Category: Trump effect

June 23, 2019

     Earlier this week, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was attacked by Chuck Todd and several Republicans when she called the facilities detaining migrants along the U.S. border “concentration camps.”  Her critics were weirdly focused on the factual distinctions between Nazi death camps and the unsanitary, crowded, freezing cages where our government is currently holding children, (Source:  “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ignited a firestorm after she spent 3 days calling US migrant detention centers ‘concentration camps,” by Eliza Relman, Businessinsider.com, 6/20/19).The semantic gymnastics were a bizarre attempt to distract us from the horror that is being perpetrated right here, right now, on our watch.

     The absurdity of their parsing was brought into sharp relief by the story that broke Friday about the actual conditions under which migrant children are currently being held in a facility in Clint, Texas.  Children as young as 7 or 8 are caring for infants that they don’t even know. “Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants…. .[Detainees] have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap,” (Source:  “‘There Is a Stench’: No Soap and Overcrowding in Detention Centers for Migrant Children,” by Caitlin Dickerson, The New York Times, 6/21/19). Continue reading “It can happen here”

June 21, 2019

 

Reparations has been on everyone’s minds of late.  Eleven of the major candidates have proposed serious study of the issue.  Mitch McConnell (naturally) trolled 37 million Black Americans by stating that reparations for slavery were not a “good idea,” (Source:  “McConnell opposes paying reparations:  ‘None of us currently living are responsible’ for slavery,” by Ted Barrett, CNN.com, 6/19/19).  The underlying ahistorical assumption of McConnell’s statement is that emancipation wiped the slate clean and that formerly enslaved people were immediately given full citizenship with the same political and economic rights as their white fellow citizens.  Even a sentient fourth grader knows how ridiculous that is.

At the historic hearing held on Wednesday on H.R. 40, (the legislation proposing a commission to study proposals for reparations), Ta-Nehisi Coates acidly rebuked McConnell, tying the century of Jim Crow and discriminatory government policy to the legacy of slavery, stating, “while emancipation dead-bolted the door against the bandits of America, Jim Crow wedged the windows wide open,” (Source:  “At Historic Hearing, House Panel Explores Reparations,” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, 6/19/19). Continue reading “The case for reparations (h/t Ta-Nehisi Coates)”

June 17, 2019

 

Our march towards becoming a full-fledged fascist regime continues unabated.  Side by side articles in today’s Washington Post depict a House Democratic Caucus immobilized by Nancy Pelosi’s  opposition to impeachment, next to an article detailing the shameless determination of Trump and his top advisors to flagrantly violate the law in order to win the next presidential election.  Trump has now admitted to George Stephanopoulos that he would accept foreign election assistance and not report it to the FBI (Source:  “Trump just mused openly about committing what might well be a crime,” by Aaron Blake, The Washington Post, 6/13/19).

Although Trump’s pronouncements have always revealed his contempt for democracy, he increasingly sounds like a syphilitic 17th Century monarch.  In that same Stephanopoulos interview, Trump refuted the very idea that a president could obstruct justice, stating, “I run the country,” (Source:  “Trump: ‘I run the country,’” by Matthew Choi, Politico.com, 6/16/19).  He might as well have said, “L’etat c’est moi.”  Given the maddening timidity of the House Democrats in the face of the escalating lawlessness coming from every corner of this administration, Trump’s overweening confidence is understandable. Apparently, the House Democrats have decided that obstructing an investigation of election interference from a hostile foreign power does not warrant impeachment. Apparently, they have decided that ripping thousands of kids from their parents, putting them in cages and then losing track of them is not enough to warrant impeachment. Apparently, trying to rig the census to consolidate the power of a white supremacist minority and lying about it under oath does not warrant impeachment. Continue reading “It’s up to us”

June10, 2019

      On Thursday, June 6th, we marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces stormed the beaches at Normandy.  The invasion was a bold and risky endeavor that dealt a decisive blow to Hitler’s genocidal, fascist forces. As the years pass, fewer and fewer veterans remain who can provide a first hand account of that momentous day.  As a result, the coverage on this anniversary aimed to correct the blind spots of history. We were urged to remember the Black soldiers who participated in the invasion, despite serving in a segregated army, (Source: “We Must Remember D-Day’s Black Heroes,” by Rep. Marc Veasey, TheHill.com, 6/6/19).  Others highlighted how French women were singled out for harsh punishment for “consorting” with the enemy, even when male collaborators escaped punishment and even when some of those women were the victims of rape, (Source:  “This Picture Tells a Tragic Story of What Happened to Women After D-Day,” by Ann Mah, Time.com, (h/t Greg Thomson),6/6/19). Continue reading “A constant struggle”

June 5, 2019

 

For the last two days, Americans have been forced to endure the embarrassing spectacle of Trump’s state visit to the U.K.  We have been treated to pictures of the crass and bloated narcissist in ill-fitting white tie.  We have seen a tableau of his family in hideous 80’s inspired fashion, looking like the Nazis at Captain Von Trapp’s ball.  We have watched Londoners engage in epic trolling by projecting Trump’s abysmal approval ratings (21%) next to those for President Obama (72%).  Most of all, though, we have been shamed by the massive protests that greeted Trump, in which 75,000 people flooded the streets to vociferously voice their displeasure (Source:  “Fact Checking Trump’s London Visit:  Trade, Protests, Brexit,” by Linda Qiu, The New York Times, 6/4/19).

Our indolence in the face of the mounting lawlessness and galloping authoritarianism of this administration is galling by comparison.  On Monday, we learned that ICE kept 37 migrant children between the ages of 5 and 12 locked in vans for two nights while in the process of reuniting them with their families, (Source:  “Botched family reunifications left migrant children waiting in vans overnight,” by Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley, NBCNews.com, 6/3/19).  We have become so inured to the routine brutalization of migrant children that this shocking tale was barely a one day story.  After all, when we learned several months ago that the administration had separated thousands more than 2700 children and had no way to track them, we merely shrugged, (Source:  “IG:  Trump administration took thousands more migrant children from parents,” by Amy Goldstein, The Washington Post, 1/17/19). Continue reading “Silence is consent”

May 31, 2019

   Like a nation of C students, we professed to be shocked by Robert Mueller’s 9 minute statement Wednesday morning, summarizing the work contained in the 448 page report prepared by his office.  Mueller’s remarks were notable for two key sentences that were lifted almost verbatim from the report. The first was his reiteration that the “central allegation of our indictments,[was] that there were multiple systemic efforts to interfere in our election.  And that allegation deserves the attention of every American,” (Source: “Full transcript: Robert Mueller’s statement on the Russia Investigation,” Politico.com, 5/29/19).

    Mueller’s other key statement was, “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,”(ibid).  He painstakingly explained that he was bound by Justice Department policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president.  Although Mueller was terse and emotionless, his message was clear — he did not exonerate the president and the only vehicle by which to hold Trump accountable is impeachment. Continue reading “High crimes and misdemeanors, Pt.2”

May 28, 2019

 

The news media is replete with stories that read more like game theory, reporting on the competing views of the dangers or rewards of impeaching Trump, with precious little emphasis on the growing list of underlying actions that would justify impeachment.  Everything is reported through the lense of risk assessment, although the only risk being assessed is the political one to the Democrats.  This framing renders the very real harm actual Americans are suffering due to this administration’s actions virtually invisible.  It ignores the ongoing damage that having a President who obstructs justice on a daily basis and refuses to recognize Congress as a co-equal branch of government does to our Constitutional system of government.  It ignores the political damage that such reporting inflicts on Democrats, by depicting them as hapless and timid in the face of lawlessness.

The press focuses narrowly on process questions and the Democratic Caucus’ ambivalence, to the exclusion of substantive reporting on any actual legislative agenda.  The general public could be forgiven for having no idea that the Democratic House majority has passed bills addressing such major issues as voting rights, climate change and the gender pay gap, (Source:  “Trump’s narrative is nonsense.  So why is the media buying it?” by Catherine Rampell, The Washington Post, 5/27/19).  Journalists’ obsession with the “Democrats in disarray” narrative misinforms the public and normalizes the spread of increasingly lawless and authoritarian behavior. Continue reading “Consider the source”

May 24, 2019

    Yesterday, the Trump Justice Department brought an 18 count indictment against Julian Assange, charging him under the Espionage Act for his publication of secret and classified information that Chelsea Manning provided to him in 2009 and 2010, (Source: U.S. v. Assange, Crim. No. 1:18-cr-111(CMH), E.D. Va., 5/23/19).  This superseding indictment sent a chill through the spine of journalists and First Amendment advocates everywhere, as it represented the first time that the act has been used to prosecute the recipient, rather than the source, of information, (Source: “Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues,” by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, 5/23/19).

    The superseding indictment had nothing to do with Assange’s role in hacking the DNC servers during the 2016 election, or with any alleged cooperation with the Russian interference in our election.  This prosecution seeks to punish Assange for his role in encouraging Chelsea Manning to provide him with, and then disclosing, scores of government documents that were classified at the SECRET level, defined as information whose “unauthorized disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to national security,” (Source: U.S.v. Assange, p.16, par.45).  The government highlights Assange’s reckless disregard for the fact that his unredacted disclosure of the leaked information posed “a grave and imminent risk to human life,” (Source: U.S. v. Assange, pp. 11-12). Given the fact that these charges are being brought ten years after the fact, it is hard to credit concern for human life, hardly the hallmark of this administration, as the animating rationale behind this indictment. Continue reading “Hard cases make bad law”

May 21, 2019

Friday, May 17th was the 65th anniversary of the momentous Brown v. Board of Education decision.  Brown was a landmark, not just because it outlawed segregated schools, but because it declared “separate but equal,” the doctrinal foundation of Jim Crow, an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Much has been written about the enduring resistance to that ruling.  It is a sad fact of life that American schools are more segregated in 2019 than since before Brown (Source:  “65 Years after Brown v. Board of Education, segregation is getting worse,” by P.R. Lockhart, Vox.com, 5/10/19).  We lament the fact that NYC schools are the most segregated in the nation and that there is zero political will to change that.

It is true that these facts are legitimately discouraging.  It is horrifying to watch the Republicans from Trump down to try to return this country to a pre-Brown era of a rigidly enforced segregation. We cannot allow those stark realities to paralyze us with fear, such that we squander the very real power that those of us who attended integrated schools in the twenty year window between the Brown decision and the Supreme Court’s 1974 Milliken v. Bradley decision, which sharply curtailed the ability to integrate public schools, still have. Continue reading “Pay it forward”

May 18, 2019

     Every day brings news of yet another state passing a retrograde abortion ban; seeking to outdo one another in cruelty and control over women.  We point out the glaring hypocrisy of laws purporting to protect lives in states with the worst infant mortality rates in the nation.  We point out the inconsistency of banning abortion, yet leaving embryos in fertility clinics unregulated, only to be told by an Alabama legislator, “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply.  It’s not in a woman.”  We should know by now that it is futile to try to appeal to their logic or empathy.  To the contrary, the proponents of these laws are leaning in to the dire consequences that will result.  They are apathetic, at best, about the increased infant and maternal mortality that women of color will suffer as a result.  They eagerly anticipate a future where they can control white women by controlling their fertility. Continue reading “The Trojan Horse”