas...

She spoke of the high legal bar - that investigators will have to find someone who's heard the shooter use an anti-Asian slur - but in her mind, "and in the minds of many, this is an anti-Asian hate crime." She also pointed out that some of the people who might have heard him say something could be among the victims.

Raddatz asked her to talk about two bills, the NO HATE Act and the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act would have the DOJ appoint someone to track anti-Asian hate crimes, make sure they're prosecuted, and provide prosecution guidelines. The NO HATE Act would tackle "our very flawed hate crimes system," including the undercounting that she says happens, give resources to law enforcement, and provide oversight. 

How flawed is the reporting? Chu said "18 states don't even track such data. Three states don't even have a hate crime statute in the law."

Next, let's turn to Face the Nation and Margaret Brennan, who talked with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. She started with COVID and whether he's confident there's not another wave coming.

Oh, COVID makes you never confident, but hope really hangs on the horizon. I haven't felt this optimism in 12 months... 

He said if LA was a state, they'd have the second-lowest positivity rate, and he thinks California has the third-lowest positivity rate. He believes the variants Brennan asked about may have "burned through Los Angeles" back in December. And they've been cautious reopening, "with the lessons learned," but

it's time to get things moving. It's time to get our economy started. It's time to start hugging our loved ones again. And certainly, that comes from getting a vaccine. 

Garcetti disputed Brennan's comment that he said he "can't meet the president's target of May 1st opening up all vaccinations" because he's not getting enough supply.

What I've said is, you give us more and we have double the capacity today. So, I look forward to when those deliveries come in for us to be able to do that. And I think cities across our country, mayors have been very clear, are the right places to add more vaccines.. I'll keep saying that especially when cities are larger sometimes than most states. We're larger than 23 states. LA County is larger than 45 states. Give us more, we'll get them into arms.

He also said he's talked with Gov. Gavin Newsom about getting vaccines where the most vulnerable populations are; 40% are now targeted in those areas.  They're using mobile teams, getting vaccines to people at home, and working with community organizations to get the vaccines into arms.

But I look forward to when the federal regulations release our handcuffs and allow us to target anybody in a hotspot. I think that is probably two or three weeks away... that'll allow us, if there is anything that comes up quickly, go into the geography of a neighborhood, knock it down before it spreads throughout a city. 

Responding to Brennan's question about him having to send $150 million back to the police, money he had "reprogrammed" after Black Lives Matter protests last year, he said she was framing it wrong. 

We know that things like hate crimes need both a police response and education, a reporting mechanism, civilians and community-based groups that can help be the eyes and ears. And we have no tolerance for this hate here in Los Angeles, a great city filled with folks of Asian-American and Pacific Islander descent. 

He also said that they have "more patrols this year," and that they're "making investments in the human side of this to make sure community organizations are well-funded, too."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) was also in Brennan's classroom. She was asked about FBI Director Chris Wray's comment that, so far anyway, it doesn't look like the shooting in Atlanta were racially motivated. Duckworth says she wants 

a deeper investigation into whether or not these shootings and other similar crimes are racially motivated. It looks racially motivated to me, but I'm not, you know, I'm- I'm not a police officer. I'm not investigating the crimes.

She did send a letter to Wray and to AG Merrick Garland asking for that deeper investigation. 

We know that crimes against Asian-Americans that have been categorized as hate crimes have increased by over 150% in our nation's major cities. That's over 3,800 additional crimes last year. But we also know that many of these crimes go underreported as hate crimes and are just classified as a mugging or harassment or vandalism when really, they were targeted at Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in particular.

Duckworth said these are often not reported as hate crimes "because people just don't see Asian-Americans as a minority group that gets attacked on a regular basis." She and her family know that's not the case - it does happen on a regular basis And she's concerned about the commoditization of Asian women, who "have this stereotype against them that they are weak and submissive, and they've become over-sexualized." 

Finally, Duckworth said that they don't yet have any Republicans signing on to the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

And it's astonishing to me. I mean, the House passed a bill that actually condemns - was a resolution against hate crimes against Asian-Americans tied to COVID. And, you know, we had actually Republicans who voted against it. And Mitch McConnell at the time, because Republicans were in charge, wouldn't even let us vote on it in the Senate. I mean, how- where can you be that you would not be willing to vote on a bill that would condemn violence against any group of Americans?

It's a great question - and the answer, sadly, is that we aren't willing to do that for the same reason that we have an All Lives Matter response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It's who we are, whether we like it or not.

See you around campus. And if you went to Florida for Spring Break, I sure hope you're quarantining before you come back into my classroom.

The Metaphorical Garden

Rarely have I been more grateful for my garden than I have been in the past few weeks. 

No, the beds are not gorgeous and in full bloom – quite the opposite. After a long winter, there’s always much to do, and this year there’s a little more than usual as most of them seem in need of intensive rehabilitation. We're having the house painted this year, so I may have to move some of the foundation plants at least temporarily, and that's adding to the planning, even if not to the actual work. I’m dozens of hours into it, full weekends and some nights after work when the weather cooperates, with more to do.

My hands ache. My knees are sore, even with my fancy knee pads. My back is tired. I've worn almost through the fingertips on my new gloves, leading to frequent bouts of, well, let’s say somewhat colorful language when something gets in under my nail.  The pile of yard waste that will go to the city's compost program is about the size of a Fiat. I have allergies, I think. 

And I am grateful.

I’m grateful because, while I’m in my garden, I’m fighting to define the boundaries of yard and flower bed, and working to free the tender perennials from the grip of the weeds that so carefully and deviously surround them, or grow right on top of them, as happens with my irises. I try to remember where everything grew last year, where things thrived, so I can make sure they have a happy and healthy home this year. It's tricky; some of the late bloomers haven’t even begun to wake up from their winter’s rest. 

I contemplate the monarda, marching across the beds, and question whether I could possibly turn it into a cash crop. I look for the columbine, a vigorous self-sower which seems to be in short supply this year. And I check on the wisteria and the beauty bush, hoping they are strong enough to bounce back again. I struggle with what to do with the unruly and no longer ornamental grasses, some of which have already been relegated to the back garden.  Is that where the rest of them will spend their days, in Mikey's Meadow?

I worry about the woodchucks and bunnies that might (no, will inevitably) come to dinner in my urban front yard, and what will tickle their fancy this time, as it seems to change each year. Will they covet my coneflowers again? Or, will their palate yearn for poppies or blue flax, or maybe my phlox?  I've kept the fences on the hollyhocks, a perennial favorite, if you will, but there’s always so much for the little devils to pick from, so many tasty young plants that are so hard to resist. I need to have a plan.

And I wonder how I can possibly keep everything safe and not have the garden look like a war zone, how I can have it look the way it's supposed to, full of colors and textures, without its beauty being encumbered by fence and netting.

Even with all of that, I’m grateful. 

The hours I've spent in the garden are hours I've been able to work out my frustrations on why we have such a hard time getting our collective arms around the concept of equality and equal opportunity, and around the concept that all lives matter:  black and white and brown and yellow and red ones, and all of the colors in between.  Lives wearing police uniforms and lives wearing police jumpsuits, or hoodies, or even the god-awful hideous sagging pants. Lives wrapped in a rainbow flag, and lives of those who would chase rainbows looking for a pot of gold. Lives of ‘the believers’ and of those who believe something else entirely, or in nothing at all.  

What a mess we can make of things, and yet what an opportunity we have, I think while I’m out there in the fresh air, working on my garden melting pot.

And I've made progress, according to the guy riding by on his bike yesterday, who shouted an encouraging “keep up the good work, the garden’s coming along!” and the young woman giving a piggy-back ride to a child who made a point to remind me “I think I told you last year too, but I love your garden, it always makes me smile.”  Or one of the littlest who whispered “pretty flowers, Mommy!” as his family walked by, pointing shyly at the white and yellow daffodils, the grape hyacinths, and the miniature tulips in the bed closest to the sidewalk.

Yes, I’m surely grateful.  And it’s time to get back out there. 

Wondering, on Wednesday (v22)

In no particular order, here's the stuff that has me wondering, on Wednesday. Would any of these have made your list?

On a scale of one to 100, what are the chances that people will be as unhappy with the weather this spring/summer/fall as they have been about it this winter? Can't you hear it already?  Too much rain, too much mud, too cold, (March and April); too much rain, too much mud, too much wind, too cloudy (May and June); too hot, too humid (July and August); too much rain, too hot, too cold, too cloudy (September and October) and then before you know it we'll be right back into winter and starting all over again.

I'm wondering what would happen if, every time someone mentioned that it was cold outside, I asked "How cold is it?"

Speaking of 'too much', for the past several weeks, it seems, NBC Nightly News has done at least some kind of story every day on Chris Kyle, he of American Sniper book and movie fame. They've talked about the movie, and they've replayed the interviews that Lester Holt did with Kyle before he was tragically shot and killed by another veteran at a shooting range in Texas, and they've been covering the trial of Kyle's killer as well. 

All along I had assumed that they were spending so much time on the story because the movie was produced by NBC Universal.  Turns out that's not the case; the movie is from Warner Brothers.  So I'm wondering, why are they devoting so much time to this? And why aren't they devoting as much time and attention to Chad Littlefield?  You may not recognize that name, because it's so rarely mentioned in the media reports, but he's the other man killed by the same gunman at the same Texas shooting range in the same incident. Doesn't his life, and death matter? Don't All Lives Matter? 

A little over a year ago, I did a post encouraging Republicans - begging them, truth be told -- to stop talking about rape, to just shut up about it, to stop making themselves look like complete idiots. It would appear, sadly, that my pleas fell on deaf ears.  

Meet Brian Greene, Republican from Utah. Greene chimed in on a bill under discussion that would "clarify the definition of consent" to make it clear that a person who was unconscious could not consent to a sexual encounter.  Greene offered up this inexplicable stream-of-consciousness babble:

It looks to me now like sex with an unconscious person is, by definition, rape. I hope this wouldn't happen, but this opens the door to it: an individual has sex with their wife while she is unconscious - or he, the only other way around, if that possible, I don't know. But a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape.  I'm not at all trying to justify sexual activity with an unconscious person - it's abhorrent to me, but do we as a legislative body want to make that rape in every instance?  

I'm wondering.... heck, I don't even know what I'm wondering on this one. 

Hashtag Nation

#HandsUpDontShoot. #ICantBreathe.
If you spend any time on social media, or even if you pay attention to traditional media, you've seen the hashtags that stem from the shooting of Michael Brown and the choke-hold death of Eric Garner, both black males dead with the officer involved in each case un-indicted. The cases themselves are not necessarily indicative of #racism, even if that's the lens through which they are supposed to be viewed.

#BlackLivesMatter. #ShutItDown.
The two above are echoing in the multiple protests that have occurred in Ferguson and NYC and across the country since the grand jury decisions came out within days of each other. Without a charge in either case -- not murder, not manslaughter, not even criminally negligent homicide -- it's understandable that there were protests, even if some of them were self-serving, not on message, and generally destructive, when that's exactly the opposite of what was needed. Everyone saw the pictures of looting and burning in Ferguson. Here's some perspective on that, and on the whole of #Ferguson.

#CrimingWhileWhite.  #LivingWhileBlack.
The first one's all about how white people don't get arrested for things, as opposed to black people who do get arrested for things. Stop and frisk. Open container violations. White collar crime. Shooting your hunting buddies. That kind of thing. Here's a comedic take on it, peppered with some facts which should at least make you stop and think about things for a second.  The second of the pair is all about the flipside of the white privilege coin; about having to work harder, live more carefully, be more aware of your surroundings, simply because of your skin color.

Hashtags are used to bring people and ideas together; that's like-minded people and frequently opposite-minded people as well.  When those connections lead to open dialogue and an honest (if sometimes uncomfortable) exchange of opinions and perspective, we have a real opportunity. If they turn out to be only fleeting hashtags, if we all go back to what we did and thought before, that opportunity will be lost.

#AllLivesMatter.