Saturday, May 18, 2024
It's Been 70 Years And The Struggle Still Continues
The following is part of an article by Assistant Professor Nicholas Mitchell (University of Kansas) at MSNBC.com:
Linda Carol Brown, because she was Black, was made to walk past the all-white Sumner Elementary School to catch the bus to Monroe Elementary School, which was all Black.
But one of the hard facts that we must confront is that in the 70 years since Brown, the social and legal resistance to desegregation has never stopped. Segregationists employed a variety of tactics whose legacies have made American education an enterprise that’s endemically segregated by race and classtoday. Whether it’s the all-white private schools that were created in response to Brown, the white flight out of cities that was inspired by the same ruling, a subsequent Supreme Court ruling that there’s no right to an equally funded education, or the growing popularity of publicly funded vouchers for private schools, the promise of the 1954 decision hasn’t translated into reality for today’s Linda Carol Browns.
According to a 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office, “During the 2020-21 school year, more than a third of students (about 18.5 million) attended schools where 75% or more students were of a single race or ethnicity” and “14 percent of students attended schools where 90 percent or more of the students were of a single race/ethnicity.”. . .
The two biggest blows to Brown came in 1973 and 1974 with the Supreme Court rulings in San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez and Milliken v. Bradley, respectively. In the first case, parents in the majority Mexican American Edgewood school district said funding schools using the local tax base denied their children the right to an equal education, but the Supreme Court held that there was no constitutional right to an equally funded education. In the next year’s Milliken case, the court upheld an absurd distinction between segregation by law and segregation by custom (de jure versus de facto segregation) as if segregation by custom were not created by law.
Justice William O. Douglas pointed out that absurdity in his dissenting opinion. “There is, so far as the school cases go, no constitutional difference between de facto and de jure segregation,” he wrote. “Restrictive covenants maintained by state action or inaction build black ghettos. It is state action when public funds are dispensed by housing agencies to build racial ghettos.”. . .
When we recognize that America is still having the same debate over desegregation that began on May 17, 1954, then today’s culture war fights — over the consideration of race as part of holistic admissions at highly selective schools, the inclusion of non-white history and literature into the standard curriculum, and the rise of charter schools — become more understandable.
Some argue that the Brown decision is irrelevant today or that it failed. I disagree. For all the scheming of men and women dedicated to rolling back the tide of integration, they have only been successful in slowing it. Jim Crow’s insane racial caste system was overthrown in an attempt to create a multiracial democracy in a world where none had previously existed. This grand project is a work in progress, and the setbacks have rocked the country to its foundations because the clash between integration and segregation has existed as long as the country has.
Most critically, the Brown decision reminds us that equality and segregation are fundamentally incompatible concepts in law and society and that if diversity is America’s strength, then an integrated America is an America at its strongest.
Friday, May 17, 2024
About 222,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week
The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment report on Thursday. It showed that about 222,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on May 11th. Here is the official Labor Department statement:
In the week ending May 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 231,000 to 232,000. The 4-week moving average was 217,750, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 215,000 to 215,250.
The Hypocrisy Of GOP Politicians In Labeling Cohen A Liar
And Trump's attorney is not the only one whining that Cohen is a liar. Republican politicians, especially those committed to Trump and his lies, are doing the same.
There is more than a little bit of hypocrisy in their claims though.
Michael Cohen is a liar. They are right about that. But what did he lie about? He lied when questioned by the government about Trump's secret payments to keep the tryst with Stormy Daniels from becoming public knowledge before the 2016 election.
He lied to protect Donald Trump. The Republican politicians didn't have a problem with those lies. After all, many of them also regularly lie to protect Trump.
It was not until Cohen was convicted and punished with imprisonment that his story changed. After serving his sentence and promising to testify truthfully that the GOP politicians began to attack Cohen for being a liar. It's not the lies that bothered them. It's the truth that he's now telling.
For today's Republicans, telling the truth about Trump is a sin. One is supposed to go to the grave telling lies to cover for Trump. Evidently, truth is no longer a Republican value.
Thursday, May 16, 2024
48% Say Trump Should Be Convicted In "Hush Money" Trial
The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between May 12th and 14th of a nationwide sample of 1,830 adults (including 1,586 registered voters). The margin of error is 2.9 points for both groups.
Today's Immigrant Haters Are Repeating An Old Mistake
Donald Trump, and his Republican sycophants, are counting on demonizing immigrants to give them a win in November. Trump has said he wants to close the border and deport millions of undocumented immigrants - and sadly a small majority of the population seems to be on board with that.
Of course, he is only talking about nonwhites being excluded and/or deported. Trump has said he only wants immigrants from Northern Europe (i.e., white immigrants). That's racist - and it's also nothing new.
In 1882, 1924, and 1965 the same kind of sentiments were expressed, and resulted in laws that allowed whites to enter but severely restricted nonwhites. The purpose was to maintain the United States as a majority white country.
It didn't work in the past, and it won't work now. Currently, about 40% of the United States population is nonwhite. And by the middle of this century, nonwhites will be a majority of the population. That is scaring Republicans, because their pro-white policy stances mean that most nonwhites don't vote for them. They could change their policies, but they would rather try to shut down the border and deport nonwhites.
It wouldn't work anyway. Even if we completely shut down our souther border, we would still become a majority nonwhite country. That's because the nonwhites (both citizens and immigrants) are having more babies than the white population.
That is a big mistake. We need the immigrants - both those here already and those trying to come. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs going unfilled because citizens don't want them (because the are usually low-wage, dangerous, dirty, no benefit jobs. We don't need highly-skilled workers from developed nations. We need the desperate people needing those jobs, and those are the nonwhite persons from south of the border.
We also need the taxes those immigrant workers pay - both income and Social Security taxes.
We must reject the racist anti-immigrant policies of Trump and the Republicans. And we must stop worrying about what color the immigrants (and our fellow citizens) are. It's immoral and stupid, and it hurts our economy.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Interest In Election Is High And Could Mean A Large Turnout
Trump Is Scamming His Own Supporters - And They Love It
But since he embarked on his political career, he has mostly been scamming one particular group - his own supporters! He is continually asking them for money, and selling them a huge number of products (bibles, sneakers, perfume, trading cards, etc.).
One is left to wonder why they keep sending him money and buying his dubious products - especially after the disastrous 2022 election.
Are they just not very bright? That may be true of some of them, but I think for most there is another reason. His existence as a political leader justifies their own views.
Donald Trump is a racist, a misogynist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, and believes is sustaining white privilege. Until Trump came on the stage, these beliefs were going out of style and not accepted by most decent people. Those who held those views were criticized and most of them didn't openly discuss their views.
But Trump's hateful views have given other haters the courage to once again become publicly vocal about their hate. He has given them permission to hate their fellow Americans, and they love it!
The core of his supporters are not nice people. Neither is Donald Trump. And the supporters are willing to keep paying him to keep him on the national stage promoting their own hate. Without Trump, they could not be so open and vocal about their hate.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Biden Must Point Out The Unfairness Of Our Good Economy
President Biden has been touting how good the economy has been doing since he assumed office. And he is right. By all the normal economic indicators, the economy is doing very well. In fact, it is doing better than any of the other developed nations.
But poll after poll has shown that most Americans don't think the economy is doing well. And they are right. While the rich and upper middle classes are doing very well, most Americans still struggle to keep up with corporate inflation. This is because the booming economy is not a fair economy that benefits everyone.
How did this unfairness happen?
About 1980, the Republican Party gained enough power to change U.S. economic policy. Before then, the rising productivity was generally shared by the rich, the middle class, and the working class. And thanks to President Johnson's War on Poverty, even the poor got a share.
But the Republicans instituted their "trickle-down" economic policy. They tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich, telling Americans that when the rich got richer it would benefit everyone because that extra money for the rich would trickle down through the society and benefit everyone.
That didn't happen. While the rich got much richer, almost nothing trickled down. Rising productivity was no longer shared, but selfishly hogged by the rich and their corporations. The result was the biggest gap between the rich and other Americans since the 1920's - a gap that continues to grow larger every year!
President Biden should stop talking about how well the economy is doing, and start talking about the real economic issue - how unfair the Republican policies are to most Americans. And he needs to highlight what he (and a Democratic Congress) can do to return to an economy fair to all Americans.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Biden Is Right To Stop Shipping Massive Bombs To Israel
In retaliation, President Biden has stopped the shipment to Israel of massive 2,000 pound bombs (and also 500 pound bombs).
A 2,000 pound bomb is not a precision weapon. It destroys whole city blocks. In a densely populated area like Gaza, it guarantees "collateral damage" (the killing of innocent civilians). And that is exactly what has happened. Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed (14,000 of them children) and over 78,000 have been injured - most of them by the indiscriminate use of 2,000 and 500 pound bombs.
Republicans are whining about Biden's cessation of the bomb shipments. They claim Biden is refusing to help defend Israel in its time of need. That is not true. Biden is continuing to ship defensive weapons (such as those used to destroy incoming missiles).
But a 2,000 pound bomb is not a defensive weapon. It is an offensive weapon used to destroy structures and create a large number of casualties.
The U.S. cannot keep Netanyahu from attacking Rafah, but it can (and must) not supply the weapons guaranteed to case massive civilian casualties.
Israel has the right to seek and destroy Hamas terrorists, but the use of 2,000 pound bombs in a densely populated area is not the best way to do that. This massive killing of civilians is likely to create more terrorists than it kills.
President Biden was right to stop shipping these bombs to Israel, and he should continue the ban until a ceasefire is reached.
Saturday, May 11, 2024
A Majority Have Tried Marijuana And Want It Legalized
The charts above are from the YouGov Poll -- done between April 25th and 28th of a nationwide sample of 1,134 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.
Trump Solicits A $1 Billion Bribe From Big Oil Executives
The following is part of a post by Robert Reich:
When Trump sat down with some of America’s top oil executives last month at Mar-a-Lago, according to the The Washington Post, they complained of burdensome environmental regulations, despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.
Trump’s response? He would offer them a better deal.
He told them to raise $1 billion to return him to the White House and he’d reverse dozens of Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted (according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation).
The $1 billion “deal” would more than pay for itself, Trump told the oil executives, because of the taxes and regulations they would avoid thanks to him.
Biden has called global warming an “existential threat,” and over the last three years, his administration has finalized 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters.
Trump has called climate change a “hoax.” His administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules over four years.
Now, he’s making an even bigger offer. At that Mar-a-Lago dinner, the former president told Big Oil executives that they’ll have an even greater windfall in a second Trump administration — including new offshore drilling, speedier permits, and other relaxed regulations — if they sink a billion into his campaign.
Trump promised to immediately end the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas exports — a top priority for the executives. “You’ll get it on the first day,” Trump said.
Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, another priority for several of the executives. He railed against wind power. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.
Trump also promised that he would scrap Biden’s rules for electric vehicles. The rules require automakers to reduce emissions from car tailpipes but don’t mandate a particular technology such as EVs. Trump called the rules “ridiculous” in the meeting with donors.
Will Big Oil put up $1 billion for all of this? Maybe.
Alex Witt, a senior adviser for oil and gas with Climate Power, said Trump will do whatever the oil industry wants if they support him. With Trump, Witt said, “everything has a price.”
But isn’t this an out-and-out bribe? And aren’t bribes illegal? Trump is literally willing to take bribes in exchange for the destruction of the planet.
Friday, May 10, 2024
New Poll Shows Biden Leading In Wisconsin
The chart above reflects the results of the latest Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between May 2nd and 6th of a sample of 1,457 registered voters in Wisconsin, with a 2.6 point margin of error.
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