100 days – difficult, heartbreaking, defiant, surprising, and uplifting

I finished the book Both Sides Now by Peyton Thomas. Finch Kelly is a high school senior. He’s transgender and chose his name. He would have preferred Atticus, but his parents vetoed that one. He is a leader in the debate club and his partner is Jonah, who is gay and Asian. When the book opens they are in the final round of the Washington state debate contest. The top two teams go to Nationals so win or lose they are going. Then they get the question all teams are to debate, and they have to be able to debate both sides. The question is: Should students in public schools be allowed to use the bathroom facilities of their choice. This doesn’t hit too close to home, nope, not at all. In addition to the debate the book portrays the life of a transgender teen, who has stopped the puberty blockers and started testosterone. His family is accepting, but somewhat dysfunctional and facing poverty. For the most part other students are accepting. But high school is never easy on minorities. Finch wears a binder to flatten his chest. And that means he can’t do such things as go swimming. Finch is quite clear about his gender identity, though he’s still working out his sexual orientation. And scared there is no one who will love his strange body. He doesn’t want to deal with this while preparing Nationals but has to anyway. I quite enjoyed this one and recommend it. Kos of Daily Kos wrote about one of the big artillery pieces, the HIMARS, which the US has announced will be sent to Ukraine. The HIMARS is a rocket system mounted on a truck with a very nice range. The big thing about the announcement, as with every announcement of military equipment given to Ukraine, is someone saying it is too little, too late. Too little? Compare that to Russia’s total annual military budget, which is $60 billion. The US is on track to deliver a quarter of that budget to Ukraine in months, with more delivered by other countries. And the US won’t stop at a quarter. In another sense, yeah, not enough. Too late? This war isn’t going to end soon. In addition, Ukraine may not have been able to use that equipment before now, based on more important needs, like helmets and shoulder launched missiles. There’s also the logistics of getting that mobile unit (18 tons) and its rockets (2.5 tons each) to where it is needed – and to keep those rockets coming. Mark Sumner of Kos wrote yesterday that it was the 100th day of the war. After recounting these 100 days he wrote:

It’s been an amazing 100 days. It’s been difficult and heartbreaking, especially when dealing with the utter destruction in places like Mariupol, the mass deportation of Ukrainian citizens to Russian labor camps, and the mass graves in places like Bucha. But it’s also been defiant, surprising, and uplifting, especially when witnessing the continued determination and spirit of the Ukrainian people in unimaginable conditions.

Sumner then added a report from Axios that the public’s interest in the war has dropped off significantly. But that hasn’t happened with Daily Kos readers, who are still highly engaged in the posts that Sumner and Kos write. They considered summary posts every 2-3 days, but interest is too high. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy also marked 100 days of the war. He essentially said: We’re still in Kyiv, still defending our independence, and will continue to do so. His message was intentionally quite similar to the message he gave on the second day of the war. The Russian state media said little about the date. ChrisO tweeted a thread about corruption in Russia and in their military. And it isn’t just those of highest rank. There is corruption at every level. Transparency International, in their Corruption Perception Index for 2021, rated Russia as 136th out of 180 countries with a score of 29. The least corrupt country is Denmark, with a score of 88. The US has a score of 67 and I’m surprised it is so high. The military summons a lot of youth. Only the poor or stupid are actually conscripted. The rest, about 70% have a way out, usually involving bribing someone. The conscripts are treated as slave labor, including forced into providing sexual services for which their commanding officer is paid. If they can’t afford accommodations, there are barracks, which are often unheated because the electricity has been stolen. If they are lucky enough to be posted to a depot there is plenty of opportunity for theft. As one moves up the ranks the opportunity for theft and scams increases. That includes skimming underling’s wages and declaring a large number of “dead souls” – soldiers that appear only in counts on paper. How many soldiers are in the Russian military? Who knows? There are many other kinds of scams. Some are prosecuted. Most are ignored or covered up. At the start of Pride month Gabe Ortiz of Kos reported that many of the corporations that make big splashy donations to LGBTQ nonprofits also donate heavily to bigoted politicians who have been introducing and passing legislation harmful to LGBTQ people. An example is AT&T. They advertise they’ll donate to the Trevor Project when a new customer mentions them. But they’ve also donated more than $1 million to anti-LGBTQ politicians, such as Gov. Abbott of Texas. And the Trevor Project, a hotline for LGBTQ people considering suicide, has been removed from the Texas Department of Health website. AT&T seems most aggressive in its support of both LGBTQ groups and anti-LGBTQ politicians. Other corporations doing the same dance are GM, Home Depot, CVS, FexEx, Delta, American Express, Target, Verizon and about 15 more. Amazingly, the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index doesn’t include political donations, so these companies get a favorable LGBTQ image while undermining LGBTQ rights. Joan McCarter of Kos reported that the Senate is in bipartisan talks about doing something about all the mass shootings in America. But it is pretty obvious the Republican participation is all for show, to pretend to craft a bill they know won’t get passed. McCarter included a tweet from Sen. Ben Ray Luján, dated June 2.

17 There have been 17 mass shootings since Uvalde. And Republicans are still saying America doesn’t have a gun problem. It’s unconscionable.

The Uvalde shooting was May 24, so nine days earlier. That means about two mass shootings a day. Yes, they want that. Also on Thursday Rep. Mondaire Jones of NY responded to the claim that a 2008 Supreme Court ruling meant Congress cannot do anything to regulate guns. That ruling was the one that said individuals, not just state sponsored militias, have a right to own guns. Jones explained that actual ruling and the Second Amendment (which never mentions it applies to individuals). Then came Rep. Dan Bishop of NC with a word salad trying to fit in every Republican talking point in as little time as possible. To that Jones said “What are you willing to do to stop the epidemic of gun violence in this country?” Bishop started in with a non answer. Jones cut him off, “So you are not going to answer the question because you don't actually have an approach.” After more word salad, Jones said, “I can translate that for you. He's willing to do nothing.” Rebekah Sager of Kos reported Emilia “Amy” Marin, a speech pathology clerk at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, hid during the shooting and survived. The shooter was 18. Marin is now suing gunmaker Daniel Defense for marketing its weapons to teenagers. Sager included an example that to me looks quite vile. It’s a tweet from Daniel Defense posted the day the Uvalde shooter bought his gun and just eight days before the actual shooting. It shows an image of a toddler holding a badass gun. The caption includes the Biblical verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Yes, vile. At the bottom of this post Sager referenced News Nation Now who got stats from Gun Violence Archive reports to say in the week since the Uvalde shooting there have been 20 mass shootings. That’s almost three a day, not the two a day from the stats mentioned above.