Naturalized, and Progressive

It’s been my observation that naturalized citizens often value this country more than many who were born here.  That latter category includes folks like those of my neighbors who still have yard signs that read I want my country back.  On the other hand, many of my former students are part of the first group.

Yesterday, I had email from one of them.  Syeda Hoque, originally from Dhaka in Bangladesh, has been a citizen for several years.  Like more than 80% of those who are citizens because they want to be, Syeda is a Democrat, and a progressive.  And, as the excerpt below (from her email to me) demonstrates, she’s also something of a poet.

Another memorable trip was from PA to Kansas. It took 24 hours. I loved the journey so much.  Every state is so beautiful in her own way but in the same time so different.! 

In West Virginia, we drove two hundreds miles just mountains after mountains. Florida looked just like Middle East. I am so fortunate to go and see all these places. I always thank Allah for this opportunity.

Listen up, folks across the road.  You could learn something from Syeda.

We Should All Be Grateful

... that Donald Trump's trash talk about bikers, and implied approval of violence by them, hasn't caused any problems.  One of these days, we might wake up to stories like those we've been seeing from New Zealand.  Trouble is, those stories' chyrons would read  Crazed Trump Supporter Takes His Hero's Words Literally.

As Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor put it,  Trump is cornered, with violence on his mind. We must be on red alert.

12 Down, 8 to Go

In today’s vote in the Senate, 12 of the 20 Republicans whose seats are up for re-election in 2020 threw Donald Trump under the bus.  By joining the House of Representatives in voting to rescind Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, the 12, however tacitly, acknowledged that The Donald has become toxic politically.

Now, if only eight more see the light, nothing he does will matter.  It will all be veto-proof.

             59 never-Trump votes today + 8 more = votes needed to override any veto

My kind of math ...:-)

A Platform for Progressives

During lunch or after school, I and many of my classmates often stopped at Hobby’s Drug Store.  At the corner of Baldridge and Jones Avenues in North Braddock, it was no more than three blocks from either the borough’s junior high or high schools.  But we didn’t visit Hobby’s as a social event.  We went there to use its extensive collection of Classics Illustrated comic books.  As research tools for book and other reports, Classics Illustrated was unparalleled ...   :-))

In an effort, analogous to the Classics Illustrated gambit, to streamline research, we offer the table below – a scorecard of sorts that compares the Bill of Rights, FDR’s Second Bill of Rights, and the positions of 2020 Democratic candidates.

This from FDR’s Bill	Relates to this item from the Original	Which corresponds to	Which is supported by these candidates (declared or not)
The right to work with dignity at a useful, remunerative job	The First Amendment, which, in addition to affirming the right of the people peaceably to assemble, implicitly protects freedom of association , which in turn is the basis for such entities as labor unions	A $15.00 minim wage	Biden Booker Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
Income sufficient to ensure adequate food, housing, and leisure
Income and profits sufficient to ensure farmers the rights cited above	The Fifth Amendment, which, among other tings, provides for compensation, under the premise of eminent domain, to owners whose property the government takes	The Green New Deal	Booker Buttegieg Castro Gabbard Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
Freedom from unfair competition and the negative effects of monopolies	The Ninth Amendment, which affirms additional fundamental rights outside those enumerated in the Constitution	Ending corporate political action committee donations to campaigns	Biden Booker Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
The right of people to a decent home	The First Amendment, which, in addition to affirming the right of the people peaceably to assemble, implicitly protects freedom of association , which in turn is the basis for such entities as labor unions	A $15.00 minim wage	Biden Booker Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
The right of people to adequate medical care, and the opportunity to achieve and sustain good health	The First Amendment, implicitly protects freedom of association , which in turn is the basis for such entities as labor unions, and for government programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are based on addressing the needs of very large groups of citizens	Support for labor unions	Biden Booker Buttegieg Castro Gabbard Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
The right to be protected from economic hardship due to old age, sickness, accident, or unemployment	The Ninth Amendment, which affirms additional fundamental rights outside those enumerated in the Constitution The First Amendment, which implicitly protects freedom of association , which in turn is the basis for such entities as labor unions	Support for labor unions Support for group-based programs like Medicare and Social Security	Biden Booker Buttegieg Castro Gabbard Gillebrand Harris Klobuchar Sanders Warren
The right to a good education	The First Amendment, which implicitly protects freedom of association , which in turn is the basis for such entities as labor unions and student associations	Tuition-free public college	Booker Gabbard Gillebrand Harris Sanders

For more detail on more issues of importance, take a look here.

Test of intrnal link

Today, in the first White House press briefing since January 3, 2019, Sarah Sanders criticized House Democrats, and by extension the Democratic Party.  Sanders blamed the Party for its handling of Rep.Ilhan Omar's ill-advised comments about Israel.  To do that, Sanders made comparisons to how the Republican Party dealt with Rep. Steve King.

Trouble with that is, King was removed from his Committee seats in the House because of comments he made that were openly supportive of white supremacy.  Rep. Omar, on the other hand, criticized policies of the Israeli government, but never suggested that such criticism should be taken as a platform for anti-Semitism.

Test

To a language maven like me, statements like Sanders' today, and in general the willingness of Trumpworld to distort meaning, is reprehensible and dangerous.

Liar, Liar - Pants On Fire

Donald Trump has requested $8.6 billion ($8,600,000,000.00) from Congress to finance his look-how-macho-I-am, completely unnecessary, wall on our southern border.

In the same budget request, Mr. Trump proposed significant cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, despite having promised, during the 2016 campaign, that he would preserve those programs.  Preserve apparently has nothin' to do with it, as far as Trump is concerned.  Over a decade, his new budget would reduce funding for Medicare by an estimated $800 billion, and support for Medicaid by more than $200 billion.

But the Deal-Maker-in-Chief didn't stop there.   He also hopes to spend $26 billion less on Social Security programs, including a $10 billion cut to the Social Security Disability Insurance program.

These costs added together would buy 120 walls in the Trump alternate universe.  At $410.00 per person per year of taxpayer dollars, that amount would cover estimated Medicare costs for about 2 million 439 thousand Americans.

Reminds me of former Representative Alan Grayson's description of Republicans' health care plan ...

Pot Again Calls Kettle Black

Today, in the first White House press briefing since January 3, 2019, Sarah Sanders criticized House Democrats, and by extension the Democratic Party.  Sanders blamed the Party for its handling of Rep.Ilhan Omar's ill-advised comments about Israel.  To do that, Sanders made comparisons to how the Republican Party dealt with Rep. Steve King.

Trouble with that is, King was removed from his Committee seats in the House because of comments he made that were openly supportive of white supremacy.  Rep. Omar, on the other hand, criticized policies of the Israeli government, but never suggested that such criticism should be taken as a platform for anti-Semitism.

To a language maven like me, statements like Sanders' today, and in general the willingness of Trumpworld to distort meaning, is reprehensible and dangerous.

Another Hard-Right Bandwagon

Since Rep. Ilhan Omar made her ill-advised remarks regarding some of the policies of the Israeli government, and also regarding the level and manner of support within the American Jewish community for those policies, there's been a not-so-thinly-veiled movement among hard conservatives (I'm looking at you, Liz Cheney) to discredit Rep. Omar by criticizing  H. Res. 183.

Unlike Mr. Trump, H. Res. 183 doesn't see "good people on both sides", but rather points out that all forms of prejudice are equally dangerous and unacceptable.

To quote congress.gov, the resolution

... rejects the perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world, and condemns anti-Semitic acts and statements. The resolution reaffirms support for the mandate of the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. Additionally, the resolution rejects attempts to justify hatred or violent attacks over political frustrations. Law enforcement is encouraged to avoid conduct that raises the specter of unconstitutional profiling against anyone because of their race, religion, nationality, politics, or social group.

This resolution also acknowledges the harm suffered by Muslims from harassment, discrimination and violence and condemns anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against all minorities.

Finally, the resolution condemns death threats received by Jewish and Muslim Members of Congress.

Sounds good to me.  But I'm left with one question.  Who are the 23 Republicans who voted against it?  And why didn't they respond in a way similar to that taken by Rep. Omar herself, as well as by Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Andre Carson?