Category Archives: Politics

On Student Protests

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Typically, older non-participant observers highlight protest rhetoric and behavior that affirms their preconceptions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You can see, in the student protests, what you want to see.

It should go without saying that one can be anti-Israel, without succumbing to anti-Semitism. Many American Jews are anti-Israel right now, but understandably, they are also fearful of rising anti-Semitism.

No university administrators should condone anti-Semitic language or behavior. No Jewish students in the U.S. should be held responsible for Hamas’s actions or feel unsafe on their campuses.

All that said, I fully support the majority of student protestors who are convinced their government is making matters far worse in Gaza.

I’ll take young people with the courage of their convictions, even if it results in chaos on American campuses, over political apathy every single day of the week.

The Washington State Republicans’ Deep Bench Strikes Again

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On one of my running routes, right behind Squaxin Park, there are two next-door neighbors from opposing tribes. One house decked out in red, white, and blue MAGA signage; the other drenched in aging Tibetan flags, with a decidedly liberal-hippie vibe.

One day Mr. MAGA said “hi” to me from his driveway. Nice that he doesn’t read the humble blog.

I wonder what kind of relationship these neighbors have with one another? Do they talk to each other? Borrow sugar from one another? Watch each other’s homes when on vacation? Bring in one another’s trash cans? The mind whirls.

This morn, in Mr. MAGA’s yard, there was a “Semi Bird” for Governor sign. I immediately suspected Semi was for the birds. I did a (very) little sleuthing and was not at all surprised to learn Semi is not a conventional candidate. This article, “WA governor candidate says ‘no excuse’ for financial crime” was the first clue.

Bird appears to have learned nothing from the leader of his party.

“In an interview Tuesday, Bird, now 63, said he makes no excuses for the mistake decades ago. ‘Guilty as charged — 100%, he said. ‘It was wrong. He said he was estranged from his father at the time and was ‘bitter’ and ‘angry’ and ‘tried to justify’ his actions, but said ultimately ‘there was no excuse.'”

That is weirdly straightforward and honest.

There have been other legal problems and debts, both of which are much more in keeping with the leader of the Republican Party.

For example:

“In 1996, Bird was arrested and charged with felony theft for failing for many months to return a pistol he’d been issued as a Yakima County sheriff reserve officer after departing the role. The charge was later dismissed after the gun was found and returned. In 1999, he filed for bankruptcy.”

But who among us hasn’t used a parent’s name and social security number to supplement our income and/or forgotten to return a pistol we’ve been issued. I, for one, will not cast the first stone.

However, I’m not willing to give the Bird “campaign” a pass on one unforgivable sin committed against the English language. The offending phrase first appears in the opening sentence of Bird’s “Story” on the campaign’s unwieldy website.

“Semi Bird is a career American who has spent a lifetime in service to his country and community.” The offending phrase repeats throughout the site.

I don’t have Bird’s history of playing fast and loose with the law, but I am a career American too, so maybe I should run for office. I bet there aren’t many career Americans around. I bet the electorate is desperate to vote for a real, living breathing, career American.

For shit’s sake.

Why did I see that sign and how do I unsee the mindless phrase “career American”?

Sentence To Ponder

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BALTIMORE—”The crew of workers from Mexico and Central America were well into their night shift, pouring concrete to fix the potholes that dotted the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”

So they weren’t animals from insane asylums committing crimes?

Anti-immigrant hysteria depends upon not seeing or thinking about the people fixing potholes on bridges in the middle of the night.

Do Follow My Lead

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Political analysts of all stripes agree that the 2024 Presidential Election will be decided by about 5% of voters who don’t identify with either the Red Team or the Blue Team exclusively. Those rarely seen in the wild independents will prove especially important in the six states that will likely determine which candidate gets 270+ electoral votes—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.

I’m Team ‘Blue Team’ in a decidedly blue state, meaning the Octogenarian won’t really need my vote. So what can I do, and people like me, who are desperate to preserve our democracy?

Several things. First, let’s identify all of our independent friends. For example, using their Alaska Airline abbreviations to maintain their privacy, I’m thinking of MARN, TMAT, and MLAL.

Second, ask each 5 percenter which of the six swing states they like the most and would be willing to move to by summer’s end*.

Third, find them a job in their swing state of choice that pays an equivalent amount.

Fourth, help them sell their current crib and buy a similar one in their swing state of choice in time to establish residency.

Fifth, hire a moving company to ease the transition, give them ample gas and hotel money, and pack treats for their journey.

Imagine if everyone on Team Blue, did this, like me, for three of their independent friends.

Landslide baby, landslide.

*with the understanding that as soon as they vote, they can move back if they so choose

Paragraphs To Ponder

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File this under “The Fall of the American Empire”.

“Exhibiting a distinctly 21st-century form of raw media power, X has also throttled and punished Mr. Musk’s perceived competitors and foes while reinstating accounts that were previously banned for content violations, some relating to the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The platform’s algorithm — which dictates how posts are circulated on the site — also now gives added promotion to those who pay to be “verified,” including previously banned accounts.

Among them is @KanekoaTheGreat, a once-banned QAnon influencer who this month circulated a 32-page dossier promoted by Mr. Trump that recounted a barrage of false charges about the 2020 election.

It drew nearly 22 million views.”

More here.

Orange Jesus Explained

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If you’re anything like me, you don’t “get” Iowa. More specifically, you wonder, “What’s up with Iowans?” Especially, the white evangelicals.

David P. Gushee thinks he gets “it”.

From “The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Some Interesting Questions“.

“Trump’s evolution into a Jesus-like figure for some but not all white evangelicals began soon after he began his first presidential campaign. As David P. Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University, explained by email:

‘Some of Trump’s Christian followers do appear to have grown to see him as a kind of religious figure. He is a savior. I think it began with the sense that he was uniquely committed to saving them from their foes (liberals, Democrats, elites, seculars, illegal immigrants, etc.) and saving America from all that threatens it.’

In this sense, Gushee continued, ‘a savior does not have to be a good person but just needs to fulfill his divinely appointed role. Trump is seen by many as actually having done so while president.’

This view of Trump is especially strong ‘in the Pentecostal wing of the conservative Christian world,’ Gushee wrote, where he is sometimes also viewed as an anointed leader sent by God. ‘Anointed’ here means set apart and especially equipped by God for a holy task. Sometimes the most unlikely people got anointed by God in the Bible. So Trump’s unlikeliness for this role is actually evidence in favor. The multiple criminal charges against Trump serve to strengthen the belief of many evangelicals about his ties to God, according to Gushee:

‘The prosecutions underway against Trump have been easily interpretable as signs of persecution, which can then connect to the suffering Jesus theme in Christianity. Trump has been able to leverage that with lines like, “They’re not persecuting me. They’re persecuting you.” The idea that he is unjustly suffering and, in so doing, vicariously absorbing the suffering that his followers would be enduring is a powerful way for Trump to be identified with Jesus.'”

No doubt, add a lot of PressingPausers to the list of liberals, Democrats, elites, seculars, illegal immigrants, and other nefarious foes that many Iowans think they need saving from.

Of course, they don’t really know any PressingPausers, some of whom I’m indebted to for reaching out after my recent “It’s My Parents’ Fault” post. I had a beer with one in Olympia yesterday. Others in Olympia; Greensboro, NC; Huntington Beach, CA; and Japan messaged, texted, and emailed. Trust me, no one needs saving from them. They’re savers of others.

I’m A Socialist

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Weight loss drugs inventor Lotte Bjerre Knudsen says proudly adding, “I don’t care that much about money.”

One two-part myth people in the (dis)United States ignorantly perpetuate about socialism is that it fails everywhere because it zaps people’s motivation to work. That absent economic incentives, people won’t achieve much of anything.

Ethnocentric capitalists maintain their collective ignorance of socialists, and socialism, by not knowing the Lotte Bjerre Knudsens of the world. Cue a recent LBK interview.

DER SPIEGEL: You have made Novo Nordisk Europe’s most valuable company, with a greater market capitalization than Daimler, Bayer, Lufthansa and BMW combined. Do you benefit financially?

Knudsen: I don’t care that much about money, I’m a socialist! Here in Scandinavia, we teach our children teamwork from an early age. It’s not about the individual. And that’s how I am too. I have never asked for a raise in 34 years.

DER SPIEGEL: You never got more money? Not even now?

Knudsen: Yes, of course. But I didn’t push. I can’t see that capitalism and money make people happy. At Novo Nordisk, I have always preferred to use my credibility to demand more funding for science, not more salary for myself. I also have no intellectual property rights. They belong to the company because I gave them up when I was employed.

I don’t care about money? It’s not about the individual? I can’t see that capitalism and money make people happy?

Holy blasphemy.