Roberts

Today's Supreme Court decision, which protects a women's right to choose, provides an example of a conservative versus the radical right.

The four rightwing radicals on the court voted to give the states the power to make abortions almost impossible. The four liberals voted the other way. John Roberts voted to maintain an earlier decision (which he had originally disagreed with), because the earlier decision--which he had voted against-- had set a precedent, giving women the right to choose. He upheld the status quo, the precedent.

Conservatives are cautious.  They want changes to be few, minor and slow in coming. We don't have a conservative party in this country. We have a raving loony party. 

Will tRump Withdraw?

For some time I've been saying that tRump is committing political suicide. I also think there is a chance tRump will withdraw from the race rather than take a savage beating. (You have probably heard that tRump is 9 points behind in Florida.)

If tRump withdraws, will the Repubs nominate Romney? My guess is that the current party isn't intelligent enough to save itself. But holders of elective offices might want to save their jobs. 

The problem is immediate. tRump is a raving loony, and his malicious incompetence during a pandemic is killing us. He's doubling down on that: killing us. To save lives, he has to go now. The House should take one day to impeach him again. (Andrew Johnson was impeached three times.) Then it will be up to the Republican senators: life or death. 

Sauce for the Gander

The school board of Berkeley, California, has decided to rename two public schools currently named for the father of our country and the President who made the Louisiana purchase. Both men owned slaves. Meanwhile, the philosopher George Berkeley, for whom the school district was named, owned slaves and supported slavery. 

Perhaps our focus should shift from symbolism to insuring equal treatment for people of color in policing, education, health care and employment. We can start by making sure that people of color can vote without standing in line all day.

Where Reforms Go To Die

Every 30 or 40 years Americans rise up against police brutality, but little gets done. The method used to deflect reform has been perfected. The authorities form a committee to investigate the problems and stall until the reformers tire. Eventually the committee publishes an exhaustive report. Then our community leaders praise themselves and forget about police brutality for three or four decades.

I note that a "watchdog group" to look into policing reforms has just been named for Sonoma County. Its members include centrist political leaders and--in your face!--the county sheriff. (In an oversight they forgot to include the deputy sheriff who got promoted after he mowed down Andy Lopez, a child with a toy gun and terrifying skin.)

This is the sheriff who threatened not to enforce the measures put forward by health officials at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He will, however, enforce the laws he likes. 

The deflection has begun. There is a long-established proposal for reform, but according to Supervisor Susan Gorin, "We frankly don't have the runway, the time, to thoughtfully consider this and place it on the ballot by early August."  And see you in 40 years. . . . 

A Statue of Grant

On Juneteenth, demonstrators in San Francisco toppled a statue of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had once become the most famous American in the world by defeating the Confederacy twice. First, as a general, he won the Civil War, which freed the enslaved. Second, as President, he sent the American army back into the South and pounded the original KKK into particles of dust. 

As far as I can tell, no one has come forward to claim credit for toppling the Grant statue. We have to guess. 

I suspect that Grant was toppled by white descendants of Jefferson Davis. That means there are too many suspects. In the South, nearly all white males named Davis automatically get the first name of Jeff. And some Jeffs have never forgotten the way President Grant signed the 15th amendment, which gave black men the right to vote. Grant had pushed the amendment through. When it was adopted, he ordered a 100 gun salute in Washington, and he wrote: "The adoption of the 15th Amendment . . . constitutes the most important event that has occurred, since the nation came into life."

Pigeon Poop

Our daily newspaper, The Corporate Democrat, believes that the cognitively impaired deserve space on the letters-to-the-editor page. That's only fair.

Or maybe the editor prints moronic letters to stir up fun.

Today's paper contained two wonderful examples. One was from an all-lives-matter thinker who argued that "Black Lives Matter"  suggests that "there is a difference between black lives and other lives."  That outraged him--apparently he hasn't considered that racism might make a difference in certain lifespans. The second letter is from an analyst who believes that history teachers should take their classes on field trips to view statues of slave-whipping traitor Bobby Lee on horseback (painted extra white in pigeon poop).

The NY Times does not print brainless letters. Not a fan of the Times, but I will give the paper that much.

Riane Konc

In the June 22 edition of the New Yorker, Riane Konc has a piece called "Presidential Trolley Problems. These are word problems for the President to solve. Below is one example. 

____________________________-

The Contingency Plan

There is a runaway trolley speeding down
the tracks toward five people. But there is a
lever you can pull and change the trolley's
path so that it hits only one.

Whom should you put in charge of pulling 
the lever? I mean, it's easy: the guy who doesn't 
believe in trolleys, right?

Gribenes

You may have heard there is an astonishingly genuine Jewish deli now across from Railroad Square in Santa Rosa. You can sit outside on grass or sit inside. Grossman's is where you can get your kippered salmon, a lox plate, creamed cukes and dill, amba (whatever that is), a footlong hotdog, smoked whitefish salad, chicken kreplach or soft serve  labneh. With gribenes.

I doubt if Santa Rosa has ever seen a place like Grossman's.

Vera Lynn Has Left the Building

Vera Lynn, British, has stepped through the Big Window. She was 103 . Lynn was, along with the American Jo Stafford, the towering pop diva of World War II. 

What these two powerhouses sang about was how lonely they were with their men off at war--or killed in the war.  "I'll Be Seeing You" with Stafford, a lament for a lost lover, was probably the saddest song in this genre. That's according to my friend Lucy Jenson, who passed away a few years ago, having outlived three husbands. But  the more hopeful "We'll Meet Again" by Lynn was a close second.

Not to forget "I'll Walk Alone," "You Belong to Me" and "The White Cliffs of Dover." 

Before there were pop divas, the nation had pop divas.