What, you’re against transparency?

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the weather people in our government) has a National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Hunter of Daily Kos reported that the NCEI tallied the financial (and only financial) costs of 2021’s climate disasters. In this report a “disaster” is an event resulting in $1 billion or more in damages. There were 20 of them in 2021. The damage of these 20 events is $145 billion. This is the cost of not trying to do something about climate change. Over the next ten years $1.5 trillion is the lower bound of what climate disasters will cost. Compare that to the $1.7 trillion cost of the BBB bill (spread over ten years and not yet passed by the Senate because a few key senators think it is too big). And the three-quarter trillion defense budget for this year alone. Laura Clawson of Kos reported on the current efforts of Christopher Rufo. He’s the guy that turned Critical Race Theory from an obscure term used in graduate schools into the latest boogeyman threatening elementary schools. The current effort is the word “transparency.” He plans to attach the word to a requirement that schools post all curriculum materials on the internet so that parents can inspect and object. Of course, we know what conservative agitators will encourage parents to object to. And what conservative parents demand will take the choice out of the hands of progressive parents or require teachers to have a personalized curricula for each student with a meddlesome parent. And when progressives cry foul Rufo has a ready answer. What, you’re against transparency? What is the school board trying to hide? And there is no way to prove the board is hiding nothing. Clawson also reported on a new education bill in Indiana that is against teaching “divisive” concepts. Matt Bockenfeld, a history teacher, went to a committee hearing and spoke against the bill.

For example, it’s the second semester of U.S. history, so we're learning about the rise of fascism and the rise of Nazism right now. And I'm just not neutral on the political ideology of fascism. We condemn it, and we condemn it in full, and I tell my students the purpose, in a democracy, of understanding the traits of fascism is so that we can recognize it and we can combat it. Of course, we're neutral on political issues of the day. We don't stand up and say who we voted for or anything like that. But we're not neutral on Nazism. We take a stand in the classroom against it, and it matters that we do.

Clawson wrote about State Senator Scott Baldwin, one of the co-authors of the bill:

Baldwin took exception to that. “I have no problem with the education system providing instruction on the existence of” Nazism, fascism, or Marxism, he said. “I believe that we've gone too far when we take a position on those isms ... We need to be impartial.” Impartial. About Nazis. ... Taken as a whole, this bill is an instrument of intimidation aimed at schools and teachers, to prevent the teaching of anything that any parent objects to. Any white parent, anyway. ... This is about intimidating teachers, about making their jobs more difficult. About dismantling public education as a public good that serves all children. That it’s using bigotry as its cover is all too appropriate.

The only people who demand we be impartial about Nazis are people who want to do what Nazis did. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, in his freshman term in the House, is right up there with Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene as the people most eager to support the nasty guy and bring on fascism. Hunter of Kos listed the evidence and wrote:

A group of 11 North Carolinians who definitely do not want a forever-lying fascism fetishist representing them have now filed a challenge to Cawthorn's 2022 candidacy, and the challenge centers Cawthorn's support for the attempted nullification of a U.S. election. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified immediately after the Civil War, bars those who mount an "insurrection" against the government from candidacy for federal office—and there's a solid case to be made that Cawthorn's personal actions to promote and abet the Jan. 6 insurrection fall squarely in the definition of "insurrection" the amendment (and over a century’s worth of court decisions) have spelled out. So if we're going to follow the Constitution, Cawthorn can't serve. And if he can't serve, he's not allowed to run.

Sounds like a very fine lawsuit. It is disappointing that citizens groups are having to bring the suits. Realistically, the various NC state boards and agencies – this is a Republican controlled state – are not going to keep Cawthorn from running again. But there’s enough evidence in the suit it can’t be dismissed. The suit asks for the right to issue subpoenas and to depose Cawthorn. Hunter wrote:

"We look forward to questioning him under oath," attorney Ron Fein noted to the Associated Press. And that is probably the catch they're most fishing for here. Not just State Board of Elections hearings on their challenge, but an opportunity to get Cawthorn on the record once and for all either supporting or distancing himself from the plot to erase an election. If he sticks to his guns even under oath, it's solid evidence that he intended "insurrection" according to the 14th Amendment's framework. If he doesn't ... Donald Trump will be mad at him. Very, very mad.

If Cawthorn distances himself can we get him for perjury? I agree with Hunter: More of this, please. Georgia Logothetis, in a pundit roundup for Kos, quoted Herman Wolf, writing for The Nation about the filibuster. In the push to get voting rights bills passed, the filibuster is back in the center of the debate. Wrote wolf:

A mere procedural rule should not be able to add a supermajority precondition to consideration or passage of proposed electoral legislation. That would amount to allowing that rule to become a de facto amendment of the Constitution. Throughout the Constitution and our history—indeed in every democracy—legislative outcomes are based on majority rule. When a supermajority is deemed necessary, it is specifically provided for, as with treaties, amendments, and impeachment convictions in our country. A supermajority prerequisite to consideration of all legislation is especially anomalous and, in fact, astonishing, given the framers’ intense hostility to supermajorities and to the minority rule they produce.

Democracy Docket, a platform for information about voting rights and democracy, tweeted about a way Senator Schumer might bypass the filibuster to get voting rights bills passed. I’ll summarize and let you read the details. When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill it goes to a reconciliation committee. “Once the bill has been sent between chambers three times, the motion to proceed CANNOT be filibustered in the Senate.” The plan is to take a bill where this has happened and replace the bill’s entire language with the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, quickly pass it in the House, and forward it to the Senate. In the Senate it goes straight to floor debate. Yeah, Republicans will try to pile on amendments to gut it. But this could be a way to get it done. David Roberts tweeted that legislation tends to be progressive. An active government is a tool for change. A conservative, one who benefits from the status quo power dynamics, wants government to leave things alone. Some lawmakers complain that without the filibuster, without bipartisan solutions, policy would whiplash back and forth. But once progressive policies are enacted, people like the help they get, and the policies become hard to undo (see: “Keep your hands off my Medicare!”). Conservatives know from their view it is much better to make sure such policies never get enacted.

Making normal legislation impossible, especially w/ an obscure & mostly hidden procedural quirk like the filibuster, is ideal for the GOP. It makes Dems look feckless & gov't look dysfunctional. It causes general f***-the-system angst *that benefits conservatives*. Anyway, yeah: the filibuster is for people who don't want government to do things and know that in a true one-person-one-vote democracy, government would do a bunch of things. So they need to prevent too much democracy. Everything else around this debate is noise.

So Sen. Joe Manchin and his colleagues who insist on maintaining the filibuster are acting like conservatives who don’t want the government to help people, who do want the government to protect their position in the current power dynamic. David Rothkopf, who is on the board of contributors of USA Today, tweeted:

People make a mistake in talking about the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the Senate or describing the Senate as being split 50-50. There is a pro-democracy caucus and an anti-democracy caucus and they are split 48-52.

Buc Nasty replied:

Correction, there is a pro white supremacy caucus and anti white supremacy caucus and they are split 48-52.

An update on my COVID experience. I’m feeling good. No sore throat, no reaching for tissues. Now that I’m over symptoms it is good to get a confirmation test. I waited until afternoon so I could combine that trip with going to the mall for a walk, then get groceries. When I called the clinic I had been to before they were out of tests for the day. I went to the mall and grocery store anyway. And kept my mask on. I had heard that omicron infects the upper respiratory tract – the throat and nose – and tends to not burrow into the lungs so much. Which is what I just experienced. That allows it to spread more quickly while causing less severe illness and less death. That prompted Peter Hotez, professor of pediatric molecular virology, to tweet:

My view? Omicron like the upper respiratory CoVs will not induce lasting immunity. Assuming this wave subsides in February we might get lucky and have an uneventful spring. But then a new variant will emerge from unvaccinated LMICs and sweep across the American South in summer

Commenter David Finton says “LMICs” means “Low/Middle Income Countries.” Leah McElrath tweeted a thread about education during the pandemic. There isn’t just “lost learning” because of students out of school or dealing with remote learning. Even if education is going well the grades students are getting now may not reflect ability. She concluded:

We are failing our children—literally and figuratively—by pretending the pandemic is a mere logistical issue rather than a collective trauma. The failure to respond proportionally to this event is IN ITSELF compounding the trauma experienced by children, parents, and teachers.

Derik Chica, an award winning teacher, tweeted:

I’ve been in non-stop calls with students. Guess what their #1 mental health concern is? It’s not in-person learning… They, and their families, are getting COVID. They are trying to focus on school and their graduation plans despite being bedridden with sickness. They need to focus on their health and rest. They want to do well in school. This is causing stress. ... Catching COVID causes mental health chaos. Opening schools without significant investment in safety is going to amplify this and we are not prepared.

His students are marginalized people. Opening schools for “mental health” is inequitable. Aysha Qamar of Kos reported that the US Mint is issuing new quarters honoring American Women. Similar to the quarters that honored the 50 states, then honored national parks and monuments in each state, these quarters will have George Washington on the front and one of several images on the back. The first one is already out and honors Maya Angelou. Qamar gives plenty of reasons why she is a good choice. As for the rest in this series Qamar wrote:

The other women include Dr. Sally Ride, who made history as the first American woman in space. Anna May Wong was the first Asian-American movie star, who appeared in silent films. Nina Otero Warren was a crusader for women’s equality in 1917 and became New Mexico’s first female government official. And last but not least Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation and any Native American nation.

I appreciate they are honoring a diverse group of worthy women.