Tag: Cornerstone Content

The Bipartisan Way That Biden’s Border Closing Proclamation Became Necessary

Michael Matheron2 Comments

Today, the White House issued a Presidential Proclamation, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Fact Sheet announcing that President Biden effectively closed the southern border [DHS FAQ].

Excerpts from the Proclamation:

You DO have to live like a refugee, young man
Copyright, Michael V. Matheron

Section 1.  Suspension and Limitation on Entry.  The entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border is hereby suspended and limited, subject to section 3 of this proclamation.  This suspension and limitation on entry shall be effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 5, 2024.  The suspension and limitation directed in this proclamation shall be discontinued pursuant to subsection 2(a) of this proclamation, subject to subsection 2(b) of this proclamation.

     Sec. 2.  Applicability of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a)  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall monitor the number of daily encounters and, subject to subsection (b) of this section, the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall be discontinued at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the date that is 14 calendar days after the Secretary makes a factual determination that there has been a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500 encounters, not including encounters described in subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation.

Also, it directs that:

For purposes of subsection (a) and subsection (b) of this section, unaccompanied children (as defined in section 279(g)(2) of title 6, United States Code) from non-contiguous countries shall not be included in calculating the number of encounters.

President Biden has had understandably difficult policy, humanitarian, and political choices since day one of his administration. Hyperbolic MAGA/GOP criticism was expected, but due to Trump’s meddling this has not been consistent: during February, the GOP scuttled a Senate-created very workable and strict bipartisan immigration bill, one that the Senate fought hard to produce. Why refuse to pass a bipartisan bill MAGA/GOP members had helped craft? Well, enter the usual suspects: firstly, it’s impossible to please them, especially House MAGAs, with any Biden- or Democratic-supported victory, and, secondly, because Trump directed his congressional minions to deny Biden a victory – regardless of the human toll at the border. This interference is now commonplace since Trump is a demanding god who wants to mendaciously campaign on Biden’s failure to enact immigration reform. Thus, the southern border has devolved into a very serious train wreck with Trump the berserk engineman.

Also, of no small measure, there’s a pox on both houses. For example, Democratic progressives were unmoved by many of the concessions to GOP/MAGA allowed by Democratic senators during the border bill negotiations. The Congressional Progressive Caucus had this to say on May 22:

“We are disappointed that the Senate will once again vote on an already-failed border bill in a move that only splits the Democratic Caucus over extreme and unworkable enforcement-only policies. This framework, which was constructed under Republican hostage-taking, does nothing to address the longstanding updates needed to modernize our outdated immigration system, create more legal pathways, and recognize the enormous contributions of immigrants to communities and our economy. . . It is tempting to simply embrace the very policies we rejected under Donald Trump to counter the horrific xenophobic and racist attacks against immigrants coming from the right. We urge our Senate Democratic colleagues to resist this urge and instead show a clear contrast between Republicans and Democrats. Abandon unworkable policy solutions offered by Republicans and instead work with our caucuses to craft a common-sense bipartisan bill that provides holistic solutions that address our economic, humanitarian, and security needs — not more of the same enforcement-only approach that has failed us for the last 30 years.” 

Moreover, the Tri-Caucus – a diverse group of legislative leaders comprised of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) – were leery of the Senate’s deal. One of their group, CHC, issued a statement, excerpted below:

“The Senate border bill once again fails to meet the moment by putting forth enforcement-only policies and failing to include provisions that will keep families together . . . As written, the bill excludes critical protections and legal pathways for families, farm workers and America’s Dreamers who have been in the U.S. contributing to our Nation’s communities and economy for decades. . . CHC recognizes that our immigration system is broken and that there are challenges at the border that Congress must address. However, if this bill passes, it will set back real comprehensive immigration reform by years.”

I sympathize with the progressive concerns and usually side with them, and there indeed were some MAGA/GOP nasty provisions in the bipartisan border bill. The tactics here missed the moment though, when Democrats needed to present a solid front. There are times when one must accept the possible versus the perfect. This bipartisan bill was that moment when a Pyrrhic victory was worthwhile. With a win on the bipartisan bill, Democrats would have:

  • pleased most American voters (many Democrats consider border security their greatest concern);
  • helped Biden and Democratic 2024 candidates in red and purple states by giving them a big win by softening the resistance of swing voters; and;
  • turned some of those highly border-concerned independent votes from leaning MAGA/GOP to Democratic votes, and that group will be decisive in 2024 for Biden and Senate and House races with control of two out of three government branches at stake; and;
  • provided Democrats – should they capture majorities in Congress and return Biden to the White House – many chances to modify the bipartisan bill’s immigration policies to revise or remove some or all of the most objectionable MAGA/GOP provisions.

It was that important to compromise on the border security bill and there will be no more chances before the election. Opportunity – a big one – missed.

Is it too late for President’s border closing effort to remedy the harm done by failing to pass the bipartisan bill through a divided Congress? I do think the border issue will swing this election. Bear in mind, should MAGA/GOP forces repopulate the federal government in 2025, the immigration bill they will formulate will be draconian. For example, see a GOP bill that cleared the House one-year ago, a bill that would have codified President Trump’s policies and added ever more severe policies. Hopefully, the future of Biden’s Proclamation in the five months before election day will cure much of the public’s intense concern about the administration’s immigration policies and turn undecided votes to Democratic votes. Hope especially for a minor miracle – that the disappointing Biden campaign staff will know/learn how to use and widely publicize this win From my typewriter to God’s ears.

Sorry MSNBC, I AM Dancing in the Street . . .

Michael Matheron2 Comments

Yesterday, during MSNBC’s coverage of the Trump transformation from “first criminally indicted former president” to “first criminally convicted former president,” Jen Psaki – with the general agreement of the polite panel (except the always reliable Joy Reed) – advised viewers that she wasn’t about dancing in the street over the news of Trump’s 34 count conviction. Apparently, that would be too impolite and incivil. Being an aging baby boomer I am delighted by impolite, and a schadenfreude admirer regarding enemies of the state, so, I took a pass on Psaki’s advice. One needs to celebrate a victory, especially since Trump has for decades avoided such a comeuppance. So, here’s my attempt at schadenfreudish happy feet:

Memorial Day 2024

Michael MatheronLeave a comment

For nearly a decade now many have seemingly invited strife and battle into our lives. Many young, many old, have never learned or have forgot the bloodstained horrors of civil war. They, like those summer soldiers of 1861, have the look of, have the sound of pleading for violent revolution, and they, like the civil warriors of 1861 believe it will all be over and decided by next Christmas. So strong do they believe themselves to be; one marvels at the confidence that only self pride can muster from those who know nothing of war, war up close, cheek by jowl, bleeding into each other. There’s a certain feeling of inevitability about it, as though they have their eyes set of it as a prize that they’ll surely win. Yet, the ending of it all, should it come, will certainly, as do all ravenous conflits, resemble this instead:

Disabled
BY WILFRED OWEN

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees, 
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,—
In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,
All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face,
For it was younger than his youth, last year.
Now, he is old; his back will never brace;
He’s lost his colour very far from here,
Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race 
And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

 One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,
After the matches carried shoulder-high.
It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg,
He thought he’d better join. He wonders why.
Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts.
That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,
Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,
He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg;
Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.
Germans he scarcely thought of, all their guilt,
And Austria’s, did not move him. And no fears
Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits
Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,
And do what things the rules consider wise,
And take whatever pity they may dole.
Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come
And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

BREAKING! – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Revises Her Description of the Deaths of Her Puppy & Goat

Michael Matheron1 Comment

05-09-2024, 1:54 p.m., A News Network, Pierre, SD. Governor’s Office, for immediate release.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem released this statement:

My Dear South Dakota friends and supporters, I have recently ended my book tour which is among the most tragic events that this farm girl has ever suffered. It was caused by liars and vicious reporters in the extreme left wing commie-fascist media. Their claims about the deaths of my dog and goat that they say were included in my new book are untrue. Even the excerpts they’ve manufactured are fictitious. So powerful and sinister is the extreme left wing that they’ve managed to brainwash millions. It is, therefore, time for me to go on the offensive and attack our foes with the truth, the truth as I and God understand it.

No gross executions of my dog and goat took place. The truth is quite the opposite: In fact, it was I who was fired on first. I neither sought nor welcomed armed conflict and only did so as a self defense measure. My disgruntled 14-month-old dog Cricket and his vicious co-conspirator, an obnoxious old goat who strutted on the wrong side of the barnyard, chose to arm themselves with military grade weapons and, by trickery, ambush me for obviously Biden-inspired political reasons.

They began by secreting themselves on a chicken farm belonging to my dear neighbors. There, from their hiding places in a gravel pit, they opened fire on a dozen or more defenseless chickens, loading, shooting, and reloading 16-shot clips until they had devastated the chicken herd. When I was informed and arrived at the scene, I called out to them and asked that they cease their killing fire, instead, they turned their attention to me, their primary target, in a blood lust. They fired a dozen rounds as I hit the dirt and drew from my holsters one each of the several pistols and hand grenades I carry with me whenever I visit neighbors. I did not seek this confrontation. Yet, being a South Dakota farm girl I knew that firefights with livestock were a normal life activity, not to be shied away from, particularly by a strong governor who deserves higher office.

It was not long before Cricket began a flanking maneuver while the old craven goat laid down covering fire. I tossed a grenade, I fired my Glock, I nearly took a bullet as I ducked into the gravel pit only to be confronted by that devil goat looking for a gunfight, old western movie style. He hopped toward me, I dove to the left and drew my weapon, firing instinctively as I had done so many times before in shootouts with other farm animals. Being the kind of person South Dakotans want for Vice President in the coming election, I dropped that goat stone dead. Someone had to do it.

Meantime, Cricket had circled around me and growled that fake puppy sound that is meant to disguise their true intentions, but tells a South Dakota farmer that there was death in the offing, either for me or for Cricket. I turned on him and fired, he fired, then, we fought hand to paw, rolling in the sharp gravel that broke each of my fingernails clean off. Cricket tried the old cowards tactic of licking my face, a fake peace entreaty and far too late. A gunshot rang out. For a moment neither of us knew who’d been shot, if shot at all. After a moment I could see. And Cricket was no more. Someone had to do it.

This summary rebuttal of the vile left wing tampering with the text of my book will allow me to resume my nationwide book tour as of this evening when I will appear in Pierre’s Shotgun Shell Bar & Rifle Range, from 8:00 – 9:00 pm. Free beer for all the ladies! I am proud to be your governor until something better materializes. God bless & pass the ammo!

About the Antisemitism Awareness Act – MAGA Forgets Its Own Core Antisemitism

Michael Matheron2 Comments

Quick Background

Six years ago, the publication Inside Higher Education ran an article about 2018’s version of the Antisemitism Awareness Act and observed,

“anti-Semitism’s manifestations change over time. There is a robust debate, both inside the Jewish community and among experts on the issue, over the relationship between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Sometimes anti-Zionism constitutes anti-Semitism; sometimes it doesn’t.”

Their bifurcation framed antisemitism as a set of definitional issues regarding

  • antisemitism directed against the state of Israel as a state, i.e., a sovereign corporate entity, and thereby a diplomatic issue about which the State Department has its own definition, and
  • in the education sector, antisemitism directed at individuals, i.e., a civil rights issue under the Department of Education Civil Rights Division’s definition of antisemitism to be used to determine schools’ antidiscrimination legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) “to provide all students, including Jewish students, a school environment free from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” (Note that Title VI does not apply to discrimination based upon religion itself, but applies to race, national origin, and ethnicity which creates confusion in policy. Also note, Title VI applies to institutions which receive federal aid.)

Much comes to mind since the Inside Higher Education article referenced above pointed out the perennial truth that “anti-Semitism’s manifestations change over time.” Today’s manifestation arises from the latest and most vicious war in many years between the state of Israel and Gaza’s Hamas. In the education sphere regulated under Title VI, mass protests grow in intensity and they often mix attacks on Jewish and Palestinian individuals with attacks upon the Jewish state.

How broad or narrow ought antisemitism be defined to maintain reasonable First Amendment free speech rights? And what about the distinction between the diplomatic vs. the personhood definition for federal enforcement purposes? And that definition variance is the rub. What makes this bill so controversial is its reliance on equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism: one is criticism of an entity, the other of a person. Indeed, it’s a categorical error. So, it appears, if the bill passes Senate muster, on-campus criticism of the Jewish state is antisemitic. And the Antisemitism Awareness Act seeks to resolve this by empowering the Education Department to take action against educational institutions that do not sufficiently combat anti-Israel speech on campus where this kind of “diplomatic” free speech ought to be encouraged in order to air out attitudes about countries’ treatment of, for example in Gaza, noncombatant rights.

This round of concern has, of course, arisen as fallout from the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, and the resulting protests roiling campuses. And this is a time of existential crisis for both sides, their disputed homelands up for destruction. The bill, titled the Antisemitism Awareness Act, would mandate that the Education Department adopt a broad definition of antisemitism created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRM), an intergovernmental group. The group defines antisemitism as a “certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” The group adds that “rhetorical and physical manifestations” of antisemitism include such things as calling for the killing or harming of Jews or holding Jews collectively responsible for actions taken by the state of Israel. These manifestations are directed at Jewish individuals and ought to be prevented even to the point of shackling free speech rights.

However, as noted above, importantly, the House-adopted definition of antisemitism arguably includes offenses against the Jewish state, ‘‘[d]enying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,’’ and ‘‘[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.’’ This is the substance of the Antisemitism Awareness Act. The scope of this expanded definition makes it illegal in an educational setting to merely claim “that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” or, if heavily enforced by DOE, to forbid any criticism of, for example, Israel’s brutal conduct of the present conflict. That goes too far, discussions of the behavior of our allies must be free-flowing, particularly in an educational setting.

An Example That Eats the Rule

Interestingly, and counterintuitively, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRM) examples of antisemitic behavior adopted by the House-passed bill contain a limitation:
“However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” [emphasis added]

Is this the exception that eats the rule? After all, most of the present on-campus criticism of Israel is based upon the international laws of war, and the responsibility for treatment of refugees and noncombatants. And isn’t this the same kind of criticism any other country receives in these circumstances, and therefore, according to the definitional section of the Antisemitism Awareness Act itself “cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” That creates confusion, it does not resolve it. Thus, the Antisemitism Awareness Act which is intended to, in large part, prevent criticism of Israel, the sovereign nation, contains a serious internal contradiction provided by the very IHRM definition it seeks to codify. As such, it needs to be considered carefully by the Senate.

MAGA’s Core Antisemitism

As an aside, but an important one, it’s interesting to note the overwhelming support of Republicans for a measure that supports Israel’s stated right to exist as a state. The GOP has not shown itself to be an avid supporter of Jewish causes, particularly since Jewish voters are largely Democratic party voters. Hardly a day goes by when a Marjory Taylor Greene or the erstwhile Kevin McCarthy pins most of the world’s problems on George Soros, in general, or the Rothschild’s Jewish Space Lasers. How there are Jewish Zionist Republicans I’ll never understand.

The MAGA movement (which is, basically, the Republican party at this point) is riddled with proud nazi sympathizers who openly encourage an end to the Israel and to the Jews themselves. Trump himself doesn’t have a clearly stated policy and recently has used antisemitic rhetoric that directly quotes many classic bits of antisemitism, for example, that Jews support Democrats, that they support Israeli interests over American interests. As has been pointed out often, Trump is a “transactional” political actor, so his position may remain forever unknown, but he does know his supporters are primarily and loudly antisemite, singling out both Israel as a country and Jews as individuals.

So here’s how the GOP/MAGA party acolytes voted. Given their widespread antisemitism, one is reminded that Napoleon once remarked,

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.” 

House Roll Call (go here to view each Member’s vote)
MAY 01, 2024, 04:50 PM | 118TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION

Republican1872109
Democratic1337009
Independent0000

Chronicle of Bankruptcies Foretold: Trump’s First Stock Market Experience

Michael Matheron1 Comment

But It Was A Great Way for Investors to Avoid Inflation

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino demolition, February 2021, one month after January 6th insurrection.

Most Trump watchers of the early 21st century learned to avoid any publicly traded stock offering having Donald Trump at the helm, i.e., Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. Yes, was his Atlantic City casinos era, during which he managed to underperform the casino industry in a world famous manner. Rookie mistakes like saturating the casino market with multiple casinos to his own disadvantage, taking on massive. ultimately unpayable, debt, filing his company for bankruptcy a legendary four times. Of course, he – shameless – did well financially by having no real financial stake in his own company, yet, he siphoned off revenue from operations for himself in salaries, bonuses (for what?), licensing fees, and other sneaky deals. And, then, as now, he blamed others, lied outrageously, stiffed contractors, and all in all built the Donald Trump we know, the orange man-boy who would be king. (For a fine walk down casino lane see here.)

VOX’s Matthew Yglesias observed:

“Mom-and-pop investors who had the misfortune to put their confidence in Trump lost nearly everything. [see chart below] But as a performance of low cunning, his stewardship of THCR really did verge on genius. The company itself was a dumpster fire, losing money every year Trump served as chair. But he managed to personally pocket $44 million in salary and bonuses. Even more egregiously, he offloaded personal debts onto the corporate balance sheet and had the public company purchase services ranging from bottled water to plane flights from Trump’s privately held enterprises.”

Here’s an example from a regulatory filing, as you can see by comparing it to the stock price further below, the stock value was nearing single figures, down from its high of $240/share.

So, while the casino industry as a whole did well during the Trump era, Trump managed to quickly and forevermore collapse, basically due to both financial and management incompetence, and most of all chicanery, greed, and self-promotion at the highest levels.

Meet the New Trump, Same as the Old Trump

Those too young or too forgetful have yet to learn these lessons of the past as they lately dove into the shares of Trump’s second Wall Street adventure, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) (see my previous post to learn how they’ve fared thus far). Some DJT investors lost 37.8% in first two weeks of trading.

Also, since much of the outstanding shares of DJT owned by large shareholders (Trump owns 58%) are not eligible to be traded before October 1 (called a “180 day lock-up”), the stock available to trade is approximately 25% of total shares outstanding. Thus, with larger shareholders on the sideline, trading has been allowable primarily amongst small shareholders, i.e., by MAGA’s Trump cult investors who have little to no understanding of what they’ve gotten into, and with whom. They’re the ones with losses, by and large. And for reasons alluded to above, and other technical/contractual ones, the outlook for the future is not inspiring. More on that in my next DJT posting . . .

Anti-Public Health Conspiracy Thinking Is Nothing New – The 2011 Florida Case

Michael MatheronLeave a comment

This post is a reprint of one I published in October 2011 entitled “The Floridation of Fluoridation: Pinellas County Commission Votes to Increase Tooth Decay.” In the midst of the MAGA anti-science/anti-regulation movement this 2011 post reminds us that this kind of retreat from rationality has suffered through many other periods, and this particular version is only twelve years past. This one, spearheaded by the Tea Party crusade, was an obvious precursor of the worse things to come with our present MAGA crowd who have taken this to an extreme, of course. They have far more political power than the Tea Party had.

In fact, a strong third party candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr., has built much of his campaign around conspiracy thinking about vaccinations. He may have enough support to materially affect the 2024 election outcome, and many political analysts believe he might draw enough votes in close battleground states to propel Trump into our lives for four more years. And, given the very limited success of the court cases against him and the weakness of our incumbent president’s popularity, there is no vaccination against a second Trump regime.

October 14, 2011

NAZIs for Tooth Decay

Teeth Are Highly Overrated. Last night, Rachel Maddow gave us a glimpse at what a Tea party Republican America might look like. It ain’t pretty. And it’s stupider than it ain’t pretty. Moreover, its collective toothy grin will be missing a tooth or two within a fairly short time. . .

On October 4th, Pinellas County Florida’s Tea Party dominated Board of County Commissioners voted 4-3 to remove fluoride from the county water supply, exempting St. Petersburg and a few other cities. Health concerns? Not so much. One could sympathize if the commissioners based their decision on serious health concerns. They didn’t. Indeed, there are no serious health concerns associated with fluoridation according to an overwhelming number of public health researchers.

Then what? One local Tea Partier put it this way, according to the October 5th St. Petersburg Times: “Fluoride is a toxic substance,” said tea party activist Tony Caso of Palm Harbor. “This is all part of an agenda that’s being pushed forth by the so-called globalists in our government and the world government to keep the people stupid so they don’t realize what’s going on.” He added: “This is the U.S. of A, not the Soviet Socialist Republic.”

Another, an actual voting member of the commission, longtime Republican John Moroni joined Norm Roche, Neil Brickfield and Nancy Bostock in voting to stop the program. . . Morroni compared the practice to the disputed federal health care reform law mandating that people buy health insurance. Ultimately, he said, public support has shifted since he and other commissioners approved the practice. “I don’t think the county government should be telling people they have to have fluoride in the water,” Morroni said. If folks want their water flavored with slime, fish heads, mercury, and petroleum, Morroni will apparently brook no governmental interference. This is a guy who, believe it or not, also serves on the county’s Health and Human Services Coordinating Council.

Pinellas County residents shrugged. In fact, a week after the vote Morroni’s emails were highly supportive. At the next commission meeting on October 11th, he stuck to his guns. Citizens spoke out as well. According to TampaBay.com: “One woman blamed fluoride in her drinking water for making her overweight, causing dentists to shrug. Another woman handed all seven commissioners a book: The Fluoride Deception. . . In a tangle [between two commissioners, one of them] even compared adding fluoride to dropping psychotropic drugs Ritalin and Prozac in the water.” Why not Viagra, I ask.

Mind you, fluoridation has never been popular in Pinellas County. According to the St. Petersburg Times, until its 2004 debut it was, “the largest water supplier in the eastern United States that did not fluoridate its water.” This despite the wide acceptance of fluoride’s positive effect on reducing dental disease.

The Mayor of Florida speaks out

Tea Party Florida-tion of America So, surely, this reaction to fluoride is an anomaly, a local breakout treatable with Clearasil. We’d think even the Tea Party understands the importance of proven public health measures. Well, no. The Tea Party has but one interest: to end anything they consider an “interference” with their brand of “liberty,” or “freedom.” This principle does not spare public health. In effect, they don’t recognize or give credence to the word “public” in any real sense. All men (and, presumably, women) are islands. Therefore, public health measures like fluoridation and vaccinations are invasions of liberty, or, thereby, privacy (a right they do not, by the way, believe exists in the Constitution). No public health measures would be safe in Tea Party America.

For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) rates fluoridation as one of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” of the 20th Century, right there with these other successes, all intermediated by federal and state governments:

  • “healthier mothers and babies,” (WIC, Planned Parenthood, Food Stamps, etc.)
  • “family planning,” (Planned Parenthood, birth control, right to choose, etc.)
  • “vaccination,” (everything from measles to polio to APV)
  • “safer and healthier foods,” (FDA, Dept. of Agriculture), and
  • “safer workplaces” (OSHA, Mine safety, etc.).

Note that all these are on the national Tea Party hit list. Recall the debate over funding the FDA, the controversy over the otherwise loony Rick Perry’s APV vaccination program in Texas, the attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, and, most of all, the never ending attack on abortion rights, including some forms of birth control. As you know, there are many more examples of this that affect health or safety, that, in effect, endanger public health successes from reaching the public, particularly the poor.

Of course, a Tea Partiers’ primary peeve is a general one, from which their “policies” emerge like poop from a goose: government regulation of nearly any kind. Since all regulation of individual behavior or business practices are considered by them to be an interference with liberty and freedom, regulations furthering the promotion of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” of the 20th Century are slated for suppression. Here’s two more:

  • “Motor-vehicle safety,” and
  • “Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard.” 

These are, after all, an interference with an individual’s liberty to kill himself/herself needlessly. Regulations, like seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws, firstly, denies the freedom to be without insurance and then, secondly, let’s them rely on health professionals’ and hospitals’ charity to regain their health. “Responsibility to society” is not, in any real sense, a phrase in the Tea Party repertoire. (Nor is “repertoire”)

In any event, the above covers eight of CDCP’s “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” of the 20th Century, all slated for serious ugly treatment by the Tea Party. That leaves two more:

  • “Control of infectious diseases,” and 
  • “Decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke”

There must be something wrong with these. . . How will they attack them? Well, if not directly, they plan to do so indirectly by defunding national research programs like NIH, CDCP, and others. This is already underway in the GOP-dominated Congress.

Let’s not Florida-date America.

GOP Congressloon Chip Roy, Maybe You Should Have Waited Until Sunday . . .

Michael MatheronLeave a comment

After his GOP majority “shut down” a workable, bipartisan, and tough-on-immigrant border deal simply because Maximus Trump ordered them to do so, Texas congressloon Chip Roy prematurely warned the world of disaster a day before the budget deal was struck, and signed, immediately, by President Biden. Roy has been in the House since 2019, and ought to have known that rarely do these threatened shutdowns occur, although they have done three times, once each, under Clinton (16 days), Obama (21 days), and under Chip Roy’s unprecedented President Trump (the longest shutdown at 33 days).

Roy, by the way, is a prototypical MAGA/Tea Party budget ax man who has never met a budget item he didn’t want to cut, especially social welfare programs and taxes. Hypocritically, he would have applauded a shutdown. Like most of his GOP/MAGA congressloon colleagues (and, sadly, this includes some fifth column Democrats), causing the federal government to shut down is their overriding primary rationale, intimately intertwined with their tax cutting fever. This is why they continually underfund important federal programs: this causes inefficiencies and poor management of these programs, thus proving, to those who don’t make the connection, that the federal government does not work, in general and in particular. They are for decades the quintessential anti-government force in American history.

Preach, brother, preach: