Claims And Issues

Ignore the Distractions, Follow the Money.

The debt ceiling bill that is making the rounds this week on Capitol Hill has distractions and profit in it.  A lot of people are going to be worse off and a few people are going to be better off for it.

          Forced labor requirements are euphemistically and usually called work requirements when officials and the media refer to this debt deal.  But they are forced labor requirements.  They're in the debt ceiling bill to provide cruelty appeal to a percentage of the votes in the U.S. House and in the U.S. Senate, but realistically, more so in the House.  The appeal of being cruel when they vote for this bill makes it attractive and so the bill is more likely to pass.

          The forced labor requirements will never apply to the people who vote for them.  Their soft little hands could not do the work.  People who apply for TANF (what's left of welfare) or SNAP (which used to be food stamps) are the people who face forced labor – but even then, not everyone.  There are exemptions for veterans or members of the military, or homeless people.  So the labor requirements will fall on the backs of mothers with four children who never served in the military, say, or on the backs of older people already bent with age.

          Ignore the distractions and follow the money.  There's money to be made here, and the billionaires know how.

          The debt deal removes about 25% of the funding which Congress just voted for the Internal Revenue Service to flag wealthy tax cheats.  Only the rich can afford to be big tax cheats.  The funding applies only to tagging rich cheats.  This is a threat to them.  It had to be cut, from where they sit.

          Leaders who made this deal make their money by pushing programs of the rich.  Or they have a much better chance of winning coveted re-election by pushing programs wanted by the rich.  Or both.  To some, the cruelty of forced labor requirements is an added attraction as well; again, the idea seems to be to maximize your percentages of success even when you cannot completely, 100%  guarantee your success.

          Progressives, for their part,  are more or less naturally inclined to support a deal reached by the president of their own party.  Here, they were also told that this deal cutting the IRS search for wealthy tax cheats is temporary.  The IRS can get the money back some day, they say.  Maybe there will be even more funding in the future, they say.  Unfortunately for what they say, the reality in Washington, D.C. is now and has always been that once the money is gone, it's gone.

          The bottom line?  It's in the title:  Ignore the Distractions, Follow the Money.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THE POWER OF ONE.

Or, in these cases, the tail wags the dog.  It's a distraction.

          It's intentional.

          The story from Miami-Dade County has it that one parent objected to Amanda Gorman's poem at Joe Biden's 2021 Inauguration so it was pulled from elementary or middle school students (it is not clear to me which).

          The media reporting has tended to focus on the continuing attacks on books and ideas, forcing their removal from schools and libraries.

          I have focused instead on the fact that one person can make such a difference.  (If you or I ever thought that by ourselves we did not make much of a difference, we need to think again.)  How is it that one person can move thousands?

          It's a designed distraction.  By that I mean that there is a huge story, for example, of the Walt Disney Corporation pulling out of what was billed as a $1 Billion investment in a new Lake Nona Town Center area in Orange County.  I am uncertain how many thousands of jobs were lost, but it's a lot, perhaps as many as 2,000 jobs.

          Or the story of the same corporation shutting down a hotel in the Walt Disney World Resort.

          These stories and many stories like them have not gotten as much play as they would have, embarrassing as they are to the current "Top Guv," were it not for the distracting story of book bans.  Or in the case of the one Miami-Dade person, poem bans.

          That's what I mean when I say that this is a designed distraction.  It's a distraction by design.  If you run for president, after all, you can't have all this talk about losing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

NEGOTIATION 101: KEEP YOUR OPTIONS ON THE TABLE.

Even if you yourself know that you are probably not going to use them, keep your options alive.  If you take them away yourself, you have lost them just as surely as if your adversary took them away.

          The Biden Administration had an option to have a coin available to pay off the debt, a massive, magic coin.  Bitcoin I believe it is called.  The Biden negotiators took this option off the table.  Treasury Secretary Yellen, for example, called it "a gimmick."

          The Biden negotiators still have the option of following the Fourteenth Amendment but, thanks to the Biden people themselves, this option is on life support.  Barely alive as an option now, following the Fourteenth Amendment would be relatively simple stuff.  The Fourteenth Amendment expressly provides that the full faith and credit of the United States shall not be questioned.  That's the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution.

          Last I looked at Constitutions and statutes, the U.S. Constitution takes precedence over any conflicting statute.  That includes the debt limit statute which is currently being used to take the Biden Administration – and the United States itself – hostage if the demands of the maggots are not met.  So the Constitution should win over the statute, right?

          Well, Biden aides have let it be known that they do not think much of this option.  It would inevitably mean going to Court.  That could take a long time.  And it would ultimately end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, and who has any faith in them or at least in about 6 of them, anyway?  (Sounds like Merrick Garland, doesn't it?)

          Lawyers look at arguments.  Lawyers ask if the argument is good or bad.  I know.  I am one of them.

          I think the Fourteenth Amendment is a pretty good argument.  Actually, it's a very good argument.  This is one argument that I would have been happy to make in Court myself, except that I am not the Attorney General or the Solicitor General or even one of Joe Biden's aides.  Still, surely one or more among them can make a good argument, especially one that is as good as this one.  One that is handed to you.

          Well, it could take a long time.  So what?  People will receive Social Security checks and paychecks in the meantime, and all the other debts of the nation will be paid in the meantime as well.  The Civil War took 4 years.  Some people thought that was a long time.

          But the toil, the strife, the sacrifices, were all worth it in the end.  Certainly that was true for the vast, vast majority of the nation.

          So don't be afraid or very afraid.  Have faith and be hopeful, be very hopeful.  And keep all your remaining options alive, for gosh sake.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

NEGOTIATION SKILLS.

The best negotiation position to be in is not to have to negotiate at all.  If you have the power to prevent negotiation about what you want out of life, you have all the negotiating skill you will ever want.

          The Biden Administration and the Democratic Party had the power to get rid of the debt default limit.  If they had gotten rid of it, they would never have to negotiate over the debt because there would be no danger of default.  They had the power to do this by what is called reconciliation, which means passing a measure related to the budget with a simple majority in the U.S. Senate.  They had the votes at the time.  They had the power, but they did not use it for that.  If memory serves, whatever they used it on did not work, either.

          Now we are where we are.  More thoughts to come.  To be continued ....

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TO BE NEITHER SEEN NOR HEARD ... CHANGE IS COMING.

(Photography by Nolan Trowe)

          I did not know that ADAPT members in wheelchairs protested the cruel budget cuts that the House passed, by flooding the office of Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker.  Not until I came across a single article in The New Yorker, here:  E. Tammy Kim, The Debt-Ceiling Fight's Collateral Damage, The New Yorker (May 19, 2023), https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-debt-ceiling-fights-collateral-damage.

          "Perhaps because G.O.P. budget-slashing is commonplace, and perhaps because righteous demonstrations are, too, the latest ADAPT action got no press."  Kim, The New Yorker May 19, 2023.

          How many times has a person in a wheelchair not been seen or heard?

          How long will attention not be paid?

          Not much longer, now.  Even if this blog and The New Yorker are the only places that this story of the devastating effects of budget cuts on disabled persons is told, there will be many more places telling this story.  Share The New Yorker article with your friends.  Post it on Facebook.   Submit it to your newsletters and newspapers and ask them to print it.  Publish it on your own website.  Spread the word.

          Change is coming.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

'FOR EVIL TO WIN, GOOD MUST KEEP QUIET.'

Some people representing some States sued to stop the federal government from allowing corporations to consider economic, social, and governance (ESG) issues in all States.  Honest.  Take a look at what they themselves wrote if you can't believe it:  Download State of Utah v. Walsh Complaint Doc.No. 1 filed 01.26.23 (N.D. Tex. Case No. 2.23.cv.00016)).

          They filed their lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas in federal Court.  There is only one federal judge there, so they filed there.  Not surprisingly, they got the judge of their choice.  Not even drug dealers in major cities can do that.

          Speaking of drugs, this is the same Amarillo judge who 'ruled' for the entire country that the Food and Drug Administration did not have the power to regulate drugs – back in the day, over 20 years ago.  Nothing is too far away to be overturned with this crew, it seems.  Not in time, and not in the rest of the United States; nothing is too far away for them to reach.

          Not having stopped the federal government yet, the litigious people are asking their Amarillo judge to forbid the federal government permanently from ever allowing corporations to consider environmental, social, and governance issues of concern to their shareholders.   Honest.  OK, take a look at what they wrote for yourself: Download State of Utah v. Su Motion for Summary Judgment Doc. No. 92 filed 05.16.23 (N.D. Tex. Case No. 2 .23.cv.00016).

          In Florida, another branch of this crew is 'investigating' a teacher who showed her class a Disney movie.   Honest.

          Parenthetically, the teacher resigned even before she showed the movie.  The 'investigation' by the Florida department of education began anyway when one member of the local school board, who had a child at the school where the Disney movie was shown, started the investigation.  One.   Honest.

          It has not been reported whether or not the one complainer has stock in a Disney competitor.  It does not appear that she has been asked as yet.

          Meanwhile, in Montana, Governor Headslapper signed a bill passed by the learned Montana legislators that bans Montanans from looking at Tik Tok on their cellphones or on computers at home or in the office.  (The governor once slapped a reporter who asked him a question he did not want to answer, so he slapped him instead.)  Honest.

          And so it goes.

          A wise person once said that all it takes for evil to win is for good people to remain silent.  I do not want to be silent.  Do you?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CNN IS A TURN OFF↓

At least one report has it that after CNN aired "The Maggot Hall" last week, its ratings tanked below even Newsmax.

Keep on going!  

 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CNN: NOW OFFERING "THE MAGGOTS" BY THE GRIEVANCE BOY.

Remember watching "The Muppets" by Jim Henson?

    CNN's choice to replace that show is its new offering, "The Maggots" by the Grievance Boy.

    Early returns show "The Maggots" is doing well in what used to be called Kaliningrad.  That is a small city on the Baltic Sea where there is nothing else to do.  Although it is landlocked by surrounding democracies, it is ruled by the Russians.

    Back here in America, it's not going so well.   So many people are now literally turned off CNN.  Won't you join us?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

IT'S NOT JAMES EARL JONES'S CNN ANY MORE.

Free air time for The Grievance Boy, the one the jury found is a Sex Harasser?  Why?

    The next question is can't he afford it?  (Maybe not?  Lots of people ask whether he has ever been anywhere near as rich as he claims.)

    Bigger Questions come after that:  What has he done to deserve it?  Start a violent insurrection, attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, ignore the U.S. Constitution?  And so much more of like kind and nature that it makes your head spin.

    So we come back to the biggest question of all for CNN:  Why?

    It's not James Earl Jones's CNN any more.  Nor is it mine.  I'm one of the many viewers who are boycotting CNN starting today.  We will end the boycott when CNN returns to America, if it ever does.

    Until then, alternative networks like MSNBC or PBS should make a home for people like Anderson Cooper and Jim Acosta.  Anderson Cooper in particular would make a good host for The Rachel Maddow hour from Tuesday through Friday when Rachel is not in front of the MSNBC camera.  That way, we can still watch Anderson Cooper.  But not until then.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SAY THEIR NAMES. TELL THEIR AGES.

This continues an article posted here earlier on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

    The last names of the latest mass murderer's murdered victims are Cho, Mendoza, Thatikonda, and Cumana-Rivas.  The murdered victims' reported ages are 32, 26, and 3 years old.  The gunman gunned down women among the men.

    Another victim, one who was wounded but not killed, is 6 years old.

    Still not enough evidence for you to conclude that this man's motive for mass murder was White supremacy?  To conclude that he chose his targets from racism, anti-Semitism, women-hating, and fear of young people?  Reports have it that he intentionally staked out this shopping mall for days.  It is well-known for the diversity of the people who went there.

    Until a White supremacist mass murderer met them there.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHAT'S THE MOTIVE?

Why don't the "authorities" tell us the motive?  We just had another mass murder and they won't tell us why?

          Investigative reporting including from outside the United States has disclosed social media posts of the latest killer.  He posted on at least two networks, one of which is in Russia.

          The murderer also wore Nazi regalia and tattoos.  His rants are typical of White supremacists.

          Regardless of the motivation for the "authorities" trying so very hard not to tell us anything about his motive, the killer's motive is clear to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear:  Racism, anti-Semitism, women-hating, and rage against young people.  The fact that the murderer himself was Hispanic simply shows that killing knows no bounds and that White supremacy is not out of bounds for killers like the dead murderer in Texas.  Even some Jews became concentration camp guards to appease the Nazi SS (not very successfully, it should be noted; see the writings of Viktor Frankel and Eli Wiesel and others).

          Need more evidence for this man's motives to murder?  Look at his victims.  To be continued ….

Please read the disclaimer.  ©Dennis J. Wall 2023.  All rights reserved.

REASONABLY ACCOMMODATING OTHER PEOPLE SO THEY CAN WORK …& BE HEALTHY.

The idea of a reasonable accommodation appears in the employment law context.  It may have developed there, or it may have developed elsewhere.  But it is a concept that has changed lives and not just the lives of the disabled people it is intended to apply to.  It is a concept that has changed the perceptions of a people.

    Not so long ago, employers could exclude people from the workforce simply by looking to able-bodied people to perform the job they offered.  That is no longer the case, by and large; employers who want to  make a profit now see that with a reasonable accommodation, disabled people can more than do the job.

    It took a law to change that perception in the employment context.  Some people say that they see this way of recognizing reality as special treatment.  How blind they are.  They do not see benefits to employer and employee alike, or say they don't; they can open their own doors and they are more than satisfied with what they themselves might call an unearned benefit.

    Reasonably accommodating other people so that they can work is a different way of recognizing reality, perhaps.  It is nothing less than a change in perceptions of the world we share.  It does not involve special treatment of anyone.  It involves giving every person an equal chance to work, not a better chance of working.  The goal in any case is to work, not to be treated special. 

    COVID-19 may have changed perceptions of health care for us.  The pandemic may have introduced us as a society to the possibilities of reasonable accommodation in health care.  It may not be necessary to change perceptions by enacting laws in order to recognize a space for reasonable accommodations in health care like telemedicine, as it seems to have been necessary to change perceptions about the workplace.

    There is a big difference here between labor and medicine.  Only disabled people experience thresholds as obstacles, for example.  Everyone on the other hand experiences doctors' and hospitals' waiting rooms.

      It should not take another law like the Americans With Disabilities Act, all in all. to allow telemedicine and other reasonable accommodations to make health care widely available.  But this time it takes Rules and Regulations issued by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid for those affected.  Others not yet on Medicare or not on Medicaid may still need our help.  Our reasonable accommodations for other people's health, if you will.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"THE DIPLOMAT" ON NETFLIX.

The Diplomat is a new and captivating show on Netflix.  The credits show that it was conceived by Deborah Cahn and it featured a woman who succeeded as a U.S. Ambassador (to the Court of St. James, no less, in the United Kingdom) by being successful at governing if not always so successful at displaying established gestures of diplomacy.

    It stars Keri Russell as Ambassador Katherine Wyler, and Russell too does a good job of bringing this refreshing character to life, matching the writing and the direction in the first episodes.

    Until the fourth episode, anyway.  Then she just became one of the boys.

    Not unique, not so different any longer.  She had sex just like the men do; she apparently could not restrain herself, this formerly one-of-a-kind character tiring herself out with all that truth.  It was fitting – and symbolic -- that the sex scenes came at the end of the episode.

    The fourth episode was the first appearance of Amanda Johnson-Zetterstroem in the credits.  She showed up as the scriptwriter for that episode.  I did not notice it in the credits, but imdb.com shows her as the producer of The Diplomat.

    Being a producer means bringing money to the production, either your own money or, more often, other people's.  It looks like she threw her money weight around to include what she apparently thinks of as an obligatory sex scene.  Just like the men.

    Whether that's what happened or not, it's a revoltingly sexist view to portray a successful woman as never being successful just because of the value of her brains or the merits of her personality.  Those are never enough, unfortunately, because in this unrealistic view, she must display intercourse to be entertaining.  Or it won't sell and they won't make enough money, or so it goes.

    The Writers' Strike which began the other day may have a positive effect here, who knows; at least for the short term we may not have more of this writing anytime soon.  I understand that The Diplomat has been renewed for another season, but I doubt it's because of the intercourse portrayed at the end of the fourth episode.  More like in spite of it.  We need more of The Diplomat the way it was written in the opening episodes, not less.

    I'll try the fifth episode, but if it's more of the same, it was fun to cheer for The Diplomat while its original spark was still burning.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THOM SAYS: "NOT MY FEET, AND NOT MY HANDS ALSO."

A U.S. senator from North Carolina says that servers in restaurants do not have to wash their hands after they use the restroom and then serve you food.  How exactly does he come by this insight?

           Perhaps Thom Tillis, the senator in question, does not hold his unit when he does Number One.  It's possible; some men stand in front of the urinal (or toilet) and let go without holding on to anything.  Sometimes it gets messy, but they do not wash their hands.

          On the Thursday before Christ was crucified, He washed His apostles' feet until He came to Peter, who was told that he could not enter heaven otherwise and replied, "Lord, then not my feet only, but my hands also."

          Thom Tillis thinks he  knows better, I guess.  Just don't shake his hand if you can avoid it.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.