10 Days to Go

15104 is both the title of this blog, and the zip code of two boroughs in southeast Allegheny County.  I spent more than half my life in the 15104 area.

Sadly, today I'm reminded of another neighborhood near Pittsburgh with which I'm also very familiar - Squirrel Hill.  I went through Squirrel Hill (zip code 15217) on the 61A Port Authority bus every time I attended classes at the University of Pittsburgh.  That route took me past the Tree of Life Synagogue.

Tree of Life was the object of an horrendous hate crime this morning - a mass shooting in which several were injured and even more killed.  As I type this, I'm listening to the Fear-Monger in Chief tout the need for guns inside places like houses of worship.  According to him, a few more weapons within the temple's inner sanctuary might have prevented carnage like that this morning.

The man has no shame.  Undoubtedly, he will continue to evade any statement of responsibility for the atmosphere of hate and xenophobia  he has nurtured among some of his devotees.  A report about 30 minutes ago from KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, stated that the shooter blamed Tree of Life and other similar congregations for supporting immigrants to this country/  Allegedly, he also said that organizations that attempt to nurture immigrants do so as a ruse, to cover the flow of Middle Eastern terrorists into the United States; that no one in the Trump administration or family were sufficiently anti-Semitic; and that all Jews must die.

Don't tell me, Mr. Trump, that you bear no responsibility at moments like this.  As progressives, healing wounds such as those inflicted today in Squirrel Hill might seem a mountain too high to climb.  But as in so many contexts, we have to try.

Vote on November 6.

11 Days to Go

A recent mailer from the Republican Party,  paid for by the Republican National Committee and referenced here, makes statements that should be music to every progressive's ears.  Allow me to quote.

Polls show that Nancy Pelosi's liberal candidates are surging in races across the country.  They are counting on historically high levels of Democrat [sic] voter turnout to sweep- them into the majority.

If Republicans don't match the Democrats' intensity ... hard-left extremists will:

• repeal ... recent tax cuts and ... double taxes on working families
• open our borders to millions of illegal aliens, costing ... jobs and endangering ... communities
• create a new ... single-payer health care system that will abolish private insurance, cost trillions of dollars, and end Medicare ...

Fill in the rest of the fear-mongering for yourself.  Then let's make the RNC's worst nightmares come true on November 6.

Vote.

12 Days to Go

Whomever they are, at whatever level of government they function, if they don't commit to protecting the Fourth Estate, if they pass off encouraging violence as no more than a joke, vote them out.

Vote them out, whether they're running for school board, Township or Borough Council, County Council, a seat in the House of Representatives, or even Governor.

The cliche that fish rots from the head down has been borne out in spades in the past several days.  With a role model like Donald Trump, should we be surprised that the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania has made threats of physical violence against sitting Governor and 2018 opponent Tom Wolfe?

The vote is our most powerful tool for change.   Don't waste yours on November 6.

13 Days to Go

As someone on a fixed income, I resent folks like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson benefitting mightily from the recent Republican-sponsored tax cut.  Already worth about $32.3 billion, Adelson netted a cool $1.2 billion from that cut.  Reportedly, he pl;ans to use this unanticipated largesse to build casinos in Singapore, not to benefit the economy in this country.

American taxpayers should not fund Adelson's, or anyone else's, business base.  The Constitution assigns responsibility for taxes and spending to the Congress, and particularly to the House of Representatives.  Help prevent future windfalls for the wealthy.  Vote for Democrats on November 6.

14 Days to Go

I voted today, by absentee ballot.  I was determined that my "mobility issues" not mute my voice.

In two weeks, everyone will have the chance to do the same; it's never been more important.  But in Pennsylvania, it may already be too late to obtain an absentee ballot.  So, unless you have one on hand, consider following Michael Cohen's advice regarding November 6.

15 Days to Go

At a recent campaign rally in Montana, Donald Trump said:

A lot of money’s been passing to people to come up and try and get to the border by Election Day ... there are those that say that caravan didn’t just happen.  It didn’t just happen.  ... I’m willing to send the military to defend our southern border, if necessary ... because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the Democrats ... They like it. They also figure everybody coming in is going to vote Democrat.

Merriam-Webster defines delusion as a persistent false belief; that fits Mr. Trump and his base like the proverbial glove.  The only thing I'm uncertain about is, which is scarier - that Trump believes his own fear-mongering, or that he doesn't but is happy to use it as red meat for his supporters.  The caravan to which he alluded is made up of thousands fleeing life-threatening violence in Central America.  Turning them away at our southern border would be disastrous, as would Trump's threat to use our military to control immigration.  That last brings to my mind images of small ships near Ellis Island, preventing steamers from disembarking immigrants like my grandparents.  So much for Give me your ... huddled masses ... yearning to breathe free ...

Mr. Trump is correct in one regard.  It's estimated that 80% of all naturalized citizens register and vote as Democrats.  Certainly my grandparents, and most of my students from foreign countries, did.  That fact is probably what prompted Mr. Trump's most recent jeremiad.

Vote on November 6 ...

16 Days to Go

Several years ago, I published a blog that sought to explain what it was like to grow up in a multi-ethnic environment.  At that time, I was still teaching.  Both environments - my childhood on Bell Avenue in North Braddock and my work in higher education - taught me not only to tolerate, but to celebrate and even to consider as the norm, diversity.  From the five languages other than English I regularly heard as a child, through exposure to and immersion in African-American popular music as an adolescent, to students and co-workers from all over the world who were so important a part of my professional life, I learned not to be afraid of something or someone simply because it or they were different.

The Allegheny County of my youth was heavily Democratic.  That contributed to my politics.  My dad, with his saavy campaign activities, did the same.  My students and co-workers, from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Korea, Morocco, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, because of the courtesy they showed me and the respect they demonstrated for learning, solidified my belief that progressive politics are the best response to the changing demographics of the United States.

There was a time, not too long ago, when people like my grandparents were subjected to the same level of bigotry that Latinos and African-Americans still experience today.  My mom told me how the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on the hilltops in Munhall, in an effort to intimidate Ruthenian steel workers who lived there.  Sadly, Donald Trump has chosen not only to support but to encourage similarly reprehensible beliefs and actions.  That helps explain why, to this day, a neighbor of mine in Concord Township still displays a lawn sign that reads I want my country back.

Trump won't disabuse folks of the idea that it is, or ever was exclusively, their country.  We must.  Vote on November 6.