A drag show is not a foreign threat

Just three days after finishing one book I’ve finished another. This one is Dear Martin, by Nic Stone. The main character is Justyce. (Only three books back was another with a character named Justice – a trend?) This Justyce is black, 17 years old, and getting through his senior year at an elite preparatory school in Atlanta. He lives on campus and is one of eight black students. And he’s dealing with a whole lot of racism. In the opening chapter he’s come to the aid of his ex-girlfriend who can pass for white and is quite drunk. After he gets her into the back seat of her car so he can drive her home he’s arrested and handcuffed. The cop won’t tell him the charge and won’t let him speak. In his Societal Evolution class, which discusses issues of the day, Jared blathers on about how racism is over and affirmative action is now reverse racism. And the racist incidents pile up from there. Not all is bleak – he does have enough successes to keep the reader cheering for him. To help him sort through the racial issues he writes letters to Martin Luther King in his notebook. He also studies King’s letters and sermons. But as the racial incidents pile up and get stronger he wonders: King was a good man. They still shot him. So why be good? He does all he can to do what he’s supposed to – study hard and make good grades – and people still see him only for the color of his skin. Youthful missteps are turned against him. He feels he can’t win. So why be good? As the incidents pile up I began to wonder if the author was trying to cram all the racial situations faced by black male teens into one book, perhaps making them more relatable by having them all happen to a character we get to know and root for. But having them all happen to one guy in one year doesn’t really happen. Does it? That’s when I reminded myself I’m not black. I don’t experience racism. This could very well be what young black men go through every year. This isn’t exactly a book one enjoys, though there are plenty of enjoyable moments. I kept going to see how Jus would answer the question he posed. I’ve talked about Michigan’s barely Democratic majority, 56-54, in the state House and what they’ve been able to do with it, including gun control laws. So it’s disappointing, but not surprising, that, as David Nir of Daily Kos Elections reported, conservative activists have launched recall campaigns against five House Democrats. Petitions are being filed with the State Board of Canvassers to soon start to collect signatures. Since there was record turnout last November to keep Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in office the number of required signatures has gone up. And – oh, look here! – the window to gather those signatures is only 60 days, thanks to the previous Republican majority who thought they would be in power forever. The reason why activists want to recall these representatives is they voted for the new red flag law that allows courts to removed guns from those who might endanger themselves or others. Well, also the activists think they’re vulnerable. Another aspect of this effort is that the Michigan Republican Party is essentially broke. There is a great deal of infighting and donors have closed their wallets. As part of a pundit roundup for Kos Denise Oliver Velez posted cartoons in the comments. A few of them are about RFK Jr. I’m old enough to remember his father who was his brother’s Attorney General and helped get the Loving v. Virginia case to strike down bans on interracial marriage before the Supreme Court. I also remember when RFK was the hope of the Democratic Party in 1968 – until he was assassinated. We were all asked to “Pray for Bobby.” His son is ... quite different. Yeah, he’s running for president in the Democratic Party, but he’s much more pleasing to Republicans. His big thing seems to be vaccine conspiracy theories. On one cartoon Taylor Jones showed a famous line from the father and a line the son might say.

RFK: Some men see things as they are and ask, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and ask “Why not?” Junior: I see things that don’t exist and ask, “Why not twist them into bizarre conspiracies?”

Adam Zyglis drew a cartoon of Camelot, where JFK wears a crown and RFK Junior Joker wears a jester hat. Velez included a tweet from Laurie:

Kerry Kennedy is denouncing the antisemitism espoused by her brother Robert Kennedy Jr., and does not represent what his father stood for. RFK Jr’s family does not support his bid for the presidency either. Time to drop out of the race!!

More comments say Joseph Kennedy III and perhaps a couple other cousins have also condemned Junior’s run. Hmm ... Is Junior suffering trauma from his father’s murder 55 years ago? Not that I’m an armchair psychologist. Mark Sumner of Kos posted a Ukraine update that answered some of my questions. A couple days ago I wondered exactly what was meant by Putin declaring he was pulling out of the deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to travel through the Black Sea to feed the world. Putin has shown us what he meant: * There have been several waves of missile attacks on Odesa, the primary grain port. Much of the attacks focused on those grain ports. * Putin declared any ship in the Black Sea heading towards Ukrainian ports will be assumed to carry military cargo and will be treated accordingly. That’s not just ships with Ukraine’s flag, but all ships. Is attacking all ships all bluster? Someone might like to test that. But Turkey is much less likely to risk ships to escort Ukrainian ships. And because insurance companies won’t insure ships going to or from Ukraine other countries are less likely to test for bluster. Also, I wondered whether Putin would go to the BRICS conference in South Africa in August and risk arrest for war crimes. The word now is he won’t attend. One item to be discussed at that conference is how to undercut the dollar as the world’s default currency. The decline of the Russian economy makes progress on that goal less likely. The replacement currency certainly won’t be the ruble, with the way it has been falling lately. Aldous Pennyfarthing of Kos reproduced a debate between Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, who is gay, and Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. They were at House subcommittee debate on defense spending and topic was drag shows at a military installation. I had mentioned this a few days ago. This is part of the defense funding debate because Republicans, especially Sen. Tommy Tuberville, have attached a whole bunch of culture war things to the defense bill. Part of that is this drag queen issue and part is because the military pays for service members and family to travel out of state if the state where they are posted has banned abortion. First Pocan established that the drag shows cost $21K in an $850 billion budget. They also paid for a few $25 pride flags. Then the fun part: During WWII the movie This Is the Army, with Ronald Reagan – the Republican St. Ronnie – in the cast. The movie was about soldiers putting on a show and some of them are in drag. It raised $10 million for the Army Relief Fund. That’s three times what the Wizard of Oz had earned by that time. Pocan concluded:

Now, so, for all the worries about, I think you said, the focus on foreign threats that we’re dealing with. A Pride flag is not a foreign threat. A drag show is not a foreign threat. Ronald Reagan is not a foreign threat. But having this kind of rhetoric on the floor so you can get people who want to pander and fundraise to certain aspects of your base is a threat to this democracy. So I just want to put it out there. I didn’t plan on debating, but every time you put this stupid crap up that has nothing to do with appropriations, I’m going to stand up and say something.

Of course, I looked up the movie. One can watch it online. I watched a trailer and think I’ll skip it. It was the highest grossing movie musical until 1954 when White Christmas beat it out. It’s still in the top 40.