Life's Hard Choices

I'm not a fan of Noam Chomsky, but he does speak for the antiwar movement I support. 

Chomsky has characterized the Russia-Ukraine war as criminal and stupid, comparable to the attack America made on Iraq. Chomsky understands our government's failure to live up to treaties with Russia and so on, but history, in his opinion, does not justify Putin's slaughter of Ukrainians.

He points out that Great Powers violate international laws at will. That is what they do. I would caution this: before violating international law, make sure you actually are a Great Power.

Chomsky has called for a cease fire, a withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine and negotiations that produce a peace pact satisfactory to both nations. That is probably how the war will end, and he asks, Why not end it now?

But ending a war requires statesmen, who are in short supply, according to Chomsky. It probably means not threatening Putin with a war crimes trial and allowing him, someone many consider a Fascist, to return to a seat at the world table. 

  

What Is Wrong with the New Zealand Police?

From 1990 to 2015, the New Zealand police killed 21 people, an average of less than one a year. In 2015 the American police killed 1,146 people. What went wrong in New Zealand? 

This failure has been studied, of course. Brian Klaas discusses it in his book CORRUPTIBLE. To simplify what Klaas found, the government of New Zealand goes to great lengths to recruit and hire as police officers people who will not shoot other people. This is an old story--you get the kind of officer you recruit. 

You could, of course, retrain the New Zealand officer to shoot more, but it wouldn't work. The officer going into retraining will be the same officer when retraining ends. 

 

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The Camp Robber

So far we don't have a rational explanation for why tRump stole different sets of documents from the government.  Various plots and plans have been suggested, but maybe they miss the obvious. Mr. tRump is not a planner. He doesn't know what he wants or why. He runs on the instincts of a five-year-old, which, in some ways, resemble the instincts of a Canada jay or camp robber. 

Canada jays are fascinating birds who boldly steal food and shiny things from campers. These jays glue stolen food above the snowline in trees to use in winter. Unlike sensible birds, they raise their young in the harshness of winter, not in the spring.

Mr. tRump raised his children in a kind of permanent winter, and as he prepared to exit the White House, he automatically stole all sorts of things to take with him. He took love letters to ruthless tyrants, a letter of welcome from President Obama, top secret gossip about world leaders, boxes of junk and God knows what. He then stashed stolen objects in many different rooms in his castle and went on to visit the rooms and sort items and maybe never had a plan at all. 

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Attack of the Magats

It seems probable that tRump will be tried for one or more of his crimes. That will enrage his more toxic followers, the Magats, which include thousands of heavily armed white nationalists, Nazis, racists, women haters, play soldiers and militia members. 

We'd better be ready. Maybe the tRump trials should be held on an aircraft carrier 100 miles off shore, but of course that won't happen. 

If the next insurrection is better coordinated, we might see armed attacks on state capitols etc. 

Hispanics on Roe

Where do American Hispanics stand on a woman's right to choose?

Growing up with two Irish Catholic grandparents, I learned their attitude of "what the priest doesn't know won't hurt him."The belief that modern Catholics conform to doctrine is not well founded. 

In a recent poll commissioned by the National Institute for Reproductive Health, 78% of Latino voters agreed that "each woman should have the right  to make her own decision." 

The reversal of Roe by the Extreme Court has had the effect of adding Hispanics to the Democratic camp, reversing an earlier trend. 

Samaritans

When he discovered that Samaritans still exist, John Howard de Selby attempted to become one. This proved difficult given that the religion does not accept converts. They regard themselves as the genuine and pure old-style Israelites. 

The history of the people of this ancient religion remains debatable, but we know that in  772 BCE they were conquered by the Assyrians.  

The Samaritans (or Bene Yisrael) and the ancient Israelites were closely related. They may have once been one people, but they divided in a religious schism. Eventually the Maccabees, not supportive of diversity, crushed the Samaritans. 

Today the remaining 1,000 Samaritans live in two small villages in or near Israel. Their religious book is the first five books of the Torah or Old Testament. They pray in Hebrew, and the Israelis, after rejecting them, have granted the Samaritans the right of return. De Selby has twice been denied Israeli citizenship. 

Genders?

The Grace Christian School in Florida has asked all gender non-conforming students to leave immediately. The school gives as its reason, "We believe that God created mankind in his image: male (man) and female (woman), sexually different but with equal dignity."

It's unclear why Grace Christian maintains that their bisexual God would reject students born in what the church describes as His image. Or should it be Their image?  Asking for a friend.

Maeve O'Sullivan

The morning paper contained a charming photo of Maeve O'Sullivan, teacher of the year 2022. She meets her first graders at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Healdsburg. 

I suspect that many local people know Maeve, who has one of the better Irish accents in town. You might encounter her at the senior center, where she sometimes brings her class members for interactions with the truly old. 

Maeve's husband is Prof. Chris O'Sullivan, the often published author who teaches history at the University of San Francisco. O'Sullivan was once named "the smartest man in Healdsburg," which Jack de Selby credits in part to Sullivan's choice among potential life partners. 

It's Who You Know

There is a new study out that shows that the best indicator to predict upward mobility in America is who your friends are. My brother, who sent me the study, and I have understood that for some time.

We were born into a working-class family. Our father began work as a roughneck in the oil fields. (An oil-field roughneck is an untutored laborer.) Our mother was a high-school dropout. But in 1948 they bought four acres for four thousand dollars on the Palos Verdes peninsula (near Los Angeles). Our father came from a horse trading, very small ranch family, and he just wanted to be around acreage, horses, saddles and guns, I think. 

It turned out that Palos Verdes resembled a bucolic Beverly Hills. My brother and I grew up in countryside where all our friends had begun life in the upper middle class. We actually rode around on horses. Eventually, of course, like our friends we automatically enrolled in college, read Rilke, learned professions, etc. 

America is no longer the world leader in upward social mobility. I forget exactly where we are ranked-- about 25th among nations.  But if you want your children to climb through our caste system, see the plan above.

Fascism Defined

Umberto Eco, best known in this country for  THE NAME OF THE ROSE  and FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM, grew up in fascist Italy. He worked later as a  mystery writer, semiotician, medievalist, etc. I'm borrowing from his 14 point definition of fascism here. 

As you read the definition, consider how much applies to Victor Orban, Trump, Putin, Saudi Arabia, etc. (A modern curiosity is the fascist leader who calls himself an anti-fascist.)

1. The fascists develop a cult of the traditional, which often includes retreat into obscure religions, occult beliefs, Christian nationalism, etc.

2. Modernism is rejected by fascists except for its technology. The Enlightenment and reason itself are seen as depraved. Fascism is a form of deliberate irrationalism. Fascist do not need facts to support their beliefs. They "know" things without evidence.

3. Action for action's sake is beautiful and can be taken without reflection. Just act. Drive your pickup into a parade or demonstration. Thinking is emasculating. Intellectuals are degenerates. 

4. Disagreement with fascism is treason, and so is support for diversity.

5. Fascism exploits an inherited human fear of difference. Fascists target new folk, particularly those of different appearance. New folk are not fully human, not entitled to vote, etc. (This applies to Amerindians because the American nation was built by white men, its only full citizens.)

6. Fascism grows from real or imagined social frustrations, often from a blocked middle class that feels pressure from the lower classes.

7. Fascists often have nothing to boast of except being born in the nation. They feel besieged. Some group is plotting to take away their waning power, and they suspect it is the Jews. 

8. Fascists feel humiliated by the prosperity of people of color. 

9. Life should be lived for struggle. Permanent war. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. Fascists expect Armageddon, a final battle. 

10.  Every true citizen should be a member of the fascist party. The party will be organized in a military fashion, and the ersatz soldiers will be the new elite (though they will be scorned by the leadership, which considers them fools, easy to manipulate).  

11. Education exists to create a cult of heroism and death. A fascist craves a heroic death and killing in general. 

12. Few male fascists get chances to play the hero, so they transfer their will to power into sexual matters. They attack women and gays. 

13. Individuals have no rights. The people are viewed as a lump having a common will. The leader is the sole interpreter of what the lump wants. This kind of populism is contrasted against democracies, which are seen as weak and rotten and easily defeated in battle. 

14.  Fascism speaks Orwellian Newspeak, using an impoverished vocabulary and elementary syntax. They push big, simple lies. 

It seems to me that American libertarianism is an awkward fit with fascism. But the whole movement is moronic, so I don't suppose it matters.

Changing the Game

The greatest players change the game. 

When I was a student at UCLA back in the fifties, I lived in the cheapest housing available, and so did black athletes. One of my roommates was the starting tailback on the undefeated football team, Sam Brown. He and several friends had grown up in Oakland, and one day Sam insisted that I go with him and the team to a UCLA basketball game against USF. Someone they knew from Oakland played on the USF team, and Sam told me I would see something different. 

Attending a game with Sam and his friends was always different. They would sit together and shout insults at the oppenent like nothing I had ever heard before.

USF had a very tall center (Bill Russell) Sam had grown up with. Russell and a teammate (K. C. Jones) had worked out defensive schemes on their own. Russell took down more than 20 rebounds--he could jump. He defended the rim. UCLA won the game, but USF was undefeated the rest the season and the next season and took two NCAA finals. 

Russell and Jones were drafted by the Celtics, where they won eleven or twelve titles. They changed the game. Russell also marched with MLK and became the first black manager of any major league team. He died this week. Always his own man. Hats off.