Implicitly endorsing threats and acts of violence

This morning Michigan Radio host Doug Trabou talked to Elizabeth Hertel, head of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan is now the national leader in new COVID cases per day at about 7000. So what is the government going to do about it? Trabou specifically said in previous high case rates Michigan went into lockdown – closed schools, stopped sports and indoor gatherings, mandate masks, and all those other things that were ordered back in March and April 2020. Are we going to mandate that now? Hertel didn’t directly answer, instead promoting (nor requiring) masks and saying it is good to be vaccinated. I was disappointed in the wimpy response. However, I don’t think Hertel is only to blame. Over the last 19 months the Republican controlled Michigan legislature, with the help of the state Supreme Court, has taken away the governor’s ability to call for and sustain actions to deal with a public health emergency. Hertel didn’t answer Trabou’s question because she wasn’t allowed to. One advantage of living in the Detroit area is being able to listen to Canadian radio. I prefer the CBC classical program in the early afternoon over the Detroit classical station. It also means I hear five minutes of Canadian news during those hours. Over the last few days that news has said a lot about the flooding in southern British Columbia. An “atmospheric river” dumped huge amounts of rain, causing mudslides and washing out roads and bridges. Because of the mountains in the area there are already many towns with just one road through them, a road that is now closed. That means no way to restock grocery stores. Railroads are also closed so no trains from Vancouver to the rest of Canada. Pakalolo of the Daily Kos community reported on the floods and included pictures. Pakalolo also included an explanation of an atmospheric river. This is a band of water vapor, maybe up to 300 miles wide, that acts like a pipe transporting moisture out of the tropics. The amount of water can be up to 15 times the flow rate of the Mississippi River. Over land it causes extreme rain or snow. This particular river’s moisture came from near Hawaii. Rivers from that area are known as a “Pineapple Express.” Climate change means these rivers are bigger and more often. The damage of this particular atmospheric river were made worse by last summer’s extreme heat dome (days of 120F) and fires that closed roads and railroads. Which meant the ground cover was gone, resulting in more and bigger mudslides. Some of the first news I heard about these floods were that a stretch of road was blocked by two mudslides and the people between them couldn’t go anywhere. Some of these towns will be isolated for a while. In many places roads being washed away means they’re gone – somewhere at the bottom of the valley. An opinion piece in last Sunday’s Detroit Free Press quoted a tweet from Robert Reich, a professor at Berkeley and a former Secretary of Labor. I didn’t find the article on the Freep, so I went looking for the tweet. Of course, I found several more of Reich’s tweets to quote. I’m starting with the tweet that prompted my hunt:

We do not have a “labor shortage." Here’s what we do have: -A living wage shortage -A child care shortage -A hazard pay shortage -A health care shortage

And the rest – One:

Reminder: The system enabled Elon Musk to rake in $36.2 billion in a single day last month. Don't buy into the myth that we can’t afford to invest in American families.

Two:

The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay was 21-to-1 in 1965 and 61-to-1 in 1989. Today it's 351-to-1. Talk about "inflation."

Three:

The real freeloaders in this country are the rich, not the poor. The United States literally has a yacht tax deduction.

Four:

If you oppose the biggest piece of anti-poverty legislation in decades, are you really pro-life?

New Progress responded with an image showing Universal Basic Income as much more muscular than anything else in reducing poverty. Another responded with George Carlin’s comments on being “pro-life.” I’ve posted this before (years ago) so I’ll only quote the end:

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them up to be dead soldiers. They’re not “pro-life.” You know what they are? They’re anti-woman. Simple as it gets.

Back to Reich – Five.

Can someone please explain why @Sen_JoeManchin or anyone else worries about the bogus inflationary impact of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, which is fully paid for by the rich, and not about the real inflationary impact of $8 trillion in military spending?

More on that below. A week ago Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona posted a video on social media depicting his fantasy of the murder of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden. On Tuesday the House debated, then voted on a bill to censure Gosar and strip him of committee assignments. It passed 223-207, which got maybe two Republican votes. Brandi Buchman of Kos reported on the censure vote, including liveblogging the floor debate. Gosar claimed the video, now taken down, was a joke. Tom Cole (R-OK) said Gosar did nothing wrong because he did not “intend” for the video to foment violence. Maybe Gosar didn’t “intend” that outcome but there are enough rabid fans out there who would be glad to act on it whether Gosar intended that or not. That’s just one reason why the video is bad. Pelosi condemned Gosar. It is not acceptable to depict killing a colleague. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ranted against Democrats trying to destroy the institution of the House. Project much? AOC spoke after McCarthy. She condemned him for his inability to condemn Gosar. It is good Gosar was censured. But he wasn’t expelled. Even Gosar’s siblings called for his expulsion for his “sociopathic fantasies.” I got a fundraising email (from Robert Reich and Move On) that after the censure vote Gosar reposted the video. Leah McElrath tweeted:

Republican officials have—so far—relied primarily on stochastic terrorism to create the violence they desire. (Although there is evidence they’ve also engaged support like funding and Capitol tours…) Nonetheless, we would be naive to imagine that will always be the case. ... Today’s censure of Gosar was critically important and about far more than a single animated video. I am heartened @SpeakerPelosi took this action, and I am appreciative of all the lawmakers who are increasing their own risk by speaking out.

Then McElrath quoted a tweet from Sen. Mazie Hirono, who spoke out:

I never thought I’d see the day where almost the entire Republican party refused to condemn death threats against a member of Congress. They truly are the party of insurrectionists, rioters and vigilantes and believe the rule of law doesn't apply to them.

It is on this day of the censure that the nasty guy endorsed Gosar, though his race is not competitive. That prompted McElrath to respond:

Trump’s supporters understand what he means, and we need to acknowledge it as well: With this unnecessary action at this particular time, Trump is implicitly endorsing threats and acts of violence by Republican lawmakers against Democrats.

Laura Clawson of Kos reported two true things. Yes, inflation is real and high. Also, there is a lot of good economic stories the news media isn’t reporting.

You know what else hasn’t gotten that kind of prominent coverage? The federal minimum wage being stuck at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade. If you want something that will erode people’s buying power, that right there is a factor for millions. It’s not unreasonable for people to freak out about higher prices, especially combined with the stress of more than 18 months of a life-altering global pandemic, plus headlines about supply chain problems that could create scarcities and further raise prices. But when the media puts its thumb on the scale, breathlessly reporting about one set of problems while barely covering either other problems (the ones, like the minimum wage, that point directly to progressive policy solutions) or the good economic news that is also available and true right now, the media is responsible for creating or at least heightening people’s fears. ... We see it when media coverage of rising fossil fuel prices isn’t accompanied by reporting on the possible benefits of investment in green energy, or when media coverage of food prices doesn’t take into account how climate change is fueling droughts and/or floods that hit farming areas and make food more expensive. Inflation is both a reality and a story the media chooses to tell over other stories. It’s an easy story for them to tell. But “531,000 new jobs in October” is also an easy story. “Child poverty drops by 29% in one month thanks to expanded child tax credit” is an easy story. The media makes choices. It has to be accountable for them.

Clawson also reported that now that the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been signed, Republicans that voted against it are taking credit for it. One to do so is Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama. He bragged about the funding that will be coming to the Birmingham Northern Beltline. A Palmer spokeswoman said he would have voted for it as a stand-alone bill, but didn’t vote for the waste in the total bill. Sure. What other member would have voted for the Birmingham Northern Beltline if the bill didn’t also have something for them? That’s why all these projects are put in one bill. Joan McCarter of Kos reported Biden, Harris, and others in his administration are on the road touting this infrastructure law and reminding citizens which party provided the majority of the votes. As for the companion bill for human infrastructure McCarter reported that Sen. Joe Manchin is still standing in the way. This time he’s worried about inflation, even though economists are saying it will lower inflation, not raise it. Republicans listening to Manchin are gleeful. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida declared the inflation issue “a gold mine.” Which prompted Chuck Schumer to tweet:

“A Gold Mine" That's how Senator Rick Scott talks about Americans struggling with rising costs Republicans don’t have solutions for families But they see political gold in exploiting their struggles We're working to pass Build Back Better to lower costs and support families

Not blogging for several days, then working to get out a big post yesterday, means I missed something important – I started writing this blog 14 years ago yesterday. In that time I’ve written 4759 posts (the count includes yesterday’s post). This is where I would add the count of different topic tags I’ve used. But I see Blogger doesn’t tell me that anymore. I can list the topics I’ve written about the most, though I wonder at times how accurate it is. The top topics, with the number of times I’ve used that tag, are: GOP (798) though it seems to have been at this number for a while Gay marriage / Marriage Equality (691), I changed tags after realizing the second is better Personal (414) the nasty guy (369) Gay Acceptance (295) Michigan (294), this has gone up a lot in the last two years. Fundamentalism (287) Supreme Court (285) Bigotry (259), there are a lot of related tags not counted here Corporate Takeover (258) Coronavirus (254), a tag that didn’t exist two years ago Racism (227) Rigged Elections (227), also a big rise in the last two years Conservatism (224) Authoritarian Rule (220) Barack Obama (217) Building Community (203)