Just some running thoughts.
Ken Burns' Vietnam series is sponsored by David Koch and Bank of America among others.
Watching planes and helicopters fly into makeshift landing zones in the Vietnam series made me scratch my head when NPR reported that planes couldn't land in Puerto Rico because there was no electricity or navigation. People have forgotten that navigation is nice, but not necessary in emergency situations.
But then Puerto Rico's 3+ million American citizens can't vote for president and their congress member doesn't have a real vote. And you thought voter suppression was bad in Texas. Maybe they should establish residency in Alabama, so they can vote for Doug Jones for US Senate against the new Republican Senatorial Candidate Roy Moore. You know, the guy who's been kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court because of his insistence on putting up a Ten Commandments sculpture in the Supreme Court. Go to the link, this guy got support from Bannon and Palin for a reason. He's way out there.
Blacks make up 25% of the Alabama population. But restrictions on voting are a serious obstacle. If you've been convicted of a crime, and blacks are much more likely to be in Alabama than whites, it's hard to recover your vote. A Mother Jones article says a new law loosens that, but convicted felons are still barred forever. The article says about 15% of black voters are affected by these laws. So with an influx of Puerto Rican voters, maybe Doug Jones could win. The election's in December so there isn't much time for Puerto Ricans to get their residency.
Then there's football. People kneel when they pray to God, but if they kneel when the national anthem is played that's bad. Because they are equating the flag and anthem with God? That doesn't seem to be the logic. But, in his Jabberwocky way, Trump is trying to change the debate from killing of blacks to honoring the flag. Distinguishing between symbols of a false reality of America's justice for all and the harsh reality of rampant white supremacy is hard for most Americans.
Just as the Vietnam series is showing us how killing innocent civilians was seen as ok to get better body counts, to show we were winning when we weren't, Americans still believe that killing innocent black American citizens is ok, because - well I guess, you can't tell the good ones from the bad, like with the Vietnamese.
Betsy Devos is showing us the real values, by changing Title IX so that innocent men don't get besmirched by wrongful accusations of rape or sexual harassment. Yes, that's not good, but it's not as bad as being raped. ["Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes."] and it's very difficult to get justice. But we protecting men from being falsely accused of such crimes is more important. As I say, Alice in Wonderland, we're there. Just like it's better to be outraged that black men don't stand up for the anthem, than be outraged over innocent blacks being killed by police.
You hit the nail on the head Steve. I have lived in Puerto Rico and when folks ask me why they are not getting aid like Texas and Florida, I ask them how many electoral vote Puerto Rico has, none. Congress sure passed that aid package from Texas and Florida quick didn’t they. The Island only has one real expressway like here in the U.S, going from San Juan to Ponce and one from San Juan to Arecibo. The rest of the roads are not very good. So getting aid to anyone with those two roads being impassable is a logistic nightmare. Air is the only solution for a lot of those towns. Unfortunately they ran the Navy out of Roosevelt Roads several years ago and that would have been a big asset now. I still have friends there I am concerned about. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world with some of the most wonderful people you will ever find.
ReplyDeleteImagine if Alaska had an earthquake and rock slides covered the highway and railroad lines to the south and the bridge over the Knik Arm collapsed and the Glenn Highway messed up. I am not into prepping, there is a difference between prepping and being prudent, but people should have in the back of their minds what they would do in a situation like that.
Oliver