September 6, 2019--Alabama On My Mind

What's with Alabama? 

Why is Trump showing a map of hurricane Dorian's path that includes not only Florida and the Carolinas but also Alabama? I wonder since the path is not projected to pass anywhere close to the Heart of Dixie State.

To understand why, go back to the 2017 special Senate election that was won by Doug Jones. Remarkably, a Democrat in very red state Alabama who defeated Ray Moore who was best known as a pedophile with a passion for teenage girls and who declared that Alabama "was great during slavery." 

Moore lost by only 21,924 votes and so he is trying again, running in 2020 in opposition to the now-incumbent Jones.

In a Senate up for grabs--the Dems have to flip just three or four seats to take control of the Upper Chamber--and therefore from a Republican perspective it would be good to be able to turn a state or two from Democratic to Republican. One such state potentially is Alabama.

The contest then in Alabama is important: it is one of only two states (the other is Michigan) where Democrats are the incumbents but were carried in 2016 by Trump. They are thus considered possibly flippable to the Republicans.

It is thus my view that Trump is showing Alabama threatened by Dorian as evidence of how he and the Republicans are standing ready to help Alabama deal with the storm and its aftermath.

I assume that after the storm turns to the North Atlantic Ocean, Trump will travel to the states affected, including one he claims was but wasn't, for some visuals of him showing concern and, as in Puerto Rico, tossing rolls of paper towels to the newly homeless. 

One more thing--it is a federal crime for government officials to alter an official weather map. Really.

May 21, 2019--Abortion

Some years ago I had responsibility for the Ford Foundation's work with rural schools.

In the Black Belt communities of Alabama, for example, we funded efforts at the K-12 level to prepare young people who wanted to remain in their hometowns to not just find work locally but to develop the entrepreneurial skills needed to create work opportunities for themselves and their neighbors. 

In one town high school students began a local newspaper that over a couple of years was full of news and local ads. Enough so that five decent-paying jobs were created and those who filled them were able to support themselves and remain in place.

At the community college level, through a multi-state program we called the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) we helped colleges and their community partners align courses of study with the needs of local employers while at the same time strengthening the institutions' academic offerings so that those who aspired to earn associate degrees before transferring to four-year colleges had the preparation they needed to complete bachelors degrees in increasing numbers.

Again in Alabama, in Monroeville, at Alabama Southern Community College, with Ford help, the college and its local affiliates saw many more students than in the past receive up-to-date training as well as transfer to four-year colleges.

(One sidebar--Monroeville was the home of Harper Lee and it was a great pleasure for me to have the chance to meet her and spend some time sitting with her on her back porch. Also exciting, she generously gave me a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.)

In addition, while in Alabama, driving from town to town, it was apparent that something else was going on--a battle over abortion rights. 

A battle that culminated last week when the state legislature and governor passed the most draconian antichoice bill in the nation. If implemented it would effectively end the possibility of abortion in the state. 

Back in my day, driving around the Deep South in even stormy weather, at every clinic that offered abortions and women's health services, there was a demonstration underway. All by antiabortion activists.

Women seeking reproductive assistance who were assumed to be arriving for abortions had to run the gauntlet of protesters who shrieked at them, accusing them of being "baby killers."

This went on relentlessly for decades.

One thing I also noticed--little sign of prochoice activists. 

Recalling this, as reproductive rights are under serious attack--perhaps potentially by the newly reconstituted Supreme Court--where are all the passionate defenders of Roe v. Wade? Clearly not engaged in anything comparable. On the ground, all the action is with the so-called pro-life advocates.

I confess to being cynical, but are work and entertainments more important to liberals who support abortion rights but are not involved with marshaling resources to fight back?

Minimally, where are the monthly prochoice mass demonstrations? Again, are we too distracted to organize any?

I know if Roe v. Wade is modified or overturned in the federal courts, abortion supporters self-righteously will express outrage and seek on MSNBC or from the New York Times what to think and how, after it's too late, to respond. 

Distressing to say I do not expect to see many progressives actively engaged beyond a gesture at abortion or Planned Parenthood clinics to help make it easier for women seeking reproductive services.

Too many on the left are better at complaining than getting off their sofas and marching in the rain.

May 17, 2019--The Surprising Supremes

The struggle between the Trump White House and the Democrats in the House of Representatives is heating up. 

Congress is attempting to do its constitutionally mandated oversight work. They want access, for example, to the full Mueller report; they are also subpoenaing Trump's tax records; and they want to gather direct testimony from Mueller and, along the way, to have Donald Jr. testify about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump is stonewalling everything, claiming executive privilege.

None of this will be resolved as it usually is by negotiations. There is too much bad blood for that and Trump knows how devastating it would be for him if the truth were exposed. 

It will then for certain take months or years for these disputes to be adjudicated by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, at the state level, Alabama just passed legislation to eliminate abortions under virtually all circumstances. Including if a women becomes pregnant as the result of rape or insist. This piece of legislation was not designed to be implemented but rather was carefully crafted to reach the Supreme Court and give the now conservative court the opportunity to consider overturning Roe v. Wade and thereby making abortion illegal in all 50 states.

Conservatives feel that with a majority of the nine members of the current court named by Republican presidents (Thomas by George H.W. Bush; Roberts and Alito by George W. Bush; and Gorsuch and Kavanaugh by Trump) Roe v. Wade is threatened as are affirmative action and all forms of support for voting rights. 

But maybe for conservatives it is too soon to celebrate.  

It is by no means certain that Roe and other examples of progressive Supreme Court decisions are doomed. They are seriously threatened, but it is not yet clear they will be overturned. 

Recall that Chief Justice Roberts joined the four liberal justices to uphold Obamacare. I speculated at the time and subsequently that Roberts, perhaps feeling everything that is decided on his watch will be attributed to the "Roberts'" Court, perhaps concerned about how he would be regarded by historians, he abandoned his up-to-then predictable conservative voting record and joined the four liberals to sustain a program that provides medical coverage for 20 million Americans. He did not want to see the Affordable Care Act shredded while he was serving as Chief Justice. He therefore contorted himself and found a way to support it.

But here's the real surprise--the voting pattern of the most recent member of the court: Brett Kavanaugh.

Recall, he is the justice who was accused of sexual harassment and confessed during his conformation hearing that he had a drinking problem. He testified rapturously about how he "loves beer." So much so that he repeated it half a dozen times. 

Did anyone after this and looking at his judicial record think he would even one time vote with the liberal block?

Well, he has been. In fact, he has voted with the liberals more often than any other justice.

In recent months, for example, he voted with Ginsberg and Sotomayor on the death penalty and criminal defendants' rights. In both instances not agreeing with Trump's other appointee, Neil Gorsuch and the other conservatives.

It is premature to speculate how he might vote when it comes to disputes about Trump's claims about executive power. 

There have been more than a few surprises when it comes to justices voting contrary to what one would have expected. There were numerous times when Franklin Roosevelt appointees voted against New Deal legislation and Byron (Whizzer) White, named by Kennedy, turned out to be more a conservative than a liberal. And then there was David Souter, protected by lifetime tenure, who was appointed by George H.W. Bush but turned out, once on the court, to be dependably liberal.

So, keep an eye on Kavanaugh. Along with Roberts he may turn out to be unpredictable. He too may have an eye on history.

November 13, 2017--Republicans Hit Rock Bottom

Since June 2015 when Donald Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to announce he was running for president (at the time I didn't appreciate the living metaphor of this descent), along with many others I wondered out loud about when he would finally hit rock bottom in his words and behavior. 

Would his calling Vietnam war hero John McCain a "loser" because he was shot down and captured--"I like winners, not prisoners"--turn enough voters off and knock Trump the draft dodger out of the race?

Or would it be the end when he mocked the gold star parents who spoke movingly about their son who had been killed in action?

Certainly, when the Billy Bush tape became known, the one where Trump bragged about grabbing pussies and how easy it is to get sex if you're rich and famous, certainly that alone would do him in.

But, no, it failed to do so. To his supporters his vulgarity and brashness made him even more attractive--their kind of person--and the rest is history.

He continues to speak and act outrageously now that he is president. Almost daily there is something in his tweets to delight his most fervent followers. It is likely true that, as he boasted, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. 

Now, Trump may have company in Alabaman Judge Roy Moore, the Republican nominee who is running to replace Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's Attorney General.

Moore who is convincingly accused of having repeatedly molested a 14 year-old girl in 1979 refuses to withdraw from the race and by all indications, in spite of this, is likely to be elected.

Most Republican leaders are apoplectic. After their stunning defeats in Virginia and elsewhere last week they are in full panic that (1) Moore, will refuse to step aside and further tarnish the GOP brand or (2) he will be elected and they will then not know what to do with him. Ensconced in the Senate he will remind voters daily that pedophiles are welcome under the Republican tent.

Further, Moore's continuing campaign will surface all sorts of undesirable, image-mangling Alabaman Republican leaders who have been saying that they will vote for him even if he is guilty because anything, anything is better than having a Democrat representing in Congress the great state of Alabama. Pedophiles yes; Democrats, no.

Some from the evangelical community--major players in the Heart of Dixie State--have compared Moore to Joseph of Mary and Joseph. 

Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, for example, noted that there are many older men cavorting with teens in the Bible, including Mary and Joseph, who "became parents of Jesus." This is a direct quote.

So, if one is still wondering when we would hit rock bottom in our Trumpian politics take note--we just have.