the worst supreme court opinions of all time

The United States has been in existence for two hundred and forty-eight years.  The first opinion rendered by the Supreme Court was West v. Barnes, 2 US 401 (1791), a long and deservedly forgotten and ultimately minor issue regarding a dispute over payment for goods the plaintiff in the case before the Court argued had been improperly granted in the lower courts due to the fact that the writ of error leading to his losing his farm in the payment dispute was not properly signed by a Supreme Court clerk.  In other words, in today's society, who cares?

It got me to thinking, however, that the Court has now been issuing decisions since 1791, which obviously covers the entirety of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as the twenty-first up to the present date.  It also got me to wondering, the nine years of the Court's opinion issuing existence of the eighteenth century aside, what the single worst opinions of the Supreme Court were in each of these centuries.  When I am referring to the single worst decisions, I do not necessarily mean that the opinions were necessarily against the language or penumbras of the Constitution, but were against all humanity, all common sense, or were simply so cruel that any rational present day thought would immediately lead to the decision that the cases were wrongly decided from the outset.

Starting with the nineteenth century, I would imagine that the outright winner for the worst opinion of the century would be Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393 (1857), commonly known these days simply as the "Dred Scott" case.

As most know, the Court in Dred Scott ruled that black persons born into slavery or brought into the country and sold as slaves in the pre-Civil War days were nothing more the property of their masters.  They otherwise had not rights as humans.

There is no particular analysis of the decision that is necessary present day.  Nobody, at least nobody with any sense of decency or humanity, would argue that a Black person, or any ethnicity for that matter is not a human, and as such entitled to all the protections of the Constitution.  It is noted, however, for the time the case was decided, 1857, the provisions of the Constitution if strictly read and applied, allowed for such an opinion to be reached by the Court.  My brother has written an entire book on the subject. The case, however, has been explicitly overruled by the Civil War amendments to the Constitution; therefore, there is really no reasonable need to fear that Dred Scott will somehow be resurected and brought back to life, regardless of the make up of the present Court.

In the twentieth century, the worst single opinion by the Supreme Court was Korematsu v. United States, 323 US 214 (1944).

In spite of what some may say, including people very close to me who have offered the opinion, Korematsu has never been overruled. Yes, Justice Roberts and Justice Sotomayor have statede that it has been overruled in the "court of public opinion", and it is clear that if the issue was ever raised before this Supreme Court in its current make up, it would be overruled.

But as of right now Korematsu v. United States has, in fact, not been overruled.

Oh sure, the conservative bloc of justices may say the case is abhorrent, but will they actually rule that way if the issue of whether or not blocs of citizens can be detained simply because of their ethnicity actually comes before them?  Can we rely upon any sense of decency from conservative justices who clearly can be swayed by the "court of public opinion", which has no actual legal standing, but acts as a threat to the justices?

As of right now, if the incoming administration issued an emergency executive order similar to the order issued by FDR, directing the military to round up Muslim Americans on the grounds that they present a potential threat to the safety of the rest of us, or Chinese Americans on the same grounds, or Panamanian Americans on the grounds that Panama allegedly charges too much for American ships to pass through the Panama Canal, who is to say that this Supreme Court with these justices will actually overrule Korematsu?

And who is to say that the incoming president and his incoming justice department will not argue that Korematsu is still precedential as it has not actually been overruled?

Which brings us to the present century.

I admit, which is to say the obvious, that the century is not quite one quarter of the way over; however, I believe we already have the United States Supreme Court decision that history will prove to be worst of the twenty-first century, if not the worst decision ever rendered by the Court for all of eternity.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Trump v. United States, 603 US 593 (2024).

This is the legal gem that ruled that the incoming president held immunity from all acts committed as president, as long as they were in good faith committed as part of his official duties.  There is nothing in the Constitution that grants immunity to a sitting president for crimes committed while in office.  There is something in the Constitution that says all persons are equal and equal before the law.  It is also noted that while he has argued that the office of the presidency is too important and too time consuming to force him to defend himself from his own actions in court, this overhelming importance of the office has apparently deterred cadet bone spurs from pursuing his own patently frivolous lawsuits as a plaintiff against any and all he believes have aggrieved his petty mind.

The immediate effect of this opinion is that the cases brought against cadet bone spurs over the events of January 6, which could not possibly have had anything to do with presidential duties, have now been dismissed, other than the state action in Georgia that is on life support due to the fact that the District Attorney in the case, Fani Willis, could not figure out that it was not a good idea to have a sexual fling with the special prosecutor she appointed to handle the case.  So now, he will get away with it.

He may also ultimately get away with his tax and fraud schemes for which he was convicted in New York earlier this year even though the acts for which he was prosecuted not only had absolutely nothing to do with presidential duties, but were acts committed before he even became president, which would logically lead to the conclusion that they were not acts covered in the Supreme Court opinion.  The trial court has not dismissed the case based upon the motion filed on behalf of cadet bone spurs' legal team claiming the acts for which he was convicted are covered in the Supreme Court decision.  He will appeal.  The appeal will be brought eventually to the Supreme Court, with this same set of justices who pulled the immunity reasoning out of thin air.

The ultimate effect of this is we are now in a situation where we have a convicted felon about to resume office.  He will undoubtedly pardon his co-conspirators from all his cases, at least those who did not turn on him in some fashion a la Michael Cohen.  Even though he will claim complete immunity from the Supreme Court opinion, he will likely try to pardon himself, which sort of admits that he committed crimes in the first place.

We are also left with the distinct possibility, already announced by him and his justice department nominees, that he will pursue criminal charges against those he perceives to be his foes.  He will go after Liz Cheney, Jack Smith, Christopher Wray, Letitia James and anyone else who tried to prosecute him for crimes he has already committed.  He probably cannot tell you what statute any of them will be prosecuted under, but since when would that make a difference.  He has already announced that he will go after any media outlet that he believes his dissed him, even if that is a blatant constitutional violation and simply another situation in which he cannot tell you the statutory violation committed by the media he is persecuting.  His nominee to hed the FBI has already announced he is compiling an enemy's list.

Nixon had an enemy's list.

He is going to claim that anything he does after January 20, 2025 is an official act for which he is entitled to immunity.  If it means he orders the murder of Liz Cheney, etc., do not be surprised.

And do not be surprised if this Supreme Court screws up the logic to support that act of murder and any other ones that would follow.

And do not be surprised if he tries to suspend the Constitution under some sort of emergency power that does not exist, and this Supreme Court allows him to do so.

And do not be surprised if future candidates for the office of the presidency run simply so they can avoid being prosecuted for any number of crimes they have commited or intend to commit in the future.

None of any of this is in the Constitution.  Indeed, it is likely that the Founders would ask anyone who made the suggestion to them that any of this was explicitly or implicitly covered anywhere in that document if they had lost their mind.  Does anyone really think those who fought against a tyrannical monarch overseas would approve of a felonious one in office here at home?

But that is what Trump v. United States has brought us.  And that is what we are likely to see starting a few minutes after noon on January 20, 2025.

God help us.

america is ugly

You will please forgive me.  I am trying to put words to what has just transpired, to make sense of the unfathomable, and I am not sure what is coming out is what really needs to be said, at least by me.

When I was a child, one of the defining moments of the time was the "I Have a Dream" speech on the Mall in Washington.  On that day, August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a soaring speech seeking to inspire the better angels in all of us.  I was in the crowd that day, although I was only five going on six years old.  Mom and Dad had driven my brothers and I along with a caravan of inner city folks to Washington for the march and the moment.  Although I have very little actual memory of the day, it was a defining moment in my life and for people of my generation. It set us on the path of decency and respect for all.

On October 27, 2024, there was another defining moment.  He held a rally at Madison Square Garden.  It evoked a similar rally held by the American nazi party at the previous Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939.  All that was missing were the swastikas. Speaker after speaker spewed hate and filth.  Women were "bitches".  Fellow Americans, who happen to be Puerto Rican, were a "floating pile of garbage".  In no particular order, he vowed vengeance upon the press, the Department of Justice, "liberals", immigrants, anyone who ever disagreed with him.

It was dark.  It was disturbing.

It was ugly.

And then on November 5, 2024, with the MSG rally fresh in our minds, we as Americans went to vote.  We had a choice between goodness, decency and competence and hate and ugliness.

And we chose ugly.

Our next president has been convicted of thirty-four felonies and is under indictment for fifty-seven others.  He is only out of prison due to the fact that courts have rushed to protect him.  The Supreme Court gave him a get out of jail card for the ages in a decision that will go down in infamy along with the Dred Scott decision and Korematsu v. United States.  According to the Court, a president is above the law.  He can brazenly break the law and there is nothing we can do about it.  Think about it.  He can commit outright felonies in which somebody dies -- come to think of it, he already has -- and there is nothing we can do about it, because six justices of the highest court in the land told us he is immune from prosecution even though there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution confirming this.  There is something in the Constitution about all men being equal.

As a result, we have a president-elect who is not eligible to enlist in the military as a private, but is going to be the commander in chief.

This is what we chose.

The next president is a felon.

The next president is a sexual predator.

The next president is a serial liar.

The next president is a shallow shadow of an adult out for vengeance against any perceived slight ever foist upon him, real or mostly otherwise.

So say goodbye to the right of women to make their own health decisions.  Say hello to women dying because the government tells doctors they will go to jail if they try to save their lives.  So say goodbye to having access to doctors who will stand up to that and follow the hippocratic oath.

Say goodbye to access to affordable medicine and the right to medical care even if you have a pre-existing condition, all so big pharma and insurance companies can make more money on our illnesses.  As of very soon, every single one of my family will likely be among the class that would not be able to switch insurance for this very reason.

Say goodbye to clean air, to clean water.

Say goodbye to millions of law abiding neighbors who came here for a better life.  Say hello to visiting them in concentration, er... detention camps as they are sent back to wherever they fled in the first place to be slaughtered.

Say hello to more tax cuts for billionaires and higher prices for just about everything for the rest of us.

Say goodbye to Obamacare.  Say hello to "concepts of a plan".

Say goodbye to the Department of Education and respect for learning.

Say hello to bullies, white nationalists, racists and thugs.

Say hello to bigotry wrapped in religion -- even though the odds are there that he will be struck by lightning if he ever actually steps into a house of worship.

Say hello to cheap huckstering from the oval office.  Cheap sneakers and knock off watches in aisle two.

Say hello to an aging, insane lunatic with his hands on nuclear weapons.

I could go on, and probably will in the days to come.

We had a choice, but we could not bring ourselves to vote for an obviously qualified, experienced leader, all because she is a black woman.  Was she perfect?  No.  But then again, compared to him, she was a shining beacon sent from heaven.

I cannot think of a single redeeming feature about him.

And given the choice this is who we voted for.

We chose ugly.

As I wake up this morning and look out my window, all I can think of is my fellow citizens voted for this. This is what we want for me, my family and my friends.  We can all suffer so he can seek out his vengeance upon the world.  We can turn neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend.

All for... well, I don't know.

America is ugly.

guns -- again

Here's one for all you historical tradition/trivia buffs, with a special shout out to Justice Clarence "I made up the historical tradition test out of thin air" Thomas:

Q.  What is the difference between a slightly drunk gunslinger entering the town of Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 and a completely sober, but mentally disturbed individual entering a church in Sutherland, Springs, Texas in 2017?

A.  The slightly drunk gunslinger entering the town of Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 would willingly hand over his guns to the sheriff without whining about his second amendment rights.

A2.  There were no politicians bending over backwards to please the National Rifle Association in 1881 to claim that the second amendment protected the rights of a slightly drunk gunslinger from entering the town of Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 and taking their loaded weapons into a bar, into a church, into a school, or wherever they damn well pleased.

A3.  There were no justices on the United States Supreme Court in 1881 making up "tests" out of thin air for purposes of determining whether or not "historical traditions", whatever that might be, decided the constitutionality of gun control regulations, simply to please the National Rifle Association.

A4.  In 1881, the National Rifle Association was only ten years into its existence, and concentrated on "promoting and encouraging rifle shooting on a scientific basis".  In otherwords, it was not out there in 1881 claiming that any law, statute, rule, regulation or mere guidance that protected the public from persons intent on misusing firearms was unconstitutional and a mere attempt by an out of control government to subjugate the people by seizing their lawful firearms.

You know what else was not around in 1881?

There was no claim that guns were needed for private citizens to protect themselves from our own government.

There was no claim that private citizens were entitled to own weapons designed for war.  There was no claim that people had the right to automatic weaponry, and that any attempt to prevent citizens from possessing weapons that had not legitimate use other than killing was nothing more than tyranny.

Which brings us back to Clarence "Historical Tradition" Thomas.

In "gunning" down -- ok, groan at the lame wording -- the New York statute limiting the carrying of weapons in public, the good Justice declared that such statutes were only valid if there was a historical tradition that could be traced back limiting the carrying and use of such weapons in public.  We will ignore the fact that the weapons used in mass shootings had not been invented until recently.  Justice Thomas and his buddies on the Court, aided by NRA funding, found no such tradition.  In holding so, they ignored...

1. A 1786 law in Boston prohibiting the storage of loaded firearms in homes.

2. A 1756 law in Maryland confiscating guns from Catholics from owning guns.  We can only imagine the outcry if Justice Thomas found that to be part of the historical tradition of this country.

3. An 1838 law in Virginia prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons.

4. An 1875 law in Wyoming prohibiting the carrying of any firearm, concealed or otherwise.

5.  Presser v. Illinois  (1875) and United States v. Cruikshank (1876), two Supreme Court cases that held that the second amendment did not prevent states and localities from enacting their own gun control laws.

This is why elections matter.  Too many of you did not vote in the last few presidential elections, which led to the present make up of the Supreme Court, which is squarely in the pocket of the gun manufacturers via their terrorists at the NRA.  As a result, we are where we are now.  We have a Supreme Court that makes up constitutional tests for gun control out of whole cloth, ignoring the precendents their own test says should have led to the conclusion that the statutes they routinely strike down are constitutional.

It matters not if you have to wonder if your child is going to come home from school.

It matters not if you will be ducking behind a pew in church.

It matters not if attending a music festival will end in a drumroll of automatic weapons fire.

It matters not the number of innocent bodies gunned down going about their every day business.

For crying out loud, it matters not if you are a congressman playing a fucking softball game.

The means is there for protecting ourselves, our loved ones our communities, and I am not talking about arming ourselves.

Guns kill.  People with guns kill.  Take away the guns and there will be fewer incidents, fewer deaths.  It is simple logic.  One cannot shoot anyone if one does not have a gun.

Get over the fear mongering from the NRA.  The government is not looking to take away law abiding citizens' rights when common sense gun legislation is passed.  Slightly drunk gunslingers entering Tombstone in 1881 handed over their guns because the good townsfolk figured out that without their guns, slightly drunk gunslingers could not shoot anybody and the town remained safer.

It was that simpe.  It should be that simple.

Instead, cowardly politicians and justices of the Supreme Court make up nonexistent rules to justify gun manufacturers making money, money and more money.  It is also that simple.

And for that, this latest one at Apalachee High School is on them as much as it is on the 14 year old kid authorities knew was obsessed with school shootings, but did absolutely nothing about because there was nothing they could do about it due to the NRA, gun manufacturers, judges and politicians who are more interested in the money they get from the sale of weapons and the contributions they get from the NRA and the gun manufacturers than they are in the health and welfare of the rest of us.

Thoughts and prayers my ass.

take me out to the ball game

I just read that the jersey that Babe Ruth wore when calling his famous home run shot in the 1932 World Series was sold at auction today.  It sold for twenty-four million, one hundred and twenty-thousand dollars.

That's $24,120,000.00.

For a Babe Ruth very famous World Series, "called shot" baseball jersey.

Somebody, somewhere is popping what is probably a million ($1,000,000.00) dollar bottle, perhaps a magnum, of champagne, and wondering what to do with an old, worn, stained baseball jersey; albeit, an iconic one.

Don't get me wrong.  I am a sports fan.  My wife jokes around that I will watch anything on television as long as there is a ball thrown into it.  I am surprised she has not thrown a tennis ball across the yard to see if I will chase it, bring it back to her, perhaps even in my mouth, and then beg her to throw it again.  Then again, if I brought the ball back in my mouth, I doubt if she would ever touch it again.

$24,120,000.00

For a used baseball jersey.

Why would one even want to spend that kind of money on an iconic used baseball jersey?

According to Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage House, the place that ran the auction of the jersey, "This stuff is a great conversation starter as opposed to, you know, buy more IBM stock, investing in real estate -- a lot of people felt they were kind of maxxed out on those things"...

So they went and spent $24,120,000.00 on a used baseball jersey.

$24,120,000.00

I just checked on line.  I can buy a Babe Ruth White "Cool Base" Jersey for $135.00 at Dick's Sporting Goods. E-Bay has a Babe Ruth pinstriped numbered jersey listed for $45.00 -- plus $8.87 for shipping, but I need to hurry because they only have one left.  I guess the last one just sold for $24,120,000.00.  For real Yankees' fans, the only place to buy Babe Ruth paraphernelia would be Stan's Sports World, which is practically across the street from Yankee Stadium.  Well, until they built the new Yankee Stadium, it was across the street from the old ballpark, which is why they advertise that they are still across the street from the "real Yankee Stadium".  I looked on their website, but could not get the cost of a Babe Ruth jersey to load on my computer.  Perhaps they were embarassed at the $24,120,000.00 asking price.

Or maybe if I had asked one of their salespersons I would have been told "If you have to ask you can't afford it".

But it got me to thinking...

What else could somebody have done with $24,120,000.00 rather than spend it on a Babe Ruth "Called Shot" game worn baseball jersey?

How many schools could you repair so the children could be better equipped to learn?  For that matter, how many qualified, motivated young teachers could you hire at a decent salary to push those children to reach their potential?

How many school lunches could you buy for hungry children?  For that matter, how many people could you feed in a soup kitchen?

The neighborhood where Yankee Stadium is located is not exactly the most affluent neighborhood in the City.  How many homeless families could you provide decent, livable permanent housing with $24,120.000.00?  How many of the buildings in the neighborhood could you repair so that there would be heating in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, and hot water year round?  How many of those families could you provide with decent clothing?

How many student loans could you pay off?  I know, these days, the answer to that is probably one or two...

I could go on, but you get the point.

Whoever it is that just forked out $24,120,000.00 for a baseball jersey is undoubtedly thrilled to death to now own it.  I cannot say I am unhappy for this person, nor do I envy them.  Let them enjoy their "deal".

As for me, I will settle for the $24,119,865.00, less applicable tax I will have left over after buying my Babe Ruth White "Cool Base" jersey at Dick's Sporting Goods, and not really care if it is not game worn.  At least it will not smell like a game worn jersey that has not been laundered in nearly one hundred years, so there is at least a chance my wife will let me wear it in the house where we can contemplate what we will do with the leftover cash...

After we finish playing fetch in the backyard.

Oh, Wyoming, Part Three

I am not quite sure if I should not really call this one "Oh, Connecticut".  Anyway...

In spite of the earlier "Oh, Wyoming" entries from a few years ago, we are still here.  And we are still meeting... well, let's just call them "interesting people".

The latest "interesting people" are a slightly older than us couple who are from Connecticut.  They have recently left the Nutmeg State for greener pastures, which now includes Wyoming. We met them yesterday at the tasting room of a vineyard in the town of either Cowley (pronounced "Cali" by the locals) or Lovell (pronounced "Lovell"), Wyoming.  The exact location of the vineyard, and apparently every home on the road the vineyard is situated upon is up to great debate, as neighbors get to choose where they are from resulting in an absolute mishmash of folks claiming to be either from Lovell or Cowley with no particular rhyme or reason for their choice.  The vineyard claims to be in Lovell, although as far as I am concerned they are much closer to Cowley.

But I digress...

I had never heard of this vineyard before turning into their driveway yesterday.  My wife found out about it via a page she follows on Facebook and decided to surprise me.

And what a surprise it was.

The place is run by Nancy and her husband, whose name I never got, and their daughter Nicole.  Nancy has roots in the area.  She and her husband were living in the Seattle area prior to "retiring" and moving here with the original thought of buying and flipping properties.  Nicole had been living in Texas, and is a certified vintner.  They are all thoroughly delightful.  When the family bought the property, Nicole is the one who planted and nutured the grapes that eventually became the vineyard.  They opened to the public in 2020, just as COVID struck, but somehow managed to keep the place above water.

It is now a hidden gem in Big Horn County.

Nancy and Nicole were regaling us with the story of the vineyard and the wines we were about to sample, when the interesting people walked in.  As seems to be part of their customary greeting, Nancy and Nicole asked the interesting people where they were from, and were told they live in the same town our place is located.  Mr. Interesting then announced they had recently arrived having escaped "communism".  They did not look like they were from China, North Korea or Cuba, so I made the mistake of asking where they had fled from, figuring if it was within the USA, this was another jab at California or even New York.  Instead, we were advised that the seat of the red menace in the United States is...

Connecticut.

I will concede the obvious that Yale University is located in Connecticut, although I am not exactly aware that Yale is run under a charter written by Karl Marx.  I will also note that George W. Bush, not exactly your typical Commie, is a Yalie.

It appears that Mr. Interesting believes that Connecticut is a "corrupt communist state" because his real estate taxes went up this year.  We were supposed to be completely aghast that his taxes went up somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve percent over last year.  He repeated the twelve percent for emphasis, or in case we did not hear him the first time.

Apparently, Mr. Interesting did very little research when he decided to buy property here.  If he had, he would have found out that property taxes around here just about doubled over the course of the past three years.  When told this, Mr. Interesting's hat almost fell off his head.

It turns out that Mr. and Mrs. Interesting also moved away from Connecticut to avoid what seems to be pesky rules and regulations, although we were not told exactly what those pesky rules and regulations are.  We were told that the rules and regulations are proof that the entire state is corrupt.  They apparently believe there is nothing corrupt about Wyoming, which may or may not be the case, or the state where they maintain their other residence...

Florida.

We managed to steer the conversation away from communism and corruption, primarily in order to avoid a discussion about politics which would undoubtedly turn entirely ugly, and found out that Mr. and Mrs. Interesting are avid travelers.  They like to cruise out of ports in Florida for months at a time.  Since we have cruised a bit ourselves, I tried to engage them on their favorite cruises and ports of call, and was regaled by Mr. Interesting over the abject poverty of ports of call on the west coast of Africa and Central America.  Nothing about the beauty of the land or the people.  We were told, however, that they liked Australia, where they have cruised at least twice.

At this point, Nicole decided it was a good time to enjoy a glass of her wine with a couple who had sat at a table on the other side of the tasting room.

Mr. and Mrs. Interesting decided they had to move along as well.  They did, however, leave us with a parting shot...

The place they bought is not only in the same town as our place, but on the same road.

We are neighbors.  

We should stop by for a drink some time.

I can hardly wait.

Are We a Christian Nation?

An old friend of mine recently posted a photograph from "Romper Room" of what purports to be children and a teacher saying grace before the afternoon milk and cookie snack.  For those not in the know, "Romper Room was a children's television show that ran for a bit more than forty years beginning in 1953. The photograph was accompanied by the caption, "Don't tell me we were not a Christian nation".  The implication from the caption and the photograph is clearly that this nation was born Christian, is Christian and will always be a Christian nation.

The translation of this to many of us is "Don't tell me we ARE not a Christian nation".

I have known the friend who posted this for just about fifty years.  I will not name him here.  I will say he is as good a man as there is.  When we disagree on issues of the day, which is frequently, he is always respectful and goes out of his way to tell others on his thread that he respects my opinions and the way I voice them.  I do not believe he posts things like "Do not tell me were were not a Christian nation" in any kind of hurtful or mean way.

But...

I am not Christian.  I do believe I am basically a good and decent person who tries to do what is right for as many as I can.  In the long run, isn't the goal of humankind and most religions to produce good and decent people?  Even if some of us do not go to any kind of church, temple, mosque, etc. to pray to whatever your image of God may be?  I for one would rather put my trust in a good, decent, law abiding, charitable atheist than a good looking, sermonizing person wearing religion on his sleeve and willing to tell anyone about it, who then turns around and swindles you at first opportunity.  Or worse, uses their religion as a sword against all who do not believe as they do.

That is not religion.

When items like this are posted, what must be taken into account is not only how the message is received by people just like you, but also by people who are not.  When you say things like "Do not tell me we are not a Christian nation" that makes me wonder if you believe I am not welcome here or if I somehow do not have the same rights as a human that you do simply because I do not pray to the god you have chosen to. Does this mean you believe all Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Shintos or whatever other member of any other organized religion other than Christians should leave the United States or convert to your preferred religion and worship your preferred deity? If we don't, do we lose the right to vote?

When you say "Don't tell me we are not a Christian nation" that message is received in the Orwellian terms of "all men are created equal, but some men are more equal than others".  As far as I am aware, that is not what Christianity in its purest form is about.

It is also not what this nation is about; therefore, when you tell me that I cannot tell you that this is not a Christian nation...

This is not, and never has been a "Christian nation".  

This is and always has been a "Freedom of Religion nation". That is what it says in the Constitution, not that only Christians get to fully observe their religion. The First Amendment guarantees the right of all religions, not just Christianity.  The word "Christianity", "Christian" or "Christ" do not appear anywhere in the Constitution.  In fact, there is no document of the Founding Fathers that guarantees the rights of only Christians or takes away or advocates taking away the rights of any other religions.  The documents do guarantee that all members of all religions are to be treated equally in this country.

That means that all are free to follow whatever religion they wish and to worship whatever deity they wish, even if it means not belonging to any religion or praying to any god at all.  If you are Christian and want to worship your God, your Jesus and your Holy Ghost, by all means, feel free to do so. I will fight for your right to worship as you wish.

But that does not mean you get to tell me that I cannot worship whatever deity I wish, and don't tell me in the name of your religion I have to follow the rules of your religion, even in secular aspects of public life, especially in a country founded not upon Christianity, but upon the right to to pray, to worship, to congregate, to socialize and indeed to live as we wish.

And don't tell me that there are consequences for not following your religion and that you have the right to force your belief through legislation and decree of all sorts upon the rest of us.

Before you tell me this is or is not a Christian nation or any other kind of nation for that matter, read your history.  Start with the Constitution.  Consult with historians.  I know a few I can point you to.

 

 

us postal blues

If you want no greater example of how bureaucrats in search of justification of their political/personal agenda can foul up just about everything they put their hands on, look no further than Louis DeJoy's United States Postal Service.

I briefly touched upon the Post Office in my note of October 17, 2022 on turning sixty-five, in which I outlined how the Post Office managed to hold a month's worth of junk mail while forwarding bills, my Medicare card, instructions, etc. to an address I had left in Wyoming that month earlier, leaving a simple forward order as I do every year at the end of the summer season.  I had no idea of what I was in for this season.

Apparently, the procedure for forwarding mail changed some time this spring from the usual fill out a forwarding order and wait for your mail to actually get forwarded to something akin to an episode of "The Twilight Zone".  The simplicity of the new system is such that the Postmaster here in Wyoming told my wife and me the system is screwed up and she does not know how to unscrew it.  To add to our confidence in the system, she told us she had never seen anything as bad.

It all started on June 21 when my wife went to our post office on Long Island to submit the annual forwarding order for the summer to our home in Wyoming.  She went in person.  She submitted all the paperwork in person.  She had her government issued photo id with her, and showed it to the nice person at the post office counter, although at the time we did not know this was necessary.  She asked if anything else was necessary.  She was assured it was not.

So off we went to Wyoming.

Having our suspicions about the post office, upon our arrival, we went to the post office location here in our hometown in Wyoming.  We showed our governmental issued id to the nice person at the counter, who turned to her handy dandy desk top, clicked a few buttons, hummed a bit, and assured us that our hold was in the system, and that we should expect to receive mail shortly.

So we waited...

On July 8, having seen nothing arrive in our mailbox yet, we went to the local post office again, showed our governmental issued id, and were once again assured that our forwarding order was in the system and mail was on its way.  Upon our return home, we stopped at our mailbox, where we found a notice in the mail from the post office on Long Island that we had twenty days from the date we had requested our mail be forwarded to Wyoming to show up at the post office with our governmental issued id to confirm who we were and that we were where the mail was to be forwarded so that the mail could actually be forwarded.  Our carrier from Long Island had thrown a bunch of mail that had accumulated in the enveloped stack, including bills, checks and a jury summons for my wife informing her she was to report for jury duty the week prior to the date the package arrived in our mailbox in Wyoming.  The package sent by the carrier from Long Island to Wyoming was postmarked June 27.  It took the post office eleven days to get it to Wyoming.  I could have gotten it faster myself by bicycle.

I immediately called our Long Island post office, and was assured that our mail was not being sent back to senders, but that I should go to our post office in Wyoming to confirm we were here, something we had already done, but that they could not confirm in Long Island.  It was too late to go back to the post office, so we returned on July 10 at which time the nice worker behind the counter took our governmental issued id again, this time my driver's license, turned on his handy dandy post office computer, entered the information on my driver's license, and hemmed and hawwed for a few minutes while the computer would not accept my license in spite of the fact that it is governmental issued photo id.  Not to worry.  I had my global entry photo id.  The program would not accept that either.  The nice person behind the counter then told me THIS WAS HAPPENING TO PRACTICALLY EVERYBODY.  After disappearing into the back offices for several minutes, the nice worker returned and told me everything was fine and we would be receiving our mail shortly.

So we waited.

At the end of July, having still received no mail, we went back to our local Wyoming branch.  My wife spoke with the postmaster, showing her driver's license with her photo.  The postmaster then personally contacted our Long Island post office while standing directly in front of my wife, and told her this should satisfy things, but if they did not, she did not now what else to do.

So we waited.

By the end of August, with our local Wyoming mailbox threatening to sue for non-support, I lodged a complaint with the local Long Island post office.  This resulted in a call several days later from a postal inspector from Long Island, in which she first told me I had to go to the local Wyoming post office.  When I told her we had already done this four times, she told me she would look into this.  In the mean time, she volunteered that the new system requiring everybody to confirm their confirmations was screwed up, not working at all, and you can't believe how may people are complaining that they are not getting their mail.

I think I can believe it. 

The next day, she called back and left a message for me that there was nothing she could do as our original forwarding order had expired without our confirmation being entered into the system.  We would now have to submit a new forwarding order and attempt to repeat the process.

In the mean time, after I spoke with the postal inspector, our carrier put together another stack of accumulated mail and shoved it into an envelope where this time, it only took five days to arrive in Wyoming, meaning I could not bicycle it faster here, but I could personally drive it faster.  This time, we had the usual collections of bills, checks owed to me, and another jury summons for my wife, this time telling her if she did not show up two weeks prior to the mail arriving with the summons that a warrant would be issued for her.

Also in the mean time, we have still yet to receive any mail all season long in Wyoming, other than a grand total of three letters, each of which were addressed here in Wyoming rather than to our address on Long Island.  

Two were birthday cards for my wife.

Instead of  conforming to the definition of insanity by doing the same thing over and over and expecting a new result, on September 7, I simply placed a hold on the mail on Long Island.  The longest we are allowed to place a hold is thirty days.  Today, October 1, I went on line to extend the hold another two weeks.  I was told I cannot do that.  I tried submitting a brand new hold, but was told I could only do that if I cancelled the original.

So now, there will be a race to the Long Island post office when we get back to claim mail before it is all returned to sender, I am told ten days after the expiration of the hold order on October 17, assuming the Long Island post office is actually holding mail, which I must assume, as there has been no mail delivered here, but then again who knows?

I am, however, looking forward to eventually receiving a stack of accumulated mail, either when we get to Long Island or when we eventually return to Wyoming, including the arrest warrant for my wife for ignoring her jury summons yet again.

my own personal debt ceiling

I think I have this right.  I am sure somebody will correct me if I do not.

The republicans in congress understand that the debt of the United States is guaranteed under the 14h Amendment of the Constitution.  They also understand that the debt ceiling needs to be raised to ensure that debts already incurred by the federal government are paid, just as is required under the Constitution.  In order to ensure that the debts are paid, however, they are demanding that future spending be cut, but only from programs they do not like, such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and the Internal Revenue Service, the first three of which protect seniors and the least fortunate among us, whom the GOP apparently do not care much about, and the last of which ensures that everyone pays their fair share, especially those who earn the most, which they certainly do not want any part of.

They somehow think banks, lending institutions, investors and the general public will go along with this.

It got me to thinking...

I have a rather large credit card bill coming up.  I know the bill has to be paid.  After all, it represents debts already incurred, but...

Before I pay this bill, I need to negotiate with those ultimately responsible to pay the bill so as to ensure that I do not continue to incur this much debt or simply to prevent such spending in the future.

Therefore...

I am placing my wife on notice.  Before I pay my credit card bill, the two of us need to reach a deal. Going forward, we are no longer going to purchase household cleaning items, plants, flowers and shrubbery for her garden, which she has used the credit card to purchase, or any of the clothes she wants to wear during forthcoming vacations.  

We are also not going to purchase new shoes for her or any doohickeys she thinks may either be helpful around the house or beautify it in any way using the credit card.  

For good measure and to ensure that our already incurred debts can be paid, our agreement will include a prohibition of purchasing any gas to be put in her car or groceries I do not like, especially those disgusting lemon cookies, or any ingredients used to make avocado toast, which, ought to be classified as a biological weapon of mass destruction and should be outlawed anywhere and everywhere.

Of course, she will agree that the stuff I like is not subject to negotiation, including the sports channels on our cable system, all food items I like, including mushrooms, most seafood, goat cheese and yogurt, all of which make her gag, gas for my car and vacations to places I want to go to, regardless of whether or not she does.

This is all friendly, so we do not need to engage lawyers to draw this up, especially since I am one, and I am not willing to pay for hers.

Once we get all of this agreed to and signed, we can pay the credit card bill, as long as we pay it out of her accounts.

I am sure my wife will agree to this.

I am equally sure the credit card company and our banks will think this is a great idea as well.

the blue plate special and other thoughts on turning 65

Yesterday was my sixty-fifth birthday.

While I do not feel particularly old today, by all governmental metrics, I am now a senior citizen.  I am eligible for discounts on the Long Island Railroad, movie theaters, museums, amusement parks and a bunch of diners, if I feel like showing up to have dinner before six o'clock.  Then again, why wouldn't I want to have dinner before six, when I am likely to fall asleep right afterwards?

As for the things I would really like, there are no senior discounts, like airline tickets, the good seats at ballgames and driving into Manhattan without paying tolls.

My family and friends have taken great joy in telling me how old I now am.  The exception is my wife, who tells me my age at this time does not matter because I was old when we first met.

I was nineteen at the time.

Turning sixty-five does have its benefits.  Well, at least "benefits" that include being eligible for Medicare, which means that I go from a health insurance policy that was about as good as it gets to a steaming morass of something that a Nobel laureate would have trouble understanding.  I am sure the benefits administrator at the school district my wife taught at where our insurance originates must wake up each morning by now, shaking with fear of the thought that I will contact her with yet another question about our coverage.  You would think that those in charge would want to make sure the average senior could understand coverage rules and procedures under Medicare; however, as an Ivy League graduate, I am as much in the dark about this stuff as I am about theoretical physics.  

Then again, I think I can actually figure out black holes and that sort of thing.  Black holes are where claims under Medicare go to die.

 I was in Wyoming when I originally applied for Medicare.  I was told the process would take about three or four weeks.  Eight weeks later, I went to the local social security office to see what was holding things up, and was told the office in Jamaica, where my application was referred to had received it, but...  well that was all they could tell me.  I was given a direct phone number for somebody in the Jamaica office, who acknowledged they had received the application weeks ago ad done nothing with it.  She then took a bit under ten minutes on the phone with me to review and approve the application.  One wonders what would have happened if I had not gone to the Cody, Wyoming office to find out what was happening.

Or maybe black holes are something invented by the post office for those trying to figure out Medicare.  As noted above, we were in Wyoming when I originally applied for Medicare.  After the application was finally approved, our time was running short before returning to New York.  I placed a hold on all mail, figuring that my supplemental Medicare card and information would be waiting for me when we got back to our Long Island home.  In the mean time, mail kept arriving in Wyoming.  I went on line and placed another hold on the mail, which kept arriving anyway.  When we arrived in New York, I went to the post office to pick up the held mail, and was handed about a month's worth of junk mail.  The rest of it, the real mail, had been forwarded to Wyoming, where it apparently still sits, including various bills, my supplemental Medicare card, handbook and instructions.

A friend went to the mailbox in Wyoming last week and told us it was stuffed.  She says she mailed us the stuff that was not junk mail.  We expect to receive it some time before the next Millennium.  Either that, or I will show up at the post office next week and find out they just discovered the hold order on the mail, and are now storing it up for me even though the order has expired.

At least I still have my health, or at least I better until the forwarded mail arrives.

I still have my family, including my wife, who if I was old at nineteen, must think I am on the edge of fossilization by now, and my sons, who must think the same.  At least my granddaughter has yet to make fun of me.  Then again, she is only eighteen months old and refers to the family cats as "Mama".

That said, I am lucky.  There has been little heavy lifting thus far in my life.  I am told they save that for the time you get a hernia lifting paper plates in the buffet line at the company picnic.  I have a wife whom I absolutely adore even if she thinks I may be Methuselah.  I still have Mom, who still is as sharp as ever, and may be the one person left who believes I am young enough to carry out the garbage.  I have my sons, my daughter in law and my precious grandchild.  I have most of my wits still about me and the ability to travel and enjoy life with friends.  Life has been good to me.

So fit me for a hearing aid -- if my Medicare supplement ever arrives -- and bring on the blue plate special.  I have always liked meat loaf anyway.

park county fair-y tales

 As many of you know by now, our living in Wyoming for the past few years has been a bit of a challenge, with the traditional friendliness that attracted us in the first place having, shall we say... evolved over the past two years. I bring you the latest in Wyoming wholesomeness... 

This is the week of the Park County Fair here in Wyoming.  You know, a good ole fashion hokey, wholesome county fair fresh with corn dogs, cotton candy, demolition derby and parade through town complete with small floats and shriners in little scooter/motorcars tossing candy to the kids lining the sidewalk, where they have to fight the adults for it -- like me.  The fair and the parade are supposed to bring out a certain community spirit that you tend to see in small town America, a certain "can do" in the face of all that keeps seeming to happen to all of us.  There is a certain pride associated, as people working in the local stores come out and watch along with the locals as the parade goes by. 

We were in the local Ace Hardware today as the parade started to make its way down the street, and had a good smile and laugh with the employees as the candy was being tossed to the kids.  We felt a certain sense of community pride as a small float went by urging all to go to Yellowstone "come hell or high water", obviously referencing recent wildfires and the cataclysmic flooding that closed the park for a while last month.

And then...

There is a guy who owns a very large, very yellow station wagon he parks on the side of the main road connecting our small town with Cody, the nearest town of any consequence anyone outside of the area may know.  He calls the big yellow monstrosity "the Trump Train".  As you can imagine, it is festooned with all sorts of Trump paraphernalia, including flags, signs, banners, and the recent addition of  a life sized cut out of cadet bone spurs himself seeming to drive the station wagon, wherever it may be going.

And there it was today, toodling down the parade route in the middle of town, flags and banners flying, with the guy who owns this thing at the wheel, gleefully waving to the crowd.  

Now I have no problem with this guy owning his station wagon and doing whatever the hell he wants to do with it, including hanging Trump stuff all over it and parking on the side of the highway for all to see as they drive by.  His car.  I believe his property.  His choice.

But...

Does he have the right to drive this thing down the middle of the street in the Park County Fair parade fully adorned with all the Trump paraphernalia, including the addition of a flag and painted sign on the side of the big yellow monstrosity, cheering "Let's Go Brandon"?

We all know that "Let's Go Brandon" has become a sophomoric tag line for those who either do not want to or do not have the guts to say in public "Fuck Joe Biden".

So there this MAGA genius goes down the middle of the parade route with his "Fuck Joe Biden" signs and flags, in front of children, among others, and most in the crowd think this is okay. The same people who will scream if you say something like the first word in that slogan near them without attaching "Brandon" to it, and will wash their kids mouths out with soap if they dare.

And trust me, the kids in the town -- and all over for that matter -- know what "Let's Go Brandon" means, unless they are less than three years old.  This has been pushed on them for the last two years by the townsfolk, including their parents.  Remember, that this town is in the county in which the County Commission took the ridiculous vote after the second impeachment of the yellow monstrosity's hero to declare that Liz Cheney was no longer their congresswoman.  Yes, they took the taxpayer's time and money to debate and pass that resolution.

On top of all of this, you need to get approval from the Park County Fair Commission (or whatever its actual title is) to ride your bike, your car, your float or your Trump Train in the parade.  So the Commission apparently thought it was okey dokey to drive this thing telling us all to say "Fuck You" to the sitting president of this country right down the main street of a parade designed to show off community pride.

I do not know what is worse, the idiot driving this thing, whoever at the parade governing body approved it knowing what the message was, or the town cheering him on.

So apparently, we are now to be swelling with community pride to tell our sitting president to go fuck himself.

I am bursting at the seams...

The Silence of the Lambs

I watched the January 6 committee hearing today. I did not originally intend to, but it came on before the hockey game I intended to watch had started, and then I became hooked.

And then I realized I was watching history.

I was watching one of those moments that over the course of your life you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when they happened.  They are moments that define your life and society in general at each distinct time.

I heard the news that Kennedy was shot while walking home from school.  I was in the drive of the school a matter of a few feet from turning onto Virginia Avenue where my family lived then and still does.

When Neal Armstrong stepped out onto the moon's surface, I was a camper at University Settlement in Beacon, New York.  We all thought the bigger deal at the time was Pete Seeger coming to the camp to perform for us kids.

When Nixon resigned I was sitting on the steps of a general store in Willow Creek, California near the end of a bike trip to San Francisco.  That night, the group I was with would celebrate, if that is the term you want to use, at the campsite we were at for the night by drinking just a wee bit by the fire and reciting comedy routines by Cheech and Chong.

I was sitting in my office at 111 John Street on the twenty-second floor when the planes hit the World Trade Center.  I watched from there as the first tower fell.

And today, I watched a congressional committee set out in chilling detail how a president and his followers tried to subvert an election by force.  It was clear from the testimony ad the videos shown that the mob brought to the capital and incited by a seditious, treasonous group would have killed members of Congress and the Vice-President if they had been able to.  All the while, the President did nothing, and in fact, cheered the mob on.

When the hearing was over for the evening, I logged onto my social media account to see what friends, and that includes my friends on the right had to say.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The former president has done a lot of awful things over the course of the past several years.  He has been racist.  He has been homophobic.  He has used the highest office in the land to enrich himself and his buddies.  He has turned the Constitution into his own little plaything.  Every time, the voices in opposition have grown just a bit more quiet.

And now, nothing.

Of all the horrible, diabolical things this man and his thugs have done, they have managed to beat us down by numbing us to the insanity to the point where the worst imaginable merits not a peep in response.  We in opposition are done and done for.

And we will find this out this coming November when there have been no consequences or recriminations, and the forces let loose by this maniac and his thugs come home to roost.

racism in america

Colin Kaepernick did not do anything to anyone.

He simply kneeled in quiet, respectful protest of the way Black people have been historically treated in this country by the formerly white majority, who still maneuver frantically to retain power.

He did not break any laws.

He did not make a scene at the local Wal Mart by trying to spread a deadly disease to other people because it is a violation of his "freedom" to act responsibly and wear a mask or get vaccinated.

He did not put others at risk when he kneeled during the national anthem.  There was no physical danger to anyone posed by his decision not to stand.

He did not try to strike police officers with flag poles, fire extinguishers bear spray or anything else he could get his hands on.  Nobody was at risk when he kneeled.

He did not threaten the life of any public official or anyone else when he stood for his own rights.  No gallows were erected in the public square, ready in case he caught any public official who did not agree with him and did not act upon his first amendment protected right to protest peacefully.

And he was protesting peacefully.

He did not tell his followers that this was "trial by combat", urge them to "fight like hell", to vandalize, to threaten or to commit any act of violence in his name.

He did not break any windows or deface any public buildings.

He did not steal anything, let alone documents from the office of a member of congress.

He did not interrupt any act of any level of government at any time, nor did he try to improperly influence or intimidate any public official in either their official or unofficial capacity.

He did not try to steal an election based on a lie.

He did not destroy evidence.  He did not hide evidence.  He did not obstruct justice.

He did not defame anyone else.

He did not block any chain of commerce, thus causing or contributing to supply shortages and ultimately to inflation.

He did not ban any books from schools or libraries, and in fact, never said what could or could not be said in any classroom in this county.

He did not push to make it a crime to say anything he did not agree with.

He did not try to take away anyone's right to vote for the candidate of their choice, or make it so difficult to do so that it was nearly impossible.  Nor did he fight for the right to overturn the results of any election he did not like.

He did not ridicule science or threaten scientists and/or their families, or use his position in any public forum to urge others to do so.

He did not threaten to jail or summarily execute anyone who disagreed with him.

He did not try to impose his religion on anyone.

He did not deny medical treatment to anyone or force them to travel hundreds of miles to get the treatment they needed because he did not believe in the treatment or procedure being sought.

The people who did all of the above and more are being exalted, praised and practically granted sainthood by certain politicians, public figures, so called journalists and media.

All because the vast majority of the people who did all of the above are, for the most part, white conservatives. 

And Colin Kaepernick is Black.

Those folks who did all of the above were doing nothing but engaging in "legitimate political discourse", all as they violated constitutionally guaranteed rights to others, caused the spread of disease and misinformation, contributed to supply chain shortages and inflation, interfered with constitutionally mandated government functions, banned books, and much more.

They are heroes.

They are white.

They are going on with their every day lives, and will continue to do so until a sense of decency and morality returns to this country.

Colin Kaepernick is Black.

He was, in fact, participating in "legitimate political discourse".

He did not harm anyone, he did not interfere with anyone's rights or any governmental functions or duties.  He did not tell anyone what they could or could not do, what they could or could not say, what they could or could not read, or what they could or could not believe.

He simply kneeled during the national anthem, thereby standing up for his rights.

And for that he was ostracized, vilified, threatened, libeled and banned from his chosen profession.

Colin Kaepernick is Black.

Those other miscreants are white.

They go on with their lives.

This is one of the ways racism in america looks like in the twenty-first century.

top ten worst persons in the world, 2021

We once again present the annual Top Ten Worst Persons in the World, annual being a bit of a misnomer, as we did not publish this last year, although I am sure you can guess who the top ten worst persons would have been.  We invite comment for your thoughts in that regard, as well as the list for this year.  Once again, Cadet Bone Spurs did not make this list, as he could have taken up all ten spots and retired lists of this type permanently.

As always, there are honorable mentions, this year being Karen Fann, the president of the Arizona senate, who authorized the cadet bone spurs paid for Cyber Ninja audit of the presidential vote that ended up finding that Joe Biden won the state by more votes than originally announced, yet somehow still announced that the audit showed massive fraud, and Mark Meadows, who appears to have been one of the driving forces within the White House behind the January 6 events and cover up.  His spine has been exposed, as he was willing to cooperate, until it looked like his information would indict his boss.

And with the preliminaries out of the way...

10.  Boris Johnson --  Well, I said I wasn't going to put Cadet Bone Spurs on the list, but I didn't say anything about not putting his clown, er... clone on the list.  We may begin calling this guy Cadet Bone Spurs, Jr.  No mask mandates in Britain, No vaccine mandates.  Brexit without a viable plan.  Etc.

9.  Eric Clapton -- Keeping the international flavor of this year's list, this one really hurts me.  When I was a kid, I really loved this guy, and saw him in concert any number of times.  Always a great show.  His music is still great, but I won't listen to it anymore, now that he has demonstrated how he feels about Jews like me and sensible people who do sensible things to protect themselves and their friends and neighbors, like just about everyone...  well, except for about a third of the population...

8.  Prince Andrew -- The Brits must hate me by now.  Here's a guy who has literally been handed everything in life, but still managed to drop it.  Lots of guys have been implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell scandal, but at least the rest of them have managed to stay out of the spotlight.  For not managing to keep his yap and his zipper shut...  Cheers mate!

7.  Mitch McConnell -- Well, he had to be here somewhere.  I had thought that loyalty to country topped loyalty to party, but I guess I was wrong.  This guy has enabled everything that has happened since January 20, 2017, and now openly says his job is to make sure nothing good happens during Joe Biden's presidency.  He will allow the country to suffer just so he can be back in charge of the Senate, and the guy he blasted for January 6 back in the White House.

6.  Joe Manchin -- Never before has such an inconsequential politician become such an omnipresent oaf.  Somebody should buy this guy a very large mirror so he can admire himself all day long and leave the rest of us alone.  Voting rights?  Feh...  Climate Change?  Coal!!  Public health?  My daughter is a big pharma exec who skyrocketed the cost of critical medications.  Without this guy, Mitch McConnell would have been an afterthought this year.

5.  Ron DeSantis -- Also known in these parts as "I Wanna Be Cadet Bone Spurs".  The Guv spent the year protecting the citizens of his state by refusing to make anyone wear a mask, refusing to make anyone get a vaccine, even health care workers, trying to punish companies, even private companies large or small, from imposing any health related mandates on their employees or customers, and then trying to reward the most irresponsible amongst us who refuse to do anything to help in the face of the pandemic

4.  Matt Gaetz -- It was a real close call here between this guy and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has demonstrated in a single year how singularly unfit she is for public office of any kind, including sanitation engineer; however, unlike Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene has not yet shown herself to potentially be a sex offender.  We would expect sometime soon, Matt will be out of the House and into the Big House.  In the mean time, Matt, you are still a member of Congress, so how about sponsoring a piece of legislation, any piece other than something designed as a piece of red meat to a bunch of toothless, brainless yayhoos that has no chance of becoming law and is simply a publicity stunt.  You know, like maybe doing the job you were actually put in Washington to do...

3.  Sean Hannity -- This was another real close call, as any number of Fox Cheerleading Network personalities could have qualified here, especially Tucker Carlson, who is well ahead in the early running to be on this list next year, if not win it outright.  Sean Hannity gets the nod here, however, as it turns out he likely was in on January 6, or at least had a clue about what was coming, then after it got out of control, went on the air to denounce the violence, and the almost immediately tried to blame the left and was active on the air in downplaying everything that happened, giving, or at least trying to give, Cadet Bone Spurs cover.

2.  Paul Gosar -- Aside from the fact that it appears he was one of the insiders to the January 6 insurrection, he published a cartoon depicting himself killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow sitting member of Congress, and attacking the president.  In the past, this would have resulted in immediate criminal charges against just about anyone.  How on earth do you threaten to kill a sitting member of Congress and attack and presumably threaten the life of the sitting President and get away with it, let alone still be a sitting member of Congress?

And this year's winner is...

1.  Kevin McCarthy -- That's how.  Then again, we could put here the entire congressional GOP caucus.  We single out Kevin McCarthy here because he wants so badly to be the next speaker of the house that he will enable anything, and I mean ANYTHING, from his caucus.  Kevin McCarthy began the year properly calling out Cadet Bone Spurs for his fomenting the insurrection, and then suddenly became the poster boy for the whole thing after a visit to you know who at his little palace in Florida.  How much do you want to bet Cadet Bone Spurs told Kevin he would be speaker of the house if he backed off and the denied the former guy had anything to do with January 6, and that January 6, in any event, was not a big deal.  For obsequiousness beyond the call of duty, Kevin, you are our winner this year.  Congratulations.

Or should I say fuck you?

Wyoming, Part Two...

After a few days in the relative sanity of Southern California, an oxymoron in and of itself, we returned to Wyoming.  We returned to the scenery, the fresh air, the serenity, the horses...  and the nut jobs...

I will grant you that there are nut jobs everywhere.  Some would say Southern California is the grand daddy of nut jobs everywhere.  But here in Wyoming is where we witnessed it first hand on our very first day back.

Our travels on the first day back took us to the local Wal Mart.  Don't laugh.  They have a decent grocery section with better prices than the local supermarkets.  Besides, as many of you have seen from our Facebook posts, the bean grinder for our coffee broke -- both of them -- so this was an absolute emergency.

We parked on the side of the store, as we usually do, and put on our masks to go in, even though we are fully vaccinated including boosters.  On our previous visit to this Wal Mart, we were pleased that about forty percent of the folks in the store appeared to be masked.  Mind you, just about everywhere else we have been since the spring, the number of masked clientele has hovered somewhere between eighty and one hundred percent, but for Wyoming, this was a vast improvement.

Apparently, somebody sent a memo around to the locals.  On this occasion, it would be a stretch to say that ten percent of the customers were masked.  Somewhere in Wyoming, over the first weekend of October, COVID was declared cured for all, masked or unmasked, vaccinated or unvaccinated.

And then we walked past the pharmacy department.  Considering that boosters are now available, I was interested in seeing if there was anyone waiting for a vaccine  Nobody was in the waiting area.  Nobody appeared to be in the vaccine rooms.

There was, however, one man, who we will refer to as WMC -- Wyoming Maga Cowboy, or maybe the Wal Mart Cowboy.  Take your pick.  WMC was front and center at the pharmacy line -- there was nobody else in line.  He was a tall, thin drink of water with longish white hair and a thick droopy moustache to boot.  On top of the white mane was a summer weight, stiff straw cowboy hat.  The rest of the outfit was traditional cowboy in every sense, from the cowboy style button down shirt, to the blue jeans, to the boots.

And WMC was there with a purpose.

A loud purpose.

He started off by demanding a dose of Ivermectin.  You know, the paste/concoction/whatever you want to call it used to deworm farm animals that some on the far right of the mental universe have come to believe without any proof whatsoever will cure COVID.  We can start off this aspect of the discussion by noting that WMC was in the pharmacy department of Wal Mart talking to the poor victim of a Wal Mart pharmacist, demanding an animal dewormer.  It apparently did not occur to him that the pharmacy department at Wal Mart, surprisingly enough, only dispenses medications intended for humans.  It also did not apparently occur to him that if you are standing in a Wal Mart pharmacy speaking to the Wal Mart pharmacist about a medication, you likely need a prescription to get it.

As a side note here, I would offer that when we got home, my wife went on line.  Apparently, you can get Ivermectin on line without a prescription.  We have a large farm and supply store here in town.  I have no doubt you could get Ivermectin there as well.  Maybe WMC should have looked there.

Needless to say, the Wal Mart pharmacist was a little short on supply of horse de-wormers, but offered WMC a vaccine injection, considering there was no wait for one, and most likely considering where we are, nobody had made an appointment for one anytime that morning.  WMC declined, offering that he was not going to have anything injected into his body the ingredients of which were not known to him.  Putting aside for the moment the fact that WMC probably did not know the ingredients of the groceries we later saw him buying, I would be willing to bet just about anything that he did not know the ingredients in Ivermectin either.  

Undeterred by the looming lunacy in front of him, the pharmacist assured WMC that the vaccine was safe and had been researched, reviewed and approved by experts.  WMC wanted to know how the pharmacist knew this.  The pharmacist replied that it was in the medical and pharmaceutical journals and was in the news, to which WMC replied that he does not believe half the things he hears in the news.  At this point, I wanted to ask him if he believed half the things he reads in the medical or pharmaceutical journals -- or the farm report for that matter -- but it was at this point that my wife, who has much more sense than I do, decided we had heard more than enough and steered me away from WMC and towards the automatic coffee grinders.

We are guessing that WMC did not take the pharmacist up on the vaccine offer, as he was seen walking around the dairy section of the store less than fifteen minutes later.

And all of this is a tragedy.  Not only did WMC not receive a COVID vaccine that day, but he likely remains at risk for getting worms as well.

oh, wyoming...

This is one that has been waiting to be written since this past spring, just after we arrived in the Cowboy State.

Over the course of the summer, my wife and I have been unfriended by a person on facebook.  This is a person who is part of a group we had hung with for several years during the summers, with whom we had attended concerts and shows and we had to the house overnight on more than one occasion.  This person had been one of the friends my wife turned to for help when she was hospitalized while I was out of town.

During the course of the pandemic, we had been unable to get to our summer house in the west.  We spent a great deal of time dreaming of when we would be able to return and resume our friendships and enjoy the beauty of this great state.  After more than a year and a half, we were finally able to come here in May, and have been here ever since.  Once we got here, we notified our friends that we were back and looking forward to seeing all.  

Then we waited.

And waited.

After about a month, we finally heard from our "friend".  We got together for drinks and dinner, and were told, in essence, that we were on the outs with everyone.  I am not going to name the "friend" or even identify the "friend" by gender.  The plural will be used where otherwise indicating gender is unavoidable.

Our crimes(s)?

For the both of us, it turns out that our joint crime was Stitched Together Long Island, the group we founded together and was run primarily by my wife, that in the earlier days of the pandemic ended up with more than two thousand members on Long Island, and with our sister groups, primarily the original founding group in California run by my sister in law and her daughter, ended up making and distributing approximately five hundred thousand masks to need based groups, first responders and medical organizations that could not gain access to them via ordinary means.  As you can guess, our "friend" is anti-mask.  We were proudly told how they ripped their mask off the moment they were leaving stores, shooting the bird at the employees inside, to show they are independent and cannot be denied their "rights", whatever those rights are.  They will now not go to stores, restaurants, etc. that require masks.

We were also told that the friends all believe that we founded and ran Stitched Together so that we could get publicity.  For what, I am at a loss over, but there you go.

Our "friend" is, as you could also guess, anti-vax.  Part of our friendship banishment is that we have been vocal in pushing for everyone everywhere to be vaccinated.  Our "friend" claims the vaccines are nothing but poison.  They cannot tell you what the poison is, but it is poison, by golly!  

They also claim the rest of us are being manipulated by false statistics of deaths caused by COVID.  The logic here is that a person who dies of cardiac or respiratory arrest has not died of COVID, even if the death certificate states the cardiac or respiratory arrest was caused by the virus.  The further logic, if there is any, is that if the cause of death on the death certificate says cardiac or respiratory arrest, then the death was not caused or contributed to by COVID; therefore, it should not be counted as a COVID death, even if it is listed as a causal or contributing factor.

Mind you, our "friend" has taken the vaccine, but only did so when told they would not be allowed to visit grandchildren in another state.  In other words, when it suits their purposes, they will inject this "poison" into their system.

My personal crime?

This blog.

You know, the one that has had a total of five entries this entire year prior to this one.

Our "friend" tells us that the entire group is sick of the blog and how I "go on and on".  They wish I would just shut up.  Mind you, none of the others have told me this, then again, none of the others have said anything to me since our return in May.  It appears possible that our "friend" was sent as an emissary to shut me up, or they took it upon themselves with the tacit approval of the rest.

To put this mildly, I am not going to shut up, even if this blog is only published occasionally.

When I pointed out to our "friend" that the tenor of the posts in this blog has not changed at all over the course of the past couple of years while we were in New York, I was told that this is true, but times are now different.  There is no longer any tolerance among the friends for the kind of thinking and statements that are made in the blog, even if nothing in the blog is personal, and I try to avoid profanities, for the most part.  So, if I want to maintain certain friendships, I should no longer speak my mind on this blog, or anywhere where our "friend" and the rest of the "friends" may either see, hear or read it.  My First Amendment rights be damned, but they are still free to tell me what they think.

So I guess we are looking for new friends.

We will probably not look for them in Walgreen's, where just about nobody is wearing masks, and those few who are seated in the waiting area for vaccines of any kind are doing so without masks, right under signs that say anyone seated there must wear one.

We will probably not look for them in a couple of the auto repair shops and a laundromat in town that have hung signs pronouncing their undying MAGA love and "Trump Won!"

We will also probably not look for them from the various folks in the area who drive around or park their vehicles alongside the road festooned with MAGA flags and banners of all sorts, including the red, white and blue flags adorned with that all time great campaign/political slogan "Fuck Biden".

Finally, we will also probably not look for them at the announced "freedom" rally scheduled a couple of towns over from us in the next week or so, in which the speakers are going to be at the VFW railing about their freedoms being taken from them by anyone, especially anyone in the government or a school, who tells them to get vaccinated or wear a mask.  Our freedom to be able to go out in public confident that the person standing near us will not infect us with a deadly disease does not enter into the equation.

We will look for these new friends, and we will keep looking for them.  They have to be somewhere around here.

Oh, Wyoming...

life in wartime

On March 16, 2020, I was sent home from court when its closure was announced due to COVID-19 just as the court day was about to start.  You could see it coming a mile away.  In fact, a group of friends and I had predicted it about a week beforehand at brunch when we saw how the virus was starting to spread around the country and around the world without any leadership from those who could have done something to stop or slow it.  I have not stepped foot in a courthouse since that day.  I was not able to work from that day until approximately one year later, and can only work now due to the fact that my profession has figured out how to conduct that aspect that I earn my living doing via remote conferences.

During that year, I watched as persons I used to think had some intelligence, railed first against masks, then against the real experts who were trying to do something, and then against vaccines.  I watched the spoiled children play on the beaches and in the bars during spring break in Florida, encouraged by a deranged governor, who appears intent on killing his constituents.  I watched the spoiled brat interviewed on television, drunkenly proclaiming that no virus was going to stop him and his friends from having a good time.  I then watched a well dressed, well groomed middle aged white guy go on the same cameras and announce that he was not going to wear a mask "just to make you feel good".

And the virus spread.

We were unable to go to our summer home last year, as there was no way to get there.  Dining out?  Not until some of the restaurants opened for limited outside dining in the summer.  A movie? Forget it. We still have not gone to one, not even a drive in.  Sitting in the backyard became date night, but only if the neighbors were not outside as well.  Shopping had to be planned so we could get to the stores at hours where the crowds were minimal, at least compared to other times.  Even when we went shopping, the nearly empty shelves looked like refugees from the old Soviet Union.  Where we live, meats were rationed.  Toilet paper and paper towels were the new gold.  When we left the house, we masked and sometimes gloved, at least until the latex gloves we had on hand ran out.  There were none in the stores.

And some people still refused to wear masks.

And the virus spread.

We went for nearly a year without seeing our son who lives on the west coast, then got to see him very briefly when he was in New York on business for a couple of hours, outside, with masks on.  We did not see our daughter in law in person from January, 2020 until April, 2021.  During this time, she gave birth to our granddaughter.  We could not be there to help.  We desperately wanted to be there.  We saw our son who lives in another state and works in the healthcare profession going to work every day in a hazmat suit, working on the front lines in COVID units fighting to save lives by day and fighting off bigotry against him at night.  We were able to see him in person one single afternoon for the entire year in 2020, sitting outside his apartment with his partner.  We have seen them once so far this year.  We have prayed everyday for their health.  Some prayers were answered.  Some were not.  My mother is in her nineties.  She has essentially been stuck in her house for now nearly a year and a half.  Her mind is still sharp.  Her mobility is not.  Other than visiting when we can and the telephone, there is not much we can do for her, although fortunately, she is still able to care for herself.

Throughout, the same people still refused to wear masks.

And the virus spread.

Thanksgiving with my family was canceled.  Christmas with my wife's family was canceled.  Vacations with friends overseas were canceled.  No more evenings in the City.  No Broadway.  No concerts.  No simple get togethers.

Vaccines became available.  The vaccines are safe.  The vaccines work.  We rushed Mom to get hers.  We rushed to get ours.  I sat in the waiting area of Aqueduct Raceway in Queens, where I received my vaccine, and felt tears welling, figuring it was over.  People would get their shots.  We could get on with our lives.

I was wrong.

People refused to get vaccinated, many of them the same who refused to wear masks.  Politicians, pundits and others enabled them, and some, like that idiot in Florida, decreed that it would be illegal for businesses, government offices and schools to require vaccinations, thereby endangering the very people who were out there doing what they could to protect not only themselves, but those who refused to do their part to stop the spread, including that smug moron in the governor's mansion.

And many of the same folks who refused to wear masks, as well as others who think they know better than everybody else, including the real experts, refused to get vaccinated.

And the virus spread.

And the virus mutated.

We did manage to make it to our summer house this year.  The house is somewhat isolated from our neighbors, so it at least feels a bit safer.  There is no real way of knowing if it actually is or not.  We are not attending events we have routinely gone to in the past -- the county fair, concerts, music festivals, etc.  There has not been a single dinner out with local friends, many of whom are not vaccinated.  When we do go out to eat, we try to go during off times when there are few others in the restaurants.  Other than once, we have not gone to any local museums.  The nearby national parks are mobbed with out of town visitors.  We have no way of knowing who is vaccinated and who is not.  We assume many are not.  We will wait until the summer vacation has ended and the tourists have gone home to visit them.  All the while, when we go into the local stores, nobody, and I mean NOBODY is wearing a mask.  And in this state, the vast majority of people remain unvaccinated.

And the mutated virus has spread.

And still people refuse to get vaccinated.  The same people.  

Assholes.

Every single one of them.

Think there are no consequences to this?  On a practical and personal level, here is the result of those same, self-centered assholes who believe their rights are violated when they are asked to put on a mask or get vaccinated to protect themselves and everyone else, without giving any regard to the rights of everyone else out there to simply be healthy.

We are here.  For how long, we do not know.  Much depends upon whether or not traveling back to the east coast remains possible.  It could be worse, much worse.  We are presently healthy.  We have vacations planned and paid for, but do not know if they will go forward, even though they are not scheduled for many more months from now.  If they do not go forward, we will be angry and frustrated with the rest of you, but our present situation is not what anyone would consider dire.

Our son on the west coast is a member of a very well known band that tours around the world, making their living that way.  The band just announced cancellation of tour dates due to the virus, which is spreading due to the refusal of those same people to get vaccinated.  A major source of his income is now gone, because of the assholes -- and no other reason.  It is also worth noting that many of these assholes, especially the political types, are the ones who have been advocating cutting off unemployment benefits, and are the ones who are responsible for the expiration of eviction moratoriums around the country.  All of this will primarily effect working people WHO WORE MASKS WHEN ASKED TO, AND ARE VACCINATED.

Our son in the healthcare profession had been wondering a few months ago if he was going to need to switch jobs, as the unit he works in providing care to COVID patients seemed to be winding down.  He is now back to putting on a hazmat suit at work every day, dealing with an overflowing COVID unit, filled primarily, if not just about exclusively, with patients who refused to get vaccinated, exposing himself to the consequences of their irresponsibility and downright stupidity, and then being forced to go to the basement of his home after work to decontaminate before he goes upstairs to his home due to the fact that his partner is severely immunocompromised.  And we are living in fear of the consequences of his day to day responsibilities at work, and praying for him and his partner again.

And the mutating virus continues to spread.

I will not mince words.  I am finished with that.

The spread of this virus and the practical and personal consequences of that spread are the responsibility of the assholes and their enablers who refused to wear masks and now refuse to get vaccinated.

Every single one of you.

Assholes.

facemasks and jews

One of the frustrating things about having a blog is the constant vague, underlying feeling that there is an obligation to actually write something every now and then.  This is especially true when you have a blog, such as this one, in which you really do not publish much very often.  The last White Fluffy Duckies was written and published nearly two months ago.  Frankly, I thought it had been longer than that.  I have found it increasingly difficult over the past year or so to come back here and record my thoughts, as society as a whole has become increasingly depressing.

Then there are those entries that practically write themselves.

Today, we will very briefly touch upon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.  At the outset, I will state that I will not dignify her by using her name again.  Much like the former guy, mostly known in this space as cadet bone spurs, she will henceforth be relegated to identification by nickname, reference and ridicule, which is still probably more than she deserves.  For obvious reasons, we will refer to her mostly by the title she probably adores, Rep. QAnon.

Over the course of the past few days, in addition to a myriad of of ignorant and insulting statements she has made over the years, including during the relatively brief the time she has been a member of congress, Rep. QAnon has equated mask mandates during a public health pandemic that has already killed more than six hundred thousand people in this country alone to the treatment of Jews at the hands of nazis in World War Two.  She has specifically stated that forcing people to wear masks in public is just like the treatment Jews in concentration camps felt when being herded off to gas chambers.  When the predictable outrage ensued, she doubled down, and said that there was nothing wrong at all in what she had said.

Nothing wrong.

She equated a public health measure that just about every public health authority endorses as saving lives with the mass slaughter of Jews by nazis, a deliberate genocidal attempt to eradicate the planet of Jews.  

Six million.

Six million Jews.

All killed.  

Deliberately.  

Ruthlessly.

And this cretin thinks it's the same thing as asking people to wear masks to help overcome a pandemic.

Somehow, placing a piece of cloth over your nose and mouth in an attempt to prevent the spread of a deadly virus is the same as gassing Jews.  We have reached the point where public health measures are to some people the equivalent of mass genocide. 

Let me teach Rep. QAnon a few words and places from history.  Maybe she should look them up in history books before she equates public health with genocide again.  I am not going to define them for her here, as it is just a waste of time.  For anyone to truly learn, they need to look this up themselves.

Holocaust.

Shoah.

Warsaw Ghetto.

Auschwitz.

Treblinka.

Bergen-Belson.

Sobibor.

And what is most personal to me, November 3, 1943.

I seriously doubt Rep. QAnon knows much about each of these terms, places and dates.  I doubt that she knows anything at all of the significance of November 3, 1943.  For that much I will offer a brief history lesson.

November 3, 1943 is known in the history of the Holocaust as "The Harvest Festival".  It is the day the nazis decided Jews were going to be exterminated.  Approximately forty-two thousand Jews were murdered in concentration camps that day throughout Europe, the single largest mass murder in a single day in history.  Nearly eighteen thousand alone were killed at a concentration camp in Majdanek.  Included in that number were members of my father's family -- my family -- who had not managed to escape Frompl, Poland before the outbreak of the war.  Those members of my family were likely killed that day.  The remains of the Majdanek camp still exists.  Tours are offered, including the barracks Jews were stored in while awaiting their fate, the gas chambers and the ovens.  There is also a large memorial which consists of a mountain of ashes covered from the elements.  You can walk up steps on the side of the mountain of ashes and peer over the edge.  What you will see are ashes of the people killed at Majdanek.  Included are members of my family.  

The ashes, the horrors, they still exist.  

Frompl no longer exists.  

My family, including great grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins, also no longer exist.

But Rep. QAnon still exists, as do people who think like her.  The deliberate ignorance she spouts still exists.  It is for Rep. QAnon and people of her ilk that for nearly eighty years my people have repeated the phrase --

"Never Again".

Never Again should one group of people be allowed to exterminate another for the simple reason that they are not like "us", whomever "us" may be.

Never Again should we allow ignorance and malice to flourish to the point where one people think they have the right to eradicate another, or to make false equivalences to measures having nothing whatsoever to do with Shoah.

About six months ago, a person who had been a friend on facebook published a photograph there of a nazi soldier harassing a small boy, one of those infamous "papers please" moments, and equated it with mask mandates.  I immediately unfriended her and have not seen her on my facebook feed since, nor do I wish to.  

And I say this now.

If there are any other "friends" out there who feel the same way, who think that public health measures designed to prevent the spread of a deadly virus are the same as sending Jews off to gas chambers, please spare me the job of finding out who you are.

Just unfriend me.