Hope for a Happy New Year

 As much as the two time popular vote loser has angered me along with millions of other Texans by pardoning his cronies and potential witnesses against him I thought that given we’re about to start a new year I should write about something positive instead so here are a few things that our incoming president, Joe Biden, can and should do even if Georgia fails to elect two Democrats to the U.S. Senate.

Biden has promised to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by immediately appointing a “national supply chain commander” and establishing a “pandemic testing board” upon assuming office. Incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain coordinated the federal government’s response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

For the last four years the Department of Justice was not interested in fighting voter suppression. That’s likely to change quickly regardless of who Biden nominates to head the agency. Strict voter ID laws have been the main tool in the Republican voter suppression toolbox. One powerful step that Biden could take is giving people the option to add a photo to their Social Security card, since most people already have one, and that would ensure that they can’t be barred from voting in the red states like Texas  where concealed carry licenses are fine, but student IDs are not accepted. It’s a simple administrative rule fix requiring no congressional approval.

The president-elect has already stated he will bring the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Accord as one of the first orders of business. This pact is an agreement among nations to reduce emissions. Biden does not need the Senate to do so, because the Accord is an executive agreement; Biden just needs to send a letter to the United Nations stating his intent to rejoin. Furthermore, Biden can reverse the more than 125 environmental rules that Donald Trump overturned by fiat, such as rules on energy efficiency, oil exploration, and use of biofuels.

To help our low income citizens keep more of the money they earn the new administration could institute postal banking.  Unlike the other 49 states North Dakota has a very popular public bank that competes with private banking. President-elect Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders convened a task force to look into the creation of a public banking option. Such a public bank would be set up through the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Reserve to provide low-income and middle-income families with low cost widely available banking services where they could cash payroll checks and get small short term loans are reasonable rates unlike at commercial pay-day lenders. Biden can do some of that work without any legislation, such as USPS offering their own refillable, prepaid debit cards.

Student loan debt is the only debt that you can’t discharge through bankruptcy, thanks to a 2005 law. President Biden can undo this debt the first day he takes office with the stroke of his pen. Over 90% of the student debt in this nation is owed to the federal government. Student loan debt is a huge burden to millions of people who are currently paying at 10% or more of their income every month, and will for at least a decade. Forgiving it can provide much-needed relief during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as spur economic recovery.

There are many other actions Biden can take upon assuming office that don’t require a single vote in Congress such as rewriting rules on who is eligible for overtime, extending the enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, restoring government unions, breaking up monopolies, rescheduling marijuana and more.

Happy New Year!

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 30, 2020

Not Much Peace and Joy

This holiday season instead of the peace and joy that we long for, tension and anxiety abound. For millions of Americans it is the anxiety of not knowing if they’ll be able to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families while employers layoff more workers due to the pandemic. For others it’s worry about family members who have tested positive for COVID-19 many of whom are hospitalized. For some it is ongoing attempts by Republicans led by the con-artist in chief and egged on by convicted criminal Gen. Michael Flynn to subvert the constitution and turn this country into an authoritarian state.

Low income workers are the ones hardest hit by the pandemic and the pathetic response our government has provided. Around 20% of workers who were earning less than $12 an hour are unemployed now, that’s depression level unemployment. Food banks are overwhelmed by the demand for nutritional assistance. Many more Texas children are going hungry this year than last. Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are responsible for making the aid package that congress finally passed a day late and a dollar short. The pandemic relief legislation only provides a $600 per person of direct payments compared to $1200 per adult in the Spring.  According to CNN other provisions include “Aid for struggling small businesses, including more than $284 billion for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans” As well as “$300 per week for enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, $25 billion for rental assistance and an eviction moratorium extension, $13 billion in increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and child nutrition benefits.” The bill also includes “Funding totaling in the billions of dollars to support coronavirus vaccine distribution, testing and contract tracing efforts and health care workers.”

The winter season only started Monday but the predicted spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths didn’t wait. The 7 day average of deaths due to the virus exceeds 2,500 a day with one day reaching 3,400. Hospitals are once again running out of space and personnel to treat those infected. Our medical professionals have learned a lot about treating the virus and have improved survival rates yet the rate of death is still climbing. Early in the year rural areas felt safe and residents thought the virus was only a problem in cities but that changed this fall and now they realize they’re at risk too. The incompetent in the White House and his bumbling staff have repeatedly failed the country, first in not coordinating efforts to acquire and produce personal protective equipment for medical staff then in failing to order more of the vaccine when Pfizer offered additional supplies months ago. It’s a good thing the Moderna vaccine has proven safe and effective and has now been approved in the U.S. In a hopeful sign the incoming Biden team has made it clear that fighting the pandemic is among its highest priorities.

While it’s true that Trump’s “crack” team of lawyers has repeatedly failed to convince any court in the land that their conspiracy laden and fact free lawsuits have any merit that hasn’t stopped the president from spreading those false claims and encouraging his supporters in the general public to use force to overturn the election. The convicted criminal Trump pardoned, Gen. Michael Flynn, is reported to be advocating for the president to declare martial law and send troops to collect voting machines in several states where new elections would be held. Until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take office I won’t stop being worried.

All that said, I wish you peace and joy this holiday season.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 23, 2020

Republicans Holding Help Hostage

More Americans are like my brother, Michael, than like me. Like most Americans my brother doesn’t really keep tabs on politics or government in general. Michael had been out of work for nearly 6 months due to being laid off by his employer when business got so slow due to the pandemic. During that time he became quite frustrated that congress failed to pass a second stimulus and many expanded unemployment benefits had expired. My brother, like many Americans, blamed both parties for unwillingness to compromise.

I explained to him that the Democratic controlled House had passed two more stimulus bills since the initial CARES Act while the Republican controlled Senate led by Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn hadn’t even bothered to hold hearings on either bill let alone vote on them. I told showed him that members of the House leadership were continuing to negotiate with the Senate leadership but that the sticking points are serious and meeting Republican demands was dangerous for the public. It’s important to understand that what McConnell and Cornyn are demanding could result in the deaths of thousands more Americans because immunity from liability for injury caused by failure to adequately protect workers and customers from exposure to COVID-19 would encourage more employers to put workers health at risk. That’s not just a possibility, it already happened in many work places including meat packing plants in the mid-West that ended up closing back in April and May when so many of their employees became ill.

Republicans argue that business will suffer without immunity as too many spurious lawsuits will be filed. So far there have been fewer than 250 businesses sued across the nation over COVID-19 issues, which is a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the 10,000 lawsuits brought over the usual issues that occur every year. There is a simpler way to address such concerns and but the Trump administration has failed to take action. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the responsibility and power to write rules for workplace safety, they simply haven’t done so. Instead OSHA has written recommendations with weasel wording like “if feasible” and “when possible” rather than setting a rule stating the employers “will” follow the directive. If OSHA simply wrote and promulgated such workplace safety rules the only businesses at serious risk of being sued would be those that didn’t comply with the rules.

The other ridiculous demand that Republicans are making is to drop financial assistance to states and cities all of which have found budgets suddenly cut due to massive reductions in sales tax revenue because the pandemic has so many people staying at home and out of work so they can’t spend. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean that we don’t need police, firefighters, and other city and state workers. Since cities and states cannot legally run deficits many have already laid off critical workers because there simply isn’t enough money to pay them. This not only hurts everyone in that community by the loss of the service, it also just adds another person to the roles of unemployed and therefore need assistance paying their bills.

During the election, Republicans made spurious claims about Democrats wanting to defund the police, in reality Republicans are the ones who are actually doing it. As in most cases this is not a both sides are to blame situation, Republicans are the ones who are withholding support for hungry children in an effort to give away worker protections. If you want something done call Senator John Cornyn and give him a piece of your mind.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 16, 2020

Police Brutality Even Here

I am a white male who grew up in the mostly white suburbs of New Orleans attending all white parochial schools until 1977 when I graduated from high school. My only run-ins with law enforcement were due to a lead foot and never had reason to fear police. In my 20’s I didn’t really give much thought to how people of color might view police although I was aware that historically law enforcement had supported segregation, often violently, like at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma.

As I have gotten older, seen the wider world, and made friends of other ethnicities, I’ve become a little more sensitive to how black members of my community can have different experiences with the same law enforcement officers that I have never had reason to worry about. Over the last couple of years that awareness has expanded further as we have seen horrific videos of black men and sometimes boys beaten after being subdued or shot by police officers while running away. I still had hopes that at least the police in my city and the cities around it weren’t the sort to do that.

A few weeks ago I found out that I was wrong when Schertz police officers beat and repeatedly tased 18 year old Zekee Rayford after he was subdued in front of his home. It’s clear from the video provided both by his family and Schertz police that Rayford was not attacking the officers, had no weapon, and was not a threat to anyone. It is clear is that police used excessive and unnecessary force against an unarmed, non-threatening, young man over a purported traffic violation.

As it happens, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled on a similar case on November 20, just a few weeks after Mr. Rayford being abused by police officers. Lawyers for the Gretna, LA police officers argued in federal court that they had qualified immunity from prosecution for their actions in the death of Kendole Jackson. Mr. Jackson was apparently suffering from mental health issues when he was spotted staring at a schoolyard full of children, when approached by law enforcement he ran and tried to hide in a convenience store where, curled in a ball on the floor, he begged the clerk to call the real police as the people chasing him wanted to kill him. Sadly in the end they did just that.

Here’s what Judge Don Willett wrote in the three judge ruling: “What is the virtue of a proportional response?” an exasperated President Bartlet demands in a memorable scene from the first season of The West Wing. Anything more, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff coolly advises, would be a “staggering overreaction . . . you’ll have doled out a $5,000 punishment for a fifty-buck crime.” For those in positions of public trust—from Commanders in Chief (who must “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”) to City of Gretna Police Officers (who “vow to protect life and property while safe guarding constitutional guarantees”)—proportional responses are good policy. We expect those charged with executing and enforcing our laws to take measured actions that ascend in severity only as circumstances require. A disproportionate response is unreasonable. And if it describes physical force inflicted by a police officer, it is unconstitutional.

Whether or not Schertz police officers violated department policy, they violated Rayford’s constitutional rights as soon as they began using more force than necessary once he was on the ground. Judge Willett is no bleeding heart liberal, he is a Republican appointed to the federal bench by Trump.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 9, 2020

Transition and Democracy

The Sore Loser-in-Chief has delayed a peaceful transition of power for over three weeks and though he’s finally allowed some of the transition to move forward he and his minions are still actively the incompetently attempting to overturn the election results. Over six million more Americans voted for Biden than the squatter in the White House, that’s more than twice the margin that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by and still 28% of Republicans think the election was stolen. The “dear leader” continues to spread his anti-democratic message, that small “d” democratic meaning the concept not the party. Even Republican Secretaries of State and Governors have taken exception to his claims of voter fraud.

Trump’s attacks on domestic democratic processes mirror those of Hitler according to Burt Neuborne, one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers. In his book When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic Neuborne notes “Hitler attacked the legitimacy of democracy itself, purging the voting rolls, challenging the integrity of the electoral process, and questioning the ability of democratic government to solve Germany’s problems.” “Trump has also attacked the democratic process, declining to agree to be bound by the outcome of the 2016 or 2020 elections when he thought he might lose, supporting the massive purge of the voting rolls allegedly designed to avoid (nonexistent) fraud, championing measures that make it harder to vote, tolerating—if not fomenting—massive Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, encouraging mob violence at rallies, darkly hinting at violence if Democrats hold power, and constantly casting doubt on the legitimacy of elections unless he wins.”

In addition to the damage the “Sore Loser” is doing to our democratic institutions by his failure to accept losing the election by the biggest margin for a sitting president since 1932, the delays he is causing in the transition endanger both national security and the lives of many Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage causing hospitalizations and deaths to rise for the third time this year. Millions Americans have lost their jobs and many small businesses have closed permanently. Lines at food bank distribution centers continue to lengthen and more children go hungry every day. Delays in passing information to the next president’s team puts the entire country at risk as the new administration will be less well prepared to take the reins of government than they should be.

On the positive side Joe Biden has made it very clear that he takes climate change seriously and says his taking an administration-wide approach so that every agency will be expected to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As climate change is the existential threat to human civilization that our children and grand-children will be force to live with I’m grateful that we’ll finally have a president who is willing to take action. Unfortunately none of the measures he has proposed go far enough to actually reduce the threat. It’s going to take action from all of us to convince him and our congressman to do what’s needed and not just give lip service to addressing the crisis. There is no time left to act.

In January and Biden’s inauguration I’m looking forward to Donald Trump returning to something he’s good at, perhaps as a contestant on the USA Network’s reality show “The Biggest Loser”.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 2, 2020