Hey guys, you’re in charge. You can balance the budget any time you want to.
There is rationale for proposing it now:
* Even though the GOP busted the budget, they can campaign on working towards balanced budget amendment.
* They can’t talk about protecting Medicare and Social Security, but they can talk about a silver bullet solution. And their base – which doesn’t understand how gov’t works (that also include the nasty guy) – will eat it up.
* All the talk of a balanced budget amendment has always been a dogwhistle because those who are for it know what has to happen if the budget is to balance. All those programs that help or protect anyone who isn’t a rich white male will be slashed.
* Such an amendment allows them to play innocent, “Gosh, I really want to fund Medicaid, but this darn amendment won’t let me!”
Fortunately, an amendment needs 66 senators and 290 representatives. The GOP has neither.
Back to that recent budget bill. Conservative Evangelical leaders have branded it as immoral. Their complaint is that it provides substantial funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider, significantly adds to the national debt, and fails to fund the border wall. They are also disappointed that it doesn’t protect the Dreamers (glad to hear this last point!).
Strange that this bill is seen as immoral, yet the way the nasty guy treats his wives and mistresses isn’t.
Stephon Clark has been in the news lately. Police responded to a report that someone was bashing in car windows, so they searched the neighborhood. They encountered Clark in the back yard of his grandmother’s house. Clark was holding a cell phone. Thinking the phone was a gun police commanded Clark to put his hands up, without identifying themselves as police. Before Clark had a chance to comply police opened fire, pumping 20 bullets into him.
Stephon’s older brother Stevante is now in the news, though he doesn’t want to be. Reporters want a soundbite or a comments on his brother’s jail time (irrelevant to this case). Stevante did have a few things to say:
They gunned him down like a dog. They executed him. Twenty times. That’s like stepping on a roach. … I shouldn’t have to defend my brother. They should be proving their innocence. … Why aren’t we talking about the police’s mistakes? My city is scared of the police. … I’m scared to live here. I don’t feel safe. … Where can you fucking go if you’re not safe at grandma’s house?
Melissa McEwan of Shakesville calls us to listen to Stevante, and pay attention. At least share his words. Then help dismantle the way policing is done in this country. It enforces white supremacy and is clearly broken.
Sarah Kendzior studies authoritarian regimes. She notes that in the past week there have been several infrastructure attacks: Atlanta city services, Baltimore 911 dispatch system, Boeing HQ in Chicago, and Denver city services. The nasty guy has been talking about infrastructure week. But this is the real infrastructure news.
This looks coordinated. Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver. Evanston might be next.
And something heartwarming. Seth Allen is 10 years old and has cerebral palsy. He can’t talk and is in a wheelchair. Friends from First Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas and the staff of a local park installed a wheelchair swing. Yes, a swing designed to roll a wheelchair onto it. Mother Trish recorded Seth’s first ride. The video went viral, now seen more than 2.5 million times.
Watch out for the onion ninjas who sneak up and make you cry.
I followed a link to learn that inclusive playgrounds are now being created. The first are in California.
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