Back in the day, when a guy could get around without a mask, I would wander into The Knick, an east side establishment with a little style. I would sit at the bar and wander, too, into conversations.
One of them was with a couple who'd just been to Poland. Poland, too, is afflicted with intimations of autocracy, especially with its intolerance of gay people, but isn't a bad place to visit. Since I'm mainly (half) Polish in derivation, I'd been interested in how I might be accepted, should I get the energy to go there.
The couple gushed. They'd had a blast. The Polish people were great, they said, and they loved Americans. They visited a bunch of Polish cities on their tour, and they were ready to go back again.
They performed a nice gesture, too. They gave me the name and address of a really nice hotel in Warsaw. I took it and put in on my refrigerator. I wanted to be sure I remembered it.
But now it's useless. I can't go. The European Union has prohibited Americans from coming. Why? Because too many of my countrymen are too damn stupid or too damn stubborn to wear masks and reduce the coronavirus. The virus has now surged, again. It is about as active, and as present, as it was three months ago. I can't even go to Canada, for heaven's sake.
But three months ago, people in several states were upset because they hadn't had a haircut, hadn't seen their favorite sports teams, hadn't been able to take out their boats, because their governors had issued stay-at-home, or safe-at-home, orders. They believed their rights were somehow at risk, that governors were bound and determined to take them away.
Anyone with a brain knew how mindless this was, how risky, and how dangerous. Now Herman Cain, who went to the 45 Tulsa speech without a mask, is dead. The governor of Oklahoma, also there, of course, got sick. And Louie Gohmert, Mr. Defiance from Texas, now has the virus and blames it on a mask, as if that's what caused it. He's going to take hydroxychloroquine to cure it, too. Best of luck with that.
The denial is staggering. It continues. We won't tamp down the virus until it's tamped down. It's not like we don't know what to do; most of us do. But too many for reasons only they can make up won't comply.
So now Tony Evers, the governor of Wisconsin, under pressure from fellow Democrats, has issued wear-a-mask order for the whole state to try to stem a new surge in cases--not as bad as Texas or Florida, but certainly a concern. Of course the legislative Republicans will go to court to turn it back. They have to, now, because they managed, with a distorted state Supreme Court falling into line, to take away Evers' Safe-At-Home order, which was managing to manage the virus, at least at its outset. It already feels like a dinosaur.
Whether Wisconsinites actually follow the mask order is going to be a matter or selective enforcement, of course, and there may be stupid confrontations to that effect. But in this quirky state, that's to be expected. Let's get on with it. Let's find out whether the state Supreme Court will also turn this back. The court's makeup is about to change, so that is in question.
In the meantime, the nice note from the traveling couple remains on the refrigerator. Is it a reminder of a better time? Or a hope for one to return? We shall see.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 31, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
30 Percent Wasted Food. That Will Catch Up With Us.
Sometimes you run into statistics that blow your mind. Here's one: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 30 percent of our food is wasted.
I saw it in the Sunday New York Times, which, as opposed to what 45 says, doesn't make things up. It was in an article about refrigerators on the street, packed with extra food that people don't need--not cream puffs and candy, either; fruits and vegetables. One guy tried that and stocked the frig full. In a day, half of it was gone.
Now that, of course, is New York. But that's not the only city in the country. People need food and many are going on subsistence diets if at all. Think nearer the border.
30 percent. How many homeless people could that feed? I'll bet all of them. How many people would eat better, get more vitamins, be healthier? A whole lot of them.
It means, too, that although some people have ways of organizing the distribution of excess food, like restaurants, much of it just becomes garbage. That staggers the mind, especially now that the virus has sidelined so many of us and the unemployment monies are running out and Congress hasn't yet decided whether to extend any of those payments to people who are still out of work.
Some members of Congress are counting on the schools opening soon, and want to run out the clock. But for all kinds of reasons, that's magical thinking. All it will take are a couple of virus cases within the school population, and the parents will, if they haven't already, withdraw their kids and stay home again. Then they won't work, get fired, and lose money.
That will deepen our recession into a depression. That will reflect upon the food supply chain. It will run low. We haven't seen much hoarding to this point: We will if that happens.
Beyond that, a lot of food that has already been produced will go uneaten. The waste will, at least for a while, compound itself. And, of course, there is no anticipation for this. The mentality is much like Betsy DuVos': You can't plan for something that hasn't happened yet.
Like hell you can't. That's what infrastructure's supposed to be about. But everybody's hoping that human nature will somehow change over the next month, will somehow convince parents to keep their kids in school despite the clear and convincing evidence that they'll get sick.
Not gonna happen. And parents can't pay for the child care they're going to need to keep on working. The economy, teetering on the backs of kids who haven't had to go to school, will now collapse.
August is just around the corner. People are going to get very, very nervous. They're going to want reassurances, and they just aren't there.
For reassurance of this lack of reassurance, just check the sports world. The Miami Marlins have 13 players down with the virus now, and the postponement of their games affects five other teams. And that's just one team: Others may be affected similarly. If so, the experiment to bring baseball back will come to screeching halt.
The Big Ten has said that it won't play any non-conference games, as if that alone would guard against the spread of the virus and somehow will be able to contain it better when they go play each other. The Ivy League, those Eastern elitists, have shut sports down completely this fall, in a rare and stunning bow to common sense.
Everybody's trying as hard as they can to either avoid the obvious or fight it. Some very deluded people think only liberals will get the virus and real Americans won't. I have no idea who or what they're listening to, but that's crazy.
Maybe the virus will kill craziness, too. Maybe, in the big karma of the universe, it has chosen to rip through us like a knife through hot butter to attack it. All this is even before a vaccine comes out, and all those issues will emerge, too.
Five months after this has hit the country, there are still 21 "red zone" states, which include Wisconsin, which are or on the cusp of having new spikes in cases. Nothing, in other words, has changed. Chicago is now demanding that anyone who stays within its borders from Wisconsin must quarantine in place for 14 days. I can't even see the Field Museum anymore.
I don't know much, but all that food has to get organized better. It has to get to people who need it. And they're going to need it now more than ever. We are not only not getting this under control, we are losing control of it. And the opening of schools can only accelerate that by the day.
Don't open the schools. Pay the unemployment. Commit to shutting down until this is brought under control. We still haven't done it. We still lack the leadership to do it. Waiting until, hopefully, 45 is gone is waiting another five months. We've seen what's happened in the first five months: will another five bring us close to the end of this pestilence?
I think you know the answer. We've been through a lot because of this lack of leadership. The toughest time's about to start. Get ready--ready to lose some weight, because beyond what we normally waste, we also waste food in the millions of tons.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
I saw it in the Sunday New York Times, which, as opposed to what 45 says, doesn't make things up. It was in an article about refrigerators on the street, packed with extra food that people don't need--not cream puffs and candy, either; fruits and vegetables. One guy tried that and stocked the frig full. In a day, half of it was gone.
Now that, of course, is New York. But that's not the only city in the country. People need food and many are going on subsistence diets if at all. Think nearer the border.
30 percent. How many homeless people could that feed? I'll bet all of them. How many people would eat better, get more vitamins, be healthier? A whole lot of them.
It means, too, that although some people have ways of organizing the distribution of excess food, like restaurants, much of it just becomes garbage. That staggers the mind, especially now that the virus has sidelined so many of us and the unemployment monies are running out and Congress hasn't yet decided whether to extend any of those payments to people who are still out of work.
Some members of Congress are counting on the schools opening soon, and want to run out the clock. But for all kinds of reasons, that's magical thinking. All it will take are a couple of virus cases within the school population, and the parents will, if they haven't already, withdraw their kids and stay home again. Then they won't work, get fired, and lose money.
That will deepen our recession into a depression. That will reflect upon the food supply chain. It will run low. We haven't seen much hoarding to this point: We will if that happens.
Beyond that, a lot of food that has already been produced will go uneaten. The waste will, at least for a while, compound itself. And, of course, there is no anticipation for this. The mentality is much like Betsy DuVos': You can't plan for something that hasn't happened yet.
Like hell you can't. That's what infrastructure's supposed to be about. But everybody's hoping that human nature will somehow change over the next month, will somehow convince parents to keep their kids in school despite the clear and convincing evidence that they'll get sick.
Not gonna happen. And parents can't pay for the child care they're going to need to keep on working. The economy, teetering on the backs of kids who haven't had to go to school, will now collapse.
August is just around the corner. People are going to get very, very nervous. They're going to want reassurances, and they just aren't there.
For reassurance of this lack of reassurance, just check the sports world. The Miami Marlins have 13 players down with the virus now, and the postponement of their games affects five other teams. And that's just one team: Others may be affected similarly. If so, the experiment to bring baseball back will come to screeching halt.
The Big Ten has said that it won't play any non-conference games, as if that alone would guard against the spread of the virus and somehow will be able to contain it better when they go play each other. The Ivy League, those Eastern elitists, have shut sports down completely this fall, in a rare and stunning bow to common sense.
Everybody's trying as hard as they can to either avoid the obvious or fight it. Some very deluded people think only liberals will get the virus and real Americans won't. I have no idea who or what they're listening to, but that's crazy.
Maybe the virus will kill craziness, too. Maybe, in the big karma of the universe, it has chosen to rip through us like a knife through hot butter to attack it. All this is even before a vaccine comes out, and all those issues will emerge, too.
Five months after this has hit the country, there are still 21 "red zone" states, which include Wisconsin, which are or on the cusp of having new spikes in cases. Nothing, in other words, has changed. Chicago is now demanding that anyone who stays within its borders from Wisconsin must quarantine in place for 14 days. I can't even see the Field Museum anymore.
I don't know much, but all that food has to get organized better. It has to get to people who need it. And they're going to need it now more than ever. We are not only not getting this under control, we are losing control of it. And the opening of schools can only accelerate that by the day.
Don't open the schools. Pay the unemployment. Commit to shutting down until this is brought under control. We still haven't done it. We still lack the leadership to do it. Waiting until, hopefully, 45 is gone is waiting another five months. We've seen what's happened in the first five months: will another five bring us close to the end of this pestilence?
I think you know the answer. We've been through a lot because of this lack of leadership. The toughest time's about to start. Get ready--ready to lose some weight, because beyond what we normally waste, we also waste food in the millions of tons.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 24, 2020
A Perfect Example of Leadership, Not
Political leadership can be tricky. But in the end, it comes down to recognizing what people need, and what they don't.
That's why 45's stunt of sending federal forces of some kind, with some authorization, into large cities as an indication of "law and order" won't work. It won't work because it isn't needed. It's overkill. It's going to make him look like a glutton, and a desperate one.
If any suburbs needed protection, those of Charlottesville, Virginia would have qualified in 2017, when neo-Nazis came and demonstrated their hate, brandishing weapons. Instead, he said there were very good people on both sides, as pandering as anyone could have been.
As you recall, a counterdemonstrator was killed by one of these knuckleheads who ran her over with his car. No regrets enamanated from 45, either.
So when he now vows to clean up whatever trouble there happens to be in Portland, OR, without being asked for, it of course takes the guardrails off of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, which allows states to govern themselves without interference--formerly a Republican watchword--and that part of the document normalized by assuming that federal forces will be called into action when requested, and not until then. So there's very little 'law' at work, and all kinds of 'order.'
45 is doing so to selected cities with selected Democratic mayors, so to prove to the public, especially those living in the immediate suburbs, that now they don't have anything to worry about, that only Republicans are strong enough to control our cities. Except for one thing: None of those suburbs have been threatened. There might have been demonstrations in some of them, sure, but there were demonstrations in all kinds of cities of all kinds of sizes all over the country in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Port Washington, Wisconsin, had a demonstration, but that isn't a suburb; it's 25 miles north of Milwaukee. Shawano, Wisconsin, too, which is about 40 miles west of Green Bay. There was even a demonstration in Hayward, Wisconsin, at least three hours from any kind of major metropolitan area. I may be wrong, but I didn't hear anything close to any violence or destruction happening in any of those places. Is the mayor a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for a friend. Does it matter? Asking for myself.
This effort to distort reality and make people bend toward believing it takes a very persuasive person. 45 is getting a little short on that nowadays. Now he wears a mask, and calls it "patriotic." Never mind calling it healthy: What about four months ago, when it would have done him some good? People can see through things like that. He doesn't seem to understand that his credibility, like those of other politicians, comes and goes. And it's been seeping away since the virus hit the fan.
Calling something patriotic doesn't make it so. Calling something a danger doesn't make it so. The latest toady to serve as his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, suggested that federal forces might come to Milwaukee. There haven't been demonstrations here in weeks now. What, exactly, will they be stopping? What, exactly, do I have to be afraid of?
Demonstrators came to my neighborhood, true. They marched, They made noise. They moved on. Nobody was hurt. No violence took place. Nothing got broken. Yes, there were broken windows and some looting elsewhere in town, but it ended as soon as it started: nothing extended, nothing lasted.
What they did was exercise their First Amendment rights, which were respected. That was an excellent example of what a free society does. But that scares 45 because the demonstrators questioned what the police do and why. That threatens his idea of "law and order" because, to him, the police are supposed to do whatever they want, never mind the rule of law and people's rights.
So he thinks he can scare people into changing their minds. And he'll scare them, all right. Scare them right to the polls in November, where hopefully, they will reject his crazy rantings and ravings.
Security doesn't come from a police state, which is what he'd prefer. Security comes from the people themselves, respecting each other. A nation that relies on the cops that much isn't strong. In fact, it's weak. It's dependent. It's tottering.
Nobody's saying we don't have issues, and at times a problem with too much violence; Chicago's murder problems are a good example. But bringing in Homeland Security agents to patrol and/or arrest perpetrators is nothing more than a display of force that cannot last. The House of Representatives, after all, is controlled by Democrats, at least one of whom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won't be bullied into caving into a wild-eyed president's cravings. After all, the Congress can cut off the funding for this nonsense. Don't be surprised if those conversations aren't already happening.
Security will be a card that 45 will play from here to the election. The Democrats must respond by defining what security really is. If they can do that, they will take the last strategy out of his hand and cruise to victory. If not, this thing could still be close. But with his abysmal performance on the virus, I wonder if enough of the public will scare quite so easily.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
That's why 45's stunt of sending federal forces of some kind, with some authorization, into large cities as an indication of "law and order" won't work. It won't work because it isn't needed. It's overkill. It's going to make him look like a glutton, and a desperate one.
If any suburbs needed protection, those of Charlottesville, Virginia would have qualified in 2017, when neo-Nazis came and demonstrated their hate, brandishing weapons. Instead, he said there were very good people on both sides, as pandering as anyone could have been.
As you recall, a counterdemonstrator was killed by one of these knuckleheads who ran her over with his car. No regrets enamanated from 45, either.
So when he now vows to clean up whatever trouble there happens to be in Portland, OR, without being asked for, it of course takes the guardrails off of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, which allows states to govern themselves without interference--formerly a Republican watchword--and that part of the document normalized by assuming that federal forces will be called into action when requested, and not until then. So there's very little 'law' at work, and all kinds of 'order.'
45 is doing so to selected cities with selected Democratic mayors, so to prove to the public, especially those living in the immediate suburbs, that now they don't have anything to worry about, that only Republicans are strong enough to control our cities. Except for one thing: None of those suburbs have been threatened. There might have been demonstrations in some of them, sure, but there were demonstrations in all kinds of cities of all kinds of sizes all over the country in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Port Washington, Wisconsin, had a demonstration, but that isn't a suburb; it's 25 miles north of Milwaukee. Shawano, Wisconsin, too, which is about 40 miles west of Green Bay. There was even a demonstration in Hayward, Wisconsin, at least three hours from any kind of major metropolitan area. I may be wrong, but I didn't hear anything close to any violence or destruction happening in any of those places. Is the mayor a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for a friend. Does it matter? Asking for myself.
This effort to distort reality and make people bend toward believing it takes a very persuasive person. 45 is getting a little short on that nowadays. Now he wears a mask, and calls it "patriotic." Never mind calling it healthy: What about four months ago, when it would have done him some good? People can see through things like that. He doesn't seem to understand that his credibility, like those of other politicians, comes and goes. And it's been seeping away since the virus hit the fan.
Calling something patriotic doesn't make it so. Calling something a danger doesn't make it so. The latest toady to serve as his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, suggested that federal forces might come to Milwaukee. There haven't been demonstrations here in weeks now. What, exactly, will they be stopping? What, exactly, do I have to be afraid of?
Demonstrators came to my neighborhood, true. They marched, They made noise. They moved on. Nobody was hurt. No violence took place. Nothing got broken. Yes, there were broken windows and some looting elsewhere in town, but it ended as soon as it started: nothing extended, nothing lasted.
What they did was exercise their First Amendment rights, which were respected. That was an excellent example of what a free society does. But that scares 45 because the demonstrators questioned what the police do and why. That threatens his idea of "law and order" because, to him, the police are supposed to do whatever they want, never mind the rule of law and people's rights.
So he thinks he can scare people into changing their minds. And he'll scare them, all right. Scare them right to the polls in November, where hopefully, they will reject his crazy rantings and ravings.
Security doesn't come from a police state, which is what he'd prefer. Security comes from the people themselves, respecting each other. A nation that relies on the cops that much isn't strong. In fact, it's weak. It's dependent. It's tottering.
Nobody's saying we don't have issues, and at times a problem with too much violence; Chicago's murder problems are a good example. But bringing in Homeland Security agents to patrol and/or arrest perpetrators is nothing more than a display of force that cannot last. The House of Representatives, after all, is controlled by Democrats, at least one of whom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won't be bullied into caving into a wild-eyed president's cravings. After all, the Congress can cut off the funding for this nonsense. Don't be surprised if those conversations aren't already happening.
Security will be a card that 45 will play from here to the election. The Democrats must respond by defining what security really is. If they can do that, they will take the last strategy out of his hand and cruise to victory. If not, this thing could still be close. But with his abysmal performance on the virus, I wonder if enough of the public will scare quite so easily.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Sue Them. See What Happens. What's the Alternative?
The question isn't why the Florida Education Association has sued the State of Florida about having to make its teachers and support staffs go back to school. The question is why the other NEA state affiliates haven't done so, too.
Maybe the mechanics seem insurmountable. Maybe it's because it looks like they're going to lose and that politically, the deck looks stacked. Maybe they're waiting for the right moment, in which case, they'd better hurry the hell up because for some states, school's supposed to begin in something like three weeks.
Okay, maybe so. But to do nothing is wrong. To sit there and watch school staff re-report to their jobs under this pandemic risks their very lives. Their lives.
It's bad enough that assassins roam with personal sickness, wanting to commit suicide but first shooting up classrooms. That the school culture has had to absorb that horrible reality, practicing shutdowns just in case, is bad enough. Now, an additional, unseen enemy has emerged: a virus that some people claim won't bother them all that much, so not to worry.
But some kids are going to get sick. Some will spread it amongst others, including teachers, and bus drivers, and custodians, and cooks, and school secretaries, and administrators. It. Just. Takes. One.
The Florida Education Association has counterattacked against this madness. They want to know, in fact dare someone, to tell them whether the state is going to order them back to work or not. The only alternative is to strike. Or, enter the potential cauldron.
I don't think it's all that tough of a choice. Not long ago, thousands of teachers in states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona marched on their state capitols, demanding better financial support for what they do. They did it for the kids, they said, which gave them moral backing.
They can still do it for the kids, and for themselves. Who will replace them when they get sick? Would you be a substitute teacher under those conditions? A substitute bus driver? A substitute cook?
Who's living in this wishful wasteland? Let's go to court and find out. If they lose, the teachers should walk. Those should be the choices. Either way, the virus determines whether they go back to work, nobody and nothing else.
Here's another: When the r0 goes to less than 1.0, then go back to work. Then have school again. That's fine, since the science says that the virus will disappear with time when the numbers say that and people keep observing healthy practices at at least the same rate. Viruses rarely disappear completely, anyhow. But don't reopen until then. Until then, it will spread. And schools will be the Petri dishes.
Little kids are less likely to get infected? Okay, sure. But not entirely unlikely. Especially in conditions in which they'll be closer to more kids than they have since February. For the governor of Missouri to claim that if they get sick, they'll just go home and get better, assumes they can't spread it to their parents and/or older siblings. That's just plain dumb.
This is not just the flu. We know this. This is more infectious, and more deadly. 143, 000 already, and probably a quarter-million by October. The FEA will undoubtedly wear masks in court. I wonder if the State of Florida will.
Nevertheless, this strategy should be copied by every state affiliate: Sue them first. Make someone admit this is crazy. If you lose, have your strike vote. And live, or die, with the results.
Yes, they can do this. Yes, they should. They need to protect their people by striking, or dictating the terms by which they go back, with safety the highest priority. If they lose, okay then: They did what they could. The members got their monies worth: Now, it's up to them.
Several large districts are choosing to begin the school year virtually. Perhaps the country needs to do so as well. It's worth the try. The president doesn't care. The Secretary of Education doesn't care. It's time someone does.
This should be a no-brainer, ironically. The adults in charge have failed the country. This is one of the prices it must pay.
WEAC shouldn't wait to see how it goes for the FEA. Michigan EA shouldn't, either. Nor should Education Minnesota. Sue now if the state government isn't cooperative. Get it started. They can always withdraw.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Maybe the mechanics seem insurmountable. Maybe it's because it looks like they're going to lose and that politically, the deck looks stacked. Maybe they're waiting for the right moment, in which case, they'd better hurry the hell up because for some states, school's supposed to begin in something like three weeks.
Okay, maybe so. But to do nothing is wrong. To sit there and watch school staff re-report to their jobs under this pandemic risks their very lives. Their lives.
It's bad enough that assassins roam with personal sickness, wanting to commit suicide but first shooting up classrooms. That the school culture has had to absorb that horrible reality, practicing shutdowns just in case, is bad enough. Now, an additional, unseen enemy has emerged: a virus that some people claim won't bother them all that much, so not to worry.
But some kids are going to get sick. Some will spread it amongst others, including teachers, and bus drivers, and custodians, and cooks, and school secretaries, and administrators. It. Just. Takes. One.
The Florida Education Association has counterattacked against this madness. They want to know, in fact dare someone, to tell them whether the state is going to order them back to work or not. The only alternative is to strike. Or, enter the potential cauldron.
I don't think it's all that tough of a choice. Not long ago, thousands of teachers in states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona marched on their state capitols, demanding better financial support for what they do. They did it for the kids, they said, which gave them moral backing.
They can still do it for the kids, and for themselves. Who will replace them when they get sick? Would you be a substitute teacher under those conditions? A substitute bus driver? A substitute cook?
Who's living in this wishful wasteland? Let's go to court and find out. If they lose, the teachers should walk. Those should be the choices. Either way, the virus determines whether they go back to work, nobody and nothing else.
Here's another: When the r0 goes to less than 1.0, then go back to work. Then have school again. That's fine, since the science says that the virus will disappear with time when the numbers say that and people keep observing healthy practices at at least the same rate. Viruses rarely disappear completely, anyhow. But don't reopen until then. Until then, it will spread. And schools will be the Petri dishes.
Little kids are less likely to get infected? Okay, sure. But not entirely unlikely. Especially in conditions in which they'll be closer to more kids than they have since February. For the governor of Missouri to claim that if they get sick, they'll just go home and get better, assumes they can't spread it to their parents and/or older siblings. That's just plain dumb.
This is not just the flu. We know this. This is more infectious, and more deadly. 143, 000 already, and probably a quarter-million by October. The FEA will undoubtedly wear masks in court. I wonder if the State of Florida will.
Nevertheless, this strategy should be copied by every state affiliate: Sue them first. Make someone admit this is crazy. If you lose, have your strike vote. And live, or die, with the results.
Yes, they can do this. Yes, they should. They need to protect their people by striking, or dictating the terms by which they go back, with safety the highest priority. If they lose, okay then: They did what they could. The members got their monies worth: Now, it's up to them.
Several large districts are choosing to begin the school year virtually. Perhaps the country needs to do so as well. It's worth the try. The president doesn't care. The Secretary of Education doesn't care. It's time someone does.
This should be a no-brainer, ironically. The adults in charge have failed the country. This is one of the prices it must pay.
WEAC shouldn't wait to see how it goes for the FEA. Michigan EA shouldn't, either. Nor should Education Minnesota. Sue now if the state government isn't cooperative. Get it started. They can always withdraw.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Monday, July 20, 2020
"Hillbilly Elegy"--What It Is, What It Isn't
J.D. Vance wants you to know what the backwoods life is all about--the mindset, the culture, the hopelessness. He has done so in Hillbilly Elegy.
This book was an instant smash best-seller. It came out in the shadow of the 2016 campaign, explaining to a certain extent why the dirt-poor, self-hating but prideful (at the same time) residents of Appalachia turned to 45, regardless of his background.
To the best of my fathoming, they did it because he's as angry as they are at just about everything and they found it easy to play off of. He is dripping in self-pity, like they are. But don't tell him why he has to be angry and that he's way off base about things; he will lash out at you with a vengeance. Just like they do.
I got a taste of that when I lived in Arkansas. A whole bunch of those folks are the same way (though not all of them; some are terrific). They can get after each other and laugh at themselves easily and often, but if someone who isn't one of them tries to point out what they've been saying to each other, even if it's well-intentioned and friendly, you become an intolerable outsider and the folksy warmth turns icy very fast.
Much of Vance's childhood was deprived and even dangerous. His mother was emotionally unstable, and married five times. He spent a great deal of his time with his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, who of course lived just five houses away. He skipped school a lot. He had three last names. He had to lie to keep his mother out of jail.
Basically, he shows, you need four things to get out of the kind of life to which he could have easily adapted, which he came perilously close to having:
This book was an instant smash best-seller. It came out in the shadow of the 2016 campaign, explaining to a certain extent why the dirt-poor, self-hating but prideful (at the same time) residents of Appalachia turned to 45, regardless of his background.
To the best of my fathoming, they did it because he's as angry as they are at just about everything and they found it easy to play off of. He is dripping in self-pity, like they are. But don't tell him why he has to be angry and that he's way off base about things; he will lash out at you with a vengeance. Just like they do.
I got a taste of that when I lived in Arkansas. A whole bunch of those folks are the same way (though not all of them; some are terrific). They can get after each other and laugh at themselves easily and often, but if someone who isn't one of them tries to point out what they've been saying to each other, even if it's well-intentioned and friendly, you become an intolerable outsider and the folksy warmth turns icy very fast.
Much of Vance's childhood was deprived and even dangerous. His mother was emotionally unstable, and married five times. He spent a great deal of his time with his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, who of course lived just five houses away. He skipped school a lot. He had three last names. He had to lie to keep his mother out of jail.
Basically, he shows, you need four things to get out of the kind of life to which he could have easily adapted, which he came perilously close to having:
- Stability--It has to come from somewhere. It is the idea that there's something you can always count on that isn't harmful, that will bring you peace. For J.D., it was a sense of being home, which rested with his Mamaw. It arrived just about when he was going to start high school. He finally had a base from which to launch his dreams.
- Education--Still the bulwark of it all. Without it, there's little that can be done to develop the kinds of thinking skills that will allow a person to succeed. If we accept the concept that education is thinking practice, and that paying attention to it drives one's thinking abilities forward, never backward, doors begin to open. J.D. caught on to this when his Homelife began to become more stable, when he was able to concentrate on his schoolwork both inside and outside of school, since there gradually was less to think about outside of it. This was relative, because his family never became completely stable, but the reduction of issues allowed him to focus enough to get enough confidence to keep going, eventually to Ohio State and Yale Law.
- Sense of responsibility--Which usually comes with some kind of home stability. J.D.'s Mamaw wasn't exactly stable herself, but she did instill within him the kind of responsibility one learns to maintain a decent home atmosphere--chores, etc. Her language and manners were crude, but she respected education and what it could do for someone. With that reinforcement, J.D. had someone to report to and to whom he had to be accountable. Eventually, this would take hold. It also happened within the military training he received. Like a few kids I taught, messed up for one reason or another, the training he received served to straighten him out. He would have been drummed out if it hadn't.
- Sense of adventure--In the end, someone in the kind of culture J.D. began in has to risk stepping out of it, risk failure, risk embarrassment. He did so in a dangerous way: Going into the Marines. He was deployed to Afghanistan, the most perilous of places. But the lessons he learned about self-reliance stuck with him and gave him the confidence to seek college and beyond. Without that, he might have stayed within the hillbilly culture he was raised in.
As it was, he has never allowed himself the luxury of dismissing or completely discarding his background, which he now could easily do. He's a principal attorney in a business on the West Coast, married to a lawyer. He's acquired more money than he could ever have imagined, even without this best-selling memoir. But he still thinks of pajamas as elitist (No, they're not. My family had them, and we were never rich.), and selects Christmas presents for needy kids with a clear message in mind.
Cut off on the highway in California, and bringing him back to his old sense of manhood, he contemplated giving the offender a five-fingered piece of his mind at the next stoplight. But his wife held him back; naively, he never considered that the guy might have had a gun.
Cut off on the highway in California, and bringing him back to his old sense of manhood, he contemplated giving the offender a five-fingered piece of his mind at the next stoplight. But his wife held him back; naively, he never considered that the guy might have had a gun.
But the most telling paragraph comes in the book's Conclusion. He has spent most of the work explaining the mentality of the hillbilly, the way they have dealt with, sometimes, the tough breaks they've had and the lifestyle they've adapted. But he doesn't ignore what continues to sit there, the thing that his teachers, and teachers everywhere, try to instill in their pupils, whether they accept it or not, whether they utilize it to make something of themselves or not:
We don't need to live like the elites of California, New York, or Washington, D.C. We don't need to work a hundred hours a week at law firms and investment banks. We don't need to socialize at cocktail parties. We do need to create a space for the J.D.s....of the world to have a chance. I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better.
That's what 45 has taken away, though: A sense of personal responsibility. In both speech and action, he has blamed others for his misfortunes, and blamed someone else for the misfortunes of those who so slavishly follow him. He's taken that way, and with that, has stripped them of the need to step up and use what they have to get out of the fixes they're in.
He has done, in short, what Republicans love to do: Blame government for ruining their lives, when in fact they've caused nearly everything bad that's happened to them, admit it or not. It may be the bottom-line legacy of Reagan, who was fond of trashing government whenever he could, but we are there and we must now deal with those who are hooked to that kind of thinking.
We need to reclaim a balance, Vance seems to be saying. Government, especially in an enormous land as this, is constantly necessary, though some people resent it. Libertarianism only goes so far, even if it takes enormous depravity for those in Appalachia to admit it. We are seeing the lack of safety that the lack of governance has caused, now that the virus is threatening to run wild. If this doesn't bring us up short, I'm not sure anything will.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
We need to reclaim a balance, Vance seems to be saying. Government, especially in an enormous land as this, is constantly necessary, though some people resent it. Libertarianism only goes so far, even if it takes enormous depravity for those in Appalachia to admit it. We are seeing the lack of safety that the lack of governance has caused, now that the virus is threatening to run wild. If this doesn't bring us up short, I'm not sure anything will.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Saturday, July 18, 2020
John Lewis, Quiet Superstar of Good Trouble
John Lewis left us last night and I feel like crying. Pancreatic cancer got him about eight months after doctors discovered it.
Nothing will improve what's already been said, but I met him and I would like to tell you about it. There are few people who really deserve the moniker of "icon," but he deserved it 100%.
When you get to a place like the NEA, get elected to the Board of Directors and then to the Executive Committee, you get chances to meet famous people. The NEA has always been at the forefront of the effort to maintain human and civil rights--indeed, it's what attracted me to it--and it gets invited to celebrations and reminders of the same.
The Congressional Black Caucus Dinner is one of them. I attended whenever I could. I was in awe of those people, they who overcame prejudice and racism. It was especially true of superstars like John Lewis, though he never acted like one. He was, and remained until his death, a humble man who knew he had become a vessel of the essence of justice.
John Lewis always entered the room quietly and slowly. He was in no hurry. He had seen and been through some of the more momentous events of the Civil Rights Movement. People gathered around him to pay him well-deserved homage, so a white guy like me often found it hard to get near him.
In a way, he seemed astonished by all the attention, and seemed like he kind of wanted to get it over with. But he projected an aura that was unmistakeable. This was the walking, talking Civil Rights Movement, right here, right in front of you. It was a moment to be savored.
I don't recall what I muttered. It was something of an attempt to summarize what I thought of him and what he had done. It was quick, which might surprise some of my friends. But I knew others wanted to say hello, too. He was the kind of person who makes you feel better to know he's in the world, who reminds you of the serendipity of fame and how small you really are, compared to what someone else has dared.
He was not a large man, not one to take up a lot of space until he spoke--which was rarely as time went on, but had a greater impact because he said it with that powerful voice. All of the protests, all of the progress, all of the angst and challenges that remain, all of it followed him around until he died.
Much has been made of getting his head split open at the Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965, and well it should. But that was the second time his head had been split open. The first was with the Freedom Riders in 1961.
He had already taken that enormous risk to desegregate bus terminals throughout the South. Racists burned the bus in Anniston, Alabama. The Riders were forced out and beaten. Others, like him, nearly died.
But in a lesson for all of us, he got back up and kept working, kept leading. He saw that the battle for civil rights would never be completely over in his lifetime, all the more necessary to keep working. His disappointments must have been enormous, not the least of which must have been the election to the presidency of a clear and convincing racist this far along, this long after so much has already been accomplished.
But he also lived long enough to see the impact of Black Lives Matter, lived long enough to know that within 45's administration, Secretary of Defense Espy's conscience wouldn't leave him alone. He declared, by default, that the Confederate flag would not be allowed to fly on any of our military bases from now on, ever. He may be fired for that by a twisted man. If he is, I think he'll be glad.
He'll be glad because he decided to follow Lewis' lead: If you see something, say something, do something. Get yourself into "good trouble" for a good cause. He decided to move to the better side of history. So, too, did the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told Congress the other day that the naming of military bases for Confederate generals needs a revamp.
The "lost cause," finally, may be actually lost. It may continue to live in some people's minds, but not officially. Statues are coming down. Minds are being adjusted. That it took that long is a testament only to the country's stubbornness to change that it has unfortunately displayed far too often.
But make no mistake: John Lewis took us this far. It's up to us to continue. It's up to us to turn this awful page, this desperation to preserve injustice and the wrong values. His cause, the cause, goes on: good trouble. This is a small comment of thanks to him, for his work, for his success, for his courage, for the beacon of real leadership.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Nothing will improve what's already been said, but I met him and I would like to tell you about it. There are few people who really deserve the moniker of "icon," but he deserved it 100%.
When you get to a place like the NEA, get elected to the Board of Directors and then to the Executive Committee, you get chances to meet famous people. The NEA has always been at the forefront of the effort to maintain human and civil rights--indeed, it's what attracted me to it--and it gets invited to celebrations and reminders of the same.
The Congressional Black Caucus Dinner is one of them. I attended whenever I could. I was in awe of those people, they who overcame prejudice and racism. It was especially true of superstars like John Lewis, though he never acted like one. He was, and remained until his death, a humble man who knew he had become a vessel of the essence of justice.
John Lewis always entered the room quietly and slowly. He was in no hurry. He had seen and been through some of the more momentous events of the Civil Rights Movement. People gathered around him to pay him well-deserved homage, so a white guy like me often found it hard to get near him.
In a way, he seemed astonished by all the attention, and seemed like he kind of wanted to get it over with. But he projected an aura that was unmistakeable. This was the walking, talking Civil Rights Movement, right here, right in front of you. It was a moment to be savored.
I don't recall what I muttered. It was something of an attempt to summarize what I thought of him and what he had done. It was quick, which might surprise some of my friends. But I knew others wanted to say hello, too. He was the kind of person who makes you feel better to know he's in the world, who reminds you of the serendipity of fame and how small you really are, compared to what someone else has dared.
He was not a large man, not one to take up a lot of space until he spoke--which was rarely as time went on, but had a greater impact because he said it with that powerful voice. All of the protests, all of the progress, all of the angst and challenges that remain, all of it followed him around until he died.
Much has been made of getting his head split open at the Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965, and well it should. But that was the second time his head had been split open. The first was with the Freedom Riders in 1961.
He had already taken that enormous risk to desegregate bus terminals throughout the South. Racists burned the bus in Anniston, Alabama. The Riders were forced out and beaten. Others, like him, nearly died.
But in a lesson for all of us, he got back up and kept working, kept leading. He saw that the battle for civil rights would never be completely over in his lifetime, all the more necessary to keep working. His disappointments must have been enormous, not the least of which must have been the election to the presidency of a clear and convincing racist this far along, this long after so much has already been accomplished.
But he also lived long enough to see the impact of Black Lives Matter, lived long enough to know that within 45's administration, Secretary of Defense Espy's conscience wouldn't leave him alone. He declared, by default, that the Confederate flag would not be allowed to fly on any of our military bases from now on, ever. He may be fired for that by a twisted man. If he is, I think he'll be glad.
He'll be glad because he decided to follow Lewis' lead: If you see something, say something, do something. Get yourself into "good trouble" for a good cause. He decided to move to the better side of history. So, too, did the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told Congress the other day that the naming of military bases for Confederate generals needs a revamp.
The "lost cause," finally, may be actually lost. It may continue to live in some people's minds, but not officially. Statues are coming down. Minds are being adjusted. That it took that long is a testament only to the country's stubbornness to change that it has unfortunately displayed far too often.
But make no mistake: John Lewis took us this far. It's up to us to continue. It's up to us to turn this awful page, this desperation to preserve injustice and the wrong values. His cause, the cause, goes on: good trouble. This is a small comment of thanks to him, for his work, for his success, for his courage, for the beacon of real leadership.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Dr. Fauci's Time Is Through. He Needs to Leave on His Own.
Sometimes things are hard to face. Knowing your time has passed is probably one of the worst of them.
It has hit that time for Dr. Anthony Fauci. The member of the White House coronavirus task force--or what's left of it--who has, by far, the most credibility, has earned that designation by being as honest as he can with anyone who asks him how things really are.
The news isn't good. It has rarely been. The country is going through another wave of infections, with states like Texas, Florida, Arizona and California now leading the way. Very few have managed to cut down on infections. Far more than half have increased them.
Fauci's trying to tell people that we haven't turned the corner. In fact, we've backed up and are going through the process again. Brazil might be doing that, too, but I don't see any other country doing it. But then, Brazil is being run by a person just as big a fool as 45.
45 knows that as long as Fauci stays on the task force, people will be waiting to hear from him. They'll be relying on Fauci's advice, not 45, which is pointless, directionless, and often harmful. 45 can't stand that. He'll make sure Fauci won't be heard very often.
Note that Fauci hasn't been fired. 45 can't do that right now. It would look too obvious. 45 will wait until Fauci gives up himself, or says the next single thing that he might use as evidence that he's not on the same page--though that wouldn't be a bad place to be. Otherwise, he'll be phased out.
Note that Fauci hasn't been fired. 45 can't do that right now. It would look too obvious. 45 will wait until Fauci gives up himself, or says the next single thing that he might use as evidence that he's not on the same page--though that wouldn't be a bad place to be. Otherwise, he'll be phased out.
Except Fauci's time has passed at the White House. It would be in his best interest--and, in fact, in ours--for him to step down and make his own pronouncements on his own terms, pushing back against the White House's doublespeak and distinct lack of leadership. Fauci's in a no-win situation. Better to go chin-up and blast 45 from beyond. Then he can say what he wants.
Fauci's credibility won't wane. In fact, it would improve when he ceased to be connected to an entity that will claim to know more than he does, but would want to distract us from the main problem, which is the distinct lack of resources for us to do testing and tracing, now five months after we've known that the virus would be widespread.
This is all about 45, as everything has to be. 45 will want to become the main source of information on the virus, except he'll act as if everything's being handled and the virus will soon be under control.
That's what he's been telling everyone since February. But it's all gone wrong. Saying it's all right does not make it all right. Florida would say that. Texas would say that. Arizona would say that. California would say that. So would at least 35 other states.
Fauci isn't the only person to have to stand up to 45 and tell the truth. The C.D.C. leader, Robert Redfield, had the temerity to say the other day that it wasn't changing its guidelines to re-start the schools in the face of the virus, to relax requirements to meet 45's demands that they re-open. That was obviously the wrong thing for the director to say. The C.D.C. has now been rerouted.
The HHS decision to put the information from hospitals--formerly received by the C.D.C.--into the hands of a federal contractor or the state first, even the National Guard, without evident transparency, gives 45 the option to share or not to share vital information. Of course, good news will be shared and bad news not. It's all about control with him, and the facade that all will eventually be well, since he will now have complete control of the information.
I have not read any connection between the two phenomena. But you'll excuse me if I note it. Everything 45 does and says is transactional or revenge toward someone who defies him. Leopards don't shake off their spots.
This stripping of the C.D.C. conduit won't do any of us much good. Its early mistakes were bad enough. Now we're not even sure why it exists, if hospitals aren't going to use it as a collecting center for information.
Maybe Redfield should resign, too, maybe together with Fauci. But then 45 will have more spots to fill with more toadies. Just another reason to get rid of him in November.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
The HHS decision to put the information from hospitals--formerly received by the C.D.C.--into the hands of a federal contractor or the state first, even the National Guard, without evident transparency, gives 45 the option to share or not to share vital information. Of course, good news will be shared and bad news not. It's all about control with him, and the facade that all will eventually be well, since he will now have complete control of the information.
I have not read any connection between the two phenomena. But you'll excuse me if I note it. Everything 45 does and says is transactional or revenge toward someone who defies him. Leopards don't shake off their spots.
This stripping of the C.D.C. conduit won't do any of us much good. Its early mistakes were bad enough. Now we're not even sure why it exists, if hospitals aren't going to use it as a collecting center for information.
Maybe Redfield should resign, too, maybe together with Fauci. But then 45 will have more spots to fill with more toadies. Just another reason to get rid of him in November.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Monday, July 13, 2020
Only .02%? Oh, I Guess That's Okay Then
Betsy DeVos is cold-blooded. That much we can say. She's also no smarter than she was when she was misnamed to her position.
She was quoted the other day as justifying the re-opening of schools, post-virus, as noting that only .02% of the students are going to die. That's 14,000 or so.
Okay, which 14,000? Is she going to choose them? How cold is it that someone can actually justify exposing kids to a virus that might kill them, but shrugging it off because you won't be able to tell until some of them really are dead?
This loss is acceptable somehow? Don't you want to shake her and yell, What's the matter with you?
Besides, how can she be so sure? Do we need to accept that number? How can she be so confident that that will be just that number? Kids that close to each other will be incredibly exposed. They'll be cooped up with each other, breathing each other's air, for the whole day, five days a week. What actuarial did she consult?
And what about the teachers? Aren't they even more susceptible to the virus? They're supposed to just report without complaining? When they get sick, will there be enough substitute teachers--remember, not under contract--who will be willing to step in and expose themselves? I'm guessing not. Then what?
And the bus drivers? If not under contract, would you be the martyr and drive a bus every single day? If not, where will they get the subs to do that? And barring that, how do the kids get to school?
Now let's talk about lunchtime, where the kids all sit together in the lunchroom with a perfect right to sit with their friends and go from table to table. What a breeding ground. With six feet of spacing, how does anybody expect the kids to eat? Do they take the food back to classrooms to which they're assigned?
We're all aware of DeVos's stupidity and simple-mindedness. In her confirmation hearings for the job of Secretary of Education, DeVos couldn't tell the difference between student testing for competency or for growth; she didn't know the background or the effects of the Individuals with Disability in Education Act (IDEA); and she made some useless crack about having guns in Wyoming schools to defend against grizzly bears.
DeVos was obviously put in her position because 45 knew that with Republicans in control of the Senate, he'd get away with a plan to ruin public schools--which is well underway and will destroy them if 45 gets another term. She's a rich placeholder to execute a pathetic, destructive plan.
She has the Republican mentality. It's the same one that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, the totally crazed Dan Patrick, had when he said that the elderly should consider exposing themselves to Covid-19 and dying so there are fewer of us to re-start the economy. (In Texas, presently, age has nothing do do with the extra thousands who have been exposed to terrible leadership as well as the virus.)
To Republicans, people are merely things. Unless they're related or are good friends, they are not to be considered seriously as having lives that are worth much, except for the richest of them to make money off of. People are just statistics.
She dodged a reporter on CNN who tried to ask her about the risk factor. All she did was repeat herself: Go back to school. Go back to school. Go back to school.
We have the worst possible president at the worst possible time, and supported by the worst possible Secretary of Education: Cold-blooded and clueless. It's a nightmare, an embarrassment, and a tragedy.
There are a number of templates out there, but I have just one: No state should open its public school doors until and unless it has accomplished the goal of getting the spread of virus below 1.0%. That means that eventually, it will disappear.
Don't worry, the kids want to go back to school. They want to dive back into school life. They want to see their friends. The parents see that and want it for them. The parents also want to go back to work--the not-so-hidden agenda behind all this, all for lowering the unemployment numbers so 45 can brag about it--but not at the price listed.
What will happen, and quickly, is that they will be called to come pick up their kid because (s)he's been tested positive for the virus. Then their brief sojourn back at work will end, and everybody loses because the parents, who themselves didn't have the virus, will get it from their kids.
But nobody wants to intentionally expose kids to this virus. Nobody but Republicans and others who don't get it. As we get closer to the opening date, we'll see how many Republican parents--or Republicans who hear from parents--really want to send their kids to school. We'll see what kind of backwards tap dance they do. It's big macho stuff in mid-July. But in another month, we'll see who's serious and who just talks a good game.
Fourteen thousand. At least. That doesn't include teachers and administrators and support staff. They will be exposed as much, if not more. Already written off. Think about that. All for caring about education.
Disgusting. Valueless. Despicable. But at least the advocates can't talk about abortion anymore. Or, they will, but the hypocrisy will be obvious and ridiculously easy to call out.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
She was quoted the other day as justifying the re-opening of schools, post-virus, as noting that only .02% of the students are going to die. That's 14,000 or so.
Okay, which 14,000? Is she going to choose them? How cold is it that someone can actually justify exposing kids to a virus that might kill them, but shrugging it off because you won't be able to tell until some of them really are dead?
This loss is acceptable somehow? Don't you want to shake her and yell, What's the matter with you?
Besides, how can she be so sure? Do we need to accept that number? How can she be so confident that that will be just that number? Kids that close to each other will be incredibly exposed. They'll be cooped up with each other, breathing each other's air, for the whole day, five days a week. What actuarial did she consult?
And what about the teachers? Aren't they even more susceptible to the virus? They're supposed to just report without complaining? When they get sick, will there be enough substitute teachers--remember, not under contract--who will be willing to step in and expose themselves? I'm guessing not. Then what?
And the bus drivers? If not under contract, would you be the martyr and drive a bus every single day? If not, where will they get the subs to do that? And barring that, how do the kids get to school?
Now let's talk about lunchtime, where the kids all sit together in the lunchroom with a perfect right to sit with their friends and go from table to table. What a breeding ground. With six feet of spacing, how does anybody expect the kids to eat? Do they take the food back to classrooms to which they're assigned?
We're all aware of DeVos's stupidity and simple-mindedness. In her confirmation hearings for the job of Secretary of Education, DeVos couldn't tell the difference between student testing for competency or for growth; she didn't know the background or the effects of the Individuals with Disability in Education Act (IDEA); and she made some useless crack about having guns in Wyoming schools to defend against grizzly bears.
DeVos was obviously put in her position because 45 knew that with Republicans in control of the Senate, he'd get away with a plan to ruin public schools--which is well underway and will destroy them if 45 gets another term. She's a rich placeholder to execute a pathetic, destructive plan.
She has the Republican mentality. It's the same one that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, the totally crazed Dan Patrick, had when he said that the elderly should consider exposing themselves to Covid-19 and dying so there are fewer of us to re-start the economy. (In Texas, presently, age has nothing do do with the extra thousands who have been exposed to terrible leadership as well as the virus.)
To Republicans, people are merely things. Unless they're related or are good friends, they are not to be considered seriously as having lives that are worth much, except for the richest of them to make money off of. People are just statistics.
She dodged a reporter on CNN who tried to ask her about the risk factor. All she did was repeat herself: Go back to school. Go back to school. Go back to school.
We have the worst possible president at the worst possible time, and supported by the worst possible Secretary of Education: Cold-blooded and clueless. It's a nightmare, an embarrassment, and a tragedy.
There are a number of templates out there, but I have just one: No state should open its public school doors until and unless it has accomplished the goal of getting the spread of virus below 1.0%. That means that eventually, it will disappear.
Don't worry, the kids want to go back to school. They want to dive back into school life. They want to see their friends. The parents see that and want it for them. The parents also want to go back to work--the not-so-hidden agenda behind all this, all for lowering the unemployment numbers so 45 can brag about it--but not at the price listed.
What will happen, and quickly, is that they will be called to come pick up their kid because (s)he's been tested positive for the virus. Then their brief sojourn back at work will end, and everybody loses because the parents, who themselves didn't have the virus, will get it from their kids.
But nobody wants to intentionally expose kids to this virus. Nobody but Republicans and others who don't get it. As we get closer to the opening date, we'll see how many Republican parents--or Republicans who hear from parents--really want to send their kids to school. We'll see what kind of backwards tap dance they do. It's big macho stuff in mid-July. But in another month, we'll see who's serious and who just talks a good game.
Fourteen thousand. At least. That doesn't include teachers and administrators and support staff. They will be exposed as much, if not more. Already written off. Think about that. All for caring about education.
Disgusting. Valueless. Despicable. But at least the advocates can't talk about abortion anymore. Or, they will, but the hypocrisy will be obvious and ridiculously easy to call out.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Reopen the Schools? You Have to Be Kidding. Denial Won't Work.
Time grinds us all into the same shape eventually. And it's getting to be time for school once again. We have a problem, of course. There is no real solution except the one nobody's willing to do.
45 and his willing shrew, Betsy DeVos, insist that schools reopen as if nothing has happened, as if the virus won't matter. They've been throwing around threats of the withholding of federal funding if districts don't do as they say.
Oh, that'll work. Typical Republican ploy: Do it, or no bucks. Look what it did with No Child Left Behind. Uh-uh. Didn't work. Either.
Reopening the schools would be a disaster. First, there is no plan. Of course, they're going to leave it up to individual districts to solve their own problems.
Second, the Center for Disease Control has distributed guidelines for school re-opening and won't back away from 45's suggestion that they be re-examined. That means that the situation is serious enough, and reality has, finally, reached someone within the administration. Science is science. The virus still rules.
Third, re-opening means extra money for extra resources. The only entity that can come up with the money is the federal government. Threats to withhold funding work against that. It's time to replenish businesses that have had to shut down, anyhow, and Republicans typically are having a tough time facing that with their ridiculous notion that people will stop working if you help them too much.
The New York Times insists that schools reopen, too. But they, too, stretch credulity. They recommend that schools look into having classes in tents and other outdoor facilities. Where, on the football field? Oh, that'll provide plenty of challenges. Unless, of course, the season is cancelled. I can think of several states in which that won't be possible--already stupid with what they would call 'tradition'.
The Times acknowledges that weather might be an issue. Oh, yeah? Can we envision, for a moment, January tent-school in northern Wisconsin, not to mention Minnesota or North Dakota? Shall the students take notes with mittens on? Is this a sufficient challenge for their toughness?
I quote Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future: This is nuts. The rural schools, in particular, lack resources to begin with. And they're going to do this happy dance and provide makeshift classrooms for what, six or eight or ten kids at a time?
Yes, we, and the kids, are losing time. Yes, keeping them home hinders the overall economy because either parents will have to stay home or child care, always short on supply, will have to be provided. But the cause of all this is, conveniently, being ignored: US.
Millions of people, in all age groups, here have ignored common sense guidelines: Wash your hands. Wear masks outside all the time. Stay six feet away from each other all the time. Here, in Milwaukee, I have seen the latter two violated again and again from my perch on my porch above the sidewalk.
What do I do, yell at them as they walk past? Become the ogre of the neighborhood, the mockery of dozens? "Hey, you should see this guy on his porch--he actually told me to wear a mask. What an idiot! He must be bored."
Not bored, scared. Scared for you and scared about you. Milwaukee is about to introduce a requirement that people wear masks outside--citywide, with fines awarded for violations. I agree. The virus is back and raging. Wisconsin's rates, once manageable, have doubled in the past month. It's the only way to get a new handle on this.
And we're going to start school in this situation? There is no worse time to do it than now. Maybe the rate will be lowered by the time late August comes around. But time's a-wasting. It waits for no one.
If this is true in Milwaukee, it must be true in Miami. And Houston. And Phoenix. To name just three where the virus has roared through and is causing a near-panic.
Anyone who ignores this puts kids, and teachers, at severe risk. Many will get sick. Some will DIE. As valuable as education is--and 30 years in the classroom have only underlined this--this isn't worth it.
The underlying problem must be fixed, first. Once that's done, plenty of good things can happen. Kids adjust. They can catch up fast. They'll get the situation. They know, too, that they're losing time.
But not if they also know they can get sick and can't stop it. YOU consider a history lecture under those circumstances; YOU think about paying attention. That will hinder their learning. The point of opening school will be lost.
If I were a kid with any sense of awareness--it's acquired plenty early, if you remember--I'd be plenty ticked off by now. After all, the adults, the people I'm supposed to look up to--especially 45 and his main helper, who are both clueless clods--have failed me. They've put me in an impossible situation. There's no way to know if I'm going to get sick, or if I do, how sick I'll get. That's ridiculous. It doesn't even take a teenager to figure that out.
And what of the principals and superintendents, who are supposed to soldier along unaffected? They know what's going to happen. They know. And they can't stop it. They'll be going to an execution they have to witness, where nobody's guilty of doing anything wrong.
The hospitals, now filling up, will be overloaded. So will the courts, which will have too many cases of parents suing the districts for making their kids attend, especially if they are forced to go to the hospital--or die.
It's not like a normal school year, when the flu season descends. Kids can always get flu shots. But there is no shot for this, there is no cure. There is only prevention, and it looks like nobody's school district is all that interested in that. They are, of course, but it will take courage to say no. It will take courage, now, to tell everyone the obvious thing, which is to stay home until the adults get their heads on straight and calm this thing down again.
Let me repeat: This will be a disaster. Cooler heads must prevail. Nothing less than a national shutdown is necessary to avoid the tragedy of a virus overrunning the country. If we can't imagine doing it for ourselves for some ungodly reason, we must do it for the kids. Denial won't work.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
45 and his willing shrew, Betsy DeVos, insist that schools reopen as if nothing has happened, as if the virus won't matter. They've been throwing around threats of the withholding of federal funding if districts don't do as they say.
Oh, that'll work. Typical Republican ploy: Do it, or no bucks. Look what it did with No Child Left Behind. Uh-uh. Didn't work. Either.
Reopening the schools would be a disaster. First, there is no plan. Of course, they're going to leave it up to individual districts to solve their own problems.
Second, the Center for Disease Control has distributed guidelines for school re-opening and won't back away from 45's suggestion that they be re-examined. That means that the situation is serious enough, and reality has, finally, reached someone within the administration. Science is science. The virus still rules.
Third, re-opening means extra money for extra resources. The only entity that can come up with the money is the federal government. Threats to withhold funding work against that. It's time to replenish businesses that have had to shut down, anyhow, and Republicans typically are having a tough time facing that with their ridiculous notion that people will stop working if you help them too much.
The New York Times insists that schools reopen, too. But they, too, stretch credulity. They recommend that schools look into having classes in tents and other outdoor facilities. Where, on the football field? Oh, that'll provide plenty of challenges. Unless, of course, the season is cancelled. I can think of several states in which that won't be possible--already stupid with what they would call 'tradition'.
The Times acknowledges that weather might be an issue. Oh, yeah? Can we envision, for a moment, January tent-school in northern Wisconsin, not to mention Minnesota or North Dakota? Shall the students take notes with mittens on? Is this a sufficient challenge for their toughness?
I quote Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future: This is nuts. The rural schools, in particular, lack resources to begin with. And they're going to do this happy dance and provide makeshift classrooms for what, six or eight or ten kids at a time?
Yes, we, and the kids, are losing time. Yes, keeping them home hinders the overall economy because either parents will have to stay home or child care, always short on supply, will have to be provided. But the cause of all this is, conveniently, being ignored: US.
Millions of people, in all age groups, here have ignored common sense guidelines: Wash your hands. Wear masks outside all the time. Stay six feet away from each other all the time. Here, in Milwaukee, I have seen the latter two violated again and again from my perch on my porch above the sidewalk.
What do I do, yell at them as they walk past? Become the ogre of the neighborhood, the mockery of dozens? "Hey, you should see this guy on his porch--he actually told me to wear a mask. What an idiot! He must be bored."
Not bored, scared. Scared for you and scared about you. Milwaukee is about to introduce a requirement that people wear masks outside--citywide, with fines awarded for violations. I agree. The virus is back and raging. Wisconsin's rates, once manageable, have doubled in the past month. It's the only way to get a new handle on this.
And we're going to start school in this situation? There is no worse time to do it than now. Maybe the rate will be lowered by the time late August comes around. But time's a-wasting. It waits for no one.
If this is true in Milwaukee, it must be true in Miami. And Houston. And Phoenix. To name just three where the virus has roared through and is causing a near-panic.
Anyone who ignores this puts kids, and teachers, at severe risk. Many will get sick. Some will DIE. As valuable as education is--and 30 years in the classroom have only underlined this--this isn't worth it.
The underlying problem must be fixed, first. Once that's done, plenty of good things can happen. Kids adjust. They can catch up fast. They'll get the situation. They know, too, that they're losing time.
But not if they also know they can get sick and can't stop it. YOU consider a history lecture under those circumstances; YOU think about paying attention. That will hinder their learning. The point of opening school will be lost.
If I were a kid with any sense of awareness--it's acquired plenty early, if you remember--I'd be plenty ticked off by now. After all, the adults, the people I'm supposed to look up to--especially 45 and his main helper, who are both clueless clods--have failed me. They've put me in an impossible situation. There's no way to know if I'm going to get sick, or if I do, how sick I'll get. That's ridiculous. It doesn't even take a teenager to figure that out.
And what of the principals and superintendents, who are supposed to soldier along unaffected? They know what's going to happen. They know. And they can't stop it. They'll be going to an execution they have to witness, where nobody's guilty of doing anything wrong.
The hospitals, now filling up, will be overloaded. So will the courts, which will have too many cases of parents suing the districts for making their kids attend, especially if they are forced to go to the hospital--or die.
It's not like a normal school year, when the flu season descends. Kids can always get flu shots. But there is no shot for this, there is no cure. There is only prevention, and it looks like nobody's school district is all that interested in that. They are, of course, but it will take courage to say no. It will take courage, now, to tell everyone the obvious thing, which is to stay home until the adults get their heads on straight and calm this thing down again.
Let me repeat: This will be a disaster. Cooler heads must prevail. Nothing less than a national shutdown is necessary to avoid the tragedy of a virus overrunning the country. If we can't imagine doing it for ourselves for some ungodly reason, we must do it for the kids. Denial won't work.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 10, 2020
Neil Gorsuch: He Might Really Mean It
Wow. Does Neil Gorsuch really mean it when he calls himself an originalist? You mean, it isn't a disingenuous term that covers up knee-jerk conservatism--or something someone else might call conservatism?
There's reason to think so. Gorsuch has become the unconventional conservative on the court. His independence is bracing, at least so far. And I like it.
He threw 45's suspected dependent, self-serving appointment to the Court right back in his face yesterday when he supported the 7-2 majority in telling 45 that he can't refuse a subpoena, regardless of his position as president. 45, who has no respect for any law, not even the Constitution, figured he would sail through.
He didn't. Brett Kavanaugh, another 45 appointee, wouldn't let him do that, either. It was a boilerplate decision that any self-respecting president wouldn't even take on. That two justices voted to support 45's ridiculous notion of a "unitary presidency" shows how radical they have become, or perhaps were always.
But the checks and balances of the system, again under strain, have held, at least for now. Those wishing an immediate display of justice, to put 45's tax returns under scrutiny, will get frustrated again. In that way, maybe 45 got away with running out the clock.
But it doesn't matter all that much. First of all, he's trailing in the polls by a mile, though that can always change. But it looks as if he's going to get beat. Second, if he has that much to hide, his tax frauds will eventually be tried in court, and he's likely to go to jail. That he does so before or after his presidency is largely irrelevant to the larger issue of whether he stands to be accountable or not. The joke of impeachment notwithstanding, he still will.
Gorsuch also crossed over to join with the Court's progressive wing yesterday when he said--and, in fact wrote the opinion, heavy stuff that he's not the least bit afraid to take on--that Native Americans still claim ownership of a significant bunch of real estate in Oklahoma, that jursidiction belongs to the federal government, not the state. To do that, he had to go back to the original agreement which allowed it.
Legal practice has allowed a slippery slope of jurisdictional transference to take place over the years, but Gorsuch said that didn't matter. What does the original agreement say? Has there been any legislative, substantive change in it? Shouldn't we respect that first?
What this means is that adherence to originalism can cut both ways. It may be more beneficial to the body politic to rely on it, as long as the reliance is genuine and not a facade for a prearranged agenda--which I think 45 has been counting on all along.
It means, too, that Gorsuch sees himself as a vehicle for what he believes is a higher concept of judicial reasoning. That may be a bit haughty and lofty, but you know where he is. And what he wants--at least, what it looks like he wants--is to get people to pay attention to what he thinks the Constitution has always meant, not something he's made up for the sake of convenience.
I don't think he sees himself as lofty. If he's good to his goals, he's really being quite modest. He's letting the law take over. He's saying that the law is bigger than he is, than anyone could possibly be.
Want to change anything? Get whatever legislature going that's relevant to do so. Maybe it's been a while since things have been reconsidered. Well, then, maybe legislators should wake up. Maybe legislatures should dispose with being so damn ideological and get some things passed. But, he says, I'm not going to legislate from the bench.
I'm going with whatever legislation has been passed, the words used in whatever year, he's apparently saying. Not relevant anymore? Fine. Pass another law that works.
So far, that's the way it looks. I might not like everything he's done (I don't) but it's rare that anyone who studies the Court thoroughly likes everything anyone has done in the long run, which is how most justices should be considered. If a Supreme Court never creates at least a little bit of frustration, it isn't doing its job.
It means, too, that conceptually, Gorsuch cannot be bandied about as a knee-jerk anything. This will have a positive affect on how the Court is viewed--as more of an independent group of arbiters, not an automatic checkbox of attitudes. No, no: Look at the original meaning of whatever's being considered. Gorsuch is likely to be there.
Where you might not agree is with the very original meaning that he's gleaned from a situation. That's entirely possible. But it's going to be interesting as we go, because that's what seems to be guiding him. He might be easy to read, but he won't be anybody's cat's-paw.
Sure, I'd like the progressives to win all the decisions. Who wouldn't? They won't, though, and perhaps for now, this is all we can hope for. But if Gorsuch really is that independent, all will not be lost, and all is not, at least for the moment.
Neil Gorsuch is refreshing. He may unstick the commentary from a xeroxed set of reactions to a new consideration of what the law is and should be in our ever-flowing democracy. I don't see anything wrong with that. It feels a little like an iceberg cracking.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
There's reason to think so. Gorsuch has become the unconventional conservative on the court. His independence is bracing, at least so far. And I like it.
He threw 45's suspected dependent, self-serving appointment to the Court right back in his face yesterday when he supported the 7-2 majority in telling 45 that he can't refuse a subpoena, regardless of his position as president. 45, who has no respect for any law, not even the Constitution, figured he would sail through.
He didn't. Brett Kavanaugh, another 45 appointee, wouldn't let him do that, either. It was a boilerplate decision that any self-respecting president wouldn't even take on. That two justices voted to support 45's ridiculous notion of a "unitary presidency" shows how radical they have become, or perhaps were always.
But the checks and balances of the system, again under strain, have held, at least for now. Those wishing an immediate display of justice, to put 45's tax returns under scrutiny, will get frustrated again. In that way, maybe 45 got away with running out the clock.
But it doesn't matter all that much. First of all, he's trailing in the polls by a mile, though that can always change. But it looks as if he's going to get beat. Second, if he has that much to hide, his tax frauds will eventually be tried in court, and he's likely to go to jail. That he does so before or after his presidency is largely irrelevant to the larger issue of whether he stands to be accountable or not. The joke of impeachment notwithstanding, he still will.
Gorsuch also crossed over to join with the Court's progressive wing yesterday when he said--and, in fact wrote the opinion, heavy stuff that he's not the least bit afraid to take on--that Native Americans still claim ownership of a significant bunch of real estate in Oklahoma, that jursidiction belongs to the federal government, not the state. To do that, he had to go back to the original agreement which allowed it.
Legal practice has allowed a slippery slope of jurisdictional transference to take place over the years, but Gorsuch said that didn't matter. What does the original agreement say? Has there been any legislative, substantive change in it? Shouldn't we respect that first?
What this means is that adherence to originalism can cut both ways. It may be more beneficial to the body politic to rely on it, as long as the reliance is genuine and not a facade for a prearranged agenda--which I think 45 has been counting on all along.
It means, too, that Gorsuch sees himself as a vehicle for what he believes is a higher concept of judicial reasoning. That may be a bit haughty and lofty, but you know where he is. And what he wants--at least, what it looks like he wants--is to get people to pay attention to what he thinks the Constitution has always meant, not something he's made up for the sake of convenience.
I don't think he sees himself as lofty. If he's good to his goals, he's really being quite modest. He's letting the law take over. He's saying that the law is bigger than he is, than anyone could possibly be.
Want to change anything? Get whatever legislature going that's relevant to do so. Maybe it's been a while since things have been reconsidered. Well, then, maybe legislators should wake up. Maybe legislatures should dispose with being so damn ideological and get some things passed. But, he says, I'm not going to legislate from the bench.
I'm going with whatever legislation has been passed, the words used in whatever year, he's apparently saying. Not relevant anymore? Fine. Pass another law that works.
So far, that's the way it looks. I might not like everything he's done (I don't) but it's rare that anyone who studies the Court thoroughly likes everything anyone has done in the long run, which is how most justices should be considered. If a Supreme Court never creates at least a little bit of frustration, it isn't doing its job.
It means, too, that conceptually, Gorsuch cannot be bandied about as a knee-jerk anything. This will have a positive affect on how the Court is viewed--as more of an independent group of arbiters, not an automatic checkbox of attitudes. No, no: Look at the original meaning of whatever's being considered. Gorsuch is likely to be there.
Where you might not agree is with the very original meaning that he's gleaned from a situation. That's entirely possible. But it's going to be interesting as we go, because that's what seems to be guiding him. He might be easy to read, but he won't be anybody's cat's-paw.
Sure, I'd like the progressives to win all the decisions. Who wouldn't? They won't, though, and perhaps for now, this is all we can hope for. But if Gorsuch really is that independent, all will not be lost, and all is not, at least for the moment.
Neil Gorsuch is refreshing. He may unstick the commentary from a xeroxed set of reactions to a new consideration of what the law is and should be in our ever-flowing democracy. I don't see anything wrong with that. It feels a little like an iceberg cracking.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
What Is Patriotism, Anyway? How Much Should It Matter?
I'll give Tucker Carlson this: He's consistent.
He was critical of Senator Tammy Duckworth the other day, perhaps in possible anticipation of her being named Joe Biden's running mate. He said she criticized the U.S. so much that she wasn't being patriotic. Now he's saying she's a coward and a moron. Nice.
The issue was whether any statue of George Washington should be taken down because he owned slaves. Duckworth was noncommittal, saying that it was worth a discussion.
This drove Carlson into a tizzy. The very idea that Duckworth wouldn't absolutely reject the notion was, to him, unpatriotic.
Not a bad way to slide that in right around July 4, when patriotism is carted out and worshipped. And the general attitude fits Fox News very well: If we're going to Keep America Great Again, being critical of it just won't do.
If you just keep saying that America is great, that will do for the present moment. We'll move along in the superficial assumption that all is well. But you and I both know that isn't so.
Now, I happen to disagree with Duckworth, but not with the vehemence of Carlson. I think the father of our country should be off-limits. That was a different time in our history, and after all, he founded our country, not betray it. Besides, he arranged to have the slaves freed upon his wife's death, which is cheesy, true, but at least a glimpse of soul was evident. But okay, let's have the conversation.
We have serious problems, said Michael Douglas's presidential character in "The American President." That film was made in 1995. A quarter-century later, we probably have more problems, or perhaps they have become larger, than they already were.
Is it wrong to point them out? Is it less than patriotic? Is this undiscussible? Should we just wave the flag, say the country's fine, warts and all, and move on?
I don't think so. The basic, won't-go-away problem, is that the country was founded on a pair of documents that didn't live up to their expectations. The Declaration of Independence, the adaption of which we celebrate each July 4, made a bold declaration of the equality of people, and that government should support and even guarantee it.
That statement was hypocritical the moment it hit that page. What would become some four million slaves wouldn't see anything close to equality for nearly another ninety years, not to mention Natives, women and later Asians. Slavery was left alone in the Declaration, with a version to mention its unfairness rejected by some state delegations.
It's vital, then, that we see the Declaration for what it was: A hope and a goal conceptually, but a separation from colonial rule in fact. That's all it was, as momentous as it turned out to be. Capitalizing on the opportunity, the British offered escaped slave men their freedom via service. A considerable number took them up on it. Others, and sometimes their families, escaped to British Canada.
Some of the Natives also helped the British, which is reasonable seeing as how the Americans kept impinging on their land--an inclination they certainly weren't ready to reconsider. In fact, the Declaration even mentioned the "merciless Indian savages," forgetting for the moment that the colonists were pretty merciless themselves.
So during the Revolution, patriotism was fiercely stated and ferociously defended with human lives, mostly by white men against other white men who came to restore order. They, too, came in the name of patriotism, though directed at the British Empire. Since both were patriots, patriotism is a point of view, not an absolute.
The Constitution arranged for a new structure of government for the country, but with several damaging caveats so that enough states would approve in unanimity. Again, slavery was guaranteed with weasel words designed to mention it but not define it, since everybody knew what it was and where it existed. Natives were "not taxed," putting them in kind of a netherland to be dealt with later, residents but not citizens. The one who were left would finally become citizens in 1924--never mind how long they'd been here--even after women could finally vote.
All this is true. Merely stating it might get me accused of being unpatriotic by Tucker Carlson. But the Constitution, again, is given a bit too much credit at times. It created a structure for another try at self-government, the Articles of Confederation being woefully inadequate. It put boundaries to buttress power from getting carried away, boundaries respected by all presidents except the one we presently have. But it points out a truth we've taken for granted for too long: That these boundaries are subject to specific acts by opposing institutions, which, if they are not applied, puts the whole document at risk. As we have seen, 45 doesn't care about that.
You don't think so? Consider impeachment. 45 was unquestionably guilty of jeopardizing our foreign policy, which is his specific Constitutional responsibility. But politics, and undeserved fear, got in the way, and Republican Senators (except one) refused to step outside of their dictated boundaries and use common sense. Now, to be perfectly honest, impeachment has lost its swagger. It is a dead letter. It has to be fixed, perhaps by an amendment requiring 60 Senate votes, or even 51, not 67.
Try the Electoral College. Twice in this century already, the winner of the popular vote didn't become president. In a country with this many citizens, this is the basest unfairness. Never mind the two disastrous presidents it has led to--which the country did not deserve--there has to be a change in the Constitution to remove it.
Is it unpatriotic to think so, much less say so? I don't think so. Do I love my country less because I think this? Absurd. I want to make it better. It's my country. I get to look at it with a critical eye. I don't have to accept someone's snake oil.
We have, at times, come down on people pretty hard for saying unorthodox things. Way back in the 1790s, the Federalist Party in Congress passed an absurd set of laws called the Alien and Sedition Acts, because they were jumpy that another revolution was about to begin, inspired by anti-British (and thus anti-Federalist) speeches given by French visitors. People were arrested, for instance, for saying that the president should be shot in his ass (The case was dismissed.). The laws were later declared unconstitutional.
But the Sedition Act of 1917, designed to thwart criticism of the president, Congress, and other representative institutions, is still on the books. Back then, it was enforced against someone passing out literature in New York City, trying to keep men from enlisting for the draft. The Supreme Court backed it up.
The flyer in question said that "democracy cannot be shot into a country," a notion later proven through the disastrous Treaty of Versailles. But the war was on in 1917, and the Wilson Administration created its own Committee on Public Information, with which this flyer seriously disagreed. Paranoia won the day.
We got enough people over to Europe to defeat the Central Powers. There was never much doubt about that. The importance of the flyer was blown way out of proportion by oppressive government--our own. The notion that it could get in the way of a nationwide recruitment program was ridiculous. It wasn't preventing anyone physically from signing up, it just advised them not to do it. And it didn't advocate burning draft cards.
Am I a non-patriot for saying so? Is the threat of strangling the First Amendment more important than fighting a war overseas? I think such discussion should happen. I think my country would do well to have it.
Tucker Carlson, you can tell your faithful on Fox News that criticism of the country is unpatriotic, but it doesn't hold up. The country was created because of criticism, and resistance was organized when it was ignored. It's our birthright. And it's our duty to change government that takes away people's rights. Where does it say that? In the Declaration of Independence.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
He was critical of Senator Tammy Duckworth the other day, perhaps in possible anticipation of her being named Joe Biden's running mate. He said she criticized the U.S. so much that she wasn't being patriotic. Now he's saying she's a coward and a moron. Nice.
The issue was whether any statue of George Washington should be taken down because he owned slaves. Duckworth was noncommittal, saying that it was worth a discussion.
This drove Carlson into a tizzy. The very idea that Duckworth wouldn't absolutely reject the notion was, to him, unpatriotic.
Not a bad way to slide that in right around July 4, when patriotism is carted out and worshipped. And the general attitude fits Fox News very well: If we're going to Keep America Great Again, being critical of it just won't do.
If you just keep saying that America is great, that will do for the present moment. We'll move along in the superficial assumption that all is well. But you and I both know that isn't so.
Now, I happen to disagree with Duckworth, but not with the vehemence of Carlson. I think the father of our country should be off-limits. That was a different time in our history, and after all, he founded our country, not betray it. Besides, he arranged to have the slaves freed upon his wife's death, which is cheesy, true, but at least a glimpse of soul was evident. But okay, let's have the conversation.
We have serious problems, said Michael Douglas's presidential character in "The American President." That film was made in 1995. A quarter-century later, we probably have more problems, or perhaps they have become larger, than they already were.
Is it wrong to point them out? Is it less than patriotic? Is this undiscussible? Should we just wave the flag, say the country's fine, warts and all, and move on?
I don't think so. The basic, won't-go-away problem, is that the country was founded on a pair of documents that didn't live up to their expectations. The Declaration of Independence, the adaption of which we celebrate each July 4, made a bold declaration of the equality of people, and that government should support and even guarantee it.
That statement was hypocritical the moment it hit that page. What would become some four million slaves wouldn't see anything close to equality for nearly another ninety years, not to mention Natives, women and later Asians. Slavery was left alone in the Declaration, with a version to mention its unfairness rejected by some state delegations.
It's vital, then, that we see the Declaration for what it was: A hope and a goal conceptually, but a separation from colonial rule in fact. That's all it was, as momentous as it turned out to be. Capitalizing on the opportunity, the British offered escaped slave men their freedom via service. A considerable number took them up on it. Others, and sometimes their families, escaped to British Canada.
Some of the Natives also helped the British, which is reasonable seeing as how the Americans kept impinging on their land--an inclination they certainly weren't ready to reconsider. In fact, the Declaration even mentioned the "merciless Indian savages," forgetting for the moment that the colonists were pretty merciless themselves.
So during the Revolution, patriotism was fiercely stated and ferociously defended with human lives, mostly by white men against other white men who came to restore order. They, too, came in the name of patriotism, though directed at the British Empire. Since both were patriots, patriotism is a point of view, not an absolute.
The Constitution arranged for a new structure of government for the country, but with several damaging caveats so that enough states would approve in unanimity. Again, slavery was guaranteed with weasel words designed to mention it but not define it, since everybody knew what it was and where it existed. Natives were "not taxed," putting them in kind of a netherland to be dealt with later, residents but not citizens. The one who were left would finally become citizens in 1924--never mind how long they'd been here--even after women could finally vote.
All this is true. Merely stating it might get me accused of being unpatriotic by Tucker Carlson. But the Constitution, again, is given a bit too much credit at times. It created a structure for another try at self-government, the Articles of Confederation being woefully inadequate. It put boundaries to buttress power from getting carried away, boundaries respected by all presidents except the one we presently have. But it points out a truth we've taken for granted for too long: That these boundaries are subject to specific acts by opposing institutions, which, if they are not applied, puts the whole document at risk. As we have seen, 45 doesn't care about that.
You don't think so? Consider impeachment. 45 was unquestionably guilty of jeopardizing our foreign policy, which is his specific Constitutional responsibility. But politics, and undeserved fear, got in the way, and Republican Senators (except one) refused to step outside of their dictated boundaries and use common sense. Now, to be perfectly honest, impeachment has lost its swagger. It is a dead letter. It has to be fixed, perhaps by an amendment requiring 60 Senate votes, or even 51, not 67.
Try the Electoral College. Twice in this century already, the winner of the popular vote didn't become president. In a country with this many citizens, this is the basest unfairness. Never mind the two disastrous presidents it has led to--which the country did not deserve--there has to be a change in the Constitution to remove it.
Is it unpatriotic to think so, much less say so? I don't think so. Do I love my country less because I think this? Absurd. I want to make it better. It's my country. I get to look at it with a critical eye. I don't have to accept someone's snake oil.
We have, at times, come down on people pretty hard for saying unorthodox things. Way back in the 1790s, the Federalist Party in Congress passed an absurd set of laws called the Alien and Sedition Acts, because they were jumpy that another revolution was about to begin, inspired by anti-British (and thus anti-Federalist) speeches given by French visitors. People were arrested, for instance, for saying that the president should be shot in his ass (The case was dismissed.). The laws were later declared unconstitutional.
But the Sedition Act of 1917, designed to thwart criticism of the president, Congress, and other representative institutions, is still on the books. Back then, it was enforced against someone passing out literature in New York City, trying to keep men from enlisting for the draft. The Supreme Court backed it up.
The flyer in question said that "democracy cannot be shot into a country," a notion later proven through the disastrous Treaty of Versailles. But the war was on in 1917, and the Wilson Administration created its own Committee on Public Information, with which this flyer seriously disagreed. Paranoia won the day.
We got enough people over to Europe to defeat the Central Powers. There was never much doubt about that. The importance of the flyer was blown way out of proportion by oppressive government--our own. The notion that it could get in the way of a nationwide recruitment program was ridiculous. It wasn't preventing anyone physically from signing up, it just advised them not to do it. And it didn't advocate burning draft cards.
Am I a non-patriot for saying so? Is the threat of strangling the First Amendment more important than fighting a war overseas? I think such discussion should happen. I think my country would do well to have it.
Tucker Carlson, you can tell your faithful on Fox News that criticism of the country is unpatriotic, but it doesn't hold up. The country was created because of criticism, and resistance was organized when it was ignored. It's our birthright. And it's our duty to change government that takes away people's rights. Where does it say that? In the Declaration of Independence.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Monday, July 6, 2020
In My Kitchen Without A Clue: No, They Weren't Taught That Way
45 finally blundered his way into my kitchen. I've been trying to ignore his blitherings, but I can't let this one go.
The other day at Mount Rushmore, he tried to say that kids were taught to hate their country. Of course he'd say that.
He thinks he can say it because some of them tore down statues. They did it because the connection of some of that history is old, tired, and yes, pretty bad.
Some of those statues were of Confederate soldiers. By implication, they celebrate a bad part of our history: the cause for which they fought. And no, it wasn't states' rights, which are a part of our Constitution and, until it's amended (not likely), always will be: the 10th Amendment, which says that states can govern themselves beyond what the national government's stated powers are. The word we have for that is "federalism," and the degree to which it exists, or ought to, is an ongoing debate.
No, the war was about slavery and whether the nation would go on, together, without it. Lincoln could have let the Confederates go and have their own country, you know. There's nothing that made him take on the Confederate Army and Navy. But he wanted to save the whole country, as is, so he had to call out the federal troops. And away we went.
Some time after that war ended, Southern states decided to preserve their "lost cause," justifying it partly by creating statues celebrating the main figures who fought to preserve the South's way of life, which mainly included making sure that a race of individuals were subservient to another. A whole bunch of us are still pretty convinced that that's not a bad idea, and all kinds of trouble has conspired because of it.
But 45 didn't mean that. He just meant that if you tear down a statue, you hate our history. Well, he's got a point there. You can hate part of our history, to be sure, and hating that part of our history is, in some parts, a sign of sanity and a willingness to move forward.
But nobody told them to hate it. They didn't have to. They concluded that on their own. That's the idea of education--that you take in the relevant facts and make up your own mind.
Defending those statues takes a bigger and bigger reach now. The Civil War was fought in 1861-65, over a century and a half ago. Clinging to that part of our history and all that that means is preserving a thought pattern that an overwhelming majority said we didn't want. The Congress and the states voted upon constitutional amendments to remove the meaning from the previously stated parts of the Constitution that referred to the status of slavery, preserving it as part of electing Congress and, implicitly, the president (that latter part of which remains: the Electoral College, the potentially goofy effects we have witnessed twice in this century, already).
The states most affected weren't there to debate those issues, but they had taken themselves out of the discussion by seceding from the Union. Too bad, so sad. So upon being driven back into the Union, they decided, with help from the Supreme Court and a horrible compromise to end Reconstruction, to create rules to get around the Constitutional changes that were made and put the freedmen into a box they couldn't get out of called Jim Crow. And they stayed there, too, far into the next century.
All this is documented. All this is included into any history book you want to open. Nobody said to hate the country. Nobody said to hate our history. I can guarantee you that no history teacher worth their salaries told any kids to hate their history. I sure didn't. But neither did I back away from the bad spots. I called it as it was. And some of it hasn't been nice. I owed it to the kids to do so.
But 45 doesn't want you to really look at our history, either. He wants you to retain the same thought patterns that created the problems that have recently reared their ugly heads again: To ignore race, and discrimination, and prejudice, which remain parts of our culture we have to work on. If that were not so, George Floyd and several other people would still be alive.
He just wants you to take his word for it, as if he ever opened a history book with serious intent himself--which, I also guarantee, he didn't. If that were so, he would open other bits of information that he clearly hasn't--for instance, the notion that Russians paid Afghans to kill our soldiers. He ignored it because he has some kind of business deal he wants to complete with the Russian government, so the Russian government can hold him hostage to just about any kind of hijinks they wish to perform, such as playing with our election and killing our people.
The word is that he's reacting to what the commentators at Fox News are doing. That tells me two things: That he doesn't have a mind of his own, that he can't put anything together unless someone helps him do it--in this case, probably Stephen Miller; and that he has to check his back to make sure whoever's watching that nonsense agrees with him.
That doesn't make him strong. That makes him weak. That response to the cow bell doesn't give me much solace. That doesn't make the nation secure. That puts it at risk. That risk will build upon his re-election.
An attitude of endless attack upon our own citizens leaves us divided and wondering how we can exist within the same borders. And we're stuck with each other, now that other countries are closing their own borders to us because of the horrible way 45 and his assistants have handled the coronavirus.
But you can be sure that your history teachers didn't tell their students to hate their country. They did, for the most part (excepting a young member of my department who once told his students that God won World War II, which is nonsense--our production did), tell things like they were and are. I wonder what they're saying today, other than "you can see we have some problems we told you about that are catching up with us." They will have to speak, though, as if the whole country matters--something 45 refuses to say or affirm.
That is, if they can get back into their classrooms. 45 has arranged to keep them out through last spring because of his horrible handling of the virus. The virus will pass someday, though. And when it does, the reporting of what he has done to ruin us will emerge into full view, regardless of what he wants to happen. He wants everybody to agree with him and attacks everyone who doesn't. That will work with a few people in the short run, but it never does in the long run. He can't control that.
He doesn't understand the degree to which he will be cast as a shadow upon our history. He won't stop that, either. He can't get into every history classroom. The truth shows up, eventually, and his mark upon history will be awful. Deep inside, he already knows that. Deep inside, he knows it's beginning to slip away.
He's going to have to try to grease the skids to get him back into office this time. He'll fight with every legal or quasi-legal trick he can find. That, too, will get him into the history books as the only president who didn't step down from defeat with style and a sense of the constitutional process and culture. But you know he already has assured us of that, and the majority of the U.S. Senate chickened out instead of getting rid of him.
So hang on tight. Someone who trashes our history by maintaining the worst parts of it will assuredly trash us in the present.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
The word is that he's reacting to what the commentators at Fox News are doing. That tells me two things: That he doesn't have a mind of his own, that he can't put anything together unless someone helps him do it--in this case, probably Stephen Miller; and that he has to check his back to make sure whoever's watching that nonsense agrees with him.
That doesn't make him strong. That makes him weak. That response to the cow bell doesn't give me much solace. That doesn't make the nation secure. That puts it at risk. That risk will build upon his re-election.
An attitude of endless attack upon our own citizens leaves us divided and wondering how we can exist within the same borders. And we're stuck with each other, now that other countries are closing their own borders to us because of the horrible way 45 and his assistants have handled the coronavirus.
But you can be sure that your history teachers didn't tell their students to hate their country. They did, for the most part (excepting a young member of my department who once told his students that God won World War II, which is nonsense--our production did), tell things like they were and are. I wonder what they're saying today, other than "you can see we have some problems we told you about that are catching up with us." They will have to speak, though, as if the whole country matters--something 45 refuses to say or affirm.
That is, if they can get back into their classrooms. 45 has arranged to keep them out through last spring because of his horrible handling of the virus. The virus will pass someday, though. And when it does, the reporting of what he has done to ruin us will emerge into full view, regardless of what he wants to happen. He wants everybody to agree with him and attacks everyone who doesn't. That will work with a few people in the short run, but it never does in the long run. He can't control that.
He doesn't understand the degree to which he will be cast as a shadow upon our history. He won't stop that, either. He can't get into every history classroom. The truth shows up, eventually, and his mark upon history will be awful. Deep inside, he already knows that. Deep inside, he knows it's beginning to slip away.
He's going to have to try to grease the skids to get him back into office this time. He'll fight with every legal or quasi-legal trick he can find. That, too, will get him into the history books as the only president who didn't step down from defeat with style and a sense of the constitutional process and culture. But you know he already has assured us of that, and the majority of the U.S. Senate chickened out instead of getting rid of him.
So hang on tight. Someone who trashes our history by maintaining the worst parts of it will assuredly trash us in the present.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 3, 2020
The Regular Crowd Down the Street--One Responsible, One Not
It's getting to be regular, like they always were. Happy hour has returned.
The place is just half a block from the back alley of my apartment building. It's the easiest, most unencumbered way back into civilization. The front way has a security door and a different key to open it, so why use it? The back door is the way out to the parking lot where my car is, anyhow.
At five or six o'clock on weekdays, now, they are there--at least six, up to a dozen, people drinking at happy hour. They're outside, I'm guessing, because of the pandemic, and someone told them that being outside is better than being inside.
But that alone doesn't make them immune. They're standing right next to each other. Not a single one of them has ever worn a mask. The summer air is hanging closer now with the humidity. Some are now familiar, at a glance.
Here's a perfect example of the denial that has overtaken so many of us. I'm not gonna get it, and if I get it, how bad could it be?
The age grouping varies. Obviously, they're younger than I am, but some aren't younger by all that much. They've been around. They should have understood by now.
I don't want any of them to die. I don't want any of them to get sick, either, but I'm wondering how close to the edge they're getting.
I see them gather when I go out for my daily walk, which is about that time. I steer away from them, not walking amongst them. I go out on the street to maintain my distancing. Only thing I can do.
They seem to be having a great time. I must say I miss that. I can strike up a conversation with damn near anybody, and that gathering, as most bars are, is ripe for the kind of conversation that can get you through lonely times like this one.
So it's tempting, because I haven't had a good face-to-face conversation in a while. But not that tempting. Science is science. Enter stage Clint Eastwood: A man's got to know his limitations.
These people miss it, too, which is why they're there. But like thousands of others, they're risking their noses to save their faces. They can't stand waiting until the coast is a bit clearer. So it never clears.
The risk is obvious, and getting more dangerous by the day. Looks like there's another surge about to begin. Goody gumdrops.
There are several restaurants along the way with bistro dining. The tables have been separated to cooperate with social distancing. The people, though, sit easily within spreading distance, without masks; six at at time in some places. So what is being accomplished, besides scratching another itch? I miss restaurants, too, but not so much as to get sick from them. Order out if you have to, but don't arrange another way to catch the virus. The odds are better outside, but not foolproof.
The governor of Texas, who believes business must be business like a good, indoctrinated Republican, tried to make people happy by opening up bars and other establishments so that the economy of that state wouldn't tank. The state is now being overrun. Now he's making people wear masks in public, or risk a $250 fine.
The number of new cases of the virus in Texas are setting records daily. Lots of people will now stay indoors. And the economy will tank. He had to cancel advancing the re-opening. He gave in to anxious people who were losing money and got some through a federal government which may have to re-gear and give them more. But nobody knows where that's coming from. Or when.
In Wisconsin, the state supreme court has tied our governor's hands by overruling his safe-at-home, gradual re-opening, and now we're trapped. Now the governor can't do anything. He called it right: It's now the Wild West. All he can say is what he's saying: It's July 4 now, and you'd better be careful out there. I know you want to get together, but you really shouldn't. You are risking big, big trouble.
That sounds like a parent confronting a child who's dating at 14. And the message will go about that far. The people at that bar aren't acting like adults, either: That's why the bar's there, so they can have an hour or two where they don't have to do that. But now irresponsibility won't disappear into the air as it always used to, catching up with only the perpetrators: It will spread to others, whether they like it or not.
But all is not lost. A bit farther down the street, right around the corner on Downer Avenue, is a hardware store. Been there for ages, like the grocer and the movie house. But it has a sign on it, right at eye-level which can't be missed. To summarize: If you walk in here without a mask, we will not service you.
Seems to me that that's the right approach, both specifically and in general: If the state supreme court wants to protect business because that's the way America should run, then businesses have been allowed, and should take the liberty, to protect themselves. Anybody who lives so irresponsibly as to put others at risk inside a store, where people are merely working and are literally trapped against the vicissitudes of the public, can take their business elsewhere.
We're not shutting our doors, it's saying, but if you're a stupid jerk, we'd rather not deal with you. We're free, yes, and just as free to stop this crap from coming in here.
That way, business can continue to function. That way, greater shutdowns might not happen, voluntary or not. But they have to do it, or they will cut their own throats this time, and there will be fewer with empathy for them. And there will be far more trouble with shortages.
If the business community takes that up and unites in a temporary collusion (not all are bad things, you know) to protect the public from itself, that might get others to wake up, grow up, and stop or slow down what appears to be a new surge. You can't make money if people are home sick. Simple as that.
Most of us managed to get to this July 4th, alive and safe. Let's be smart about getting to the next one, too.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
The place is just half a block from the back alley of my apartment building. It's the easiest, most unencumbered way back into civilization. The front way has a security door and a different key to open it, so why use it? The back door is the way out to the parking lot where my car is, anyhow.
At five or six o'clock on weekdays, now, they are there--at least six, up to a dozen, people drinking at happy hour. They're outside, I'm guessing, because of the pandemic, and someone told them that being outside is better than being inside.
But that alone doesn't make them immune. They're standing right next to each other. Not a single one of them has ever worn a mask. The summer air is hanging closer now with the humidity. Some are now familiar, at a glance.
Here's a perfect example of the denial that has overtaken so many of us. I'm not gonna get it, and if I get it, how bad could it be?
The age grouping varies. Obviously, they're younger than I am, but some aren't younger by all that much. They've been around. They should have understood by now.
I don't want any of them to die. I don't want any of them to get sick, either, but I'm wondering how close to the edge they're getting.
I see them gather when I go out for my daily walk, which is about that time. I steer away from them, not walking amongst them. I go out on the street to maintain my distancing. Only thing I can do.
They seem to be having a great time. I must say I miss that. I can strike up a conversation with damn near anybody, and that gathering, as most bars are, is ripe for the kind of conversation that can get you through lonely times like this one.
So it's tempting, because I haven't had a good face-to-face conversation in a while. But not that tempting. Science is science. Enter stage Clint Eastwood: A man's got to know his limitations.
These people miss it, too, which is why they're there. But like thousands of others, they're risking their noses to save their faces. They can't stand waiting until the coast is a bit clearer. So it never clears.
The risk is obvious, and getting more dangerous by the day. Looks like there's another surge about to begin. Goody gumdrops.
There are several restaurants along the way with bistro dining. The tables have been separated to cooperate with social distancing. The people, though, sit easily within spreading distance, without masks; six at at time in some places. So what is being accomplished, besides scratching another itch? I miss restaurants, too, but not so much as to get sick from them. Order out if you have to, but don't arrange another way to catch the virus. The odds are better outside, but not foolproof.
The governor of Texas, who believes business must be business like a good, indoctrinated Republican, tried to make people happy by opening up bars and other establishments so that the economy of that state wouldn't tank. The state is now being overrun. Now he's making people wear masks in public, or risk a $250 fine.
The number of new cases of the virus in Texas are setting records daily. Lots of people will now stay indoors. And the economy will tank. He had to cancel advancing the re-opening. He gave in to anxious people who were losing money and got some through a federal government which may have to re-gear and give them more. But nobody knows where that's coming from. Or when.
In Wisconsin, the state supreme court has tied our governor's hands by overruling his safe-at-home, gradual re-opening, and now we're trapped. Now the governor can't do anything. He called it right: It's now the Wild West. All he can say is what he's saying: It's July 4 now, and you'd better be careful out there. I know you want to get together, but you really shouldn't. You are risking big, big trouble.
That sounds like a parent confronting a child who's dating at 14. And the message will go about that far. The people at that bar aren't acting like adults, either: That's why the bar's there, so they can have an hour or two where they don't have to do that. But now irresponsibility won't disappear into the air as it always used to, catching up with only the perpetrators: It will spread to others, whether they like it or not.
But all is not lost. A bit farther down the street, right around the corner on Downer Avenue, is a hardware store. Been there for ages, like the grocer and the movie house. But it has a sign on it, right at eye-level which can't be missed. To summarize: If you walk in here without a mask, we will not service you.
Seems to me that that's the right approach, both specifically and in general: If the state supreme court wants to protect business because that's the way America should run, then businesses have been allowed, and should take the liberty, to protect themselves. Anybody who lives so irresponsibly as to put others at risk inside a store, where people are merely working and are literally trapped against the vicissitudes of the public, can take their business elsewhere.
We're not shutting our doors, it's saying, but if you're a stupid jerk, we'd rather not deal with you. We're free, yes, and just as free to stop this crap from coming in here.
That way, business can continue to function. That way, greater shutdowns might not happen, voluntary or not. But they have to do it, or they will cut their own throats this time, and there will be fewer with empathy for them. And there will be far more trouble with shortages.
If the business community takes that up and unites in a temporary collusion (not all are bad things, you know) to protect the public from itself, that might get others to wake up, grow up, and stop or slow down what appears to be a new surge. You can't make money if people are home sick. Simple as that.
Most of us managed to get to this July 4th, alive and safe. Let's be smart about getting to the next one, too.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
The Future of America--Found in a Hospital Trip
I found the future of America. I really like it. So will you.
I found it in a hospital. I got a heart scare a couple of weeks ago and went to check it out.
The company in charge of sending phone calls for the ' reminder' got it wrong, so I nearly didn't have the appointment I was supposed to have. Everyone rolled with it; they weren't surprised. "How are you?" asked Sarah (all names have been changed) the med-tech assigned to give me an EKG. "I'm a bit confused, but otherwise okay," I replied.
She turned toward me as she led me backstage. "Welcome to my world," she trolled.
She was thorough but friendly. She asked me about my original surgery. I had forgotten the name of the surgeon, but between the two of us, we deciphered it as McAlester. I remembered that he said he was a Navy surgeon. "He must have been in residence that day," Sarah said. "We have to do that, you know."
But she stared off a second in admiration. "Dr. McAlester," she said, in half-wonder. "He had magic hands. He saved a lot of lives."
Like mine, that day. He said I was 99% plugged at the junction of my two main arteries. "You had weeks, if not days, left," he told me at the debriefing a couple of weeks later. Beth said he had retired. I know he won't see this, but I wish him well.
Sarah delivered me into the competent hands of Yousef, a native of Morocco and a practicing Muslim. He prepped me for the 'stress test,' which was done chemically this time, without a treadmill, so as not to have my breathing labored by my anti-virus mask.
"I'm from Marrakech," he said. "A beautiful city. You should go. Marrakech and Rabat." I made a note to add them to a bucket list that's only growing, since the EU won't let me visit now. But he was very friendly, and eager to discuss the similarities between Islam and Christianity, perhaps because his wife is Christian. Muslims don't trash Jesus; he's an important part of the big picture. "It's all much the same," he said. I agreed, and offered that crazies in both religions give them a bad name.
He guided me through the entire process, though he didn't need to do so. "I'll make you a fresh pot of coffee," he said. "You'll probably get a headache from the drugs because of the expansion of the arteries. The only way to relieve it is with caffeine." He kindly did so, bringing me a filled styrofoam cup and six graham crackers. After three hours of all this, they hit the spot.
Others had come and go. Beatrice, a Black nurse practitioner, chatted with me through our masks for a while on how ridiculous everybody who wouldn't wear a mask was being. "It's so simple," she said. "We could get this down to a decent level."
The doctor, a diminutive lady--we'll call her Dr. H--a trusted colleague of my main cardiac physician who had been in turn a trusted colleague of Dr. McAlester, stopped by for just a moment. She was obviously quite busy, and disrupted a bit from the change in my schedule. She had planned this testing much earlier in the day. Her name is long and South Asian--Indian or Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan or Pakistani--and quite difficult to spell. But she's easy to take. Her manner is nothing but helpful. She did say hello and checked in to see if the process was moving along.
Very briefly, Carrie, another nurse's practitioner, a blond woman who couldn't have been 35, came in to put a stethoscope on me. She stood out from the others, though, because she was the only white person in the group besides Sarah.
I couldn't help but marvel at that. This is the America that's to come, I told myself as I drove home. And not only is there nothing to fear, there's every reason to celebrate and embrace it. These are all Americans, some from other lands, but glad to be here. And they want to help. Not a pretentious bone in any of their bodies, either. It felt good to be amongst them.
But 45 wants to limit their access, all filled with himself and some long-forgotten attitude about America First. These people put America first, not him. They make sure sick people get taken care of. They have to put it on the line for all of us daily. They make me proud to live in this country. He sure doesn't.
Yousef took me to a contraption which revolves around me, taking pictures, he said, after the stress. Then I was slid into a hyperbaric chamber--just for a minute, he said. And it was, in fact, just for a minute, about which I was happy because things like that give me the creeps. Then he withdrew me, took some more pictures, and re-inserted me inside the chamber. This time he did not tell me how long I'd be in there, but somehow I knew it would only be for another minute. And it was. I trusted him, believed in him, found no reason to doubt him.
Yousef took me to the lobby. Again, he didn't have to; I could have found it myself. "Good to talk to you," he said. "Yes," I said. "I hope we have the chance to talk again." We probably won't, of course. There would be no reason, outside of another, unwanted visit, to interact again in any other way. But you never know; we could run into each other at Whole Foods or something.
I hoped so. He was different than I, and I different than him. Yet, we had enough in common to become friends: we showed interest in exploring each other's religions, we were in this excellent health care facility, we were both Americans.
Well, maybe not: Maybe he wasn't a citizen yet. I didn't ask. But it didn't matter. I knew he loved it here, knew because he so willingly interacted with me, someone he might not ever see again. He was as American as I was, here all of four years. He knew I wanted to understand better, so he opened up willingly, quickly, as if he was parched for it.
We need to get rid of the one who tries to make us afraid of that. It's ridiculous. It's unnecessary. It hurts this country.
I held my hands prayerfully as I stepped away, and bowed my head slightly. "Namaste," I said as I left, a respectful greeting on the Indian subcontinent. "Adios" didn't seem appropriate; it felt a bit too flip, like maybe this was a Western and I was John Wayne.
I wanted to say something more than just 'so long,' though. It was a gesture of a deeper thanks that I hope he absorbed. Then, as I always do, I said, "Be well," as I pointed at him, something I do when an interaction is more than casual.
He might easily forget me by today. There are always more to treat. But I'm not likely to forget him, or them. The visit had tired me out, but I also felt better in a way.
The call came back two days later: I'm all right after all. That is, if I keep taking good care of myself. Kind of like the country, about to pass another birthday.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
I found it in a hospital. I got a heart scare a couple of weeks ago and went to check it out.
The company in charge of sending phone calls for the ' reminder' got it wrong, so I nearly didn't have the appointment I was supposed to have. Everyone rolled with it; they weren't surprised. "How are you?" asked Sarah (all names have been changed) the med-tech assigned to give me an EKG. "I'm a bit confused, but otherwise okay," I replied.
She turned toward me as she led me backstage. "Welcome to my world," she trolled.
She was thorough but friendly. She asked me about my original surgery. I had forgotten the name of the surgeon, but between the two of us, we deciphered it as McAlester. I remembered that he said he was a Navy surgeon. "He must have been in residence that day," Sarah said. "We have to do that, you know."
But she stared off a second in admiration. "Dr. McAlester," she said, in half-wonder. "He had magic hands. He saved a lot of lives."
Like mine, that day. He said I was 99% plugged at the junction of my two main arteries. "You had weeks, if not days, left," he told me at the debriefing a couple of weeks later. Beth said he had retired. I know he won't see this, but I wish him well.
Sarah delivered me into the competent hands of Yousef, a native of Morocco and a practicing Muslim. He prepped me for the 'stress test,' which was done chemically this time, without a treadmill, so as not to have my breathing labored by my anti-virus mask.
"I'm from Marrakech," he said. "A beautiful city. You should go. Marrakech and Rabat." I made a note to add them to a bucket list that's only growing, since the EU won't let me visit now. But he was very friendly, and eager to discuss the similarities between Islam and Christianity, perhaps because his wife is Christian. Muslims don't trash Jesus; he's an important part of the big picture. "It's all much the same," he said. I agreed, and offered that crazies in both religions give them a bad name.
He guided me through the entire process, though he didn't need to do so. "I'll make you a fresh pot of coffee," he said. "You'll probably get a headache from the drugs because of the expansion of the arteries. The only way to relieve it is with caffeine." He kindly did so, bringing me a filled styrofoam cup and six graham crackers. After three hours of all this, they hit the spot.
Others had come and go. Beatrice, a Black nurse practitioner, chatted with me through our masks for a while on how ridiculous everybody who wouldn't wear a mask was being. "It's so simple," she said. "We could get this down to a decent level."
The doctor, a diminutive lady--we'll call her Dr. H--a trusted colleague of my main cardiac physician who had been in turn a trusted colleague of Dr. McAlester, stopped by for just a moment. She was obviously quite busy, and disrupted a bit from the change in my schedule. She had planned this testing much earlier in the day. Her name is long and South Asian--Indian or Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan or Pakistani--and quite difficult to spell. But she's easy to take. Her manner is nothing but helpful. She did say hello and checked in to see if the process was moving along.
Very briefly, Carrie, another nurse's practitioner, a blond woman who couldn't have been 35, came in to put a stethoscope on me. She stood out from the others, though, because she was the only white person in the group besides Sarah.
I couldn't help but marvel at that. This is the America that's to come, I told myself as I drove home. And not only is there nothing to fear, there's every reason to celebrate and embrace it. These are all Americans, some from other lands, but glad to be here. And they want to help. Not a pretentious bone in any of their bodies, either. It felt good to be amongst them.
But 45 wants to limit their access, all filled with himself and some long-forgotten attitude about America First. These people put America first, not him. They make sure sick people get taken care of. They have to put it on the line for all of us daily. They make me proud to live in this country. He sure doesn't.
Yousef took me to a contraption which revolves around me, taking pictures, he said, after the stress. Then I was slid into a hyperbaric chamber--just for a minute, he said. And it was, in fact, just for a minute, about which I was happy because things like that give me the creeps. Then he withdrew me, took some more pictures, and re-inserted me inside the chamber. This time he did not tell me how long I'd be in there, but somehow I knew it would only be for another minute. And it was. I trusted him, believed in him, found no reason to doubt him.
Yousef took me to the lobby. Again, he didn't have to; I could have found it myself. "Good to talk to you," he said. "Yes," I said. "I hope we have the chance to talk again." We probably won't, of course. There would be no reason, outside of another, unwanted visit, to interact again in any other way. But you never know; we could run into each other at Whole Foods or something.
I hoped so. He was different than I, and I different than him. Yet, we had enough in common to become friends: we showed interest in exploring each other's religions, we were in this excellent health care facility, we were both Americans.
Well, maybe not: Maybe he wasn't a citizen yet. I didn't ask. But it didn't matter. I knew he loved it here, knew because he so willingly interacted with me, someone he might not ever see again. He was as American as I was, here all of four years. He knew I wanted to understand better, so he opened up willingly, quickly, as if he was parched for it.
We need to get rid of the one who tries to make us afraid of that. It's ridiculous. It's unnecessary. It hurts this country.
I held my hands prayerfully as I stepped away, and bowed my head slightly. "Namaste," I said as I left, a respectful greeting on the Indian subcontinent. "Adios" didn't seem appropriate; it felt a bit too flip, like maybe this was a Western and I was John Wayne.
I wanted to say something more than just 'so long,' though. It was a gesture of a deeper thanks that I hope he absorbed. Then, as I always do, I said, "Be well," as I pointed at him, something I do when an interaction is more than casual.
He might easily forget me by today. There are always more to treat. But I'm not likely to forget him, or them. The visit had tired me out, but I also felt better in a way.
The call came back two days later: I'm all right after all. That is, if I keep taking good care of myself. Kind of like the country, about to pass another birthday.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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