Expressly to hurt him

I stopped in at my friendly neighborhood bookstore (actually, no “neighborhood” bookstores, this is a national chain with a good selection and isn’t Amazon). Because we’re in Pride Month there was a table of LGBTQ books. I was surprised to see two books with a similar theme: the gay crown prince of England falls for an American. There is one difference – in one the American is the son of a female American president. Obviously, this is fiction – I’m pretty sure Prince Charles (age 72) and Prince William are straight. I bought one of them – the one where the American is not the President’s son. When I got home I looked them up online. The other one has a higher user rating. If this one is any good I may tell you about it. Sometime. Laura Clawson of Daily Kos discussed a report from the New York Times on Amazon’s employment practices. One aspect is the turnover (percent of employees who leave in a year) at one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers is 150%. Which means the staff is completely replaced about every eight months. This high turnover is intentional. Another aspect is these frontline workers have little hope for advancement into management. Part of that is the huge number of workers assigned to each manager, where most of the managing is done through surveillance and computers (just try to actually talk to your boss). Another part is managers are hired straight out of college without frontline knowledge. Why is this intentional? First is Jeff Bezos’ contempt for workers. Second, Bezos wants to prevent longtime workers from becoming stagnant, more devoted to the process than the result. Third, it keeps the workers from organizing a union. The downside is that some of these fulfillment centers in remote towns have already burned through the local labor pool and new workers need to be bused in. Bezos funded the creation of a space plane that will take people (those who can afford a ticket) to the edge of space for a short time (likely much less than an hour). If I was going to spend that kind of money (which I don’t have) I would want to at least orbit the earth a few times. I mention this because Bezos will be on the first passenger flight next month. And there’s a petition with lots of names asking the pilot to not let Bezos back to earth. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken a step closer to denying communion to politicians who support a women’s rights. Denying communion isn’t as bad as expulsion. The official denial will likely happen a year from now – for maximum impact in the 2022 election. This is clearly aimed at Joe Biden, only the second Catholic president. It is also in defiance of what the Pope has said. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed the issue, writing:

Joe Biden is not just a member of the Catholic church, he is someone for whom that identity as a Catholic, is a lynchpin. It’s not just his history, it’s his core. Saying that Biden “goes to church regularly” is deeply underselling the extent to which he has committed himself to his faith all his life.

Being denied communion would hurt Biden deeply. Which appears to be the point. Sumner also discussed the effect this decision would have on the church, both Catholic and other denominations. The latest poll shows that only 47% of Americans claim church membership – it was at 70% just 20 years ago. This action would drive the number lower, in general, but also within the Catholic Church where a majority disagree with the Bishop’s stance on women’s choice.

The bishops have no illusion that their actions will cause President Biden to revise his position around abortion. They’re doing this expressly to hurt him. Yes, they’re doing it to harm Democrat’s chances politically, but even more they’re taking this action to hurt Joe Biden deeply, personally, where he lives. In both of these things, they may succeed. And then they will cherish how intensely they have caused harm to a good Catholic, and to many other good women and good men, and feel themselves justified. They will clutch that feeling to themselves and feel warmed by it. Because 74% of American bishops demonstrated conclusively that the most important feature of their position, is the ability to act out of spite for their own satisfaction—no matter who it harms, or what damage it does to the church. ... And the next Gallup poll will show that membership has dropped. Again. And Gallup will talk about how younger people just don’t have the commitment to church. Again. And the bishops will have a conference and figure out who needs to be hurt next time.

Lea McElrath tweeted:

To be clear: It’s the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops taking this action, and they’re doing so against the directive of the Vatican. This is about the continuing development of American theocracy in particular.

NPR is doing a series on Climate Change in Cleveland. Biden has been talking not just about the environment, but environmental justice. NPR went there because the city s actually doing something about it. In yesterday’s segment host Dan Charles talked to several people, starting with Matt Gray, former chief of sustainability. He is now senior vice president at Student Conservation Association, which runs environmental volunteer programs. The audio is 5 minutes. The written article seems to be much more than a transcript. And it has pictures. Gray said that many are realizing that climate action and climate justice are the same thing. The poor are most affected by climate change and helping the poor will go a long way of reducing carbon use. A big reason for that is poor people in old homes can’t afford to insulate or switch to a more efficient furnace and appliances. Homes produce about a fifth of greenhouse emissions. Helping with that also helps health (less asthma and less lead poisoning, for example) and lowers energy bills. A big aspect of the Cleveland plan is asking the residents what they need. Two of the answers that came back were better public transport and more trees to provide shade. Cleveland has done a lot even without state funding – Ohio is GOP controlled. The city is hoping the infrastructure package with its promise of retrofitting five million homes will send a lot of money their way. Today’s installment of Cleveland and Climate Change featured renovation to Flora Dillard’s home. An existing program paid for insulation and a new furnace. Dillard got it because she heard about it and applied. The whole process would be better if the residents didn’t have to apply. The current system relies on residents finding out and stepping forward. A better way is for the city, nicely funded by the federal government, to come to them. Noel King of NPR spoke to Jim Buzinski of Outsports about Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Raiders football team announcing he is gay. Nassib has gotten a lot of support from his teammates, the league, and fans. Nassib is the first current NFL player to come out as gay. Before now players waited until after they left the game. Or they were like Michael Sam in 2014 who came out before the draft and never actually made a team and never played an NFL game.

Cleveland!

As cantankerous as Ohio politics is this is a delightful surprise: The Cleveland city council voted to create a domestic partner registry and the mayor has said he will approve it. To make it comply with state constitution amendments it is not restricted to gays.


Yesterday, I saw an article in Between The Lines (alas, the online version won't be available until tomorrow) that some GOP members of the Senate, who killed the auto industry bailout today, are saying one provision of the package that might get them to change their vote is to order all three companies to suspend their domestic partner insurance programs. Just think of the millions of dollars they'll save! Never mind their analysis of the number of gays who use this benefit is off by a factor of 5. It's always the fault of the gays. Though that article isn't online yet here is a summary with some rather snarky replies.